Author's Note: Okay, so I didn't get much feedback yet, but enough that I thought I'd test the waters with a second chapter. Please let me know what you think! Thanks to those of you that reviewed after I posted chapter one. I love you guys!!! P.S. I'm not bothering my beta with these chapters just yet…she's a busy girl and I feel bad putting even more on her…so if there are errors I do apologize and if you see something that's really bugging you then please take the time to PM me and I'll go in and fix it and repost!

2. Web of Fate

We continued slinking through the shadows of the alleys until we finally reached a black sedan with tinted windows on an abandoned stretch of street along one of the outer walls of the city. Ginny directed me to get in as she slid into the driver's seat and expertly maneuvered the vehicle out of the city gates and along the Tuscan countryside toward Rome.

We traveled in silence the entire way until we pulled into the parking structure under a luxury hotel where she surrendered the keys to a valet and led me to the elevators that carried us to the top floor. I walked in astounded at the lavish accommodations that Ginny had arranged for herself. With the exception of my family, the Denalis, and the Volturi, I had never known vampires to have the kind of resources to afford such things. The nomads, which the majority of our kind tended to be, rarely owned more than what they carried on their backs.

I walked over to the tinted glass wall that overlooked the city and sighed as I took in the view I would normally consider amazing, but today it held no awe for me. All I could think of was how my Alice would have squealed in delight as she looked out over the scene pointing out the various shops below that she would most definitely venture out to explore once the sun went down. Oh my Alice, I missed her so very much. If only I understood why she would want me to carry on like this…wouldn't she rather I were at peace than be tortured constantly with her memory and the desire to have her by my side once more?

I sighed as I slumped on the bed and Ginny came over to place a comforting hand on my shoulder. I could feel the compassion and sympathy emanating from her body for a moment before a new memory came into view.

A beautiful little girl with corkscrew curls in her hair sat in front of me in a church that was used as a schoolroom during the week. Her mahogany spirals bounced as she scribbled on the slate board in front of her and while I knew I should be doing my assignment, I also couldn't look away from her back. I was waiting for him to make another attempt to brutalize her and I wasn't going to let him get away with it this time.

I focused on the black strip of curl at the bottom of one of her perfect tendrils and I had to fight the growl that tried to rip from my throat. Yesterday when I was out sick nobody was here to protect her and he dipped her hair in his ink well leaving the bottom of her curl stained black and who knew what he might try today.

Timothy Blackwell was the mayor's son and got away with absolutely everything. I'm sure he charmed the teacher right out of the licks across the hand with her ruler that he had deserved. He tortured poor Ginny even more tirelessly than anybody else in the class and I suspected it was because he probably liked her. They were neighbors and of the same social standing, so I'm sure he felt entitled to her like a prize at the county fair, but there was no way he would get by with that with me around, even if I were simply the lowly son of a cattle rancher with a very small stretch of land. No gentleman would ever allow such a sweet and gentle lady to be treated that way in his presence. No, Timothy Blackwell would have a lot more black in his life than his name if I caught him torturing her today.

She removed her hand and with the loss of her touch the memory disappeared. I sighed grateful that even when the memories disappeared from my field of vision, I was now left with a memory of the vision to evaluate later. With every additional scene I was beginning to see the picture forming. Ginny and I had known one another for a great many years before I was changed. It appeared that I was protective of her from a very young age. I remembered the memory of the dance and how I had mused during that memory that I had once been her best friend.

I looked up at her face now, still foreign and yet familiar. It was frustrating to have a person that had once been a major part of your life, now be a total stranger and yet have them remember all aspects of your relationship.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked curious and yet my voice still sounded flat and lifeless. Of course I don't know why it shouldn't. I had no life now. This whole situation was simply me humoring Alice and this Ginny for a while before I finally discover the answers I seek and then return to Volterra to end my suffering and hopefully, if Carlisle and Bella were right, join my family in heaven. If I'm even allowed there with the atrocities I have committed…I know I don't deserve to go. If it's a possibility for our kind, I have no doubt that my Alice will be there. She was already an angel on Earth, she would already blend in perfectly in heaven…but me…I was the worst kind of monster.

"Well, that's up to you. I thought maybe we could go back to Missouri for a while. I already have a place there where you can deal with things away from a lot of people and we can figure out where to go from there. The one thing I do know is I don't want to spend any more time in Italy than necessary. Bein' this close to the Volturi is makin' me anxious."

I shrugged half heartedly before collapsing back on the bed no longer having the desire to hold myself upright. I felt the bed shift next to me as she laid down facing me placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. Visions of Alice and my family once again invaded my mind. As happy times we shared together filtered through my mind I was filled with such sadness as I reminded once again that I would never see them again. I would never laugh with my brothers as we wrestled in the back patio. I would never pretend to play chess with Alice to keep her happy even though I knew she would always win. I would never dance with her under the moonlight to the music playing in the diner the night that she walked up to me and filled all of the following days with her light. I would never be annoyed by Emmett and Rosalie's lack of control over their lust for one another. I would never have my heart warmed by the all encompassing love that Esme had in the presence of Carlisle and for each of us as she comforted us throughout the years.

My heart was so saddened and heavy with the loss and the day drifted into night as the visions of my family kept flowing in and out of my mind. Ginny never left my side throughout the entire day. She sat there with her hand on my shoulder providing waves of comfort and understanding as I wallowed in my love and loss for my family. I'm really unsure exactly how many hours had passed when her hand left my shoulder and the slideshow of memories stopped.

I wasn't sure why she had pulled so many memories from me for that time. Was she trying to learn more about my family through my memories? Was she really someone I could trust? Well, Alice sent her to find me, so obviously that wasn't a problem.

Was she trying to help me deal with my loss by making me think about and relive my feelings for my family? A bit of anger rose in my chest. Who the hell did she think she was…A freaking vampiress Dr. Phil? Why is it that people always think that they can help other people "get over" their loss? I didn't want to get over my loss. What's so hard to understand about the fact that my entire existence is gone?

"Why did you do that?" I finally growled in my annoyance.

She shrugged from her position lying next to me with her head propped up on her hand as her elbow dug into the bed. "I thought maybe you wanted to be able to experience them again a little more vividly. I'm sorry. I was hopin' it would help."

"I never asked for your help," my dead voice that was barely recognizable responded.

"You didn'…she did."

I turned to look at her with wide eyes. She looked so sad and there were more tearstains on her cheeks. "She was very beautiful and so very kind. Your memories of her…wow…you loved her so very, very much. I understand that kind of love and devotion. I still feel that way about my husband."

"Have you ever had another mate since your transformation?"

She shook her head with a sad smile, "Heavens no, I loved him more than life itself in my human form and that love amplified durin' my transformation as the memories grew brighter and brighter in my mind as my body burned. I think that every cell in my body took in that love for him durin' that process. The simple thought of touchin' another man in that way makes my skin crawl in disgust." She shivered before rolling onto her stomach tucking the pillow under her shoulders and digging both elbows into the bed as she rest her chin on her hands as she gazed out of the window behind the headboard looking down on the city's rose gardens.

I found that the more I listened to her the more interesting her story became pulling me ever so briefly from my mourning and I kept hoping for more details. She spoke of her family and her life as a child, how restricted she had felt growing up within the confines of southern high society, and how much it saddened her when she and I grew apart during our pre-teen years. She said that seeing me during that party was the happiest she had been in years and she was desperately hoping we would rekindle our friendship during the dinner she invited me and my fellow officers to attend that following week.

For the first time since she began speaking I participated in the conversation by asking if it did lead to a renewal of our friendship. She looked over at me and I could sense there was a combination of surprise and pleasure that I was actually listening and interested in her tale. She smiled and once again I felt as though I was watching that girl at the dance and was almost certain that if she were capable, the pale pink blush would have been included in that observation.

"Why yes, young Jasper. I am pleased to say that we did, although we weren' able to have the same friendship of our youth…propriety would not really allow that."

I returned her wide smile with a small one, grateful that my friendship could create such a pleased look on her face. Even if I didn't have the memories of it, they must have been nice.

"So we've established we were friends, what about your husband? Was he a friend of ours too?"

She frowned slightly as though she were measuring her words before a smirk graced her perfect lips. Wait, did I just think her lips were perfect? Well, I guess they are, as most vampires are. "Yes, he had been a friend of sorts. He shipped out the same day you did. Our romantic relationship had been a bit of a whirlwind. It caught everyone off guard when we announced our engagement and were married three days later. As I told you before, he left a week later and I never saw him again…but there's a part I didn' tell you. Two months later I discovered I was with child."

My mouth fell open…she was widowed and raised a child alone during the Civil War Era? I might not have many first hand memories of the time, but I've done enough research and saw enough once I was a vampire to know that it was no world that a woman on her own could thrive in. "How did you make it? That had to have been difficult."

"If it weren' for the mercy of my Daddy, I wouldn've. He took us in, all three of us," she said with a wide smile and I could feel pure pride and love radiating from her serene face. "I gave birth to twins, a son and a daughter."

She continued to glow as she went on and on about how amazing and beautiful they were. "Aaron and Scarlett were my whole world. Aaron was mild mannered and every bit the gentleman his father had been. Scarlett was full of fire and determination and was so incredibly intelligent. She could out think any man she came into contact with and managed to do it in a way that he never even realized he had been one upped." Her eyes sparkled, "She even attended college, my Scarlett. It was practically unheard of back then for a female to attend college, but my Daddy was a very powerful man and he had a soft spot for that girl. He pulled some strings and she actually managed to hold her own against all of the men, even in the face of the prejudice and chauvinism that prevailed there towards her. She graduated third in her class. It would have been first if she hadn' encountered some professors who refused to give her the marks she deserved. To this day she is still the smartest, spunkiest woman I have ever encountered!"

Confusion dominated my thoughts. The woman sitting next to me appeared to be no more than twenty-five. "Ginny, you don't look old enough to have been mature enough to have a grown daughter in college when you were changed."

She looked down again with a sadness once again emanating from her long lean body. "I was nineteen when I married, twenty when I had my beautiful babies, and twenty four when I orphaned them. I gained employment as the area schoolteacher in an attempt to help earn our keep. My mother was crazy about her grandbabies and begged me to permit her to keep them durin' the day while I worked so I agreed. I loved teachin'. Unfortunately there were occasions where it meant very late nights gradin' papers and meetin' with parents. It was one such late night in September, right after the start of the new school year, that led to the end of life as I knew it."

She sighed and rolled onto her back looking up at the ceiling completely lost in her memory. "Daddy's coachman was late pickin' me up so I decided that it was a nice night and I could walk home. I made my way across town and had almost gotten past the main street to walk down the small lane to our home when I felt two strong hands grab me from behind and pull me into a dark alley. I could smell the whisky on his breath as his dirty hand roamed over my clothes. I tried to scream, but he held one hand tightly over my mouth keepin' my lips from partin'. The panic was startin' to overwhelm me when suddenly a handsome gentleman appeared out of nowhere and ripped the dirty vagabond's hands from my body and pulled him away from me and around a corner. I stood frozen as I heard the piercin' scream of my attacker and then silence. Soon the stranger returned from the corner he had drug my attacker around and I was about to thank him for his assistance when I saw his face, his eyes." A visible shiver ran through her body as she paused.

"I had never seen such evil as what looked back at me from those crimson eyes. I remember thinkin' that he must be the devil himself. Before I could call for help he was upon me and I felt his sharp teeth break the skin at my neck and fire started to boil in my body. He carried me to a barn in the middle of an abandoned farm and left me to burn in silence and solitude. I never saw him again. I still don' know why he would allow me to change instead of finishin' me off. I guess I never will."

She turned to look at me. "I woke up with the burnin' thirst that I could not quench. I ran thrilled at my new speed as I sought what I desired to quench the ache. I reached the town in no time and began to stalk my prey, but just as I started to leap and claim my kill I froze. I knew the man, not only that, he was a kind man and a good husband and father and suddenly I realized that I couldn' bear to take a human life. I turned and ran as the memories of my friends and family flashed through my mind. I was frantic and unsure how I would survive, but I knew I could never take a human life. I ran past a herd of cattle on a remote ranch and realized that while not as appealin', the blood of the animals could at least partially sate my thirst and from that point on I only partook of the blood of animals."

"I was in an existential crisis. I knew what I was and I knew what I wasn't. I could never go back to my family, but I couldn' bear to leave my beautiful babies either, so instead I watched from afar. I looked after 'em and silently cheered them in their accomplishments and commiserated with 'em in their defeats. It kept me sane to watch after my human family. Eventually they became my sole purpose for livin'. I watched as their children and their children's children grew and spread out across the globe. I still check in on my descendents on a regular basis even to this day."

She looked over at me with an ironic smile. "Actually Jasper, you never knew this, but you actually met one of 'em. She ended up nearly becomin' your sister."

My eyes grew large, "You mean?"

She nodded, "Bella. Bella was Scarlett's very, very, very distant granddaughter."

"No Way!" I whispered in awe at the slender threads in the web of fate that seemed to stretch across space and time to connect people from my past to people in my present.

Or at least people who had until recently been in my present. My short reprieve from the pain as listened to Ginny weave her tale had ended and I was suddenly hit once more with the sorrow I felt at the loss of my family.

Ginny looked at me once more with compassion before caressing the top of my hand once in a show of sympathy before getting up from the bed and walking into the bathroom where I heard the shower turn on before I was once again buried in the sea of emotions. I'm not sure how much time passed, but when she emerged from the bathroom she began speeding around the room collecting our things and then came to stand next to the bed looking down at me with a smile.

"Up and at 'em Whitlock. We have a plane to catch!"

I shifted my eyes from the ceiling to her face and noticed the smile on her face and after a moment I finally groaned and willed my body to move again as I stood next to her and followed her back down to the garage to collect her car and make our way to the airport where we boarded a plane destined for Chicago Illinois where we would land at two in the morning and then catch another smaller plane to Springfield Missouri. We would arrive just before dawn and have to rush to claim our things and make it to the safety of Ginny's car.

We remained silent the entire trip as I was once again lost in my memories of my family. I had the slightest feelings of guilt though, because now the deep dark black hole I had felt in the meadow in Washington had gotten slightly smaller. I still missed them so much more than words could describe, but I was sitting next to a woman who had spent the better part of the last one hundred fifty plus years alone watching out for her human descendents from afar. I knew it was possible to continue on, but the bigger question was not whether I could but rather did I want to.

We arrived in Springfield and quickly gathered our things and made it to the large black Hummer with dark tinted windows. "Ready?" She asked from behind the wheel as she started the engine with a loud shudder. I nodded and she smiled as she jammed the car into gear. "Welcome to Missouri Whitlock!"