Chapter Twelve: Plans and Anchors

JPOV

The drive back to his parent's home was silent, all of them were lost in their own thoughts, and he kept glancing at Alice out of the corner of his eye. She was looking out of the window, she looked lost

His eyes met Emmett's in the rear-view mirror, and they looked pained and worried, his jaw set sending the message crystal clear they needed to be strong for Alice. He nodded silently and drove in the steady silence.

Emmett took her upstairs with the bags once they arrived; the message about the note had already been given to the police officers stationed outside the house, and he dragged himself into the living room trying not to follow them with his eyes.

"What happened?" asked his father as soon as Alice was out of ear shot.

"There was a note on her pillow when we got to the house" he replied, "the police think he must had gotten in on Friday night before we alerted them to the problem, and he was expecting Alice to be home and.. and" he broke off, unable to put the horrible thoughts he had into words.

He watched his fathers usually compassionate expression change into one of controlled anger as the thoughts swirled to him, and he looked down blinking furiously at the tears that had sprung up. He looked up in alarm as his father for the first time in five years hugged him tight, held him while he broke down.

"Dad, I don't want to lose her" he whispered through the tears.

"I know Jasper, and you won't we'll keep her safe, but you need to be strong for yourself and for Alice" said Carlisle, stroking his dishevelled hair.

He clung to his father, while he broke hard, nodding into the sodden shoulder, they stood there for what felt like eons before he pulled back, wiping at the last few tears and composing himself.

"I'm proud of you" said Carlisle "now go and get the others from upstairs. Your mothers made dinner and I think we need a couple of hours escape before we continue" he gave him a gentle push in the direction of the stairs; a sad smile on his usually calm face.

He nodded and walked upstairs, calling the others as he went, an escape from this nightmare would be nice about now he thought.

Wednesday dawned with heavy rain clouds casting an eerie light across the town, the thunder could be heard rolling across the hills, every boom causing Alice to flinch and jump.

He tried to soothe her but she was tense, the fear of him coming out of nowhere was taking its toll on her, "I need to put up a sign up in the shop at some point" said Alice not turning from the window, watching as the rain finally burst forth.

"In a day or two Alice" he said as he really didn't want to take her away from this house, feeling it was safer for her here with them surrounding her.

She just nodded at him, and went back to her faithful watching.

The close quarters where starting to take it's toll on all of the family, and he noticed that they would start snapping at each other more and then apologise a moment later. He knew it was because they all felt frustrated and scared, and he could only be thankful the kids hadn't really started, but were still curious as to why they weren't going to school or even back to their own homes.

Esme had fielded their questions with subtle misdirection, deciding that she could teach them most things from home, which helped to alleviate some stress on her.

He heard the phone ringing and rushed to get it, hoping that good news was just a step away "Hello" he said into the receiver.

"This is Police Officer Greene, I need to speak with a Mr. Jasper Cullen" said the voice over the line.

"This is Jasper Cullen" he replied, noticing Emmett picking up the other receiver listening in hoping that if it was James he would recognise the voice.

"Mr. Cullen, we have had a report of a break in at your residence and we need you to come over and survey the scene to let us know if anything is missing that could help the suspect track you down or reach you in any other way" said the officer.

Emmett was looking at him something akin to horror on his face he nodded, indicating that it sounded like James.

"Thank you Officer Greene, I will need to make some arrangements with my family, I will come over as soon as possible" he replied hanging up.

He quickly dialled the number for the Police Station, "May I speak with Chief Wren please?" he asked the dispatch operator.

"Chief Wren" he asked as soon as the call was connected, "This is Jasper Cullen, you have a guard watch on my family, I have just received a call from an Officer Greene, informing me that you had a call about an apparent break in at my home".

He looked over to Emmett who still had the phone to his ear, "I see, Emmett Brandon Alice's brother listened into the call and he believes the voice belongs to James Stoke the man that is the cause of all this".

"You do have an Officer Greene?" he asked a little surprised "I assure you Mr. Brandon is quite convinced that this is James. I would ask you to send a squad car".

"Yes thank you chief" he replaced the receiver in its cradle, "You heard it all" he said turning to Emmett.

"I fear that Officer Greene is more than likely dead" he said watching Emmett nod and sigh.

"He was trying to lead you out there, kill you off now and then steal Alice when she came looking and probably kill her" said Emmett.

"But what about you?" he asked, knowing that Emmett would give his life for his sister.

"Probably thought you would ask me to go with you like Ben did" said Emmett his voice barely a whisper before he walked away to a quieter part of the house.

He let him go, as he knew what the loss was like for Alice, but Emmett he had lost a friend and his Fiancée all on the same night and had been so close to losing his sister. He stared after him, wishing he could give him some words that would help heal the deep hurt.

He slowly wandered the house; dinner had been a mostly silent affair after the news of James' trying to lure him out and the death of Officer Greene, and it looked like James had been in his house when Greene had investigated some of his noises.

A stilted fearful air settled over the house the following days since James had tried to lure him out of the protective zone, it seemed like anything hope that had been clawed back was gone once again, Rosalie had taken to sitting with him a lot of the time whether in reassurance that he was still there or to protect him, he wasn't sure but was grateful either way. Alice was the opposite unable to sit to close to him or stay with the family for long periods.

Sighing, he got up and headed upstairs heading for her room at the end of the hallway, wanting to find Alice to reassure himself that she was still safe if not OK, he found her holed up in her bedroom, her sketchpad resting on her knees and her hand movements frantic.

He sat down on the other side of the bed, careful not to jar her at all, and he looked at the drawing that was taking shape in front of her.

The dress was beautiful, elegant lines, drawn expertly, the flow of the full skirt drawing the viewers eye, he glanced down at the red pencils lying next to her the colours would look lovely on the full image.

"Will this be a new piece in the collection?" he asked causing, her to jump, and she looked up at him with wide eyes she obviously hadn't heard him come in.

"Uh, no" she said looking down at the drawing "it's a one off piece for Rosalie" she said, picking up the pencil she had dropped and began to shape the female model in the picture, the details becoming his sister.

"It's lovely Alice" he said, unable to pull his gaze away from the sweeping lines she was creating.

"I wanted to make her one for a long time, the dress I gave her in the shop was almost perfect but not quite, and this one is perfect just for her" she said. He nodded "I needed to do something". She set the pencil down "I can't just sit around and think about it all the time".

"I understand Alice, I'm just glad your not going crazy with everything. I wanted to check that you were well not OK, but…" he didn't know what he was checking anymore, of course she wasn't OK none of them where.

"I know what you mean" she said, taking his hand in her smaller one "I don't know, I feel numb right now I guess the constant state of fear and panic, I just can't keep it up".

"He tried to get you, he would have killed you" she said her breathe hitching, he understood it all her shying away she didn't want to get to close to put him in more danger or to hurt his family anymore than the damage that had already been done.

He pulled her against him, holding her to his chest "but he didn't, and he won't".

Alice only nodded, burying her head further into his chest. He felt her body shake as she let out the fear, through her tears wetting the front; he held her tighter and brushed soft kisses into her inky black hair. Soon he heard her breathe deepen into a sleeping state, and he let it lull him into his own hopefully dreamless sleep.

APOV

She woke slowly, noticing it was still raining outside, and she had slept the whole night. She tried to snuggle deeper into her pillow, wanting to sleep until this was all over, but her pillow shifted beneath her causing her to freeze before the memories of last night came back. She opened one eye at a time, blushing faintly as she saw Jasper above her, still asleep, and his arm tight around her shoulder and his hair all over the place.

She slipped from the bed, trying not to wake him and headed down stair. She stopped as she heard Carlisle on the phone. "I understand he was a good officer, but I am not sure what you want us to do… of course I understand the implications of him having our phone number" he said into the receiver. "What do you suppose we do, could you honestly move all of us to a safe location, and for how long? You haven't been able to capture him yet I don't see how moving any of us across the state would help" he said raising his voice a little.

She slowly sunk to the bottom step, guilt flooding her veins. She had never meant to bring this onto them.

"NO! I will not allow you to take Alice, Oliver and Emmett from here" he said trying to contain the anger. "She is part of our family; she will be safe, and we will see to it, I just think we need more surveillance" his voice dropping once again

She quickly got up not wanting to be caught eaves dropping, although her heart had thumped when he had called her family.

"Thank you chief, please call me if you need anything else" he said hanging up and walking into his office missing her near the stairs.

She walked into the kitchen, grabbing a bowel of fruit moved into the living room seeing Ollie reading one of the books Esme had leant him to try and stave off the children's boredom. She sat down next to him pulling him tight against her and slowly stroked his hair needing to connect with him and reassure herself that he was safe, he went back to his reading and she stared out of the large glass window, watching the rain fall down.

She felt so suffocated in the house, and she knew the others felt the same way too. It was her fault, Edward had barely said two words to her since the night he had shouted at her and Bella just looked tiered. She felt awful that she was putting them through this but she didn't know what to do.

The other children came downstairs, looking tiered and bored, and she felt bad for that as well. They were missing the social aspect of school, and staying over at friends houses, or the simple act of sleeping in their own beds. She let Ollie go over to his friends and curled her self tighter into the chair sinking down and watching the world pass by.

JPOV

He woke suddenly, his heart pounding from the dream he had been caught in, and he patted the bed next to him, remembering that he had fallen asleep with Alice curled up next to him. His hand felt the empty bed and he sat bolt upright "ALICE" he shouted out.

His head shot up as the door was flung open by his brother, worry written on his face "What's wrong Jasper?" he asked

He slowly shook his head he was over reacting. He took a deep breath "Sorry" he said "I fell asleep with Alice last night and she wasn't here when I woke up; I panicked" he replied.

Edward sighed and he nodded before he closed the door behind him and came to sit at the end of the bed. He gave his brother a curious gaze.

"Is it worth all this Jasper?" he asked quietly "all this fear, terror and safety of our family for this small women and her son?" he asked.

He was taken aback by Edward's blunt question "Yes" he said firmly "I don't know how to convey it better Edward, would you leave Bella to this on her own, would you not stay with her, protect her?" he knew the answer but he needed Edward to remember it as well.

"She's my wife Jasper, I would die for her" Edward snapped, raking his hands through his hair, a trait that he shared that they had inherited from their father

"Would you not have died for her before she was your wife? When she was just Bella Swan, a normal girl that caught your eye" he closed his eyes, he didn't want to push Edward but he needed him to understand.

"I know what you are saying and yes I would a thousand times over, I'm scared for you, for my family, for everyone" Edward replied truthfully.

He grabbed Edward, pulling him into a one-armed hug, ignoring the snorting noise "I'm scared too, I truly am, as I don't want to die any more than I want any of you to but I can't just back out now"

"You're an idiot" replied Edward but he noticed how he didn't pull away from the hug.

Alice was curled up in the chair near the window when he came downstairs, staring out into the forest that surrounded his child-hood home. She was just watching it all go by, and he wanted to shake her, make her feel something, make her fight.

"Jasper, I want to go out to the shop, I need to put a note up god knows what people think is happening" she said un-curling herself.

He sighed he knew this was coming and he could feel the argument ready to strike forth over it.

"Alice, I don't think we can" he said trying to tamper down the feeling of icy fear at the thought of her outside.

APOV

"Jasper, I need to, and I need to get out of here just for a little while, I am sure your family want to get away for a little while as well" she said, looking at the tired faces visible to her.

"It's been weeks since his note to me, and I know your worried and so am I, but we won't be alone. The police will be outside the shop and you and Emmett can be there; I just have to breathe outside for a while" she said, she wanted it over and she hoped he was to starved of her presence to think about the easy access she was putting herself in.

Jasper looked to his family members "I think it would be a good idea" said Carlisle, he sighed, raking a hand through his hair "OK, go and get ready, I'll contact the police and let them know we will be leaving in a little while".

JPOV

Alice got up with a small nod and Emmett quickly grabbed his shoes, while he looked at his family. "Don't worry Jasper Edward and I are still here, and the police are just outside" said Carlisle reassuring him.

"I'll go with you guys" said Rosalie getting up from the sofa a look of worry on her face, he just nodded and went to phone the chief.

They walked through the shop, the bell tinkling above the door the only sound "I'll just grab some items from the back" called Alice as she walked through the door, he made to follow her but was cut off by her look "I'm just in the back".

He nodded but wasn't really happy about her going off, and Rosalie quickly went to the register checking the contents and items near the desk. He could see her mind ticking over everything checking them against her mental lists.

The shot rang out loud and frightening, causing them to jump.