“Alice? Alice? Alice can you hear me? ALICE!” He startled me. I must have been so focused on my thoughts that I couldn’t hear him calling me for the past five minutes. “Sorry Jasper. I guess I was thinking about something else.” He looks worried. Can’t I worry enough for the both of us? I wish that I could pull myself together for Jasper’s sake. Hell, Bella put on a happy face every single morning when we left her. Even though it hurt her every morning for Charlie’s sake she got up, trying to act as nothing happened (Even though he saw right threw it) at least she tried. Can’t I do the same? Can’t I go on this Journey with a smile on my face but behind the smile scared out of my mind! Can’t I try? Can’t I try that everything is normal? That we’re just on vacation. Going to the south, like another Honeymoon? But, I’m not like that. I’m optimistic, enthusiastic, and happy. (Most of the time) Not today, not tomorrow, not yesterday, I’ve been nothing but depressed since we left, and I have a feeling its going to stay that way until we save our family. Ok. I need to focus, I need to be strong. “Alice? Alice? ALICE! ALICE!” “Oops. Sorry Jasper. Thinking again I guess.” “Alice, you were scaring me. Your emotions were going nuts. First you were calm, and then you were scared, then worried, then angry, then scared again. I swear it was almost like I was on a roller coaster. Are you okay?” “I was thinking about my memories, then I decided to check on them I wanted to know what they were doing. I thought I could handle it but they were frozen like statues no one moved, breathed, but in our case not that unusual but still they didn’t do anything! Then Jacob came and they told him everything and he did the exact same thing! Then Edward started worrying because we weren’t back yet and he knew we don’t stay away from home that long and everyone was gone in a flash trying to find us and I saw Esme’s face. It was creased with worry and I couldn’t take it so I stopped watching. I’m sorry for not paying attention to you.” Now he just looks worried again. “Please stop worrying Jasper. You’re making me anxious. I don’t like seeing you like this.” “Sorry.” When did we get on land? I thought we were still in the water. Wow. I really must have been out of it. That explains why he was trying to get my attention. “Alice, I don’t want you to worry either. Besides I’m the one who has to feel your emotions. It hurts me when you hurt. Now what I was asking before I realized you weren’t listening was if you could try to see where Peter and Charlotte are.” I like Peter&Charlotte but not as much as Jasper but I always feel uncomfortable around them because Jasper isn’t MY Jasper when he is around them. He is someone else. He is back to that blood thirsty monster I saw when I first met him. He was back to being a…. I can’t even find the words for what he is when they are visiting. I might as well try though and when did it get dark? Well it looks like our friends are in Galveston. “Well Jasper looks like they are making this easier to find them than I thought. They are in your meeting place Galveston, Texas. Jasper, why didn’t we just run to the south?” “Well for one thing you wanted to know the fastest way here and we swim faster than we run. Besides we’re in Mexico. We still have to run a little to Texas.”
Right. I’m really out of it today. I can’t seem to focus on anything long enough to make Jasper feel better. “ALICE!” “What? You don’t have to yell at me every time you start talking.” “What do you mean start talking? I have been talking to you. I can’t believe it! You couldn’t hear me again! Alice where do you go in that head of yours? Sometimes I wish I could read minds like Edward so I know what you are thinking.” Damn! I thought he stopped talking. I thought his last sentence was “We still have to run a little to Texas.” Why does he want to know what’s in my head? On any normal day the only thing that would be going on in my head would be what people are wearing. Things like “Rosalie looks better in Purple than in Blue.” or “Bella needs to let me pick out things for her to wear or Emmett better not steal my Porsche for a Test-Drive.” Now what is going on in my head is “How the hell am I suppose to find a half-breed if I can’t see them! Or I wonder what they’re doing now.” I can’t even think about anything else right now except for Esme’s Face. Those big Eyes, her beautiful hair, and the line in her forehead that she gets when she worries. I Don’t GET IT! I don’t understand why he wants to see what’s in my head. It’s not that interesting to anyone besides me. “Sorry Jasper.” I wish I could put my thoughts on Lockdown. Just shut down everything that doesn’t have to do with what comes out Jasper’s mouth. “I was asking if you were ready to leave for Texas. So are you ready to go or do you want to stay in a hotel for a while, I’m sure we are ahead of your hectic schedule so you could maybe rest for awhile. We may not sleep but you look paler than usual.” I couldn’t tell if he was joking about the hotel thing or not but either way I didn’t like it.
I knew he felt my emotion swing from calm to full blown Crazy. “REST!!! You’re worrying about me because I look paler than usual?!?! Jasper we have been pale since the day we met, no make that the day we were changed!” Jasper, I’m fine it’s them who I’m worrying about!!! Let’s go! I don’t care if we’re ahead of schedule the more time we may have left over means we can get to them sooner! Now come on! I don’t want Peter&Charlotte to leave the state of Texas!” I didn’t care if he didn’t start running until after I did. I needed to find them and soon. If their was a small chance that I could find another half-breed like Renesmee than I don’t want to sit around. If I go to Africa and find one there, I would go. If there wasn’t one there then I wasted my time with it, but at least if Jasper was right and we had time left over then we didn’t waste time at all. I stopped. We were in Galveston. “Jasper? Do you smell their scent anywhere?” “No.” Just then a very gentle breeze flew by and there were the words I was hoping to hear. “Wait. Yes I think it’s them. Yes it’s them.” “Well which way? I’m not too familiar with their scent and I smell a lot more Vampires than I should be smelling.” It’s like the whole population of Texas is made up of vampires. It’s confusing! I don’t even see how he smells them with all these different scents here! “That way. To the West. Do you see if they are by some kind of sign or something? Anything that could help me to locate them?”
Yay. I get to go on a scavenger hunt. First on the list is a big sign. I tried to adjust my emotions from angry to calm. I don’t know if it worked but I thought of the good things about finding Peter&Charlotte. On the top of my list, Renesmee. Let’s see. I see them at a map. Figures. Haven’t been here in so long that they forgot how to get somewhere. Charlotte keeps pointing at the Airport sign but Peter is pointing at the Train station Sign on the map. I think they are trying to get to somewhere out of state. They finally made a decision. They decided to take the Train. Perfect. Now which one? They didn’t decide yet. That is just great. There are only three train stations in Galveston! Can’t they pick one? Today it seems everyone is going in slow motion just to get on my nerves! I wish he would decide! It can’t be that hard to pick one. He could flip a coin or close his eyes and point to one. He picked the downtown Galveston Train Station. Charlotte told him they might want to hunt before they get on the train. Holy Crow. They decided to visit Jasper!!! Son of a crow! Jasper! Out of all the times to visit they picked now! I guess I didn’t see they’re decision earlier since I’m not that tuned in to them; I usually try to avoid them as much as possible. He is in trouble if he talked to them recently! If he could sleep he would be sleeping in the doghouse right now. “Jasper?” “What? Did you see something? What did you see? Where are they? Are they in…” I cut him off.
“Jasper, when did you last talk to Peter&Charlotte?” It took him a while to remember. Once again everyone is going in slow motion to get on my nerves. “I guess 2 weeks ago. They called my cell phone from a pay phone in New Mexico. Last time they visited I didn’t think it would hurt anyone if I gave them my Cell number. I like to keep in touch and it’s hard because they are always going everywhere and they don’t have a cell phone so I can’t call them….” I cut him off again. He started getting off track. “Jasper? Did they tell you anything about a little trip? That they were going somewhere or where they were going next?” He looked confused. Like he didn’t catch on to what I was saying. “Yeah they said they might go to Washington sometime this month….Oh no. Not today. Alice no. Please tell me that is not where they are headed.” Thank goodness. Finally, he wasn’t slow for that one instant. “Yes Jasper, that is exactly where they’re headed. When they told you over the phone didn’t you catch on to what they meant?” My tone became softer. He didn’t realize when they told him they were headed to Washington that they wanted to visit him. That’s what I love about him. So nice yet so clueless. They are about to call his cell to tell him that they are about to visit. “Jasper, do you have your phone with you?” “No, I took it out of my pocket and threw it into the ocean while you were talking to Sam. Why, are they trying to call me?” He is such a smart person. Hard to believe someone so smart can sometimes be clueless. “Yes, Peter wanted to surprise you but Charlotte said that wouldn’t be a very good idea. She knows you don’t like surprises. So they are trying to call. They got his voicemail. They know that never happens. They know he usually picks up his phone after the first or second ring. I guess it was a good idea for Carlisle to suggest that we should buy water proof phones. At least they think he lost it or something. If they would have gotten no ring at all, they would have gotten suspicious.
Now they are debating whether or not they should come. Charlotte says no but knowing how stubborn Peter is he says yes. He said one little surprise wouldn’t kill Jasper. So that was it. They are going to catch a train go to our house and TRY to visit. Big surprise there. “Jasper, what do you think we should do? Should we let them go and discover what happened for themselves or do we intervene?” He wondered about that for a moment and this time it didn’t get on my nerves. It could save us time or kill time. Either way I’m happy with his decision. I trust Jasper’s decision 110%. Besides I owe him from earlier because I wouldn’t let him find Maria as well so whatever makes him happier. “Well, I guess we ought to tell them for ourselves but it is your schedule we are trying to keep up with. So can we squeeze in a small meeting or is your schedule is too hectic? He smiled. That is my favorite smile. I couldn’t help but smile too. I haven’t seen a smile on his face since we left home. “I guess my schedule isn’t too filled. I think I can squeeze in a little meeting.” I smiled again and that made him smile too. “Well ma’am lead the way.” Once again someone so smart yet so clueless. “What do you mean lead the way? I don’t know how to get there.” He laughed. “Well you didn’t exactly tell me where they are either.” Oh. I guess when I got mad earlier and I forgot to tell him. “They are going to a train station in Downtown Galveston.” “I know where that is that is how me and Mar… I mean that is how we found Peter. I still remember where it is. Let’s go.” On the run again. Wait. “Jasper, before we start running off to meet them Charlotte knows we don’t like them hunting in Forks so she is making Peter hunt with her. I don’t want to catch them in the middle of a meal plus I don’t think you could handle seeing a human like that. I really don’t want you kicking yourself for giving over to your instincts and your eyes turning red. I know you don’t want to repeat what happened at Bella’s party last year. So….” I stopped something happened with Jasper’s appearance. I may not read emotions like him, but I can tell when something’s wrong with him.
Maybe His joking smile disappeared as quickly as it came. He looked like I just slapped him. I didn’t give him enough credit. It has been a long year but I still don’t want him to take that chance. After all those years of him drinking Humans blood, Its just well, a hard habit to break. “Jasper, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that I’m not sure you could handle the smell of it ….” Now he cuts me off. “Alice I wasn’t the only one who had to run out the room when Edward threw Bella across the room and she started to BLEED! If I remember correctly you threw your hand over your mouth and nose and ran out the room! So before you start throwing me under the bus for doing something like that remember I wasn’t the only one who had to leave the room!” He looked furious. I’m sure he could have lost it and started to go bezerk and smash everything in sight but he took a deep breath and said “Let me know when they’re done with their meal.” And stormed off to sit on the nearest bench. He sat down and put his hands in his face. I knew when I said those things that I hit him below the belt. I sat on the bench farthest from him.
Well, their goes my sanity. If he doesn’t forgive me then I might not make it. I don’t know how long we sat there. I checked on a few things at home. They talked to Sam. Even though I told Sam all those things he still thinks we abandoned our family in their time of need. At least Edward stuck up for us. Even my favorite sister didn’t stick up for me. Bella looked like she wanted to but then again she looked like she believed Sam. I checked on Peter&Charlotte. They’re done now. I walked to Jasper at a human pace. I was thinking about how to talk to him. He still had his head in his hands. I finally got there. “They’re done.” He looked up. I don’t know what he saw. I wasn’t sure what emotion I had on my face but it made him madder. “Are you sure you don’t want to put me on a chain leash before we go meet them?” I tried to compose my face in a playful mood and made my emotion brighten. “I would but you would probably break through it anyway.” I put on my biggest smile and waited for his reaction. That did it. He broke out laughing. I started laughing too. “I was being ridiculous wasn’t I?” “A little.” I didn’t have to make my smile stay as big as it could it stayed that way. “I’m sorry Alice. You know I can’t stand to be mad at my graceful little monster.” Now it was my turn to be shocked. “You don’t have to be sorry about anything! I’m sorry Jasper! I shouldn’t have said the words that way! It came out wrong! I just wanted you to be a distance away because you might have done something that you didn’t want to.” “Its ok Alice you were only looking out for me. Thank you. Now let’s go before you say something nice and the big monster comes out again.” “I’ll follow you anywhere.” I held out my hand and he took it and we ran side by side into the night to find his friends, I mean our friends.
It didn’t take us long to find them. “Peter, Charlotte!” They turned and I couldn’t help laughing they looked like they saw a ghost. “Jasper? Jasper? What the hell are you doing here?” Peter turned to Charlotte and said “And you said he didn’t like surprises.” Then Jasper turned to me and said “Keep Charlotte Company while I talk to Peter.” He kissed my forehead and they went off to talk about what happened. “Charlotte. It’s wonderful to see you again.” She still looked shocked. What was wrong with me? That is the second time someone looked at me funny. I looked at my shoes and followed my clothes to my shirt. Nothing looked out of place. I can’t look at my own face or my hair so if something was wrong then I would have to find a mirror. “Charlotte are you ok?” She snapped out of it. “Alice, we were supposed to visit you not the other way around.” “Oh. Well we had some troubles at home and we decided to come here. I don’t have time to get into details but I’m sure Peter will tell you later.” I hate that smell. It stilled lingered in the air. I wonder where they hid the…. Body. Oh well. I’m sure that is why Jasper took Peter the other way. “Well, it is a surprise. I was hoping to see the new addition to your family.” “Yes well as I said their were some troubles so we came to find you.” Her face became a little furious. “Yes, well you didn’t have to find us to tell us about your issues. We could have still gone.” I get it she thinks I don’t like her and I don’t want her to visit Bella. I guess the distance I kept between us at all those visits made her think I didn’t like her. “Charlotte, I would have loved for you to visit us but as I said we have troubles at home. You still get to go to our home if you wish but we will not be there.”
Her faced relaxed a little obviously Jasper isn’t the only one who can stay mad at me when I smile my innocent smile. But she doesn’t look thrilled that Jasper won’t be there. That or she has something else on her mind. “Why won’t you be there? Did they make you leave? Are they mad at Jasper because he almost attacked Bella at her Birthday party? He told us about that when we called him after it happened.” Well, apparently he can talk to his friends about what happened that day but when I asked him if he wanted to talk about a few days after it happened he told me that it was none of my business. Alice, Calm, Calm, happy face, ok it’s not that big a deal. I’m calm. “No, that is not why we left that was a little over a year ago if that would have happened we probably would have joined you sooner. Now once again Peter will tell you the details later.” That didn’t make her happy either. How easy it is to make her pissed. “Alice, don’t beat around the bush tell me straight out. Do you have a problem with us? Please tell me. If I’m doing anything to make you unhappy tell me. We tried to make you like us more by not hunting in a 2 state radius. Please Alice what is the problem? I know Jasper is your husband but he is my friend. I love him too.”
Again with the not liking her. Can’t other people take my smile and get over it? “Charlotte it has nothing to do with that but no I didn’t like you during previous visits.” I looked down pretending to feel guilty about not liking her. “Well, why didn’t you like me? What did I ever do to you!? I’m sorry if I walked in on you and Jasper’s perfect life together, after all when we first talked to him after you “SAVED” him he was bragging about how good his life was, how different he felt, and how pleasant you were. It made me happy for him but not so happy about him meeting you! So as long as Jasper wants Peter and I to visit we will and there is nothing your pixie butt can do about it! You got that?! Or should I say it to where your Pixie mind can understand it? I know how slow in the head Pixies are, but since you’re part Vampire you must be even slower!” That was it. I lost it again.
