It was nights like these that I honestly cherished my life as an immortal being. The house was virtually silent—Rosalie and Emmett were off on a moonlit walk in the forest (or at least that's what they claimed), Carlisle was at the hospital working a late shift, Esme was watching some artsy show downstairs that was so quiet only she could hear it, and Edward was off…being Edward.

Myself, I was lying on Alice's and my bed, resting up against the headboard with The Art of War in my hand, engrossed in Tzu's literary genius. Alice was nestled securely between me, her head resting on my stomach as my fingers wound idly through her black hair. She was reading some fashion magazine, and though every so often her emotions would shoot skyward with excitement, she never uttered a sound. Whether this was because she knew I liked to read in silence or whether she enjoyed the quietude herself and didn't want to interrupt it, I wasn't quite sure.

As Chapter Fourteen ended and the next began, I took a swift break and bent forward to press my lips to Alice's. I was sure she knew it was coming, but she acted slightly surprised nonetheless. She smiled into my kiss, then tossed her magazine to the side, twisting herself so she was no longer between my legs, but rather facing me, her head level with mine.

We broke apart, my novel temporarily forgotten. She kept her hands on either side of my face, tracing my jawline with one careful, small finger. I stared into her topaz eyes, reveling once more in how lucky I was to have her. "You want to know something?" I asked offhandedly, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

She giggled. "Sure," she replied. This time, I didn't know if she had already seen my decision. If she sensed I was going to do something I wanted to remain somewhat secretive, she promised she wouldn't peek. Usually.

"I love you," I said solemnly, kissing her lips again. "I love you so much, Alice Brandon. I don't think you get to hear that enough."

She smiled shyly at me, but her eyes had an impish gleam in them. "Oh, but you don't," she objected. I frowned. What in the world was she talking about? She pressed a finger to my mouth to silence me. "You don't love Alice Brandon…you love Alice Whitlock, don't you?"

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Yes, of course, how callous of me," I replied, thoroughly ecstatic that she would refer to herself as such. That simple action always warmed my perpetually frozen heart. "Forgiven?"

Alice laughed, a perfect soprano timbre. "Of course, dear Jasper," she chimed, her voice making my name sound like it wasn't so weirdly old-fashioned.

Her face went blank for a moment, and I waited patiently, knowing she was having a vision. Then she smiled, though her emotions turned a tad bit irritated. "What is it?" I asked.

"Edward," she answered. "But I didn't get to see everything he wants."

She had such an adorable pout on her face that I couldn't help but laugh out loud. I knew she hated it when her visions weren't complete. I began to say something, but at that moment, the door opened, and a very smiley, and yet nervous, Edward stood there. As a now unnecessary afterthought, he knocked on the door.

I rolled my eyes in response. "We're going to prom." he said simply.

"What?" I demanded irritably, at the same time that Alice very unfortunately squealed in delight. I groaned.

"I want to take Bella to prom," Edward continued. "I just want her to experience it."

I was incredulous. "Edward, have you officially gone psychotic? Again?" I questioned, referring to when he originally told us he'd fallen for a human. "Not only do you know I hate imbecilic academic functions, but her foot is broken. Broken, Edward. How exactly do you plan on dancing?"

"There are—There are ways around that," he answered cryptically. I was skeptic, and desperately trying to not let Alice's super-charged excitement overwhelm my ire. He turned to Alice, my head shaking frantically as my negative thoughts bombarded his mind. "Alice, what do you say?"

I immediately covered her mouth with my hand. "Alice, don't you dare answer that," I commanded, and she feigned abysmal sadness. I wouldn't fall for it. "We're not going. And that's that." I looked at Edward, still preventing my wife from negating my statement. "Feel free to take that ball of klutziness to this dance, but we are staying home."

"Alice wants to go."

Damn him. Damn him to hell. He knew just as well as I that I couldn't deny Alice anything. However…that didn't mean I wouldn't try. I heightened my indecisiveness, just in case my subconscious had relented; Alice would see that. I fiercely sent a wave of depression over her, attempting to get her to feel so gloomy that she wouldn't want to go. Sadly for me, her zeal was too much to be overcome.

"No, no, no," I persisted. "We are not" I threw my hardback at Edward in a purely juvenile fashion. He deflected it. "going."

"Going where?"

Emmett's nonchalant, constantly gleeful form ambled into the room, squeezing past Edward and sitting on Alice's other side, taking in her almost vibrating stature in amusement.

"What's with the midget?" he asked.

Alice threw off my hand, anger lacing her ecstasy. She put her arms across her chest in defiance and glared as much as her four-foot-ten stature could allow. Emmett seemed to find their nearly two-foot height difference particularly hilarious, and his dimples showed even more in his crude attempt to keep from busting out laughing.

"Emmett Daniel McCarty Cullen, shut up," Alice scolded. Emmett was this close to dying—forgive the pun—of laughter. "Jasper here" she poked my chest and I faked it hurting. She grimaced "doesn't want to go along with Edward's brilliant plan."

Emmett raised an eyebrow and looked at Edward. "What plan, dear brother?" he asked. I threw up my hands in frustration.

"Prom," Edward answered, smirking. He was fully expecting Emmett to go along with it.

Contrarily, Emmett shot me a horrified glance before turning it on Edward. "Aw HELL no!"

I snorted, bursting into my own laughter purely at Emmett's reaction. I felt a severe drop in happiness from Alice, empathically causing me to sober. "You see, Edward, even Emmett doesn't want to go to the dance," I jeered, exchanging a conspiratorial stare with my vampirically youngest brother.

Edward didn't look put out. In fact, he seemed more confident. I waited in anticipation, when, what to both Emmett's and my chagrin, Rosalie walked in. Her step was graceful as always, her expression serene but still glacial. I socked Emmett in the back of his head for catching me off guard with his suddenly very lustful emotions. He muttered an "ow," but otherwise didn't make it look like anything had happened.

"What's going on here?" Rosalie asked, intrigued. It was amazing how different she could be—how…normal—when Bella wasn't here to bring out her inner bitch.

Alice hopped off of the bed and did a quick dance around Rosalie, who watched her, amused. "Edward is asking us all to go to prom!" she sung.

Rosalie's perfectly-shaped eyebrows rose, and she gave a quick glance to Emmett—who had, to my satisfaction, regained his vehement hating of the proposition. "Well, I agree," Rosalie said, her own excitement bubbling.

"Great!" Edward proclaimed, and I flopped backwards on the bed, smacking a hand to my forehead and groaning, joining Emmett's moans of displeasure. "You guys get ready, I'm going to hurry over and get Bella and bring her back here."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait," Rosalie interjected sharply. "The human's coming?"

"Rose…" Emmett warned.

He out of everyone, save maybe Alice, was the most protective of his new little sister. Or so he'd termed her. He'd liked her nearly from the beginning, and had been quite funny to see how intimidated Bella had been of him. Emmett had to be the least intimidating vampire I'd ever met.

"Bella," Edward snarled before running out of the room. No less than a second later, we heard the Volvo start up and race down the driveway.

Alice took Rosalie's hand, smiling ear to ear. "C'mon, Rosalie," she whined playfully. "You don't even have to talk to her. She'll be ogling Edward the entire time anyway. You just take your time primping, I'll be done in a second, and then I'll be the one to make her over, okay? It'll be fun!"

I felt Rosalie's resolve weaken—my little Alice could convince anyone—and allowed herself to be pulled out of the room, leaving just Emmett and I to wallow in our rapidly worsening evening.

"Ever get the feeling that squirt was the most terrible thing to happen to us?" Emmett complained.

I growled lowly, in spite of my own miniscule irking with Alice. "No." I answered firmly.

Emmett scoffed. "You know what I mean," he said defensively.

I did. All I had to do was think of Rosalie instead of Alice and voilà…instant irritation. "How badly do you think they'd hurt us to get us to come?" I pondered aloud.

"You and the couch would become very best friends!" Alice's laughter glided through from the bathroom.

"You know very well what would happen, Em," Rosalie's substantially less-endearing caution lingered in the air. Emmett blanched at the grim, grim thought of not having any…contact with Rosalie for an undetermined amount of time.

We stared at each other for a long moment before sighing in defeat. It was a battle that was lost before we could fight for it. I held out my fist resignedly. "Wingman?"

He connected his fist with mine. "Likewise."

I shoved him out of the room and went into the closet—all four square feet of it that was mine anyway—to dig out the tux that I hadn't ever worn since my wedding. To help keep my frustration from naturally ebbing, I tried to prevent myself from imagining just how ravishing Alice would look tonight. That would definitely not be conducive to maintaining that level of annoyance. One way or another, this would be a very long night.

Not many minutes later, I heard the Volvo drive up. I had just been putting on my dress shirt, trying to get one of the cufflinks on (I'd never been a master at it) when the front door open and I was hit with the overwhelming scent. Of blood. Of Bella's blood. I paused, temporarily unable to stop myself from inhaling. Esme's soft voice greeted her warmly.

In an instant, Alice was at my side, every single trace of her enthusiasm gone and replaced with worry and concern. Immediately, I felt guilty for reacting as I always did, but Alice's dear face held no judgment. She put her hands on my face for a moment before wrapping her arms around my waist.

"Nothing will happen, Jazz," she assured, her voice comforting and containing no deception. "You'll be okay. Everyone will be okay."

"Even Bella?" I asked dubiously, fearing the girl's life. Every time she was around, I had to concentrate insanely hard not to devour her.

"Especially Bella," Alice confirmed. "Though I can't guarantee Rose won't have conniptions."

I laughed nervously. Sometimes I felt as though Bella was at worse risk of Rosalie's wrath than she was from my appetite. Which was saying something. I heard Emmett's loud laughter erupt from below, and the resulting pooling of blood in Bella's cheeks. I bit down hard on my tongue to prevent the venom from overflowing.

Alice tried hard to force down her apprehension, and instead took my wrist in her delicate fingers. "Here, let me do it," she said softly, slowly maneuvering the round disk into the holes at the end of my sleeves.

Ignoring my thirst, I finally noticed her attire and gasped quietly. Her dress was a pitch black—the same color as our eyes when we hadn't hunted in a while—and flowed effortlessly down to below her knees. It had triangular cutouts at strategically placed areas, but definitely left some to the imagination. Her calves were accentuated by high, strappy black heels, adding to her height at least a few inches.

"Wow…" I breathed, words escaping me. My mind was blank. "You look stunning."

Alice looked embarrassed, and I was sure that if she could, she would be blushing. "You don't look so bad yourself, Major," she joked. She eased the black jacket over my shirt, swiftly fastening my tie and tucking it under the lapels. "Ready?"

"Almost," I replied, kissing her hair and filling up my lungs with her amazing smell. I held my breath, my every cell filled with Alice. I hoped this would quell my thirst. "Okay, let's go."

I took her hand and led her out the door, gracefully descending the stairs and feeling as though nothing could touch me as long as she was by my side. All heads turned towards us, and I felt Rosalie's envious stare follow our every movement. She, of course, looked incredible in a fiery red dress that, contrary to Alice's, left nothing to the imagination. Emmett had donned a classic tux like mine, but Edward wasn't dressed yet.

Bella smiled demurely at me while Alice bounced over to hug her. "Hey, Bells," I greeted.

I felt a deep resolve fill me and wondered if it was Alice's doing. Bracing myself, I walked over to Bella and pulled her to me in a hug of my own, surprisingly not feeling the thirst so badly. This would significantly help in getting used to her as a family member. She—just like everyone else in the room—looked floored at my action, but recovered.

"Good luck," I whispered to her.

She looked up at me in confusion and I laughed. "What do you mean, Jasper?" she asked, an edge to her voice.

Edward glared at me warningly, and I got the gist. "You'll find out later, I'm sure."

I released her and the grinned at me shrewdly. Then she frowned, as if taking in for the first time our formal attire. "Going somewhere?" she questioned calculatingly.

I didn't answer. "I'll—let Edward fill you in," I answered obscurely.

I looked at Emmett. "Do you and Rosalie want to head out? I'll wait for Alice."

Emmett nodded and clapped my shoulder. "See you later, bro," he said dismally, and then whispered so only I could hear, "Traitor." I smiled. "Come on, Rose."

Alice then grabbed Bella's hand and dragged her upstairs, her squeals almost drowning out the snarling of Emmett's massive Jeep outside. Edward waved to Bella before retreating to his piano. Esme went to the kitchen, no doubt making some huge meal for Bella alone. I went to my room to read some more on my novel. I'd finished it before, of course, but I always found something new to be interested in.

Every so often, I would hear a muffled scream or a vehement opposition, usually followed by a "sit still" from Alice's graceful voice. After at least an hour of this—and a very despondent voicemail from Emmett—Bella finally was relinquished and she, oddly, hobbled into the room.

I jumped up right as she tripped, and caught her before she fell and broke the other foot. She muttered a thanks before her emotions turned furious gain. She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. The image was comical, but I kept my face stoic.

"Your wife is officially psychotic!" she vented, breathing heavily. My breath was still defiantly held. She noticed my tense stature and backed up a step. "Oh…sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," I replied through pressed teeth, though she should still definitely worry about it. "I'm sorry about Alice. Rosalie won't let her touch her, and Esme does have her limits. She's just…she loves doing this to you, you know."

"So that makes me her life-size Barbie then, does it?" Bella grumbled.

I nodded in the affirmative, then sensed Edward's emotions below. "Go see Edward," I suggested. "He's annoyingly anxious."

In fact, my own fingers were twitching because of it. Bella smiled half-heartedly, then tentatively placed a hand on my shoulder, barely touching the shirt fabric. A new wave of venom coated my mouth, but I swallowed it.

"Thank you, Jasper," she said sincerely.

Her hemal attributes were just too irking for her own good. I still didn't know how anyone could stand it, let alone Edward. I couldn't wait until she became a true sister to me. Then I could show affection to her without worrying about sucking her dry.

"Anytime," I replied, my voice a little strangled.

I guess she noticed, because she left then, and Alice again joined me, though her exuberance was still intact this time. "I'm proud of you, Jazz," she said, bringing my head down so she could kiss me. "You did well."

"Yeah…" I agreed slowly, choosing not to tell her that if her lovely face hadn't been in my mind every single second reminding me of how I could lose her, I couldn't guarantee her best friend would still be alive now.

"Let's go," Alice proposed, leading me into the foyer. "You coming?"

She'd gestured to Edward and Bella, who were talking quietly, Bella looking as if she once more wasn't breathing as she stared into Edward's eyes. Edward must've heard our thoughts beforehand, because unlike Bella, he wasn't startled by our entrance. Edward looked—and felt—absolutely mesmerized still by Bella's Alice-induced appearance, and I could feel the delight seeping from Alice at her masterpiece.

I did have to admit that Bella looked quite attractive, though in the strictest platonic sense of course. Her dress was a light periwinkle (a color I hadn't even known existed until Alice) and form-fitting until the waist, where it flowed out; there was a large amount of glitter adorning everything, too, and not even her face had been spared from it. The one stiletto she was wearing did seem out of place in conjunction with the other foot's white plaster, but I decided not to say anything.

"Nah, Mom's got something she wants to show Bella," Edward said, and Bella grimaced. Everyone knew how much she hated any sort of receiving.

Putting my hand on Alice's lower back, I guided her towards the garage, revengefully throwing Edward's lustful emotions back at him, doubling their effect. He grunted to signal he got the point, but his and Bella's conversation continued.

I ran around to Alice's side of the vehicle, opening the door and offering her my hand to step up into the higher-than-normal seats. "We're not taking the Vanquish?" she asked innocently, referring to the car that was used for special occasions.

I shrugged. "Figured Edward would want to impress Bella with it. Since he obviously hasn't done so by showing her not only his Volvo but the Mercedes, the M3, and the Rubicon," I said, only partly sarcastic.

Alice's face was wiped of all emotion for a second, her form completely still. While her visions had been more than useful on many an occasion, they still, even after all these years, got me anxious. I could never help but feel as though the next one was going to be a bad one, and that had only increased since our encounter with James.

As her eyes finally focused, I tipped her chin up to look at me. "What is it?" I asked, my brows knitting together in earnest.

She smiled and smoothed out the worry lines. "We may be vampires, Jasper, but I wouldn't be surprised if you found a way to gain wrinkles with all your concern," she laughed, and I rolled my eyes. "All I saw was confirming your suspicion. Bella will be upset for a few moments at Edward's extravagance—because of course he won't tell her that it's a family car—but she'll definitely enjoy it.

I nodded, quite pleased with myself, and she placed her delicate hand in mine, sending tingles up my spine as her touch always did. Using my hand as a hold, she leapt elegantly into the passenger side of my cobalt F-150 (the sole vehicle Edward had neglected to show Bella), and I'd closed her door and started the ignition all within a single second. I could sense Alice's anticipation to get to the dance.

I peeled out of the garage, the truck's rumble music to my ears, calming the whirlwind of emotions that always swirled throughout me. The house was soon behind us, and, as per usual, I had to switch almost immediately into fifth as the RPM neared six, the speedometer hovering around seventy.

Unlike my siblings, I'd been pulled over a few times. It most often happened when someone was feeling particularly angry or depressed or occasionally jubilant, and my foot would resultantly step on the gas. Fortunately, however, my gift came in handy. I would either make the cop feel extremely guilty for almost giving me a ticket, or so happy they pardoned me, or even forgetful. As a result, I'd never actually received a fine.

Emmett hated me for that. He was the one who constantly racking up the slips of judicial paper. They were either for double-parking, excessive noise due to vehicular action, or such a high speed even he couldn't maneuver himself out of. Occasionally a citation for disorderly conduct was added on. Those were the times where he tried—and failed miserably—to talk his way out of a ticket. He had yet to perfect that art.

Contrastingly, due to my driving, we were at the school (by normal speeds a fifteen-minute trip) within six minutes, Alice subconsciously running her fingers up and down my arm as she scrutinized the dark sky out of the windshield. For fear of her stopping, I never mentioned how my muscles shivered with bliss at her feather-light touch.

I quickly parked close to where Rosalie's Beemer glinted in the darkness, stealing the spot from some senior with a Corolla. I turned off the truck and jumped out, in the intent to escort Alice down from the cab, even though I was sure she could do it just as, if not more so, elegantly. The senior looked livid and like she wished to exchange a few words, but then her face turned to that of shock, and her emotions turned to attraction. I supposed that was a good thing about being a Cullen and a vampire—people always turned to pliable mush when around you.

For good measure, I wrapped my arms around Alice's waist, picking her up easily. She seemed to catch on and threw her legs around my torso, leaning down to whisper in my ear. "I think she likes you," she hummed.

"Mmm," I agreed, my mind getting fuzzier by the minute. "But she's got nothing on you, dear."

She laughed and disentangled herself, entwining her fingers tightly through mine as I shut and locked the car. We left then, leaving the poor senior and her bewildered date—no doubt ogling Alice—behind. I, surprisingly enough given my protective nature, didn't much mind the boy's attraction. I could see how he'd like Alice, that much was for sure. More so than that, I think I just knew there was no way in hell he'd steal her from me, which made the desire towards her all the more amusing.

We walked up to the ticket booth, taking in the Monte Carlo theme, but then I realized that we'd never gotten prom tickets, considering we'd not planned on going. I glanced nervously at Alice, and by the way her face was set, I knew she knew what would happen, but would not tell me. The teacher who was in charge of it—Ms. Cope, I think, as Edward always complained about—held out her hand in a bored way. However, upon seeing our faces, she did a double-take.

"T-Tickets, please?" she stumbled.

I resisted the urge to laugh hysterically. It was amazing how clueless humans could be; that their shameless flirting and falling over themselves somehow escaped our attention. Nevertheless, I leaned down, giving her a half-smile and gleaming my teeth, making my eyes look deeper than usual. I felt her attraction and heartbeat increase at my actions. This was already in the bag. Now all I had to do was the final act. I could tell Alice was thoroughly excited by the prospect.

"Well, you see, Hannah, we seem to have forgotten to acquire them," I said convincingly. "I'm so terribly sorry. Would it be at all possible for us to buy them now? We'd be so grateful."

Alice snickered discreetly. "Y-Y-Yes, of course…that will, er, that will be fine, Mr. Hale, Miss Cullen," Ms. Cope answered helplessly. "And don't you worry about the cost, I don't want to inconvenience you."

I pulled out my wallet, grabbed two twenties, and placed them in front of her. "Really, it's no problem," I replied with another dazzling smile. Ms. Cope looked like she wanted to fan herself. "And thank you so much."

"Thanks!" Alice tittered, snatching up the two lilac-colored tickets and prancing off, taking my hand again.

"Think we can get hold of Emmett and Rose?" I asked Alice, dubiousness lacing my voice.

"Oh, sure," Alice said sardonically. "Which broom closet would you like to check first?"

I wanted nothing more than to both erase the nasty image that put in my head and disagree with her, but I couldn't do that without being unsure. My fears were quelled, however, when we noticed the crowd in the gym was not completely dancing together as one, but rather the slow dancing couples were watching one in particular.

"Rose will be Rose," I muttered to Alice, who was shaking her head at Rosalie's ostentatiousness.

She certainly was "dressed to kill," so to speak. Her vibrant, fire-red dress was practically indecent, a thin silver bar connecting the fabric that descended from her neckline to her waist. Her muscled back was also in isolation, the material barely touching under her shoulder blades. The part where the fabric flowed freely twisting stylishly every time Emmett twirled her. Speaking of him, he looked so entranced by her that I was surprised he could even go through the motions of dancing.

"She's such a showoff," Alice grumbled. "She puts the rest of us to shame."

I looked down at her in shock. Rosalie was beautiful, but she had absolutely nothing on my wife. While long, blonde hair and statuesque features did Rose well, the allure of Alice's black curls that reached barely to her ears and small, so dainty attributes was undeniable. I couldn't see how, in any way, Alice could think Rose was more gorgeous than she.

"My sweet Alice," I whispered, my voice raw with adoration as her face slowly softened until her pout was a helpless expression of love. "Never underestimate yourself. You are so much more than Rosalie Hale in every way possible. Don't let anyone—not even yourself—tell you otherwise."

Saying nothing, she leaned into me, her back against my middle and her hands bringing mine around to rest on her hips. We watched Rosalie and Emmett perform their routine, their style typical of the 1940s, the era in which they both would have perfected it, even Tennessee-born Emmett.

Much as I demeaned Rosalie, however, I did have to concede that the love on her pale face was almost in the league that Alice's was when she gazed at me. Rose often downplayed that particular expression, going so far as to implicate that her and Emmett's relationship was merely physical.

Unbeknownst to them, I'd come across many a moment where they were simply curled up in each other's arms by the flickering fireplace, Rosalie's fingers sweeping Emmett's hair out of his eyes as she sweetly kissed his dimples and then down to his mouth. The feelings were so pure that even a non-empath could tell, but with my extra abilities, it was almost painful to experience.

I got pissed at the both of them sometimes, Rose more than anyone else, but it was upon occasions like that that I couldn't stay horribly mad at her. It would take more than a few inconsiderate comments about me, or even Alice, to deter my sibling care for her.

"What are you thinking about?" Alice broke me out of my reverie as she ran her finger from my temple to lips. "You look so faraway."

"I was just remembering," I answered without delay; there was hardly anything I could keep from Alice for very long, even if she didn't have the power of premonition. "About how Rose and Emmett's relationship is deeper than what it looks like from the outside."

Alice turned back to them as the song finished, nodding. "They are pretty crazy about each other, aren't they?"

"Yeah," I replied as they spotted us and came over.

"Finally," Emmett whined to me as Rosalie took Alice aside to gush about something. "Thought you were never going to show up."

"Sorry," I said untruthfully. "You know how Alice gets when she has the chance to give Bella the rare makeover."

He rolled his eyes in response. "Speaking of our favorite human, where is she?"

I winced, recalling the evening. "She and our lovely brother were involved in conversation when we left," I answered. "I'm not sure when they'll arrive. But Alice did say they were taking the Aston Martin, so we took my truck."

"Aw, damn it," Emmett sighed. "I was going to have Rose drive Alice back in the convertible so then I could drive the Vanquish. I never get to."

"Oh well let's cry some more about it, shall we?" I retorted. He scoffed. I sneaked a glance at Alice, who was feigning undivided interest in Rosalie's story. "You entertain Rose. I've got a date to capitalize on."

Before Emmett could respond, I walked over and touched Alice's elbow. She and Rose stopped their talking to notice me, Alice looking somewhat grateful. "Yes?" Rose asked, her voice not perturbed enough for me to pay attention to it.

"While we're here, I figured we might as well make good use of this immature mortal event," I proposed to Alice. "What do you say?"

"You make it sound so romantic," Alice said, raising an eyebrow. I merely met her eyes, awaiting her actual response and knowing she'd give in. "Oh, all right. Catch you later, Rose."

Rose waved her off with exasperation, the last thing Alice and I heard being her musical voice complaining to Emmett, "Damn them and their stupid 'pre-destined for each other' crap."

I smiled like a fool, though it was rather in gratification that our souls had been, in fact, intertwined before we even knew about it. I'd been more than surprised when Alice had first come up to me in that diner, but I very quickly had realized fate had finally been on my side. It was in that moment that I'd secretly thanked the turn of events, and even Maria herself, as all of it had led me straight to Alice. To my future.

"So what song do you want?" I asked Alice, still reeling from the memories, as we approached the DJ station.

She contemplated, totally oblivious to my musings. "You pick," she replied. "I won't peek, I promise."

Considering I hadn't even made up my mind yet, I didn't see how peeking could be lucrative anyway. Then I smiled. Unleashing my dazzling powers, I calmly asked the woman manning it. "Do you have 'Where Is Your Heart?" I asked her. "Felicia Sanders, 1952."

Alice looked at me strangely, before suddenly clapping her hand over her mouth in realization. The DJ rifled skillfully through her massive book of CDs, and apparently found it. The song came on, bathing both Alice and me in nostalgia, the entire gym fading away until it was just the two of us.

"Oh Jasper, it's the—" she started, unable to finish from the unrestrained emotion pouring off her.

"It's our wedding song, yes," I concluded with a wry smile. I held my hand out to her, bowing slightly. "Milady, may I have this dance?"

She managed a laugh through her dry sniffles and nodded, allowing me to lead her out onto the dance floor. People had already parted for us, their mesmerization mixing with my own of how beautiful Alice looked. We easily fell into a ballroom dance, choosing a style close to a waltz, but still making it our private one. I heard murmurs of how skilled we appeared, but I drowned them out; I was caught in the golden depths of Alice's perfect eyes, hers boring all-encompassing into mine, our steps known from memory as we gazed at one another.

It's always like this, I worry and wonder…

You're close to me here, but where is your heart…

We danced like that for the entirety of the song, Alice and I, wonder never ceasing and we never fell out of step with each other. Once more, as I had nearly every day since I met her in Philadelphia, I pondered just how I survived without her spark of light in my life. Our dance was uninhibited, not even Rosalie and Emmett interrupting. It was like our ceremony all over again: I was just as nervous, and yet just as spellbound with Alice's magnificence. The fact that she chose me. Out of everyone, I had been the one she wanted to spend her existence with.

You must break the spell, this cloud that I'm under…

So please won't you tell…

Darling, where is your heart…

"With you," I said. "Always with you."

Alice let out a tearless sob, and as the final strain of the song reverberated through the air, she reached up and kissed me with raw passion, letting me know wordlessly and unconditionally that her heart would too forever be with me.

I couldn't help but write an Alice and Jasper…they're my all-time favorite couple, and I absolutely adore them. I thought this was just a cute little scene, as even Bella has described just how tied they are mystically and emotionally, and I just love how their relationship is. Please let me know what you think.
Also, here is the link of what I imagined Alice's engagement ring to look like (and hopefully mine one day): http: //www . sylviasantiques . com/comtemporary-designer-sapphire-diamond-ring-1 . html. Her wedding ring is just a simple, thin white gold band. But if you imagine it all differently, go ahead. By the way, to enter the link, just remove the spaces. FFN is weird about that.