Fifteen Minutes LaterBella's foot tapped compulsively on the floor as she kept her eyes focused on the couch. Carlisle was leaning beside it while Alice lay on it. Their heads were bowed together, and they were talking softly. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she suspected that everyone else in the room – besides herself and Charlie that was – could hear everything clear as crystal．
Bella shivered slightly as she felt a cool hand brush against her own．
Apprehensively, she turned her head to the side, her body relaxing when she saw Jasper standing beside her. She had thought that it might have been Edward trying to comfort her again. Almost as soon as he'd arrived in the house he'd started trying to cocoon her in his arms, but she didn't want to be held and cooed at like a baby. Alice had been attacked and hurt and she wanted to be able to worry about her without being made to feel like a foolish child．
"It's really not as bad as it looks," Jasper said softly, his eyes trained on the couch as he spoke. "She'll be fine," he said, his voice confident though his eyes were worried and sad as he watched the two figures by the couch．
"Ｈow can you be sure?" Bella asked, Jasper's worry about Alice oddly making her feel better about her own. Jasper was a vampire and knew much better than her whether Alice's injuries were serious or not, and if he felt anxious about the state she was in then there was no reason for her to try and pretend like she wasn't worried．
After all, she'd never seen a vampire injured before. Before Alice's altercation with Victoria it had never really occurred to her that the Cullen's could really be hurt, that they could bleed, and ache, bruise. Ｈer world had just been turned topsy turvy. There was no reason why she shouldn't be anxious．
"We heal quickly," Jasper said turning his gaze to Bella. "She'll be good as new once she feeds," he continued, holding Bella's eyes so that she could see how serious he was. "Really, in a few hours you won't even be able to tell she was hurt.”
"For real?" Bella asked hopefully, her hand unconsciously clutching Jasper's. The feel of the cool appendage against her made her feel a little better, it reminded her of Alice．
"For real," Jasper said, smiling, squeezing her hand gently. "She's angrier than she is worried.”
"Angry?" Bella asked looking over towards the couch. "Why?”
"At herself," Jasper responded, following Bella's gaze back over to Alice, "for almost letting Victoria get the drop on you.”
"But," Bella began, her voice trailing off as she saw Edward's back stiffen where he was leaning against the wall. She realized that he was listening in on their conversation, or perhaps scanning Jasper's mind, and that he was blaming Alice for what happened too．
"She saved me. There was nothing else she could do," Bella said, her voice still lowered so that her father wouldn't overhear, but loud enough that she knew Edward could．
"Logic isn't really a factor when it comes to the people we love," Jasper cut in, squeezing Bella's hand again. She felt a calming wave wash over her and realized that Jasper must have picked up on her irritation with Edward and was trying to soothe her. "Even if the fight had lasted ten seconds and Victoria had limped away whimpering, she still would have been mad at herself for letting Victoria even get that close to you.”
"But," Bella began but then she stopped and sighed. She turned her head in Alice's direction, her eyes gently tracing over her lover's delicate features. "Silly vampire," Bella murmured a moment later, her voice impossibly affectionate and filled with love．
"Yeah," Jasper sighed drawing Bella's eyes over to him．
They held each others eyes for a moment, and Bella began to feel awkward. She and Jasper interacted, but it was usually very brief, and as a rule they tended to avoid Alice as a topic of conversation. Jasper had been very understanding of her relationship with Alice, and – unlike how Edward had been treating Alice – Jasper had been nothing but polite and kind to her. But, as always when they spent too much time together she began to feel like an interloper. She began to feel like a heel, a home-wrecker and she wondered how Jasper could possibly be so … nice．
"Very silly at times," Jasper said a few seconds later, though it seemed like much longer to Bella. "She's cute though," he continued, his lips curving up in a smile as Bella turned to look at him．
Bella held his gaze for a moment and then smiled back, appreciating the responding wave of serenity that Jasper sent to her．
"I'm still all knotted up," Bella admitted when the moment passed, though she knew that she was more at ease than she had been before．
"So am I," Jasper told her, before directing his gaze towards Alice once more．
Bella stared at his profile for a moment and then turned her eyes back to the couch as well. And so they continued their vigil over the woman that owned both of their hearts, Bella's hand securely held in Jasper's all the while．
Carlisle stood and all of the eyes in the room turned to him．
"She's fine," he said reassuringly. Bella was sure that the words were mostly for Charlie's benefit. "She's banged up, and has got a pretty nasty cut there. But it's nothing too serious. Some Advil, a few stitches, a couple band aids and some hydrogen peroxide, and she'll be almost as good as new.”
"It looks pretty bad," Charlie mumbled moving closer to the couch．
"Ｈead wounds," Carlisle sighed. "They bleed quite a bit," he continued shaking his head. "Don't you worry, I'll take good care of her.”
Charlie nodded and stepped back, his eyes still on Alice's tiny, bloody frame．
"Emmett," Carlisle said turning his attention to the largest of his children. "Take her out to the car?" he requested. "Gently," he added．
Emmett knew that Alice wasn't badly hurt and Carlisle didn't want him to throw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. They had to all appear to be extremely worried while in Charlie's presence．
"You got it, Pop," Emmett responded moving over to Alice. Slowly, and gently he picked her up, cradling her in his arms like a little baby. "Up we go … Tiny Dancer," he said smiling down at her．
"Ugh, can I get some morphine now?" Alice asked rolling her good eye at him. "Emmett's jokes are worse than the beating.”
Emmett glared down at her. "Ｈave you put on weight?" he asked pretending to struggle with her body．
"Emmett, really," Esme sighed moving over to their side. "Alice is hurt. She doesn't need you making fun.”
"Yeah, but …" Emmett started but Esme raised her finger．
"The car … without the comedic stylings," she said pointing in the direction of the door．
"Yes ma'am," Emmett sighed, giving Alice the stink-eye as she smiled up at him sweetly．
Carefully, Emmett began to make his way towards the door．
"Dr. Cullen," Charlie began once Emmett and Alice were out of the room．
"Carlisle, please," Carlisle said looking up at Charlie, before going back to closing up his field bag．
"I'm going to have to talk to Alice," Charlie began sounding deeply uncomfortable, "about what happened in the woods.”
Carlisle nodded and stood up once again．
"Yes, of course," he responded meeting Charlie's eyes, his expression as serious as Bella had ever seen it. "I … of course I want you to find out who did this to," he paused there, his voice cracking and he looked down at the ground for a second．
Bella gaped at him, wondering if the other Cullen's were as good at lying and acting as Alice and Carlisle were. Somehow she didn't think Emmett was．
"If you could wait until morning, however, it would be greatly appreciated. She's still in shock but very soon the experience is going to hit home and …”
"Of course," Charlie said nodding. "I understand completely. I'll call.”
Carlisle tipped his head thankfully and then turned to look around the room at his family. They began to stir then, pushing away from the walls they had been resting against or the chairs they had been sitting in, and Bella knew that they were getting ready to leave．
"Charlie," Bella said stepping forward, her hand falling from Jasper's．
"Go," Charlie said already knowing that Bella was going to ask to go with them．
"Thank you," Bella said, intensely grateful that she didn't have to fight with him over it. She was drained as it was, and fighting with Charlie probably would have caused her to collapse into tears．
She moved over to him and flung her arms around him, hugging him fiercely. "Thank you," she whispered again．
