Chapter 6: Alice
Rosalie and Emmett finally came home about a week after I checked on Bella. Jasper had class and Esme was making a rare trip into the hospital to see Carlisle so it was just me at home drawing when I got a vision that they would pull into the driveway that evening. I grinned and pulled out my phone to call Esme.
"Guess what! Esme, Rose and Emmett will be back tonight!" Esme sighed happily through the phone.
"That's wonderful, Alice. I'm almost done at the hospital here. Would you believe that even after I came to visit, some of the nurses still aren't convinced that Carlisle is married?" I snickered. It was a familiar dance. Whenever Carlisle started at a new hospital, Esme would invariably have to make a few visits to convince some of his more lusty coworkers that she was real AND that they were madly in love.
"They're like that everywhere," I reassured her. "They'll settle down soon enough when Carlisle keeps turning them down."
"Thanks for telling me about Rose and Emmett. Will they need anything that I can pick up for them in town?" I quickly decided to ask them when they got in and checked the vision.
"No, they're fine. Rose has been shopping in Europe." Esme and I shared a quiet laugh.
"Alright, I'll be home soon then. Jasper's class finishes at 4?"
"That's right, he should beat Rose and Emmett here by about 25 minutes."
But Jasper didn't beat them home by 25 minutes. Esme was home within the hour as promised, and then she and I set up Rosalie and Emmett's room. When Carlisle came home from the hospital at quarter to five, I finally decided to check on Jasper. The vision was of him sitting on a grassy portion in a central part of the university with his back against a tree and his hat pulled over his eyes. He looked for all the world like an exhausted university student taking a nap.
"Did he just get delayed?" Esme asked, seeing my frown.
"I don't think so. I'm not sure what he's doing, but I'm going to give him a call." I stepped on the porch before pressing the call button. As usual, Jasper picked up on the first ring.
"Hey Darlin'. Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine here," I said, feeling more and more like an over-anxious teenager. "I was just wondering if you would be home soon. I know your class ended awhile ago."
"Yeah, I just had to take care of something. You usually don't call to check up on me if I'm home later." He was right.
"Yeah, I know, but Rose and Emmett will be home tonight. I didn't let you know earlier because I thought you'd be home by now."
"That's great! Yeah I'll be home in a bit." His voice softened. "You sure you're alright?"
"Don't worry Jazz," I said, smiling softly. "I just miss you."
"Love you too," he chuckled, then disconnected the call.
Fifteen minutes later found a bright red BMW pulling into the driveway while Esme, Carlisle, and I waited on the porch. Emmett practically bounced up to the porch to pull me and Esme into a hug and Rosalie followed behind at a more dignified pace.
"I missed you," Emmett said in his booming voice. "Rose loves her time away with just us but it's just not the same without the family." Behind him, Rosalie rolled her eyes. I was surprised to see that she looked almost relaxed. A soft smile played on her lips and she was looking at Esme with fondness.
"I missed you Mom," she said, throwing her arms around Esme. She also offered Carlisle a more tentative hug, and he beamed at Esme over her shoulder. Rosalie loved Carlisle, but their history kept her from showing it as frequently as she offered affection to Esme.
"Well come on in then," Esme said happily. "Jasper's not home yet, but the rest of us would love to hear what you two have been up to these last three months."
"Where's Jasper?" Rosalie asked.
"He's at the university," I said brightly. Emmett laughed.
"No way, he's finally getting his first degree? Good for him!"
"And he's doing very well," Esme said. "We are so proud of him."
"This place is looking really nice, Esme." Rosalie said. "Are you finished decorating or is there still more to do?"
"Almost finished. Alice and I moved furniture into your room this morning. Would you like to come see?" Rosalie nodded and took Esme's hand as they climbed the stairs. As soon as they were out of sight Emmett moved to stand over by the gallery wall. He reached up a finger to brush the picture of Bella gently. I noticed that he was no longer smiling.
"I miss her too," I whispered.
"Rose gets mad when I talk about her," he sighed quietly. "She likes it when I just pretend like nothing's wrong." I raised my eyebrow.
"How's that working out for you?" If there was one thing my boisterous brother was not known for, it was keeping his feelings to himself.
"Not great," he barked a laugh. "That's part of the reason we came home. We missed you guys of course, but I need Rosalie not with me 24/7 so I don't have to pretend everything's okay all the time." This whole time, Rosalie and Esme hadn't stopped chatting happily upstairs, but I still kept my voice low as I responded.
"Why did she want to come then? We're not going hide how much we miss her around here." Emmett chuckled.
"Oh I know. That's why I wanted to come home. I told Rose she could either come with me or stay in New York." My jaw dropped. Emmett loved Rosalie. He doted on her and treated her like a princess. As far as I knew, this was the first time he'd decided on something that went against what she wanted.
"That bad huh? Yikes," I said softly. "Well, now that you're here, do you want me to tell you what I've seen from Bella recently?" Emmett nodded eagerly.
"Well, she sold her truck and bought this van. Oh Em, it's so ugly," I grimaced at the memory. "And I think she's been traveling around down south."
"She's actually doing better than I thought she would," Emmett said thoughtfully. "Maybe Edward was right after all." I glared at him.
"No way. She's gotten too thin. And she hasn't been sleeping. I think she's trying to distract herself but she's in no way fine." Emmett sighed.
"Yeah, fair enough.
"She-" I was cut off by Rosalie calling from upstairs.
"Emmett, can you start bringing our bags in from the car? Carlisle will help you."
"Oh I will, will I?" Carlisle chuckled from the living room. But he had already put down his book and risen out of his seat. Later, I mouthed at Emmett and he nodded.
"Anyways, Emmett and I were talking about going on a vacation up North to see the Denalis," Rosalie was saying as she and Esme came downstairs. Esme's face fell.
"Oh is that right? You just got here though." Rosalie nodded.
"I know but if Emmett and I are starting lives here, we figured it would be easier to go now before people would notice we're gone. Alice," she said, turning to me. "Can you check on the Denalis and see if they have any visitors right now?" It was something I'd done before. Once, in the 1970's, we'd shown up for a visit while Kate and Tanya had some male guests over. Emmett frequently joked that the trip was the reason Edward is such a prude now. I nodded and let myself search out the results of Rosalie's decision.
The vision showed Eleazer sitting in the great room. The doorbell rang, and then…nothing. I pulled myself out of the vision, confusion clearly written on my face. "That's weird," I muttered.
"What happened?" Rosalie asked.
"I looked for Eleazer and the vision was showing him at home alone but then the doorbell rang and it went black." Esme frowned.
"Try again," she encouraged. I nodded and reached out with my gift. This time there was no vision at all. Only darkness. I pulled myself back towards reality and glanced worriedly at Esme.
"Nothing at all this time."
"What's the problem?" Carlisle asked as he entered the house with an armload of Rosalie's bags. Jasper was right behind him, apparently having been roped into helping upon arrival.
"Alice can't see the Denalis." Carlisle frowned.
"Perhaps I should phone Eleazer to ensure that all is well," he said. "Can you see everyone else normally?" After a quick check I sighed in relief.
"Yes, I can see all of us, both today and tomorrow." Esme sighed in relief and Carlisle nodded.
"That's good. I'll call Eleazer. Please let me know if you start to be able to see them again." I turned to Rosalie.
"Sorry," I said. "It looks like they were about to get guests when the vision cut off, but I couldn't see who it was." Rosalie pouted.
"Do not fret, my Princess Petal Blossom," Emmett said, dipping Rosalie in his arms until she giggled. "We will just have to go later this spring."
"Yes!" Esme said. "Maybe we can all go as a family! It's been so long since we've been up to Alaska. A vacation is just what this family needs." My heart sank. I didn't need a vision to tell me that there was no way the whole family would be going. I thought about saying something to that effect, but seeing that Esme looked properly happy for the first time since they'd left Forks I decided to keep that thought to myself.
Despite what Emmett likes to say, I can keep things to myself occasionally.
I knew I had one last check to make though. For my best friend's sake, I needed to make extra sure that the issue with my visions was only with Alaska. To miss something happening with Bella would be disastrous.
Bella was sitting inside of a dim box with shaded windows. I knew instantly that this was the interior of the ugly van. A shag carpet covered the floor and the seats were replaced by a thin mattress. Various pieces of open luggage were strewn around the van and Bella herself was sitting on the floor eating some kind of instant noodle out of a cup.
I pulled myself out of my vision with a frown on my face. This wasn't just a bit of traveling. It looked like she was living out of that van. I tried to remember the sorts of things I had seen her eating before we left. In the past, she tended towards a fairly healthy diet with plenty of vegetables and protein. She enjoyed pasta, but I'd never seen her eat it out of Styrofoam before. Suddenly, her increasingly prominent collarbones made sense. If she was eating like that, there was no way she was getting proper nutrition. My frown deepened as I attempted to check on Charlie. All I could find was the same blackness in Alaska.
"Alice, are you okay?" Jasper's voice pulled me back to the present. Upstairs, I heard the chatter in Rosalie's room die down as the occupants stilled to listen.
"Jasper, I can't see Forks either."
"How would you know, you're not supposed to be looking in Forks," he said.
"I checked a bunch of places. I wanted to make sure the problem with my vision was just Denali."
"But it's not." I nodded in agreement. Jasper picked up my hand.
"I think you're too stressed. Come for a hunt with me, Darlin'." I didn't point out that we had just hunted a few days ago. I was suddenly anxious to get out of the house as well.
We were walking hand in hand along the stream when Jasper finally asked me what was in his mind.
"Before you called me, did you happen to see what I was doing at the university?" I nodded, waiting for him to explain. "I've been trying to work on my control. Being around that many people at once is helping." I gasped.
"Jasper, what if something happens. What if someone bleeds. There's no one there with you to help you." Jasper sighed.
"I know, and that's why I'm doing this now. I don't want to rely on other people to stop me anymore. And believe it or not, it's easier when there aren't any other vampires around. I have a theory about that. I wonder if I'm subconsciously receiving everyone's bloodlust along with my own and it's making my control worse. Anyway, I just need this to get better. We may never have another Bella Swan in our lives, but still. If our family ever recovers from this, I can't be the one to break us again. I can't do this to you again." His dark eyes stared into mine, begging me to understand. And I did. He wasn't the only one who regretted what happened. And he certainly wasn't the only one who would give anything to keep history from repeating itself.
A/N: You guys were so supportive and sweet with the last chapter that I was extra motivated to get this one out quickly. Thank you!
Next chapter – Jake and Embry take matters into their own hands and do something drastic!
