Title: Fight Inside

Disclaimer: I have no ownership over the Characters of the Twilight Saga. All rights go to the wonderful Stephenie Meyer.

Summary: Ever wondered how Jasper got to the bridge to save Bella, before the rest of his family? This is Jasper's missing time leading up to the scene in Chapter 2 of Lunar Eclipse. A Side-shot to Chapter 2 of Lunar Eclipse

Jasper POV

"Its fine, Jasper, you can come and meet uswhen you're ready. I know you can do it."

Alice's words continued to echo in my mind as I watched as she, Carlisle, and Emmett went rushing to Carlisle's Mercedes. The car was pulling out of the driveway, yet I felt myself moving toward the back door and out into the woods.

Esme and Rosalie came after me. Esme called out as I started to move through the trees,

"Jasper wait! Where are you going?"

I answered her but I didn't stop moving.

"I'm going hunting; it's the only way I can think of to make amends for what I tried to do to Bella."

"How is hunting now going to change what happened two months ago?" Rosalie questioned. Her words, unlike Esme's, cause me to stop in my tracks.

I turned to answer her.

"By hunting right now, as much as I can, I hope to have the strength to withstand the smell of Bella's blood. It's the only way I can help the others save her."

Confusion and a touch of anger came from Rosalie.

"The others will get Bella and bring her back here. So there really is no need for you to go and put yourself through anything," she stated.

My reply to her was in a matter-of-fact tone, "The others don't have anything to make amends for. What I almost did to Bella…to Edward. It was inexcusable Rosalie. I have to redeem myself."

I didn't wait for Rosalie response to my words. Time was ticking by, and if I didn't hurry I knew I wouldn't make it. I needed to try to make it up to not only Edward, but Bella as well.

I was familiar with the bridge that Alice had seen in her vision, so I knew a short cut to get to it before the rest of my family. First, however, I was determined to hunt. Finding prey that would fill me left me with only a few choices. The only big game I had to hunt was deer.

The downpour of rain was not going to make my hunt as simple as I had hoped it to be. The forest was filled with the pat, pat, pat splash of the rain as it hit the ground. Pulling in a deep breath, I took in the smell of the forest. I picked up the scent of a small herd of deer almost instantly. The rain had dampened their scent making them slightly stronger - similar to how strong a dog's scent is stronger when it is wet.

They were a mere fifty meters from me hiding in a thicket. Covering that distance was child's play. I let go of the monster within me as the heart beats of my prey thrummed louder. The mixture of scents told me there were at least three does and a young stag awaiting me inside the thicket.

Pulling in two more unneeded breaths, I prepared to give the monster within me some freedom. Allowing my instincts to take over, I took off at a speed that no human would detect. The thrill of the hunt was surging through my marble body as I took off toward the scent of the deer.

Catching all four wasn't going to be easy; however I didn't plan on letting any of them escape. Images of the night of Bella's birthday started to flicker through my head.

The second her life's blood began to weep from the small cut on her finger, I was lost completely in the smell of it. I had deprived myself of taking human life for so long that as soon as the scent of Bella's blood hit the air, I was finished.

I forgot my vow to Carlisle to never take human life. I forgot where and whom I was with. The second I lost myself to the scent of her blood, I no longer cared for reason. I was a predator and in that small instant, Bella had become my prey.

I was shoved away suddenly away from my intended target, only to be held in place before being dragged out of the room. Much of what happened didn't come back to me until minutes later.

"Chill out, Jaz-man, it's over, it's done. Alice a little help here?"

Alice's gentle bell-like voice was the first thing I heard and understood.

"Shhh, Jazz, shhh, it's okay now. It's okay," she whispered softly to me as if I were a small child. A second later, I had found my senses again.

"Alice, I…" My words trailed off when I saw Edward coming out of the house.

'Edward, I apologize for my actions inside.'

"There's no need, Jasper. You were just acting on instinct. It's what we do. It's what I always expected."

'No, it's not what we as a family do. It's how this beast within us reacts. I have disgraced this family with my actions! What will Carlisle think? What about Bella, is she all right? I'm not sensing any fear from her right now.'

"No one expects you to be perfect, Jasper, not even me. Carlisle is not upset with you. He knows that even though we do our best to blend in, we all have had a slip up. As for Bella, Carlisle is patching her up now. I'll take her home after, and get ready to say good-bye."

Edward paused, and then continued.

"Tonight was my fault. Bella didn't want to make a big deal out of her birthday and I should have listened, just as I should have listened to you from the beginning. Jasper, I should have never allowed myself to fall in love, especially when that person is a fragile human."

He turned away from us and headed back toward the house.

"Even though there is nothing to forgive you for, Jasper, I forgive you."

That was the moment that Edward started to change back into the solemn brooding vampire I had first met. I remember Esme calling out to him, but he had refused to answer her.

"Edward, wait come back."

The days following that night, Edward was completely closed off to the rest of us. He didn't say much to us until it was morning.

"We should leave. I'll prepare Bella for what's to come. It's the only way I know of to keep her safe."

Our lives in Forks had ended in one second due to my actions, and were changed forever by Edward's decision to leave.

This was the first time during a hunt that I didn't remember the hunt in and of its self. It was less then a second when I realized that I had something soft in my iron grip. It was the lifeless body of one of the deer I had been hunting. Three more lifeless carcasses lay six inches apart or so from each other.

Releasing my grip on the deer, I realized that time was of the essence. I took off in a blur of movement. This was going to be my way in to make things right for my family. I had to save Bella and make things right again.

I heard the screeching of tires followed by the sound of shattering glass and the groan of metal sliding against metal.

Alice's vision was happening, and I wondered if I was closer then the rested of my panicked family. I found myself wishing I had Edward's speed behind me. The droplets of falling water from the heavens were a mere annoyance as they battered against my hard form.

There was no way of me truly knowing if I was ahead of they others until I came to a stop in the center of the bridge, it was devoid of signs of any kind of life. I was staring at the mangled metal railing of the bridge and the sound of rushing water and the faint 'bloop, bloop' of air bubbles.

Carlisle's car screeched to a stop behind me, followed by the sound of my Alice's frantic voice.

"Jasper, wait!"

I turned to look at her for less than a second before turning back and plunging into the dark river below.

Beneath the water I shot through the angry currents as if they didn't exist. Emmett was soon gliding by my side, and we reached the car together. There was blood in the water, the windshield had fractured and splintered causing a gash to Bella's forehead. I was thankful the water around us diluted the sweet intoxicating effect of Bella's blood.

Emmett shared a look with me. I couldn't read his thoughts, but his emotions relayed his worries about the release of the air verses water pressure against the car. The only hope we had was that our supernatural speed would be enough to counter act any more harmful damage to Bella. The car door groaned in protest as Emmett ripped it from its hinges. I made quick work of the seatbelt that held Bella inside of her metal coffin in her watery grave.

Plucking Bella's unconscious form from her mangled death trap, a sense of peace started to fill me as I broke the surface of the water. My loved ones were right behind me with their praises.

The lifeless eyes of Edward flickered into my mind's eye. In that moment, I knew I had found my path to redemption even if I felt like I had only taken the first few steps.