Disclaimer: No. No I don't own it. No I don't earn from it, but YES! My Plot! *evil laugh* .

Buongiourno. Yes, that is spelled wrong, and yes, I apologise to any natives who are offended by it. Perhaps my GCSE teachers (god, that was a while), would have been better at teaching me how to spell? Hmm... indeed.

Moving on.

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Prologue

They had been consistently silent together, preferring to sit and wait as comfortably as they could in such an uncomfortable room, rather than pressing the matter of their discomfort by voicing it out loud.

Coffee cups had been easily drained, then filled, then slowly drained again, though he could no longer bear the strong, bitter taste of the liquid from the crappy machine, coupled with the slow, soft smell of her perfume. He thought a little about the homework that he had left on his desk, piling up on the varnished wood, and thought a hell of a lot about the woman beside him. Her hands flicked open and closed as she stressed over the situation, biting her bottom lip over and over as she tried to fight the electricity in the air. It was so strong that it hurt.

"We're keeping her in." Her head snapped to the boy beside her.

"It doesn't look good," He leaned against her and laid his hand on her leg.

She took a deep breath and fought the desire to steal her boy away from the madness that was revolving around them. His mother lay in the hospital, maybe dying, maybe not, and all she could think of was stealing him away? It was pathetic.

"Jasper..." She lost her words to a sigh and felt him lean into her. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders in the silence. It was a comfort, really, to know she was there, warm and solid – a body he knew, he trusted, he wanted but could not have.

His hand found hers as she sat, running her thumb lightly across his collarbone and holding his shoulder, squeezing tightly as his fingers touched the back of her hand. Her response, a reflexive twitch to reassure him she was there, made him smile for half a second, maybe not even that. She sighed and his eyes fluttered closed as his head fell against her chest, feeling the rhythmic rise and fall of it and loving it, needing it, holding onto it.

"Jasper?" She tried again a couple of minutes later, a few seconds into the silence – or maybe it was hours, time as a concept had collapsed away and he didn't recognise it any longer.

In response to her words, he made a soft, non-committal noise and nodded slowly into her skin, into her shirt.

"It's..." She took a long, deep breath and bowed her head to his, her hair a curtain from the world that left them in their own tiny bubble. "You know it's all going to be okay, right?" She tilted her head and brushed her lips against his cheek. He let out a long sigh and opened his eyes to her, electric blue irises locking with hers for the longest time. Slowly, he nodded, letting out another sigh and trying so hard to be brave, be strong for everyone – for her, for his mother... for himself.

"I know," He whispered, "But... it's hard, you know?" He was surprised at the way his own voice broke, cracking midway through his words.

"I know, kiddo," She laced her hands in his shaggy, explosive, unruly blonde hair, and let him lean his head against her, let him hold on. He needed her. It was her, he knew, and she knew in her heart of hearts, that it was him. "Do you want to come home with me tonight? I'll look after you, you know?" He bit his lip, wondering if he could make it through the night with just a simple wall between them. They sighed collectively, and biting her lip, she ducked her head again, this time looking away, out of the stone cold window to a grey and depressing night.

"Yes," He paused, "Please, miss."

He hadn't called her that in six months, and it was this retreat that terrified her more than anything. Just as she had taken to calling him 'Kiddo' to keep him in line in the classroom, he had responded by calling her every name under the sun but her own, a small price to pay for the friendship that had been formed by neighbourly dinners, broken fences and the tutoring she had offered when he had lost it completely.

Biting her lip once more, and bowing her head to stare at her shoes, she rose, quickly finding the doctor in charge of Emilia Whitlock's case. Jasper sighed, rubbing his eyes as he watched her, lips pressed together in a tight, furious line. She couldn't leave him, he couldn't cope with that. Not tonight.

"He'll be safe," He heard her speaking to Carlisle Cullen, "Ms. Whitlock won't need to panic, she knows me, and she knows I'll look after him."

"Emilia knows you?" He nodded, "The neighbour, I believe?"

"Yes sir." She smiled, tossing her hair over her shoulder and pulling it back into a bun that Jasper knew, recognised and loved.

"I'll let you take him, then."

Nodding, smiling and shaking like a leaf, she grinned and returned to Jasper, who sat curled up, silent on the plastic seat, eyes closed and his head dropped to his chest.

"Hey," She sat down beside him, "Kiddo?" He glanced up and stared at her for a fraction of a second, "Jasper, honey?" Her hand touched his face and the speed that his head snapped to attention, to stare straight into her eyes was almost whiplash-inducing. She winced at it herself, though she hadn't felt a thing.

"Y-yes, Bella?" She smiled at his response.

"I'm going to take you home," She whispered softly, "Are... you okay?"

"Can we go?" A small pause where he looked down at his hands sadly, not wanting to be apart from her, "I have keys, you can drop me off and then-"

"I'm looking after you, Jasper." She held out her hand, and before she could blink, he had wrapped his palm around hers, "I promise you, Kiddo, I'm not letting you out of my sight."

But as she pulled the door between the ward and the real world open, and for a half-second, his hand slipped from hers, she realised that Jasper wasn't really a kid any more.

It terrified and thrilled her, both at the same time.

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Please to Review?

Much love ...

Xxx

Oh, the rambling. I've not been well. I've been working on another fic – "Rowers on the River" in collab with Mouse 555 (On both our profiles, do check it out, she's awesome.) as well as this, which smacked me in the face while I was, unfortunately, not making out with a hottie, AND "39 Reasons..." Which I will hopefully update tonight or tomorrow. If I don't die in the meantime.