Without her visions, she wouldn't have been able to survive. Or would she? Again, another unknown presented to her by her life. She saw a vision of a family, she saw them hunting and she imitated them. She didn't know if she needed to hunt as often as she did, but she desperately wanted to avoid the visions she got if she strayed too close to a town, the visions of her orange-y eyes burning bright and scarlet once again like they had when she sat by the pool of water.

She was in many ways, if not most, confused. Bewildered by everything, with no memories to help her, she felt more than once that she was clinging to sanity and rationality by her fingertips. She relied on her visions of the future to show her what to do, her visions of other to show her how to act. So yes, without her visions she would be unable to survive, or survive as a creature with some emotions and aims. She'd become a savage, and it was this she feared above all bar something happening to the golden-haired man from her first vision.

She still saw him quite often, always with the black-haired girl (was that really her?) at his side. She also saw again the family she was imitating in her hunting, only this time with her and the blond man as well. But she felt these visions were a long way into the future.

As she had more visions she began to understand and be able to control them more. She could feel how far into the future they were (and she knew they were the future because she'd had visions of herself before doing whatever it was she'd seen the following day) and she could focus them in a way, look for a particular person or event or place.

She looked for him.

In doing so, she learnt his name, Jasper, but what she saw confused and terrified her. She was scared for him, but selfishly scared for herself as well. In the vision he was in a battle. It was night-time, clear, she could see the stars, and she thought (though she may have only imagined it) that she saw him watching them before the battle began.

The battle scared her, the fierce fighting and the animalistic behaviour. She didn't breathe until she was satisfied that he was completely unharmed. Once the battle was over, she watched him move around the wasteland they'd been fighting in. She couldn't understand his expression.

Her heart broke a little when a dark-haired girl approached him after the battle. She watched him wrap his arms around her and kiss her, and she didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to show her sadness, but she felt like it was eating at her.

The control she had over her bloodlust was improving, at least. She could now approach a town without immediate visions of death and blood. She was still cautious – overcautious really – but as she tested herself and didn't hurt anyone she began to become more confident. She walked around cities on cloudy days, having seen visions of what would happen if she went into the sunlight. She realised she had no idea how humans lived and reacted apart from the limited knowledge from her visions, so she walked around cities and watched and listened.

Slowly as she grew more confident, she went into shops, but she soon realised people quickly became suspicious if she didn't buy anything.

It was by chance she found the library, but they soon began to recognise her as she went back almost every day. She liked the calm and the quiet, and talking to the librarians. She decided they felt sorry for her. She'd stolen a few sets of clothes as a newborn to replace the ragged dress she was wearing, but all were torn and a bit grubby now, no matter how much she washed them. At least she'd always managed to get the bloodstains out from the mess she'd made at hunting when she first tried it.

She discovered she couldn't read.

She listened to the librarians conversations; they were worried for their jobs in the big depression. She decided she wanted a job.

She hunted for jobs, but there were barely any on offer and few people wanted an illiterate girl in grubby clothes who didn't look much older than 18. When at last she got a job she had the night shift waitressing at a tiny street corner cafe.

The other waitresses complained about how low their wages were, although never loud enough for their boss to hear. To her, it was a fortune. She carefully saved up all her money until she had enough for some new clothes, and then again until she could pay rent on a flat.

The flat was miniscule and smelled of damp with faded carpet and stained furniture, but she didn't care. It was her home.

She found out about her extreme strength compared to humans by accident as well. She was walking home after her shift, about 4 in the morning. A group of men called out to her, jeering and pointing. She ignored them until one of them came up to her and pinned her against the wall. In her terror she pushed feebly against him to try and get away, but he flew away from her, hitting another wall and sliding to the ground. She ran away at a human pace; she knew that no one could run as fast as her. Finding another thing that kept her separate from everyone around her made her miserable. She sat in her flat, but she couldn't even cry. She felt lost and alone.

Her depression didn't fade, couldn't fade while she felt so lost. She got promoted at work, now working a day shift, but then fired after not turning up. She couldn't turn up, the sun was shining and her skin glittered if she moved into the light flooding the cafe.

She knew it was only a matter of time before she lost her flat now she had no money coming in.

She was walking around the streets of the city when she overheard two women talking inside a shop. The shop was a dress shop, a brides shop. There was something wrong with the woman's dress, but neither her or the owner of the shop could work out what needed to be done.

She entered the shop out of curiosity, and immediately saw what needed to be done. The hem needed to be taken up to make the dress slightly shorter, the waist line needed adjusting and the neckline didn't match the necklace the woman was planning to wear and was trying on.

She browsed around the shop for a while, before she felt she could interrupt their conversation and tell them what needed to be done.

The shop owner was very grateful, thanking her again and again as the woman was paying a lot of money for her dress. However, as the owner looked at her she could see the distrust building in her eyes. She had no money to buy new clothes, and these were now ripped and torn. She left the shop quickly, embarrassment and shame flooding her.

She had entered the shop on a whim, because she knew how to solve their problem. She left shamed and jealous, jealous of the woman getting married and being able to afford a wonderful dress while she was wearing torn skirts and grubby tops.

She began going to major shops in the city and examining clothes there, talking about how they should be changed or how they'd look better in a different colour to the sales assistants, and once the manager. She never got anything more than suspicious looks, but it gave her something to do, and made her feel really good when she realised this was something she was good at.

She had a vision of one of the sales assistants approaching a manager with something she'd said, and then of the manager talking to a designer. Within 6 months her idea would be on the shelves for people to buy.

She went back to that shop when she knew that sales assistant was there, just to see what would happen. To her surprise the assistant stopped her, and took her to see the manager. He asked her name and age (she told him 18 because she knew the older she was the more likely she was to get somewhere). He said that her idea had been brilliant, and that they would be willing to interview her for a job.

Her life began to improve.

She got the new job, paying much better than her previous, and could afford a better apartment and then some new clothes and furnishings. She was doing a job she loved, and she was happy, for the most part. She became friends with the other designers, one girl in particular who would always cover for her illiteracy if needed. She still had a nagging sense of aloneness, but much reduced than before.

One day she had another vision. She normally managed to suppress her visions during work, they scared her co-workers, and then old fears of her own came back, although she didn't know why she should be afraid if they feared her visions. She just was.

This vision, however, she couldn't suppress. It was too strong for her, and crystal clear. The stronger the vision, the clearer it was for her.

It was of the blond man, Jasper. He was thirsty, his eyes were dark enough to allow him outside during the daytime and in a busy city. Which one? She questioned. It was raining outside, so he entered a diner, much nicer than the cafe she used to work in, big and bright and clean. She was there, sitting on one of the stools at the table. As he stood there she hopped off and walked towards him. She held out her hand... and the vision faded. He didn't know, so he hadn't made a decision about how he would react.

She knew immediately she had to go there, she had to meet him. At the end of that work day she asked her boss for some time off, as she hadn't taken any since she joined nearly 6 months ago now. He agreed on the condition she wasn't too long.

She travelled to the place in her vision, confident that he would turn up. She sat down and ordered a muffin from the waitress. It would be easy to hide without anyone noticing.

He didn't arrive that day.

Nor the one after, or the one after that or even the one after that.

Only her vision kept her coming back, as she saw it again and again, coming closer each time, but was unable to find out exactly when.

A week later she came in and sat, as she always did, and ordered a muffin like she always did. It began to rain outside, and her still heart leapt with excitement. She knew then, that it was today, at last it was happening.

He entered the diner, and she saw for the first time in real life the man she'd always known she'd be with, the man she... loved. She loved this man, loved Jasper. And he'd love her, she realised.

She hopped off the stool and walked over to him. She could see in his eyes suspicion and fear, and could watch his muscles tense involuntarily.

"You've kept me waiting a long time." She spoke relatively quietly, but he of course could hear.

"I'm sorry ma'am." His reply seemed instinctive, not controlled by thought, but natural. It fitted.

She held out her hand, and waited for him to react.

He reached out and took her hand, although he almost seemed surprised at his own actions.

She smiled and led him outside into the rain.

Alice led Jasper off to begin their new life together.

I wrote it! Massive writers block on this one, broken by writing a torchwood fic actually! Glad I finally got this down. I don't have my copy of Eclipse anywhere near to hand atm, so if I have made mistakes with the story please tell me so I can correct them.

And thank you thank you to AliceJasperJalice, who pointed out my errors in this chapter, i hope i've fixed them now. :D