"Alice, will you marry me?" Alice's eyes widened as she stared at Jasper on one knee, holding the toy ring and looking at her hopefully.
"Oh my...yes. Yes!" Alice threw herself against Jasper, laughing and tightly pulling him closer. "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
Jasper stood up and slipped the plastic ring on her finger before picking Alice up and spinning her around. He was just as happy as Alice, even without her emotions melding with his own. Alice touched the ring on her finger. "Plastic?" Not teasing, just curious.
"I wanted to surprise you. One of the humans got one in a cracker jack bag, and suddenly I knew, that was how I was going to propose to you. I'll get you a real one soon enough."
"I saw you in all the Jewelry stores, but I never imagined..." Alice grinned and hugged Jasper even more tightly than before. "I can't believe it. It's like a dream. A wonderful, wonderful dream..."
"For me as well, Alice."
It struck Alice yet again what all this meant. "We're getting married!" She cried, and laughed just because of the emotional high. Jasper, even more affected, joined in her laughter. Soprano and bass, together.
"I can't believe we're going to get married." Alice whispered again as Jasper held her close.
"Alice Whitlock." Jasper said, thinking aloud. Never had he tried it aloud. He had only dared let himself think it, and her name with his tasted wonderful on his lips.
"Mrs. Jasper Whitlock." Alice tested it out slowly, before a smile spread across her face. "You're my fiancé, now, Major."
Jasper dipped his head low and said with his accent, "As you are my fiancée, Miss Alice."
Alice grinned wildly. "We have to celebrate!"
"What would you like to do?" Jasper murmured into her hair, breathing in her scent.
Alice pondered the question for a moment before she decided. "Dancing."
"Then I shall take you out, and we will dance through the entire night. Anything for you, my love."
"Let me get ready, and then we can go." Alice lightly touched his arm before moving to the bedroom to find an all new outfit to wear.
****
Jasper pulled Alice closer to him as the danced to the song that was playing in the background. Her arms were wrapped around his torso, and he had his placed on her lower back. They were dancing closer than what was probably acceptable, but Jasper found that he didn't care. "I think this is our song. It played that night on the radio when we were dancing, just like this." Alice murmured quietly. Only a few couples were on the dance floor now.
"From now on, it's our song then." Jasper decided, and he felt Alice's joy as his own.
"Our song" She breathed, and it barely came out above a whisper.
The couple, soon-to-be-married happily in love Alice and Jasper Whitlock, danced the night away. Through slow songs, and the newest songs that were 'in' at the moment, the two enjoyed themselves, as if they were the only two there. With a cloudy day in store for Christmas Eve Day, there was no fear of being caught in the sunlight.
Eventually they wandered out, and Alice skipped happily down the street, Jasper following behind her slightly. She was holding the heels that she had been wearing, and was simply going barefoot. Alice stopped suddenly and turned to face Jasper. Alice smiled brightly, and held out her hand to him. Jasper grabbed it, and Alice walked slowly with him in silence then.
"When would you like to go ring shopping, Ali?" Jasper murmured in her ear, leaning down next to her.
Alice glanced down at the dress-up ring she had on her finger, since she hadn't taken it off yet. "I think it can wait a little. I'm happy with this." She smiled and giggled a little before continuing,
"Can you imagine telling a story about this to someone? 'He proposed to me with a little plastic ring, and caught me completely by surprise, too!' You are truly amazing if you managed to get me by surprise. That hasn't happened since..well it hasn't happened."
Jasper smiled down at her. "It will be an interesting story to maybe tell the Cullens one day." Silently, he was basking in the glow Alice's warm emotions seemed to leave in the air around them.
"Although..." Alice started slyly after they had walked in silence for a little. "Maybe we could just look at a couple stores today."
"How much money do we have?" Jasper asked curiously.
"Why?"
"Well of course you still need a Christmas present, plus the fact the rings aren't exactly cheap either. But I was thinking, if we had enough money..."
Alice squealed, already knowing what Jasper was going to suggest. "A Cadillac Coupe deVille?!"
Jasper smiled faintly. "I had a feeling you would like it. Especially since you've started to see the Cullen cars. I knew you would want one sooner or later. But we have enough money, right?"
"Jasper, Jasper, Jasper," Alice sighed jokingly. "I'm a psychic, I pulled my money out of the stock market before it crashed, and I always know when to put it back in. I just recently put our money back in, but we should have enough money to...splurge on anything that might catch our eye."
"Like perhaps and engagement ring, and a car." Jasper teased, and Alice sighed happily, snuggling closer to him. The thought of being engaged! And to Jasper; Alice was blissfully happy. On cloud nine, even. "So you would like to go shopping for a ring today?" Jasper confirmed, and Alice nodded. "Alright, where would you like to go? I'm sure you saw some that you thought were nice."
****
Jasper had thought that Alice would want something extravagant. Three diamonds, side by side, perhaps, or a complex design that was beautiful, but maybe a little crazy, but Alice waltzed into the Tiffany & Co. and already knew the exact one she wanted to look at. With a swift glance at the rings on display, Alice asked if she could look at the Tiffany Setting, a simple band with one diamond in the middle, round and glittering, just as their marble skin would in the sun.
"That's the one." Alice murmured to Jasper, too quiet for the human to hear..
He glanced over at Alice, and then the ring again. "You'll have it for forever, are you sure?"
"Are you doubting me?"
"Never, sweetheart, but I want to be positive that this is the ring you want."
Alice looked up at him adoringly and nodded. "It is."
"Alright." He turned to the saleslady, who until then had been telling them about it, not noticing their own vampire conversation. "I'll take it." He was amazed at how the times were changing. Ten years ago, a woman wouldn't be working here at Tiffany & Co., but Jasper had long gotten over any prejudices that he might have had. He had no qualms with a woman working there, it just amazed him how different things would be in ten, 20 years from now.
Jasper's musings could only have taken a second, because the lady had no more than opened her mouth to respond when his thoughts ended. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to look around a bit more. We have a lot more extravagant designs, if you're interested, Miss." She had obviously missed the conversation.
Alice shook her head. "No. I want that one. That's the one."
"Okay. We'll have to take your finger size, unless you already know it." Alice shook her head, and the woman went to get the tool to check for the ring size.
As Alice held out her hand for the sales woman to take her finger size, Jasper noticed her eyes caught on the Cracker Jack ring that until then had simply stayed on Alice's finger. She blinked a couple times. "You'll have to take that off." She told Alice. Alice nodded and slipped the ring off her finger before handing it to Jasper.
"Don't think that you can go return that there ring." Alice told Jasper teasingly.
Jasper laughed, and Alice giggled along with him as the salesperson's started to scowl, obviously still trying to fit Alice's finger. "I wouldn't dream of it." Jasper promised Alice.
****
An hour later, Alice and Jasper were walking out of Tiffany & Co., Alice feeling particularly satisfied. It doesn't feel like my life could get any better than it is right now, Jasper mused to himself. Alice was humming quietly as they strolled along. She was walking at a slightly quicker pace than his own, swinging their interlocked hands between the two of them.
"Who are we going to invite?" Alice asked before answering her own question, "Peter and Charlotte for sure, if we have gotten there yet, then the Cullens, but I don't know if I can wait. We can't invite the humans, they all already think we're married." She sighed softly. "It's too bad, I would've loved to have Marilyn, you know, Clara's little girl? I would have loved to have her as our flower girl. Oh well."
"Anybody else?" Jasper asked.
"Well...there was this one girl I knew. She was the first person that initially told me what I had become. After all, I had simply woken up with just my name. But I don't know where she would be. I haven't seen her in twenty years, and we only stayed together for a month or so."
"Well why don't you try looking for your friend's future, and if you can't find her after that, then we'll just have to go on without her. I'm sure she'd understand." Jasper smiled down at Alice, reassuring her with both his words and his gift simultaneously.
"Do you mind if I try now?" Jasper shook his head, and Alice took a deep breath before immersing herself in the images that floated in her mind. The small visions, not affecting much, buying this shirt instead of that, that sort of thing, seemed like they were always there. It was the small, petty ones that Alice had learned to ignore, but she searched through them anyway before looking into the future with more purpose this time. Flitting through them, Alice finally realized she wouldn't find anything, and turned to look back at Jasper. "I can't see anything. I suppose maybe she was...killed. It seems like so short a time, and yet, so much can happen." Alice murmured to herself.
Jasper tested her emotions. A bit of remorse was there, along with sadness, but the dominant emotion has happiness, and love. "You'll be alright?"
"I barely knew her. I'm sad that she is now gone, as far as we know, but it's not like if I lost one of the Cullens...or you." Overwhelming heartbreak swarmed Jasper, and he realized it was from Alice's thought of losing him. "That would be horrible." She added in a softer tone.
Right then, Jasper wanted to gather Alice up in his arms and make sure that she would never leave him, because her pain was affecting him just as much as it was affecting her, perhaps more. Instead, he simply settled for kissing the top of Alice's head lovingly.
"You'll never lose me, and I would hope that I'll never lose you. I will stay with you until you force me to leave. And as for these Cullens that you have come to love as your very own family, I will protect them with all I have. Whether I hate them or come to love them as you do, I will always protect them, I promise."
Alice's eyes danced in delight. "I knew you would say that."
****
Christmas day dawned cloudy and stormy—perfect weather for Alice and Jasper. When noon came around, Jasper led Alice out to the front of the apartment building, where the car he had purchased was waiting. Even though Alice already knew about the new Coupe, she still squealed excitedly when she saw it, immediately impatient to go for a drive. Jasper quickly opened the driver's door for her, and held it open. Alice smiled and gave a little curtsey, giggling as she slid into her seat.
He closed the door and was in the passenger seat by the time Alice had the car on and purring quietly. "Before we go," Jasper started, lightly taking Alice's left hand in his own, "I would like to formally give you your engagement ring." He slid the diamond onto her ring finger before he brought his hand to his lips, and touched his lips to her knuckles.
If she could have blushed, Alice surely would have right then. "Thank you." She murmured.
"Thank you. You saved me from myself, Miss Alice."
"Soon to be Missus, thank you very much." Alice sniffed.
Jasper laughed, and Alice smiled before throwing the car into drive and pulling out into the street. She was practically bouncing in her seat in excitement, Jasper noted. "Where are you taking us, anyway?"
Alice laughed. "I don't know. Right now we're just driving for the sake of driving." They sat in silence for a little while then, and Jasper caught her eyeing her ring quite a few times. Inwardly, he was grinning from ear to ear to know that she was so happy about the two of them being together forever.
"This is the best Christmas ever." Alice told him suddenly. "We're engaged, and we got a car!"
"This is our first Christmas together, too."
"Yes," Alice agreed. "That is most definitely a plus"
Jasper glanced out the window and noticed the surroundings. "You do realize that we've now driven through the town two times, right? If you keep this up, we'll run out of gas."
"Don't worry Jasper, we won't." She tapped her head and grinned; Jasper smiled in reply.
Eventually, Alice pulled the car back in to the parking lot out in front of their home, and Jasper opened the door and pretended to fall to the ground. "Land!" He cried jokingly.
Alice mock-glared at him, indignant. "Are you making fun of my driving?" She crossed her arms and waited for an answer, looking fierce. "Don't make me remind you that I actually have a license. Although I think it might have expired a couple years ago..." She trailed off with her remark, and made Jasper laugh again. He picked himself up off the ground and led her into the building, an arm around her waist.
"I would never make fun of you. Or your driving." Jasper murmured in her ear before giving her a quick peck on the cheek, smirking slightly..
Alice smiled softly, and her eyes lit up as she remembered something. "I got something for you too! Come on!" She pulled Jasper quickly up the stairs, impatiently trying to get back the their apartment faster. She ordered that Jasper go sit on the couch as soon as they were through the door, and Jasper agreed easily.
Alice hurried into their unused bedroom, and rustled through her closet. "It's not clothes, is it, Alice?" Jasper called teasingly, but there was a slight edge of panic to it.
Alice 'harrumphed' from the bedroom as she pulled something out of the closet and made her way out to the living room. "No," She said before continuing evilly, "But I know exactly what to get you next year."
Jasper grimaced, but Alice was now coming out of the bedroom, and he had to admit that he was curious. "Okay, what is it."
"Well, I saw you admiring it a while back, so...here." She held out a brand new Taylor guitar, and Jasper reached out a hand to stroke the wood gently.
"Amazing..." He mumbled to himself.
"Go on, play something on it!" She held it out to him, and Jasper took it lightly.
"What do you want me to play?" He asked, still staring adoringly at his guitar.
"I don't know, anything." She smiled as he touched the strings, picking at them and playing a soft melody. "I see you like it."
Jasper looked up from his daze. "I love it. Thank you, Alice. I haven't been able to play a guitar since my human years. I don't remember much, but I'm sure it will all come back to me, or I'll simply start from scratch again." He plucked at the strings again, listening as the wove together to make a slow song.
Remembering a song he used to play to the soldiers when they were down, Jasper, attempted to remember the notes. He started slowly at first, before picking up speed and confidence that he could remember the song. Before long, Jasper was playing the entire song, and as he strummed the first few notes again, Alice started to sing.
"Oh I wish I was in the land of cotton, old times there are not forgotten," Jasper smiled softly as the song progressed, and Alice's soprano voice carried the lyrics. When he finally played the last note, Alice's voice carried the last word for a moment before she too stopped.
Alice started clapping in applause, and Jasper smiled and ruffled her hair. "You have a very beautiful voice, Alice." Jasper told her truthfully. Alice frowned at her now mussed up hair, but smiled quickly at the compliment.
"You're not too bad at that guitar yourself, soldier." Alice winked, and Jasper laughed aloud. "What should we do for the rest of the day?" Alice wondered out loud while Jasper studied her left hand carefully. The ring was still there, and he kept feeling this irrational fear that some day he would look and it wouldn't be there. Alice smiled in a satisfied sort of way when she caught Jasper staring at the engagement ring. "We could always go shopping!" Alice suggested.
"Nobody is open on Christmas around here." Alice's face fell, and Jasper quickly amended his statement. "At least I don't think so, but we could always go out of town."
Alice lit up when she realized what that entailed. "I'll get to drive the Coupe again!"
Jasper smiled at her excitement. "Yes Alice, you'll get to drive the Coupe again."
"C'mon then!" Alice pulled Jasper out the door and down the hall, only to remember that they hadn't locked the door. Jasper patiently pulled Alice back and locked the door before she was hurrying them back to the ground floor.
John was out in the front with his son, eyeing the Cadillac meaningfully when Alice and Jasper came out. Jasper slid in to the passenger seat at a human speed, and wave cordially at John. Alice, impatient to get going, waved curtly before urging Jasper to go faster. John was walking over to them however, and Alice growled impatiently. "Come on!" She cried quietly in frustration. "If we don't hurry, I'm going to miss out on a designer dress—one of a kind!"
Jasper chuckled and rolled down the window so John could speak to them. "Is this yours?" He asked incredulously.
Jasper nodded. "Yes, I got it for Alice for Christmas. She's been wanting to go somewhere in it all day, so I told her we could go shopping. Shopping and a fast car, two things Alice can't resist." He smirked slightly, and Alice snorted delicately.
"There are more important things to me than shopping and fast cars, namely you." She told him at vampire speed. Jasper turned and smiled at Alice.
"I'm sorry John," Alice started. "But there is a really big sale a couple towns over. I really want to get there before it's all gone. I hope you don't mind."
John shook his head. "Not at all, go right ahead. I know how Katherine gets when there's a sale. Good luck Jasper, you'll need it." Jasper chuckled as Alice huffed in annoyance. With one longing look at the car again, John took Tommy's hand and led him back over to where what Alice assumed were the little boy's Christmas presents.
Alice sped off, grinning as they hit seventy by the time they were on the main street. "Alice," Jasper cautioned, "Be careful of the humans."
"I won't hit anybody, don't worry. Besides, almost no one is out. Except for that woman who wants my dress." Alice added the last part in a growl.
****
In the end, Alice did get the dress, and also a new pair of shoes and a jacket for Jasper. Satisfied with the day, they finally started heading back to the apartment, Alice in a joyful mood the entire way, fueling Jasper's own happiness.
"So I was thinking, on New Years Eve," Alice started. "That we could do something. It's going to snow the night before, and it will be perfectly cloudy again..." She trailed off, and Jasper knew that she already had something planned, and from the smugness that radiated off her, he knew there was no point in arguing.
"What did you have in mind?" Jasper asked, wary.
Alice's grin widened, and suddenly Jasper was nervous of whatever she had planned. "Ice Skating."
I have finals next week (ick) so I'm not going to be able to update, thanks to studying, but after that I've got two weeks off for winter break, and I'll get right back on the story. Don't worry, I'll be back soon!
Anyway, I'm finally back on track! It was 7 and a half pages (and that's not including my author's note), which is better than what I've been doing for the past few chapters. Next time, ice skating with Alice and Jasper, and I know where I'm going from there! So I'm excited!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Don't sue.
Speaking of disclaimers, one day, I'm gonna write a book, and then write a fan fiction on here, and be all like 'I own it, what now?!?!?' It'll be awesome. Yep. Feedback is love!
~Tally