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fembuckTitle: 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: The family rallies around
---
Bella stood awkwardly in the doorway as Jasper fixed some pillows against the headboard of the bed, arranging things so that Alice was able to rest more comfortably.
She shifted her gaze away from the tender scene and took up an inspection of her feet.
It was strange for her being in their bedroom, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself. The others had accompanied Alice up to the room to make sure she was comfortable, but then they had left to go hunting. As Jasper had told her earlier, Alice needed to feed before her body would really be able to reverse the damage Victoria had done to it, but because she was weak they didn’t want her hunting herself. So, Edward, Emmett and Rose had gone out to hunt something to bring back for her.
When the others had started to file out of the room Bella had wondered if she should go with them, but she couldn’t force herself to leave Alice, and had pressed herself against the side of the door frame, watching silently as Jasper tended to her.
That was five minutes before and she still didn’t have any idea what she was supposed to do with herself.
“You don’t have to stand all the way over there.”
Bella blinked, releasing a pent up breath as Alice’s sweet voice filled the room.
“I …” Bella began, her gaze shifting around the room. She coughed awkwardly, and then sniffed, her eyes drifting back over to the bed uncomfortably. She wasn’t sure if Alice really wanted her to join them, or if she was just being polite; either way it seemed kind of awkward and Bella hesitated, uncertain what to say.
Alice looked over at Jasper upon seeing Bella’s display of unease, and they started at each other silently for a moment. It was one of those extremely intimate exchanges that Bella had witnessed quite often in the past, and it made her feel even more awkward. Looking at them like that, Bella found it difficult to believe that Alice could possibly have feelings for someone other than Jasper and in a fit of madness wondered if the past month and a half had been nothing but a dream, a delusion that she had concocted to try and deal with the pain of not having Alice’s love.
Finally, Jasper turned to Bella, his gaze drawing her out of her depressing thoughts.
“It’s okay,” Jasper said softly, his eyes holding Bella’s steadily. “We can all share,” he continued, in the same calm tone.
Bella remained where she was, watching Jasper closely. There was something about his tone of voice that kept her rooted in place, something that belayed the tranquility of his words. And, when Alice turned to look at him curiously after he spoke, Bella was certain that she had missed something.
Bella watched as Alice’s lips moved, and then Jasper’s. They were talking, but she couldn’t hear what they saying. They were still for a moment, and then Alice inclined her head slightly and turned to face Bella, her lips curving up slightly as she extended her hand towards her.
Bella looked at the outstretched hand uncertainly, an awkward smile frozen on her lips. Jasper’s strange tone and their hushed conversation following his words had made her a little uneasy. She was certain that Jasper had just been joking; playing with the fact that they were already sharing Alice in a sense, but suddenly the idea of lounging around in bed with them gave the comment another layer, which made her a little uncomfortable.
She was fairly certain that he didn’t mean what her mind immediately jumped to, but even if it wasn’t likely to happen, the idea was in her head and she was slightly freaked out by it.
“I’ve already promised that I won’t bite,” Alice said, seeming to sense Bella’s unease and trying to reassure her. “And neither will he,” Alice said cocking her thumb in Jasper’s direction.
Jasper grinned amusedly at that, and gamely placed his hand over his heart as he smiled at her. Alice smiled at the display, and the lightness of their mood made Bella feel a little better.
Alice patted the open spot beside her on the bed, her gaze open and inviting as she looked at Bella, trying to convey that it was safe for her to join them. Bella turned her attention to Jasper and found his gaze open, perhaps even a little curious, but in no way sexual.
Bella breathed out, her body relaxing as she began to make her way over to the bed. Once she reached the side, she then tentatively put her knee on the edge, pausing for a second as if she expected Alice to yell “Psych!” and then start giggling. However, Alice merely shifted slightly to the side making a bit more room for her, and Bella eventually climbed onto the mattress and stretched herself out along Alice’s side, leaving the petite brunette sandwiched in between her body and Jasper’s.
Alice sighed as Bella settled against her, and then wiggled slightly into the pillows around her before a happy smile spread across her lips.
“How do you feel?” Bella asked, Alice’s content expression calming her nerves a little even though it confused her. Alice didn’t seem to be in much pain, but she had seemed somewhat uncomfortable before so Bella didn’t understand why she seemed so content at the moment. Looking at the expression on Alice’s face at that moment, if it weren’t for the blood and dirt still caked to her face and clothes, Bella never would have been able to tell that she had been in a fight less than an hour before.
“Like shit,” Alice said, the response coming out almost as a dreamy sigh.
She then tipped her head in Bella’s direction and smiled serenely.
“Then why do you look so happy?” Bella asked frowning. She was usually horribly crotchety when she was sick, so Alice’s tranquility was mind-boggling to her.
“Because it’s nice,” Alice said. And with that, she reached out and took Bella’s hand cradling it in hers, while at the same time reaching out with her other hand for Jasper’s taking hold of his at the same time.
“Nearly getting beaten to death is nice?” Bella asked looking down at their joined hands, still not comprehending what was pleasing Alice so much.
“No,” Alice said, frowning for a second. “That part wasn’t so fantastic,” she admitted dourly, but then her features brightened again. “I meant this,” she said jostling her hands, raising them a bit so that both pairs of clasped hands were visible. “The three of us together,” she continued, looking at Jasper and then looking at Bella. “It’s nice,” she declared, that dreamy tone back.
Bella’s nose scrunched up. ‘Nice’ wasn’t exactly the word she would have used to describe the three of them lounging around together. ‘Awkward’ seemed more appropriate, or at the very least ‘uncomfortable’, or ‘strange’.
Without really thinking about it, Bella found her eyes drifting past Alice over to Jasper, and to her relief she saw a similarly perplexed expression on his face. Alice may have been in seventh heaven, but Jasper seemed to be feeling just as awkward as she was.
“Did Carlisle actually give her morphine?” Bella asked trying to sound playful as her eyes held Jasper’s. She’d just meant to glance at him but had ended up holding his gaze long enough that she felt she should say something.
Jasper smiled a bit at that, his body relaxing slightly causing a few strands of blond hair to fall in front of his face, and his eyes to crinkle at the side.
“Naw,” he said, his southern drawl, charmingly prominent. “She’s just like this,” he continued still looking at Bella.
A small moment of camaraderie passed between them, much like what had happened when Jasper had talked to her at her house earlier that evening, and Bella found herself relax even more. The situation was a bit strange, but it wasn’t horrible. Jasper seemed willing to fight through the weirdness, and if they both tried they could probably make it through … whatever it was they were doing at the moment without dying of embarrassment.
Alice looked between the two of them, her eyes narrowing for a moment before her expression turned pleasant once more. “You are not ruining my mood,” she said declared, smiling at them defiantly as she spoke.
Jasper laughed at that, and Bella smiled, laughing herself a few seconds later as Alice kept her face determinedly cheery in the face of their banter – awkward as it may have been – at her expense.
When they began to calm down, Bella released a long breath, her body slumping as a wave of relief washed over her.
Fear and adrenaline had kept her going for the past hour, but now that Alice was smiling and talking and clearly not going to die – or explode or turn to dust or whatever it was that happened to vampires when they were mortally wounded – she felt her energy beginning to drain from her, and suddenly she felt like she hadn’t slept in days.
“You’re tired,” Alice said looking over at Bella, her thumb stroking the back of Bella’s hand lightly as Bella sagged against her.
“No,” Bella breathed out, smiling even as the word left her lips. “I’m exhausted,” she sighed.
Alice untangled her fingers from Bella’s and reached up, stroking her hair softly before slipping her fingers around Bella’s neck. Gently she guided Bella’s head down to rest on her shoulder before she moved her hand down to stroke Bella’s hip lightly in an attempt to get her to relax against her.
“Get some sleep,” Alice said softly, cool breath caressing Bella’s face in such an achingly familiar way that it almost brought tears to Bella’s overtired eyes.
“You’re the one that’s hurt,” Bella mumbled, nonetheless snuggling against Alice’s side.
She felt a little strange about lying beside Alice like this with Jasper just on the other side of Alice’s body, but Alice didn’t seem perturbed in the least, and Jasper himself was resting as calmly had he had been beforehand. Besides, now that she had acknowledged her tiredness, it seemed to be taking her over and it was all she could do to keep her eyes open. She didn’t think she would have been able to resist falling asleep in Alice’s arms even if she wanted to.
“It’s alright,” Alice breathed out as Bella finally relaxed against her. “I’ve got a support system,” she continued smiling, her own body leaning into Jasper’s, shifting a little until he was comfortably supporting her weight while she supported Bella’s.
Once Alice was settled against him, Jasper bent his head down, burying his nose in Alice’s hair, breathing in deeply as he kissed the top of her head. He kept his face pressed against her for a long moment, his eyes squeezing shut as he took in her scent.
Alice reached up and back, tangling her fingers in his hair, scratching his scalp, the action affectionate but also questioning. Smelling her like that wasn’t something that Jasper did often, and when he did it was very rarely for such a long period of time.
He was acting strangely, and it worried her.
Jasper sighed softly, and then reached for her hand, taking it into his own before lowering it, though he continued to hold it gently. Alice’s body remained tense for a moment, as her mind whirled, trying to determine the emotion behind his sigh, but no burst of insight came to her, and Jasper’s warmth against her back combined with the sensation of Bella burning against her front began to lull her into a peaceful haze.
“Jazz,” she said softly, not really knowing what she planned on following the word up with.
“I’m here,” he said softly, feeling her concern and love wash over him. He squeezed her hand, and then continued to hold it softly. “Rest,” he breathed out softly. “It’s okay.”
That was enough, and Alice relaxed against him, sighing contentedly as she enjoyed the feel of his chest moving up and down under her head while Bella drifted off to sleep against her.
---
Half an Hour Later
“Aw, isn’t that cute,” Rose cooed stepping in to Alice and Jasper’s bedroom.
“What? I wanna see it,” Emmett said shifting the deer carcass in his hands, pushing it forward a little trying to get Edward to move faster. “Aw, they’re like little kittens,” Emmett declared a few moments later as he made it into the bedroom, his eyes immediately tracking over to the bed.
Jasper looked chagrined; Alice’s eyes were focused on the load in their arms; and Bella slept on … oblivious.
Rose laughed, shaking her head at Jasper playfully and then stepped to the side, clearing a space for the boys to put the deer.
Edward moved with Emmett, carefully lowering the body onto the ground and then moved to the side, trying to keep his back to the bed as much as possible.
In the glimpse he had gotten of her sleeping against Alice, Bella had looked so peaceful. He hadn’t seen her look like that in a long time. These days he only occasionally spent the night sleeping beside Bella – though he still watched over her during the night. However, when he did stay with her, she would curl up against him as she always had, but she had never seemed completely comfortable lying with him since Italy. She didn’t sleep peacefully through the night anymore. She tossed and turned, and shifted, her lips turning down in a frown as she tried to get comfortable against him. In the morning she always insisted that she had slept just fine, but he knew she hadn’t.
She didn’t seem to be having any trouble sleeping against Alice however, even in a strange bed, with Alice’s husband inches away from her.
“You’re going to have to wake her up,” Jasper was saying as Edward settled himself against the door frame, close to Esme and Carlisle who where standing just inside the bedroom.
He tuned out the words that were being traded in the room, his eyes drifting to the quaint scene on the bed again as his mind drifted. However, once he registered what he was staring at, he forced himself to turn away and focused his gaze on his muddied shoes.
“Can I do it?” Rose asked her voice suddenly full of excitement.
Alice cocked her head to the side curiously, watching as Rose took a step towards them, but then her expression became agitated and she said, “No!” her eyes narrowing at Rosalie as a vision of how Rosalie planned on waking Bella came to her. “God, no,” she continued making a face at Rose. “Why would you even think that? That’s horrible,” she finished, her last declaration losing some of its impact as an unwilling half-smile touched her lips.
Rose caught the half-smile and knew that Alice wasn’t really mad at her. “Would have been funny though,” she replied smirking at Alice before she shrugged and moved over by Emmett, allowing him to envelope her from behind.
“Only a little bit,” Alice said still smiling, “Mostly it would have been horrible,” she said shaking a disapproving finger at Rose, who just rolled her eyes.
Alice moved her hand to Bella’s shoulder, shaking her slightly. She had much more pleasant ways of waking up Bella, some more innocent than others, but even the chastest of the ways she usually woke Bella up in the morning would have been too intimate for present company.
“Wha…” Bella began, blinking slowly as she lifted her head. “Alice?” she said sleepily, her eyes squeezing shut before she forced them open unnaturally wide in an attempt to keep them open.
She turned her head to the side, looking over the edge of the bed.
It wasn’t her room.
“Where are …” Bella began to ask, her eyes moving to scan some more of the room, “Oh my god! What the hell?!?” she exclaimed a second later, surging backwards, her body slamming into Alice’s as she spotted the deer carcass. “Ow,” Bella moaned a second later, her eyes widening in pain as a painful throbbing began in her elbow.
When she had lurched back, her elbow had slammed into Alice’s stomach. With almost anyone else this would have meant that the person whose stomach had been elbowed would have howled in pain, however Alice had barely registered the contact while Bella winced in pain. Elbowing Alice’s stomach was like slamming her elbow into a brick wall.
“Well, at least she’s awake,” Rose commented not quite able to keep the amusement out of her voice as Bella looked back at Alice’s stomach, frowning deeply, as if she wanted to yell at it.
“As always, your compassion astounds me, Rose,” Alice responded, shooting Rosalie a dirty look as she reached out to rub Bella’s elbow gently.
She had barely felt the blow, but she knew that it had probably hurt Bella quite a bit.
Rosalie smirked at Alice and then shrugged. She may have looked like one but she never claimed to be an angel.
“Alright,” Esme said stepping a little further into the room. “If you two are done, I think that we should clear out and leave Alice in peace for a while,” she continued looking around at her children, meeting each their gazes before she led by example and moved out into the hallway.
Emmett sighed. Watching Rose and Alice bitch at each other was always a blast, but Esme was right. Alice needed to feed. Releasing Rose, Emmett waited for her to turn around and then hand-in-hand the two of them headed for the door.
As they made their way outside, Jasper slipped out from behind Alice and walked around to the other side of the bed. He offered his hand to Bella, and she grasped it, allowing Jasper to easily pull her to her feet.
“She needs to feed now,” Jasper said as Bella looked at him questioningly.
She still looked half asleep and seemed to be confused as to why they were moving.
“Oh,” Bella said softly. She looked over at Jasper, and then over at Alice before her eyes dropped to look at the deer. “Oh!” she repeated again a second later, remembering what Alice had told her about feeding being a solitary act. They were all leaving the room so that Alice could feed in private.
Jasper nodded and then began to lead her towards the door, eyeing Edward – who was still standing there – curiously as they approached. He was sending Edward calming feelings, but even so Edward remained incredibly tense and distracted. His eyes were roaming between him and Bella, and Alice on the bed, his emotions a confusing tangle of contradicting feelings although the strongest seemed to be a powerful feeling of sorrow.
“Edward,” Jasper said, coming to a stop beside him as Bella leaned against the side of his body. Edward turned to look at him and Jasper tilted his head gesturing to Bella. His control around Bella was getting better, and having Alice’s scent so close to him for the past half hour had helped him deal with Bella being so close. However, he was fried emotionally which was testing his control and he was beginning to get overwhelmed.
He really needed Edward to take Bella from him.
“Right,” Edward said blinking, some of Jasper’s thoughts cutting through his emotional haze. “Yes, of course.”
He nodded to Jasper and then opened his arms, allowing Jasper to gently transfer Bella over to him.
With Bella securely nestled against his side, the three of them then made their way out of the room, leaving Alice alone with her dinner.
---
Bella’s body vibrated with nervousness as she leaned against the wall. She saw Edward glance at her out of the corner of her eye, but she ignored the look. Her nervousness was bothering him, and she knew he wished that she would stop fidgeting about, but she couldn’t help it and didn’t really want to turn around just to see his irritated expression.
Instead of looking at Edward, Bella trained her eyes on the closed door of Alice and Jasper’s bedroom, and sighed deeply.
It felt like Alice had been in there forever.
Bella tilted her head around, looking at the rest of the family.
Carlisle was leaning against the wall about a meter away from herself and Edward, Esme resting against his side, her head pillowed on his shoulder. They were still and serene and if Bella didn’t know better she would have thought that they had fallen asleep standing up. Emmett and Rose were sitting on the floor. Rose was nestled between Emmett’s legs, her head resting on his chest. Bella had heard murmurs from them, but they were speaking too softly for her to understand what they were saying. And they too, seemed completely at ease. Jasper was leaning against the wall beside the door to his room, with his head resting against the wall and his eyes closed. He was still, and on the surface seemed calm, but Bella swore that there was a tension in his body that wasn’t in the others. And, beside her, Edward was still and silent, his chest rising and falling steadily as he glanced over at her every few seconds.
They all looked so composed.
It was infuriating.
Bella lifted her hand, checking her watch again.
She wasn’t a century old, she didn’t have their endless reserves of patience and the waiting was starting to get to her. She wanted to see Alice. She wanted to see if she was okay. She wanted …
The door to Alice and Jasper’s room creaked open.
Bella stared for a second and then jerked forward, trying to launch herself towards it. Edward’s hand reached out, clutching her shoulder lightly, restraining her movement. Bella made a frustrated sound in her throat and twisted, her lips parting to demand that he let her go when Alice’s voice drifted through the open door.
“Esme?”
Bella blinked, her head turning to the side to watch as Esme disentangled herself from Carlisle and began to make her way towards the door.
“She’s still weak,” Edward said softly, the feel of his breath against her ear making Bella shiver. “Esme will help get her cleaned up.”
Bella stopped struggling in his grasp, her body relaxing under his hand.
Jasper had told her that it would take about half an hour for Alice to be her old self again after feeding. She was prepared for that, but when he had revealed this to her Bella had assumed that she would be there to help Alice, that she would be there to look after her while she finished recovering.
But, as she leaned back against the wall she realized that it was silly of her to think that. In Port Angeles Alice had told her how monstrous feeding made her feel and she should have known that Alice wouldn’t have wanted her to see her that way.
That being true, she was surprised – but not displeased – that Alice hadn’t called for Jasper to take care of her.
However, when she thought about it more it made sense that Alice had requested Esme come in. Bella had spent most of her life looking after her mother, but when she was sick, Renee was still the first person she thought of, the person she wanted beside her, holding her hand. When she had been in the hospital in Phoenix after James at attacked her, she had longed so much for her mother and when Renee had finally arrived, she hadn’t let go of her hand for hours.
Esme was the only mother that Alice could remember, and it made sense to Bella that Alice would want her around at a time like this. A mother’s love was absolute, it was warm, and comforting and when you felt badly it was one of the only things in the world that could make you feel safe.
Thinking about it, Bella realized that Esme was the only person Alice wouldn’t be ashamed to let see her that way.
Bella watched Esme disappear into the bedroom, her heart swelling with affection for the woman, loving her for being herself and for taking such wonderful care of her children, no matter how old they were. It made her happy to know that Alice would be in such wonderful and capable hands.
All was quiet for a few minutes after Esme entered the bedroom. They others stayed in the exact position they were in before, the only one that had moved being Carlisle who’d had to shift to release Esme.
Bella sighed, wondering what was going on inside the bedroom, her ears just picking up the sound of a door closing as she did. Her brows furrowed at the sound, but she realized a second later that Alice and Esme must have gone into the adjoining bathroom and that it was that door that she heard close.
“I have to help Emmett,” Edward said dully, looking over at Bella before he pushed away from the wall.
Bella looked up at him curiously, but then she detected movement to the side and turned her head to see Emmett disentangling himself from Rosalie before he stood up as well. Emmett looked towards the bedroom, and Edward nodded, and then they started towards it, disappearing inside a few seconds later.
“You may not want to look.”
Bella turned her head sharply to the side, surprised to hear a voice so close to her. Blinking, she registered Rosalie standing beside her, and released the breath she had taken when she heard the voice. She hadn’t even detected a hint of movement from where Rosalie had been sitting the last time she saw her.
“I don’t know what you mea …” Bella began to say, but before she could finish the sentence Edward and Emmett emerged from the bedroom with the deer carcass in their arms, and Bella gasped, her stomach rolling as she got a good look at it.
The deer’s neck had been broken the first time she saw it, but other than that it had been spotless. Now, the chest and neck were covered in blood, and the head flopped, looking almost in danger of falling off. The skin around the neck had been savaged and hung in tatters around a large gaping wound in the middle of the throat. It looked like the deer had been attacked by some large predator, a bear or a mountain lion maybe, and Bella couldn’t quite get her mind to grasp the fact that Alice had done that.
Bella turned her head to the side and pressed herself against the wall, unable to look at the animal anymore.
Rose sighed beside her. “I told you,” she said, but her voice wasn’t gloating or smug. She sounded sad more than anything else, and Bella suspected that it was because Rose knew how she would feel seeing the damage and had been trying to spare her. “It wouldn’t usually be like that,” Rose said softly as Bella turned to watch the boys head down the stairs. “It’s only because she was so weak,” Rose continued, and Bella realized that she was right and Rose really was trying to make her feel better.
“We should wait downstairs,” Carlisle said, moving over to where Rosalie and Bella were standing.
He put his arm around Bella’s shoulder, and began to lead her towards the stairs, Rosalie falling instep with them as they moved.
“I’ll be down in a moment,” Jasper said, and Bella turned around to look at him.
He was standing in front of the linen closet and had a few towels in his hands. Bella looked down at the floor and saw a trail of blood leading towards the stairs where Edward and Emmett had gone, and she realized that the floor in the bedroom was likely covered in blood.
“I’ll help,” Bella said impulsively, realizing that Jasper was intending to clean up the mess before Alice came back into the room.
“No,” Jasper said. His voice was harder than Bella had ever heard it and she noticed that his eyes, which had been a rich golden colour the last time she had looked, were now black. “It’s not a good idea for you to be in there with me,” he explained.
Bella nodded, realizing that the scent of blood in the air was affecting him. Jasper was far more sensitive than the rest of them, and thinking about it she guessed that he had probably been keeping very tight control of himself around her for most of the night, and that he didn’t want to test himself even more with blood in the air.
“Okay,” she said softly, stepping back so that she was beside Rose once more.
It seemed she did have some sense of preservation after all.
Bella turned and looked over at Carlisle. He smiled reassuringly at her, and squeezed her shoulder. Then they started for the stairs once more.
---
The living room was quiet when Esme and Alice finally descended the stairs to join the others twenty minutes later.
Esme looked the same as she had the last time Bella had seen her, but Alice’s transformation was stunning. Her dark hair was wet and slicked back off of her face, and her skin had been scrubbed clean of the dirt and dried blood that had been clinging to it the last time Bella had seen her. She was wearing a clean white tank top and pair of baby blue shorts, and her skin was flawless, every bruise and cut that had marred it before completely gone.
As well, when they entered the room, Bella saw that Alice’s walk was silken and feline, heartbreakingly graceful once again, and she felt her heart swell.
Alice was okay. She was really okay.
Bella jittered, trying to fight the urge to jump to her feet and fling herself into Alice’s arms. She breathed in deeply and then released it, forcing herself to repeat the pattern again and again and until she felt marginally calmer. While she busied herself with that, Jasper shifted on the couch, sliding to the side to create an opening beside himself and Bella.
Alice smiled faintly at the occupants of the room, and then moved over to sit between Bella and Jasper as Esme branched away and moved over beside Carlisle.
Unable to help herself, Bella reached out and took Alice’s hand, holding it tightly in her own. Alice looked over at her and smiled, the expression actually reflecting in her eyes for a moment, as an awkward silence continued to reign over the room.
“Okay, I’ll be the asshole and ask,” Emmett said drawing everyone attention over to him. “What happened?” he asked incredulously, his eyes focused on Alice. “How the hell did she get the drop on you?” he continued emphasizing the last word, and Bella knew that he was referring to Alice’s visions.
Alice sighed deeply, her head tilting back tiredly before she forced herself to look around the room.
“I don’t think she was planning on attacking,” Alice began, her gaze skittering around the different sets of eyes staring at her. “She was probably observing you from a distance, and when she saw you leave,” she continued glancing at Emmett, “she probably came in for a closer look. When she saw me and realized that I wasn’t aware of her presence, she probably made a snap decision to attack, figuring that she wouldn’t get a better opportunity to make a play for Bella.” She sighed. “You might not have noticed, but I’m not exactly the most physically intimidating of us all.”
“Why didn’t you just head back here?” Esme asked knowing that Alice had her car with her. Emmett and Rosalie had run over to Bella’s house and then driven Alice’s car back for her. It would have been easy for Alice to have just turned the car around and come back to their house, which Victoria wouldn’t have come near. “Why try to go inside?”
Alice exhaled deeply. “I didn’t pick up her scent until we were outside of the car,” she admitted, looking down at her lap, knowing that Esme was wondering why she hadn’t just driven away.
Bella couldn’t understand why Alice seemed so upset about that and looked around at the others, but they were looking at her in surprise, as if they couldn’t comprehend how her statement could be true.
“Is that weird?” Bella asked sounding confused. Victoria had been quite a ways away from them. Surely it wasn’t that surprising that Alice hadn’t been aware of her.
Alice closed her eyes and nodded dejectedly.
“What happened?” Bella asked softly, squeezing Alice’s hand, looking up surprised a second later when she heard laughter.
Turning her head to the side Bella wasn’t surprised to see that it was Rosalie.
Alice looked up at the sound as well, and shot Rosalie an absolutely withering glare, but this only seemed to amuse Rose more.
“She couldn’t smell Victoria over you,” Rose said calm now, her eyes trained on Bella. “A car’s pretty small. You kind of take up all the smell space,” she continued when Bella looked over at her perplexed. “It’s like concentrated essence of Bella. Alice was in heaven,” she went on, her tone indecipherable to Bella, though she suspected it was a touch mocking. “She probably wouldn’t have been able to tell you her name, let alone if someone was watching.”
Bella turned to look at Alice in surprise, but Alice wasn’t paying attention to her, she was staring murderously at Rosalie, muttering something under her breath that Bella couldn’t hear, but which seemed to amuse Rosalie.
“You know, I don’t think that’s anatomically possible,” Rose murmured a second later as Alice continued to stare at her. “Not even for one of us,” she added smirking.
Alice growled and turned away from her, her body tense as she stared down at her lap. Bella had never seen her wound so tightly, and shot Rosalie an irritated look herself before she reached out and placed her hand on Alice’s thigh, rubbing gently in an attempt to calm her.
A second after she started her soothing motions Bella felt a comforting wave wash over her, and she realized that Jasper was trying to calm Alice down as well.
“Hey now,” Rose said, her eyes on Bella’s hand as it caressed Alice’s thigh. “You’re not in the car, anymore,” she continued, her eyes twinkling with mirth. “Let’s keep things PG.”
Emmett looked at Bella’s hand and then over at Rose. He straightened in his chair, suddenly looking interested, as if he could detect something sexy in the air. “What happened in the car?”
Rose smiled widely and leaned over, whispering something to him. Emmett’s eyes widened as she spoke, and then he looked between Bella and Alice, and grinned broadly.
“It’s not true!” Bella said immediately, hating to even contemplate what horribly sexual images were flashing through Emmett’s brain courtesy of Rosalie’s big mouth.
Rose looked at her smugly, “You don’t even know what I said.”
“It’s probably not true,” Bella muttered, averting her eyes as she remembered that Rosalie was present that evening that she and Alice had been making out in the car and that whatever Rosalie had muttered to Emmett probably was true, and had to do with the aroused state she had been in when she had entered the house that night.
“It’s okay Bella,” Rose said soothingly. “People are allowed to have fetishes. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.”
Bella looked up at her sharply, sputtering indignantly, but before she could form a coherent sentence, Esme spoke, glaring at Rosalie as she did.
“Rose, that’s enough,” Esme said, looking more miffed than Bella had ever seen her. “You’re ninety-one years old. Try to exercise a bit of maturity.”
Rosalie stared at Esme for a second, and for a second Bella thought that Rose was going to backtalk, but the blonde turned away and kept her mouth closed.
Bella smirked, gloating at Esme’s victory. Rose bared her teeth at her in response, but this only made Bella smile brightly.
“Don’t taunt her,” Alice murmured knowing that Rosalie would put a good scare into Bella if she thought Bella was making fun of her. She wouldn’t hurt her of course, but there was enough going on in their lives at the moment without Rose and Bella feuding.
Bella dropped her eyes from Rose’s, and Rose – jaw clenched – angled her back towards Bella. Knowing that they were through fighting with each other for the moment, Alice took a second to breathe in deeply and then she looked around the room.
“Now that the children have calmed down,” she continued, her eyes holding Rosalie’s as the blonde’s head whipped around to glare at her. “Can we talk about what we’re going to do about Victoria?” she continued ignoring her sister’s withering stare.
Alice’s voice was serious and descended into a threatening hiss when she said Victoria’s name, and even Rose was sobered by the gravity of words.
They were silent for a moment, thinking, but then Emmett broke the silence by slapping his hand on his thigh before standing up.
“Talk?” he repeated. His tone was rife with excitement. “What’s there to talk about? Let’s kill the bitch!”
To be continued …
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Date: 2008-11-01 02:25 am (UTC)and oooooohhhhh! finally! rosalie! i can't even explain how smitten i was with her mischievousness :)
i'll go reread your whole story, now that i can play ashley greene's "twinkling" voice for alice's character. omg. alice's voice is orgasmic. *sighs dreamily*
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Date: 2008-11-01 03:06 am (UTC)I fully support you in this. I will be happy when he's gone and I can refuse to acknowledge him as well.
but i see a bit of light here... jasper's sighs that alice couldn't understand, it seem like it was a sign of final resolve, like he was making that final, but painful decision already.
You get a gold star. The seeds of discontent are being sown. Jasper isn't quite as far along with the feeling of doom that Edward is (because Alice DOES care deeply about him), but he can't help but sense real trouble.
finally! rosalie! i can't even explain how smitten i was with her mischievousness :)
I'm glad you're liking Rose. I love writing her so much. She has no filter so you can make her say like anything. She'll have some fun moments coming up.
i'll go reread your whole story, now that i can play ashley greene's "twinkling" voice for alice's character.
It's fun now being able to picture what Alice sounds like. After reading your comment I went back to the beginning of the chapter to try and 'hear' her voice and it was so much fun!
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Date: 2008-11-01 02:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-01 03:02 am (UTC)And I'm all for killing the bitch
lol, you'll like what's to come then. Victoria hasn't even gotten nasty yet. When you get an extended scene with her, you'll want her dead even more :D
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Date: 2008-11-01 03:10 am (UTC)Awkward thy name is "The Edge - Chapter 21 'Recovery'", lol.
Gosh I hope that never happens again I can only take so much of Jasper in bed with Alice expecially if Bella is there.
Don't worry, there won't be anymore of that. I promise :D
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Date: 2008-11-01 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-01 03:18 am (UTC)What is it about hurt/comfort/protectiveness that is so hot? I don't know, but I love it. I'm glad you liked it too :D
and i can commiserate with her getting caught up in bella heaven.
They just can't help but snuggle when they are within arms reach of each other. It's like a biological imperative!
he seems like a good supporter of alice/bella, once he's had time to process and deal.
I feel this way too. Jasper is a good guy, and would mean it when he said he just wanted Alice to be happy, even if it took him a little while to get over his own heartbreak.
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Date: 2008-11-01 03:43 am (UTC)lets have him gay and marry Edward.no subject
Date: 2008-11-03 02:55 am (UTC)That's the beauty of Rose. She's a bitch, but she's a funny one so you can't really hate her.
despite of how much I like your Jasper, he is getting too much in the way
I know, I know! I'm working on it. Stay the course and he will be gone eventually.
lets have him gay and marry Edward.
I'm getting rid of Jasper, but I think I like him to much to make him suffer through being with Edward for eternity. That's just a level of cruel he doesn't deserve ;)
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Date: 2008-11-01 12:56 pm (UTC)It's all just so amazing!! I love how Edward is just like...there, and you're developing Jasper's character so well! <3
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Date: 2008-11-03 02:57 am (UTC)lol. Yeah, he's kind of a non-entity as he realizes that he's basically not needed by Bella anymore. That will be very evident in the next chapter and even commented upon.
and you're developing Jasper's character so well!
Aw, thanks. I like Jasper, and I feel bad for building him up only like HEAP ANGST upon him :(
....
Date: 2008-11-01 05:56 pm (UTC)Your Rose in the story is so much better than Ms. Meyer's. I LOLed when she was making fun of Alice.
And... I liked how it seemed Edward didn't matter. He was just there, and nothing else. =)
Re: ....
Date: 2008-11-03 02:58 am (UTC)Awkward is definitely the feeling most people would be going through. Alice was really on her own there. Let's blame it on the head wound, lol.
Your Rose in the story is so much better than Ms. Meyer's.
Aw, thanks, bb :D
I liked how it seemed Edward didn't matter. He was just there, and nothing else.
You'll like the next chapter then. He's even more of a non-entity (I don't think he's even going to speak!)
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Date: 2008-11-01 09:14 pm (UTC)Other than the weirdness, the bed scene was kind of sweet. Ah Jasper, I don't know how I feel about you; I'm torn between sympathy and "GTFO!" Edward seems to be losing facetime in the story and I thank you, lets faze that creeper out plz. Just wondering if Alice is going to start to see the flaw in her sharing plan soon?
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Date: 2008-11-03 03:03 am (UTC)lol. Awkward is making a comeback, and thinking of inviting it's friends "uncomfortable" and "creeped out" to the party.
Ah Jasper, I don't know how I feel about you; I'm torn between sympathy and "GTFO!"
lol, that pretty much sums up Jasper's situation here. It's like, you're not a bad guy BUT YOU'RE GETTING IN THE WAY OF THE GOGA AND THAT IS NOT COOL!
Edward seems to be losing facetime in the story and I thank you,
He'll get even less next chapter. In fact I'm not sure he'll even speak! Enjoy, bb. Enjoy :D
Just wondering if Alice is going to start to see the flaw in her sharing plan soon?
Alice, wonderful as she is, is in a fantasy land right now. She's picking up on clues that things aren't really going great with the plan (i.e. the weirdness she was picking up from Jasper this chapter), but she desperately doesn't want to deal with the situation she would find herself in if thing didn't work out, so she's ignoring the signs/trying to rationalize things. This sticking her fingers in her ears and going "lalalalalala" thing is probably her biggest character fault in this story, and she's not gonna deal with the consequences of her ill-conceived plan until she's FORCED to deal with it.
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Date: 2008-11-03 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-03 02:53 am (UTC)That Jasper. He's such a dirty ruiner.
i can picture and hear Alice now that i've seen the trailer but i must say i have difficulty with KStew as Bella.
Yeah, I can't picture KStew as Bella either. She's not in my head when I write Bella. KStew is just so blank, I can't picture her having or displaying emotions (which makes it really funny trying to imagine her "acting" Bella's numerous freak out and bouts of dramatic crying fits).
Emily Brownings image works a little better, but I don't really have a strong mental image for her.
ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO
Date: 2008-11-03 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-04 11:34 am (UTC)I may be biased, but Alice is so much better than Edward! ;)
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Date: 2008-11-07 01:52 am (UTC)Anyway, Alice is my hero! And I think I'm in love with Emmett...Epic win this round!
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Date: 2008-12-03 11:11 pm (UTC)And you do know that this chapter was sounding like a set-up for a threesome, right *smug*
It's good that Alice kept in control, she's improving!!! (You know with the deer in the bedroom and all the blood around and her need to feed)
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Date: 2008-12-22 12:17 pm (UTC)Forgive me, I like to reread things... :)
Date: 2009-08-06 07:34 pm (UTC)