"Where do we have to be? Manifest it." Hensley stared at the side of Peter's face expectantly.

He glared at her out of the corner of his eye, sighing. "How many times do I gotta tell ya that ain't how it works?"

Hensley shrugged. "Have you tried?"

"Have I tried so ya can bother Major instead of me? Yes, yes, I have." Peter snapped back. Hensley watched Bella smile from her place on the couch, having briefly glanced up from her book to eye the bantering pair.

Davey huffed across the living room at them as well. He shared an exasperated look with his mate, both of them rolling their eyes at the display.

"How about we use our fuckin' heads, and have Peter call Major?" Davey suggested, casually holding his hand out. Bella's eyes flashed across the room, and she bit her lip to try and tame the grin that threatened to widen.

Peter pulled out his little phone and tapped a couple buttons before putting it up to his ear. "Killjoy." He muttered to Hensley with a grin.

The phone rang and rang. Hensley recognized the little automated message stating that the voicemail box was full. Peter closed the phone, giving Davey a pointed look. "What now, smartass?"

"Call Cooper?" Hensley suggested, flicking Peter on the arm.

Peter eyed her after reviewing his arm. "Ya realize I'm doin' you a favor, right? You also realize I saved your life earlier?"

Hensley shrugged, reaching over him to try and grab the phone, but Peter held it up over his head before she could get it in his grip. "Watch yourself. Major ain't gunna have a mate to come back to."

After she sat back with a huff, he re-opened the device and dialed Cooper's number. Unlike when he called Jasper, Cooper answered before the first ring finished. "The fuck you want?"

Peter glanced at Hensley and nodded towards the phone, a mischievous smirk on his face. Hensley knew exactly what his plan was, and she grinned. Even Bella had sat up a little straighter as she leaned forward to hear better.

"Peter?" Cooper asked, a little more concerned at the delay. Lexi made a mental note to tease the shit out of him for it later.

She took a breath, "Sorry, I just couldn't believe you could be such an ass to your brother's mate."

"Holy fuckin' hell. What the fuck?" Both Hensley and Peter burst out laughing at Cooper's choice of words and tone.

Peter smirked at the phone as though Cooper could see him. "Surprise, asshole. Where the hell is your brother?"

"Wait, hold up." Cooper said, "is she actually with you? Or is some fuckin' elaborate joke you're playin'?"

"That'd be a hell of a joke." Hensley muttered appreciatively. "Hear that Peter, he thinks you're capable of something impressive."

Peter sighed, not impressed with Hensley's teasing. "I can hang up this phone right now."

"Alice. Alice!" They could hear Cooper hissing on the other end of the call. "She's out. She's with Peter." He paused for a moment, likely because Alice was talking. "You seen his decisions lately? Where's his ass at?"

"Major isn't with ya?" Peter asked, redundantly in Hensley's opinion. It was fairly obvious that Jasper wasn't with Cooper if he wasn't letting them talk to Jasper. Or if Cooper was asking where someone was.

"Well, he's probably not asking Alice where Edward is." Hensley took the phone from Peter, hoping to gain more information faster than Peter had apparently been willing to obtain it. "Where was Jasper last time you saw him? I looked around Atlanta, but I didn't pick up his scent at all. And I found Davey and Amanda and they-"

"You saw Davey? How's that asshole doin'?" Cooper was like a damn squirrel and Hensley sighed.

Davey, thankfully, was more understanding of the situation and tried to corral his friend, "I'm fine. Focus, for fucks' sake. Where's Major? The girls dyin' or some shit."

"You're dying?!" Cooper exclaimed, getting the wrong impression. In the background they could hear Alice shouting, "She's dying?!"

All three quickly set the record straight with a sharp 'no,' Davey explaining that Hensley had just been feeling a lot of pain and that he thought she needed Jasper to fix that.

"Ya coulda said that to start." Cooper muttered and Hensley swore she could hear the man rolling his eyes. "Last I heard, he was in Tennessee. Was gunna hang around there 'cause he could avoid the southern vampires and the sun a bit more 'til Lexi was closer to gettin' out. Haven't really heard from him since…mid-September I guess."

"Last I saw he was near Knoxville." Alice pipped up. "I'll keep watching and see if I can get anything more concrete. Carlisle and Esme are in New York. We can call them and see if they can go down and track Jasper too. That way maybe you can meet us someplace in the middle.

"I should warn you though, he hasn't been handling the separation well and then some stuff in Forks happened after you left and-"

"Yeah," Hensley cut her off, not wanting to rehash the events in front of Bella, "I know. I heard."

The other end was silent for a few moments as they processed her words. Alice found her voice first. "You heard? I'm guessing that means what I think it does."

Hensley met Bella's eye. "Yeah, probably. And honestly, what the fuck, Alice?"

The girl sighed. "It wasn't our decision." Alice mumbled, her voice low and defeated. Hensley guessed that Alice went to bat the most against Edward's decision. "Is…is she…."

"A wreck? Yes." Hensley nearly spat. Thankfully it came out just a little sharp instead. Bella frowned at her and opened her mouth to protest, but Hensley shot her a challenging look. When she was honest with herself, Bella knew she couldn't argue.

"I've been able to see that." Alice said. "I was going to ask if she has been hanging out with you. I'm assuming you stayed in Forks after you talked to her. Are all five of you up there with her?"

Hensley held the phone out to Bella. She met Hensley's eyes, hesitant to comply with the request, but Hensley insisted by pushing her arm out a second time. Slowly, Bella grabbed the little device while she bit her lip. "Uh, hey, Alice. I-I'm here. I missed you guys."

Cooper chuckled in the background, "Oh, he is going to hate that, and I love it."

"Shush!" Alice hissed at her mate before speaking to Bella. "We've missed you too, Bella. We'll figure this all out, okay? I promise. Nothing that's happened has changed what I've seen."

Hensley wasn't at all sure what that meant. No one had said anything to her about Alice's visions. Clearly it was something related to Bella. Had Alice seen Bella and Edward together? Had she seen the two get married?

"Okay." Bella took a breath, knowing exactly whatever Alice had been talking about, and nodded. "When should we leave? To find Jasper?"

Cooper had clearly been grimacing at the thought, "Oh…yeah…no."

Alice was much more tactful. "It's probably easier to travel in smaller groups. Like one or two of you going with Lexi to meet us."

"He was a fuckin' disaster and who knows how long it's been since he's hunted." Cooper blurted out, erasing any semblance of Alice's softer words. Alice had some opinions on that because Cooper mumbled, "What? It's true."

"The hell is he not hunting for?" Peter asked, shaking his head at the supposed stupidity of it all.

Hensley answered the question even though she hadn't been the one to see Jasper, "It's too much work."

"You felt that too?" Cooper questioned her. Rhetorically it seemed because he added, "God y'all are a mess."

"Be nice." Alice chided. "Okay, we will call Carlisle and Esme. You guys start making your way to Tennessee and we will keep you updated from there."

"I'll get your number from Peter so I can call you when we get closer." Hensley told the pair.

Alice agreed to the plan, hanging up so she could reach out to the rest of the family.

Bella handed the phone back to Hensley, who copied Cooper's number and sent the guy a text, so he'd have her number. After giving Peter his phone back, she hopped off the couch to grab a bag with a few travel items.

"Where you goin'?" Peter called after her.

"I gotta pack! We gotta go!"

He rolled his eyes at her excitement, chuckling. "Well, who's goin' with her?"

"You should stay here." Davey easily made the decision. "You're the only other one with a phone an' with their numbers. That way, if the redheaded bitch shows up, you can call us an' we'll head back."

Hensley could see how Maria was persuaded to let Davey live. He was a good tactician. She hadn't even given Victoria a second thought…that was probably something she should've mentioned to Alice and Cooper.

Grabbing a couple of outfits, and a few of Jasper's shirts, she packed her little backpack and threw it over her shoulder. Then she took out her phone and sent Cooper a message about Victoria showing up. He could decide from there exactly what they wanted to do. Maybe he could use it to convince Edward to go back to Bella.

"Alright, bye. Don't die!" Hensley waved to the three staying as she walked through the living room towards the front door. Davey chuckled behind her, bidding the group his own farewell.

"Ain't drivin'?" Davey asked as Hensley walked past the garage and down the driveway.

Without stopping, Hensley called over her shoulder, "Nope. Too slow."

From inside, she could hear Peter laughing along with his other friends, but Hensley didn't mind much. Jasper was in her future and that was all her brain could focus on. She broke out into a hard sprint, Davey and Amanda close behind.

They stopped only for food and sleep, both of which Hensley tried to keep as short as possible. There was plenty of time for such things after Jasper was back. Amanda put up more of a fight when Hensley asked to get back on the road, but usually Davey could quell anything between the girls before it got too out of hand. Hensley tried to be reasonable, offering to run off ahead and allow the other two to catch up. They were far enough away from Victoria then, probably, and the two full vampires were faster than Hensley anyway - they'd catch up easily.

Davey never liked the suggestion though and it was requested that Hensley wait for the two. Complying with the ask got harder the closer to Tennessee they became.

Once in the sacred state, Lexi hoped that Alice's communications would increase as the group got closer to Jasper. The fact that they dropped off completely, made her nervous. No matter how many times she tried to call Cooper, Alice wouldn't answer. Hensley didn't have Esme or Carlisle's numbers. She had no way to communicate with any of them.

"Fuckin' shit show." Davey spit after Hensley was sent to voicemail for the millionth time. Well, thirty-eighth.

She sighed, half tempted to throw the stupid phone in the river beside them. What good was it if they couldn't even contact Alice? What had been so important that Alice couldn't answer anymore? The thing didn't even ring, it just went straight to voicemail. Had they broken it? Had they turned it off? Both options seemed foolish. Alice couldn't track Hensley using her visions and Hensley thought she'd heard that Alice couldn't see others very well when Hensley was around them….

"Well, now what?" Amanda, ever the woman of action (aside from Hensley), asked.

Hensley shrugged, walking closer to the river to see if there were any notable landmarks around, or how far the river ran. "I dunno. Alice can't see my decisions because I'm half-vampire. And she can't see your decisions very well because you're with me. I guess we could wander around and hope we run into them?"

"Efficient." Amanda muttered. Hensley didn't have to look at the woman to know she was rolling her eyes.

"Got a better plan?" Davey questioned. To soften his words, he added, "I sure as hell don't. Not sure if makes more sense to be sittin' ducks or to keep movin'."

"Technically, I guess you're more likely to be found in the woods if you stay in one spot." Hensley pointed out. She'd had that fact drilled into her head for many years. She guessed the Agency had been good for something. "We could hang out here."

Davey joined Hensley closer to the river, taking a deep inhale, "Easier to pick up scents if we move around. Better chance a' runnin' into them. Can't pick 'em up here."

Hensley shrugged, "I don't care either way. I'm down for whatever, I guess. It makes me feel more productive if we move around, but I know logically it's better to stay put." She checked the service on the phone again, in case it had been slow to catch up, but she still had two bars. "We have cell service here, so if they figure their stuff out, they can call us."

"I hate being a sittin' duck, so let's get the hell outta here." Davey wandered back over west towards Amanda, "Maybe go north for a bit and see if we pick something up. Major was avoiding the south, so it doesn't make sense to go that way. Least not too far."

Hensley nodded, picking up her bag to swing back over her shoulder. Then she heard Emmett's voice, "Lexi!"

Everyone's head snapped to the north as they listened to approaching footsteps. Hensley's heart kicked into overdrive, excited adrenaline flowing through her veins at Emmett's voice. Emmett brought her closer to the one she really wanted to see.

Before she could get a good look though, Emmett enveloped her into his famous bear-hug, spinning her around a couple times. She laughed, hugging him back tightly for a moment before trying to wiggle out of his grasp. He frowned a little at her actions and she felt bad, "Sorry, I promise I missed you, but…. Where's Jasper?"

Emmett huffed, turning back the way he came to glare at Cooper, who she had missed originally. "See how she is? Rude af."

Cooper smirked, keen to agree with Emmett. He surprised her though by taking her side. "Ease up. She's only been missin' her mate for a few months now. Surprised she ain't dead. Jasper looks like he might be if he were part-human."

"Where is he?" Hensley stressed, rushing over to Cooper. She grabbed the front of his shirt in desperation, tossing her head back so she could properly pout.

He chuckled, carefully removing her hands from him. It was odd how he did it, two fingers peeling the cloth from her hands like she was dirty or diseased. When he saw her risen eyebrow he explained, "I ain't dyin' because Jasper catches my damn scent on ya. Wash ya fuckin' hands."

Lexi giggled but complied with Cooper's request. After dunking her hands in the lake, she held them up like a sterilized doctor. "Okay, let's go!" She ushered the two boys forward.

"There's probably a few things you should know…" Cooper started, but Lexi cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah, you told me, now let's goo!" She complained, rushing past Cooper to try and find Jasper on her own. She thought she heard Cooper mutter some choice words about her being impatient, but she wasn't listening much.

She had just barely caught the sound of Carlisle's voice when Jasper crashed into her. His arms gripped her tightly, trembling around her frame while he nuzzled his face into the crook of her neck. His scent overwhelmed her far stronger than any of his stupid clothes had, wrapping around Lexi, his peace coated every inch of body, completely engulfing her.

For the first time in months, her chest didn't ache.

All was right in the world.