`remember your promise .

[` jasper hale]

It was late, or early depending on your point of view. Nonetheless, it
was pitch black beyond the transparent windows that sheltered the
occupants of the Cullen household from the elements. Not that
many of the household required any ‘sheltering’ per say, the only
one whom the elements had truly seemed to bother was out
hunting, along with her husband and those whom had played the
part of her parents for the past seven decades or so. Having only
watched them depart an hour or so beforehand, Jasper didn’t
suspect that they’d return any time before dawn.

He would have joined them, had he not eaten the previous day.
While the sustenance and restraint the blood of animals offered him
was imperative to him retaining some semblance of self-control, the
taste was still bitter in his mouth. After once having human blood
freely available and no reason to resist the lure, he had developed
an acquired palate. Indeed, the vegetarian lifestyle was hardly his
first choice, but if the alternative meant having to leave his family
Jasper would gladly endure it for the next thousand years.

Idly flipping the page of the book into which his amber eyes bore,
he couldn’t help but wonder where Alice had disappeared to. Should
he had known that the second that the others had left for their
hunting trip, she too would have disappeared; he may have
accompanied them despite the fact that he had eaten his fill the
previous evening. Well, that or found something a tad more
interesting to occupy his time. For a classic, Jane Eyre was something
of a bore. He could go for a walk he supposed, but even after all
these centuries of refraining from human blood, Jasper still had
doubts about his abilities should he actually come across a lone
human without any member of his family accompanying him.

Exhaling deeply, a tad indulgently given he in fact had no need to
breath at all, he snapped the book shut without bothering to mark
his place, having no intention to ever pick up the novel again should
he live a thousand more years. Certainly Jasper was fond of classics,
having never had much time to read them before he had been
turned in the seventeenth century. He could even appreciate the
revolutionary aspects to the novel; it was just the prominence
romance and religious aspects in the novel that irked him. He
believed himself to have already found his soul mate and religion
had always been something he perceived as a excuse for those who
couldn’t simply accept that some things happened without a reason.

Letting the book fall to the ground, he made a mental note to return
it to Rosalie as he stretched his arms above his head, his shirt being
draw back in the process to reveal a couple of inches of pale, toned
stomach, adorned with a multitude of silver scars. A reminder of his
previous life. Not when he had been human, but before Alice had
found him in that café in Pennsylvania. He liked to joking refer to it
as BC. Before Cullens. It had been a different kind of life, but it
wasn’t something he dwelled upon.

[`alice cullen]

Hum, ho hum. Tap, tap. Ho hum.

Emmett Cullen's excuse for a bedroom was flooded with light, contrary to the dreary darkness outside. It seemed as though the sun never really shone in the Washington state area and, when it did, the Cullens never really got to enjoy it the way everyone at Forks High School believed they had been. Alice Cullen couldn't remember the last time she'd truly enjoyed the sun's raw light. She had found herself twirling gracefully about Emmett's room, humming a tuneless song-- back and forth between the closet and a bag on his bed. It was a late Thursday night, a fairly ample opportunity for her family to hunt as people generally did not consider Thursdays to be ideal going-out nights. As for Alice, though, she'd hunted with Jasper just the day before. Today she'd found something more interesting to do.

Alice was pulling shirts and pants alike off of hangers in Emmett's closet-- something that was either Rosalie's or Esme's doing, as Emmett never took care to make use of the hangers-- and was stuffing them into a bag labeled by a black marker as "Goodwill". Anything she recognized Emmett had worn before was being cast away and replaced with brand new clothing. Alice had a policy-- the Cullens never wore one outfit more than once-- and, thanks to her uncanny ability to predict stock market trends, this policy was never loosely enforced.

The tiny girl flitted around like a pixie, her humming fading in and out as little tunes came to her. Had the new clothing she'd purchased for the rest of her family not been an upgrade from the ensemble they went through the week before, Alice might consider it a sin to be ridding the house of such genius. If she knew anything better than your future, it was clothing. When she'd finally restocked Emmett's closet-- something he always managed to huff at because she did it when he wasn't around to protest-- she danced out into the hallway, dropping Emmett's donation bag and filing through the next boxes.

Her next victim, which she recognized with an involuntary and unavoidable smile across her full pink lips, was Jasper Hale. Her ears perked at the thought. They'd gone hunting together the day before, which meant he hadn't left the house with the others. Curiously, she wandered down halls to narrow his whereabouts. Not in his room, not in the living room, kitchen, not anywhere in that wing. Quickening her pace, she was not surprised to see him idle in the study, a book on the ground at his feet.

"You're lucky I remembered you're here. You might have saved yourself and Edward tonight's wardrobe makeover," she teased, leaning in the doorway. She was near amused that he'd chosen what was typically Rosalie's hobby to get him through the night while their family was out hunting. She wondered if he was still hungry. He'd still been getting adjusted to the diet, even after all this time, because he'd once known human blood. Alice's brows tilted almost worriedly at the thought, but she tucked the question away.

[` jasper hale]

It was times like this, where Jasper wished had the ability to sleep.
It would have been a far more productive use of his time, than
searching the ceilings for cracks that didn’t exist. Esme would have
certainly fixed them long anyone else in the house would have even
noticed them. His ‘mother’ was quite neurotic about keeping the
house immaculate, claiming that they needn't live up the stereotype
of living in a dungeon.

Jasper personally couldn’t care less, though he would be astounded
should anyone in their right mind ever confuse the modern
architecture that surrounded them with a dungeon. Honestly, he
could see how the reflective mirrors might terrify anyone with low
self-esteem, but apart from that there was little frightening in the
house (besides themselves of course). They hadn’t even been
allowed to keep the coffin that Emmett had bought as a prank, as
both Rosalie and Esme had apparently failed to see the funny side.
He had unfortunately been with Rosalie when she had discovered
the coffin and the anger that he had experience surge through the
blonde was something he would never forget. He remembered
actually wondering whether Emmett would need the coffin before
the day was complete, if Rosalie’s temper was anything to go by.

Catching a sudden tinge of emotion at the edge of his
subconsciousness, he tensed tugging his shirt back down hastily,
unable to quite determine whom it was yet did not desire for anyone
to catch sight of the scars. It didn’t matter how long they had
resided under the same roof, many of them still became defensive
upon spotting the silver scars that adorned his abdomen. Not that
he blamed them, it was a natural response. Just like the unease he
felt at once again being reminded of his past by their reactions; he
wasn’t even completely at ease being shirtless around Alice.

Tilting his head back, the emotion intensified as Alice neared,
leading him to know exactly who was nearing before she entered
the room. Giving him time to force himself to relax somewhat as a
slight smile curled at the corner of his lips. “Only myself and
Edward? Emmett’s not going to be happy if he finds out.”

[`alice cullen]

The corners of Alice's lips tilted downward for just a moment as she contemplated this, but then they quirked upward again. Her feet carried her lightly further into the room and she leaned down to pick up the book Jasper had dropped. Jane Eyre-- she made a useless mental note, glancing at it from cover to cover. "You see," she began, placing the book on the sidetable nearby. "That is precisely why I get to him as close to first as possible. I think Carlisle and Esme rather like the idea of it and Rosalie actually gets a little huffy when I don't get to her in time, so I just have to get to them first. Then Emmett, then you, then Edward." She added, then paused thoughtfully, contemplating the order.

"No offense to you or Edward, of course. I just know you're not likely to complain and Edward isn't likely to notice either way," she said, a quiet giggle escaping her lips. It was true. Edward hadn't really noticed much around the house-- much to Alice and Esme's dismay-- since Bella, not that Alice would trade that for the world. But a little recognition would still be nice. Did Edward think the clothing just bought itself, hung itself, vaporized onto his body, then donated itself? No-- a majority of those tasks were solely Alice-related.

Alice's topaz eyes met the hands of the clock overhead. My, it was late. She'd been rearranging half her family's closets for hours and they'd been gone for equally as long. How on Earth had Jasper been able to keep himself entertained that long? Oh, Alice should have known he was home! She could have saved him a lot of boredom and probably could have recruited him as well! Well, perhaps not. The boy would bend for her, sure, though she wasn't sure he'd bend so far as to accomodate and even partake in her fashion-crazed tendencies.

Still, she wasn't even slightly sure she could be any more grateful for him.

[` jasper hale]

He didn’t blame Alice for choosing to indulge Rosalie first and then
get Emmett out of the way. He doubted he was the only one that
preferred to avoid occurring Rosalie’s wrath when at all possible and
keeping Emmett in a routine when it came to something
unfavourable was probably the wisest move. Because while he’d
never personally been on the receiving end of Rosalie’s temper to
the extent that Emmett had been before, from what he had
witnessed he had no desire to be.

Jasper couldn’t help but be wary of upsetting Rosalie, despite the
amount of time he had been with the family he still felt like
something of an outsider in the Cullen household. Both his former
background and the fact that unlike the majority of his family he
hadn't been transformed by Carlisle contributed to this. It was
appropriate then that the ability he had been gifted with allowed him
to manipulate others emotions, not that he liked to on a regular
basis. It made him feel someone guilty to meddle, not that he wasn’t
constantly subject to Emmett’s attempts to convince him to use his
ability for various reasons; including putting Rosalie in the mood
and convincing Edward that he was actually in love with Carlisle.

His smile grew a little, at the rather immature thought of
indulging Emmett and making Edward believe he was in love with
Carlisle, combined with the fact that Alice had finally finished altering
their wardrobes at least for now. As difficult as it was sometimes, her
mere presence never failed to lift his mood. Extending his hand, he
brushed his fingertips over Alice’s knuckles affectionately. “Don’t
worry,” he teased lightly. “It might be difficult, but I’m sure I can
handle wearing the same outfit twice.”