Alice hummed quietly to herself as she went through her closet in the hotel room. Jasper had gone out—they had got into a small argument—he had been talking about trying to settle down in a house and wait out the Cullens until they got concrete proof of where they were, instead of living hotel to hotel, especially with their money running kind of low. They had enough for a little longer, but not if they kept it up at the pace they were going at.

Alice was against it, sure that if they settled down, Jasper might not want to go to the Cullens later on. A vision pulled at her mind, and Alice quickly submerged herself into it, glad to not think about their fight for a few moments.

"Alice, this is Peter and Charlotte. Peter and Charlotte, Alice." Jasper smiled, glad to be with his two friends again. "You'll never guess how I met this little one. She's a strange one." He smiled affectionately at the pixie-like girl.

Peter watched Jasper, while Charlotte, still slightly wary of Alice, nodded in the smaller girl's direction.

"Nice to meet you, Alice." She said.

"It's nice to know that Jasper here isn't all alone." Peter agreed.

Alice squealed, knowing it would happen relatively soon. She rushed to the door to go find Jasper, her clothes abandoned, but he was standing in the doorway, about to come in, flowers in his hand. "I heard this was how a human man was supposed to apologize to a girl, so I decided to try." He said, looking at her hopefully.

"Thank you, Jasper. There's nothing to forgive though, it was partially my fault, too. You'll never guess what, though. We're going to see Peter and Charlotte. I can't wait to meet them!" Alice smiled brightly, while Jasper, happy but a bit worried gave her a smaller smile of his own.

"Where, do you know?"

Alice thought back to her vision. "It was night, but I saw a sign for a play on May 16th, so that's probably the date, or sometime around there. Think we could trace it?" She asked excitedly.

"Depends. Did you get a look at the name of the play?"

"Great Expectations."

"As in the book?" Jasper asked her, confused.

"Yeah. I'm surprised you got that."

Jasper smirked. "I have read the book, though I confess I skipped through a lot. Okay, well, I really just skimmed it, but I remember the basic plot. Kid gets money, and has great expectations of him, etc. etc. so we'll just try to find where the play Great Expectations is going to be showing on May 16th. Can't be too hard."

Jasper sighed and fell back onto the bed dejectedly. "Correction, it can be too hard." It was currently May 15th, and they had yet to find a place that would be showing the play the next day.

"Maybe it was a vision of next year." Jasper told Alice, trying to give her some hope.

"Yeah, maybe." Alice said miserably.

"Don't worry, Alice, you'll get to meet them eventually." Jasper tried to sooth her. Key word, tried.

"But I was so hoping that I would finally get to meet them tomorrow!" Jasper chuckled at the fact that Alice was whining like a child that didn't get their way.

"We'll see them eventually." Jasper reassured her. The rest of the day passed in dejected silence as Alice almost moped around, Jasper occasionally tried to cheer her up, but she always pushed him back. "Why are you so upset anyway? You've never even met them." Jasper asked later on that night.

Alice looked away, and Jasper felt her embarrassment at the answer. "Well, I was just...hoping that they would approve of me..." Alice mumbled the last part, but Jasper still caught it.

"Only that? Silly Alice, even if they hated you, which would be impossible, little pixie, I wouldn't care."

"Yes, but wouldn't you be happier if they did?" Alice insisted.

Jasper shrugged. "I suppose, but it doesn't really matter."

As the morning of May 16th dawned, Alice was getting ready for the day. She primped and attempted to do her hair before it became blatantly obvious that her hair wouldn't do anything else. She slipped on the black dress she had seen herself wearing, hoping against hope that they would see Peter and Charlotte anyway.

Alice glanced out the window, only to see the sun shining back. she quickly closed the curtain before sighing and sitting down on the bed. "So, I was thinking," She started. "I know you were talking about moving into a house, and I didn't want to, but maybe if we rented an apartment or something...I don't know, it wouldn't be that bad. I just don't want to get too attached and when we finally find out where the Cullens are, decide 'Hey, let's just stay here instead.'"

"Is that why you didn't want to buy a house? Of course I'll go with you to the Cullens if we find an proof of where they are, but I think that until then, we should try to settle down." Jasper said as he came out of the bathroom, rolling up his second arm sleeve.

"Sweetie, that's not quite in style yet. Try in a few more years." She told Jasper before he rolled down the sleeves again.

"You were going to make me do that either way, right?" Alice nodded. Jasper shrugged and sat down opposite of her on the bed. "Sunny?" She nodded again. "Bored?" He guessed.

Alice growled and grabbed an old fashion magazine lying on the nightstand, flipping through it angrily. "There's nothing to do! Stupid sun!"

"Tell me more about the Cullens, hmm?" Jasper asked Alice quietly as he sat down next to her.

Alice sat up excitedly. "First there's Carlisle, he's like the father, and he's a doctor! Can you believe it? He actually works in a hospital! Then there's Esme, she's the mother-figure. She's really sweet and caring. Edward, he's a mind reader and Carlisle's oldest companion since 1918. Rosalie, she's beautiful and a bit vain, I don't know her past, just that Carlisle found her on the street. And Emmett, this is amazing, get this, at about 2 years old, Rosalie finds him, covered in blood from being mauled by a bear, and she's gets him all the way to Carlisle to save his life!"

Jasper smiled serenely at her. "You can't wait to finally meet them, huh?" Alice nodded. they passed the time just talking or simply laying there in silence until the sun finally set and evening came. Alice was up almost immediately saying that they should just wander around town.

So the pair went out, window shopping for Alice, and Jasper just watched her and basked in her positive emotions that were slowly becoming a familiar part of his existence. As they wandered into the darker, dirtier side of town, Alice suddenly gasped and pointed to a sign across the street. "Jasper, Jasper look!"

Jasper turned and saw the sign. 'Great Expectations the Play on May 16th' "Looks like we found it." He murmured to Alice.

"But how did you miss it?" Alice was too happy to be truly annoyed.

"Me? I thought you were supposed to look up this theatre."

"I thought...oh well, at least we found it." She sighed happily and pulled him over to where the sign was.

"So are we just supposed to wait here for them?"

Alice shrugged. "I guess, unless you have a better idea." Jasper shook his head, so she eyed the sidewalk before moving to sit down. Jasper whipped his coat off and laid it down on the ground so she didn't have to sit down on the dirty sidewalk, knowing how much she liked the dress. Alice glanced up at him and smiled as he sat down next to her.

They only had to wait half an hour before Jasper spotted his two old companions moving through the streets. "Peter! Charlotte!" He only called to them once, knowing they would hear. they both turned toward where his voice was, and quickly saw his head above the crowd. Charlotte's face lit up as Peter waved to him, the couple making there way of to Jasper.

"Hello Jasper, how have you been?" Peter asked when they were finally standing close enough.

Jasper grinned. "A lot better. How about you two?"

Peter noticed Alice then, and after realizing she was a vampire, smiled at her. "Hello, who are you?"

"Alice, this is Peter and Charlotte. Peter and Charlotte, Alice." Jasper smiled, glad to be with his two friends again. "You'll never guess how I met this little one. She's a strange one." He smiled affectionately at the pixie-like girl.

Peter watched Jasper, while Charlotte, still slightly wary of Alice, nodded in the smaller girl's direction.

"Nice to meet you, Alice." She said.

"It's nice to know that Jasper here isn't all alone." Peter agreed.

"So how long have you two been traveling together?" Charlotte asked politely.

"A couple months." Alice chimed, glancing up at Jasper.

Peter and Charlotte gasped in unison. "So short?" Charlotte asked, now even more wary of the pixie.

Alice nodded while Jasper said, "She's fine, you guys. Don't worry." slightly defensive.

"It;s a pleasure to meet you both." Alice told them sincerely. "Jasper has spoke highly of both of you."

"Has he?" Peter said, chuckling as he watched Alice. "So may I ask about the...um, eyes?"

Alice's tinkling laugh made all three of the other vampires watch her in wonder. "I don't hunt humans." She told him, too quietly for a human to hear her.

"Then what?" Peter asked, shocked.

"Why, animals." Alice said, smiling warmly at him.

"Is this true, Jasper?" Peter asked his friend, and Jasper nodded.

"Yes it is, this little one has showed me a whole new way of life that I never knew about before."

"But they can't taste good, can they?" Charlotte asked, curious but repulsed.

Alice shrugged. "Not as good as a human, but it satiates the thirst, so I can't complain."

"And Jasper, you follow this...diet too, I presume?" Peter asked.

"That I do."

"How do you feel now?"

"Better than I have in a long while, Peter. This small one has made all the difference." The four continued talking until Charlotte reminded Peter of why they had come into town in the first place.

"We need to hunt, I hope you don't mind." Peter told them, laughing

Jasper watched Alice, wanting to see how she would react. Try to convert them to animal blood, like she had with him? "That's fine, go on ahead. But please try to be careful around here, we don't want the humans to become suspicious of us. If you're planning on staying a little longer, please come stop by our hotel room." She quickly told them the address before Peter and Charlotte were off, promising to stop by one more time before they left.

"That was nice." Jasper said loftily, and Alice nodded in agreement. "It was, wasn't it? It was so nice to meet them finally."

"So about that apartment..." Jasper trailed off, smiling down at her.

Alice leaned against him, and Jasper wrapped an arm around her. "I was thinking Elkins, West Virginia. How's that sound?"

"We'll probably have to stay in for quite a bit." Jasper warned her.

Alice just shrugged. "It's not like it will make that big a difference in what we do. Besides, I'll be able to tell you when it's going to be sunny."

Jasper smiled affectionately at her, and Alice grinned back. "Elkins, West Virginia it is, then." The two of them wandered around the city happily, glad to have each other to hold and be able to talk to.

Later on, as the clock struck 2 o'clock in the morning, Alice and Jasper finally started heading back to the hotel. The city finally seemed to be asleep for the night, and when they got to their small hotel, the only other person there was the girl at the front desk. She was doing some paperwork quietly as they entered, and the couple only caught her mutter a couple swear words before it happened.

A single drop of blood slipped through the cut, and the two vampires went crazy. Jasper pounced—she didn't even have time to scream—and in a minute, the girl was dead and held not a drop of blood in her. Jasper was staring at his hands. "What did I do?" He looked up as Alice placed a hand on his shoulder.

The bright red of his eyes stared at Alice before she looked down at the body again. "I'll move it, you change the record books, make sure they never knew we were here. Just change the name. We payed cash, right?" Jasper only nodded, not able to form words. "Good. They won't be able to trace us." She hoisted the body up like it was nothing and took her out through the back, since no other human was there.

Jasper looked through the record to where they were reserved under his name. He grabbed a pencil and erased his name completely and then re-wrote the first name that came to mind. Alice was heading up the stairs at her normal speed, and Jasper followed after. When he got to their room, she was flinging clothes into a bag.

They didn't speak as he loaded his few belongings into the bag too before they rushed out of the building, leaving a DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging on the doorknob to their old hotel room. They ran down the streets, since nobody was out, and headed out of the area.

Alice and Jasper eventually slowed to a walk as they wandered through a forest. Jasper was avoiding her gaze, trying not to think about what he had done. "I'll have to start all over from scratch now." He sighed, and warily tested Alice's emotions. That strange emotion—love—, sadness, and the one that hurt him the most, disappointment. "I'm sorry, Alice. I would understand if you didn't want to travel with me anymore. I know how disappointed you are with me."

"Disappointed with you?" Alice gasped. "If I had kept us out just a few moments longer, it never would have happened, and you wouldn't be looking at yourself in disgust."

"You blame yourself? Oh, Alice, how could you ever think this was your fault? I'm the one that just killed an innocent girl."

"Jasper, if you hadn't of done that, I," Alice hesitated. "I would have done the same exact thing. She was bleeding Jasper! Any normal vampire would have done that." She tried to soothe him, and surprisingly, it worked. He was still upset, but not to the same degree.

"Thank you, Miss Alice." He said, the Texan accent coming out a bit more. "You don't know how much I appreciate being able to be with you."

Alice smiled brightly at him. "Come on, let's go hunt, then we'll figure this out." Jasper stared at her for a few seconds before nodding and running deeper into the forest silently.

After finishing their early "breakfast" Alice and Jasper headed back to the small clearing where they had left their things before. Alice rummaged through her bag to grab a new dress while Jasper turned away while falling back against a tree. Alice quickly changed behind a tree (Jasper insisted) and went to stand beside Jasper, barely grazing his waist in height. "Thank you Alice, really." He said sincerely.

"I hope you weren't planning on moving into that apartment building soon. We should let this blow over a bit, after all, we're staying pretty close. I say we wait about a month or two, and then we try to get it. Maybe stay in a hotel for a little. My hair is going to get so dirty!" Alice sighed, but shrugged, and Jasper could tell that she wasn't really that annoyed.

"You are the best thing to ever happen to me Alice. Only you could be so forgiving." He murmured.

"Well, I don't know about that, Carlisle is very forgiving, too..." She looked up, to see Jasper leaning down toward her. She felt her eyes sliding shut before he bent down and pressed his lips to hers. It was the best moment of her life, hands down. Even beating when they had first met, and she had thought nothing would beat that feeling.

In one fourth of a second though, Jasper was on the other side of the field, breaking the kiss. He approached her slowly. "Alice, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have done that, please forgive me. It was rude."

"Rude?" Alice turned away so he couldn't see her face. "I rather liked it."

"You're not mad?" He asked, surprised.

Alice shook her head and grinned. "Not at all, in fact..." Alice ran to his side and firmly but gently pulled him down to her height, placing a second kiss on his chapped lips. "I think we should try it again." She murmured against him.

GAH! I always try to write longer chapters, but they always seem to end around the 5-6 pages mark, occasionally 7 if I'm lucky. The story line of the chapter just wraps itself up by then, and I find a good place to stop. So how did you like it? Feedback is love and much appreciated. Hope you enjoyed!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, anything Twilight related belongs to Stephenie Meyer.