Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

I've been told that I should write an Authors note, I hadn't realised that I should because I'm not a very talkative person by nature. (That and I'm also a newb).

Hello! Hope you're all well, thank you for reading, liking, favoring, reviewing and keeping up with the Distance. This story is going to be a slow build so, I hope you like journeys. Also, if you're curious as to how on earth Leah and Rose got together, I have a chapter lined up for it, just let me know if you'd like to witness that.

Alice was placing a baking tray into the oven when she heard her cell phone start to ring. When she saw the name of the caller, she took a deep breath and leaned against the kitchen counter.

"Victoria," she answered monotone.

"Hello Alice," the caller greeted with a faint smirk that Alice knew was there.

"Can I help you with something?" Alice asked, she looked out the window that stared directly across the road.

"I just wanted to see how you were and see if you wanted to catch up sometime," the voice broke Alice's reverie and, although her ex's suggestion surprised her, she decided to keep calm.

"I'm fine and I'm sorry, but I don't think that that's a good idea."

"Right, the new girlfriend and how is she? What was her name again?" Victoria drawled out. For a moment, Alice was confused as to who Victoria was referring to, until the façade that was established a few weeks ago at the club dawned on her.

"Bella is fine, she's great in fact, awesome girlfriend she is," Alice answered a bit defensively, she got up from her position on the bench to check the cookies being baked.

"Look, I know that we didn't exactly end on the best of terms…" the voice began.

"You cheated on me for the entire relationship," Alice replied incredulously.

"Now you're splitting hairs."

"Are you serious?"

Why did I pick up the phone? She asked herself, thinking that the conversation wasn't going to end well, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, looked at the cookies and then faintly smiled. She took her position on the bench again and felt ready to see where the discussion was directed.

"Look, I just wanted to call and see how you were, because I honestly cared about you," her ex commented.

"Forgive me, if I don't believe you."

"So, you finally found love, is that it?" Her ex questioned condescendingly. Alice decided not to comment, she wasn't the best liar and she refused to give her ex anything more than what she had already taken from Alice.

"I saw the way the two of you were at the bar Alice and I saw the way you were looking at her," ex continued. Alice's brow rose in disbelief, it seemed as though she didn't need to lie, because her ex was inventing stories all by herself.

"You never looked at me like that Alice," she heard faintly. This comment made Alice all the more confused.

"This has nothing to do with you?" Alice replied with a slight inflection. Certainty Alice's love life had nothing to do with Victoria, but there was nothing to discern, hence the confusion. Alice and Bella were just across the road neighbours and sort of friends. Awkward friends, but some semblance of a friendship existed, sort of.

"Perhaps not, but you are a very special woman…"

"Don't..."

"When are you going to wake up and realize that love is an illusion? You try so hard to look for something that very well may not be there, do you honestly think that this woman is the one you've tried so hard to look for?"

Alice thought about her ex's comment, Victoria wasn't a bad person, per say, she was just a shitty girlfriend. A person that Alice had trusted, had let in, and then had been betrayed by. But, Alice couldn't let that experience take away her lingering hope regarding love. Some may find it naïve; Rose had scoffed at her for being so ardent in her explorations and for being so unwise in her life choices. In response, Alice had just smiled lopsidedly and said, 'the way to know life is to love many things.' (1)

Alice looked out the window again, noticing that the big red truck was gone, she sank deeper into the kitchen bench.

"I don't know if Bella's the one, but I do know that you're not. Please don't call me again Victoria, its over," and before she could receive a reply, she hung up.

Alice took a deep breath, she could smell the cookies in the oven, which caused a warmth to spread throughout her that hadn't been there in a while.

Not long now.

~Meanwhile~

Jake and Bella were hugging each other tightly at the airport¸ it had been months since Bella had moved in and Jake needed to get back home, he had taken all the time he could to ensure that his best friend was settled but it didn't stop how much he thought that he could have done more for her.

"Bye Jake," Bella whispered into his big frame.

"Bye kiddo, if you need anything, please let me know, I'm only a ticket away," Jake said, the promise was there and he meant it too, Bella let him go and hit him on the arm.

"Thanks for everything you big lug, you've been a real big help in more ways than you know."

Jake looked into his best friends eyes, "Bella Swan, I love who you were, who you are and whoever you will become to be, just remember that," the love laced in his voice for his best friend was palpable and Bella, for the first time in a really long time felt her heart warm.

"Thanks and, tell her I said hi," Bella replied, Jake knew to whom she was referring to and accepted the request.

"I will."

After a few moments of regarding his friend Jake decided to offer one last piece of advice to his friend. "You know, just because something ended badly, doesn't mean that we should give up."

Bella rolled her eyes; trust Jake to deepen a moment by channelling his inner Yoda.

"We are always told that if we truly love someone, we should let them go, but they never tell you what to do when they don't come back. Don't quote quotes to me Jake; I could kick your arse in a verbal melee," she replied with a smile.

"Conceded," he said and then gave her his own toothy grin.

Just before he was about to turn around, Jake asked Bella something that had been on his mind for a few weeks, "Hey Bells, why didn't you pick Alice's lock when she left her keys inside her house? You used to do it all the time back home."

True enough, Bella did know how to pick locks, being a daughter of the Chief Police endowed her with such knowledge, but Bella, for the life of her couldn't answer Jake's question. She had actually asked herself the very same thing, multiple times since that day and she had yet to find an answer which satisfied her mind.

"I honestly don't know Jake."

Jake thought this answer to be odd, but decided to let it go, "Alright, just take care of her Bella and take care of yourself," with that, Jake turned around and walked away.

Bella watched her best friend walk into the terminal and sighed; she didn't feel right without him but understood that he needed to leave. Admittedly, Jake was very much like her conscience embodied in a beefed up twenty-three year old males form and, she was going to miss him, in fact, she already did.

"So he's gone home?" Alice dawdled near the frame of Bella's porch with a plate in her hand, she didn't want to go to the departure, seeing as she thought that the two best friends needed their moment.

"Yeah."

There was an obvious difference in her neighbour now that Jake had left; she was more subdued, it was as if Bella was scared to be left alone.

"Are you ok?"

"Of course I am, he's my annoying best friend," Bella said indifferently, but Alice knew better, she knew that voice carried so much emotion, Bella was going to miss her best friend, hell, Alice even missed Jake and she had only known him for a few months.

She looked at the plate in her hands and made a promise to herself that she would take care of Bella, not as a replacement of Jake, but as a friend that Bella could count on in San Francisco. She took a seat next Bella and tried hard not to mention the other woman's smoking habit.

"I brought over some cookies, as a thank you for rescuing me multiple times and also to cheer you up," she offered meekly.

Bella smiled sadly at the gesture, she was starting to learn of Alice's idiosyncrasies and accepted them for what they were.

"Thanks, they smell good," she replied awkwardly, Bella accepted Alice's behaviour; it didn't mean that she knew how to respond to them.

"You're very welcome, the least I could do after all the rescuing that you've been doing," Alice replied, hating the frown which marred her neighbour's features.

"Y-You know, when I first moved here with Rose and Leah, I thought that I was going to have these huge adventures and make tons of friends and maybe even find the love of my life," she began tentatively.

Bella inclined her head upwards and Alice continued.

"I've lived here for two years and have still yet to live any of those things out, but you're the best thing that's come here since I've been here and I'm glad that you're here." Alice almost smacked herself for her cliché words, but Bella was touched by them. Bella wanted so much to dismiss Alice's words as Alice being desperate for something other than monotony, but she decided against it.

"Take my words what for they are Bella, I- I'm glad that I met you."

Bella didn't know what to say in reply and she knew that whatever she did say would be inadequate to what was just said. So, she did what was commanded of her, she took the words of what Alice had just said and nodded. She tried hard not to think about her best friend up in the air and thought of where she was at the moment, just sitting next to her neighbour on this sunny San Francisco day, together.

Thank you for reading.

(1) - I believe that it was Vincent Van Gogh who said something to that affect.