Jasper slammed his head against the steering wheel as he drove away. He was so sick of this. Of his unpredictable temper, of feeling the need to leave whenever there was a human guest in the vast Cullen house. Why couldn't Bella go to Charlie's house for once!? Of course his family don't want him to take off, but they know it's a good idea. What about Alice though? She should be with Jasper through everything, that's what soul mates are for; but nooo, she stayed back at the house. She wanted to see Charlie. Jasper was angrier than usual. For the millionth time that night, he thought about what would happen if he didn't go home. If he drove in the opposite direction until the rubber on the tyres wore out. Would they find him? Would they even bother looking? Would they...

"Fuck it", Jasper snarled to himself. He turned the volume up on the CD player as loud as it would go, and then violently swerved his car half circle on the wet, blackened freeway and sped off back towards the place he reluctantly called home.

__________

As he made his way down the long, Tree-covered driveway, Jasper drove past the Police Cruiser driving the other way. Good. Charlie nodded as they passed each other, and even though Jasper noticed, he continued to look straight ahead, as if he needed to.

Although the others inevitably heard Jasper coming, they didn't look up when he arrived in. Still angry, he closed the door with a little more force than necessary. This made Esme look up.

"Jasper, dear, is everything OK?" She said, frowning.

"Yeah, everything's fine." He replied dryly, and went to sit beside Alice on the couch. She put her hand on his but he just brushed it off.

"Are you sure?" Esme continued, not noticing this small detail that would have answered her question. Jasper, who was usually very cool and closed off when it came to emotional displays, surprised everyone when he jumped up, screaming "WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE!?" and disappeared up the stairs like a ferocious hurricane. Everyone, even Alice & Edward who were expected to see these kinds of things coming, were taken aback.

All eyes were on Alice.

"I guess I better go talk to him", she shrugged.

__________

Alice did not want to talk to Jasper. He was so moody recently, and nothing she could do seemed to help. As she climbed the stairs, her wary thoughts were accented by loud bangs and crashes coming from her & Jasper's second floor bedroom. She slowly opened the door, only to have it pushed shut on her almost right away.

"You're not making this any easier for yourself" she whispered, defeated, through the door.

"What difference would it make then!? It's never fucking easy!" Jasper called back, another loud crash illustrating his words.

"Just, please, open the door. Please, Jasper."

There was a long pause. The heavy door handle turned, and the door was left ajar. Jasper obviously did not want to open it all the way.

Alice nudged the bedroom door with her foot and peered around it nervously, not quite sure what it looked like on the other side. The scene was exactly what she expected, and feared. A huge chest of drawers was reduced to splinters on the floor; the ornaments that once sat atop it were now indefinable shards of crystal. The bedclothes were ripped to shreds, as well as one bedside table which had been turned over, and points in the wall, low down, where Jasper had kicked right through to the next room. Jasper was sitting on his side of the bed with his legs crossed and his face in one of his hands. He had his back to the door, whereby Alice stood hesitantly. Anyone could have seen it, vampire or not. Jasper was breathing very heavily. He didn't need to, but in a situation like this it seemed almost comforting.

"Well?" Jasper almost snarled, snapping Alice out of her worried trance.

"Jasper," She began slowly. He didn't turn around. "I'm sick of trying to understand these outbursts. I mean, the past month, I've gone shopping for new furniture more than I've gone shopping for new clothes."

"Your point?" He replied.

"Well, I just want to know what's going on for you. I know it's hard for you to keep to the whole 'vegetarian' thing, but trust me, it gets better."

Jasper chuckled to himself once, humourlessly. She didn't get it at all. He loved Alice with all his heart, they both knew this. But it worried only one of them. Him. His heart was dead, stopped. How could he love someone so much with something that, technically, didn't work? Now was not the time to think of this. He shifted infinitesimally so he could see Alice out of the corner of his eye, but he kept his head down.

"Can you do me a favour?" He whispered.

Alice leaned forward, excited that there was something she might be able to do; something that Jasper would actually let her do for him.

"Anything." She smiled hopefully.

"Can you go get Bella?"

Alice frowned. She wasn't expecting this. Jasper & Bella had become good friends since she became a vampire, and he wasn't an unmatchable threat to her anymore. But Alice wondered what Bella could do for her husband that she couldn't. She didn't want Jasper to see her worried though. She nodded and flitted out of the room. Seconds later there was a knock on the already open door. Pointless, really, but Bella was used to having to knock to let someone know she was there. Of course, Jasper had heard her coming the second she started making her way to the room. Jasper grunted in acknowledgment rather than saying 'come in'.

Bella walked in and stood at the door awkwardly, her eyes scanned the trashed room & widened.

"What's up Jazz? Are you OK?" She asked. She didn't realise how stupid that question was until after she asked.

"No. To be blunt. I know I'm usually a miserable bastard, but I've never felt worse before now." He replied.

"Well... what can I do?" Bella asked, walking towards where he was sitting on the bed.

_________________

To be continued ;)