Divorcing Jasper

"Alice?" Jasper felt for a pulse on her neck, then realized she didn't have a pulse. "Damn, well, she's not dead. She'd be dust if that were so."

"I think she's dead on the inside," Garrett clarified quietly. "I think we should leave her alone till she snaps out of it."

Jasper whirled around to face the other vampire, "What do you mean? I'm not giving up on her, let's go home," he picked Alice up gently and turned around to walk back to the Cullen house.

Garrett shrugged and followed Jasper, wondering what he was planning to do.

"I'm going to get Edward to interpret her thoughts," Jasper said as the Cullen house came into view.

"Good plan," Garrett nodded as they walked into the Cullen Mansion.

The two vampires walked up to Edward's room quietly, knocking on the door.

"Come on in," Edward called. Jasper and Garrett entered, setting Alice down carefully on the leather couch. "Christ, what's wrong with Alice?"

"We don't know," Garrett answered. "She just clammed up. Can you read her mind?"

"Well, alright," Edward agreed, then tuned into her thoughts. After a moment, he said, "She's searching for the hunter in her visions. She plans to go to him once he leaves La Push."

"So she's not broken?" Jasper smiled in relief.

"No, just in shock," Edward assured him. "She'll be back to her old self in a while."

"He's leaving La Push," Alice announced quietly, much to everyone's surprise.

"Oh God, you're back!" Jasper hugged her happily.

"He's...with her..." Alice said shakily, then relapsed into silence.

Edward, Jasper, and Garrett all exchanged looks. "Y'all thinking what I'm thinking?" Jasper asked.

"We go to him, and ask him to talk to Alice, and somehow cure her? Oh, yes," Edward smiled.

"Where is he?" Garrett asked.

"Port Angeles, one of the bars," Edward stated. "Let's go," he tore out of the house to the garage, Jasper and Garrett following close behind. They all got into Edward's Volvo, and sped off to the night club, excited to go out without their significant others. They showed their IDs to the bouncer, then went over to the bar and sat down, keeping an eye out for the hunter.

"So, we just go up to him and ask him to cure Alice?" Garrett asked doubtfully.

"More or less," Edward shrugged.

"For Jazz's sake, I hope he agrees," Garrett glanced over at the miserable looking blond vampire. "God, it's so freaking depressing. Poor man."

"That's why we're here; to make everything right with our world again," Edward said. "Now watch the people, you see him?"

"Don't even know who the hell I'm looking for," Garrett grumbled.

"I do, and that's all that matters," Edward told him. "Now shut up so I can listen for his thoughts."

Edward, Jasper, and Garrett walked over to the hunter silently, not answering his question yet. When they approached him, Edward explained, "Thanks to your insensitivity, our Alice is...psychologically broken. She won't move, nor talk, nor anything at all. As a result, her husband," he motioned to Jasper, "is worried out of his mind."

"He doesn't care," Jasper broke in quietly. "He wants to kill us. Let's just leave. We're going to die if we stay."

"No, we're not," Garrett growled, then turned to the vampire hunter, pissed. "We're just going to get to the point, bitch. Either you talk to Alice and fix her psyche, or we'll mess up your psyche permanent-like. You get it? Then you can kill us, or try to," he smirked. "But we want Alice fighting you alongside us, and she's no good if she's comatose."

Edward tried appealing to Joan, "Jo, I think we broke Alice, can you convince your friend to fix her? Please, Joan. For Alice."

Alice sat up in Edward's room suddenly, screaming, "NOOOOOOOO!"

Carlisle and Esme, who had been watching over her, rushed to her side, "Alice, honey, what's wrong?"

"Edward and Garrett...and Jasper," she whimpered, then went back into the darkness.

"What about them? Alice, dammit, tell us!" Carlisle was furious by her silence.

"Maybe she's mute because she saw them dead...and it was unavoidable," Esme kept the sobs from overcoming her voice. She sat down, contemplating the loss of two of her sons. 'I always thought they'd survive me, if we died at all,' she thought sadly.

"Oh dear God, no!" Carlisle slammed his fist into the nearest wall. "We're vampires, we don't die! Dammit!"

"Three to Edward's stomach, five to Jasper's legs, eight to Garrett's arms, and they're odd stakes. They're thin, like needles, but they're deadly to them," Alice said dazedly, as if in a trance. "They're gone."

"No, Alice, don't say things like that! Where are they?" Carlisle asked anxiously, but Alice wouldn't say anything else, she just stared into space, not moving, not thinking. It seemed pointless to her to think, seeing as Edward wouldn't be reading her thoughts anymore.

"NO!" Alice screeched as she saw her latest vision. "JASPER!"

"What, Alice??" Carlisle asked worriedly.

"He's gone," she said sadly, then jumped out of the window. "Or, I think he is."

She then ran full speed towards the alleyway where she had saw Jasper dying. She nearly passed it, but corrected herself and ran down the alley, screaming hysterically for Jasper.

"Jasper! No! NOT HIM!" she wept as she approached the hunter, who was fumbling around for a lighter. "Why the hell do you have to kill him, you son of a bitch?" she punched the vampire hunter in the face. "TAKE BELLA INSTEAD!"

"Alice...?" Jasper was shocked, then recovered. "Alice, run, dammit! He'll kill you too!"

Alice ignored him, silently observing the hunter coolly.

"Told you," Jasper muttered as Alice fell, stunned.

"I'd rather die with you than spend an eternity alone," she whispered.

"How touching," Edward remarked sarcastically. "Now, can we turn our attention back to our impending doom?"

Alice thought for a second, then realized she could use her girly charm, "RAPE! AHHHHHH HELP!!! I'M BEING RAPED!!"

The vampires waited for a reaction by the humans, then realized that no one ever does anything when you scream rape, so she changed her tactic, "FREE BEER!"

"Free beer?" a drunk bystander poked his head into the alleyway eagerly. Seeing the three vampires and the hunter, and no beer, he shrugged and walked off again.

Alice sighed in frustration and began screaming like she was being raped, or tortured, or murdered.

Alice gasped as she saw Joan hit the ground. "No!" she crawled over to Joan, ignoring the pain coursing throughout her limbs. "Joanie, are you alright?"

Alice turned to the hunter, enraged. She got up, using her anger to block out the pain, and got into the fight stance Jasper had taught her when they were first together. Whoa, more deja-vu.

"Now, because Boston is so dangerous, you need to learn to defend yourself," Jasper smiled sweetly at her.

She laughed, surprised, "Defend myself? But Jasper, we're vampires, I think I can fend for myself."

"I mean from other vampires," he explained patiently.

"Oh..." she was quiet.

"Now, you want to stand like this, and get a good grip on the ground," he demonstrated.

"Alright," she nodded and mirrored him.

"Then you want to attack him first, get the upper edge. You're awfully small, which makes you fast. Go for the neck," he advised...

Alice smiled, knowing that as long as the anger blocked the pain, she could fight, and save everyone. Or at least Jasper.

Alice blinked, unsure of what to do. 'Damn, this never happened in Boston, so what should I do?'

She glanced over at Edward, who shook his head to try to warn her. She nodded back, then turned to Joan. "Jo, an ambush? You helped them plan an ambush. My God," she buried her face in her hands, shaking her head doubtfully. "No. No. This can't be happening."

Edward, Jasper, and Garrett watched Alice carefully, lest she go comatose again.

"Just bite him!" Garrett snarled.

Alice looked at him, then at Chase, then at Joan, and shook her head, "No, I can't."

"Alice, QUIT CARING!" he roared.

"No, I seriously can't," she whimpered as she collapsed from the pain, near death. "Why, Joan? Just tell me that before we all die; why'd you betray me? I love you..."

Alice watched Joan and the hunter embrace, hardly believing it. 'God, she really was planning with them to kill me,' she realized.

"Jo, I just want you to know that I love you, and you're one of my best friends, and...." her voice trailed off as she succumbed to the poison, being comatose once again to preserve her strength.

Jasper knelt next to Alice, ignoring the shooting pain in his legs. "Alice? Darling, I love you, and I'm sorry," he said softly, knowing that she could hear him.

"Yeah, yeah, she loves you too," Edward relayed for Alice, feeling a bit miffed. He wanted his lover to be here too. God, life sucks sometimes.

"Jesus, can we cut the lovey dovey crap already?" Garrett bellowed.