Fish

Time passed and I began to think about the incident at graduation less and less. Alice and I spent a perfect summer together, taking two amazing trips to California where Renee was currently living. My mother didn't really believe in that little thing called privacy and more than once she nearly caught us showing our affection. Luckily Alice had super human speed as well as a talent for acting and we squeaked by each time. Still, she didn't seem to believe things were over between Edward and I.

"He was so charming and I thought you liked him."

"I did. It just didn't work out."

"Boys can be so naive at your age. I wouldn't blame yourself."

"Yeah, Bella," Alice chimed in mostly to tease me. "Even if he was pretty mature for his age."

It wasn't that I didn't still feel bad about the way things ended, I guess I just felt it coming for so long, and talking about it so openly was not what I wanted to do.

"Well who needs boys when I've got such a great friend right here." I pulled Alice in for a sideways hug, grinning through my mother's unsatisfied expression. I think she'd been secretly planning our wedding all along and was disappointed to say the least.

"What about you, Alice? Do you have a boyfriend? I thought I remembered something about a young man who used to live with your family... Jason was it?"

"No I don't. You're probably thinking of Rosalie and Em." she chirped, pushing me away playfully. The sun was setting, getting caught in her golden eyes. I tried not to stare.

"Was that it? What is this world coming to when two such lovely girls can't find decent young men?"

"We're okay, mom, really."

After a few more rounds of similar conversation Alice noted that it was getting late. After we were sure Renee was asleep we walked out onto the deserted beach that was a little under a mile from her house. The last traces of orange could be seen in the star studded sky. The waves calmly matched my breathing as warm sand parted softly under my bare feet. We could finally link hands and be close in a way I could never let anyone else see.

"Have you ever thought about telling her?" Alice asked, searching the sand for interesting shells.

"About what? Us?"

She nodded, looking at me seriously.

"No way. She doesn't need to know."

"You'd be surprised what parents can handle."

"Well we all can't have perfect, super model families."

She looked as if I'd stepped on her foot and managed for it to hurt.

"I'm sorry. You know how much I love your family-"

"No, it's not that... I was just thinking of my real parents. I wonder what they would have thought of us."

Alice didn't talk about her past. Ever. I wondered what had made her decide to bring it up now.

"It's just I grew up in such a different world. The roaring twenties. I bet it was spectacular, but of course this sort of relationship would be out of the question."

"You don't remember a thing?"

"Sometimes I think I do, but then I just wonder if I'm imagining it." She spun the pearl I'd found earlier for her that day between her hands, thinking. "I've done a lot of research on myself, trying to find out more, but then I wonder why. I'm perfectly happy." she smiled though I caught the hint of sadness in her voice.

"It's normal to wonder. I can't even imagine what that must be like. Not knowing your own history... Have you ever thought about contacting them?"

"Oh yes. I have a niece."

"I remember you mentioned that once. Have you thought about maybe visiting her?"

She smiled. "And say what? Hi, I'm your mother's crazy sister who was checked into an asylum at nineteen, and turned into a vampire almost a hundred years ago?"

I shrugged.

"I might give her a heart attack. She'd be very old now."

"Well she might have had children too. I'm just saying if you want to, you could reconnect with them."

She pulled me down to lay in the sand with her. She held me close as the waves grazed the shore.

"That's the most I've talked about it with anyone," she whispered. "All that uncertainty scares me."

"It's your life, Alice. There's nothing you can't handle. You're so strong."

"Thanks love. I wish I believed it myself."

I stroked her porcelain skin, never before feeling something so soft. I wanted to take all that turmoil inside her and throw it out into the tide, letting it dissolve into the darkness where it belonged, letting my angel go.

"I know you were amazing. Just because your family couldn't see it doesn't mean you did anything wrong. They were just afraid, and couldn't understand your premonitions."

"Sweetheart, you don't have to say-"

"I think you need to hear it." I insisted. "All that really matters is that you know who you are now. That you know that you have a family who loves you and would never hurt you. If I could change the past for you I swear I would."

"I believe you," she whispered, hugging me tighter. She smiled with a little laugh. "You know in a way I feel as if you've always been with me somehow. Seeing you for the first time was like remembering a faded memory. One I still can't place like the rest of my past, but stronger. Something was always there through all the pain pushing me forward, promising one day..."

"Promising what?"

"An answer. Something waiting for me, worth fighting for."

"Love?"

"Yes. Love, acceptance, freedom. I knew I had all that when I met the Cullens, but with you it just all feels complete. Like things finally make sense and I don't have to hide anymore."

I could only bob my head like an idiot, agreeing with everything she'd said, reflecting her feelings as my own. With her everything felt so right and balanced. Her hands worked their way through my hair gently and down to my hips, leaning her forehead against mine. I realized that my breath had quickened.

"Alice," I said almost panicked. "I've never felt this before." I'd thought I'd loved Edward, but this was just so much more-

"I'm in love with you too," she said.

"Hey! You can't even wait for me to say it first?" I pretended to be angry, pushing her away across the sand and folding my arms with a pout.

She giggled and leapt to her feet, towering over me. "You're right, that was rude, I just couldn't wait any more to say it." She began to scoop me up into her arms. "I'll make it up to you."

"What are you doing?" I held on but feared the direction she was headed in. She began to run at the water.

"No, Alice, it'll be freezing!"

"You've never seen this before have you?"

"Seen myself drenched and shivering? Yeah, it's a real hoot-now let go!"

"Haven't you always wondered what it's like to fly, Wendy?" she said with a wink.

Without another word of explanation she splashed through the shallow waves out into the deeper water, going so fast that I had to shut my eyes. I then realized that despite a few drops of water I was completely dry. Within seconds we were a mile from land, nothing but water surrounding us. I looked down at her blurred feet. She was running so quickly that she was actually able to stay buoyant without breaking the surface. She was able to skip across the water faster than gravity was pulling us down, her feet only touching the liquid for a fraction of a second. I let out a cry of astonishment and she smiled down at me. "Am I forgiven?" she shouted over the wind.

"Yes!" I yelled, pulling her head down into a kiss. "I love you, Alice Cullen!"

With one swift movement she moved me onto her shoulders so that I felt like I was flying-we were flying! The water was so clear that I could see fish far below us through the moonlight, the night air energizing. The most thrilling moment of my life spent with the woman I loved. Had I known happiness until then?

"Bella!" she called after what felt like an hour of brilliant soaring. I was a bird, a superhero! "Bella!" It occurred to me that we seemed to be veering off our fairly straight coarse. She gripped me tighter and turned around so quickly I almost flew off. I looked down to find her face absolutely horror struck.

"What's wrong?"

The only answer that came was the shaky slowing of her legs, which had been pumping like hummingbird wings only a moment ago. There was no way she could be worn out. I'd seen her keep up faster speeds than this for hours. The way we were headed we would not make it close to shore.

"Alice, it's okay, you're a good swimmer!" I personally wasn't the best, but I could at least float and move around slowly. It wouldn't be difficult for her to get us both back to land.

But still no answer came. As I was about to call to her again we suddenly fell right through the surface. Having lost the momentum needed to skip like a stone, we began to sink like one instead. I was thrown off a little further than her and flailed back to find her before the strong waves separated us even more. Water gushed into my lungs as I found it difficult to fight the current. I had no choice but to struggle out of my jacket as it was weighing me down. I kicked back to where I thought we'd crashed but didn't see her anywhere.

"Alice!" I shouted, panic welling up inside me, spreading like fire as my eyes only met dark blue waves all around. There was no way she'd gone under...

"Oh God! Alice!"

A/N: Please review. :D