As it had been about a century since Alice had attempted to cook anything, and even longer for Jasper, they both accept the offer, and the afternoon spent in the kitchen is warmly domestic. Eventually Alice puts music on, the CD of classics from the 30s and 40s still in the stereo, and there's a little dancing here and there in between cooking. They make far more food than Natasha could eat in one night, planning ahead for the rest of the week, and they both sit with her and talk while she eats.
It's a good time to tell her about their previous encounters with the Volturi: Edward's frantic attempts at suicide-by-rule-breaking, Victoria's newborn army that had come after them—Alice speaks sadly of Bree Tanner, the little sister they'd barely known but had already accepted—and finally the almost-clash when Aro had brought dozens of his followers to Forks because of a willful misunderstanding. Only Alice sharing her violent death-filled vision of the future had dissuaded Aro from following through immediately on his attempt to slaughter the family and all of their allies, giving them enough time to prove, lawfully, that Renesmee would not be a threat. They'd been forced to follow their own laws and had retreated, but Alice had always known Aro hadn't forgotten about her, or about Edward.
In between the stories, they tell her about the family and how they'd all come together, Edward first and then Esme, Rose and then Emmett, Alice and Jasper attaching themselves to the family several years later, no one new until Edward had met Bella, and everything that had followed. It's a long conversation, lasting through dinner, washing up, putting away the other food they'd made, and by the end of it, the three of them are curled together on the couch with the fireplace blazing softly against the chill of the house.
"...so this has sort of happened to us before," Alice says with a little shrug from her place curled on Natasha's lap with her legs draped over Jasper's. "Although I hope it will be a little less dramatic this time."
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It's a good time to tell her about their previous encounters with the Volturi: Edward's frantic attempts at suicide-by-rule-breaking, Victoria's newborn army that had come after them—Alice speaks sadly of Bree Tanner, the little sister they'd barely known but had already accepted—and finally the almost-clash when Aro had brought dozens of his followers to Forks because of a willful misunderstanding. Only Alice sharing her violent death-filled vision of the future had dissuaded Aro from following through immediately on his attempt to slaughter the family and all of their allies, giving them enough time to prove, lawfully, that Renesmee would not be a threat. They'd been forced to follow their own laws and had retreated, but Alice had always known Aro hadn't forgotten about her, or about Edward.
In between the stories, they tell her about the family and how they'd all come together, Edward first and then Esme, Rose and then Emmett, Alice and Jasper attaching themselves to the family several years later, no one new until Edward had met Bella, and everything that had followed. It's a long conversation, lasting through dinner, washing up, putting away the other food they'd made, and by the end of it, the three of them are curled together on the couch with the fireplace blazing softly against the chill of the house.
"...so this has sort of happened to us before," Alice says with a little shrug from her place curled on Natasha's lap with her legs draped over Jasper's. "Although I hope it will be a little less dramatic this time."