A Family Affair?

[Alice Cullen]

-We’d been home for days now, Volterra still looming in our minds. How close we’d all come. Again. I knew Henry had saved the day, he’d come from his talk with Aro, a rueful grin on his rugged face. The cat who’d eaten the canary. And Aro! The picture of regal dignity as he begged our pardon and merely released both Renesmee and Bella from their “deals” with him. We couldn’t have moved quicker to get out! Jazz’s hand in mine, Bella, Edward and Nessie a small, tightly clinging trio. Em had looked vaguely disappointed. He always loved a fight and had been denied.-

-and now, we were home. Things had returned to our brand of normal mostly. I’d brought Henry back to Forks, surprised he’d agreed. He seemed like so much a loner to be honest, he reminded me of Garrett in critical ways. But he’d agreed to come and stay for a bit. He and Carlisle got along wonderfully, but then Carlisle had that way about him. Esme treated Henry as another member of the family. Both she and Carlisle were shocked to find out he as Aro’s older brother, especially as Carlisle had spent time with the Volturri and hadn’t even known of Henry’s existence. Days passed as we all fell back into our lives. Henry tended to spend more time with Emmett and Rose, he was fascinated by Ryder, as he was by Ness. We hadn’t really spent any time together. I still wasn’t sure exactly how I felt about him.-

-Curled up in the front room, a large sketchpad before me, I was going through some new designs I’d come up with, wanted to get them down. It was twilight and the forest that surrounded our home was growing alive. I could hear the wolves, Leah, I think and Seth, out there. I smiled and peered out the window and yes..they were running perimeter. I watched them race through the greenery and got lost a bit in thought, at how much HAD changed over the years and yet not. They’d always been family, it seemed like now.-

[Henry]

*Coming down the stairs where I’d been discussing some things with both Carlisle and Esme, I stopped, pausing as I watched Alice. The tilt of her head, the graceful slope of her shoulders. She was poetry in all she did and said. Even in stillness. I could hear the faint howl of the wolves outside and watched a tiny smile curve her cheek when she heard it too. My child. My only creation. And she was beautiful in all her flawed perfection. I loved her as a father loved a daughter, as a maker loves their creation. I loved her as certain dark things were meant to be loved, between the shadow and the soul. The love I bore Mary Alice was the type some religions were based on. It was as simple and as complex as that. I wondered where her mate was, Jasper. He was hardly a step from her side but appeared gone right now. I made my way down the stairs and close to the couch, sitting down next to her, watching her huge golden eyes swing around to train on my face. I was running out of time with her. I’d made a deal I meant to stand by. Reaching out a hand, I cupped her cheek and smiled, then sat back* Shall we talk then? Ask me what you will, and I’ll answer.

[Alice Cullen]

-I just looked at him and then glanced away again. He was impossibly handsome and not in the same way my Jazz was. Jazz, I could lost in, forever. Henry, it was like sometimes, staring into the sun. Frightening. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to ask, honestly. I don’t know if my past was something I SHOULD remember. So, for now…- Okay. Why are your eyes green?- setting my pad down, I curled my legs under me and regarded him-

[Henry]

*She was precious. And reluctant. I wouldn’t push her. No. Anything this child gave me, would be of her own free will, even if it was her past she needed to come to terms with. Her time, not mine.* Aside from the night I made you, I haven’t ingested human nor animal blood in over 700 years. I no longer require it to be sustained. *waving a hand at my face* This is my natural eye color. Aro’s were brown but our sister Didyme….her eyes matched mine. *looking at Alice intently* As were yours when you were human.

[Alice Cullen]

They’re ..beautiful. Pure. Emerald but with a touch of yellow. I like them. –trailing off a bit. I realized how much I wanted to know suddenly. But about him. Not me.-Didyme. Carlisle told me about her a long time ago but only that Aro had a sister. Nothing else. I guess she was subject non grata with Aro

[Henry]

She should be. He killed her. *throwing it out blunty, the stab of familiar pain slicing through me despite the passage of time. It never dulled. The only one to have ever brought it even a touch of comfort was sitting beside me* She couldn’t give him what he wanted, so he disposed of her. After that, I disassociated myself from him. But believe me, fratricide held a bit of charm, I wanted to kill him. *holding her gaze* She was very special to me. My baby sister.

[Alice Cullen]

Aro killed his own sister? Why was I not surpised? He was vicious. My hand danced out and touched Henry’s shoulder- I am so sorry, Henry. You must have loved her very much. What did she look like? I mean, did she resemble you at all?

[Henry]

*I recalled her so clearly then, Didyme. Her laugh, her smile. The delicate wave of her hand. The spritely way she would bounce around. Even in those times, there were no strangers in her life..just friends she hadn’t met yet. My little sister had been the one pure thing in my life. Aro’s too. And he’d snuffed out that light when it wouldn’t shine his way. I moved slowly, in the mortal way, taking her hand off my shoulder and dropped a kiss on the knuckles even as I stood slowly, pulling her with me. Night had fallen almost entirely now as we I led her over to the huge wall window that looked down into the woods. We could see our reflections quite clearly as the timed lights Carlisle had set up around the house began to flicker on. Standing right behind Alice, my fingers curling around her shoulders* She looked like….you, Alice. Exactly like you. And yes, I loved her very much. *my green eyes held her own as they widened. Just then I saw Jasper, Emmett behind him, come flying through the forest. They must have been hunting. They looked up at us but didn’t stop or slow, their voices echoing up as they entered the house. Dropping a kiss on Alice’s head, I stepped back* We’ll talk more soon, love. But just know I didn’t abandon you. Another day, I’ll tell you how I came to find you where I did and why I left you after. It wasn’t for lack of love. Just remember, Aro took something from me once that I loved more than anything else. And I’d rather walk the world apart from you, knowing you exist, you thrive…then know my selfishness was your downfall…*stepping back, I greeted both Jasper and Emmett and then headed for the room I was using during my stay. I’d left LA in such a hurry and there was still much to do before I went back to Italy. And Aro.*

[Alice Cullen]

-I was in shock. I just stood there, not moving, even after he left. I barely registered Em and Jazz’s voices, just suddenly felt Jasper’s hand in mine and still I didn’t move. His lips brushed my cheek, the fingers of his free hand tilting my face up to look at him and study me. He asked what was wrong and I just shook my head but he never pushed. Just slipped both arms around me instead and pulled ny back to his front as I continued to process THIS news. Then, very quietly, I told him what Henry had just told me. I love Jasper, he always knows just the right thing to do. He just..held me. Like I was the most precious thing in his world. We stayed that way for a while-