[A/N: Hi! It's me with another story. It's a pairing I love, and I don't find nearly enough of these stories, so I'm tossing my hat in the ring. I hope you'll like it. I don't own Twilight, SMeyer does, and I'm sure she's living the life of leisure somewhere!]

[This isn't a QAF crossover, but it's inspired a little by the show. No characters from QAF are in this story, but a tip of the hat to the show for inspiration. I don't own it either.]

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1. Jasper

Jasper was standing at the breakfast side of the flat top whereupon pancakes, omelets, home fries, eggs-in-a-nest, bacon and sausage were cooking away. On the dinner side, he had burgers, pastrami, and veggies sautéing for various sandwiches. Fries, chicken fingers, and mac-and-cheese croquets were in the deep fryer baskets, and various breads were toasting. To him, it was like directing a grand symphony.

It was two o'clock in the morning, and the place was a madhouse, but not as awful as it was on Friday and Saturday nights, it being a Thursday night. Being three storefronts down from a gay bar ensured their overnight business was just as booming as their breakfast, lunch, and dinner rushes. They were open 24/7, and they'd been a neighborhood staple for nearly twenty-five years, long before the gay club was fashionable but still accepted in the neighborhood.

For Jasper Munroe Whitlock, there wasn't a better job to be had in the city. It fit with his class schedule, and he got weekends off to study. It had been the first job he'd been able to secure when he became a free man, and that was only because his mother was friends with Maggie Gardner from the old neighborhood.

The women had gone to school together a million or so years ago, and when Lottie Whitlock's little felon was released from Attica where he'd served his sentence for being the get-away driver in an armed robbery attempt at an OTB in the Bronx, she picked him up to take him back to their neighborhood in Bayonne, New Jersey, where he was to live with her until he fulfilled the terms of his parole.

Lottie, a former Miss Teen Texas, had been dealt a shit hand in life, getting knocked up by Jasper's deadbeat father, PFC Peter Whitlock, at the ripe-old-age of sixteen. In any other state but Texas, the man would have been arrested for statutory rape.

They married in a shotgun wedding, and after Peter was dishonorably discharged from the Army for being drunk on duty, he moved them away from her beloved Texas, up north to Yankee country…New Jersey. After Peter took off when Jasper was four, she stayed in the neighborhood, getting a job at a dry cleaner's as a seamstress where she'd worked at for more years than she'd admit. Despite the trouble Jasper got into when he was in high school, she loved him with all her heart, and she made it her mission in life to reform him, even if it killed him.

Jasper began plating up the orders according to the tickets. "Alice, Spanish omelet and home fries, western omelet with a pancake and sausage links, and Rueben with fries, no dressing. Order up!" he yelled as he placed the three plates in the window.

So the night went until his shift was about to end at five in the morning when Liam Kelly came in to take over the cooking. The place was relatively empty, so he made himself two eggs over easy with toast and went to sit at the counter while Alice counted up her cash.

Alice Brandon was a nice woman with whom he worked the night shift. She had two daughters, Renata and Renee, and a soldier husband who was deployed to the Middle East. Her daughters were old enough to be home at night alone with a neighbor nearby in the event there was a problem, and Alice liked being there for them when they got home from school in the afternoon and being able to see them off in the morning. Jasper really enjoyed working with Alice because she was like a big sister.

He walked behind the counter to get himself a set-up and a cup of coffee. "You want me to make you something, or you wanna take stuff home for the girls? I made some French toast when I had extra time. I can wrap some up for you to take. Save you havin' to cook when you get home," he offered with his shy grin.

Alice smiled at him as she poured a large glass of orange juice and put it in front of him. "Thanks, sweetie, but I'm working until ten because Angie has a doctor's appointment. My girls have a teacher work day, so they're at home cleaning the house this morning. I'm taking the extra shift because Rena needs a new dress for a school recital. She sings in the choir. Has a voice like an angel, that one. Renee, well she's the Brainiac in the family. Science, science, science. That's all she talks about. She's won a prize for her science fair project last year, you know," Alice boasted.

Jasper nodded without looking up. He'd met the girls and they were obnoxious as hell, but he cared for their mother so he let some shit slide. So what, they were rude and seemed to talk down to Alice because she was a waitress in a diner? If she could live with it, he wasn't going to judge them. She didn't judge him for his youthful indiscretions, for which he was very grateful, so he wasn't going to judge the two little prima donnas who needed a pop in the mouth sometimes.

"That's great, Alice. You ain't gotta tip me out. Keep the money. See it as my contribution to Renata's future as a superstar. Tell her not to forget the little people when she becomes famous," he teased as he slid the money back across the counter she'd laid in front of him.

"Stop it. I know you're helpin' your ma with expenses. You have school to pay for yourself, mister. I'm doing just fine. Ricky called me this morning…well, yesterday. He's out on patrol, but he got ahold of one of them satellite phones and called me. Our anniversary is on Friday, and he's not sure where he'll be, so he called today. Only six more months before he's home," she told him.

Jasper had never met Rick Brandon, nor had he seen pictures of the man, but she talked about him all the time, and he could tell she worshiped the man. They were from Mississippi, but when Rick was given orders that sent him to Fort Dix, Alice and her daughters moved to Bayonne because Alice's sister, Jane and her husband, Alec, lived there. She told Jasper she didn't know anyone at Fort Dix, so why should she move there when Rick was deploying in two weeks and would be gone for a year? Jasper only nodded in agreement.

"That's great, Alice. You need me to come by this weekend and do anything around your house? Have hammer, will travel," he offered.

As she was about to answer, the door opened and a man staggered in. He was bloody…everywhere. "Shit, Ali, get some rags," Jasper ordered as he walked over to grab the guy before he fell. Jasper dragged him to a circular booth in the corner, resting him against the divider as he pulled the table out so he could situate the man on the seat. He was grateful it was vinyl because it was going to need a good scrubbing.

Alice ran back with many dishtowels and a large bowl with ice. "Jasper, we need to call the cops. He looks like hamburger," she determined as she ran to the backroom and came back with a large metal bowl of warm water.

"Let's see how bad he is first. If the guy got bashed, the cops ain't gonna help him. Let's see what we got," Jasper told her as he began to wet the towels to wipe the blood. She stopped him and handed him a pair of yellow, dishwashing gloves.

"Be safe, Jasper. We are on Queen's Way," she reminded. Jasper nearly tossed them aside, but for Alice's piece of mind, he pulled them on.

In prison, he'd been in more fights than he could count. He'd been beaten, stabbed, stomped, and many other things he didn't want to remember, but the fates had been kind enough to him that he hadn't contracted HIV in all that time. He went to church with his mother on Sundays and put money in the poor box in thanks to whatever higher power was out there in gratitude. It was truly a miracle he hadn't contracted something, especially when he first hit GenPop. He was new piece of seventeen-year-old meat when he hit the yard, and before he knew what was happening, men were stabbing other men to get at him.

His first eighteen-months had been brutal until a big bastard named Felix Shane took a liking to him. He was a member of a biker gang, 'Satan's Sons', and he was in for two counts of attempted murder and aggravated assault. He was definitely straight, but he liked Jasper's mouth, so Jasper traded blow jobs for protection, because 'gettin' a blow job don't make me no queer', Felix told him.

Jasper did the man the courtesy of telling him he was gay and offered him more, but the man actually had integrity. "Bud, you made a stupid mistake by drivin' that car and I ain't gonna rack your balls for it. You blow me when I get needy, and I'll keep the rest of these fuckers away from your ass. Anybody else know you're queer?"

"I don't talk to anybody else, but more than one of 'em have caught me in the shower and a few other places around here. My back has more than a few scars because they decided it would be fun to carve me up after they fucked me," Jasper told him.

"You know their names?" Felix asked, a wicked stare coming from him.

"A few of 'em are out now, but I know most of 'em. I'm not askin' you to do anything on my behalf, boss. Just, if you can make it stop? I'd appreciate it." Felix made a list of every name Jasper remembered, and he got one of the guards to take a picture of the young man's body where initials had been carved.

At first, nothing was happening, and Jasper was blowing Felix about once a week in the cell Felix had wrangled so they could share. Jasper's old cellie didn't like the change, but after Felix knocked out a few teeth, the guy helped Jasper move his things.

By the time Jasper was released on parole, Felix had personally fucked up eight of the ten guys in Attica who had raped Jasper. On the foreheads of eight hardened criminals were the initials 'JMW'. The day Jasper left, Felix actually kissed him on the forehead and smiled. "I'll take care of the other two, babe. You get into any trouble on the outside, you call this guy," he told him as he handed him a piece of paper with a lawyer's name and number on it. Jasper put it in his wallet and held onto it. One never knew.

After Jasper had the man's face cleaned, he held ice on his forehead where a goose egg was forming. "Handsome? You with me?" he asked quietly as he knelt next to the man. Blood and bruises aside, the man was very handsome.

"I'm…I'll be fine," the guy responded as he attempted to sit up.

"Whoa. Take a minute. What happened to you?" Jasper asked the man as he continued to clean the blood off the man's face.

Alice showed up with the first aid kit from the kitchen. "Here. There are bandages and antibiotic ointment. Should I call the cops, or do you want me to get a cab so you can take him to the hospital?"

The man shook his head that he didn't want to go to the hospital. "Seriously, I'm fine. I was coming out of a club and two guys jumped me. They wanted to rob me, but I stupidly resisted and they beat the shit out of me, robbing me anyway. I'd rather not call the cops, and I don't want to go to the hospital. If I can use your phone, I'll be out of your hair in a little while," the guy told them.

Alice gave him the cordless phone as Jasper continued cleaning up the cuts so he could assess the damage. He'd worked in the infirmary after he settled into prison life, and he learned how to assess injuries and provide basic first aid. After Jasper cleaned him up and gave him an ice pack for the knot on his forehead, he helped him up and walked him to the counter.

Alice smiled at him. "So, honey, what's your name? You hungry?"

The man nodded. "I'm Edward. I wouldn't mind a cup of coffee and maybe a, uh…"

Jasper hopped up. "What's your pleasure? I'm the cook and I promise not to kill ya."

Edward laughed, and then moaned as he opened a cut on his split lip. Alice handed him some napkins and smiled. "The kid makes an amazing omelet, and his French toast is heavenly. My girls love when I bring it home for a treat."

Jasper felt his face turning red, so he hurried back to the kitchen. "I'll make you something special," he called as he slipped into the familiar, comfortable, background. It was the place he loved being…in the background.

He looked at the vegetables in the fridge and decided to make a vegetable frittata for the man. There were potatoes left from the home fries, and he knew Liam dumped the leftovers when he arrived, preferring to make his own things fresh.

Thinking of his training, Jasper allowed his imagination to take over. He sautéed mushrooms, onions and peppers. He grated a few kinds of cheese, and he pulled out a skillet, into which he poured coriander seeds, green peppercorns, chili powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes. He heated the left over home fries on the flat top, and stirred the spices in the skillet, finally grinding them in an old coffee grinder to combine in the egg mixture.

Five minutes later, he put a three-egg frittata into the oven to finish cooking as he heated some French toast on the flat top while he melted butter into syrup. When the food was ready, he carried it out instead of calling Alice to serve the man. He placed the plates in front of Edward and smiled.

"My take on a Spanish frittata and French toast. Dig in. It's on me," he offered.

Edward leaned forward and sniffed. "This smells amazing. I don't have any money right now, but I'll…" he began.

Alice laughed and touched his shoulder. "Honey, don't worry about it. Jasper likes to show off a little because he's in culinary school, and the crowd here isn't very adventurous. Truth be told, you're a guinea pig. If you get sick you can't come back on us because we aren't gonna charge ya. Now, eat," she ordered.

Alice and Jasper watched Edward dig into his meal, and based on the moans and groans, it seemed to be a hit. Before the man was finished, Jasper shook his hand and offered him money, which the man turned down.

After Liam showed up and the morning crowd started to show, Jasper left the diner feeling proud of himself for the good deed he'd done for a stranger. In a very twisted way, it was almost like he was paying it forward for what Felix had done for him. He chose not to dwell on that too much as he walked down Queen's Way to his mother's home. He wasn't sure where Edward was going to sleep that early morning, but he was grateful for his twin bed and the comfort of home. It wasn't anything to dismiss, and he didn't. It was amazing to be home.

…

[E/N: I know it sounds dark, but I hope you'll give it a shot. I truly love this Jasper's gentle strength. He's empathetic but not obvious (I hope!). Thank you for reading.]