Fic: The Edge (Alice/Bella, Twilight 13/?)

[fembuck]

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 and Alice go to Italy, but it's no holiday.

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
Part 12: Uh Oh

---

Twenty-Four Hours Later

Bella sighed, fighting back a yawn as her eyes fluttered and attempted to close. She was tired, but she didn’t want to sleep. Her body was exhausted and she could have easily fallen into unconsciousness, but her mind was whirling and she knew that if she closed her eyes, terrible images from their time in the Italian underground would plague her dreams.

As she struggled to keep her eyes open, Bella felt Edward’s fingers run through her hair, and then he was gently guiding her head towards his granite shoulder, holding her against him as he pushed his nose into her hair and breathed in deeply.

Bella shifted against him, trying to get comfortable.

It had been so long since she had felt Edward’s body against her. She had almost forgotten what he felt like.

Bella frowned at the thought. She had once known how to situate herself against him exactly, but now his body was strange to her; too tall, too muscular, too hard. She had grown used to Alice’s body, to Alice’s curves, to the relative softness of Alice’s female body … to Alice.

Bella looked towards the front of the car. She could just make out Alice’s profile in the moonlight and the light of passing cars. Alice’s eyes were focused forward, staring intently out of the windshield, her jaw set, her face a mask of stone, utterly unreadable. And she was quiet, so quiet. Bella had never heard her quiet for so long. Alice had barely spoken a word since Aro had released them.

Bella’s eyes scrunched together, and she directed her thoughts to Alice knowing that that would keep her awake. Well, she directed her thoughts to Alice and Edward really, because when she thought about it, she realized that it wasn’t just Alice who had been acting strangely since they had been released.

Edward had been acting oddly as well. He talked to her, Bella, and he held her, Bella, but he had barely acknowledged Alice’s presence. Other than the few words they spoke to each other when Alice informed him she was going to steal a car for them, they had been studiously ignoring each other.

Bella tried to think about it, tried to determine what was going on, but she was too exhausted and her mind wouldn’t work.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on the feel of Edward’s chest moving up and down. His breath on her was cool as Alice’s, but she missed Alice’s scent wrapping around her and found it difficult to relax.

She shifted, trying to get more comfortable and allowed her thoughts to drift to the events she had witnessed in Italy hoping that trying to piece together why Alice and Edward were acting so strangely would help keep her awake.

---

The plane ride over had been mostly a blur. She had been too anxious, and nervous, and scared and uncertain to take it all in. All she really recalled from it was: Alice briefly talking on the phone with Jasper, telling him that there was nothing he could do and to stay away, the nosy business man sitting beside her who kept trying to eavesdrop on her conversation with Alice, and finally curling up against Alice’s side as she drifted into a troubled sleep for the majority of the trip.

The ride from Florence to Volterra was even more indistinct, all she could recall was flashes of green, yellow and blue rushing by the windows as Alice sped down the highway as fast as she could in the yellow Porsche she had ‘borrowed’ from the airport parking lot.

She had a memory of Alice’s voice, sweet and soothing, talking to her, but the only part of the conversation she could recall at the moment was Alice telling her that Edward had decided on what he was going to do, and that they needed to get to the Palazzo dei Priori before noon in order to stop him. His plan, she revealed, was to walk out in the middle of the crowded square, and reveal himself to all the people around. It was a sunny day out, and at high noon, Edward’s skin would have gleamed bright enough to blind. This display would have threatened to reveal the existence of vampires, and the Volturi would have no choice but to capture him and put him down for such flagrant disregard of the rules of the vampire nation.

Bella remembered Alice in gloves, reaching through the window of the Porsche to bribe the security guard patrolling the entrance to the square. She remembered thinking how glamorous Alice looked, like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, and once the window was closed once more she had reached over to hold Alice’s hand.

And then she was running through the square, bumping into people and screaming at the top of her lungs, trying to get to Edward before he could step into the sun. Alice had to stick to the shadows, so she had found herself on her own as she ran desperately and hoped that Edward would see her and realize she was alive before he could take that fatal step.

She had managed to get to him in time, but the Volturi had spotted him, seconds before Bella crashed into him dragging him back into the shadows, and even Edward with all of his eloquence and Alice with all of her charm had not been able to talk the guards into letting them go. Surrounded by tourists, innocents, Edward and Alice hadn’t been able to risk trying to fight their way out of the situation either, and so they had been dragged underground, into the sewers, to meet with Aro, the head of the Volturi family.

The sewers had been a nightmare to Bella, and she couldn’t understand how Edward and Alice, and the guards with their heightened sense of smell could stand to be down there. But the sewer was only the first of the horrors that she would witness over the next few hours.

Once they reached the council chamber, she had finally gotten a look at the much talked about, and much feared Aro, and found him to be strange and unsettling. He was not at all beautiful like the vampires she was used to, and his flesh was too pale, almost translucent like onion-skin. He looked old and oddly fragile instead of young and vivacious like the Cullen’s (and James and this tribe, though she was loath to admit it).

As Aro watched her in that dark chamber, Bella had been certain that she was going to die. And when he said as much, she had all but resigned herself to meeting a terrible end in the catacombs under Volterra.

However, Aro’s curiosity was soon piqued, and that curiosity ended up saving her life.

When Aro found out that Edward’s telepathy didn’t work on her, he wanted to try out his own on her to see if he could penetrate her defenses. When he failed, and then his psychotic, child-like assistant Jane, failed as well, Aro had become fascinated with Bella. Edward had been able to use this interest to his advantage and had begun to bargain for her life.

Aro had eventually agreed to let them go, but he’d had a condition. They would only be spared, they would only be released if Edward promised that turn Bella into a vampire. Aro didn’t particularly want to kill Edward and Alice, but he did want to know what wonderful talent Bella’s amazing brain might produce once she became a vampire, and he was willing to release them if it meant he would find out.

Edward had absolutely refused to meet the condition and began to prepare to fight, but Alice had stepped forward then, offering her hand to Aro so that he could read her thoughts, and had guaranteed him that if Edward refused to turn Bella, that she would do it.

Aro had then given them a brief warning not to take too long to make good on the deal, and then he released them.

Something that felt like happiness had almost flared in Bella’s heart at that time. Not only were they free, but she also had a guarantee that she would be turned. However, when she managed to gather together enough energy to make an optimistic comment, they passed a group of unsuspecting tourists who were being led to the chamber they had just escaped to met their ends at the hands and teeth of the Volturi, and a chill had washed through Bella.

Moments later, the screams and cries from the tourists had echoed off of the tunnel walls, and the sound haunted Bella for hours after the massacre had ended.

---

Bella stirred against Edward’s side, her eyes drifting to the front of the car to stare at Alice’s profile again. She realized that it was after Alice had made the deal with Aro that things become strained between Alice and Edward and the stony silence between them begun. On the way to the tunnels, and up until that moment inside of the chamber they had been fine with each other.

Bella sighed. She had a pretty good idea what was going on now. In fact, it seemed so clear, even to her tired brain, that she couldn’t believe she hadn’t figured it out sooner.

Edward didn’t want her to be turned into a vampire. He was afraid for her soul and had sworn never to change her. They were so silent because Edward was furiously mad at Alice for promising to do something that he was so dead set against.

A surge of irritation swept through Bella and she shifted away from Edward, curling her body towards the window and resting her head against the back of the seat. She couldn’t believe that he was treating Alice so horribly after she’d risked her life to come and save him. Alice had not hesitated for a moment to put herself at risk for him, and now Edward was giving her the cold shoulder because she had done the right thing, the smart thing and taken the Volturi’s deal.

The fact that the deal was hardly a horrible proposition made his petulance even harder to take. The truth was that Bella couldn’t have been happier with the deal that was made. Not only were they all still walking, but she had been promised something that she had been longing for, yearning for desperately for almost a year. Although the circumstances were horrible and not at all what she would have wished for, her dream would be realized … not that what she hoped and dreamed for seemed to matter much to Edward.

Bella gazed out of the window, watching as the stars above them zoomed by.

She breathed in and out deeply trying to calm herself down, ignoring Edward’s hand as he rested it gently on her shoulder.

He didn’t want her to be turned but that was just too bad for him because she did want to be turned, and now that Alice had promised to make it so, there was nothing he could do to stop it from happening.

---

Sea-Tac Airport – Twelve Hours Later

“Careful,” Alice murmured softly, her arms wrapping around Bella’s waist as she swayed slightly, exhaustion making her even more uncoordinated than she usually was.

The plane had just landed and Edward was standing in the isle retrieving her back pack. If Alice hadn’t caught her she probably would have fallen to the floor.

“Thanks,” Bella said softly, her body immediately relaxing against Alice’s, molding itself to Alice’s familiar curves, grateful for her support as a wave of tiredness washed over her.

“No problem,” Alice whispered softly, wanting desperately to kiss Bella’s forehead, but resisting the urge.

She could feel Edward’s eyes on them, and she didn’t want to do anything to provoke him on a plane that was still half full.

She plastered a pleasant smile on her face and met his murderous gaze.

“Switch?” Alice asked as casually as she could, her eyes dropping to the back pack in Edward’s hand and then drifting over to Bella in her arms.

Edward handed the back pack over to her without a word, and then gently took Bella into his arms, guiding her carefully along the narrow rows of the airplane without a glance back at Alice.

Alice sighed, throwing Bella’s back pack over her shoulder and pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly. Taking a deep breath, she resigned herself to what was coming and followed them off the plane.

---

Bella watched sleepy from Edward’s arms, as the rest of the Cullen family came into view, the sight of them all, warming her heart even though she had very little energy to greet them.

Edward put her down on the ground gently, and immediately she felt Esme’s cool arms wrapping around her, and them Carlisle’s, and then Emmett was lifting her off of the ground as he crushed her against him, telling her how happy he was that she was okay.

Behind Emmett, Rosalie was standing with her head facing down, avoiding eye contact with everyone. And slightly off to the side, Alice and Jasper were holding hands, staring deeply into each other’s eyes, not saying a word.

Bella felt a lump rise up in her chest, but fought it down. She was going to have to get used to the sight them together without feeling jealously rise up inside of her. If Jasper, after all of the years he and Alice had been together, could accept her new role in Alice’s life, then she would afford him the same courteously and not begrudge the reunited couple their reunion.

“She’s dead on her feet,” Esme said. Her voice sounding like it was coming from very far way. “Let’s get her home.”

---

The Cullen Residence – Later That Night

Alice rubbed the back of her neck as she shifted her eyes between the members of her family, except for Edward who’s gaze she was trying very, very hard to ignore, but was, of course, constantly aware of.

“I think that about covers it,” Alice said finally, dropping her hand from her neck as her shoulders slumped slightly.

The moment they had all congregated back at their old home, questions had come rushing at her from everyone as they tried to piece together what it was exactly that had happened over to the past few days, and how two members of their family, and Bella, had almost ended up dying in Italy.

“Okay,” Esme said softly, still looking at Alice curiously. “That explains what happened with your vision,” she continued causing Alice to sigh deeply. “What it doesn’t explain is what’s going on between you and Edward.”

Alice looked over at Esme and then away again quickly, her eyes skittering around the room, pausing for a long moment on Jasper, before she sighed again and stared off in the distance towards their once-used kitchen.

Esme turned her attention to Edward. Edward, however, paid no attention to her questioning look, and remained silent, his stony gaze never wavering from glaring at Alice.

“Edward,” Carlisle began when Esme entreaty was ignored. “I hope you don’t blame your sister for what happened. We all know that Alice’s visions are not absolute, and with the werewolf in the picture, there’s no way she could have known that Bella was fine when she left.”

Edward breathed in deeply, his trim but well-muscled figure shaking faintly.

He remained silent.

“That’s not why he’s mad at me,” Alice said softly, her voice cracking as she forced herself to meet the eyes that were now staring at her.

“Why the hell not?” Rosalie asked, “That’s why he’s mad at me,” she continued a little petulantly.

“Rose,” Jasper said softly before Alice or any of the others could respond. “Please be quiet, and let her talk.”

Rosalie blinked at the rebuke, but said nothing. Jasper very rarely spoke to anyone that way, and she sensed that he had an idea about what Alice was going to say and that it was serious.

Alice looked over at Jasper gratefully, mouthing ‘thank you’ to him before she closed her eyes and tried to gather her courage.

“He …” she breathed out before stopping, her stomach twisting in knots. “He’s mad at me because of Bella,” she finally said, the words coming out in a rush as her stomach clenched painfully.

She knew that the truth was going to come out sooner or later, and that it was better to address the subject openly, but that didn’t make it any easier to actually get the conversation started.

“Is that so?” Carlisle asked looking over at the ever immobile Edward.

Edward shivered again, but managed to nod his head.

“It was,” Carlisle began carefully, “a dangerous situation for Bella to be in. But she is a strong minded girl, and I think we all know that once she made up her mind to go to Volterra, that she would have found a way there even if she didn’t go with Alice. At least, in this case, she had a very capable protector with her,” he went on watching Edward closely.

Edward remained still and silent.

“That’s not what he’s mad about,” Alice said shifting uncomfortably as the eyes in room turned to her once again.

“Well then, what is he mad about?” Carlisle asked, watching Alice intently.

Alice usually spoke quite freely, and openly. He wasn’t used to pulling teeth to try and induce her to talk, and her reticence worried him.

“I …” Alice began, her mouth staying open for a moment even though no words came out. “I,” she began again before pausing and taking in a shaky breath once more. “I had … with Bella,” continued, vaguely registering that everything was coming out mixed up. “When I … at the Swan’s … I had … I slept with Bella,” she finally managed to get out, her tiny frame shuddering as the words finally left her mouth.

The room was silent in the wake of her declaration, the calm before the storm.

“What the hell?”

“What is it about this girl that makes everyone go insane!?!”

“Alice!”

All three of the voice began to speak at once, Emmett’s question merging into Rosalie’s exclamation, into Esme’s confused whisper.

Alice closed her eyes.

She had been so stupid, stupid and selfish. She had believed Edward, when he had joined the rest of them. When he said that it was over with Bella, she had believed him. She had checked, she had searched for visions of the two of them together in the future, but Edward’s decision to stay away from her had seemed final. All she saw when she considered Edward and Bella together in the future was darkness.

But, if she was being honest with herself, she hadn’t believed him because it was true or because of her lack of visions. She had believed him because she wanted to.

She had chosen to believe him, even though it made no sense for who he was an individual, because she wanted to. When Bella climbed into her lap on Charlie’s couch, and cried against her shoulder, she wanted to hold Bella. She wanted to sleep in Bella’s bed with her and hold her. She wanted to make love to Bella.

She wanted all of those things desperately, and she the only way she could allow herself to want those things, let alone act of those feelings, was if she believed that Edward no longer loved Bella, and no plans of getting back together with her.

So, that’s what she chose to believe.

And she had been wrong, so wrong to do so. She had been wrong, and stupid and selfish. But, she couldn’t take it back now, and even in the face of her family’s disbelief and horror with her, she couldn’t really regret it either. She loved Bella. Even though she knew she shouldn’t, she couldn’t help it, she couldn’t stop, and as much trouble as her feelings had caused, she could never, never, regret making love to Bella.

All she could do was face the music.

“Why,” Carlisle began when everyone had quieted down. “Why would you do that, Alice?” he asked softly, his voice a study in mystification.

Alice brought her hands up to her face and rubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hands. Her brain hurt, her heart hurt, and her stomach was still churning. She was fairly certain that if she had been human, she would have already vomited from the anxiety, but she wasn’t human, and so her stomach just continued to twist and torture her.

“Because,” Alice managed to chock out. Her voice was barely audible as she looked around at all of them, and when she tried to start speaking again it left her completely. Her mouth opened and closed as if she speaking but no sound came out.

“Because they love each other,” Jasper interjected into the silence. He could feel Alice’s anxiety and he knew that she wouldn’t be able to continue.

Alice looked over at Jasper as the words fell from his lips, her expression full of love and gratitude as the other members of their family, including Edward, turned to look at him them as well.

“You knew,” Edward breathed out, speaking for the first time since he had returned from dropping Bella off at home.

“Somewhat,” Jasper sighed, glancing over at Alice for a second before continuing. “I knew how she felt,” he continued staring at a far spot on the wall. “But, not that it had been … consummated, not until a moment ago at least.”

“And you’re okay with this?” Emmett asked incredulously.

“More like resigned to accepting the inevitability of it,” Jasper responded sighing. “I can feel what she feels,” he continued a second later, his eyes holding Alice’s warmly for a moment before he continued. “I know she can’t stop feeling it, no matter how hard she tries. And she did try,” he said, his eyes flickering over to Edward. “It’s why we left so suddenly,” he explained, knowing that their rapid departure had surprised the others at the time. “But inevitably,” Jasper continued, and then he stopped and shrugged. “It was, well, inevitable.”

Edward rolled his head round, straining it from side to side as his fists balled up at his sides.

“I’m sorry Edward,” Alice said softly, shaking lightly where she stood. “I tried to stay away from her, really I did. I wasn’t going to go back, it’s why we left, to leave you two alone,” she continued sighing gratefully when Jasper took her hand. “But the vision came, and it felt so incomplete, and I had to go see, I had to know. And when I got there,” Alice continued, her mind filling with thoughts of Bella: snuggling into her, looking at her with those soft, longing eyes, kissing her softly, sighing her name.

“Stop!” Edward exclaimed as images and thoughts from Alice’s head rushed into his brain. “Stop,” he repeated, clutching at his head as he shut his eyes trying to block out her thoughts.

Alice, realizing what was happening, stopped talking immediately and began to name all of the different brands of shoes she knew in her head: Manolo Blahnik, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Ferragamo, Roger Vivier and more running through her mind until she was no longer remembering the feel of Bella’s naked body against hers.

“I’m sorry,” Alice breathed out again when her thoughts were under control.

Edward removed his hands from his head, but was silent, just shaking his head from side to side.

“I can’t be here right now,” he said suddenly looking up and around him, his eyes moving from face to face, before settling on Alice’s and wincing. “I can’t,” he started to say again, and then, before anyone could say word, he took off running.

“I’m gonna try to find him,” Emmett said a few moments later, breaking the silence that had descended up the room. “He probably shouldn’t be alone,” he explained, and then he was gone too.

Esme glanced over at Carlisle, holding his eyes for a moment before he nodded to her. Slowly she crossed over to Alice, and wrapped her arm around her shoulder. “Come with me,” Esme said softly.

Alice immediately turned into her body, wrapping her arms around Esme as well as she buried her face in her mother’s neck, desperately seeking the comfort that Esme was offering, indescribably relieved that she was being comforted at all, that she was still loved.

“Oh,” Esme sighed, tightening her hold on Alice. Alice had always been the most physically affectionate, probably because she was the only mother that Alice could remember, but she had never felt Alice cling to her so tightly. “Come on, my darling,” Esme murmured a second later, rubbing Alice’s back as she guided her out of the room.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” Carlisle said, drawing Jasper’s attention over to him. “I think we should retire to my study, for a while,” he continued moving over to Jasper and placing a hand on his shoulder. “The chairs are comfortable. It’s a good place to talk.”

Jasper nodded gratefully. He was glad for the opportunity to finally talk about what had been happening. He was dealing with it the best he could, but it was difficult and he would appreciate Carlisle’s advice.

Placing his hand over Carlisle’s, Jasper nodded and then he and Carlisle headed out of the room.

Rose watched them until they were out of sight and then sighed.

“I’ll just find a way to occupy myself then,” Rosalie said to the empty room, throwing her hands up in the air. “Don’t worry about me, go on,” she continued waving to the imaginary occupants of the room. “I’ll be fine,” she continued heading towards the stairs. “Just pretend like I’m not even here.”

To be continued …