Haha! I don't know if anybody else noticed, but if you know the lay of the land in Washington you would know that it takes about three hours to drive from Forks to Seattle. And the shortest route would include a fucking ferry ride. SO... for the sake of this story, Seattle is just over the hill... :] Silly me. .

Sorry for the delay. My brain has been complete mush for the longest time and I have had no inspiration. I still don't have much, so I really hope this doesn't turn out to be crap. Please review and give me pointers, advice, etc. Just don't tell me to use google maps before I place cities and towns for my characters from now on (or Steph's, for that matter). I just learned that lesson on my own. :/ And for those brilliant few of you who already knew my mistake, I both appreciate and despise you for not pointing it out. ;)

Hope you guys don't hate it!

Chapter 6

I woke up on the couch the day after my date with Alice to a loud, obnoxious ringing. At first I thought that the sirens of death had come to signal my final moments on Earth. There's no way in hell someone can go to sleep that happy and wake up. But thankfully, or unfortunately, it was just my phone. Perhaps there isn't really a difference.

I groaned and sat up slowly, my back cracking from the uncomfortable place I had fallen asleep. I mentally patted myself on the back for ordering a new living room set before I picked up the phone from the coffee table. The caller I.D. Read "J. Black." Why is Jacob calling me at eight on a Saturday? I yawned and hit the send button and cleared my throat. "Hello?"

"Bella." Jacob's voice sounded weary. "I need you to take over this serial killer story. I know you were giving me a huge break by handing it over, but I don't think this is my area of expertise."

I sighed before I realized how rude I might seem, biting back the groan that threatened to escape. "What's wrong, Jake? I thought you would do well with something like this." I got up and walked to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee, breathing steadily to calm my frazzled nerves. I never took to waking up so roughly, especially on a weekend when I expected to sleep in. "You really are hard on yourself, you know. Your writing has improved dramatically since you were hired."

Over the receiver I heard the tall tale sound of a lighter being flicked, followed by a deep inhale. God, already? I rolled my eyes. This is just getting better and better. Fuck me.

It wasn't a widely known fact, but Jacob was something of a cannabis connoisseur. My 'live and let live' mentality had made him too comfortable with me about it, since I found the habit rather annoying in these particular circumstances. If it wasn't enough, Jacob began choke on his smoke, gagging and coughing right in my ear. After he caught his breath, he huffed into the phone. "I know, I know, but Edward doesn't like how I'm wording everything. He said you should at the very least go in today to edit my work on it so far."

Great. Just great. "Fine, I'll be in by 9:30 or so. I have to get ready. This is supposed to be my day off, you know."

"I'll make it up to you, I promise. I have some Strawberry Kush if you want it." The excitement in his voice rattled my nerves even further and all thoughts of not being rude were thrown to the curb. "Jacob, if I am taking over this because you just want to have more time to get stoned," I started, my voice getting darker with each word. "I will make your life a living hell, I promise."

And with that I hung up the phone and mindlessly tossed it on the counter, grabbing a cup of coffee and chugging it on my way to the bathroom.

An hour later I was sitting in my office with a handful of loose paper that Jacob had given me. It was covered in half-legible scribbles and scratches. In other words, he should have given me some blank paper so I could write my own notes. Just looking at it my head started to throb. Jacob was usually a decent writer but I guess I overestimated him. I should have known, really. Jacob's usual assignments were incredibly linear. Murder mysteries didn't involve player stats and scores. Can you imagine if it did? Rising serial killer scores again, cops: zero.

This is ridiculous. I should be at home catching up on some sleep, but instead I'm in the office trying not to tear my hair out. Why couldn't Jacob use the computer to type his shit down just like everyone else? At least then he could have sent it to me through email and I would be happily cuddled up in a blanket on the couch instead of sitting in a cold, muggy office building. Life isn't fair, but this was just cruel. Well fuck you, Edward. And fuck YOU, Jacob. I gathered his notes in a folder alongside the notes I had already taken from the press conference and packed them in my briefcase, all the wile not paying attention to the nagging voice in my head constantly worried about what this series of murders could mean.

Seconds later my phone rang, evoking a tactless groan of annoyance that turned heads as I walked toward the exit. Instead of looking at the caller ID this time I tactfully picked up the phone and half-yelled, "What?"

"Well that's not the greeting I expected." An unexpected, melodic voice responded and I nearly tripped over my feet. Shit. Oh shit.

"I'm so sorry, Alice." I smacked myself on the forehead, nearly dying inside. "I thought you were someone else, I swear." I held my breath before I heard a chuckle float through the receiver. "Don't worry, Bella, no harm no foul." She laughed a little more but it didn't stop my blush from setting my face on fire and my heart from pounding out of my chest. But a wave of relief joined my anxiety and suddenly I felt...okay. I smiled for the first time all day.

"I'm glad you called," I said sincerely. "How are you?" I felt silly starting off with small talk. For the short time I had known her, Alice and I hardly made small talk. Conversation seemed more important with her than with other people I interacted with.

I pictured her with that trademark smirk she always wore whenever I did something to amuse her. Just thinking of it made me shiver. "I'm doing great, thanks. Yourself?" Her voice sounded wonderful in contrast to the nagging voices of Jacob and Edward from this morning and I nearly forgot all about them. My mind drifted to the night before and I got lost before I realized she was waiting for me to talk. "Very well, thank you. I had a great time with you last night, by the way. I wanted to tell you." I hoped that didn't sound desperate. I could feel that swelling in my chest in anticipation again. You know, that feeling you get when you're thirteen and discover your first crush. But, if it's possible, far more intense.

"I did, too. I'm glad you let me take you out." She breathed into the phone, her words sounding like music. God am I cheesy... "I was actually wondering, and I hope this doesn't sound crazy since we just saw each other last night, but, I was...wondering if you would like to meet with me today?" Her confidence seemed to fade just a little as she started to ramble. Her nervousness was so charming but I still didn't know why a plain, boring person like me could rattle somebody so perfect in the slightest.

My smile grew ten times wider, I'm sure. "I would really like that, actually. I was just stepping out of the office. Going in on a day off is a bit of a downer." I laughed a little and she joined me.

"Hmm... I can imagine. You can tell me all about it if you come and see me." Her confidence was back. In my mind that smirk was on again but adorned with a pinch of smugness. Her voice sounded more sure knowing I had agreed to her proposition. Who could deny Alice Cullen? Certainly not me. "You know I'm open to suggestion. Where to?" I found myself agreeing so easily to something I normally would be so nervous about.

I heard a tapping noise, maybe a pencil or a nail drumming on a desk. "Hmm... Meet me at 3600 Admiral Way. I sit up here sometimes to sketch designs, but I feel like sharing this view with you." Her voice softened. "I think you'll like it here."

"I think I know where that is." I nodded even though she couldn't see me. "I'll be there in a few, if you are already there."

"I am, and I can't wait." I could hear her smile. "You'll see me. I'm pretty much the only one here."

"Okay. On my way."

I parked my truck on the side of Admiral Way and looked out of the window where I could see Alice sitting on a bench overlooking the Seattle skyline. Her dark, spiky hair was drifting slightly with the wind and her eyes looked like they were closed. I kept my eyes on her, transfixed, as I slowly got out of the cab. I focused with my other senses so as to not fall on my way out, a seemingly easy task for anyone else but myself, but I couldn't tear my eyes away. She looked so peaceful and at rest that I almost dreaded to break her from her meditative state.

Since I had woken up this morning it had been difficult to think of anything but that last moment we shared on my front porch. I had never experienced such intensity from anyone I had ever been with before, especially not from just one kiss. Just thinking about it made my chest stir and my stomach flip. That electricity... I didn't think that any of those feelings I had read about truly existed. And how fast it seemed to emerge from me for this woman I had only just met! It was almost overwhelming. It was overwhelming but not unwanted. It was frightening but new and exhilarating.

As I made my way to Alice's bench I was careful to tread softly on the slick pavement. It had been drizzling constantly since I left the house. The weather usually suited my mood, but at present I was more in the mood for some sunshine. Alice didn't look fazed at all, her eyes still closed once I had finally reached her. She didn't open them as she broke the silence.

"Hello, Bella." She smiled slightly before slowly peeking at me from behind her damp bangs, a smile making it's way across her features. "I'm glad you came." She patted the seat beside her and I happily made my way to her.

"Hi, Alice." I smiled back at her and spoke softly. "You look lovely." And she did. She wore a light gray, stylish rain jacket and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans with a pair of black flats. Her hair, as usual, defied gravity even though it didn't even look like she had any gel in it. I wondered what product she used... Then I realized it wouldn't have made a difference to me. I knew nothing about product apart from hair spray. My hair didn't really do much apart from it's natural wave. It didn't friz, either, even in the terrible weather that usually inhabited Washington. One of the few good traits in my family.

Alice's eyes opened a little wider and I noticed that they seemed even more aureate than usual. If I didn't know better, I would think that they had been nearly black the night before... I was probably imagining it.

"Thank you for coming." She moved a little closer, her smile still in place. I felt her chilled hand grasp mine and despite the temperature it seemed to set my body on fire. My smile grew and I tightened my hold just a little, focusing on her golden orbs before moving in. She met me half way and once again our lips met for a brief but heart-stopping kiss. I felt the heat, the electricity from before, consume me for that small second we connected. But all too soon we had separated and I was left speechless, starring at her porcelain frame. I had to stop myself from uttering "God..." as we parted, for that would have been slightly awkward and would have given verbal evidence of the ridiculous hormonal rampage that was currently going on inside of me. I already went through the painful process of puberty, but when it came to Alice I felt like I was experiencing the volume of it all over again. Her presence saturated me and I couldn't hold in the shiver that ran down my spine as her eyes focused on my own.

Alice noticeably swallowed before speaking again. "You look beautiful." Her voice was barely over a whisper and her mouth was drawn into a shy little smirk, making my stomach bubble in little fits of butterflies. How on earth did she feel the same as me? "I hope I didn't take you away from something more important."

The way she says this suggests that she is a little nervous, which I find absolutely silly. Maybe I am not as obvious as I feel I am. I thought my body had betrayed just how unimportant everything else felt at the moment. In fact, I knew later I would have to remind myself that I even had a job. Woe is me.

I simply shook my head, hoping my small smile was enough reassurance. For some reason my throat felt very dry and I had to clear it before I could speak again. "Of course not. I only had to go in because one of my writers dropped the ball on me. But I won't bore you with that." I shrugged a little, not wanting to bother her with my petty work problems. Like I said, they didn't feel so important right now.

She leaned slightly and whispered as if telling me an important secret. "You couldn't bore me if you tried." Her eyes twinkled in the faint light that filtered in from the sun. "What's going on?"

My eyes narrowed slightly, my smile still in place. "Smooth talker."

"Of course." She sat up with a proud grin spread across her face, her chest sticking out into the air in a dramatic fashion. It made me laugh and I had to stop myself from leaning in to kiss her again. Never in my life have I ever had to consciously practice so much self-restraint. "Now, seriously, what's going on? Work's important to you, I know that. I want to know you." The cockiness in her smile faded and she suddenly looked very much like a curious child, her head shifted slightly to the side.

"Well, you know about the supposed serial killer that's been hanging out in Seattle?" I tried to ignore the mocking voice in the back of my head. Supposed... It hissed with irritation at me as I suppressed a cring. You are absolutely pathetic.

"You're writing on that?" Alice's smile was gone now, and she almost looked a little nervous.

I nodded, "Yes, now I am." I shifted my gaze to my hands which were unconsciously playing with the pull string of my jacket. "Initially I had been assigned to it, but I handed it over to my friend Jacob. He was with me at the bar that night we met." I smiled slightly and looked back to her. "He's actually the one that dragged me out that night, by the way. I guess I should thank him." My smile turned into a smirk that wasn't very different from hers. I guess she was rubbing off on me. That or I finally felt comfortable to do some outright flirting of my own. She smirked back and playfully bumped my arm with hers.

I realized in that moment that it was so easy to forget my worries and transgressions around Alice. Usually it would be very difficult for me to be thinking of anything other than the fact that my insides were telling me I was in some sort of danger. But with her I felt I was safe enough to pretend all of that didn't exist. Don't ask me why. For all I know my mental instability simply runs deeper than I thought and my 'fight or flight' instinct was broken. However, I knew that soon I would have to face the reality that something wasn't right in my little world. I tried to shrug it off the best I could. It was quickly coming back again.

"I'll have to thank him, too, I guess." She smirked at me, too, just a little before she sobered. "But I can tell you don't seem happy about this. What's wrong?"

Alice's expression was unreadable. Something inside told me she knew something... I couldn't place why I felt this way. Maybe it was because her eyes didn't hold the same curiosity they had before. They didn't seem to hold the question she asked, like she knew the answer but wanted me to tell her on my own.

I shook this thought off. Probably thinking too much into this. "I'm just sensitive to the subject, I guess." But the feeling didn't go away. Her eyes said so much, even if her face expressed something different. Should I tell her? I only just met her. I felt a deep, unnatural level of trust in her for whatever unexplained reason but was this too much for her to handle? For me to handle? I hardly addressed the issue on my own, if you could say I had at all. To lay everything out on the table for her would mean that it would be out for me to see as well.

Avoidance was obviously something I had gotten very good at. So when Alice's eyes seemed to search me for what I wasn't saying I felt myself look away to the skyline before us. My mouth suddenly felt like it had been stitched closed. My heart sunk. Bile rested in the back of my throat before moving down into my stomach to burn my insides. I felt terrible hiding this all of a sudden. All of this time I had hidden it from myself and I was fine, but now that I was hiding it from Alice I felt like my body was decomposing. I felt like I was on some kind of roller coaster, an analogy I didn't understand before now. One minute I forgot everything that was going wrong but with one, intense, x-ray glance from Alice and it was flooding back and begging to be released.

Nothing made any sense.

I had to leave. I couldn't say this yet. I wasn't ready. Nobody believed the whole story, anyway. At least not what happened to me. My family was rolling around in the grave.

I stood, Alice's hand leaving mine gently but very quickly the comfort was gone. It left it freezing. I tried to ignore the small gasp that left those perfect, pink lips of hers as I made my way from the bench to the rail sitting a few feet away. Running to my truck would be rude, wouldn't it? Should I even care at this point? Shouldn't I save her the trouble and just leave, erase her number from my phone and pretend that all I ever had before me was this? This weirdness inside?

It was stupid of me to think that I could retain a relationship with anyone whilst still so mentally insecure and volatile. My life was simply too fucked up, wasn't it? Of course it was! My family was murdered right before me by a supernatural being that I couldn't place without people giving me looks of doubt and sympathy.

I stood there for a moment, my hands on the guard rail, the skyline in the distance fading from my vision as if it wasn't really there. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, the stinging of a panic attack beginning in my chest. Shit, not here, not in the open. I shut my eyes tighter. Not in front of Alice. God, I was a basket case. The color left my hands as I tightened my grip. It felt like I was trying to break the aluminum in my hands in half.

A minute later I felt skin on my own again and opened my eyes to see Alice standing next to me, gazing at me with a look of genuine concern and her hand holding mine. Guilt eroded my insides at that one look and I almost felt like I had betrayed her. You just met her! I kept telling myself. She can't know what's happened to you! Especially not just now! FUCK!

A quiet, melodic voice filtered into my ears as I pressed my eyelids closed again. "Bella, please tell me what's wrong." She urged, so gently. "I know what happened to you. I know more than you think."

What? "What?" I repeated my own thoughts, looking at her again. I could feel tears stinging the corners of my eyes.

"Bella, I know what happened to you. I know what really happened to your family." Alice spoke softly. "I see you are hurting and I want to be here for you." Her words came out hurried and quiet. "I've always wanted to be here. I've waited so long to be here. Please." The last part was so quiet it was almost drowned out by the wind.

My mind went blank. Shock. Nothing she said made sense.

"Wait a minute." I shook my head, trying to clear my mind of all of the confusion that rushed in so suddenly.

"Bella, I think we need to talk. I didn't think... I just..." Her voice broke slightly. "I need to tell you something. I need you to trust me."

This all felt so rushed. It felt... right, though, at the same time. How could it? I don't know. It was all so fucking confusing. But Alice's hand caressing my own felt like home. HOME? What is WRONG with me?

I took in deep breaths again before looking back into her eyes. I only saw warmth, comfort, sincerity... Maybe... Maybe I could talk to her. I felt like I could. Don't fight it, something inside of me said. But another part of me screamed and told me to run as fast as I could in the opposite direction.

A tear finally escaped from me, rolling down my cheek all on it's own. Before I realized what she was doing, Alice moved closer to me and pressed her lips against it, that electricity sending shocks into my skin, down my legs and into my feet that seemed to barely be able to hold my weight anymore.

This meeting went from being completely flippant and wonderful to heavy and dramatic so quickly I felt like I had whiplash. How come every emotion I had seemed to spill out the second I was in front of Alice? Why could I not suppress myself as I normally did around everyone else?

"Come with me." Alice's hand tugged on my own and she dragged me to her car that was parked a few places in front of mine. "We'll talk. I'll tell you everything."