Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer invented all this Twilight stuff. This is just us, using it.

The FF-Gold-Medal in Awesomeness goes to ...... our Beta Bri!! :)

And, of course, a big, big thank you to all of you that read and review. It means a lot!

If it seems like an accident

And if it seems like an accident
A collage of senselessness
You weren't looking hard enough

(Bright Eyes – I believe in symmetry)

Bella Swan

Going to Iceland was insane indeed, I thought, as I collapsed into my chair.

Eyes firmly closed, I pressed my hands to my temples. Organising my journey had been a lot more trouble than expected.

It may be insane, but it was not stupid or a waste of money, though our finance department liked to believe that. Thankfully, Ben was supporting my proposal, which meant that the finance guys could grumble over the reportage as much as they wanted, and it wouldn't change anything. Well, except for the slightly throbbing pain in my temples.

I took a deep breath and eventually opened my eyes again. There were two booking confirmations in my mailbox. The first one announced that I would arrive at Keflavík International Airport, Iceland, tomorrow in the early afternoon. And the second one confirmed my reservation for a hotel room in Reykjavik. With everything else, I was on my own.

I needed to get my gear together, which wasn't that much, of course. I would just take one of my notebooks and my favourite pen and I'd be good. However, Ben had other plans – and how could I say no to someone who just invested over 1.000 pounds in a ticket to Iceland? I glared at the laptop disapprovingly for a few seconds before I concentrated on my camera. I hadn't used it in a while and checked if it was still in good working order.

I was looking through the view-finder as an interesting figure appeared in my field of vision. Always a fan of fiction, I expected Peter Pan flying through the open window any minute, looking for his lost Tinker Bell. Alice Brandon was the type of woman I envied: delicate, graceful and unbelievably gorgeous. I had seen her around the office a few times, her elfish appearance always mesmerising me. Even now I may have been staring as I figured Alice was walking straight my way. "Look busy," I challenged myself and fidgeted with the camera.

"Oh my god, I don't know if they still build these. That's a D30, right? Or, no, wait, it has to be a S20! I'd love to give it a try someday!"

I turned towards Alice, who was standing right next to my desk, smiling.

"Um," was my thoughtful reply.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Alice Brandon. I think we've run into each other a couple times, but never really got the chance to talk. You're Bella, right?" She seemed to be always in motion, buzzing with energy, talking and smiling. Her mind and mouth worked a little too fast for me, I didn't even have the time to think about something to say as she already continued. "It's so great to finally meet you!" A beaming smile lit up her face.

It was a smile nobody could resist. I bet she never got any speeding tickets.

"Hi Alice, yes, I'm Bella, I have no idea why a photographer like you would want to borrow my ancient camera, and of course it's a pleasure to meet you too," I rattled out.

"Oh Bella, silly, it's not ancient, it's classic!" She retorted with such enthusiasm, I had to laugh.

"Well thanks, Alice. I will be sure to pass your appreciation on to my mum; she gave it to me ages ago."

"So, Bella, you fancy popping out for lunch with me? You have to say yes, I know we're going to get along great! And there's this place I know, where they have the best focaccia sandwiches ever, and," she clapped her hands and waggled her head happily, "their coffee is legendary!"

As much as she was nice and fascinating, I didn't know her. And she was a little too forward for my liking.

"Really, thanks for the offer, Alice, but I still have an awful lot of work waiting for me."

"Oh come on, Bella! Do you need some help with your gorgeous S20?"

"Actually, maybe you could give me some advice from a professional point of view?" After all this was going to be the story of the year. My story of the year. There should be a few good shots to combine the article with, and Alice was a photographer.

"Sure! I'd love to!" She snatched the camera from my desk. "But we need to take this outside. This is not an environment for art." And with that the little minx was already half way through the office.

I had to eat anyway, right? I got my bag, let Ben know I was out for lunch and headed for the stairs. I didn't hurry though, because I had a feeling that Alice suffered most from waiting and boredom.

She was nowhere to be seen in the foyer, so I figured she had to be outside.

Of course Alice didn't drive anything as boring as a Volvo. Not that I was thinking about any specific Volvo owners. Alice was leaning against a bright yellow vintage car. It looked like a Porsche, but what did I know about cars?

"Bella! What took you so long?" she shouted, sounding like I was two hours late. The clocks on Planet Alice obviously measured a different time than the ones on good old Mother Earth.

"Fine, we can have lunch together, but you really have to give me some advice, Alice."

"Of course I will, silly. Come on let's go, or they will be out of my favourite focaccia already."

She hopped in and leaned over to unlock my door. I got inside and we sped away.

"I don't care much about cars, but I like yours. It's an ageless beauty."

"Oh my god, that's like the nicest thing anyone has ever come up with. You sure are well with words, Bella Swan." A new song was playing on the radio and Alice immediately cranked up the volume and set in with the singing. Her voice was – of course -incredibly charming. Once again I envied her, but not with resentment, always with admiration.

"Bella, it's not like you're on Britains Got Talent or anything as frightening! Sing with me," Alice chirped, her hands dancing with the steering wheel. I rolled my eyes but grinned nonetheless. Being with Alice was surprisingly easy. As she was singing 'at the top of her lungs I simply couldn't not like her.

"You know what I love about music?" Alice asked as the song faded out. "That it's not rocket science."

I chuckled, and Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously! Don't go all music snob on me now, I already have a friend like that. Music should be simple, should be fun, pure in a way. Basically it should not be over-analysed."

"I may be guilty. I tend to think and question music a lot. Especially lyrics."

Alice grinned like the cat that ate the canary, pulled into the car-park, hummed to the music and at the same time continued the conversation. "So I'd bet. Actually my friends and I do jam from time to time, you have to come sometime, listen to us play! It's always so much fun, especially when Edward gets on Jasper's nerves by acting all sophisticated." She took the time to breathe, or maybe it was just because we had to get out of the car eventually. It only took her a second to lock the car up and get over to my side. However, the name Edward didn't slip my attention, that and the adjective sophisticated combined with it.

What were the chances?

I zoned out for a second, so Alice simply took my arm and walked me to the entrance of the house, which was painted in red maple leafs all over. "You know, Jasper and I would suggest a folky tune, because we love it. How can you not love folk?"

It wasn't really a question, but I shrugged nonetheless.

"Anyway, so in our jam sessions, Edward always goes like 'it's not even worth calling it a melody' and then Jasper goes 'what's bloody wrong with it' and then they would just repeat that for hours if it wasn't for me. But one time for my birthday, they surprised me, both of them onstage, playing You belong to me. Ah, that was so brilliant! Too bad you didn't hear it. Best present ever. Well except, for this beauty here." She flashed a dazzling ring into my field of vision.

Not only did the clocks on Planet Alice work differently, the brains seemed to, too. I couldn't even think as fast as she talked. Thankfully the waiter got me a little time out with his appearance and I absently noticed Alice rattling out a complicated order.

So I figured Alice, who decided to have lunch with me today by chance, has a friend named Edward, who is a music snob and apparently acting sophisticated?

I had a feeling in my gut telling me, that this dinner wasn't a mere accident at all.

"Miss?" My attention was required again.

"Uhm, I'll just take what she has," I said unsure, the open menu still unread in front of me.

"Alright, I'll be right back."

"Sorry, did you just say Edward?" I turned to Alice, raising an eyebrow.

Alice's eyes twisted a little and she continued happily, "My friend Edward, yes, he's such a sweet person!" She smiled quite innocently. "Oh, maybe you've heard of him, I think Newcastle Weekly had an article on his firm Gateshead lately, I know some of my photographs were used for that."

Yes, and maybe I had heard of him because he was big news all over town for being a murder suspect on the run. And maybe I had heard of him because he stole my car, not to mention that he also kissed me in the most epic way possible.

"Alice," I paused, just to make sure that she got the seriousness of this, "why are we really here?"

"Okay, okay, so I told him I wanted to meet you properly, but he said I can't and that he wanted to figure out things on his own and I know I'm pushy sometimes, but I just want my friends to be happy. That's not a crime, is it? And you are the one person besides Jasper that Edward actually told what he's going to do next, so I know you're important to him, and that makes you important to me, of course. Why is everybody so distrustful with me?"

She remained silent after her outburst, and I instantly missed her constant happy talk.

One of her words lingered in my mind.

Important.

"No, it's not a crime to care about the people that are important to you, Alice. I just find it hard to trust anybody," especially because Edward had let me down quite often these last few days, "I didn't mean to offend you. But you have to understand, that Edward and I only cooperated for an article, nothing more."

"Sure, if you say so," she answered, her tone implicating that she didn't agree at all, but also didn't want to go there any further. I was glad her mobile suddenly blared "Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man" and distracted her. With the sound her eyes lit up a little more, if that was even possible.

"Hi Jasper! I'm at the maple, we were just ordering. Bella's with me. Can you believe they just played Picture Book on the radio? I haven't heard that in ages!"

I tried to be polite and not listen to her talking and dug into my purse to get my notebook out. I couldn't grab it, so I started to put the items that I could get a hold on, onto the table. As I was half way through my belongings I figured I simply forgot to bring it.

How was I supposed to manage packing all the super important things for Iceland?

"Oh, darling. Don't worry. Everything is fine. Be nice, okay? Love you."

Alice sighed happily: "He's just the sweetest thing."

I smiled at that, while I was throwing my belongings back into the bag.

"Oh, how cute, Edward has the exact same thing" she happily announced pointing at the white, shiny iPod on the table.

I quickly grabbed it and threw it in my bag as well, and then focussed back on the food, which arrived in that very minute. But it was too late, the occasional blush already highlighting my face.

"No way!" Alice breathed, "Is it Edward's?"

I shrugged, my face getting even hotter. I did not know how to respond to that, without telling her the events of the last few days. We ate in silence, though it wasn't that hard to sense that Alice was nearly bursting with curiosity. She reminded me of a puppy, who just sank it's teeth firmly into your favourite sweater, waiting for the right moment to drag it away to chew on it. It's somewhat cute but still annoying as hell. I knew she wanted to corner me and gather all the information she was craving to get. But surprisingly then, the puppy trolled away and Tinker Bell was back.

"First rule, while I'm your mentor. Always carry a black-and-white film. I sometimes find colours too distracting." And with that, she talked for the next thirty minutes, leaving me extremely sorry that I had no notebook on me. I wasn't sure I would remember at least half of this later, but one thing I was absolutely sure of: Alice Brandon loved photography.

We were already back in front of the office building when she finally announced: "Ok, so I think that was the basics. You have to show me some of the pictures you're taking soon. Or maybe we could even do a little field trip together?"

"Sure, really thanks so much for all the advice, Alice."

"Oh, I know, we should just go out for lunch again, maybe on Friday?"

"I'd love to, Alice, but I'm out of town for a report of some sort. I don't know when I will be back."

"Oh I see," she replied, a knowing smirk on her face, and then she hugged me madly.

"Get him back safely, Bella. I'm counting on you."

I don't know how she did it, but she seemed to know so much out of nowhere.

I was still in shock and awe as she got back in her car, waving and driving away.

chapter end notes:

- songs mentioned in this chapter belong to: The Byrds and Bob Dylan

- Planet Alice and its time measuring system completely belongs to Alice