A/N: short chapter, but essential, so yeah.

Disclaimer: Twilight and all its characters belong to Stephenie Meyer

I knew she was trying so hard to be happy for Daniela. She was putting up a front to make sure Daniela didn't know about her concern over the Volturi. But in doing that, it only increased the worry. She wouldn't talk to me either.

Eventually, Alice's anxiousness got so bad that Daniela's power got a read on it. Edward told me that she saw the Volturi and almost the same thing Alice had seen from less than a month in the future.

When Alice found out, she felt even worse. It was killing me not to make her happy, however superficially. She needed it, but she just had to be fucking stubborn and not let me do anything. I felt so powerless to help her.

"I think we need help," Carlisle said one day.

I cocked my head in question and nodded for him to continue.

"If we have some kind of army, we'd stand a better chance against this Volturi, right?"

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes in thought. "The Volturi has a pretty large guard. And if they've taken this long to come for us, it's obvious that this is important enough to bring the entire coven. I have plenty of friends who would help, if I explained the situation."

"Not that woman who kidnapped Alice, right?"

I shook my head. "No, not Maria. No need to start trouble where it's not needed. Even if Alice could kick her ass with her newborn strength."

Carlisle's eyes had drifted to the ground near my foot and I also looked down when I felt a tugging on my pant leg. Daniela was looking up at me with a tiny crease between her eyebrows, like Alice gets when she's thinking too hard about something.

I picked Daniela up and placed her on my hip. "What's wrong Daniela?"

She grabbed my shirt and hugged me. "You're sad, Daddy."

I still couldn't get over being called Daddy. Not after all the hatred and war I had seen. "No."

Daniela gave me the same look Alice does when she knows I'm lying flat out. "Yes."

"Daddy's worried about grown up things."

"Why is Mommy so much sadder?"

I frowned. "Well…Mommy is…worried about things and she won't let Daddy help her."

"And that makes you sad?"

I nodded, looking over Daniela's blonde head to the glass door to the Cullens' porch. Alice was sitting on the railing, staring at nothing. Her red eyes were unblinking and her absolute sorrow hit me like a ton of bricks.

Carlisle, practically reading my mind, took Daniela from my arms so that I could go to Alice. I stood behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist from behind. "I love you," I whispered against her neck.

It was a long moment before Alice said in a barely hearable voice said "And I love you."

I sighed. "This is killing me. Please Ali. Let me help."

Alice shook her head. "No, I need to deal with this."

"Carlisle and I were talking and-"

"I know. I heard. I've seen it, Jazz. There army is so much bigger." A soft sob shook her tiny body. "I've seen the slaughter. They kill Daniela among the first. You're one of the last, but they…get you…" The sobs continued.

I kissed her neck, hoping that she'd be wrong for once. "We just have to hope that won't happen."

"I've hoped and hoped and hoped Jasper. Nothing ever changed. It's going to happen. I know it is." She put her hand over mine on her waist. "And I just can't feel happy knowing that it's so soon. I just got used to being a mom."

Just as I was about to respond, Edward and Bella emerged from the forest with huge grins. "Guess what we just did?" Edward asked.

"I don't want to know," Alice responded in a bored tone.

Edward ignored her comment. "We just figured out Bella's power."

I released Alice in order to talk to Edward. "And?"

He grinned. "She can block mental attacks from not only herself, but others around her. She's some kind of shield."

"A shield," I repeated, nodding. Why hadn't I thought of that? "That'll help greatly. She can block Jane and Alec."

I heard Alice gasp and I turned to her. Her eyes were blank and I figured she was in a vision, so I looked to Edward for a play-by-play.

"With Bella's help, I we can hold them off long enough to get them to listen. It brings up our chance of survival a huge amount," Edward announced happily.

Alice jumped up and clapped her hands. For the first time in months, she smiled a real smile. She kissed me and then spun around. And then she hugged Bella before going to find the rest of the family.

I smiled also, ecstatic to have my energetic pixie of a wife back.

"There's always hope," I murmured to myself.