"It's good to be back."
"Yeah. It's good to be home," Jasper agreed, and he wrapped his arm around her before stepping fully into the apartment, smiling when he saw the radio. "And it's exactly as we left it."
**
"Should we unpack now, or would you like to visit John and Katherine?" Jasper asked as they settled into the couch, Alice perched on his lap. "Or we could just stay here, too," he added on after a moment.
"Well..." Jasper laughed, knowing what she wanted to do. "it's just that we haven't seen them for a while," Alice explained. "I say we go visit them. We can unpack tonight. After all, we don't have to sleep," she smiled, and Jasper nodded.
"Alright," he agreed, smiling softly at the way her eyes lit up. "Although I think we may be...otherwise preoccupied tonight. Still, would you like to go see them now?"
Alice jumped up and started bouncing slightly in place. "Can we go now?"
Jasper laughed loudly again. "Come on, my little pixie, let's go say hello again."
They left their apartment at a slow vampire pace to go say hello again after not seeing John and Katherine in months. "It's so nice to be back again," Alice told Jasper, grinning as she skipped ahead.
Jasper nodded in agreement. "Most definitely."
Alice stopped for Jasper to catch up with her again. "I think we should go say hello to Clara, too, later. And Marilyn. Can't forget her."
"Alright, we'll go later, okay?"
Alice nodded and glanced down the empty hallway to the apartment that John and Katherine were renting.
As they neared their friends' apartment, Jasper suddenly stiffened before pulling Alice closer to his body, stumbling back a few steps.
"What? Is something wrong?" she looked up at him and grabbed Jasper's hand in her own.
Jasper closed his eyes tensely and clenched his teeth. "The...hurt. And pain, and sadness. It's covered over, but it's like a dull throb, always there," he told her, looking at Alice so sadly that she squeezed his hand tight in her own and thought of every happy moment in her life that she could.
Jasper sighed and his brow smoothed, but he kept his eyes closed. "Thank you," he murmured. Alice nodded thought he couldn't see, and finally Jasper opened his eyes. "Sorry. I'm ready now."
"Why would they feel so sad and upset?" Alice wondered aloud.
"I don't know...I guess we will find out." He knocked on the door, and a few seconds later, it was opened and Alice and Jasper were staring at John, Tommy in his arms.
Jasper's hand willingly found Alice's again as he stiffened marginally.
"Jasper? Alice?"'
"Hi John," Alice gave him a hug and smiled at the little boy in his arms. She knew that this was the source of the pain that Jasper was feeling, and she wished more than anything right then that she could erase the pain her friend and lover were feeling in the instant.
****
"Where's Katherine?"Alice asked as she and Jasper sat down opposite of John and his son.
"She left."
"What? What do you mean? When?" Alice glanced down at the cup of coffee he had given her earlier.
"A couple months ago, sometime in January," he swallowed and glanced down at the oblivious boy at his feet. "She just up and left. She took Tommy to the grocery store, and I got a call later when somebody recognized him. Kathy wasn't there."
Alice froze and her eyes widened. She looked over at Jasper to see that he had realized the same thing that she had.
"That's...terrible," Alice murmured, reaching out her hand to comfort him before pulling back abruptly, realizing what she was doing.
"Is there any way we could help you?" Jasper asked him softly. Alice knew that he was using the little oxygen he had in his lungs to speak with John, and despite the sadness, her heart swelled with pride for her husband.
"No. Thank you, really, but we'll be fine," John picked up Tommy. "Right, Tommy?"
Tommy nodded fervently, happy to be included in the 'adult talk.' Despite what John had said, Jasper gently eased the sadness he felt carefully. He couldn't erase it altogether—that wouldn't help at all in the long run—but he did help John feel better than he had in a long time, Jasper was sure.
"Are you sure?" Alice asked him, giving John a long look.
John nodded. "I'm sure. Don't worry, you two head back now, I'll talk to you later. Just don't go running off again."
This time not caring about the temperature differences, Alice grabbed John's hands and looked him in the eye.
"We'll be here for you, don't worry."
John looked shocked for a moment at how cool her skin was, but he quickly shook it off and nodded carefully at Alice. He watched as she gently let go of his hands and turned to look back at Jasper. "I'm so sorry," she murmured once to John, sadly looking at him, before silently walking to the door with Jasper.
"Jasper this is horrible!"Alice cried as soon as they were out of John's hearing distance. She was quiet for a little as they headed back up to their apartment. "Poor Katherine," she whispered finally. "Poor Esme. Poor John, to think that his wife ran off when really, she never had a choice. How did I not realize...?"
"Humans die all the time, Alice," Jasper pointed out, "It's the way of life."
"I know, but this is John and Katherine!"
"No; I know, unfortunately, there is nothing we can do now," Jasper told her wisely, mournfully.
"How do you think Esme is holding up?" Alice asked as they entered their living room.
"I don't know, you haven't seen them in a while, have you?"
"A month or two," she said offhandedly, but already she was searching them out in her visions, trying to focus on seeing their future family. Jasper watched as her eyes glazed over before the vision ended and she frowned. Persistently, she tried looking into the future again, only to look even more frustrated in the end.
"What's wrong?" Jasper asked quickly.
Alice grimaced. "I can't see them. It's all blank, and it' really annoying."
"What do you mean? Like, if they had been...destroyed?"
"No," Alice hesitated and tried once more, frowning again when it didn't work. "Not like that. More like they just vanished off the face of the earth, but they didn't die, no."
Jasper pursed his lips before he answered her. "I don't know what to tell you, Alice. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens."
"But what if something really bad happened to them, or is going to happen to them?" she protested.
"What would we do if something did happen to them? We have a less idea than even before of where they are," Jasper told her patiently.
Alice sighed and looked up at Jasper. "You're right," she agreed sullenly. "There's nothing else we can do."
Jasper wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head briefly, trying to distract her. "So I was thinking...that bed in the other room, we haven't been putting it to very good use since we first moved in here."
Alice grinned and threw her head straight back to look Jasper in the eye, now distracted with a little help from his ability. She stood on the very tips of her toes to press kiss to his chin, even then making Jasper have to bend down. Jasper grinned slyly and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her into the bedroom. He dropped her carefully onto the bed, the sheets ruffling beneath them as he slipped onto the bed next to her, and pressed his lips against her in a flurry of kisses.
****
The next morning, Alice sat and watched Jasper from her perch on the top of the car as he unloaded everything from their Cadillac.
"That doesn't go there," she cautioned him as he started to set a single box next to her clothes.
"What do you mean? It's clothes, isn't it? I'm putting all the clothes right there." Jasper pointed toward the accumulating pile of Alice's clothes where he had set the box.
"No, that box is all of our wedding things, including my dress, and your tuxedo," she grinned and pointed just a little ways away. "Just put it over there. Yeah, that's good right there."
Jasper set the box down gently, knowing Alice would get mad if he just dropped it. Turning, Jasper reached in the car to grab the last thing out—his guitar.
"Alice! Jasper!" Jasper looked up at the sound of his name, as did Alice, to see John heading towards them.
"Hi!" Alice waved excitedly from her spot on the car and Jasper just nodded to him.
"Is this all the stuff you guys had? It's not much," John said, looking over all of their things.
"Yeah," Alice agreed. "It's not much, but that's not a big deal."
"Did you have that before?" John asked suddenly, gesturing toward Alice's left hand.
Alice glanced down at where her ring was resting on her finger and glanced back at John. "Of course," she giggled, grinning at him, "I always wore it around my neck. On a necklace. I just decided to put it on now."
Jasper glanced up at her wryly before pulling the guitar out. "So where's Tommy?" Jasper asked as he ducked inside the car one more time on the pretense of looking for anything else when he was really trying to breathe in fresh, human-less air before holding his breath and turning to look back at John.
"He's at his grandmother's house a on the other side of town to stay the night with her. Would you like some help with that?"
Jasper shrugged so John picked up one of the clothing boxes before almost dropping it in shock. "Are all these boxes this heavy?" he asked incredulously.
Alice laughed quietly and hopped off of the car. "No, don't worry. It's just the clothes." She picked up one box with ease, only pretending to struggle for the human's sake.
"Would you like some help with that?" Jasper teased her lightly as he headed inside the building.
Alice stuck her tongue out at his receding back and hurried to catch up with him, John in between them.
"How is he today?" she asked Jasper quietly as she quickened her stride to match his, before she ended up side by side with him
Jasper sighed. "He's trying to be happy. But the hurt's still there."
"Do you think it will ever go away?"
"No," Jasper shook his head and glanced over at John. "Not completely. Eventually, he'll feel better, and it won't hurt as much, but the pain will never truly go away."
Alice sighed sadly and glanced back at John too. "I fell horrible about this, Jasper. Like, by trying to find the Cullens now, we're somehow betraying John."
"Alice," Jasper admonished. "Don't think that, because it's not true. Esme didn't even realize what she had done until it had already happened, I'm sure."
John was nearing them now, because they had stopped, and Alice didn't say anything in reply, instead opting to squeeze Jasper's hand once and smile at him.
"Does either of you have the key?" John asked nervously, since they had just been standing outside their door.
"Oh, don't worry, it's unlocked," Alice explained as Jasper opened the door and let her walk in before him. "Can you two set the boxes in the bedroom? Oh wait, Jasper you have the...okay, put your box down in the living room, okay?"
"Alright," he shrugged and set the box down where he was standing.
"In here?" John asked, gesturing to their bedroom door.
Alice nodded, and John went into the other room to set her clothes down. Alice followed after him a few steps behind to set her own box down. As soon as John had set down the box, he glanced at his watch before looking up at Alice quickly.
"I have to go now, I hope you don't mind," he explained in a rush of words.
"Oh? Where do you have to go?"
"I have to get ready to head to the courthouse. I still have to," he stopped and looked away, trying to hide the fact that he had started crying again. "Some of Kathy's things are still there. I haven't picked them up yet."
"It's okay to still be upset, John," Alice murmured to him.
"I have to go."
He left quickly, for a human, and Alice sighed, coming to stand next to Jasper once he had gone. "There's nothing you can do, Alice," Jasper reassured her.
Alice sighed again and turned to look at Jasper. "Come on, we need to finish getting everything from outside."
As they headed outside again, Alice suddenly held her hand out to stop Jasper, freezing in her tracks. "Wait," she told him, "I need to check something."
"Go ahead," Jasper agreed.
Alice turned to look outside, not seeing the present anymore. After a minute or two, she turned back to Jasper and smiled brilliantly. "I have an idea," was all she said to him before pulling him outside the rest of the way, not giving him another clue as to what she meant.
****
Hehe, hey guys...if anybody's still there. I'm so, so sorry for taking so long, and I could pile on a load of excuses as to why (including a big english project/paper) but I'll just cut it short. It took me forever to get this chapter even typed up, because I'm kind stuck on where I want it to go now. I don't want to rush it, but I don't want it to move too slowly, either. Anything you really want to see in it? Leave it in a review, and I'll try to add it if I can.
I started a writing contest, if you want to know more about it, go to my profile.
Reviews would be wonderful, but I've taken so long, and I can't guarantee the next chapter won't take a little while, either, so I don't deserve it...*sad face*
Disclaimer: If only.