Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: So I had this dream a few weeks ago where I was sitting in a Photo Booth getting my picture taken, only when the photos came out, they were pictures of me when I was a kid. When I woke, I immediately got an idea - feeling very Stephanie Meyerish I might add -for this quick little two - possibly three - shot.

I also decided this would be a great time to continue to test the 'let's make Alice and Edward nice' waters, so just to make it clear from the beginning, Alice is mated to Edward NOT Jasper and, as much as it pains me, Peter and Charlotte DO NOT exist. He left the Southern Wars of his own accord.

Jasper blinked as he tried to ignore the urge to shield his sensitive eyes from the harsh glare of the brightly lit jewellery store. He shot a brief look down at his hands, fully expecting them to be sparkling thanks to the glow that rivaled the sun in intensity and wondered if the bright fluorescents made him look even deader than he already did.

His golden eyes half-heartedly scanned the medium sized store for a reflective surface to check his appearance in, pausing on the only saleswoman in the store and silently begging her to finish up with the customers she was currently with so he could get the hell out of here.

They're not going to buy anything anyways, lady, he thought snidely as he tested their emotions. The youngish looking man was clearly uneasy – he didn't even need to be an empath to know that thanks to the man's subtle squirming – and the equally aged woman was wistful. Both of them knew they could never afford anything in this store and Jasper was frustrated that they were just wasting the saleswoman's time.

He briefly contemplated staring at them until they grew uncomfortable enough to leave, but he knew his companion wouldn't appreciate it. She never failed to chastise him when he tried to move things along – almost always when humans were involved – with a well placed glare and a few manufactured emotions.

Even if it was (kinda) for her benefit.

He sighed and shifted his gaze to the petite vampiress bouncing lightly on her toes as she browsed the display cases.

"How much longer are you going to be?"

Jasper scowled when she completely ignored his question and continued to peruse the glass case in front of her.

"What do you think?" she asked, sliding one manicured finger from a watch to a chunky silver bracelet.

"I think," Jasper countered, "that we've been here too long already. Who spends five hours in a mall?"

She finally looked up, amusement sparkling in her golden eyes and cocked one dark eyebrow. "I'm sorry, clearly we haven't met before." She held out her hand. "I'm Alice and you are?" she quipped cheekily.

Jasper rolled his eyes and playfully batted her hand away. "I'm bored."

"You're the one that offered to take me shopping for Edward's gift," Alice reminded him, turning back to stare contemplatively into the glass case.

"No," Jasper drawled slowly. "You asked me in that sneaky, 'I've already seen you say yes' way I hate."

Alice tilted her head and smiled innocently at him – as if to say, 'Would I do that?'

Jasper snorted and began tapping his foot impatiently.

"Edward never complains this much," Alice said sternly, looking pointedly at his tapping foot until he stopped.

"Well, maybe you should've asked Edward to bring you here."

"I can't ask Edward to take me shopping for his own birthday gift," she replied, scandalized. "Now," she continued, gently tapping the glass. "Make some use of yourself and tell me which he'd prefer."

Jasper eyed the items she was pointing at – both with price tags that would make a normal, blue collared person cringe – and sighed. "I don't know, Alice. Why don't you use your gift and see which one he'd like better."

Her pink glossed lower lip poked out in a pout. "Where's the fun in that?"

"Hasn't stopped you from doing it before," he pointed out.

"Yeah, for you guys."

"What's the difference?"

"You're my family, Edward's my mate," she replied matter-of-factly. "He gets the gold treatment. No shortcuts."

"I'm sure the others will be thrilled to learn how insignificant they all are," he retorted sarcastically.

She stuck her tongue out. "That threat would hold more heat if I didn't know for a fact that everyone always loves the gifts I give them. Haven't picked a bad one yet," she boasted proudly.

Jasper sighed in relief when the uptight saleswoman finally finished with the customers she was with and glided over towards them. Stopping directly in front of Alice on the other side of the case, the light overhead caught the gold name tag attached to the right pocket of her grey dress jacket, which had Phyllis stenciled across it in thick black letters.

"May I help you?" she asked disdainfully, giving them the stink eye something fierce, as if – despite the clearly designer clothes Alice wore – they had just wandered in from the nearest homeless shelter.

"Yes," Alice chirped. "I'm trying to decide on a gift for my husband."

Phyllis gave her a slow once over, obviously noting Alice's small stature – even in the five inch heels she wore – and young features and cocked one overly plucked eyebrow. "Husband?" she repeated dubiously.

"Yes, husband," Alice replied firmly, a hint of ice in her normally sweet voice.

Jasper knew Alice had no problem with people commenting on her age – all of them had gotten used to it a long time ago – but to question her marriage as if it was somehow wrong or unnatural was a sure fire way to get on her bad side.

The woman still looked skeptical and Jasper could practically see her mind swirling with a carefully planned speech that would probably be along the lines of, "Listen sweetheart, why don't you try something more in your price range. Perhaps Walmart."

Alice reached into her large purse and withdrew a small, thin object. "I sure hope you can help me with that," she said sweetly, a hint of a smirk dancing on her pink lips as she tapped her Black Card against the countertop.

Jasper almost laughed as the haughtiness on Phyllis's face was replaced with a well rehearsed helpful look – though her emotions swirled heavily with glee and greed. He winced as the cloying emotions reminded him why he wanted to leave in the first place.

Normally he had pretty good control over his gift, but after five hours in a crowded mall – on a Friday of all days – he was beginning to feel the strain. It intensified when the couple eyeing the rings in the display case just outside the store began to argue loudly.

Alice turned to him with a secretive 'money trumps everything' smile that slid off her face when she saw the cringe on his.

"Jas?" she said softly, stepping away from the counter and lightly touching his shoulder in concern. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he replied, knowing that his strained smile completely contradicted his words.

Alice looked around him at the couple still bickering and scowled. "Haven't those people ever heard of keeping it in the home?" she muttered. She looked back up at him, her eyes soft with understanding. "We can leave now if you want."

He smirked slightly when Phyllis looked positively crushed at the idea.

"You still haven't found a present for Edward," he reminded her.

"Tomorrow is another day," she replied in a whimsical Southern accent.

He laughed at her impression before smoothing his face out into a stern, no-nonsense look. "That would mean those five hours we spent looking have been for nothing. We're staying until you find something."

Alice pouted prettily, looking torn between wanting to agree – she was for anything that let her keep shopping – and wanting to argue.

"Alright," she conceded. "Fifteen more minutes. But," she shook her finger at him, "I want you to wait for me down in the south wing."

He frowned. "Why the south wing?"

"There's only one store down that way and it's currently being renovated." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "There won't be very many people down there."

He looked over his shoulder in the direction Alice was suggesting. "Fifteen minutes?" he confirmed.

She nodded. "Promise."

"Okay," Jasper agreed, shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. "I'll be waiting for you there."

"Don't worry," Phyllis called out in a voice dripping with false sweetness as he turned to leave. "I'll take good care of her."

Jasper paused as he sensed the woman's emotions.

Though they weren't as straightforward as say, happiness, sadness or anger, it wasn't hard for him to paint a picture with the vibes she was sending out. She was clearly ecstatic that the 'man' was leaving so she could finally pull one over on the presumably ditzy rich girl and milk her for all she was worth.

Turning back, he was a little surprised she wasn't superimposed with a top hat and a thin, curly mustache, steepling her hands together in malevolent glee.

He knew Alice was anything but ditzy – in fact she could probably skillfully negotiate a better price if she really wanted to – but this uppity bitch with her pinched face was getting on his last nerve. She was the human equivalent of a vampire – sucking people dry of their hard earned money without a care in the world.

"Hey, Alice," he called out, once again drawing her attention away from the jewellery she was eying. "You know that little art store tucked into the corner across from those two stores you love so much?"

She nodded excitedly – though Jasper suspected it was more in remembrance of her favorite stores than it was for the art store.

"Well, there's this painting in the window that I caught Edward eyeballing last week." He had actually planned on buying it for Edward himself, but if he got to pull the rug out from underneath this bitch saleswoman's feet, he'd be more than happy to let Alice buy it and simply get him something else.

"Really?" Alice asked hopefully, beginning to bounce lightly on the toes of her feet.

"Mmhm," he hummed, ignoring the dark glare being directed at him by Phyllis. "Mighty nice one too. It'd look great on that big ol' blank space on your bedroom wall that you can't decide what to do with."

"Sold!" Alice exclaimed with a giggle. She turned to the woman who had managed to school her features into a benignly placid look, but the throbbing at her temples spoiled the effect. "Thank you so much for your help," Alice cooed insincerely. "I'm sorry for wasting your time."

She skipped over to Jasper and looped her arm with his, practically dragging him out of the store. In lieu of the finger he really wanted to give, Jasper offered the stone faced woman a flick of his hand in an abbreviated wave – laughing when she cursed him softly under her breath.

They split up when they came to a fork – Alice pushing him in the direction of the south wing she had mentioned earlier, once again promising him, "Fifteen minutes."

It was as deserted as she said it would be – with nothing more than a few benches, some sort of large rectangular shaped thing shoved into the corner, a bank of candy and toy vending machines and a boarded up storefront emblazoned with a group of laughing teens and a sign that proclaimed, RE-OPENING SOON.

Jasper sighed when the buzzing conversation softened to a faint hum and the swirl of emotions faded into the background. Not gone completely of course, but definitely muted enough that he could finally concentrate on something other than how miserable everyone at this mall seemed to be.

As Jasper settled into one of the benches, he made a mental note to feed on a bear (possibly two) the next time Alice forced – sorry, asked without asking – him to come to the mall with her. He had fed on a few deer before coming and had been able to maintain firm control on the sensing part of his emphatic gift – he always had complete control of the manipulating part – but with so many people around, it had begun to taper off near the end.

He kicked his feet out and contemplated what he was going to do while he waited. Even though Alice had promised fifteen minutes, knowing her as well as he did, it'd probably be closer to a half an hour. An hour if she saw a sale.

He chuckled. It had probably been a bad idea to send her off in the direction of her favorite stores.

He pulled his cell phone out and began to fiddle around with a game Emmett had insisted he download. When it proved to be little more than a menace to his already frayed nerves, Jasper closed the app and shoved the phone back into his pocket.

Whistling a nonsensical tune, he scanned the area. His gaze stopped on the bank of vending machines he had spotted earlier and he considered buying one of the cheap bouncy balls to pass the time with. He decided against it and continued to lazily look around. Spotting the large rectangular shape in the corner, he leaned back in the bench. From this angle, he could make out the faded print that spelled: PHOTO and see the corner of a piece of heavy black fabric.

A photo booth, he deduced, pushing himself off the bench to get a closer look.

The closer he got, the more dilapidated it looked. The pictures on it were so faded that you couldn't even make out the faces. There was a small patch of rust in the bottom right corner and the curtain that covered the door was slightly ragged and torn at the bottom.

There was something else written underneath the words PHOTO and even with his superior eyesight, Jasper practically had to squint to read the faded and chipped print.

GET A PICTURE OF YOU AND YOUR –

That was all he was able to make out. The last word was worn away too much read. With a shrug, he assumed that, at one time, it had said 'friends'.

Underneath that – in surprisingly clear lettering – was the price.

3 for 5.00

Jasper glanced at the (still) empty area behind him, slightly embarrassed that he was even considering using this dinosaur in the first place.

Probably doesn't even work, he thought, digging out his battered leather wallet and extracting a crisp five dollar bill. But, I might as well try for Esme's sake.

He wasn't exactly what you'd call photogenic and Esme had been hounding him for years for a picture to add to the family album. She had attempted to get her own in the past, but he was always two steps ahead of her – holding his hand in front of his face seconds before the flash went off. He had gotten so good at evading her that not even Alice's gift couldn't help with the endeavor.

Esme's birthday was a little more than a month after Edward's and supposed that after everything her and Carlisle had done for him, it was the least he could do.

There was a soft mechanical whirr as the money slot ate up his bill and Jasper spared one last look over his shoulder before darting into the booth and pulling the curtain shut behind him.

-oo-

For such a cramped looking box on the outside, it was oddly roomy inside, allowing his 6'1 frame to stand comfortably without having to stoop over. And the interior wasn't cracked and peeling like he expected, but looked practically brand new instead.

He sat down on the provided stool and shifted uncomfortably when he realized he had no idea what to do next.

Is it supposed to start automatically? he wondered, before his attention was drawn to a softly blinking light that had PUSH TO BEGIN stamped in dark red letters.

He followed the instructions and plastered his best, 'I'm a good ol' country boy' smile on his face, trying not to wince when the light flashed in his sensitive eyes. His smile became a smirk for the next one, and for the third – vowing that he'd never let anyone see it – Jasper decided to go a little silly. He quickly stuck his fingers behind his ears, stuck his tongue in the corner of his mouth and crossed his eyes just in time for the last flash.

A minute later he was leaning against the booth as he waited for the pictures to develop, doing his best to ignore the flirty glance from the teen girl who apparently didn't realize that the store she had wandered down here for was currently undergoing renovations.

The pictures were done by the time she had disappointedly stomped off. The delivery was strangely silent for such a clunky machine and, as Jasper reached for them, he was surprised to see that they weren't the black and white strip he was expecting. Instead they were a set of three separate glossy color pictures, slightly smaller than a regular size photo.

He pulled out the thin slips, taking a moment to marvel at the crystal clear quality, before turning his attention to his visage. He grinned at the look on his face, thinking that he had put a little too much smarm into his smile.

His grin dimmed as he studied the burnished gold of his eyes, slightly unnerved by the look in them. The rest of his face looked happy, but his eyes said differently.

Most of the time, Jasper could easily say he was content with his life, but being surrounded by three mated pairs that were stupidly in love, he couldn't help but feel like something was missing. Lately it seemed like a single day couldn't go by without something making him realize how lonely he was.

Alice kept promising him that he'd meet someone eventually – though, when prodded, she was never able to tell him exactly when or even what she looked like – but after fifty years of hearing it, her assurances were slowly starting to become nothing more than empty promises.

He grimaced, feeling silly for the melancholy direction his thoughts had gone and flipped to the next picture.

If he had breath, it would have been sucked from his lungs.

Instead of the small smirk he had sported, there was a wide, genuine smile stretched across his lips. But the different look on his face wasn't what had stunned him.

No, it was the beautiful brunette girl he had wrapped in his arms.

Long, dark brown hair framed a pale, heart-shaped face and spilled over the shoulders of her forest green sweater. Tendrils of it wisped around her delicate cheekbones which were flushed lightly with a rosy glow of happiness. Her brown eyes sparkled with warmth and affection, the smile on her pale rose lips was just as wide and genuine as his.

For a brief moment (a very brief moment) Jasper was able to convince himself that it was simply some sort of double exposure and there was probably some pissed brunette girl walking around the mall muttering about some crappy photo booth not giving her her pictures. But when he saw how closely their cheeks were pressed together and the way her long brown locks and his own shorter blond ones were intermingled, he knew the machine hadn't malfunctioned.

In a moment of misguided insanity, Jasper yanked back the curtain and stared inside the obviously empty booth – a part of him truly expecting to see in a girl in there who would smile up at him the same way she had done in the picture. His nose twitched and his brow furrowed slightly when he caught the faint scent of peaches lingering in the small booth – a scent that had definitely not been there a few minutes earlier.

He jerked back out of the booth – almost ripping the curtain in the process – and with growing trepidation flipped to the next picture, unable to stop the choking sound from escaping his lips.

The silly pose he had done was the same, but now with the added addition of Bunny ears behind his head.

And the girl – undoubtedly beautiful before – was now a stunning example of vampirification.

Her previously pale skin now lacked the pink flush of life high in her cheeks and was now a pale white – as if made of moonlight itself – and her hair was closer to mahogany now than the dark brown it had been in the last picture. Her ruby lips, the bottom slighter plumper now, were pursed around her pink tongue as if blowing a raspberry and she was holding a piece of her hair across her upper lip as a faux mustache.

The flash reflected off a slim gold wedding band– which was almost an exact replica to the color of her eyes – on the finger of the left hand that held her hair. Numbly, Jasper shifted his gaze to his own hands, which he could just make out through the shaggy curtain of his chin length locks, and spotted a similar band.

And his eyes...

The loneliness was completely gone from them, replaced instead with love and contentment that was so powerful; it was like a supernova had gone off behind them.

He didn't even remember walking back over to the bench, but it was thankful that it was there to catch him when his knees gave out. (Though the ominous cracking protest it gave when he sat heavily on it, probably was a sign that the feeling wasn't returned.)

He flipped back and forth between the human version of the girl and the vampire one, noting how the subtle changes only enhanced her beauty.

He was convinced she was the most perfect girl he'd ever seen.

But who is she? he wondered desperately, tracing a hand over her human features. He tilted his head back in thought as he went over every female he had ever encountered in his long life and came up empty. Whoever she was, he hadn't met her before.

So what did this mean?

He tore his gaze away from the photo and looked back towards the inconspicuous looking booth – sitting there innocently, unaware that it had just rocked his entire foundation to its core.

He heard the familiar click click of heels that announced Alice's imminent arrival and though he couldn't explain why, he found himself shoving the pictures into the inside pocket of his jacket.

"You were right, Jasper," she sang when she finally reached him. Her arms were hugging a wrapped painting that was almost as big as her and, as he expected, several large bags were dangling from her elbows.

"That painting was fabulous! It'll look great in our room. I almost feel guilty that I'm going to get just as much enjoyment out of this as Edward is." She smiled wickedly. "Although," she added, shaking her left arm and drawing his attention to a bag blazoned with the La Perla logo, "I'll make sure Edward gets all sorts of enjoyment with this."

When he failed to react with his customary 'gag me' face, Alice's smile faltered and was replaced with concern. "Are you not feeling better?" she asked, scanning the empty space around them. "Was there people here?"

He shook his head. "No I just..." he trailed off and stared searchingly at her. "Did you send me down here for a reason?"

Her answering smile was a little confused. "Of course," she said. "You needed to get away from all the people and I knew this was the only part of the mall that would be deserted. I would've told you to wait in the car, but I saw that someone had gotten into a fender bender in the parking lot."

"Okay, but did you send me down here for any other reason?" he stressed.

The growing confusion in her eyes as well as her emotions was 100% genuine. He knew that sometimes she kept silent out of a desire to protect the future – or out of respect to him and their family, so they wouldn't feel like she was trying to control their lives – but this time she honestly had no clue what he was talking about.

"I don't –" Her words transformed into an ecstatic squeal that startled Jasper. "A photo booth! I've always wanted to try one of those!"

He watched flabbergasted as she shoved the painting at him, telling him to, "Hold this," before bouncing eagerly towards the booth. He trailed silently behind her, unsure if what had happened with his pictures even warranted a warning.

He continued to stay silent as Alice dug noisily through her purse for money, once again staring at the words that said:

TAKE A PICTURE OF YOU AND YOUR –

"Aha!" Alice exclaimed, triumphantly removing a slightly crumpled bill form her bag. She smoothed it out on the side of the booth and gleefully offered it to the money slot.

Nothing happened.

There was no mechanical whirr and the money remained unmoving in her hand. Even the gentle hum of electricity Jasper had clearly heard earlier was missing.

Alice attempted to force the bill into the slot for a few seconds, before finally giving up. "Oh phooey," she complained. "I guess it doesn't work."

Yes it does, was on the tip of Jasper's tongue, but he didn't give voice to it.

For some reason, a part of him felt like these pictures were for his eyes only and if he gave them to Alice, the girl would disappear and it would be nothing more than a picture of himself – with the same loneliness lingering in his eyes.

"Oh well," Alice huffed. "That's what camera's are for." Her golden eyes twinkled mischievously. "And with this lingerie, Edward is going to have himself one hell of a birthday."

Jasper pulled a face. "Ugg."

Her smile brightened. "Glad to see you back, Jas." Her hand reached out to touch his elbow. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Although his thoughts were still in turmoil, he managed to flash her a lopsided grin. "I'm fine, Ali-cat."

She scowled playfully. "Don't call me that, Jazzy."

He chuckled at his equally hated nickname. "Fair enough. Now are you finally ready to go?"

"Yes. Unless you..."

"No," he interrupted firmly, already walking off.

"Spoilsport," she muttered, but gamely followed after him. "You'll let me hide that in your room until Edward's birthday, right?"

"Of course," he agreed. "Where else would you put it? In Rose and Emmett's room? We both know that boy can't keep a secret to save his life."

Alice chuckled. "I still haven't forgiven him for ruining Rose's surprise party last year."

"Your fault for not seeing it coming," he quipped.

He yelped when the pointy toe of one of Alice's thousand dollar heels kicked him hard in the shin. "Watch it, Whitlock," she hissed.

They finally reached the entrance and Jasper manoeuvred himself sideways, nudging his shoulder against the door. He was stopped halfway through by a hand on his leather clad elbow and shifted the painting in his arms so he could look back at Alice.

"Are you sure everything is fine?" she questioned softly. Her gaze was distant – the same inward look she got whenever she was scanning the future.

He shifted uneasily, feeling the photos burn a hole in his breast pocket as he wondered if she saw anything. Almost as if hearing his unasked question, her head gave a little shake, and her golden eyes once again focused on him.

"I haven't..." she began hesitantly before pausing with a frown. "I don't see anything, nothing that raises any red flags, I mean. But you must've asked for a reason." She scanned his face searchingly. "Why did you ask?"

The pictures got hotter.

"I..." He couldn't do it. "Since I'm a little overwhelmed today, I just thought that you..." he swallowed down the lump in his throat as he forced the lie through his lips, "... sent me down there because you saw me slipping or something." Immediately guilty (and incredibly relieved that he was the empath in the family and not her) he broke eye contact, knowing that Alice would mistake it for shame at his supposed weakness.

She did.

"Jas," she murmured, giving him a hug as much as she could around the painting he held. "You really need to have more faith in yourself." She pulled back and patted his cheek, flashing him a warm smile that only succeeded in making him feel even worse. "Now, let's get you home and get you something to eat!" She laughed and winked as she said eat and he allowed a small smile to cross his lips in response.

As she chattered at him in a one sided conversation all the way home, Jasper wondered if he would ever tell her or the others about those pictures.

He wondered the same thing five days later when Edward questioned why he kept singing the lyrics to 'Brown Eyed Girl' in his head.

And again five weeks later when he was giving Esme a small porcelain 'Mother' figurine for her birthday instead of the picture he had originally intended.

And yet again five months later when Emmett finally called him out for staring at every brown haired girl they encountered.

He was still wondering five years later – his hope that this girl actually existed as faded as the pictures were at this point– when Carlisle suddenly announced that he had accepted a new position.

In a small, sleepy town called Forks.

Hmm... so, 'Take a Picture of You and Your...'

Was Jasper right, did it really say friends at one point?

And why wouldn't it work for Alice?

Any guesses? ;D