I just want to take a minute to thank everyone who has been reading this series. Your reviews inspire me to keep going. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to check out the companion fics to this, About A Soldier (Jasper's story) and Pixie Dust & Premonitions (Alice's story) which can be found here on my profile. ^_^

Because You Loved Me

Part 6/?

All In The Family...

It's been two months since they were lost together in that blizzard. Two months since their first (and so far, their only) kiss. Two months since Alice had the vision of the house at the end of the road....

I'm nervous, she'd said. What if they don't like me?

She'd gotten over that soon enough.

"...And so here we are!"

The large grin on Alice's face slowly dissolves when her story of how she sees the future, found Jasper and then spent two years searching for the Cullens is met with nothing but silence and blank stares. They found the family in a tiny Wisconsin town, having luckily arrived during a nightly thunderstorm.

The house - two story and made of light colored stones, with a balcony that ran along the second floor - was about a twenty minute walk at human speed off the main road away from the town; just far enough away from the human population. Alice had mentioned a family of five, yet only three stood before them.

And all of their golden eyes were fixed on him. No, not him... his scars and his eyes. He'd slipped up a few weeks ago, and Alice hadn't been quick enough to stop him. His eyes were still proof that his willpower wasn't as strong as he'd like it to be...

Jasper feels Alice's grip on his hand tighten. "Um..." she was desperate. "Y-you're Doctor Cullen, right?"

"Yes, that's right," the man says, tearing his eyes away from Jasper to look down at Alice. "This is--"

"Esme and Rosalie," Alice pipes with excitement. She bounces on her toes and then frowns. "...Edward and Emmett, they're not here? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm doing it again. I don't mean to."

"That's alright, sweetheart," Esme says, laughing lightly. "I think you have a wonderful gift. Isn't that right, Carlisle?"

"I don't buy it," Rosalie snaps, throwing her long blonde hair over her shoulder. "How do we know they're telling the truth?"

Carlisle gives her a warning look. "We're always open to new members of the family, Rosalie, you know that. Anyone who wants to join us and put forth the effort."

"Well, one of them is." Alice frowns as Rosalie turns her gaze back to Jasper and curls her lip at him. "What happened to you, anyway?"

"Rosalie!" Esme places a hand on her shoulder. "Forgive her, she's just not as trusting as the rest of us..."

"H-he's trying," Alice says quickly. "He's done really well, and a few weeks ago is the first time he's slipped up in a really long time. He wants to do this, it's just hard for him. ...Right, Jasper?"

Carlisle turns to look at Jasper again, and he decides he doesn't like it when the man makes eye contact. It feels as though he's staring right through him...

"Is that right, son?"

Jasper looks at the ground. "Yes, sir."

"Well, then!" Esme exclaims. "I see nothing wrong with giving someone a chance."

Alice bounces again. "Which room can we have?"

Folding her arms, Rosalie curls her lip again. "Not mine."

"Don't worry," Esme says, wrapping an arm around Alice's shoulders as Rosalie turns away and stomps back into the house. "She'll warm up to you."

Alice sniffs affectedly and poked out her bottom lip. "I know."

The room at the end of the second floor hallway on the left is the one Alice falls in love with. It overlooks the back yard, and the Big Dipper constellation sits directly over the balcony. The only problem, Jasper realizes, is that it's already taken.

"But this is Edward's room," Rosalie insists. "You can't just kick him out."

"He won't mind, Rose," Carlisle says, lifting a large brown armchair off the floor. "Besides, he's been wanting to change rooms, anyway. We can help him when he and Emmett return."

Jasper takes the chair from Carlisle, "We don't have to take this one, sir... Alice just sort of doesn't think about these things and--"

"It's alright. If this is the room the two of you want, you can certainly have it. Edward won't object."

He feels uncomfortable taking the kid's room, but Carlisle wasn't backing down. Neither was Alice. "I could put a bed here," she was rattling to Esme while they stood in front of a blank wall, her arms outstretched in front of her for emphasis. "I like to lie down sometimes, you know. Oh, and a little loveseat here! It'll be perfect for looking out the window. And --"

Jasper shakes his head and follows Carlisle to the basement. They make several trips back and forth, moving furniture and stacking carefully. On their last trip, Carlisle stops him as he's about to walk back up the stairs. "Jasper..."

"Sir?"

"This is a very tight knit family. I hope you understand that."

He frowns, not quite certain what Carlisle is getting at. "I do, sir..."

"I have no doubt at all that you'll put a hundred percent into your effort to control your diet, Jasper, so don't take this the wrong way. I just want you to know that I'm going to be keeping a very close watch on you. ...Slipping up is something we can't afford. I'd never turn you away or kick you out of the family as long as you want to be here, but I have to see that this is really where you want to be."

"...I'm here for Alice, sir. No more reason, and no less. She wants to be here, and I'll do nothing to jeopardize her future here. She's looked for this family for almost thirty years."

A soft smile crosses Carlisle's face. "And do you want to be here?"

"I want to be where Alice is."

Jasper tenses when Carlisle drapes his arm around his shoulders. "Then I have no doubts about you... I get a feeling that you two need each other."

He does need Alice; he's not afraid to admit that. However, he's not quite sure if Alice really needs him...

"I guess you could say that, sir."

* * *

"What do you think?" Alice asks later, about three in morning. Jasper turns away from the window and surveys the room. It's bare, completely empty, except for a small two-seater sofa that Esme moved up from the family room. "I'll get furniture," she promises. "Maybe a bookshelf or two, and --"

"And when we have to move?"

Alice bites her lip. "It won't be all that hard," she says. "They move like real people, Esme says. Pack everything up and rent a moving van."

He scowls. They have to do things the hard way, don't they? "I see."

"...What do you think about the family?"

"I think the kid'll be pretty pissed off when he finds out we took his room."

"I mean in general, Jasper."

He thinks about this carefully before answering. "They're nice. I've never really had a family before, Alice, so I'm not sure what to think. I'm glad we found them, though, if that's what you're asking."

Alice folds her legs underneath her and sighs. "I think Rosalie doesn't like me very much."

"I think Rosalie doesn't like anyone very much, Alice."

"I heard her telling Esme I'm too short, that I must've been stunted or something. ...I wonder, why am I so short?" She sighs again. "She's so beautiful. I mean, I saw her in my visions but I never --"

"Matter of opinion."

"What?"

Jasper crosses the room and lowers himself onto the sofa next to Alice. "I said that's a matter of opinion. She's no more beautiful than anyone else I've ever seen."

"What are you, blind?"

He smiles slightly. "Maybe." Alice scowls, but her expression softens when he leans over and kisses the top of her head gently. "But if I am, it's all your fault."

Alice is glad she can't blush. "I'm not all that great, Jasper."

"Matter of opinion," he repeats.

She leans over on his shoulder and sighs, because she knows she's not going to win this argument.

Three hours later, she's startled to her feet by a large crash and the sound of breaking glass downstairs. She realizes that she's alone in the room. Her feet barely touch the ground between the sofa and the door, and she practically flies down the stairs, skipping three steps at a time.

She stops abruptly, skidding a ways on the oriental rug in the entrance hall. "Jasper!"

Her eyes dart between the three men wildly. She recognizes two of them immediately from her visions and she knows that Edward and Emmett have returned from their hunting trip. It's not the introduction she'd imagined. The long tan sofa is overturned, and the lamp next to it lies shattered on the floor.

The bigger man, Emmett, has Jasper by the collar of his coat. Jasper's feet are dangling inches above the ground and behind him on the wall there is a dent that, oddly enough, is an almost perfect outline of his frame. Edward is trying in vain to pull Emmett away.

"No, no, no!" Alice cries and hurries over. She wraps her hands around one of Emmett's arms and pulls, but due to his sheer amount of strength, he shakes her off with a simple flick of his wrist. She squeezes her eyes closed as the glass coffee table rushes towards her face, and she hears it shatter when he head makes contact with it.

"Everybody stop!"

There's a whirl of commotion, and by the time Alice is on her feet again Carlisle and Edward are restraining Emmett, who is growling and snapping his teeth viciously. Esme is standing in front of Jasper with her hands on his chest and Rosalie is standing in the middle of them, her hands on her hips and her eyes flaming with rage.

Alice pouts and rubs her head.

"I caught him sneaking in!" Emmett yells, pointing an accusing finger at Jasper.

Edward rolls his eyes and straightens his shirt, "If you'd listen to me--"

"He wasn't sneaking in, you great idiot!" Rosalie shrieks. "You could've gotten killed, Emmett Cullen!"

Emmett blinks at her. "He wasn't?"

"Like I was saying --"

Edward is interrupted again by Carlisle. "Emmett... Jasper and Alice have joined our family."

"Alice?"

Alice waves at him sheepishly, "That's me. Hi."

Realization hits Emmett, and the look on his face is suddenly extremely apologetic. "I didn't know, man. I thought you were... well, look at you."

Jasper's lip curls and Alice hurries over to him. "He didn't mean it that way, Jasper."

"No, clearly not."

Emmett holds his hands up, "Sorry. No offense intended... s'just. Wow, you two are quite a sight, aren't you?"

Alice looks up at Jasper, then back at Emmett, and then down at herself. "We are?"

"What are you, a leprechaun?"

A rumbling growl is the response.

"Jasper. No, I am not a leprechaun. I'm just... a short person."

"You mean like a midget?"

Carlisle rubs at his temples. "Emmett, you're really not helping the situation at all, you do realize this?"

"Yes, Emmett," Rosalie hisses. "Do shut up."

"I'm sorry," he says, stepping forward and cautiously extending his hand to Jasper. "Start over? Emmett Cullen."

Jasper looks down at Emmett's hand, then up at his face. Slowly, he reaches out to him. "Jasper..."

"Just Jasper?"

"For now," Esme informs him. "We haven't gotten that far yet; they only just arrived this evening."

"And... you're Edward," Alice says.

"Yes, I am. Don't worry about the room."

Alice blinks, and Rosalie rolls her eyes. "He has a habit of reading people's minds without permission."

"Yes," Edward says, "and I'd appreciate it if you keep your apprehensive thoughts to yourself, Rosalie."

"He tried to kill my husband. No, no, Esme! It's fine. Perfectly fine. I'm fine. See? No temper issues here. Come on, Emmett."

Emmett scrambles to Rosalie's side immediately. "Sorry. ...Sorry, she's just--"

"We know," Esme says, shooing them away with a wave of her hand. "Best if you go."

Carlisle takes a long, deep breath and runs a hand through his hair. Then, he look to Edward. "...Stuffs in the basement."

"That's fine."

"I'll help you move it," Jasper offers. "Since we're the reason it's there in the first place."

Edward shakes his head, "No, it's alright. I can manage. ...Best to just stay out of Rosalie's way for a few...hundred years."

Alice frowns after him as he disappears to the basement, followed by Carlisle. Esme folds her hands and sighs. The three of them stand there in silence for a few moments before she speaks. "Well..."

"I'm sorry," Jasper says quietly.

"Oh, it isn't your fault, my dear," Esme says, patting his shoulder lightly. "Emmett tends to act before he... well, he never really gets to the thinking part, but he's harmless, really. Unless he needs to protect Rosalie, then I'd make a point to get out of the country..."

Alice shares a laugh with Esme, and Jasper cracks a very slight smile. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Tomorrow's another day. Goodnight... figuratively speaking. Maybe we'll all start over tomorrow."

They watch her disappear, and Alice sighs. "Jasper... no one blames you. You were just defending yourself." He doesn't answer, so she takes his hand and tugs him towards the stairs.

They curl up on the two-seater, Alice with her face pressed into Jasper's shoulder and Jasper with his head leaning back on the wall behind them. He's tense again, more so than he has been in almost an entire year, and Alice worries that maybe she made a mistake bringing him here. Maybe she made a mistake forcing him into a life that he's honestly not committed to.

Maybe she made a mistake.