Thank you all so, so much for your reviews thus far. They make me bounce in my chair with glee. ^_^ This series (and this particular part of it) has done better than I ever expected. You guys are awesome, and I love you all! *MWAH*
And now… one of the parts we've all been waiting for..
Because You Loved Me
Part 12/14
A Perfect Fit
In the summer of 1969, Jasper, Alice has noticed, is beginning to act a little strange. She hasn't forgotten the incident with the secret catalogue on her graduation day, but now it's more obvious. He's been spending much of his free time talking to Rosalie.
On a rainy morning in July, Alice corners her sister in the garage. The blonde vampire, much to Alice's amusement, is only visible from the bottom half, which is sticking out from beneath the hood of Edward's car.
"What are you doing?"
Rosalie mumbles something that Alice can't hear.
"What?"
"I said," she replies, poking her head out and glaring at Alice. "I'm trying to fix our brother's car, because it's not running right. Again."
Alice always thought it was strange that Rosalie, of all people in the family, was the one to go to for automotive problems. "What's the matter with it?"
"Alternator, I think. Or the belt… you're not interested in the car. What do you want?"
Biting her lip, Alice folds her hands behind her back and tries to look as innocent as possible. "Is Jasper alright?"
Rosalie raises a perfectly arched eyebrow at her, then her head disappears back under the hood of the car. "Why do you ask?"
"Well. He's been. …Talking to you."
For the first time since Alice has been in the family, Rosalie laughs so hard that she actually snorts. "Does talking to me warrant a check of the mental condition?"
"No. …Not really. Not unless it's Jasper. …He's up to something, isn't he, Rosalie?"
"Alice. Even if he were, I probably wouldn't tell you, because men are men and trying to understand them is the worst thing in the world that a female could ever attempt. …But I know nothing."
"You're lying!"
"I am not."
"Yes, you are. Your voice gets all scratchy when you lie."
Rosalie glares out at her again. "My voice is perfectly fine, thank you."
"Rosalie!"
"Alice."
Alice stomps her foot and crosses her arms. "I'd tell you if Emmett were up to something."
"No, you wouldn't, because Emmett is never up to anything, and if he is, he always tells on himself because he can't keep his mouth shut."
"….Really?"
"Alice!" Rosalie folds her arms and stares at Alice's back as she rushes up to the house. Then, she calls after her loudly, "He won't tell you either!!"
"Emmett?"
"Oh, no."
Alice hurries after her brother, who looked up, saw her coming and immediately tried to leave the house. "Why does everyone know but me?!"
"Know?"
"Don't play dumb."
"Who says I'm playing?"
Edward leans against a pillar on the porch and grins at Emmett and Alice. "She got you cornered?"
"I'm going to have you cornered, Edward Cullen, if you don't tell me what's going on!"
"You've got big threats for someone so tiny."
Alice narrows her eyes. "You know what they say about dynamite and small packages, don't you? Tell me!!!"
"You know," Emmett says, "I think it's kind of amusing that she hasn't had a vision yet."
Edward nods, "He must be very good at avoiding her ability."
Alice's mouth drops open again. "Then he is up to something!"
Emmett claps Alice on the back, then frowns as she stumbles forward so much that she ends up off the porch. "Sorry, Lucky Charms."
"Don't call me that!"
"Hunting, Emmett?"
"Absolutely."
Alice glares after her two brothers as they push by her and sprint towards the trees. Then, she sighs dramatically and flops down on the porch, her legs crossed and her arms folded. A pout is plastered on her face, and she decides that she isn't moving until someone tells her what her partner is planning.
* * *
"Alice? …What are you doing on the porch?"
She sniffles and checks her watch. It's been seven hours and sixty three minutes since she sat down. "I'm waiting for someone to tell me what you're up to."
Jasper kneels next to her. "So… you've decided to just… block the doorway?"
"I don't take up much space; they can step over me."
He chuckles, and she peers down her nose at his hand as he holds it out to her. "Hmph."
"You want to know, don't you?"
Alice rolls her eyes up to look at him. "Really?"
"Well, I was going to wait a few more days, but… that's just me procrastinating. There's really no reason to wait."
He wiggles his fingers at her, and she takes his hand and lets him pull her to her feet. He walks a few feet ahead of her, and she makes no attempt to hide her confusion at being led around to the back of the house.
It's open back there, no trees for a long while. The sun is just setting, and Alice smiles as she admires the way the light bounces off his skin.
Jasper stops halfway through the clearing, but he says nothing. Alice chews on her bottom lip and peers up at the sky, trying to figure out what it is he's watching so intently, but all she can see are thin purple and pink and orange clouds.
"Jazz…?"
"You know, I used to think about this all the time when I was human. I thought about how it would happen, who it would happen with. When it would happen. After I met Maria, though, I lost sight of this. I became accustomed to the fact that it just wasn't going to be…"
Alice blinks at him when he turns to her. "What wasn't going to be…?"
"And then I found you," he continues on as though she'd never said anything. "Well, you found me. However that worked out… and the things I used to think about came back to me. The little things, I mean. The human things."
She's holding her breath without realizing it, hanging on his every quiet word.
"Alice, I never imagined eternity would ever be a literal thing for me. I always imagined a life where I grow up, I have a family, I grow old and I die. But that's not going to happen now. I'm going to stay with way forever. …Why are you sad?"
She sniffles. "I don't know…"
"Don't be sad, Alice… this isn't a bad conversation. I know it sounds that way, but… well, I'll just get to the point. I'm happy now, happier than I ever have been. Even in human life. And it's because of you. And I think I'd like to stay this happy, with you. Forever."
Alice stares at him, wide-eyed. All the black and white romance films she's ever seen flash through her mind, and thinks about how silly she must have looked, sitting on the sofa dabbing at tears on her cheeks that weren't really there.
Wishing the girl in the film was her.
And now, standing behind their home with their family inside, in the middle of one of the most beautiful sunsets she thinks she's ever seen, the girl in the film is her.
She covers her hand with her mouth as Jasper's knee meets the ground, and he holds his hand out to her. In his palm sits a tiny box, made of deep red velvet. As he reaches up with his free hand to open it, Alice thinks she finally knows what a panic attack may feel like.
The first thing she notices about the ring is that it is not a diamond, and nor is it very large. It's small, petite, just like her: a thin silver band that holds a single tiny pearl in it's center. It's not traditional, it's not what one might expect.
And she loves it.
Alice opens her mouth to speak, but words fail her, so she simply stares there with her eyes locked on the ring.
"…This is what I was up to, Alice. I wanted it to be perfect, and I needed help."
Still, no words.
"Marry me, Alice," he whispers, so quietly that passing breeze almost carries his request away. "I want us to be this way forever."
Speak! She scolds herself. Have you gone dumb now?
She nods her head once, twice, and finally a large smile breaks out across her face. "Yes," she whispers, and then decides it wasn't loud enough. "Yes," she says, the quiver in her voice evident even to her. "Yes, Jasper, I'll marry you. I want to be this way forever, too."
He mirrors her beaming expression, and, very carefully, removes the ring from the box. Alice holds out a trembling hand, desperately trying to keep her finger steady as she watches Jasper slide the ring onto it.
It's a perfect fit.
She doesn't give him time to stand before she throws herself at him, knocking him backwards as she had done earlier. He simply laughs and wraps his arms around her, placing a trail of little kisses from her forehead over her temple and down the side of her face before finally resting his lips on her hers.
"I think," Alice says after kissing him back, "that this is probably the best day of my whole life."
Jasper brings his eyebrows together as he looks up at the darkening sky. "How d'you know if you can't remember half of it?"
"Oh, I'm certain I've never felt this happy. I'm positive of that."
He chuckles as she reaches up with her finger and tickles the side of his neck, and then kisses him again gently. Then, she sighs and nuzzles her face into his chest.
They lie there that way for the entire night.
A perfect fit.