1955.

[betagainstme]

"You're spendin' a lot of time with him," Jasper says quietly, when Alice enters the room. He's got a book in his lap and he's sitting in an armchair near the window, watching the rain beat on down the glass.

Alice tilts her head, taking him in, waiting for him to look at her, and when he does she steps forward into his space. "I am."

"You love him," he murmurs. A statement, not a question. Alice is struck, once again, with annoyance bordering on hatred for the woman who turned him. Who told him, showed him, that everyone is replaceable.

She sits on his knee and he sighs, automatically setting the book aside to tug her into his lap, to make room for her. Her hand strokes through his hair and comes to rest on his neck. "I also love Esme and Carlisle."

"'s different--"

"When you feel the love," she interrupts, her thumb soothing over his chin. "Does it feel the same way when I say that I love you?"

His lips press together in a flat line. "No but--"

"No buts," she whispers, leaning in closer to press her lips against his. "I do love him, Jasper, but never in the way I love you."

Jasper kisses her back, but she knows he's holding something to himself, the way his fingers pick at her dress, his hand's hesitance at the back of her neck. She pulls away, holding his face to force him to look at her. Sighing, Jasper rolls his eyes toward the window and then: "He can be there for you in ways I can't."

She thinks about placating him and decides that's unfair. It might hurt now to be brash and fully honest, but it'd hurt him more in the long run to coddle him. "Yes," she agrees, nodding her head and getting in the way of his gaze again. His fingers spasm at her leg but he meets her eyes. "He can. He can see in my head, and I can see his future and we can talk in a way that I can't with anyone else but...you do too.

"You and I know how to talk in a way I can't with anyone else too," she whispers, pressing her forehead against his. "You know me better than I know myself sometimes. You know my emotions before I do. You helped make my powers grow, letting me see more--"

"You don't know that," Jasper protests and she clamps her hand down over his mouth with a shushing noise.

"Stop interruptin' me," Alice frowns. "I'm trying to tell you all the ways you're special to me, and you just wanna interrupt--hey!"

Her hand flies back when he nips at her fingers, and suddenly he's there, right there in her face, his lips against hers, quicker than she could have predicted. It makes a soft noise leave her, her fingers flying to his shoulders to hold on when he stands with her in his arms.

Alice pulls back, just a breath away, as he settles them onto the bed, holding his face so he can't move. "She was wrong," she whispers, fiercely. "Maria was wrong. You are irreplaceable. Do you understand me?"

Jasper's gaze flits over her face before finally looking her in the eye again, his lips twisted with an emotion she can't quite put a name to. Sadness, kind of, but something deeper. He nods, darting in to kiss her again. "Okay."

"I love you. More than anything in this world, Jasper. Or anyone."

He takes her hand off his face and presses a kiss to her palm, nodding against it. "I love you, too."