A/N: Sorry, sorry, SORRY! I've been sick, had the holidays get in my way, and finished my NaNoWriMo novel. Now that I'm editing, I'll be able to update more frequently. I promise you that I will NOT give up on this story! I was raised so that I wouldn't back down on the things I've started, and this isn't an acception. This hasn't been edited yet, because I wanted to update this ASAP, but I will post it again once its been updated. Please forgive me!

Edit: Here is the edited version. Thank you so much to my amazing beta, lipstickletter!

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize in here is not mine. I own nothing.

Chapter 10: Hoodwinked

Alice gasped, breaking the silence as another vision appeared before her eyes.

"What is it, Alice?" I questioned, grabbing the hotel stationary. "Is it the dark room? The mirror room?"

Alice shook her head.

"It is the dark room," she murmured. "But, the room's no longer dark. And I see another room, it is a cozier one . . . the tracker isn't in this room, but I might be seeing things from his perspective."

"And the mirror room. Is he in there?" I asked.

Alice continued to drink up the images that only she could see floating in front of her eyes. I gently gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Alice, is the tracker there?" I questioned again, letting my voice go a little louder, but no so much that Bella would wake up.

"Y-yes," she nodded. "He's there with the VCR again."

Without warning, her eyes drifted from the their foggy state and Alice blinked, looking at me in horror.

"Draw them for me." Her hands flew to the paper without any hesitation and began sketching the outline of the room rapidly.

Bella ambled sleepily into the room and next to me, looking over my shoulder at the drawing.

"Did she see something more?" she whispered.

"Yes," I answered. "Something's brought him back to the room with the VCR, but it's light now."

Alice wasn't sketching the room I was talking about, though. Instead, she was drawing one that looked a little more homely than expected.

"The phone goes there," Bella whispered, pointing to a spot on the picture. We both stared at her. How could she recognize this room as well?

"That's my mother's house."

Alice was up of the couch in an instant, calling to alert the rest of the family. I gently scooted over to Bella and put my hand on her shoulder, shuddering lightly as I felt her pulse under my fingers. I kept my calm flowing full speed as we waited for Alice to finish talking on the phone.

"Bella," Alice said."Bella, Edward is coming to get you. He and Emmett and Carlisle are going to take you somewhere, to hide you for a while."

"Edward is coming?" Bella gasped, her hope rising.

"Yes, he's catching the first flight out of Seattle. We'll meet him at the airport, and you'll leave with him."

"But, my mother . . ." Bella's tone was dangerously on the verge of tears and I tried to force more calm to her. "He came for my mother, Alice!"

"Jasper and I will stay until she's safe." I bit my lip at her statement, not sure how long I'd be able to hold up with staying with humans for so long.

"I can't win, Alice. You can't guard everyone I know. Don't you see what he's doing? He's not tracking me at all. He'll find someone, he'll hurt someone I love . . . Alice I can't-"

"We'll catch him, Bella," Alice assured her.

"And what if you get hurt, Alice? Do you think that's okay with me? Do you think it's only my human family he can hurt me with?"

Alice looked at me, her eyes begging me to put a stop to this conversation. I nodded lightly.

Bedtime for Bella, I thought wryly as I forced lethargy upon the human. Bella's eyes slowly drooped before they snapped open, furious. She pushed herself away from me.

"I don't want to go to sleep," she snapped and walked to her room, slamming the door.

Alice sighed and crumpled into a heap next to me.

"What are we going to do?" she sobbed dryly into my shirt. I gently rubbed her back.

"Anything we can to keep her safe," I murmured, lifting her face up so her eyes met mine. I kissed her lips tenderly and pressed my forehead to hers. "Everything will work out fine and we'll all survive this."

She gave me a halfhearted smile before resting her head on my shoulder, continuing to sob tearlessly.

I drummed my fingers on the desk as I waited impatiently for the stupid human to check us out of the room. I had been here for fifteen minutes, and he hadn't been able to figure out how to do it.

"Listen, sir," I murmured, my voice light. That made me sound deadlier. "I am in a bit of a rush so if you would please just check me out of the room, we'll all be happier."

The man gulped and pounded harder on the keyboard. I groaned inwardly as he seemed to be struggling again. I hated being so far away from Alice, especially in a situation as delicate as this. My fingers started to drum again on the desk. I wasn't a very patient person when my family was in danger.

"May I please speak to the manager," I hissed to the man.

"Lookie here!" he squeaked. "You're all checked out. I hope you enjoyed your stay!"

I sighed, relieved, before walking as fast as a human pace would allow me to go to our hotel room. I slid the key in quickly and opened the door to see a terrifying sight. Alice was having another vision, a horrible one by the expression on her face.

"Alice!" my voice whipped and I ran as fast as I could to her side, taking her hands in mine and forcing them to let go of the table. The door shut with a low click.

"What is it?" I demanded and Alice turned around, her face buried into my chest.

"Bella," she said, agonized.

"I'm right here," Bella replied, not understanding that Alice was answering my question.

Alice turned back around to face Bella.

"What did you see?" Bella's voice was flat, and didn't even sound like a question. I looked at her sharply. It was almost as if she knew what Alice had seen.

"Nothing, really," Alice lied, recovering. "Just the same room as before. Did you want breakfast?"

"No, I'll eat at the airport." It was almost as if they had rehearsed the whole thing. They were both trying to appear calm on the outside, but their emotions were hectic on the inside. Bella walked back into her room and Alice started to panic. Her words were so rushed that I couldn't make out anything she said.

"Alice, Alice, slow down," I said.

"We're going to fail!" she wailed quietly, and buried her face into my chest again. I blinked, my jaw falling open.

"What did you see?" I questioned.

"She's going to be in the room with the tracker, Jasper!" Alice exclaimed, looking up at me. I didn't need my power to see how anguished she was.

"But how could that possibly happen?"

"I don't know. She would never just go to the tracker on her own, right? He must get to her somehow."

Alice sighed and rested her head against my shoulder, sobbing dryly. I gently rubbed her back.

"Well, the future can always change," I assured her. "And we'll just have to watch Bella closer than before. We won't fail."

"Right," Alice nodded, forcing a smile. "We'll just have to be more careful and everything will be okay."

Alice leaped off me and started tidying things up before Bella stumbled out of her room. We quickly got into the car and headed to the airport. Bella sat alone in the back this time, with Alice sneakily passing her glances when she thought Bella wasn't looking.

"Alice?" Bella asked monotonously from the back.

"Yes?" Alice replied warily.

"How does it work? The things that you see? Edward said it wasn't definite . . . that things change?" Bella's emotions started plummeting down to hysteria when she mentioned Edward's name and I quickly passed serenity around the room.

"Yes, things change . . . ," Alice murmured hopefully. "Some things are more certain than others . . . like the weather. People are harder. I only see the course they're on while they're on it. Once they change their minds—make a new decision, no matter how small—the whole future shifts."

"So you couldn't see James in Phoenix until he decided to come here."

"Yes."

We got to the airport and waited on level three, where the passengers unloaded. Alice and I spent a long time studying the departing flights board, deciding which city we could go to. To hide Bella from the tracker.

Bella seemed nervous, completely panicked. Every move she made, Alice and I glanced at her, making sure she wouldn't try to make a run for it. Or whatever she had planned to do. Bella pulled out an envelope out of her bag and placed it on top of Alice's black bag.

"My letter," Bella explained to Alice, who nodded.

We continued sitting in silence after that, with Alice occasionally offering to buy Bella breakfast. Each time Bell refused. The minutes passed slowly, as Alice and I both anxiously waited for Edward's flight to land. When he arrived, there would be no way for Bella to escape or the tracker to get to her.

Five minutes until Edward's plane landed, Bella announced that she wanted breakfast.

"I'll come with you." Alice stood.

"Do you mind if Jasper comes instead?" Bella asked and my jaw dropped. Why on Earth would she choose me over Alice? "I'm feeling a little . . ."

Ah, that's why. I stood up, looking at Alice to make sure this was okay. She seemed fine by it.

I led Bella, pushing her lightly by the small of her back, to the various food stations the airport had. I swallowed the venom that had formed in my mouth. Her pulse was all but beating against my fingers, inviting me to just grab her and drain her. Everyone would at first think that I was kissing her, and I'd be done before they realized what I really did.

No, I had to protect Bella from the tracker, and killing her would only do him a favor. Or anger him. And, if so, I'd be putting Alice in danger.

Bella wasn't interested in any of the airport restaurants that we looked at. We continued walking in search of more food for her, when Bella stopped in front of the bathroom.

"Do you mind?" she asked sheepishly. "I'll just be a moment."

As much as I wanted to go with her and assure her safety, I couldn't.

What's one trip to the bathroom? I thought. Even if something happened to her in there, surely there were many women who could help her.

"I'll be right here," I said and she walked off.

I rolled my head back onto my shoulders as I waited for Bella to finish doing her business. My throat was killing me now, and I tried to stretch my neck as much as I could, hoping to stop the itchiness and burning sensations.

I sighed, knowing that there was no way I could stop my thirst except for hunting, and there weren't very many places in Arizona to do that. But Edward would be here soon, and we'd all get to hunt.

What a relief that would be! Even if it was still a disgusting animal to drink, it would relieve this horrible ache and desire. My imagination got away with me, thinking about hunting. It was making me even thirstier, and all these humans, hustling and bustling around me were seeming might tasty.

I clenched my hands into fists and focused hard on the bathroom door. Shouldn't Bella be done by now? I'd seen three other ladies walk in and leave while she was still there.

"Alice," I said in a normal speaking voice, knowing she'd hear me. I glanced to my left and saw Alice walking hastily up to me, a worried expression on her face.

"Yes?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

"Bella's been taking a while in the bathroom, can you go check if she's there?" I kept my voice calm, and sent serenity around me to not make my wife worry. Surely Bella was fine. We wouldn't fail this close to having Edward arrive.

Alice quickly danced into the bathroom, coming out thirty seconds later, her eyes wide.

"Jasper, there's another exit to this restroom, and Bella's nowhere to be found," she said and my heart sunk. I had lost Bella. I had singlehandedly failed our mission to keep Bella safe. Why was I always the one to ruin things? Why did it always have to be me?

I felt like breaking down right then.

"Jasper, it's okay," Alice said, sensing my mood. She grabbed onto my forearm, stepping closer to me and trying to comfort me. The lump in my throat prevented me from speaking.

I shook my head. Nothing was okay right now. Nothing.

"We just have to search for her," Alice said. "Come on, we have two minutes until Edward gets off. Plenty of time."

Alice went back into the restroom to go through the other exit, and I walked around, my eyes frantically scanning the crowd. There was no time to feel sorry for myself. I had to find Bella, and bring her back to safety.

"Jasper, I had no luck," Alice called out, trying as hard as she could to not sound worried. But her emotions revealed it, and I felt worse. She came up to me, walking at a brisk human pace.

Alice's dark eyes met mine, trying to assure me that all was well, and we'd be able to find Bella when Edward got here. But I knew that was a lost cause. I'd lost Bella. I'd failed our mission. I'd ruined it for everyone.

We waited the last thirty seconds for Edward, Carlisle, and Emmett to get off the plane. Edward immediately walked over to us, his eyes wide and angry. I blinked hard, my eyes stinging with guilty tears that would never be released.

Be a man, Whitlock demanded deep inside of me. I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and prepared to face my punishment like a man.

"You lost her?" Edward nearly shouted. "You lost her? How could you lose her?"

"Edward, Edward, calm down," Emmett said, putting his hand on Edward's shoulder. Emmett looked from me to Alice and back again, confused.

"Edward, please!" Alice said, getting impatient. "If you won't listen to the truth in my mind, at least listen to my voice. Bella tricked us, okay? She claimed she needed to go to the bathroom when she was with Jasper, knowing he couldn't come in with her. She escaped there."

"You trusted her with him?" Edward exclaimed. I tried not to let that sting too much. Edward was a very nice gentleman, but when he was tempered, he would say some pretty hurtful things.

"Ed-" Alice started, glaring at him, but I interrupted.

"Yes, and it was a big mistake," I said calmly. "It will never happen again."

Edward's eyes flashed to meet mine, and I thought about how Arizona used to be back in the 1800's when it was full of war-crazed, bloodthirsty vampires that were fighting for dominance over areas. Peter and I had been around this area one time, and we had found Charlotte. She was promising, and we knew that Maria would be happy if we found a new recruit, so we quickly took her down a dark alley. Peter and I had . . . we'd had difficulty stopping, but Peter was able to stop and force me to do the same. He had to hold me down while Charlotte was changing so I wouldn't suck her dry.

I was free to think my own pained thoughts again, knowing Edward was busy reading Alice's visions.

"We need to find her," Carlisle said, glancing warily between Edward and Alice, who were still silently talking to each other.

"Yes," I nodded. "We do. Alice,"-Alice's head turned away from looking at Edward and focused on me- "Where is she headed?"

Alice closed her eyes for a moment before snapping open.

"She's going to . . . that dark room with the tracker," she whimpered.

A/N: Ooh, a cliffy! The next chapter should be up sometime this week, hopefully sooner than later. Again, I apologize for the wait. Bella tricking Jasper was always my favorite part in Twilight, and I was sad that it never made it into the movie. Hopefully I did this justice! Please review, I'd really love feedback on my writing.

~Eclipse-Vamp :)