Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

"So Hells Bells, how is it going in San Fran?"

Bella held her phone closer to her ear and relaxed further into the groove of her couch.

"Same shit different day Jake," she replied.

They had been talking for about an hour after Jake had reprimanded Bella for not picking up his calls over the past week, but after much apologizing and a your mum joke directed at Jake, all was right with the two friends. Truth be told, she had missed her best friend and everything that he represented.

"You know, Alice told me about the other night," Jake began, choosing his words carefully and he almost heard Bella roll her eyes.

"Jake, don't start, I know that it was wrong of me to shut her out, but I apologised and…"

"Actually, I was going to say that I'm proud of you, I thought that you were going to be in an almost inconsolable state but then you actually snapped out of it and mended your friendship, all by your lonesome." Jake said cutting her off. He had been unable to get time off of work to visit his best friend and trusted Alice to be there for Bella when he couldn't. It pained him to know that he couldn't always be there physically for her, but his fears were assuaged knowing that Bella's neighbour was there in lieu of himself.

"I was inconsolable Jake, but then Alice kind of snapped me out of it?" Bella replied, not really sure where the topic was going.

"So I heard," Jake commented with a wry smile which made Bella narrow her eyes into the receiver.

"What's going on between you two Bella?" Jake finally asked.

"We're friends," was Bella's immediate reply, a little too quickly Jake noticed.

"Is that all?"

Bella couldn't hide her outburst, "Why are you asking me this Jake? Yes we are and she has a girlfriend which you should know, don't think that I don't know that you've been keeping tabs on me." Nope, she didn't like Alice like that at all, not one bit. Her denial however would suggest otherwise.

"Hey I'm just making sure that my best friend isn't still leaving trails of broken hearts wherever she goes," Commented Jake noticing how vehemently his friend had denied the prod to his question.

"And I thought for sure that I hired a cleaner for that."

"Seriously, is everything ok, between you two?"

Bella sighed, was everything ok between her and Alice? As friends yeah, they were ok, as something else though? Bella didn't have the strength to even begin to entertain that thought. "Yeah, she's too damn persistent to just leave things be," she finally replied.

"And, by things you mean you?"

Bella sighed into the phone, "She's like this force of nature that I can't stop no matter how much I want her to."

"Do you want her to though? Stop being in your life, I mean."

Bella shook her head, even though she knew Jake couldn't see her, "No, I actually think that she's ok, I don't detest her company."

Jake laughed into the phone effectively breaking the serious mood, "Ha! I leave for a month and you've turned into a pussy, what next Bella? You goin' to start wearing pastel and call yourself Bella the white girl slayer?"

Bella pinched the bridge of her nose at her friend's stupid comment, "Jake, shut up. Firstly Buffy was the epitome of badass, secondly, don't steal your lines from White Chicks and thirdly, you're an idiot."

Jake smiled ruefully into the phone, loving how easily the banter rolled between them, "Yeah, but it got you to smile didn't it?" Bella couldn't deny that.

"And it also got you to stop talking about Alice."

"Jake," Bella replied warningly.

"Bella, all I'm saying is that you two really click for some weird reason, maybe there's a reason why you just happened to end up right across from the daughter of …"

Bella cut him off before he could finish, "Yeah, I get it, you're saying that its fate or some shit, that I need to let go, that I need to let someone in, even if it's some crazy little devil woman who insists upon being my friend and that I actually like."

A silence erupted and Bella could practically see the gerbil name Assumption running in Jake's mind.

"As a person Jake," she cut in, knowing what her friend was thinking, before he could reply Bella continued, "Alice. She reminds me of her," she whispered and Jake nodded his head in agreement.

When he had first laid eyes upon the small pixie woman, he had thought the same thing. It didn't help that Alice and Bella's ex had a similar personality and for a really long time, Jake was worried that his friend would be constantly reminded of the past with her neighbour. But when he had gotten to know Alice more, he realized the differences and hoped that Bella saw them too, they were two completely different women with one thing in common. Bella.

"It's the eyes," Bella continued, breaking Jake's thoughts, her voice sounded tired, but did not hold the brokenness Jake could usually detect when Bella talked about her ex, "they both have the same open and curious eyes that seem to penetrate the very essence of your being and it scares the hell out me Jake. What if Alice gives up on me too?"

Jake made an unattractive snort, "Bella, I'd slap you if I were there, because that is the dumbest shit that I have ever heard, she didn't give up on you she just moved on."

"Same thing Jake, she's not here yelling at me for being a stubborn jackass," Bella said and Jake, bless him, resisted the urge to try and travel through the phone line to choke his best friend for being so dumb.

"That's why you have me, to remind you that you're being a stubborn jackass, like now" he said, "Don't give up on Alice, Bella. I know that she reminds you of her and I know that it must hurt being constantly reminded and I am so sorry that I'm not there Bella, I am so sorry. But, by the way Alice has been taking care of you and from the sound of your voice now, you're doing well, you're a lot stronger than what you give yourself credit for Bella."

"How do you know that this isn't just a façade?" Bella whispered after a moment's silence.

Jake smiled unashamedly, "Because you've been smiling for the past five minutes, I can hear it in your voice Bells."

Bella couldn't help but notice her upturned lips, "Jerk."

"Asshole."

"Know-it-all"

"Don't hate me because you ain't me hoe," Jake said and then he clicked his fingers into the receiver, causing Bella to laugh.

"I love you Bella" Jake said after he sobered.

"I know Jake," Bella replied back fluidly, feeling the tell-tale signs of warmth spreading throughout her and, although it caused her guilt to be feeling such a thing, for the life of her, she couldn't care less.

Later~

"You've been ignoring me again," Alice said as she sauntered towards her neighbour who was in her usual spot under the veranda. She took a seat next to her neighbour, but not before scrunching up her face in distaste at her neighbours smoking habit.

"Yeah, well, I thought that you were preoccupied with…who's the girl you with now Turnip? No, Tennessee? Tanya, it's Tanya right? Oh, I just can't keep track of the people you date or don't date," Bella remarked casuistically, she wasn't trying to be hurtful, if the humour in her voice was any indication. She glanced to the side and saw her neighbour, her clothes where in a bit of disarray and Bella knew why her neighbour was coming home at such a late hour.

"Is somebody doing the walk of shame?" Bella questioned with a scandalous grin.

Alice averted her eyes from Bella and blushed, "No…" She replied impishly.

Bella scoffed, "Don't lie to me." She said and almost laughed the smaller woman's cheeks turning red.

Bella refrained from singing that god-awful song by The Lonely Island. To be honest she didn't really mind that Alice just had sex, not really, ok, maybe it was a little weird. Not in a jealous sort of way, but more an, I don't want to know about my friends sex life type of feeling.

They sat in comfortable silence and Bella almost had to turn her body away from the post coital glow that Alice was exuding from next to her.

"Soooo, what are you doing awake?" Alice asked only now noticing that the time was past one am.

"Sleep eludes me; you should know this by now."

Alice chuckled at this and stared into the night's sky, Bella glanced at her neighbour again and noticed the slight frown marked upon her delicate features, an odd combination Bella thought.

She shifted awkwardly in her seat, garnering Alice's attention, "You alright?"

Alice in turn, just smiled a brilliant smile, "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, nodding her head for effect.

Bella frowned and grabbed Alice's arm gently, "You sure? We can go inside and talk if you want."

Alice tried not to think about how Bella had actually initiated contact with her, she was also trying not to think about how soft and caring Bella's touch was, "Are you trying to get me into bed?"

Bella gave a half smile and in the best drop your panties voice she replied, "If I wanted you in bed, you'd already be in it."

Alice couldn't help the blush that followed or the following thought that was hot.

"Fuck you're smooth."

Bella laughed at her neighbours comment, she stood up and stretched, and she may or may not have caught Alice subtly checking her out.

"I know, oh by the way, I'm going to give you something else to wear, just to be comfortable, and, you kind of reek of sin."

Alice snapped out of her haze, so what if she just had sex with her girlfriend for the first time? her neighbour was hot; sue her for checking her out.

"Don't hate me, because you ain't me," she replied childishly. "Isn't this a bit odd, considering I'm dating someone at the moment?" Alice replied and stood up alongside Bella.

Bella shrugged, but understood what Alice had meant by her comment. This was the first time Bella had actually invited Alice into her home without Jake, they always had their conversations outside, in direct view of the public eye. The last time they had been alone in Bella's house, Bella was drunk so, that didn't really count. It was safer, knowing that at any moment, her neighbour could excuse herself from Bella's company, but inside was different. It was more confined and held unspoken rules, there was no one else to distract them from each other's company, it was just them.

"We're adults Alice, I'm sure that we can be in the same house at 1am at night without any hanky panky going on. And besides, it looks as if you've already had your share of hanky panky tonight," Bella said, fleetingly wondering if her house was clean. Giving a mental nod she opened the door and allowed Alice to walk in first.

"Please stop saying hanky panky," Alice said scrunching her face at the word. She walked over to the couch and waited for her neighbour to take her own position.

Bella plopped onto the far side of the couch and Alice followed suit, tucking her legs beneath herself, leaning her body into the brunette, her head resting upon the others shoulder. She was a snuggler by nature and at the moment didn't care if her neighbour opposed the contact. And although she had just slept with her girlfriend, she didn't want to stay at her house, justifying her departure for having an early start the next day.

Bella sat stone still, with her arm almost glued to her side, she wondered if it was a good idea to invite Alice in; this contact was beginning to ignite the warmth within her and she was acutely aware that it had nothing to do with the body heat Alice was emitting. She looked upwards and said an inward prayer, God, if you can hear me, please make this stop. She faced forward and then noticed their reflection in the black tv screen, mocking her, she faced towards the roof again Thanks, really, she thought sarcastically.

Alice noticed her neighbour's internal battle with herself and almost laughed at the saucer shaped eyes Bella had.

"Bella?" Alice began, hoping to make Bella think of something other than their close proximity.

"Yeah?"

"What do you do? You don't seem to have a routine and I never see you out, you're just always here," Alice asked curiously. She had only realized now that she didn't know what her neighbour's occupation was, which was a little odd considering that that is usually the first piece of information people discern when meeting.

"I'm a writer, of sorts."

"Of sorts? Anything I've read?" Alice asked, noticing that Bella was starting to relax.

"Unfortunately," Bella whispered so low that Alice almost heard, she didn't feel like revealing this bit of information to Alice just yet. It wasn't out of spite, but she didn't want to interrupt the genuine silence and companionship that they had at the moment. Though, she did need to have a discussion with her neighbour about her choice in "reading" material.

Realizing that she hadn't really answered the question, Bella diverged, "I mean, I haven't written anything in a while, I've seemed to have stumbled into a writer's block."

Alice smirked, "Ouch, that must have been some block if that's what happened to your face," she replied and then started giggling.

Bella poked Alice's side earning a squawk, "You've been talking to Jake too much," she stated with a glare. Alice kept laughing; it felt good to banter with Bella, even if it were childish retorts, perhaps it was because she was still basking in post coital glow, perhaps it was because she was running on adrenaline or maybe because it was just so endearingly funny to watch her neighbour get all uppity.

It was one of those nights where you felt invincible, as if the current of the sea and sky blend into one fluid motion but you don't notice. Those nights where you could breathe in and out without precaution and just know that you are protected. Where everything that you have ever done, every thought that has ever formulated from with you doesn't matter, where you don't need to be anything other than what you are in that exact moment in space and time.

"Rose told me that you were a speech pathologist," Bella stated, breaking Alice from her thoughts and trying not to sneeze from the tufts of Alice's hair tickling her nose. Alice nodded her head unsure and sightly alarmed as to what else her dear sister had informed her neighbour.

"You know, I don't care about how you came to be the person you are now, you're something else you know?" Bella said honestly. She wasn't sure where she was going with the conversation; she just thought that something needed to be said in the stillness of the night.

Alice cast a quizzical glance at her neighbour, "I…was that a compliment?" she asked, slightly shifting so that she could see Bella's face.

Bella just rolled her eyes, "Yep, there goes my annual quota of niceness, watch out, I can be as bitchy as I want now."

"Jesus, that wasn't you being bitchy before? The world is doomed," Alice replied sarcastically.

"You shouldn't be worried about the world; you should be worried about yourself. I'll get you little girl," Bella replied, "and your little dog too," she added as an afterthought, which caused Alice to laugh at the Oz reference.

"You're in a good mood tonight," Alice commented when she had sobered and leaned back into her position.

Bella smiled at her neighbour's comment and the openness towards her, "Yeah, I guess I am."

They sat together watching the blackened TV for a while.

"Sooooo…how was she?" Bella asked, noticing Alice hadn't fallen asleep.

"It was, nice..."

Bella winced for the other woman, "Ouch, that bad huh?"

Alice just shook her head. "I didn't say that it went badly, there was just no…"

"Let me guess, love?"

"Yeah," was the whispered reply.

Alice had enjoyed her time with her girlfriend and she could feel the muscles in her arms, legs and stomach straining in that delicious burn after an accomplished work out. But something was missing and Alice couldn't quite put her finger on it, did she love Tanya? In her own way she did, but therein laid the complication.

"What is it with you and love, fucking isn't synonymous to love Alice," Bella said, she didn't mean it harshly, it was just a fact.

"I know that Bella," Alice said defensively and then she shrugged her shoulders, "Perhaps it's the hopeless romantic in me or maybe it's my Disney complex, but I just know that I was made to love someone. Do you believe in love at first sight?" she suddenly queried, causing Bella to look down at her.

Bella snorted, "O.k. A, Disney was evil; he prescribed unrealistic expectations onto children regarding love and emphasized the concept of gender roles in society. B, the original written fairy tales were way better. And C, I believe that when we see someone that we think is attractive, our bodies experience physiological changes; pupils dilated, heart palpitation, nervousness and elation. We mistake those symptoms as love at first sight because it is a physical change of the body's status that we feel. So no, I don't believe at love at first sight, I think that society just Jedi Mind tricks us into believing that there is such a thing."

Alice looked at her neighbour "What about those couples that see each other and know that they're going to be together for the rest of their lives and that are together for that period of time?" she contested.

"They're unique, life doesn't always work out that way," Bella said.

"Well, what do you think happens then?"

Bella scratched the back of her neck and wondered how the conversation escalated so quickly, "Things change. People change. Years go by and you forget that they grow too and then, one day you realize that you're in this time warp where you're in love with that person of the past." Bella theorized, she looked down at Alice and noticed her intense gaze, "I mean, that's what I suppose what happens."

Alice held her stare at her neighbour for a few moments, resettled and then allowed her neighbours words to linger on her mind. Since knowing that Bella had a wife, well, ex-wife really, she understood her neighbour a bit better. Alice knew that Bella didn't mean to be so gruff or direct, that it was just a manifestation of the events that had happened to Bella. Alice had watched enough soap t.v shows to know that separation can make people bitter.

Alice found a strange sense of circumstance looking at Bella's separation on the whole, in relation to same sex marriage. It had been decades since the queer, social or whatever you wanted to call it, movement had advocated for the legalisation of same sex marriage and in some states that right had been permitted. But then, there has never been or at least not much coverage of the, what happens in the event of same sex separation? It was an interesting concept to think about and Alice couldn't help but be intrigued as she was witnessing it across from her very house.

"Bella?" Alice asked gently.

"Mmm," Bella answered knowing what the gentleness in Alice's tone meant; I bet she's going to ask a really personal question, she hypothesized.

"How did you know that your ex was the one at the time?" At the glance Alice received she quickly supplied a, "You don't have to answer."

Bella almost congratulated her call, but she shook her head and understood her neighbours caution towards her,"No, it's ok; it's just…who said that it was just a onetime thing?"

"You mean you still?"

Bella nodded, knowing that Alice could feel the movement, "I think that there's always going to be a part of me that will always love her and care about her, no matter if I end up with someone new, you know? Loving someone is something more than just a feeling, it's like, everything that you do, every thought that you have permeates because of them, they come before everything else and it is because of them that you can finally breathe. As corny as it sounds, before my wife, I used to see things in black and white, but now, I see things in technicolour and a big part of that was because of her."

"Why did you guys end?," Alice asked, feeling more comfortable talking to Bella.

"She left me."

"I'm so sor"

"Don't, it wasn't your fault," Bella cut off and Alice nodded.

Bella blew a sigh, she wasn't sure if she was relieved or just tired from re-hashing old memories. She loved her wife, was still in love with her and, no matter how many times she had tried to listen to the saved messages on her phone, to listen to her voice, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Bella was hanging by a thread and hearing her ex-wife's voice would cut whatever remaining sanity that she had. Because if she did, then the separation, the distance, everything, would just be so much more real.

"You're going to find someone who loves you the way you deserve to be loved," Alice commented, noticing how deep in thought her neighbour was.

Bella gave Alice a half smile hoping that the black tv screen would project it, "It's not about being deserving or not Alice, it just simply is, in all its radical and gratuitous splendour. And I don't know if I'm ready for another relationship you know?" Alice smiled knowing that Bella wasn't shutting her out.

"Have you seriously not been in love before?" Bella queried.

Alice shook her head, "Not to the point where I'd consider actually marry them, no. But, as a child, I just knew that there would be someone for me, I just know that I was made for someone."

Bella nodded her head. Did she understand Alice's words? Not fully, not in their entirety. Bella had found her one, but even before that, she just believed that love was something that you gained upon your own merit. She didn't believe in fate or a higher order that determined your destiny, perhaps that was the control freak inside her. But, when Alice penetrated Bella's life, she came in so gaily that it deconstructed everything. Bella probably wouldn't ever be able to capture or fully understand Alice, she knew that. But then, maybe that was the point of their relationship.

Alice smiled, "Thank you Bella for telling me about her."

In return, her neighbour just shrugged nonchalantly, "Well, there's only so much whining that my mind can take at, fuck, its 4am in the morning now?"

At this Alice just giggled, "Yep, perfect night for long talks and fogged breathes."

Bella thought the comment strange, but then, she realized who she was talking to. "I guess it is," She said after a moment and then leaned back into the couch with droopy eyes.

The Next Day~

Bella awoke with a start, an empty space and a post it note on her forehead. She took it gingerly and rubbed her forehead.

Bella, thank you for last night, I hope to find the love that you and your wife once shared. Had to go home and prepare for the day, see you later. Alice Xx.

Bella almost rolled her eyes, of course the smaller woman could portray unabashed excitement in few words and a brightly coloured paper. She chuckled, there were worse ways to wake up she thought.

Bella was about to get up when she felt her ass vibrate, well, more like the phone inside her pocket that was under her ass vibrate. She furrowed her brow and thought it odd that someone was calling her, as Jake had work now. She looked at her phone, vaguely noticing the 7 missed calls from an unidentified number and picked up.

"Hello?," she answered wearily, only to be surprised by the erratic voice of Rosalie Cullen.

"Bella, Are you at home?" She practically demanded.

Bella nodded her head, even though Rose couldn't see her, "Yeah, why? What's wrong?"

"You need to get to Alice now."

"What's…"

"Just do it," Rose yelled.

And that was all it took, Bella dropped the phone and ran across the road, with every bit of desperation a parent would show their injured child.

She twisted the doorknob, and was relieved to find it opened; she made her way to Alice's room where she could hear faint sobbing.

She knocked three times and when she didn't receive an answer, she walked inside.

There before her, sitting on her freshly made bed was Alice Cullen, slumped over with her elbows on her knees crying, bawling her eyes out. Bella had never seen Alice look so small, so broken and it inexplicably hurt her to the very core of her being.

Bella walked in front of her, like a tamer approaching a tiger and crouched down eye level, capturing Alice's attention, but if only for a brief moment.

"Alice, what's."

"Sh-she g-g-g-," Alice began and then she started hiccupping and breathing heavily. Bella knew what was going to happen or, what was happening. Alice was having a panic attack.

She drew in a deep breath and stared directly into the other woman's eyes, desperately hoping that they conveyed the compassion that she felt for Alice.

"Alice, I need you to breath, I need you to take deep breaths right now and listen to me ok?" She said slowly and then took a seat next to the hyperventilating form.

"I-I-I…" Alice tried to begin again.

"Just listen," Bella cut firmly and then she started conjoining words together, "A chicken and an egg are lying in bed. The chicken is leaning against the headboard smoking a cigarette, with a satisfied smile on its face. The egg, looking a bit pissed off, grabs the sheet, rolls over and says, "Well, I guess we finally answered that question."

What am I doing? She asked herself, she wasn't accustomed to calming people down, that was more of Jake's speciality, so, she just started with the first stupid thing that came into her head to keep on talking, to make Alice think of anything else but what she was hyperventilating about. Alice was just staring at her as if contemplating if she had actually said that joke, still hiccupping, but the waterfall tears were gone. Taking that as a postive sign, Bella continued to channel her inner lame dad jokes.

"An old man goes to the doctor for his yearly physical, his wife is tagging along. When the doctor enters the examination room, he tells the old man, 'I need a urine sample, a stool sample and a sperm sample.' The old man, being hard of hearing looks at his wife and yells, 'What? What did he say? What does he want?' His wife yells back, 'He needs your underwear!'"

Bella scrunched up her face; even she thought that that was a little low crass for her tastes. Bella was about to begin another one, but then Alice had calmed to the point of being able to breathe normally again and took Bella's hand.

"T-t-those were t-t-errible," Alice commented with a few sniffles.

"I may be a writer, but nothing is ever original anymore," Bella replied wryly, "What happened?"

Alice closed her eyes and could feel the tears prickling in the back of her eyes, causing her body to shudder, but it stopped when she felt a hand squeeze her own.

"Take your time, take a deep breath, everything is going to be ok and then tell me what happened," she heard Bella whisper.

Alice took a few deep breathes and then opened her eyes to look into the brown ones staring at her own, "My grandmother Cynthia died last night."

And with that, she began to cry all over again, she barely registered the two arms wrapping around her or being cradled like a child.

"I didn't get to say good bye to her."

Bella nodded her head in understanding, not wanting to apologise, not yet, because once someone said, I'm sorry, that was the moment you knew that there was nothing anyone could do to make it better. That was the moment where everything was real and where you knew that no amount of apologies could fix death. So, she sat there with Alice and didn't let go until the other woman had calmed and was making random patterns on her thigh.

"Come to the funeral with me?" She heard Alice whisper. The patterns stopped and Alice lifted her head to look at Bella again, it was a plea and Bella knew it. She couldn't say no to those eyes and she wouldn't.

"Of course," Bella replied, entirely forgetting that her promise meant going back to Forks, Washington.

Thank-you for reading.