"So why are you and Edward fighting?" Alice said as she took a bite of her ice cream. Our impromptu slumber party was in full swing.
Rose gazed in my direction before I answered.
"Um. He just lied to me about…some things." I tried to be as vague as possible. Hopefully she wouldn't ask more questions.
"Like what?"
"Hey Alice how are you feeling?" Rose interjected.
I smiled at Rose and mouthed "thank you."
"I'm starting to do a little better I think." She lay back against the headboard. "I mean my heart still aches everyday, but I've realized something that helps me get up in the morning." She looked up at us and smiled as she ran her fingers over her ring. "Jasper wouldn't want me living like this. He'd want me to move on and be happy. And I will. And I'll love him and miss him for the rest of my life."
Rose and I both reached out and took Alice's hands. She pulled us in for a hug and we sat for a moment, holding each other.
"So enough about me. Tell me more about your little tiff with Edward."
I sighed heavily. "Oh Alice I really don't want to talk about it."
"Too bad." She handed me her tub of ice cream. "Spill."
I looked at Rose and shrugged.
"He just wasn't who I thought he was." I took a large bite and thought through everything as the delicious cookie dough melted in my mouth. "You know you think you know someone. And you don't. And you think you can trust this person with everything that you have and then they go and shit on your parade. I mean how am I supposed to be with someone who doesn't let me in all the way? I can't handle that. Why do guys have to be such assholes?" I threw the spoon in the tub with a loud groan. I realized Rose and Alice were staring at me with their mouths gaping. "Sorry. You told me to spill. I spilled."
"Emmett always leaves his dirty boxers on the floor," Rose started. "Annoys the shit out of me." She took the tub of ice cream. "And you know the worst thing. When I ask him if they're clean or dirty, he sniffs them to check. Sniffs them! Disgusting."
We both turned towards Alice. "Don't worry Al. You're immune from this conversation."
"No it's okay." She smiled in thought. "Jasper always used to take a drink right out of the milk jug and spit it out in the sink when it was sour. Then for no other reason than to mess with Edward and Emmett, he'd put it right back in the fridge. A few days later, I'd be the one who got the sour milk, not those idiots. Made me want to punch him in the nuts."
"Nice." I nodded. "Okay we still need to decide on a movie….we've got Sixteen Candles, Top Gun, Legally Blonde and….30 Days of Night?"
"Those first three are technically love stories right?" Alice asked.
"Uhh…yeah I guess so."
"I'm with the vampires," Alice said.
"Me too. Bring on the violence and gore." Rose took the last bite of ice cream and set the tub on the nightstand.
I fell asleep draped across Alice's lap listening to her and Rose discuss the many ways to technically kill a vampire.
In the morning I was still on Alice's lap. She was slumped over with her head resting on Rosalie's lower back. Rosalie was laying face down across my legs. I had no feeling from the knee down.
"Rose get your fat ass off of my legs, you broke them." I laughed.
She sat up slowly and all the blood began rushing down to the bottom half of my legs. Her hair was sticking out in all directions. "Shut up bitch. Maybe I wouldn't have slept on them if you hadn't taken up the whole fucking bed."
"Good morning." Alice stretched her arms above her. I would let it go that she was this chipper at this time in the morning because in all honesty I was just happy to see her almost back to normal again. Any other time I would have wanted to strangle her. Morning people make me sick.
Emmett knocked on the door and peeked his head in. "Sorry guys. Can I talk to Bella and Rose for a second?"
"Yeah sure." We took a few minutes to untangle ourselves from each other and Rose and I headed to the hallway.
Emmett gestured us into his bathroom, where Edward was waiting. I didn't look at him.
"We were just contacted by Carlisle. It must be something important if he's willing to communicate to us. Wants us to meet him at an abandoned house on Walker Avenue right away." Edward crossed his arms in front of him and kept his eyes on the ground.
"Okay then let's go," Rose said.
She grabbed Emmett's arm and started out the door.
"I'll go tell Alice we're going to get something to eat," I murmured.
When I walked back into Jasper's room Alice was actually humming while she stood in his closet.
"Al? What are you doing?"
She sighed and turned to face me. "I guess I should probably start cleaning some of his stuff out of the closet. Oprah says it's part of the healing process, you know. Packing up their things."
"Oh okay. I'll leave you alone then. We're going to go get something to eat so we'll be gone for a little bit."
"Okay. Bring me back something good." She smiled slightly and reached for one of Jasper's shirts.
"Okay I'm ready." I announced as I walked into the living room.
"Where are you guys going?" Demetri said, peeking his head out from behind the refrigerator door.
"Oh. We're going to get something to eat."
"Alright. See you guys later." He went back to searching for leftovers.
Emmett, Rose and Edward left the penthouse but I hung behind for a moment.
"Hey Demetri?"
"Yeah."
"Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure dollface."
"Just…keep an eye on Alice while we're gone. She hasn't really been alone since it happened."
"Of course. I'll make her a sandwich or something."
"Thanks." I smiled and followed the others out.
We took the subway and walked the rest of the way to the house. It was run down and dark and I could see why Carlisle would pick this place to meet. There'd be no reason for anyone to go in there.
"Dad?" Emmett said as he pushed the door open.
"I'm in here," Carlisle called.
We followed his voice into a large living room, complete with a moth eaten couch and a single light bulb hanging on a chain from the ceiling.
"Are you certain you weren't followed?" He glanced out the mostly boarded up window.
"Yeah. We took the subway. Told them we were going out to eat," Edward said.
"Okay make sure to stop and get something so they won't be suspicious." Carlisle folded his hands in front of him. "I'll start with the good news. Jasper is out of the hospital and back in the city. He'll be working on the case from behind the scenes now and is recovering fairly well."
A sigh of relief escaped my lips. Jasper was okay. Thank God.
"Now on a more serious note. We've received some information from our sources that Aro has something planned for tonight. A sampling of sorts. According to our source he's invited some of his major buyers in to test the merchandise that he received from the Denalis before your visit to Miami. We're not sure exactly when this is going down, but keep your ears and eyes open. We're ending this tonight."
"Okay what do you want us to do?" Rose said.
"I don't want you to do anything Rose. Just keep on doing what you're doing. I don't know if Aro will call for you tonight, but if he does and you see something about to go down, call in to us. We'll be set up outside later tonight."
He turned towards the rest of us.
"You guys will probably know more about it than Rose will. I assume Aro will brief you all on the situation this afternoon so if there's any vital information we need to know, get it to us. We need to make this as smooth as possible. No mistakes." He looked me directly in the eye. I knew what he meant by that. We'd almost had them last time and it all got lost because of my stupid freak out. If we hadn't crashed the car, they could all be in jail right now.
"Edward I'm giving you the panic button. We're not going to risk wiring any of you. As long as we catch them in the act it should be sufficient. As soon as enough of the buyers are in there and you have a visual of the drugs, push it. We'll be in there in thirty seconds to take each one of them in."
Edward reached out and took the small device from Carlisle just as my phone started vibrating in my pocket.
"Alice," I answered. "What's up we're just sitting waiting for our check. The waiter is taking forever."
"Demetri is taking me to see Aro. Apparently he wants to talk with each of us about something today. Demetri said that you're next so be at the warehouse in a half hour. Edward is to come in an hour"
"Okay Al. I'll be there. See you soon." I flipped my phone closed. "You were right about Aro talking to each of us about it. Alice is headed there now and I have to be there in a half hour. I'd better get going if I'm going to make it in time. Fill me in on the rest later. Edward you're supposed to go in an hour." I picked up my bag and headed out the door.
I arrived at the warehouse with ten minutes to spare, but walked inside anyway. My breath caught in my throat as soon as the door closed behind me. The room was completely dark. It gave me an eerie feeling. Something wasn't right. I felt along the cold wall for a light switch. I finally found it and switched it on. One single light turned on above me, only illuminating the middle part of the room. Everything else was hidden in the shadows. I could barely make out the outline of several large crates surrounding the perimeter of the area. The only other source of light was the soft glow from Aro's office.
"Hello?" I called into the darkness as I took a step forward. My foot caught on something and I tumbled to the ground. "Dammit!" I whispered, brushing my hands off. I looked back to see what I had tripped over. I froze. It was a tiny leg wrapped up in expensive designer jeans. I gasped as my hand flew up over my mouth. I squinted in the darkness, trying to distinguish her shape.
"Alice?" I whispered. I crawled forward.
"Bella," she cried silently. She pulled me into the shadows. I could barely see her face now, slightly illuminated by the light. Blood was dripping from the cut on her cheek. Her lip was puffy and her eyes were damp with tears. She was leaning up against one of the crates, with one of her legs pulled up to her chest. "I twisted my ankle trying to run away. I don't know if I can walk on it," she whispered.
"Alice what happened?" I started caressing her face, assessing the damage.
"They're dead." She cried.
"Who?"
She looked me straight in the eye and sniffed. "All of them."
A/N: So sorry that was a semi short chapter. It was more of just a transition, to set up for the next chapter, which is going to be fucking awesome if I don't say so myself. All the shit is going down next chapter so it should be a good one. Also I'm going to try and get the last few chapters up soon. I'm going to keep writing tonight and see how much I can get done.