A/N: thanks to the reader who let me know I made a booboo on last chapter. I said I was going to fix chapter 3 for the age thing, I found it was chapter 4 not 3 and that when I went to fix it I accidentally replaced 3 with 4. If you didn't notice the booboo then don't worry about it. If you did I'm sorry and it was fixed the second they let me know.

In case you don't remember, I had to look it up so I can't blame you if you do, chapter eleven is where you'll find the translations for the Italian love words Alice and Felix use for one another. I just wanted some fluffy fun this chapter. After all, things aren't always going to be this way. ;)

Chapter Sixteen

Bella

I don't know what we're doing but apparently Jasper has been planning this for a couple weeks now. July is almost over. Whatever it is he has planned for tonight it's apparently going to be somewhere fancy because he told me to dress nicely. So I've picked out a dress and flats for the evening. He plans to pick me up at five pm on the dot and I'm to be ready to go then.

As I get ready I think about Rose. After my little chat with her on the fourth she's strove to work harder in not lamenting her lot in life. She and Em are planning another wedding, they've apparently had several through the decades, and a honeymoon across Europe. She wants a fall wedding, so I just hope all this mess we're keeping from them won't interfere. I would hate myself if it did. It's all due to me anyway.

If my blood wasn't so appealing to Edward he'd be able to treat me normally and we wouldn't be worrying about the moment he snaps. So far he's kept to his decison to keep his distance and to fight his urges. If I'm scheduled to be at the house he goes hunting, or whatever. We often notice Tanya missing at that time too. So hopefully it lasts a while longer. I want to at least get Jasper's birthday celebration out of the way.

Charlotte has been helping me with a surprise for him. I hope he doesn't get mad at me for probing, but I'm looking up his sister. So far I've traced back about six generations and found he has numerous family members out there. I know he can't meet them and say 'hey, we're related' but I figure he can make the choice himself with the knowledge that they're out there.

I found it interesting to learn that he was really born on the fifth of August and that we are celebrating his true birth, it's one of the few things he remembers of his human life. That, and the fact that Rose's actual birthdate is close to his on the sixteenth of August so since they're playing twins, they just decide to alternate when they move. Next time they move, with me in tow of course, they'll use her birthdate. The others all just use their real ones since they aren't pretending to be twins.

At precisely five there's a knock on my front door and I open it to find Jasper standing there looking very dapper in a white button down with the collar open, blue slacks and brown dress shoes and belt with his hair combed and tucked behind his ears. He smiles and presents me with a bouquet of roses. They're red and look like he clipped them from Esme's garden and bundled them together hastily; and I love them. I move into the kitchen and pull out my mother's favorite vase. It's made of Irish crystal and was passed down through three generations. When I'm done I kiss him and thank him.

"Thank you cowboy. They're beautiful. So are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"Nope. Come on darlin', let's go. I have a surprise for you."

As he drives, Em's jeep this time, I begin to recognize my surroundings. We're heading to the meadow. Why would that be a surprise? We've been here several times already. When we pull up into the meadow, now I know why we used the jeep, he helps me out and grabs a blanket and picnic basket from the back that I hadn't noticed. Spreading the blanket out, he helps me sit and I eat in silence. You would think it would bother me, eating alone, but I've grown used to it over the month and a half we've been together.

When I'm done he gets up and moves back to the jeep, switching on the radio and fiddling about a bit until he finds a station he wants to listen to. Then he comes back to the blanket and pulls me up and I wonder what he's up to.

Jasper

"This is the surprise darlin'," I say as I pull her into my arms. The song playing is a slow country love song and as I begin to dance with her she laughs.

"You know this could be dangerous for you. I have two left feet after all."

I smirk at her and just keep moving, just swaying as the song plays. "I think I'll chance it. After all, when will I ever get you to dance like this again? I figured you'd like it better if we did this privately. Less chance of you getting flustered without an audience."

"This is true. But I warn you. I may step on your feet a few times."

"How about I remedy that?" Then I pick her up slightly and set her feet on top of mine and really begin to move, swirling us about in circles as I move across the space in front of the jeep.

The slow song ends and a slightly faster song comes on, rather appropriate for this moment as it's a song about a couple dancing, and I set her from me and twirl her about. She turns in a small circle in front lf me and laughs her delight as she doesn't trip and fall like she's often doing, she's so damn clumsy but it's endearing. We dance and dance until the sun sets and I have to stop to turn the lights on the jeep so she can see.

I pull her into my arms as another slow song, this time it's Tim McGraw singing about how it was his wife's love that saved him, comes on and I kiss her. This could be our song, after all it's Bella's love that's changed me. Made me more content and happier in this life than I could ever have dreamed. Everything is perfect, until the skies open up and the rain begins to pour down. Damnit! I didn't see rain in the forecast when I planned this evening and Alice didn't say anything either! I'm about to pack everything up and get us both out of here when she starts to laugh.

When I look at her she's got her head thrown back and a smile on her face, eyes closed as she feels the rain run down her cheeks. She looks beautiful. I can't help but kiss her.

"Dance with me in the rain Jasper."

I step out of her embrace for just a moment to turn the music up so we can hear it over the rain and as Carrie Underwood's Rhythm of your Heartbeat plays I twirl her around in the rain, laughing with her all the while, listening to the steady beat of her heart and promising to keep it beating until she becomes one of us. We dance in the rain until she begins to shiver and I get her into the jeep and we head home. Once there I strip her and myself down and run a hot bubble bath.

We relax a bit and then I wash her off and wrap her in a towel and carry her to the bedroom where I make love to her before she falls into a blissful sleep.

Alice

I knew that date would turn out perfectly. That's why I didn't warn Jasper of the rain coming in. After all, who doesn't like to dance in the rain? While Jasper and Bella are enjoying the rain, Edward is getting increasingly agitated. I don't think it will be long before his plans to avoid her change and he starts actively seeking her out. But warning the duo can wait until tomorrow. I won't have anything more to tell them other than my observations and to be ready for the change anyway.

Tanya has become more subdued, but I think that's just because Edward hasn't had any true interaction with Bella since that first meeting and now that Eleazar has told him he doesn't know if Bella has a gift or not, I saw his decision to keep the truth to himself until he can talk to her and Jasper first- he actually likes to respect people's privacy unlike some- he's decided that he's just going to remain mum about her to anyone else until he can figure it out for himself.

Jasper, Bella and I were all relieved with Eleazar's decision. He just hasn't had the chance to talk to them yet, though I suspect he will soon. Apparently whenever the Denali coven have the chance to leave Alaska they take advantage by shopping, going to movies, and interacting socially with others. They are rather isolated up there after all.

I am on my way to meet with Felix. It's been almost a month since I last saw him and if I'm getting as needy as I am, he is too. I run all the way to Port Angeles, hunting along the way. I could get used to the animal diet, I didn't think it would be nearly enjoyable as it has been not taking human life- though the constant thirst is hard to get used to. However it might be nice not having to wear those damnable brown contacts all the time when I'm working the diner. I decided to keep my job to give myself something to do beside wait for visions and shop.

My eyes are an eerie looking orange color now, as they turn from the red to the gold. I'm sure it'll only be another month or so until they're completely gold like the Cullens. As I run I think about why I can't see our enemies. No one knows of my gift outside the brothers and Felix, except for Bella and Jasper. So they can't know to block me. I've never had a vision of them since that very first one when I was human though.

All I saw then was a massive group of people, now I know they're vampires but didn't back then, causing destruction and death to another massive group of people, who I now know noe are the Volturi. I've never seen faces. Not ever. But why? Surely the closer we got to the vision coming true the more decisions would be made by them and the better able I'd be able to see them. So why?

Getting out of my head I look about the parking lot to make sure no one sees me flit across to the door of my mate's room. I open it and no sooner do I step inside then he has me slammed against it, closing it, and his mouth on mine. There are no words spoken as he plunders my mouth and strips me of my clothes. He gets on his knees and pulls my legs over his shoulders and then he's eating me out until I scream in pleasure. I'm sure I've scared the other patrons of the hotel, but I don't care.

When I'm done coming down from the high he sets me on my feet and it's my turn to taste. I slam him against the same door and strip him like he did me and fall to my knees, gripping him with the gentle pressure I know he likes as I suck him in deep, his hands fisting my hair. I gorge myself on his shaft until he comes in my mouth and I drink every last drop. Then I'm pulled onto my feet, thrown on the bed and he's inside me.

We fuck in every position imaginable until the first rays of the morning sun filter through the crack in the heavy hotel curtains. My body is deliciously sore and I know this will last me for a while, although hopefully I won't be kept from my mate for so long again. It's weird hoping Edward attacks Bella just so I can have Felix beside me again. I'm laying across his torso as he kisses my head.

"I have missed you il mio amore. I don't know how much longer I can handle being apart from you like this. Is it bad for me to hope Edward tried to eat Bella soon and reveal himself? I feel guilty, but at the same time I just want this mess over."

"I know just how you feel amore mio. I feel it too. But we can't rush this, we must know who our enemy is and I just know Edward is the key. I just wish he weren't, I wish I could see another vision of them- this time with their faces. I just don't understand why I haven't."

"Well, the brothers have a theory about that."

I tilt my head up so I'm looking him in the eye. "Oh?"

"They think it's possible that they haven't made the decision to come for us yet. That at this point it's only an idea, a thought. That they aren't ready yet and that once they are they'll make that final decision and you'll see it. I mean, you never saw a date or anything. Just some small things that made you think it'll be sometime this year. Like Bella meeting Jasper. It being Edward's senior year. Things like that. That's the only way you knew the year of this attack. But the month? The day? The time? You don't know this. It doesn't mean you should berate yourself. We all understand."

"That is a good plausible reason I guess. It explains it better than anything I've come up with, like maybe they have a gift we don't know about or something."

"There hasn't been any word of any of the gifts disappearing, so if they're gathering them, then they're just recruiting- inviting them- and decisions haven't been made as whether to join them or not because you would have seen if they were and would have seen the enemy."

"You're right about that. So, what have you been doing? I haven't talked to you in a couple weeks. I've missed your voice."

"I have missed yours too, but we agreed no contact unless needed, or you could get away to come to me. So what excuse did you give for this little visit?"

"Uh uh. I aked you a question first."

He grinned hugely at me and it transformed him. He is always too serious in my opinion so I've always strived to get him to smile, laugh, joke. He is only nineteen physically. He should act like it sometimes. He has those classic Italian features, a strong and angular jaw on a square face. A slightly upturned nose, set between a pair of bushy brown eyebrows that sit over beautiful crimson red eyes, they had been blue in his human life. His lips are full, lush, totally kissable. He has a high forehead set beneath short cropped precisely styled hair. His jaw holds the shadow of permanent stubble and his skin is olive toned beneath the paleness of being a vampire. He's so fucking beautiful and he's mine.

He brings me from my perusal with his next words. "I got a job as a bouncer at one of the local clubs."

It takes me a second to picture this huge hulk of a man as a bouncer at a club, it makes sense- if I didn't know him so well. He loves to throw the strength he has, he's actually stronger than most average vampires- near newborn in fact-, around. Hates having to hold it in, which he would have to do with humans. "Seriously?"

"Yes. I needed to do something other than sit in this room all day, so I got a job. You know I hate being idle. Plus the advantage of getting to throw out belligerent drunks from time to time is worth the tediousness of having to control my strength."

I smile at him, picturing him throwing out some drunk human, but then my face turns serious as I think about the other things that bouncers go through. Like the flirting from women. Ohhhhh, I don't like the thought of that. But in his usual way of practically reading my mind, he tips my face to look into his and kisses my nose.

"I only have eyes for you il mio amore. None of those human females hold a candle to your beauty. Nor your sweet, bubbly personality. They dress too provocatively for my tastes. I like a woman who leaves a little to the imagination, makes unwrapping her feathers more fun. The surprise at the end is always delightful. Wondering what you'll have on underneath. Like that delightful set you had on today. I'm glad I didn't ruin them in my haste to undress you. I like you in black, especially when it's sheer."

"Well I think I much prefer you naked," I say as I lift myself up in a sitting position, looking down at his toned body that makes me wet with want. His member is flaccid, for now. But it doesn't take long to change that, as I rub my now wet core against him.

"I prefer you the same," he says as he lifts me over his now turgid cock and deftly lowers me onto it. Round two is about to commence and all thoughts of the question he asked me are forgotten.

Edward

It's getting harder and harder to keep away from Bella. I'm irritated that Eleazar couldn't confirm or deny she has a gift that blocks me from hearing her thoughts. I almost suspect he might be keeping secrets, that is if I didn't know him better than that. He's much too honest, like Carlisle. That's why they're such good friends. Tanya hasn't said anything to me about being too focused on Bella since that day she confronted the girl at her job.

I almost burst into laughter myself at the girl's gumption at laughing in Tanya's face like that. Too bad she will eventually die at my hands. I'm not going to test myself forever after all. Just long enough to prove my superiority. Then her blood will be mine and I'll satisfy my thirst for her. I can't wait to taste that flowing honey when I bite into her carotid and release it for my pleasure. But I need to stop thinking about that if I'm going to continue to maintain the distance I've been keeping for almost a month now.

Jasper and Rosalie's birthday is coming up soon though and I just know she'll be here and I won't be able to slip away like I usually do because I'll be expected to celebrate it as well. That will be a true test of my resolve, to be around her for potentially hours that day. Plus I have to act like the perfect brother and get them both a gift. Jasper already has his gift, the fact his mate is still alive. I don't know why it makes me so angry, the idea of him touching her. Perhaps it's because I feel she's mine and he's defiling her. I know better than to think they haven't had sex.

Oh well, her purity is of little consequence. It's not as if it'll effect the taste of her blood. I'm curious as to what Alice is doing. It's strange because everytime I try to read her thoughts she's thinking about shopping. That's supposedly what she's going to be doing this weekend, shopping. She left last night and won't be back until Sunday evening. It's hard to understand how one tiny little person can enjoy the pastime so damn much, but apparently she does.

I'm actually surprised she didn't take Rose with her, as she enjoys shopping just as much. Oh well, I don't care really. Whatever they want to do. Besides, Rose is planning yet another fucking wedding to Emmett. This will be like their hundredth. Yes I'm exaggerating but it certainly seems that way. A fall wedding, sometime in early October so they don't take away from Bella's birthday. Whatever.

So the house is littered with wedding paraphernalia, magazines, swatches for color schemes, materials for dresses- I guess Charlotte is going to make her dress for her. She's another that has been acting curiously. I usually like being in her thoughts. She's sweet and gentle, but doesn't hover like Esme. Her thoughts are always pleasant, but lately it's like she's hiding something deeper. Like she has a secret hidden beneath the surface thoughts that I usually see. Something I can't find no matter how much I dig. As if she's blocked it off in a separate part of her brain.

I can't tell if Peter or Garrett's thoughts are different because they've learned tricks to keep me from looking long ago. I hate Peter's thoughts, which are usually about his time with Maria and Jasper- or having sex with his mate. And Garrett's have been so concentrated on Kate ever since they met, it makes me want to puke. Those three, plus Kate, are usually together so I thought perhaps they might know what Charlotte seems to be hiding, but I can't stand being in their thoughts for more than a few seconds.

Plus Tanya getting annoying in her attempts to win me. She is rather jealous that both her sisters have found their mates now, so she keeps trying to force it with me but we certainly aren't mates. She's just a good fuck and I'm getting ready to tell her to fuck of if she doesn't keep pestering me.

My thoughts however shift from the mystery of Charlotte and all that, back to Bella as they usually do and I'm soon daydreaming all the ways I will kill her.