Disclaimer: As in all of my writing here, I do not own these lovely characters. Don't sue me...plz... spent all my money on the Twilight DVD. I have nothing left.

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Because You Loved Me

2/?

Before It Gets Better

They're on the move now, two days after the incident; Alice has had a vision. They broke into a small clothing store, and she changed her skirt for a pair of trousers. The only items Jasper would take were a pair of plain boots and a new shirt.

He keeps track of their movements with a map he stole, and he's informed her that they're moving across the southern part of Texas and that they should be careful. Alice suspects it's not that they need to be careful, but that he's worried about running into "old friends."

Under his request, and much to Alice's surprise, they travel by day under cloud cover and at night, take refuge in old broken down homes and barns. She's curious about his sudden preference for the daylight hours.

"Why the change?" she asks conversationally. "I thought you hated being out in the open during the day."

He stops, turns his head in the direction of the wind. They're in Brownsville, he said earlier; he doesn't have good memories of this place. "I'd rather travel safely during the day than be attacked while travellin' at night. I know you're used to being ignored or looked over up North, Alice, and even in the southeast but... the covens here, they won't ignore us. They're too damn curious for their own good, and they don't like people trespassing on their territory. Even though the war is pretty much over, the fighting isn't. They're brutal bast-... they're brutal."

Alice giggles quietly. "It's okay, Jasper. Don't change your speaking habits because of me. I'm almost certain I've heard worse."

"I'm sure you have," he says, looking at her over his shoulder, "but if my Ma heard me talkin' like that in front of a lady, she'd string me up and beat me. Then she'd get started on me."

She bites her lip to keep from laughing again. She starts to say something witty, but he stops short and sticks his arm out.

She halts and looks around. "What is it?"

"Shh."

Alice steps closer to him when he holds his arm out for her, and sniffs delicately. She smells something; another vampire. "Can't we just tell them we're only passing through...?"

"Passing through to where, little lady?"

She feels Jasper tense, and she peeps over his arm. Two males are standing in front of them, and each of them sports identicle red shirts, dark denim trousers and black boots. At closer observation, Alice realises that their clothing isn't the only thing that matches; their dark hair is parted in the same spot, their eyes are the same slanted, almond shape.

They're twins.

"We don't want a fight," Jasper says carefully. "Like she said, we're only passin' through."

The twin on the left leans forward and sniffs at them. Then, he folds his arms and circles around, eyeballing them with interest. "You're from around here... she ain't, though."

"No," Jasper says, turning his head only enough to keep an eye on the taller man. "If that's all, we'll just be on our way."

The other twin, the one who remained stationary, tilts his head to one side and reaches his arm out for Alice. Jasper wraps his arm around her shoulders from behind and pulls her back against him. A low, warning rumble sounds from his chest.

The twins laugh, two identical high-pitched giggles. The one on the left leans over to his brother and mumbles, "His mama never taught him to share."

"She sure didn't." He turns his attention back to Jasper, "That ain't very nice, you know. We're just curious."

"And I've told you," Jasper replies through gritted teeth, "we're passing through. Quietly."

The twins part, forming a small path between them. "Pass through, then."

Alice turns her head and looks up at Jasper. He glances down at her, then places hands hands on her shoulders. He nudges her foreward gently, but doesn't let her walk fast enough to put any space between them. She tries to make herself as small as possible, to squeeze through the tiny gap between the twins without touching them.

Everything happens quickly. She feels herself being jerked forward, feels Jasper's tight grip on her shoulders loosen and slip. She tries to turn, but all she can see is red cloth - one of the twins has her. She gasps, his hands on her arms and shoulders threatening to snap her in two. He's strong - stronger than her.

Of course he is, she realises. He lives off human blood.

She squeezes her eyes shut and manages to wiggle her arm free, then sends her elbow flying backwards. Hard. It makes contact with something - a ribcage, maybe - and the man hisses and lets go of her.

She tries to scramble away, but there's a sharp pain in her neck and her head is jerked backwards. She reaches up, feels fingers fisted in her hair. She rushes forward, but she feels a crushing grip on her shoulder and the hand in her hair jerks violently. Her head is snapped backwards again. She shrieks as a loud grinding noise fills her ears, and a white-hot pain shoots through her left shoulder and up the side of her neck.

"Alice!"

If her heart were still beating, she thinks it might've leapt through her chest by her now. She opens her eyes and tries to see something besides trees and arms and leaves and dirt, but she can't. She only knows the moment when she no longer feels the man's grip on her, and she drops to her ground, scrambling away from him in the mud. She holds her shoulder, her eyes darting around wildly. She can't see Jasper at all.

She curses herself mentally, feels absolutely useless; what's the good in having superhuman strength if she can never use it? This isn't the time for self pity, Alice. She pulls herself to her feet, and growls viciously as another pair of arms wraps themselves around her. She kicks when her feet come up off the ground, because it hurts her shoulder too much to use her fists.

"Alice - Alice, it's me!"

She opens her eyes to find Jasper's face just inches from hers. Fresh wounds in his neck and shoulders catch her gaze - new scars to add to his collection.

"Jasper?"

He sets her back on the ground, and his hands go immediately to her shoulder.

"Ow!"

"You've never had to defend yourself before, have you?"

Alice blinks up at him. "...No. I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologising?" he asks as he inspects her arm.

"...I could've got us killed 'cause I dunno what I'm doing," she mumbles. "You shouldn't have to protect you and me."

He doesn't answer. Instead, he places his right hand on her shoulder and wraps the fingers of his left around her wrist. "It's dislocated."

"...Oh."

"It'll hurt."

Alice bites her lip. "Okay."

When he pushes her arm back into the socket, she doesn't cry out; she refuses to look any weaker than she already has in front of him. Instead, she bites through her tongue and takes the pain silently. He kneels and looks at her, inspecting her face carefully. "You okay?"

She nods.

"Sure?"

Nodding again.

"They got away. Ran off," he informs her. "And we need to keep moving. We've gotta go further north and get out of this place. ...If you're feeling up to it, I mean."

"M'fine... we can go."

"Alice, if you want to rest -"

"We can go," she insists. "At least til we find a place to stay."

Jasper eyes her skeptically, but he grabs the bag she dropped during the scuffle and throws it over his shoulder. She follows him as they continue in the direction they were headed, her head down and her hand on her shoulder. Jasper could've died because she wasn't prepared to defend herself.

He could've died trying to protect her.

She makes up her mind then and there that the next time they have to fight, she'll be the one protecting him.

* * *

Alice finds an old barn on some abandoned farm land for them to stay in, just as night approaches and rain begins to fall. On the way in, they snatch two small foxes and a bobcat to take in with them. They barricade the door so the animals can't get out, and Alice immediately begins digging in her bag.

She pulls out an old, torn shirt and climbs up the loft. Sticking the shirt out the broken window, she waits until it's soaked with rainwater and then makes her way back to Jasper. Without asking if he minds, she begins dabbing at the healing wounds from the fight with the twins.

"Alice, it's fine..."

"No, it isn't." He sighs, and a feeling of irritation floods her. She pulls her hand away and looks at the ground. "Sorry."

The irritation melts away and is replaced with a sleepy sort of calmness. "It's okay, Alice... I'm just not used to having people take care of me. ...Not like this."

Alice pouts. "I only want to help... we're travelling during the day now, and people will see us. I thought you might wanna avoid being noticed as much as possible and --"

She looks down. He's holding her wrist, guiding her hand with the wet cloth back up to his shoulder. "It's okay," he says again. "Thank you."

"Are you sure? I don't wanna make you uncomfortable or anything and - okay."

He'd flooded her with annoyance again, but it was somehow playful this time. He was picking at her. She smiles slightly and begins dabbing at the dried blood again. She frowns as her eyes travel over the scars; she hasn't seen them this close yet. There are so many that it's difficult for her to find a patch of smooth, untainted skin that's more than an inch across.

"Was it very hard for you? The fighting?"

Jasper's silent.

They haven't spoken much about their past; Alice doesn't seem to have one and Jasper likes to keep his to himself. Alice, however, has been pushing the subject every now and then. She wants to know more about him - she's seen him in her visions, but she wants to hear it from him.

"Sometimes," he replies finally in a quiet voice. "Other times it was just... another part of the day, you know?"

Alice doesn't know. She nods, anyway. She uses her hand to brush the mix of water and blood off his skin, and he tenses when he fingertips brush over a particular scar; it's smaller than the others, and it's nestled in the groove where his shoulder meets his neck. This is the one, she knows. This is the first.

Her other hand moves subconsciously to her own neck, her own scar. The one, single scar on her entire body. Jasper tilts his head to the side, away from her hand, and stands. "That's good enough, Alice," he says, taking the wet cloth from her and wiping it briefly over both sides of his neck.

"Sorry," she whispers.

He laughs slightly. "You've gotta quit apologizing for everything."

"...Sorry."

Jasper shakes his head at her, then watches as he reaches out with one arm and snatches one of the small foxes who happened to be slinking by her. She looks at the animal squirming in her hands, then glances up at him briefly before setting it back down on the ground, watching as it scrambles to hide under some old hay.

"D'you want me to go...?" he asks.

Alice sniffs. "Sorry, I've just never had anyone else around when..."

"It's okay," he says, heading for the door. "I'll just give you a few minutes... maybe I can find another bobcat."

She watches as he goes, then sinks to the ground and glares at the fox's glistening eyes that are peeping at her from a dark corner of the barn. She wasn't prepared to feel this way - to feel that Jasper doesn't really want to be there with her. In a manner of three days, she's managed to almost get them killed and upset him more than once.

She prays for a vision - any vision - that will give her a different view. Something to show her that things will get better between them.

She doesn't get one.