Listening to Natasha almost perfectly echo what Jasper had said to her the night before they'd first met the Cullens—too long ago for Natasha to possibly know, she's a good spy but Natasha hadn't even been born yet—Alice can't help it, she giggles. Jasper has taken a breath to answer, but he glances at her and gives her a little nod. She knows what he was going to say, she thinks, and it should come from her.
Their girl has been through far too much, enough that Alice's heart aches for the little girl in Russia and the woman she's become, and Alice laces her fingers through Natasha's. "That's exactly what Jasper said," she says with a fond smile, slowly carding the fingers of her other hand through Natasha's hair. "Jasper killed for a long time. To survive, but that doesn't make it...any easier to bear. For either of us. But the way he looks...you can't tell as much while you're human, but when you're changed and you see him, you'll understand. Vampires are afraid of him instinctively. He thought Carlisle would decide that he was too dangerous to be around his family. That he'd been on the violent path for too long. But I told him that wouldn't happen, and that's not what happened."
She shifts to rest her cool chin against Natasha's forehead. "Carlisle won't decide that this time either," she says, with that quiet certainty that her family has grown so familiar with over the years. "I know he won't, I've seen it and once he meets you, he wants you to be a part of the family. But," she meets Jasper's eyes, "I know that isn't enough." She falls silent, forgetting to breathe while she pieces together the wording for what she's trying to say.
"Carlisle spent years with the Volturi," she says at last, deciding that head-on is the best angle after all. "He didn't approve of the way they lived, but he still spent a long time with them, and lived like they did. He doesn't know how many people he killed before choosing to live a different life. Jasper doesn't know how many, but it must be thousands. Edward went off on his own after Carlisle changed him. Rosalie killed her murderers. Emmett had trouble adjusting." She sighs a little. "Even I couldn't resist sometimes. We live the way we do because of what we've done, because we want to be better." Then she smiles, that bright smile with a hint of mischief in it. "I'm afraid you're just going to fit right in."
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Their girl has been through far too much, enough that Alice's heart aches for the little girl in Russia and the woman she's become, and Alice laces her fingers through Natasha's. "That's exactly what Jasper said," she says with a fond smile, slowly carding the fingers of her other hand through Natasha's hair. "Jasper killed for a long time. To survive, but that doesn't make it...any easier to bear. For either of us. But the way he looks...you can't tell as much while you're human, but when you're changed and you see him, you'll understand. Vampires are afraid of him instinctively. He thought Carlisle would decide that he was too dangerous to be around his family. That he'd been on the violent path for too long. But I told him that wouldn't happen, and that's not what happened."
She shifts to rest her cool chin against Natasha's forehead. "Carlisle won't decide that this time either," she says, with that quiet certainty that her family has grown so familiar with over the years. "I know he won't, I've seen it and once he meets you, he wants you to be a part of the family. But," she meets Jasper's eyes, "I know that isn't enough." She falls silent, forgetting to breathe while she pieces together the wording for what she's trying to say.
"Carlisle spent years with the Volturi," she says at last, deciding that head-on is the best angle after all. "He didn't approve of the way they lived, but he still spent a long time with them, and lived like they did. He doesn't know how many people he killed before choosing to live a different life. Jasper doesn't know how many, but it must be thousands. Edward went off on his own after Carlisle changed him. Rosalie killed her murderers. Emmett had trouble adjusting." She sighs a little. "Even I couldn't resist sometimes. We live the way we do because of what we've done, because we want to be better." Then she smiles, that bright smile with a hint of mischief in it. "I'm afraid you're just going to fit right in."