fembuck | Fic: The Edge (Alice/Bella, Twilight 12/?) (Reply)

Title: The Edge
Author: Janine
Fandom: Twilight
Pairing: Alice/Bella
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Stephanie Meyer. I’m just borrowing them.
Summary: Bella’s having a bad afternoon and it’s about to get worse.

Prologue: Golden Slumber
Part 1: Skating the Edge
Part 2: My Favorite Mistake
Part 3: The Rules of Attraction
Part 4: Shattered
Part 5: Breakin' All The Rules
Part 6: Good World Gone Bad
Part 7: 'Splaining
Part 8: Sway My Way
Part 9: Fuzzy Wuzzy Wonderland
Part 10a: The Honeymooners
Part 10b:The Honeymooners
Part 11: Complications

---

Bella moved over to the couch and slumped down on it, her head falling into her hands as she fought to hold back the wave of tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

Seeing Jake again had gone horribly, even worse than she thought it would, and she’d thought it would be pretty bad. He’d barely been able to look at her at the end, and she wondered if irreversible damage had been done, if that was really the end of their friendship.

The thought overwhelmed her, and she lost the battle she was fighting against her tears. Jacob was one of the best friends she had ever had. Other than Alice, he was the only person that she had been able to be completely herself around. They had shared their deepest secrets with other, and now, was it all over?

Bella’s eyes burned and more tears fell from her eyes.

“Bella, I …”

Bella looked up at the sound of the masculine voice, her heart skipping a beat when she saw Jacob standing by the entrance to the living room, his eyes wide and pained as he stared at her tear streaked face.

Jacob’s fist balled at his side, and he dropped his head down until he was staring at his feet.

“Oh geez. I’m sorry,” he said softly, his eyes still trained on his shoes. “I shouldn’t have said those things. I should have been calmer,” he continued still speaking to his feet, lifting his hand to hit his temple with the heel of his palm. “It’s so hard to control my temper sometimes, but it’s you and I should have been better.”

He sighed deeply.

“I’m sorry about what I said about the fema … about Alice as well,” he continued, correcting himself. His body was taut as a bowstring. “I was just surprised … and,” he hesitated for a second, turning his head to the side. “Jealous. It was hard enough fighting with one of them for your affection, and now you’re doing it with this one and … I’m sorry, I’m … I’m being an ass again.”

“Jacob,” Bella breathed out, already on her feet and moving towards him. He looked up at her softly uttered word, watching as she approached him and then she wrapped her arms around his large frame the best she could, and hugged him. “Jacob,” she said again, pulling away from him a minute later.

Jacob shook his head. “I really can’t stay,” he said softly. “It’s too overwhelming here,” he went on, and Bella knew that he meant Alice’s scent all over the house and all over her. “We’ll talk when she’s gone.”

“It’s more complicated now,” Bella said softly. She didn’t know exactly how things were going to work between her and Alice, but she chose to believe that the petite vampire would be a consistent, if not constant presence in her life and in her home. “She’s going to be around more,” she went on looking away from Jacob as he stared up at the ceiling blinking rapidly. “Can’t we all … I feel like a cliché here, but can’t we all just get along? Can’t I be friends with you both at the same time?”

Jacob shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so,” he said. “It’s not her I hate,” he continued softly. “I don’t know her, but if you … care about her, then she must be okay. It’s what she is that I can’t stand,” he went on. “I exist to kill her kind. We can’t … we can’t just hang out together going to movies and having poker nights. We just can’t.”

Bella was silent for a moment as she absorbed what he said.

“Are we okay?” she asked finally. “Are we still friends?” she asked, her voice cracking a little bit, almost scared of what his answer would be.

“Yes,” Jacob breathed out looking down at her. “Of course,” he added. “You’re my friend Bella, and you always will be. No matter who you love,” he finished his back straight as he held her gaze, trying to convey to her that despite his temper tantrum he meant what he was saying.

He would, of course, had preferred it if Bella had fallen madly in love with him Edward’s absence, and he wasn’t thrilled with the idea that Bella had ended up with another Cullen, not to mention that he had no idea she was even into girls. But, he was never arrogant enough to think she had to love him. He had hoped, but he didn’t expect or demand, and if friendship was all she could give him, then friendship was what he would take.

Bella immediately wrapped her arms around him again, pressing her face against his chest as his arms wrapped around her, relief flooding through her as they hugged.

---

Bella blinked in confusion. She heard growling, but her head was pressed against Jacob’s chest so she knew that it wasn’t him. At least it wasn’t him that first time. However, once she heard the strange growl a second time, Jacob’s chest began to rumble too and Bella pulled back, understanding flooding through her when she saw Alice standing motionless in the doorway, her eyes black as ink as she glared at Jacob.

Bella rested her hand on Jacob’s arm, and then slowly moved away from him, approaching Alice.

“I thought you weren’t going to come back until you saw him leave,” Bella said softly, cupping Alice’s cheek in her hands, trying to get the raven-haired beauty to focus on her instead of Jacob.

“Saw him. Come out. Go back in,” Alice ground out. Her speech was choppy and extremely simple, almost cavewoman-like. It was unlike anything Bella had ever heard from her before. Alice’s speech patterns were more relaxed than Edward’s, but she was still usually quite eloquent. “Taking too long. Worried. Checking,” Alice finished, her slight frame shaking.

“It’s okay,” Bella said softly, pressing her hand more firmly against Alice’s cheek, feeling the trembling of her body through her palm. “Calm down. It’s okay. Really,” she continued her thumb caressing Alice’s skin.

Alice blinked and the rumbling in her chest stopped, but her eyes were still focused on Jacob and her body was still shaking.

The phone rang.

Bella flinched, her eyes snapping shut as she lifted her hand to cover her heart.

Opening her eyes, she saw that Alice and Jacob were still staring at each other murderously. The phone continued to ring in the background. She thought about going to answer it, but she didn’t want to move from between them. She knew that neither one would risk hurting her, and was afraid that without her there to act as a buffer that they would attack each other.

The phone continued to ring.

Bella looked over at it, and then at Jacob, and that at Alice.

She stayed where she was.

Jacob reached for the phone.

“Swan residence,” he said into the receiver, his eyes never leaving Alice’s as he spoke. “Not here,” he added a few seconds later, his tone positively venomous. “At the funeral,” Jacob hissed a moment later. He was silent and still for a second after that, and then he slammed the phone back on the hook.

He was shaking with rage, even angrier than he had been when he had seen Alice, and Bella wondered who the hell he could have been talking to that provoked a reaction like that in him.

“Who was it?” Bella asked; a thread of anxiety moving through her though she couldn’t say for certain why.

“Dr. Carlisle Cullen,” Jacob ground out, snarling the title as his eyes continued to burn into Alice’s.

Bella gasped.

Alice growled.

“Carlisle!” Alice roared, her body jerking forward towards the phone as if she thought that if she picked it up he would still be there on the line, waiting for her.

Carlisle wasn’t on the phone anymore, however. Jacob was standing right beside it though, and Bella didn’t want them within arms length of each other.

Bella enveloped Alice in her arms as the vampire jerked forward. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to stop Alice if she really wanted to get to the phone, but she hoped that her touch and scent would be enough to calm Alice down.

“It’s okay,” Bella whispered, pressing her cheek to Alice’s, hoping her warm breath on her face would help sooth her. “You can just call Carlisle back and talk to him,” she pointed out. “No harm done.”

Alice’s eyes closed and she slumped against Bella, her body stilling as she rested against her.

Bella turned her head to look at Jacob.

“You should go,” she said softly.

She was a little mad at him for the way he had treated Carlisle on the phone, but she was more interested in seeing to Alice than she was in fighting with him.

It was now painfully obvious to her that both Jacob and Alice had been right, that they couldn’t be around each other for long periods of time without it devolving into a brawl, and she now just wanted them separated as soon as possible. She didn’t have enough energy to deal with both of them having fits.

“Fine,” Jacob muttered, his eyes taking in their intimate position. His shoulders slumped. “I’ll check in,” and with that he headed out the back door.

Bella sighed softly. She wasn’t normally one for public displays of affection. She never would have touched Alice so much around him under normal circumstances, but she had had to try and calm Alice down. It was necessary, but she still felt badly about it. She knew how Jacob felt about her, and it seemed almost like rubbing her relationship with Alice in his face, which was something she didn’t want to do.

“Hey,” Bella said a few seconds later forcing herself to concentrate on the situation at hand. Her fingers stroked Alice’s cheek as the vampire stirred against her.

“Edward,” Alice whispered. Her face was contorted in pain and worry.

“What about him?” Bella asked, cupping Alice’s face in her hands, staring at her intently. “What happened? What’s wrong?” Bella continued, her voice growing more concerned and more insistent as she realized that when Alice slumped against her she had been having a vision.

“I don’t know!” Alice wailed shaking her head. “I don’t know what he’s thinking,” she added.

Then she was in motion, reaching for the purse lightly looped over her arm, digging inside of it before pulling out her cell phone. She flipped it open and her fingers were a blur of motion.

“I’ll call Carlisle,” she murmured to Bella. “Good idea,” she complimented with a small smile before putting the phone to her ear.

“Rose?” Alice asked frowning a little. “Rose I need to talk to Carlisle. Immediately, it’s extremely important.”

Bella watched nervously as Alice listened to whatever Rosalie was saying on the other end.

“That doesn’t … okay, whatever, okay,” Alice muttered impatiently. “Tell him to call me as soon as he’s back. Is Edward there? Let me talk to him,” Alice went on, falling silent again as Rosalie no doubt began to respond.

Alice’s eyebrows knitted together the longer she was silent, her face twisting the more she listened to what Rosalie had to say.

“Wha … What on earth possessed you to do that?” Alice finally gaped. “I told you I wasn’t sure … I told you,” she said shaking her head before trailing off.

She was silent again for a while, shaking her head again and again, and then finally she broke in again.

“Stop it, just stop it. I can’t talk to you right now. I need to go … yes, she’s fine … she’s fine, she’s right here beside me … I have to go … yeah, no Bella’s fine, but Edward may not be … I’ve got to … goodbye!”

“Alice!” Bella said, fear gripping her as Alice closed her phone.

“It was Edward on the phone, not Carlisle,” Alice said looking around the kitchen hopelessly as if she couldn’t figure out what to do with herself. “Rosalie told him about my vision, he was calling to see if you were okay,” she said shaking again. “Jacob,” she said practically spitting the word out, “told him that Charlie was ‘at the funeral’. Edward thought he meant your funeral, and now he’s run off to Italy.”

Bella gasped. She knew exactly what that meant. Before everything had started to go wrong at the beginning of the school year, Edward had told her that he had thought about killing himself when he thought that James was going to kill her, and that the best idea he had come up with was to go to Italy and anger the powerful vampire family that lived there, hoping that they – the Volturi – would kill him for his transgressions.

“No,” Bella said softly.

“Yes,” Alice responded. “He’s planning to do some very stupid things,” she continued rubbing her temple. “He hasn’t decided exactly what yet, the vision keeps changing as he changes his mind.”

“So you don’t know what he’s going to do?” Bella asked.

“No,” Alice said shaking her head. “But that’s a good thing. It means there’s time,” she continued, her voice low, almost speaking to herself. “Bella I have to go,” she said suddenly.

Bella gripped her wrist. “You’re going after him,” she said, knowing instinctively that Alice was hoping to get to him before he could make up his mind and get himself killed.

“Yes,” Alice said. “There may be enough time. I may be able to stop him before he gets himself killed.”

“I’m coming with you,” Bella said immediately.

“It’s dangerous,” Alice said, looking down at her hand which still held her cell phone in it. She was calmer now, and Bella realized that even as they spoke, Alice was working out the details of her plan.

“I don’t care, I’m coming,” she said. “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t jumped off of that stupid cliff then …”

“Don’t,” Alice said looking up at her sharply. “Don’t blame yourself for this comedy of errors. Too much has gone wrong in too short a period of time for anyone to take the blame,” she continued shaking her head. “Go, pack a bag,” she said her eyes focusing on Bella’s, her voice steady and calm as she poke. “I’m going to call the airline, you have ten minutes. We have to hurry.”

Bella nodded and headed for the stairs, pausing at the bottom of them to look at Alice who was busy dialing.

“Why’s he doing this?” Bella asked, needing to know. “He left me,” she said, her voice cracking a little. “Why is he trying to kill himself over me if he left?”

Alice looked over at her, staring intently for a moment then sighed. “I left as well Bella, but I never stopped loving you. I doubt Edward did either. Like me, he left out some stupid sense of nobility, not because he stopped caring.”

“Stupid vampires,” Bella whispered. Her mind was a confused soup as she tried to gather everything she had learned together and reform it in a way that made sense.

“The stupidest,” Alice agreed sadly. “Go, Bella, hurry. We can talk on the plane.”

Bella nodded and raced up the stairs as Alice brought the phone up to her ear. She raced into her room and pulled out a large duffel bag and began to shove the necessities into it, forcing her body to move and her mind not to think knowing that thinking would lead to blinding panic.

As Bella put the last item in the bag, Alice appeared in the doorway and moved over to the bed, grabbing the large duffel bag, flinging it over her shoulder with ease. Bella quickly reached for her back pack and flung it over her own shoulder as well.

Alice took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

“Let’s go,” she said, still holding Bella’s hand as she led them out of the room.

To be continued …