The Twilight Universe belongs as always to the Awesomely Awesome Stephenie Meyer.

Reviewers thank you YOU ROCK! So this is where it starts veering away from SM's New Moon and into Alice's own recollection. Hope you enjoy. Let me know if something irks you or if you like it.

Songs for thought: Red Sam - Flyleaf, Blackout - Muse, Space Dementia - Muse :) As always you can find a link to my playlist on my profile.

Thank you again - L

Chapter Three - Aftermath.

I stayed by the river with Jasper, I didn't want to move. We hadn't spoken since he'd asked about Bella. I knew he would be alright, he would be harder on himself now, he would make sure that his thirst was under control. He would be hunting more. I would see to that. I wouldn't make this mistake again. His silence was breaking my heart.

"Alice?" I heard Edward asking for me at the house.

"Go on, I'll be up in a minute." Jasper whispered into my hair.

I sat back and looked at him again, his eyes still wore the pained expression, but at some point, he had regained control of his emotions again.

"I'll come back." I said leaning forward and kissing him gently on the lips. I got up slowly and glanced at him again in concern. I hated seeing him so miserable. He was a powerful soldier, but something like this always effected him badly, especially when he had been trying so hard.

I headed towards the house slowly, Jasper may have gotten control of his emotions but mine were spinning wildly out of control. I had no idea how I was supposed to deal with this and I wasn't sure how to act around anybody. Bella had been relaxed about the whole situation, but I wasn't sure how much of that was due to shock. Edward had said some comforting words of encouragement to Jasper, but I wasn't sure how he really felt, I had a sneaking suspicion he was blaming himself. Not to mention his decisions were swirling around my head at an alarming rate.

I approached the house and looked up at Edward, who was stood by the front door, his emotionless face was staring out into the meadow. "How's Jasper doing?" he asked, his face still devoid of any emotion.

"He's ashamed of himself, I think it'll be a while before he gets over this. How's Bella?" I asked in return.

"Carlisle finish stitching her up. I don't know how she's feeling though."

I nodded solemnly, and hung my head. He was angry, scared and hurting. How could everything have gone so wrong? I hadn't seen Edward in a mood like this for a long time, I was beginning to get worried. It seemed it was worse than I had possibly imagined.

"Could you help Bella find something to wear?"

I nodded and headed up the stairs following him inside. I tried to get control of my emotions before I walked through the door. I could see Bella stood talking to Esme and Carlisle. They were chuckling. I couldn't imagine what had them so chipper in a situation like this, but I was hoping that it would be a good sign. That things would go back to normal.

Bella's appearance was shocking, the scarlet blood was drying into a dark burgundy on her shirt. She look disheveled and tired, so I rushed to her side quickly, still having no idea how to act.

"C'mon, I'll get you something less macabre to wear."

We headed up the stairs at Bella's speed and headed towards Esme's closet. Bella stood at the door with her arms wrapped around herself as I rummaged for something similar to what she was wearing. I found a shirt and handed it to her. We headed into the bathroom and Bella pulled off her shirt, we cleaned up her arm and she pulled the clean shirt over her head. She looked a lot better, almost as if nothing had happened. I was just concerned about the look of apprehension she wore, I wasn't sure exactly what it was pertaining to but it made me nervous.

"Alice," Bella whispered as I was headed towards the door.

"Yes?" I stopped and turned to look at her, I cocked my head slightly in curiosity. I wasn't sure what she wanted to talk about that she wouldn't want anyone else to hear.

"How bad is it?" she muttered under her breath. I froze, Edward's decisions were still jumping around and they were mostly bad, but there was still some hope there. I didn't know what to tell her. So I tried to be honest.

"I'm not sure yet." I said watching the sorrow fill Bella's eyes.

"How's Jasper?"

I sighed, "He's very unhappy with himself. It's all so much more of a challenge for him, and he hates feeling weak." Not to mention it was all my fault for not going hunting with him, because as always I was preoccupied doing my own thing. I added in my head.

"It's not his fault." Bella told me sympathetically."You'll tell him that I'm not mad at him, not at all, won't you?"

"Of course." I felt myself relax a little. Bella was perhaps the most forgiving person I had ever come across, I felt lucky to have her as a friend, I didn't know what I had done to deserve her but I was glad she was in my life. Now I had to focus on Edward, and Jasper, and bringing them back to our reality. Edward's future was beginning to disturb me more as his thoughts became clearer. I was hoping to talk to him before this all got out of control. Jasper would beat himself up about this but he would come around, and in the end he would fight his urges harder, I was sure of that.

I followed Bella downstairs, where Edward was waiting by the door. As she reached the bottom he held it open for her. I looked at the scene and realized that Bella's unopened gifts were still laying on the floor by the piano.

"Take your things!" I cried and swooped them up with her camera. I pressed them into her uninjured arm. "You can thank me later, when you've opened them." I added hopefully. For the first time since I had met Bella, I was having a hard time determining her future. I still saw her as a vampire, but Edward wasn't there as much as he always had been. The vision was confusing me. I watched as Edward guided Bella outside and closed the door. Esme and Carlisle embraced, and I knew the outcome couldn't be good. I dropped to the floor on me knees and dropped my head into my hands. I saw it all, we were packing up and heading out. He had made his decision, we were leaving. He was leaving Bella, alone, I saw it all, his heart shattering into a thousand tiny pieces. He would never recover, but he would try to stay away. I knew without a doubt that he believed this was the only thing he could do. He would destroy them both, I could definitely see that.

"Alice?" Carlisle asked crouching beside me and resting his hand on my shoulder.

'We're moving aren't we?" I asked hopelessly.

"He wants to talk with us about the options." Carlisle said confirming my suspicions. I couldn't think, my body shuddered involuntarily and I succumbed to the dry sobbing that controlled every inch of my body.

Esme was at my side in seconds, smoothing my hair, and cooing maternally.

"Doesn't anyone else get a say in this?" I asked, between sobs. "She's my friend, and do you have any idea, what this will do to Jasper? The guilt will eat him alive."

"I'm sorry, Alice, this has to be Edward's decision." Carlisle whispered as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

I nuzzled into Esme's motherly arms and let myself go. I had to get this out of my system before facing Jasper again. This would be hard enough on him without having to hold me together at the same time.

I heard the door open quietly, I didn't move. I was hoping against hope that it wasn't Jasper. I caught Rosalie's scent as she pushed the door closed behind her. She said nothing but sat in front of me and picked up my hand. With each passing moment, my vision became stronger, I couldn't keep my eyes closed any longer. I wanted to stop watching, he was truly committing to this resolution. I knew why he was doing it, and I knew how badly it would turn out. I also knew he would never listen to reason. But I had to try, I had to do something.

After my fit had ended I decided to go and find Jasper again, he still hadn't come in and I knew he was still brooding over what had happened. I got my emotions in control and headed down towards the river where I had left him.

Emmett was sat next to him on the grass looking helpless. I nodded to him and waited for him to stand. He hung his head low and headed towards the house touching me briefly on the shoulder as he passed. I headed closer toward Jasper.

"Hey you." I said crouching in front of him, he was sat cross legged in the grass with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He lifted his head and reached out towards me pulling me onto his lap and nuzzling his head in my shoulder.

"You can't stay out here all night babe, we're going to have to talk about it at some point." I said quietly, running my hand down the side of his face lovingly. I wanted him to look at me.

"I know, I just can't help but feeling like I've screwed everything up." he said playing with the hem of my shirt in his fingers.

"Jasper, whatever happens, it's not your fault. If it wasn't this I'm sure it would be something else." I said trying to block the morose tone playing with my voice.

Jasper looked up at me quickly trying to read my expression. I looked into his eyes and sighed. I knew I would have to tell him sooner rather than later. "Alice, what's going on?"

"Edward's calling a house meeting." I reached and cupped his face with my hand, looking deep into his amber eyes. "He's made a decision."

Jasper closed his eyes and rested his forehead on my shoulder. This was exactly the type of thing he had been trying to avoid. We all knew Edward's tendency to overreact to situations, we also knew that he had never had someone he loved with every inch of his being before, I couldn't fault him for it. It was the only way he knew to protect her. I closed my eyes again and laid my head against his. We sat in the dark listening to each other breathing. I wasn't sure how long we sat there, we were comforting each other the only way we knew how, silently. I could feel the anxiety seeping from him but I shared it quietly, it seemed fitting.

I knew we weren't the only ones hurting, Edward's decision was going to affect all of us. The silent support Rose had given me was a sign that she did care. She cared how much it would hurt us all, Emmett had grown attached to Bella as a sister, I had grown attached as a best friend and a sister. Not to mention that Esme and Carlisle had already accepted her into the family, and Jasper, no matter how hard he found it to be around her, had accepted her.

Then there was Edward, his self-sacrifice would be the hardest, he had been so happy. I knew this was going to change him in a way none of us could think of, I knew it would crush his spirit beyond recognition. He would be a hollow shell of the man he had been. I knew that his entire world revolved around Bella, it had since the day he met her. Being separated from her for something as trivial as a hunting trip had made him anxious, the repercussions of this had the potential to change our family forever.

I was brought out of my thoughts when Rosalie approached surreptitiously, her face was sympathetic, and full of sorrow.

"Hey guys, Carlisle asked that you come inside. He wants to talk to us before Edward gets here."

"Thanks Rose." I said and watched as she turned and walked away. "You ready?"

Jasper lifted his head and nodded. He wrapped one arm under my legs and the other around my back and stood up, at full height he dropped my legs gently to the ground. I stood wearily and picked up Jasper's hand and headed towards the house.

We entered the dining room slowly, Jasper's head was hung low, his chin resting on his chest. He was too ashamed to face the family. Esme rushed from her seat and wrapped her arms around his waist in support.

"Oh, Jasper, please don't blame yourself." She sighed and guided him to a chair.

I looked around the room at my family, Rosalie had her arm wrapped around Emmett, who had his arms crossed on the table with his head resting in them. Carlisle sat at the head of the table and had his fingers on his temples. Esme sat with Jasper and held his hand sadly. I sighed and headed to my seat on the opposite side of Jasper. I leaned my head on his shoulder and watched Carlisle as he tried to speak.

"I wanted to talk to you all before Edward comes home." he sighed and looked up at me sadly. "Edward has called a house meeting and I'm sure each of you understand the implications of that."

"This is absurd, Carlisle." Rosalie said shaking her head in disgust. "I understand the severity of what happened tonight, but don't you think he's blowing it all out of proportion?"

I nodded fervently, in agreement. It was perhaps the most sensible thing Rose had ever said regarding Bella and Edward.

"Perhaps," Carlisle agreed. "But we have to do this his way, it's the only way he'll be able to live with himself."

"Oh, so we all have to up and move ahead of schedule because he's an. . . an . . . overprotective fool?"

"Rose," Esme said in a pleading tone. "Please keep in mind how much he's going to be hurting about this."

"Why is he doing it then?" I asked sadly.

"Because this is exactly the thing he's been fearing. He blames himself for the constant danger Bella seems to find herself in. He thinks that she is in even more danger from him. He's doing this for her." Carlisle answered, looking sadder than he had been.

"This is all my damned fault." Jasper whispered shaking his head. I wrapped my arm around his and cuddled closer to him. I knew this would be hard on him, I could feel his body heave the unnecessary air in and out of his chest in distress and the wave of guilt and pain that enveloped us in a room that felt it was closing in around us.

"Don't you dare say that again Jasper Whitlock Hale, do you understand me?" I said almost in a whisper.

Jasper slammed his elbows onto the table and dropped his head in his hands. This was the worst I had ever seen my family, everyone was hurting about this, Edward had waited almost a hundred years to find Bella and he was throwing it all away. I had to talk some sense into him, I had to help him see reason.

The room basked in the painful silence as we waited for Edward. I knew that he would wait until he had said good morning to Bella before heading home, which was fine by me, I wanted to be with Jasper today, I would get my chance with Bella tomorrow.

The front door opened quietly and each of us sat up and listened, five heads turned to the door. Jasper's stayed on his chest.

"Dining room, Edward." Carlisle called.