Disclaimer: Twilight and it's characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. La Lune Bleu's plot and C.J. belong to me.

AlicePOV:

My hands were shaking like the eaves of the roof tops in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. I felt queasy, like if I opened my mouth I, and everyone in splatter-distance, would not like the results. Emmett was tight-lipped and silent beside me as we waited in the lobby if the lawyer's office for his secretary to send us in. The only other occupants of this room were a woman and a little boy, younger than C.J., both with olive-toned skin and dark ebony hair, though the little boy looked lighter in color than his mother, who was holding him in her lap, stroking his hair. They looked upset, and I felt my heart go out to the woman when her little boy looked up, murmured something I couldn't catch, and the woman's face gave an attempt at a smile, before her face crumpled in pain the moment that her son had looked away.

Her black eyes, shining with unshed tears, locked onto mine before I could manage to pull my gaze away from the two of them, and there was a flash of recognition. This puzzled me at first until I realized who this woman could be. I pinched Emmett's arm discreetly to catch his attention, and he jumped at the sharp pain with a low hiss. "I wonder if that's Jasper's wife," I whispered to him once he leaned his giant head down for me to whisper in his ear. "She just looked at me like she knows me."

"Ask her," Emmett muttered, his iPhone going off in his hand with a text from Rosalie. I rolled my eyes at him in all his clueless manliness.

"I can't just ask her that!" I whisper yelled in his ear, and he grunted and shrugged, leaving me to sigh and slump back into the leather couch, defeated. "Useless," I muttered darkly, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Chill out, you're acting like C.J.," my brother said, not looking away from the glass screen. "You'll find out as soon you get called in."

I gave a sigh, my head rolling to the left and my eyes gazing out into the clear blue sky, not a wisp of cloud in sight. Jasper's wife could be sitting in this very room with me right now. She could be the woman, whose eyes I feel have not left me from the moment she caught me staring at her and her son. She could already be inside the office with the lawyer, tying up the loose ends, and childless. I wondered when Jasper had decided to he was ready to be married. He had always flinched when my dad would bring it up, and often left me feeling like he didn't have feelings for me that were strong enough to include marriage. But that was before I got pregnant… after that, the Jasper I knew slowly faded into a silent, careless man… until I saw the life in his eyes when he told me he was leaving us.

"I'm sorry, Alice, I'm not ready to be a father… there's so much I haven't done, so much I want to do, and I can't drag you and a kid around with me. I enlisted, and I leave for basic training next week… Goodbye, Alice."

The door clicked shut, and he was gone. I never saw him again.

"Ms. Cullen? Mrs. Whitlock?"

The secretary's voice pulled me out of my memory, and I faced the little pale blonde girl that stood off to the side, holding open a door. "Mr. Hanerfrom is ready to see you both. If you would like to leave William with me, Mrs. Whitlock, we had a really great time with the copy machine, yesterday."

I looked to my right and watched the Latino woman stand to her full height, and closed my eyes in pain at how beautiful she was. This answered a lot for me. I wasn't a woman in the way she was, and Jasper married her because she was everything I was not. She had legs, long, slender legs that ran miles outside of the simple black skirt she wore. She was blessed with a perfect curvature, one that I couldn't help but admire (and envy). Her wavy hair fell over her shoulders and she had intensity to her eyes that could melt someone, though that gaze was now on the secretary rather than me.

"Thank you, Ashley," the woman murmured in accented English.

Oh, and bilingual, too? Well, hell's fire, Jasper… If you hadn't married her, and I weren't head over heels for Bella… Why, I approve, old boy!

"I'll see you when you come out," Emmett said, giving my shoulder a squeeze. "Look at it this way… maybe we can catch a flight home tonight, or early tomorrow." He shrugged, after giving me his little piece of silver lining.

"Tonight and I don't care if we have to drive to Austin to get it," I said under my breath as I got to my feet and made to follow Jasper's widow through the door.

BellaPOV:

I found it hard to concentrate when I was trying to help C.J. out on his homework, completely worried when Alice didn't call back, and instead sent a text saying that the meeting had been moved to today, and that she just found out that Jasper had a wife. She had gone out this morning thinking that she had until tomorrow to mentally prepare herself for whatever the Army was going to tell her about Jasper, and now the moment she's off the plane, she has to go through the damn thing. Was that even allowed? Changing the time of a meeting like that, when one of the attendees is flying in from out of state?

"Bella! You told me yes when I asked if six times seven was thirty-six, but it's not, its forty-two! Six times six is thirty-six!" C.J.'s indignant voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and I looked at him too see the key held in his little hands.

"Hey, none of that, hand it here!" I said, taking the times tables away.

"Well, you're not paying attention!" he said, fuming and stomping his foot in frustration. "You said we would hurry up through this so we could play guitar!"

"Sorry, dude," I muttered, knowing he was completely right. "Come on, we're almost done…"

I struggled through the next thirty minutes, helping him wrap up everything, including his reading, which he hated to sit through. Esme called up that dinner was ready after we had marked down his reading time on his log and I had given my signature of witness.

"Lasagna!" C.J. screeched, bolting to his feet and out the door.

I shook my head and finished replacing his notebooks in his back pack so he wouldn't forget them in the morning, because I quickly learned that he and Alice were a lot alike in the mornings: both usually awoke sitting straight up in bed, then proceeded to run around like cats on catnip, until they are finally out the door, both of them in such a hurry they've forgotten their pants.

Dinner at the Cullen house was a bog affair every night with everyone packed into the kitchen with a plate in hand, and hopeful look on their face that there will be something left by the time they get to the serving pot. There were usually seven or eight people, give or take an Emmett, which crowded around the room, plates with varying degrees of fullness; plus Hyde, who ran circles around everyone with his tail wagging at the prospect of falling snacks. Then somehow, as a group, we would find our way to the dining room table to start the actual dinner. The usual questions for C.J. about his guitar, and now school; making fun of Edward's hair from Emmett, Alice, Rosalie, and I; Edward whining to Esme to make us shut up; Carlisle pretending nothing was going on as C.J. regaled him with Randy Rhoads 101; and Esme trying to show us all attention, showing all of us her love.

Tonight was different. The absence of Emmett and Alice was like a silent scream to all of us, and talk around the table was cut to a minimum. Edward barely even spoke at all, with the lack of his older brother and sister taking shots at him, and neither Rose nor I had the heart to fill that silence. Rosalie wasn't even really eating, just picking at the food on her plate, her doll-like face cupped in the elegant cradle of her hand, light blues eyes clouded as she stared down at her fork as it moved. C.J. seemed oblivious, jabbering away about this new song we were working on, excited to hurry and eat so we could play.

All I could think about was what Alice was doing at this moment. I wondered what was being said, and how she was taking everything. My arms twitched at the thought of her being upset, and not liking the fact that I couldn't be there, should she come apart again. This morning had been something else to wake up to, not that I minded being there; on the contrary, I reveled in the fact that it was my responsibility to be her rock. But that was my whole problem right now, wasn't it? That I couldn't be there for her, that it seemed like weeks before she would be home and I could touch her again, just to make sure she was whole?

"Bella?"

I looked over at the shining blue eyes that were Alice's given to her son, and couldn't help but automatically grin back at C.J. when I saw the dimples that were also from his mother. Once he had my attention, he shot a look down at my plate and back up at me with a hopeful gleam. "Are you done, yet?" he asked, and I laughed to myself, giving him a nod.

"Let's go. I'll meet you up in your room as soon as I grab my guitar." I watched as he tore off to his bedroom, and then my eyes met Rosalie's as I stood up with my half-eaten plate. I gave her a questioning look, and she shook her head, giving a little shrug. I knew there was something behind the way she looked at me, but I would have plenty of time to question her later, as she was staying out at the apartment with me, at Emmett's request. So instead of dwelling on it, I turned to Esme and thanked her for the meal, then went to the kitchen to take care of my dishes.

It was chilly outside with the sun going down into twilight, and I shivered a bit as I crossed the gravel driveway to the garage. Definitely grabbing a hoodie, I thought to myself as I reached the steps. Five seconds later, as I opened the door to go inside, I heard a twig snap echo from the trees behind the garage. I froze and slowly looked up from the key and lock, my hand never moving away. I didn't see anything, scanned the tree line for two minutes before I felt secure enough to allow myself to believe it was only a deer, and let myself inside my apartment. I threw on the first hooded sweatshirt that my hand could find, and grabbed the electric and my practice amp, knowing that he wanted to hear me play Black Sabbath, because that had almost become akin to a bedtime story for him. With my Stratocaster in its bag across my back, I had one hand free to grab Love for the lesson before locking my door behind me as I made my way back to the main house. On the trip back inside, I couldn't help but to let my eyes slide to the woods, still searching the tree line for whatever had made that branch snap. I didn't hear footsteps, so I thought it could be higher off the ground… Christ, it was just a deer, Bella! I squared my shoulders and picked up my pace, my Chucks crunching the little bits of rock beneath their soles.

The lesson with C.J. went much like usual, very smooth, with only a few pauses for him to try and catch on to what I was showing him. His speed and accuracy with his pick was getting better, as it well should have been, considering the boy wore his guitar like a third arm. I couldn't help but feel a certain sense of accomplishment with him, like I had started to mold a man that would sometime wield a great weapon in the form of his six-string. I got shivers when I thought about the music this little boy sitting across from me would make one day, in the same way I got shivers when I lay in the dark listening to Jimi Hendrix.

It was after the lesson when he was in the shower and I was setting up the amp for his bedtime song(s) that Rosalie appeared, leaning on the doorway to the hall, arms folded and watching me pull the cord out of its coil. "What's up?" I asked her, and she sighed, pushing herself upright.

"Just wondering if C.J. was asleep… I guess the lesson ran over?" she said with a wry grin, and I blushed, knowing it was more my fault than his that we did indeed go over the allotted hour. But I had stopped charging for C.J. weeks ago, feeling wrong about getting paid to spend time with him, which I loved, so it wasn't the money she was talking about.

"Yeah, it was my fault. I elaborated a little more than usual… we got a little deep with it. I am going to play whatever he asks me to play, and then I'll tuck him in for the night."

"May I listen, too? I mean, we all do, every night. But may I watch tonight?"

I shrugged. "Sure, it will be just a few minutes." I paused as I plugged the input into the port in my Fender. There was so much more to this than what Rosalie was willing to say, and it was obvious. It was starting to chaff a little, and I was fighting with myself about whether or not to say something. But I have never really been able to keep my mouth shut on things like that. "Rose, is there something you'd like to talk to me about?"

"Maybe," she said softly, looking away for a second before looking back at me with that penetrative look, making me feel like I was being X-rayed. "I don't know, yet."

I rolled my eyes at her cryptic answer, and leaned the guitar against the amp as I turned to fully face her. "What's this about?"

"My nephew and my sister. It's always about them, Bella."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you haven't. That is part of what has me worried… everything seems too good to be true, I guess." Rosalie fixed me with a cool stare, and I swallowed hard, not in intimidation, but in anger. I did not like where this was heading, and I needed C.J. to hurry up and come back before my temper made this little glimpse in Rosalie's head escalate into me losing control of my big mouth.

"Calm down, Bella. It is good things, but… I am really scared for Alice, and I am twice as scared for C.J. You want to know the reason I think he didn't take the news about Jasper so hard? Want to know why Alice took it harder than he did? Because he is naïve enough to believe that you will be here, that you are for all intents and purposes his father… and Alice isn't so naïve, she knows that there's a chance that it won't last… So C.J. wouldn't have anyone in that role… but you are becoming that, for him."

"Is that so bad?" I said without really thinking. "I'm not going anywhere, Rosalie, I love him, and I love—." I stopped, realizing that I was about to tell her something I hadn't even told Alice. "The point is," I continued quietly, "that I am not going to leave. I just don't see it happening. You don't have to worry. Now, did you really want to watch, or were you just using it as an excuse to spy on me and him, so you can assuage your fear that I am going to break him?" When she didn't answer, I went on. "Besides, it's not like C.J. has ever had a father, besides Emmett and Carlisle. Jasper left, remember? He gave up two beautiful people to run off and start a life somewhere else, with someone else, and left my Alice in shambles, and that wonderful little boy with no father. Do you really think I am going to follow that asshole's example? I thought you were getting to know me, Rosalie."

My heart was in my throat and it was making my whole head pound with pressure, and I could only imagine the color my face was at the moment. Rosalie looked at me with an amused look that held in her eyes, and didn't reach her mouth to make it smirk, thankfully. Had she smirked at me at that moment, I might have punched her, and felt bad about it afterwards. "No, I want to watch. You're really good, and I guess I am curious about what Alice has… because she really has you, doesn't she?"

"She does," I said, calming down a little. "Completely has me… all of me."

Rosalie smiled then, not a sarcastic smirk, a genuine smile after hearing something she wanted to hear. "Good," she said, in an almost relieved tone, "Because you've got them, too." I didn't miss that she included C.J., and knew it was because I could not have Alice without her son, and that was completely and utterly fine with me.

"Aunt Rose, what are you doing?" Both of us jumped a little when C.J. appeared in the door, looking back and forth between us with a suspicious squint to his blue eyes.

"I wanted to listen to Bella play tonight," Rosalie answered, perhaps a little too quickly, and C.J. looked at me, his eyebrow slightly raised, and I was forcibly reminded of his mother again.

"Yeah, she wants to listen," I said stupidly, averting my eyes from his by picking up the guitar and slipping the strap over my head. I was automatically comforted by the weight of it, and the feel of the strings against my fingers. Home.

"Come on, boy, get in bed," Rosalie said, stepping aside and making a gesture at his unmade twin bed. "I'm ready for the show, and we're waiting on you."

C.J. jumped into his bed and sat cross-legged and took on the rapt expression he kept the entire time I played, like he wouldn't blink if he didn't have to. I smiled and shook my head at him, using a toe to turn on the amplifier. "So, what's your tune tonight, C.J.?" I asked him, and he thought for a second, his nose scrunching cutely.

"Um… 'N.I.B.'," he said happily, settling in even further to listen as I began the song on his voicing the choice. I enjoyed playing "Nativity In Black" just for the fact after the guitar prelude, C.J. always came in with Ozzy's "Oh yeah!" and then I rocked it out for his entertainment, banging and making the playing face and everything as I jammed along. I had even forgotten Rosalie was watching, as well, by the time I was into it, and then it was over and there were two people clapping.

"Okay, okay, that's enough. Under the covers with you, dude," I said with a laugh, starting to clean up my mess of guitars and cords as he scrambled under the Wall-E bed covers on his bed.

"Are you going to need some help carrying those out?" Rosalie asked me, and I shrugged, making a gesture to the amplifier.

"You can tote that out with us, if you want."

Both of us saying good night to C.J., we turned his light out and lugged all my crap out to my apartment. Right when we made it inside and set the crap down in the living room, my phone started buzzing in my pocket with Alice's name and picture popping up.

AlicePOV:

"Please have a seat, ladies," the older gentleman said, standing behind his desk as the two of us entered the office, and gestured to the two leather studded chairs on the opposite side.

I didn't look over at Jasper's widow as we seated ourselves side by side, unsure of what I might feel if I locked that gaze again. I wanted to yell at her, shake her, and ask her if he ever mentioned C.J. I wanted to scoff and sneer and treat her like she wasn't worth the dirt on the ground. I wanted to blame her for Jasper's disappearance. I wanted to make her feel just a piece of what I had gone through the past few years after he chose to leave.

I wanted her to be Jasper.

"So, as soon as Sergeant Kline shows up we will be ready to disclose contents of Private First Class Whitlock's will. I apologize for the short notice of the meeting change, but some serious business came up for the time slot we'd agreed on for tomorrow. Ms. Cullen, I am glad you had arranged for an early flight, which makes it easier."

"Mmm," I said noncommittally, not really making eye contact with him, either. I just wanted this to be over. But there was something I wanted to know, and I knew that at least one person in this room knew the answer. "How did it happen? Was he killed on duty?"

"No," his wife answered softly from beside me, and I felt forced to finally look at her again. "He was murdered on his way home from the grocery store. They found him in his car, several miles away from the parking lot, with his throat sliced open."

I winced. Murdered. Ice cold liquid ran through me, and I shivered, looking away from the pain in her eyes, focusing on my heels and the circular pattern in the rug beneath them. Then I looked up at her again. "I'm very sorry. For you, and for your son," I said quietly, of course thinking of C.J.

"As I am sorry for yours," she answered just softly, and I shot her sharp look, until I saw the sincerity in her black eyes. "He wanted to come back. He wanted to know him. He was afraid of what would happen, of how you and your family would react. Jasper loved him."

And me? Did he give a damn what he did to me?

I swallowed the words and forced myself to nod, not wishing to have a confrontation with this lady, who didn't seem malicious to me at all. "He could have come back. C.J. always said he would, that he would want to know his son." I choked on that last bit, wishing with all my might that Bella were there, if only to hold my hand while I sat through this.

A dark skinned hand reached over and clasped mine, giving a small squeeze. "Alice," she said, and I looked up, feeling the tears flowing down my face. "He never forgave himself for what he did to you, or to C.J. He regretted it until he died, I swear to you. And it might be too late for him to know Jas, but it's not too late for him to know his brother. William will be thrilled to meet the big brother he's always known about."

I sobbed a little harder at the mention of "brother", because I had always wanted him to have a sibling, but never in a million years did I think it would be a wish granted quite this way. "Of course," I whispered, letting go of her hand to reach up and wipe my eyes free. "If we can arrange it, I would love to have them meet."

The door opened again, and Ashley ushered in a man in an Army uniform, the official looking one with all the badges and pins, and he took off his flat hat as he entered. "Mrs. Whitlock, Mr. Hanerfrom," he said in a business-like tone, nodding his head first at Jasper's widow, then at the lawyer. When he looked at me, his hand came out and I took it without thinking. "Sergeant David Kline, Miss…?"

"Cullen," I said, shaking his hand. "I am an old friend of Jasper's."

"Excellent young man, honorable soldier," he said automatically, and I felt like I should keep my personal opinions about Jasper quiet around this guy. "It was a pleasure serving with him as his superior." Then he looked at Mr. Hanerfrom. "May we proceed? I have to get back to base as quickly as possible," he said apologetically.

"Of course, of course. Maria, you have the letters, do you not?" Mr. Hanerfrom looked at Jasper's widow, Maria, and watched as she opened her purse. "These letters were made out to Mary Alice Cullen and Christopher Jasper Whitlock, and under any circumstance save his death, were not to be given, nor read."

Maria handed me two envelopes, one thicker than the other, and I held them both in my hands, looking at the familiar handwriting scrawled across the top one: Alice. Mine was the thinner of the two envelopes, and that made me feel just bit better. He had seriously written his son. I could give a damn what Jasper wanted to say to me, he owed his son a series of novels. "C.J. cannot read his until his seventeenth birthday," Maria said sadly, knowing that eleven years was a long time to ask my son to wait to see what his father said to him. "Jasper left a special note that you wouldn't give a damn what he said, but he asks that you please just trust him."

I couldn't hold it in. I scoffed. Loudly. "He wants me to fucking trust him? Where does he get off saying that to me, of all people?" I said indignantly, and Maria gave me a sympathetic look,

"I know, but please… he's gone, and you can't do anything to provoke him. For your son's sake, just wait to give him the letter."

I didn't reply, but I knew that I would wait. For whatever reason that asshole had to ask that I please trust him, I would wait until he was seventeen. "Is this all?" I said, perhaps a little sharply. I was very ready to go right back to the airport and buy tickets home. I wanted nothing more than to kiss my son good night, and then curl up with my Bella. I didn't want to be in Texas any longer than I absolutely had to be.

"Well, no," Maria said gently. "There is the matter of two things that C.J. inherited: Jasper's pocket watch, which I have here." She handed me the old gold watch with the elk inscribed on the cover, with its long golden chain. I recognized this. It had been his father's, passed down to Jasper as his oldest son… the tears sprang back into my eyes at this acknowledgement from the grave, that C.J. is his oldest son. "And the matter of the thirty thousand dollar life insurance policy that is to be divided up between C.J. and Will. I have a check in C.J.'s name for fifteen thousand, and Jasper wanted it to be put to his college fund."

I bit my tongue again about what Jasper wanted.

"Fine. Thank you for being pleasant, Maria. I am sorry I can't hold my composure to show you the same courtesy, but you must all understand how uncomfortable this is for me. If this is everything, I will see myself out." I looked at everyone, saw no objections, and got to my feet, all three envelopes and the watch in my hand. "Mr. Hanerfrom, I would be much appreciative if you would pass along my contact information to Maria." Shifting all my things to one side, I freed my right hand and stretched it toward her. "I hope to speak to you soon," I said, and she smiled, nodding as she shook my hand.

"We will. My best to your boy… my stepson," she said kindly, and I smiled.

"Thank you, and my best to you, and yours. Thank you all for seeing me." With that, I excused myself from the room, politely closing the door behind me. I stopped for a second to sit and put all the things I'd been handed into my purse, and Emmett caught sight of my heaving chest, jumping up immediately.

"Are you okay? What happened in there?" he asked quickly, and I shook my head as I zipped up my purse.

"I- I need a few minutes, Em," I told him, trying to keep my voice from shaking, but failing miserably. "I have to p-process everything, a-and then I w-will tell you." Once everything was secure in my bag, I took a deep breath, and released it slowly, before even attempting to stand. Emmett reached out for my elbow, scared I would stumble once we began to walk. "I would prefer to talk about it once I am on a plane, headed home," I said a few seconds later, sighing at the thought of seeing Bella before the sun rose again the next day.

Jasper had been fucking murdered. That was the tip of the ice berg. The letters… What might be written in them, I didn't even have the strength to want to imagine. C.J. had a half brother named William, which was ironic, as between the two of them, they made Jasper's full name. I wondered if he did that on purpose, because it was at his insistence that C.J.'s middle name be the same as his, but he and I both settled on Christopher for his first name. It was in Maria's hands to contact me about the two boys meeting, and I had completely forgotten to ask how old Will was. Judging by size, he looked to be about four, or maybe a tall three, because Jasper was tall and lean. C.J. was small, but not as small as I was at six, so I knew he would have Jasper's height. William seemed to be about the same build as C.J. It was going to be a lot easier to see Jasper in my son when he was standing next to his brother. I didn't know how I felt about that quite yet.

Had the world gone insane in the past few months? I find Bella, we get stalked, Jasper is murdered, he was married, and C.J. has a younger brother? What planetary alignment had caused this House to shift into that whatever-the-hell-else-it-is, but-it's-fucking-up-my-chi? How does so much happen in three months?

I'd never been so relieved to pull out of a parking deck in my life, and I felt that this plane ride back, though it would feel like the longest ever, would be just as relieving. I was ready to go home, back to my life. I looked at my phone, seeing that it was only seven o' clock, so that meant it was five at home. Bella was still helping C.J. with his homework. I chewed my lip, debating on calling her, but deciding that I didn't want to interrupt his homework. So I put my phone in my lap, and leaned my head back against the head rest of the passenger seat as Emmett drove us back to the airport. I would call her when I was boarding the plane.

BellaPOV:

"We'll be home around one," Alice said to me, and I froze on the spot, looking at Rosalie with a hopeful smile.

"Really? What happened? Why are you guys coming back so early?" All the questions shot out of my mouth at once, and Rosalie stood up, her hands going up on her hips as her face turned into one of incredulity.

"And just why in the name of hell did Emmett not tell me?" Rosalie snarled, and Alice giggled at her best friend through the phone.

"Tell her we have reserve seats, and we're lucky we're even getting to come home tonight. We are getting on the plane now, so I will see you in the morning."

My mouth fell open. "Does it really have to be in the morning?" I asked, thinking that I wouldn't be able to sleep, knowing she was back and not beside me.

"Well," she said teasingly, drawing the word out, "I could grab the spare key to your apartment, let myself in, and climb into bed with you."

I felt the stupid grin before Rosalie could even scoff at it. "That sounds much better. I'll see you in a few hours. Be careful."

"Always am, babe," she said softly, and I felt the shivers run through me at the tone she held. It was almost as if she had told me she loved me.

It was silent or a solid thirty seconds when I put my phone back in my pocket and looked at Rosalie, who was lounged out on my couch, fingers interlocked behind her head, face devoid of emotion as we stared each other down. As the silence grew heavier around us, she finally spoke, popping the growing bubble.

"You've got it bad," she said flatly, and then immediately after burst into laughter, her hands coming down to cradle her stomach after a second.

"Why is it funny?" I snapped, whipping the nearest couch pillow at her, but she caught it and slung it back at me.

"Just the eat-shit dopey grin on your face. Don't worry, Bella, it passes after a while… you come down off the high, and then life really begins."

Come down from the high I got from Alice? No, thank you.

Seattle:

He had been lucky to find them where he did, at that hole- in-the-wall bar down near the water, but he still wasn't pleased with the poor quality of his models. They were generally under par in dives like that one, but also easier to convince to ride along, the mistake that these two women had made tonight. Stupid bitch, just because she's a Volturi , she thinks she can cut me out of the club line?

Things had not gone his way that night. He had planned to choose his models from La Lune Bleu but the doorman had recognized him from the slight dispute he'd had with his ladies the night before, and wouldn't let him in. So he then tried another club not too far away, but the doorman there picked him up and threw him from the door. "Jane's put the word out on you, motherfucker, if you show back up here, you won't like what happens," the burly red-faced guy said to him, a rigid finger jabbing his face hard and digging into the flesh. "And don't bother with trying anywhere else, you or your little red-headed botch. Word is the Cullens are out for you, and we don't fucking play with Carlisle Cullen."

Fuck Carlisle Cullen, he thought to himself as he pulled the smaller woman's frame closer to the taller of the two. Wait until he sees this… and imagines his precious little girl right here in my hands.

He tucked the lifeless head of the smaller one into a chest nuzzle on the other corpse, pausing to cock his head to one side, trying to remember the way he had seen them sleep together the night he'd met Bella. He'd stood right there and watched them sleep, and either was none the wiser about it now. This urge he'd had then became useful now. He pulled the taller woman's left arm up, placing the bloody hand over the open wound on the other's throat, then reached up to the shorter woman's black hair and pulled a few loose tufts out, left from the shears when he'd cut it for the photo shoot. It had to be the right amount of uneven layers, so the reference could be unmistakable, just the other woman's hair had to flow long and be somewhat mahoghany-colored, both girls slim with pale skin. "Alice" wasn't as small as her real counterpart, but he compromised with the skin color and her thick black hair, and "Bella" wasn't as skinny as her own, but the hair once again sold him. It wasn't like he had room to be picky, as all his venues were now denied him.

Satisfied that his models were ready, he stood up and moved back, surveying them for the best angle, and found it at their hip level. He'd waited two weeks on this Polaroid camera to come in, and he still couldn't believe Vic managed to find it. He took several shots, in a few different poses, but it would be that first one that he would leave in the mailbox for them to find. It was time for them to know just how much he thought about them, how much he craved them. How much he missed them.

That's the note he wrote across the white strip at the bottom of the picture, admiring it as the whites and reds developed on the film. "Miss u"

He looked at the tenderness he'd orchestrated between his models and felt his pride rise. This was just as he pictured it. Now all he had to do was get rid of the clothes and the purses, and drop the picture off at the Cullen gates. He'd be back in time to get a quick suck from Vic, take a shower, and get some sleep before he had to meet that Volturi bitch the next day, to buy his way back into his own fucking market. If she weren't related to Aro Volturi, the only man anyone in Seattle feared, she would be lying here in this picture, playing his "Alice". He had seriously considered Jane for the part, because of her hair color and the fact she was just as small. But using her would have caused a lot more shit than he thought necessary, so he decided to use unknowns. He would save Jane for another day, and possibly another dollar, if he waited until Vlad called in the plan that they had talked about for Volturi, Incorporated.

Cleaning up everything but his artwork, he silently slipped out of the same back entrance he'd entered through with the two women thinking they were going to an underground rave. It was Vlad's warehouse, and Vlad could give a damn what he did with his spare time, as long as he brought him the money on Friday.

It was a brief car ride to his dump spot, a small cliff on the way to the Cullen estate, and he tossed the bag of their belongings over the edge without so much as a second glance. He was too excited to leave his gift for them to find while Emmett was out of town for the next three days with Alice. He'd been tempted to take Bella when he had seen her enter her apartment alone earlier that day, but he wanted the two of them too much to settle for the one.

He knew what would happen when they found that picture. Emmett would put Bella and Alice together and under lock and key inside the walls of the estate, and go into manhunt mode. That was exactly what he wanted, because Emmett wouldn't know he was inside the very same walls, so he would look outside first. Emmett Cullen might find him, he might kill him, but before he would get the chance, James would make sure he was too late.

A/N: ... Better than last time, right? I try, guys, I promise. I am just always busy or distracted... my phone has lately taken to going off... all the time... and it's hard to juggle writing with that kind of distraction... not that I am complaining about the distraction lol

..also, I have a new computer that WORKS! So that's a plus to the more frequent updating, as my old one crashing put a damper on it, as well lol

ANYWAY thank you for not flaming the crap out of last chapter. It was rough at the end, and I appreciate everyone stomaching it long enough to finish. Should I start putting warnings when I write James' POV?

I hope you guys liked it.

Thank you guys for the continued support even through my absences. Your opinions mean the world to me, and to the survival of this story. So thank you to those who review, and a thank you to the silent readers, as well. :D

"N.I.B." is Black Sabbath, not Bella Swan, nor A.S.R.