"No," Bella breathed out, smiling even as the word left her lips. "I'm exhausted," she sighed．
Alice untangled her fingers from Bella's and reached up, stroking her hair softly before slipping her fingers around Bella's neck. Gently she guided Bella's head down to rest on her shoulder before she moved her hand down to stroke Bella's hip lightly in an attempt to get her to relax against her．
"Get some sleep," Alice said softly, cool breath caressing Bella's face in such an achingly familiar way that it almost brought tears to Bella's overtired eyes．
"You're the one that's hurt," Bella mumbled, nonetheless snuggling against Alice's side．
She felt a little strange about lying beside Alice like this with Jasper just on the other side of Alice's body, but Alice didn't seem perturbed in the least, and Jasper himself was resting as calmly had he had been beforehand. Besides, now that she had acknowledged her tiredness, it seemed to be taking her over and it was all she could do to keep her eyes open. She didn't think she would have been able to resist falling asleep in Alice's arms even if she wanted to．
"It's alright," Alice breathed out as Bella finally relaxed against her. "I've got a support system," she continued smiling, her own body leaning into Jasper's, shifting a little until he was comfortably supporting her weight while she supported Bella's．
Once Alice was settled against him, Jasper bent his head down, burying his nose in Alice's hair, breathing in deeply as he kissed the top of her head. Ｈe kept his face pressed against her for a long moment, his eyes squeezing shut as he took in her scent．
Alice reached up and back, tangling her fingers in his hair, scratching his scalp, the action affectionate but also questioning. Smelling her like that wasn't something that Jasper did often, and when he did it was very rarely for such a long period of time．
Ｈe was acting strangely, and it worried her．
Jasper sighed softly, and then reached for her hand, taking it into his own before lowering it, though he continued to hold it gently. Alice's body remained tense for a moment, as her mind whirled, trying to determine the emotion behind his sigh, but no burst of insight came to her, and Jasper's warmth against her back combined with the sensation of Bella burning against her front began to lull her into a peaceful haze．
"Jazz," she said softly, not really knowing what she planned on following the word up with．
"I'm here," he said softly, feeling her concern and love wash over him. Ｈe squeezed her hand, and then continued to hold it softly. "Rest," he breathed out softly. "It's okay.”
That was enough, and Alice relaxed against him, sighing contentedly as she enjoyed the feel of his chest moving up and down under her head while Bella drifted off to sleep against her．
Ｈalf an Ｈour Later"Aw, isn't that cute," Rose cooed stepping in to Alice and Jasper's bedroom．
"What? I wanna see it," Emmett said shifting the deer carcass in his hands, pushing it forward a little trying to get Edward to move faster. "Aw, they're like little kittens," Emmett declared a few moments later as he made it into the bedroom, his eyes immediately tracking over to the bed．
Jasper looked chagrined; Alice's eyes were focused on the load in their arms; and Bella slept on … oblivious．
Rose laughed, shaking her head at Jasper playfully and then stepped to the side, clearing a space for the boys to put the deer．
Edward moved with Emmett, carefully lowering the body onto the ground and then moved to the side, trying to keep his back to the bed as much as possible．
In the glimpse he had gotten of her sleeping against Alice, Bella had looked so peaceful. Ｈe hadn't seen her look like that in a long time. These days he only occasionally spent the night sleeping beside Bella – though he still watched over her during the night. Ｈowever, when he did stay with her, she would curl up against him as she always had, but she had never seemed completely comfortable lying with him since Italy. She didn't sleep peacefully through the night anymore. She tossed and turned, and shifted, her lips turning down in a frown as she tried to get comfortable against him. In the morning she always insisted that she had slept just fine, but he knew she hadn't．
She didn't seem to be having any trouble sleeping against Alice however, even in a strange bed, with Alice's husband inches away from her．
"You're going to have to wake her up," Jasper was saying as Edward settled himself against the door frame, close to Esme and Carlisle who where standing just inside the bedroom．
Ｈe tuned out the words that were being traded in the room, his eyes drifting to the quaint scene on the bed again as his mind drifted. Ｈowever, once he registered what he was staring at, he forced himself to turn away and focused his gaze on his muddied shoes．
"Can I do it?" Rose asked her voice suddenly full of excitement．
Alice cocked her head to the side curiously, watching as Rose took a step towards them, but then her expression became agitated and she said, "No!" her eyes narrowing at Rosalie as a vision of how Rosalie planned on waking Bella came to her. "God, no," she continued making a face at Rose. "Why would you even think that? That's horrible," she finished, her last declaration losing some of its impact as an unwilling half-smile touched her lips．
Rose caught the half-smile and knew that Alice wasn't really mad at her. "Would have been funny though," she replied smirking at Alice before she shrugged and moved over by Emmett, allowing him to envelope her from behind．
"Only a little bit," Alice said still smiling, "Mostly it would have been horrible," she said shaking a disapproving finger at Rose, who just rolled her eyes．
Alice moved her hand to Bella's shoulder, shaking her slightly. She had much more pleasant ways of waking up Bella, some more innocent than others, but even the chastest of the ways she usually woke Bella up in the morning would have been too intimate for present company．
"Wha…" Bella began, blinking slowly as she lifted her head. "Alice?" she said sleepily, her eyes squeezing shut before she forced them open unnaturally wide in an attempt to keep them open．
She turned her head to the side, looking over the edge of the bed．
It wasn't her room．
"Where are …" Bella began to ask, her eyes moving to scan some more of the room, "Oh my god! What the hell?" she exclaimed a second later, surging backwards, her body slamming into Alice's as she spotted the deer carcass. "Ow," Bella moaned a second later, her eyes widening in pain as a painful throbbing began in her elbow．
When she had lurched back, her elbow had slammed into Alice's stomach. With almost anyone else this would have meant that the person whose stomach had been elbowed would have howled in pain, however Alice had barely registered the contact while Bella winced in pain. Elbowing Alice's stomach was like slamming her elbow into a brick wall．
"Well, at least she's awake," Rose commented not quite able to keep the amusement out of her voice as Bella looked back at Alice's stomach, frowning deeply, as if she wanted to yell at it．
"As always, your compassion astounds me, Rose," Alice responded, shooting Rosalie a dirty look as she reached out to rub Bella's elbow gently．
She had barely felt the blow, but she knew that it had probably hurt Bella quite a bit．
Rosalie smirked at Alice and then shrugged. She may have looked like one but she never claimed to be an angel．
"Alright," Esme said stepping a little further into the room. "If you two are done, I think that we should clear out and leave Alice in peace for a while," she continued looking around at her children, meeting each their gazes before she led by example and moved out into the hallway．
Emmett sighed. Watching Rose and Alice bitch at each other was always a blast, but Esme was right. Alice needed to feed. Releasing Rose, Emmett waited for her to turn around and then hand-in-hand the two of them headed for the door．
As they made their way outside, Jasper slipped out from behind Alice and walked around to the other side of the bed. Ｈe offered his hand to Bella, and she grasped it, allowing Jasper to easily pull her to her feet．
"She needs to feed now," Jasper said as Bella looked at him questioningly．
She still looked half asleep and seemed to be confused as to why they were moving．
"Oh," Bella said softly. She looked over at Jasper, and then over at Alice before her eyes dropped to look at the deer. "Oh!" she repeated again a second later, remembering what Alice had told her about feeding being a solitary act. They were all leaving the room so that Alice could feed in private．
Jasper nodded and then began to lead her towards the door, eyeing Edward – who was still standing there – curiously as they approached. Ｈe was sending Edward calming feelings, but even so Edward remained incredibly tense and distracted. Ｈis eyes were roaming between him and Bella, and Alice on the bed, his emotions a confusing tangle of contradicting feelings although the strongest seemed to be a powerful feeling of sorrow．
"Edward," Jasper said, coming to a stop beside him as Bella leaned against the side of his body. Edward turned to look at him and Jasper tilted his head gesturing to Bella. Ｈis control around Bella was getting better, and having Alice's scent so close to him for the past half hour had helped him deal with Bella being so close. Ｈowever, he was fried emotionally which was testing his control and he was beginning to get overwhelmed．
Ｈe really needed Edward to take Bella from him．
"Right," Edward said blinking, some of Jasper's thoughts cutting through his emotional haze. "Yes, of course.”
Ｈe nodded to Jasper and then opened his arms, allowing Jasper to gently transfer Bella over to him．
With Bella securely nestled against his side, the three of them then made their way out of the room, leaving Alice alone with her dinner．
Bella's body vibrated with nervousness as she leaned against the wall. She saw Edward glance at her out of the corner of her eye, but she ignored the look. Ｈer nervousness was bothering him, and she knew he wished that she would stop fidgeting about, but she couldn't help it and didn't really want to turn around just to see his irritated expression．
Instead of looking at Edward, Bella trained her eyes on the closed door of Alice and Jasper's bedroom, and sighed deeply．
