Electric Christmas Lights by Hmonster4

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Pen name: Hmonster4 Rating: T Summary: They spent years chasing a dream, yet ended up finding so much more. Alice and Jasper’s first Christmas with the Cullens. Canon.

Electric Christmas Lights December 24, 1948 “Describe it again.” He’d made the request numerous times, and her response never changed. “It’s a large yellow house. Clapboard. There’s a balsam fir wreath on the front door, tied with a bright red velvet ribbon. The house has a bay window with a Christmas tree all lit up. You and I and another woman, one with light brown hair, sit on the steps laughing.” “What color are our eyes?” He already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it again. He never grew tired of hearing her tell the story. “Mine are light, like the leaves of a fall mum. Yours are a bit darker, more like maple syrup.” “Are we happy?” She sighed, and placed her hand gently on his knee. “Yes Jasper, we’re happy.” The fire continued to roar, filling the small cabin with light and warmth. It pops and hisses as branches and pines cones ignite, the sap and moisture sizzling in the inferno. There had been no lingering scent of humans here. The dilapidated building must have been long abandoned. It provided the perfect shelter, not all that different from a lonely barn two thousand years ago. “We’ll find them soon, Alice. I promise.”

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Collingswood, Ontario November 13, 1950 They watched anxiously as the blonde man crossed the street, his long wool coat buttoned up tight against the cold. “You’re sure it’s him?” “Yes, Jasper. I’m sure. He looks just like the man in my visions. Come on, let’s follow him.” Alice started forward, her eagerness to complete what she perceived as a preordained event over riding common sense. Jasper grabbed her arm, not willing to follow blindly. “Not yet, let’s watch first. We don’t know enough. This might not be what we hope-” “We know everything we need. His name is Carlisle. He has a family here, a family like us. It’s where we belong, Jasper. It’s everything I’ve seen.” Alice wanted to so much to have a family, and Jasper wanted to be the one to give her that. He also wanted to make sure things were safe, for he’d seen all too many times how their kind could turn on each other. Alice was small, and while she was strong, she’d be no match for a newborn vampire or a strategically launched attack. Part of him hated to be so cynical, but he knew, deep down, that his cynicism and pragmatic nature had kept him alive for almost one hundred years. His knowledge served a purpose, one he couldn’t let go of without risking both their lives. No, they wouldn’t approach until he knew it was safe. They lagged behind the blonde man, watching as he traversed the icy streets. He turned north of Sixth Street onto Cedar, and waved to an elderly woman shaking a rug on her porch steps. “Hello, Mrs. Archer. How is Walter today?” “Well, Dr. Cullen, thank you!” The man continued down the street, dodging piles of snow and navigating the slick Electric Christmas Lights

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pavement with an almost preternatural grace. Jasper and Alice followed at a safe distance, Alice’s hand tightening around Jasper’s as they passed the human woman. Gum drops. Apples. She squeezed again, reclaiming his focus, and Jasper pushed on, forcing down the alluring scent of the woman’s blood. The street continued on, the houses falling away as they neared the Bay. The man made another turn unto a small, unpaved lane. It wound back towards the dark silhouette of a house, marked by a lone gate lamp at the end of a long drive. “Are you going to hang back and watch, or will you be introducing yourselves?” the man mumbled under his breath. Jasper felt himself tense, waiting for a warning or even an attack. The man had sensed their presence and greeted them, indicating he knew what they were. Jasper slipped in front of Alice, assuming a protective stance. It was in his nature to expect attacks, for he’d seen too much, things that Alice was naïve to. Things he hoped she always would be. “I’m not going to hurt you. None of us will,” the man murmured, the volume of his words never changing. Jasper glanced from him to the house, noticing a large man with dark wavy hair standing on the porch. The brute of a man had the same strange honey colored eyes as the blonde vampire they’d followed from the center of town. “It’s okay, Emmett. If they were going to do harm, they would have done so before I got to the house. Please ask Edward to join us around back.” The man turned to face them, his expression open and without guile. “Please, don’t hang back. None of my family will hurt you. My name is Carlisle, Carlisle…” “Cullen,” Alice cut him off. “Dr. Carlisle Cullen. Husband of Esme.” The smile on Dr. Cullen’s face faded a little as he took in Alice’s words. “We haven’t met,” Alice continued, “but we’ve been searching for you for a very long Electric Christmas Lights

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time.” The man’s brow creased, not in confusion, but curiosity, his light golden eyes full of fascination and wonder. “Well then, if that’s the case, let’s not keep you waiting.” Alice glanced up at Jasper, waiting for his approval to proceed. He could feel the excitement emanating from her, tinged with a confidence he wished he could mirror. They were the exact same emotions that had bombarded him that fateful day in a dingy little diner in Philadelphia, where Alice had said something remarkably similar. Holding securely on to her hand, Jasper walked cautiously up the lane towards the man called Carlisle. They were roughly fifty feet away when Alice stopped short, her grasp on his hand forcing Jasper to stop as well. He searched her face, trying to glean what it was that made her stop. What had she seen that kept her from moving towards the one thing she’d kept them focused on for years? She stared past the man, up the walk. Her face was not blank, lost in a future scene. It was riveted on the house in front of them. Yellow clapboard. A large bay window. It was the house she’d seen in her visions. The place she insisted they would call home. For the first time in this odd and twisted life, Jasper allowed himself a small glimmer of hope. Maybe there was a place where they could live out their days in peace after all. December 24, 1950 “Oh come on, Alice. The star is perfectly straight, will you stop?” Jasper sat on the floor, watching as the two ends of the spectrum went to battle over the orientation of a piece of glass. While Emmett Cullen might tower over her in size, no one trumped Alice when it came to a battle of the wills. Except maybe Emmett’s wife, Rosalie. Poor guy never stood a chance. “Just a bit more to the left, and it will be perfect, I swear!” Alice insisted. A snort Electric Christmas Lights

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could be heard from the other room. “Is she telling the truth, Edward?” “What do you think, Emmett?” Jasper watched Alice smile sweetly up at the giant of a man. While his size was intimidating, Emmett Cullen was a big softie, and could never tell anyone no. “Let him be, Alice,” Esme insisted from the kitchen. “I’m sure the tree looks just lovely.” They’d spent the better part of the day decorating the house. Emmett and Edward had gone in search of the perfect tree, dragging it back from the mountains along with yards and yards of fir branches to be made into roping. The minute they had the tree up in the stand, Alice and Rosalie had descended with arm loads of ornaments, strung popcorn, and lights. Jasper watched, fascinated as they decorated the tree. He’d never seen electrical lights on a tree before and was amazed by the way they transformed the simple Douglas fir. After the lights and ornaments came icicles, individual strands placed artfully by both Rosalie and Alice. He envied how easily she had enfolded herself into this strange family. An outsider would never know this was all new to her, to both of them. Their acclimation into the Cullen household had been seamless. That fateful day six weeks prior, they’d stood in the backyard as Alice and the man they’d come to know as Edward exchanged knowledge in the strangest spectacle of communication Jasper had ever witnessed. Apparently Edward could read minds, so precisely that he could see the vision as it ran through Alice’s mind. She played everything back for him, the vision of Carlisle, and the details of their existence. She’d apparently held out on Jasper, for there were details that were new to him that shocked Edward. She’d known all of their names, what their hobbies were, even their preferred choice of food. “She tells the truth?” Emmett questioned, his arms crossed over his burly chest. “You’re sure, Edward?” Edward nodded, and the snow that had started to fall caught in his unruly dark hair. Electric Christmas Lights

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It still amazed Jasper that their temperatures were low enough that snow wouldn’t melt when coming in contact with skin or hair. He’d been conscious of it at first from a tactical perspective, always focused on blending in, or looking the part. The little details could give them away, and it was his responsibility to keep Alice safe. But here, standing in the backyard of a strange house in central Ontario with a group of vampires, he found the scene oddly beautiful and peaceful. There was no ill will here, no hidden intentions or objectives. These people were not going to hurt them. It was clear in the emotions of the large man called Emmett and the doctor. They were welcome here and would be able to stay for as long as they wanted. The great clapboard house had plenty to offer, both in space and in interest. Edward and Emmett engaged Jasper immediately, picking his brain about the Civil War and the life he’d led before fleeing the south. Carlisle in particular had been curious about the Vampire Wars, having heard about the solely through correspondence with friends abroad. While the men bonded, so did the women. Alice fit in easily with Rosalie and Esme, expressing interest in their hobbies and diversions. With such little recall of her previous life, and the early part of her existence as a vampire spent searching for him, Alice had spent too much time alone, and quickly blossomed with the extra attention. She soon became the hub of the small group, infusing everyone room with laughter and happiness. Back in the kitchen, Carlisle fiddled with the radio, adjusting the dials until he could pick up a static free signal. Once happy, he turned up the volume as Bing Crosby’s warbling voice filled the house with reminiscences of snow and mistletoe. Jasper smiled as he heard Alice start to hum. She had everything she wanted now. She was happy and safe. He would have liked to think that he gave that to her, but he was not alone in the creation of her happiness. It had taken all six of them. Letting himself out of the house, Jasper sat down on the front porch, watching as another round of snow moved in off the Georgian Bay. He loved the extremity of the weather here and wondered if he’d ever grow tired of the endless fields of white and ice. Rosalie had promised to teach him how to ice skate once the crust was deep enough, and he found himself fascinated by the concept of being able to glide on frozen water. Electric Christmas Lights

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A gentle click alerted him to Alice’s presence as she closed the door and tiptoed across the front porch. She hated the way the boards squeaked under her weight, and thought that by staying on her toes, she would lessen the noise. It never worked. “Are you all done with your masterpiece?” he inquired she sat down next to him. “Yes, although I’m still not quite happy with the star.” “Emmett would have been apoplectic if you asked him to change it one more time.” Alice leaned her head against his shoulder, and Jasper slipped his arm around her, pulling her in closer. “I love when you use antiquated words. You sound so smart.” “I am smart.” “You’re cute too.” He laughed and kissed the top of her head. “Thank you.” “For what?” “For seeing this, seeing me. For having more faith than I could ever have. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.” “You got us here as much as I did,” she insisted. “I would have gone barreling forward, and who knows where that would have gotten me. “Is this what you wanted?” He knew the answer, but he wanted her to say it. “What we have here, is this what makes you happy?” “Oh Jasper, I was happy before I got here. This just makes us complete. We aren’t alone anymore. We have people that care about us, and a place to call home.” She glanced back over her shoulder at the house. The soft lights of the tree glowed through the windows, and he could see her brow contort in confusion. “What is it?” “The lights,” she mumbled. “They were candles in my vision, not colored lights.” Electric Christmas Lights

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“What does that mean?” “It means that the vision wasn’t complete until you made the decision,” Esme answered. They’d been so engrossed in their conversation that they hadn’t heard her join them on the porch. “We’d decided to do candles this year. But since neither of you had ever seen electric lights, we put them on for you.” She sat down on the step and slipped her arm around Alice’s shoulder, her fingers wrapping around Jasper’s bicep to link the three of them together. “I think your star slipped a little, Alice. Emmett saw it and went running, pleading that we hide him from the dwarf tyrant.” “I am not a tyrant!” Alice insisted, her eyes flying to the glass, looking for the perceived disaster. “If he just adjusts it a little…” Emmett stood in the window, next to the tree, his thumbs in his ears, fingers fanned out like moose antlers as he waved them back and forth. “You are a childish, immature….” Alice sputtered. She couldn’t finish, she was too busy laughing as she ran in the house after him. Esme glanced over at Jasper, her beautiful face lit up with a radiant smile. “May I ask you something?” Jasper inquired. She nodded in encouragement. “What color are my eyes?” Esme smiled and stood, her hand extended to him. “The color of Grandmother Platt’s peanut brittle. She used to make it every Christmas. Now come on, Carlisle wants to open presents. I think he’s more excited than Alice is.” Jasper took her hand and followed her inside. The door shut behind them, and the red ribbons on the Balsam fir wreath fluttered out into the gentle night breeze.

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