A/N: In about two chapters things are going to start moving surprisingly fast until the end of the story...Until then these aren't the most exciting chapters they really start to get the momentum up for the end. Anyway Read and enjoy. And as always if your muse descends drop me a review or PM, and if it doesn't tell a friend about this story.

Chapter 20

The rest of the week passed just that easily. I used absolutely no magic. I even managed to avoid talking about it until Friday after school. Jessica had had a few problems with that beads I gave her. I was surprised that it took her that long to destroy it. I went through three of those in one day. "How many did you manage to keep up?" I asked. When I ran into her coming out of the gym

"Only two." She admitted.

"It took me a week and a half to keep one up." I admitted keeping with my accent, prying ears and all that. I've never had as much fine control as I would like. "Just to let you know I've left a message with Alicia."

"Okay. Here's my number," she said scribbling it down a piece of notebook paper, "let me know what she says."

"Of course, and here's hers just in case." I replied folding the paper and putting it in my pocket before handing her one of my own.

I turned and started heading towards the parking lot. Jessica followed me making inane small talk about school and life; those things that I was dealing with this week. The normal things.

Until she saw Alice waiting for me at the opening of the parking lot. Then the real question came. Only about as subtle as a typical teenager could pull off

"So what's with, like, you and the Cullen girl?" Right on cue Alice danced over and did what all jealous girls do. She marked her territory. Ya like I would choose Jessica over my newly found angelic demon. Some people have overblown egos.

She grabbed my hand and started to pull me, with human strength, towards the empty parking lot. "C'mon I told you I had a surprise."

I followed along knowing full well if I didn't I would regret it. Since I started this normal kick, Alice has been having fun getting clothes overnighted to her and playing dress up with me. Bella was extremely happy that Alice Had found a new life sized doll to.

"Figures," was all I heard Jessica say as I was dragged off into oblivion.

"Okay, okay. I want to know what this surprise you've been holding over my head for the past two days is." I said when we were out of Jessica's earshot. I did not like that girl. She was like nails on a chalkboard to me.

"If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise." she said attempting to stop me from digging.

"If it involves shopping, I am one hundred percent out!" I informed her.

"Relax," she said rubbing my arm, "it's a good surprise I promise." She stood on her toes gave me a quick kiss. We were, of course, still in full view of Jessica, naturally.

"Am I detecting some jealousy here?" I asked her as we got to her car.

"Edward made the mistake of telling me that she has a huge crush on you. I know, I know it's petty." She said starting the car. "One rule, no asking where we're going or when we're getting there."

"Things have a habit of doing that when I save their lives." I told her, ignoring the condition of the surprise.

"Things? You mean not just girls, or people? Do tell." She asked looking at me.

"Including Jessica, that makes four girls, one guy, two dogs, a cat, and one mother wanted me to marry her daughter on the spot. The daughter was nine." That was the unfortunate truth.

"hmmm," was all she could manage, "what kind of dogs?"

"Strays, I didn't know them on a first name basis." I told her.

The needle was pushing close to one sixty. Looking at her she was as relaxed as someone doing twenty-five. Not that I'm complaining it turned the scenery into one giant green blur. I noted that we were going south along highway one-oh-one. Of course that was the only highway in or out of Forks.

I stretched out as best I could in the cramped car. "You do know that the seat moves back right." Alice said noting my discomfort, "There's a slider on the right, push it back." It was a miracle, the cramped car suddenly opened up.

"Did you have a midget riding up her last?" I said as I waited for the seat to move back.

"No, just Bella. Edward was sitting behind her, so she wanted to make sure he had enough room."

"That's not weird at all." I said at the lame story.

"For those two it's not. They take teenage romance to an entirely new level." She said laughing. That laugh was the one thing I never got used too, it was too musical, making my heart jump every time. "I was surprised that Bella could stand to be separated from him for that long. It's been that way ever since…"

"Hungry?" She asked stripping gears in order to change the conversation.

"I suppose," I answered a long second after my stomach.

"Good cause that's part one of the surprise." She said.

"Eating is part one of this surprise?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes, you never seem to think about eating like a normal person so I decided to think about it for you." She said that like it should answer all of my questions.

"Ok, so part one's dinner? When do I get to learn what part two is?" I asked.

"After dinner, of course."

"Naturally." I agreed as I settled back into the leather seat, knowing that I couldn't argue with Alice's 'logic'. After a short time the blur of green faded. We were leaving Washington. I settled further into this beautifully engineered piece of heaven. I think a nap is in order. I let out a big yawn, before slipping into a light peaceful sleep.

No dreams just sleep, something I could get used to. Generally my dreams aren't peaceful, only one I can actually remember. After a while I felt Alice's small cold hand gently rub my shoulder. "Aaaaaron, it's time to wake up." She sang gently.

"I'm awake," I mumbled sleepily moving closer to her.

"We're here." She said again gently, "Wake! Up!" She screamed as she shook me viscously.

"Okay!" I snapped sitting up, "Where are we?"

"I dunno." She said with a smirk. "But we are here. Let's go!" Good god she was impatient.

"Okay," I mumbled opening my door. Even with my coat on the night was rather cold. I buttoned it up quickly. Without the continuous blanket of clouds over head the night was cold. "Would you at least tell me what city we're in?" I said gesturing to the obvious city around us. Street lights, highway, lots of cars, stop lights, big shopping center surrounded by busy streets. It looked to be just after sunset. Goose bumps crept down my back. The lights, the sounds, the people, all felt like Arizona. I shivered at the thought

"Fine, fine," she said giving in, "We're in Portland."

"Ok. Lead on." I said moving around to her side of the car. I took her hand as she locked the car and dropped the keys into her purse. "I take it we're going to dinner, or I'm going to dinner. I'm not sure the right pronoun to use."

"'We' is good." She said folding into me. "This place is supposed to be really good. But who am I judge people food."

"It's okay, you're cute, and I'm not picky." I said wrapping my arm around her waist.

She walked us up to a very nice restaurant; the kind of nice that would cost me an entire month's salary. I knew if it was my surprise I wouldn't be paying so I had to cushion my male ego another way. I held the door open for her. She looked up and smiled at me.

She gently eased her way through a small group of people and finally approached the host. An undistinguished man in his early thirties, wearing a decent black dinner jacket and matching black pants. "Good evening," he said in a pompous tone that made me want to set his shoes on fire. "Can I help you?"

"Brandon, reservation for two." She said in cheery tone about the time I was able to get through the crowd.

He looked at his log book, or whatever it's called, "I have you right here miss." He said crossing something out in the book. "Please follow me." He never dropped that pretentious tone.

I held up my hand and started to mutter a few words. Alice's hand was up to mine almost instantly interlacing her fingers in mine, causing my little trick to fizzle. She shot me a scowl. I guess she saw what would happen if I set his shoes on fire.

We followed him through the packed restaurant. Eventually he showed us to a booth in the corner. He sat us and took our drink order. Alice politely declined, I started with water. "Of course." He said snidely walking away.

"Are you sure I can't set his shoes on fire," I whispered picking up the menu.

"Yes." She said stern face that soon melted into a soft giggle. "Trip him instead."

"I like the way you think." I said waiting for him to come back. I studied the menu for a while. Of course there were no prices on it, it was that expensive. "How much did you have to bribe that guy to get us in?" I asked in the same low voice.

"I didn't, I just happened to know when someone was going to cancel. Then I called five seconds later." She said smiling.

"You and your sixth sense." I said smiling back.

"Good evening," a new voice said, "My name is Katelynn, and I will be your waitress this evening we have a barbeque pork shoulder with braised greens and coffee served with a chilled mango salad. Are you ready to order now or should I come back?"

"I think we are," Alice said just as I started to speak. "I'd like the citrus baked sea bass." She said socking me. I guess this was just a fancier (more expensive) version of lunch.

"And for, sir?" She asked turning to me. She was maybe twenty-five, five six maybe. Not at all attractive, and her voice sounded like two cats fighting; but she was polite and she seemed good at her job. I could tell she was getting slightly nervous, being around the two of us. Had I not know better, I would have thought that it was just Alice's beauty intimidating her.

"I will have the venison loin with the celery root puree please."

"Of course," she said, "Anything else to drink."

"I'm fine," I said beating Alice to the punch.

"I'd like some water as well." Alice chirped.

"I'll be right back with the water." Our waitress said before excusing herself rather quickly.

"What does food taste like to you?" I asked, "I know that it tastes almost normal to White Courters, and that red and black courts find it disgusting." Apparently I ramble sometimes.

"It would be like you eating dirt. It doesn't taste good, but it doesn't taste disgusting. Why do you ask?" She answered.

"Just curious." I told her, "I want to learn more about you. I've told you a lot about me. But you haven't told me much about yourself."

"What do you want to know?" She asked, "About me." She added seeing that I was going to make some smart ass comment.

"Let's start with the basics, when were you born, both times?" I asked.

"1901," she answered, "Then again in 1920, my real name was Mary Alice Brandon. I don't know much about my life as a human." Apparently she foresaw all of my questions and put them in a monologue. "All I know is that my family committed me to a, umm, mental institution."

"I'm sorry," was all I could manage.

"That was a long time ago; it's probably good that I don't remember. Our food is almost here." I could see a single tear welling up in her eye, but she blinked it away.

"Well it seems like all I thought I knew about your family was wrong." I replied. Wow I really just said family and it didn't feel weird about it.

"What do you mean?" She asked as our waitress set our food down in front of us.

I murmured a thank you as the waitress set my venison down. "Before I came up to Forks I asked my boss what he knew about the area. He said that there were eight of you, that you were over one hundred and fifteen, plus some other stuff that I don't really remember."

"Silly wizards." She said as she started moving her food around with her fork. "The host is about to seat a party of six to your right." She added, never looking up.

I turned my head and sure enough there he was. I kept my hand low and whispered "Frozare." A little invisible arc of kinetic force leapt from my hand. It found his left ankle just before he pushed off. He fell flat on his face flailing his arms as he went down. I turned back to my food. Alice was trying to stifle a laugh with a fork full of food.

The rest of dinner was quiet. I tried to finish quickly so she wouldn't have to wait for me. When the check came Alice paid cash. Of course she would know exactly how much to bring.

"Ready for part two?" She asked, sliding out of the booth. I nodded, doing the same. "All I'll tell you for right now it involves more driving."

I hung my head, "you really like your surprises." I said ushering her into the cold night.

"Yes and I promise you: you're going to love it." She said linking her arm through mine.

"Cold?" I asked pulling her closer to me.

"Always," she said with a laugh.

"I think I can fix that, when we get wherever you're dragging me off to." I said as she unlocked the car.

"What do you mean?" She said pulling away from me to get in the car. "Oh I see," she giggled.

"Of course there wouldn't be any surprising you," I said opening my door. "I'm actually cold," I said reaching for the heater, "lemme guess you disconnected it to wizard proof the car right."

She nodded starting the car. We were off at a normal speed, until we were well out of the city. The lights from the city slowly faded behind us once we hit the highway. The traffic wasn't bad for being seven o'clock on a Friday night. We kept heading south.

"I have a feeling that we're going to California." I told her, when we passed the sign leaving Eugene.

"You're right. But 'where in California' is the real question." She said cryptically. "I'll give you a hint. It has to do with what you say in your sleep."

"I didn't even know I talked in my sleep. Stars." A smile spread across my face. That's the real thing I'd missed for the past couple of months. I got used to looking at them when I was in Arizona. The sun stopped mattering to me a long time ago. It was the stars I missed. "Where going to the beach aren't we."

"Yup," she squealed, "That's part two and three."

"Now I'm excited." I admitted.

"Oh, and you weren't before?" She chided. "Am I really that bad?"

"Bad no, unpredictable yes. I can't see the future like you can, that's why I was nervous, silly vampire."

"Okay, but since I have you as a captive audience, I want to know who this Lindsay is. You've mentioned her name twice in your sleep. Once on Wednesday and once today."

Oh god. I cringed at the thought, I didn't even want to think about Lindsay, let alone talk about her. "Alice, I wasn't completely honest with you." I hesitated; drawing in a ragged breath, "I didn't tell you half of the Arizona story. To be completely honest, I never wanted to. Things happened in Phoenix, things that I don't even want to remember, let alone tell anyone. The worst of which was Lindsay." I spat her name coarsely.

"I'll give you the version I can tell you and still live with myself afterwards." I waited for her to agree to it.

She took her hand off the gear shift and placed it on my knee. "Please, I promise I won't be mad." I put my hand on hers and squeezed.

I took another ragged breath, "What I did tell you was true. But it wasn't enough." I stopped for a moment trying to decide on the right words to use, "when I got back to my hotel room she was waiting for me there. We talked for a while. She was a normal girl whose parents were killed by vampires. She started fighting them on her own when she was sixteen. At least that's what she told me, I'm not sure how much I believe it."

"She came across like a wounded puppy, and I've always liked playing the hero…and this time wasn't an exception. She told me she didn't have place to say, so of course I volunteered to let her stay with me."

"This is the part I want to gloss over. I'll tell you someday, maybe someday soon; but not today. If that's alright." I looked at her pleading. She didn't say anything. "Long story short. She was nothing but a giant whore I had the misfortune of sharing my bed with." Tears welled up in my eyes. Blinking them away I searched her face for any answers.

A heavy silence fell in the car. The only sound was the soft hum of the Porsche's engine. She made no attempt to pull her hand away. "I can't believe you thought that would bother me." She said finally breaking the silence, "We've both done things that we aren't proud of." Her voice was strangely comforting.

"Can we forget about the past for now?" I asked gently stroking the back of her hand. "This is the first real vacation I've had in…five, no six years. Let's just enjoy the weekend shall we."

"Let's shall!" She said relieving the tension with a sharp high pitched squeal. "We're almost there anyway."

"Where's there exactly?" I asked hoping for a real answer this time.

"A nice little spot on the beach just past the California border. Where there just happens some unseasonably warm weather with plenty of sunshine."

"Wouldn't the sunshine make things difficult for you? Of course not because you've already thought of that." I quickly corrected myself.

"Yup, not another soul for the entire weekend." She said with a mischievous smile. "Just warm sunny days and clear cool nights." She finished in a voice that reminded me of travel ad.

"If it's that good step on it." She took me seriously. She pushed down the gas pedal even harder. The needle inched past one fifty, then one sixty, one seventy, one eighty, before comfortably resting at one eight-five. "Now that's more like it. How fast will this thing go?" I asked as an afterthought.

"Dunno, I've never gone above one fifty before." She said not taking her eyes off the road. "We should be there in under a half an hour."

"You don't have anything more specific?" I asked pushing her shoulder playfully.

"Twenty six minutes thirteen seconds." She responded instantly, "I'm trying to be more conversational with my visions."

"It's not working." I told her plainly.

The next twenty six minutes and thirteen seconds passed peacefully. It was a completely comfortable silence. Silence scares most people; the fact is it's easier to lie when you're speaking. It's silence that will give you away. I like it, not many people do.

Right on cue Alice pulled off the main road and navigated the Porsche seamlessly through the inky black. Another few minutes and she parked the car onto a nice sandy beach.

"We're here!" Alice exclaimed with a grand gesture. Cutting the engine, she reached into the back seat and came back a moment later with a square package. "Take this, set it up. I'm going to get some wood, be back soon."

She disappeared from the car into the woods near the beach; leaving me in the darkness. Well I had the stars and the waning moon. I stepped out of the car. The air had a chill to it, but it wasn't as cold as Forks, or even Portland. I stared at the package for a moment, letting my eyes adjust completely.

It wasn't really a package; it was a tarp wrapped neatly into a square with four small stakes wrapped in the middle. I made my way to a nice flat stretch of beach and spread the tarp out. It didn't take any real effort to anchor the stakes into the sandy beach around me.

Alice returned a minute later carrying a comical amount of firewood. She was moving around the front of the tarp in a blur setting up a massive fire. "Easy there, no need to set the beach on fire." She stopped instantly, revealing a perfect teepee of wood. "You've never built a fire before have you?"

She smiled and shook her head. The way the moonlight danced on her skin should be illegal. "I've only seen them in movies."

"Her let me show you." I took some of the smaller sticks out of the middle of the pile, collapsing it. "Here's how to make a fire that won't burn the world down." I started setting up a small teepee fire. I lay a few of the smaller sticks in a small triangle shape. Like I said a teepee fire is just that shape, incredibly simple and incredibly effective.

Alice watched intent and puzzled by my actions. When I do things like build fires or make circles I am slow, I am methodical, and I am perfect. I find the motions relaxing so I admit to doing them slowly.

I pulled back looking at my work, looked good enough. I focused my will some whispering "spark a dark, where's my sire, will I stay me, will I lay me, bless this camp with fire." The spell was unnecessarily long, but it was from one of my favorite books, I used it every time I needed to light something larger than a candle. The interior of the teepee caught fire immediately with no hesitation; soon the beach was bathed in the soft orange light.

It was beautiful, the ocean, the sky, the stars, and Alice. I'd almost forgotten that there was real beauty still left in the world. I wished the moment would never end. God, how many times had I thought that before? I silently cursed myself.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked wrapping a blanket around my shoulders.

"Nothing." I lied staring at the orange flames in front of me. How can I tell her just how much I've been thinking about Katherine? I couldn't, the answer was simple as that.

"Don't lie to me; you should see the scowl on your face." She said gently tracing her finger around my mouth. My apparent scowl melted immediately into an uncontrolled smile, "See that wasn't too hard."

"Sorry, I just forgot how much beauty there is after seeing so much ugliness for so long." It was roughly the truth, I hated the idea of keeping secrets with this beauteous creature; but how could I tell her?

"Mmmm, there's something more I can feel it." She said probing farther into the intricate maze that was my mind. Maybe sharing it with her would help.

"I don't know if you ever see into people's pasts." I started, never taking my eyes off the dancing fire. "If you could then you would know that this is a very close recreation of a trip I took with Katherine. I remember sitting with her on the beach just like this, the stars, the water. I guess I can't believe I'm sitting here with you, thinking about Katherine." I felt a few tears starting down the corners of my eyes. Must be from the smoke.

"I don't normally see what was in a person's past; only once, actually. I thought it would be a nice surprise." She said, guilt charging her voice. She was absolutely right it should be a nice surprise, and it was, the only problem is what's going on in my twisted head.

There was silence for quite some time. The only noise was the crackle of the fire and the gently roar of the ocean ahead of us. I could feel the tears streaming down my face and I made no effort to get rid of them. I just stared at the fire, and all too often I would catch a glimpse of Katherine's face in the dancing flames.

I tried to speak so many times, each time though I would only get as far as opening my mouth before a mixture of fear and guilt washed over me. I knew better than to hide anything for Alice, after all she might not be able to read minds, but she could see a few seconds into the future and know what I was going to say. Still I should at least say something.

"It is; a nice surprise I mean." I said still absolutely intent on the fire. "The problem isn't that you brought me here, it's that I'm here with you and all I can think about is Katherine. I mean I'm staring into this fire and I can still see her face." I reached up and wiped a few tears out of my eyes, never once moving my head.

"That's not a problem, it's a good thing. I know I will never replace Katherine." I didn't look at her face but I could tell there was soft smile on her face, "at least not completely. You miss her and to some extent you always will. I know that." Her voice was soft and comforting.

"And you? You haven't said anything about Jasper since we went to Aberdeen." Though the tears were still streaming down my face I kept it far enough out of my voice so that it was something close to even.

"It still hurts, but all I had to do was turn a blind eye. You had to kill her. It's a pain I can only come close to imagining." She said sliding closer to me.

"No, you know it. It's the same pain, the same wound, psychicly speaking." I said drying my tears with my sleeve.

"I may know it, but that doesn't mean it's as bad as yours." She said as I leaned my head on top of hers.

I was glad she was there. Maybe these old wounds would finally heal. I wouldn't have to just put band-aid after band-aid on top of them. Maybe there was some higher order that put us both together at this moment. I've always believed in a god, maybe not the Christian God, but a god none the less. And now I'm starting to believe in fate, if Jasper was out to kill Bella, and he succeeded, he would be dead, Alice would still be in pain, and there would be no one to help her, no one to understand her loss. Edward would be to beside himself with depression and probably kill himself.

I was the necessary piece to this puzzle. With me there, only one had to die, the one left in pain found the only person whose pain could match her own. It was amazing just how much our lives are like spider webs.

"I think I'm going to sleep now," I said when the fire started to die down. The tiny sliver of moon was now well up in the sky, the stars danced across the ocean in front of me. It was sheer beauty, completely eclipsing the memory of the scene on Lake Michigan. This magic, this beauty belonged to Alice and me now!

"Good night. Tomorrow will be sunny and warm." My little seer said in her best weatherman…err…weatherwoman voice.

I found the sleeping bag Alice had laid out for me; I kicked off my shoes and climbed in. It was cold at first, like everything else in my life, but it soon warmed up. There wasn't a pillow but that wasn't a problem, this ground was more comfortable than most of the beds I've slept on in my life.

"Do you want me to stay?" Alice asked sweetly.

"Do you really have to ask?" I said unzipping the sleeping bag to let her in.

"I've been told it's polite to ask." Alice said slipping out of her shoes. She crawled in and I wrapped my arms around her waist. The sleeping bag wasn't really large enough of two people to sleep in it comfortably, but it was enough for a person and a pixie. Side note: pixies don't really exist.

"Good night," I whispered into her ear, placing a soft kiss on her neck.

"See you in the morning," she mumbled her voice thick with fake sleep.