Right, new story and it's slightly different.

I actually can't think of anything else to say now which is very unusual.

Well enjoy, and reviews are always good especially for the first chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognise.

The Prelude

Texas

March, 1846

'With this Ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen'

It was raining outside as he said those words to Isabella and slid the ring onto her finger. He smiled down at her cautiously as she gazed down at her now, permanently adored, finger.

The reception occurred without incidence. They ate and drank. There was dancing and talking. People came up to them, giving them best wishes for the future. There were jokes about the wedding night, tips about being a good wife for Isabella and the same for Jasper. There were moments where they would catch each other's eye and shy smiles would be exchanged.

It was past one in the morning by the time Jasper and Isabella were released from her parent's house. Her brother had taken Jasper aside before they left, leaving Isabella with a sleeping father and a mother who just stared at her. She shuffled uncomfortably, glancing around her...no, her parents living room. Her mother's mouth moved slightly giving the hint that she was going to speak but before she did, Jasper returned to the living room, laughing.

'Ready?' he asked, walking away from her brother

'Yes,' She told him, picking up her white wedding shawl and hugging goodbye her mother and brother.

Stepping onto the front grass and turning towards their new home, Jasper picked up her arm, and secured it next to him, linking it with his.

'Thank you.' He told her quietly as they turned a corner.

'You're meant to say that when I agreed to marry you.' She joked, smiling up at him.

Looking down at her, Jasper smiled in return. She hadn't really looked like his Bella today. Her dress had been slightly too fashionable for her. The neck had been lower than he was use to and he didn't know if he liked it. Her hair had been brushed and pinned within an inch of its life. She looked older. She looked like a Bride.

They walked in silence turning corners and dodging trees until they reached their new home. It was the same as most of the houses in the area. White with a blue trim, a porch with an old swing in it, just an average marital home. Inside Isabella had already made sure it was kitted out. Old sofas and chairs had been re-upholstered, pictures had been hung, bedrooms decorated, their belongings already moved in.

Isabella removed her arm from his, and began to walk slightly quicker. Jasper slowed down, looking at his new home, at his new wife, at his new life. He shook his head, trying to remove that feeling. He had chosen this, he had chosen Bella. She had agreed. It was an arrangement. But somehow staring at it all, made it actually really. That everything had really changed. They weren't just best friends anymore; they were Major and Mrs Jasper Whitlock. They were meant to be something.

Bella walking up the steps to the porch, snapped him out of his thoughts. And he quickened his pace to catch up.

'Well, that's that then.' Isabella declared as she walked inside their new home, surveying the hall in the dim light.

'Umm, hello?' He coughed behind her. She turned around to see him leaning against the doorway still outside on the porch, looking just as boyishly handsome as he always had.

'Yes, my dear?' she said sarcastically, placing a hand on her hip.

He didn't reply in words, but instead beckoned her forward, putting out his arm to pull her out of the door. She cocked her head at him, silently questioning. He just shook his head and in a second she was whipped off her feet. Securing her in his arms, he walked over the threshold. He kept her in his arms until they entered the front sitting room. Then he threw her unceremoniously onto the sofa, laughing.

Collapsing on the seat on the other side of the fireplace, he told her, 'Now we're a married couple.'

'Oh, because it's that, that makes us married.' She replied, sitting up.

He looked at her and smiled very slightly at her.

'Tea?' She asked, after a moment or two of pure silence.

'Please.'

She wandered off, filling the kettle with water and placing it on the hob. She surveyed her new kitchen. It was smaller than the one at her parents, but it fitted. It was only the two of them and soon it would only be her. A lump caught in her throat as she thought of it and sniffed away the tears that where threatening to fall. Leaving the kettle to boil she walked upstairs and into their new room. The bed lay in the middle of the room, taunting her. She whipped her head away from it and hurriedly got herself out of her hideous wedding dress. She hadn't liked it, it was too... everything. She quickly buttoned up an old blue dress, and unpinned her hair. She looked at the dress folded over a chair. Tomorrow she would wash it and then find a suitable box for it. Then put it away.

She almost ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, thankful that the water had yet to boil. She stared out the window, onto their back garden. She was planning what to do with while fixing her hair into a plait when the water boiled. She pulled herself up, tucked the stray hairs behind her ears and busied herself with tea making.

Jasper sat on his chair, staring into the unlit fireplace. How was he meant to do this? This thing, that was going to have to happen, how was he meant to? This was Isabella he was thinking about. His best friend. He hadn't even thought of her as a girl - woman- till a few years ago. And now he was meant to..?

When Isabella re-entered the room carrying a tray, Jasper had a pipe in his mouth, leaning against the fireplace, deep in thought

'Well that's a sight I never thought I'd never seen.' Isabella declared, putting the tray of tea down on the occasional table next to his chair. He turned to look at her; silently pleased that she had changed to look more like Bella, but that somehow made this worse.

'Well I'm an old married man now; I thought I'd better start with a pipe.' He informed her, as she poured two cups of tea.

Picking up her cup she sat down on the sofa looking at him, 'You think too much.'

'I find that very hard to believe.' He informed her, placing his pipe down in its stand and bringing the cup to his lips.

'You're over thinking every Jazz, don't. We'll work it out. We always do. Now drink your tea. Then we'll go to bed.' She said it with such confidence, that Jasper had to look right at her, to be sure that she meant it. To anyone else it would have look like she did. But looking at her, Jasper saw that frightened, lost look behind her eyes, and knew he was the cause.

He wasn't sure how he was meant to do this. But still there are some things you just have to do. As they finished their tea and Bella left with the tray, his mind floated to his conversation with her brother.

He had taken him outside into the Swan's back garden, the garden he had spent his childhood playing in. Paul had sat down and told Jasper to do the same. Paul was younger than them, at 16 he was barely a man, but still he sat there, looking at Jasper. And the feeling that Paul wasn't just one of his childhood friends, hit him, he was a brother, he may have been younger, but he was still a brother.

'Jasper, look, I...' Paul trailed off and stood up, 'Jazz I don't care to know why you and Bells are married or what arrangement you made. Though I can guess. But promise me that you'll be good to her.'

'Paul..' He had gone to interrupt, but Paul's hand had gone up stopping him.

'Let me just say this, Jazz and then we'll forget it ever happened. If Pa wasn't asleep in the front room, he'd be threatening you.'

He had silently agreed with this, Charles Swan had already threatened to kill him 3 times. He was thankful he had collapsed before the 4th.

'But I can't do that, your Jazz. I know that you and Bells are best friends, but that's worlds apart from being husband and wife. Just promise me that you'll look after her, that you'll be kind and loving. Because rest assured Jasper, if you don't I won't care that you are my friend or that you're a major in the confederate army...' He didn't finish the sentence, he didn't have to. Jasper understood. He had nodded at Paul and patted his shoulder.

Going over the conversation in his head, Jasper had found himself making his way to their bedroom. He noticed the wedding dress over the chair. He sat down on the bed, breathing deeply. He could do this.

When he finally heard Bella's feet on the steps, he was lying under the covers, his military suit he had worn for the wedding discarded for a nightshirt.

When Bella opened the door to the room, her eyes went wide at the sight of him in bed. Smiling shyly at him, she disappeared behind the screen sat in the corner. There was a 'oaf' from her, as she got tangled in her nightdress, He stopped himself laughing at her Bella-like traits, glad that they hadn't been lost when the priest had declared them husband and wife. She eventually came out from behind the screen, dressed in a simple green nightdress.

'Guessing that's not the one that your ma got for you?' He asked her sarcastically.

'No, I can go put that one on, if you'd like?' She joked at him, staring at the bed.

'You have to actually get in.' He told her, If he could make this jokey then perhaps it seem less strange, except it wasn't working. They both knew what he was doing, and what they...

She did get in, and laid there stiffly, staring at the ceiling. Without warning she rolled over and blew out the only candle that was giving them light. Being in the dark made them both hyper aware for the other one.

Before Jasper could say or do anything to get the ball rolling, Bella spoke to him in a timed voice, unlike anything he had heard her use before. 'Could we not, tonight Jazz, I just...' She trailed off as Jasper pulled her into him. He kissed the top of her head.

'No not tonight.' He smiled. They were going to be okay, he could feel it. They'd work all of this marriage stuff out together. They were Jasper and Isabella, Jazz and Bella. Nothing had really changed.

Of course everything did.

A month later Jasper walked out of the house wearing his uniform and promised her that he'd be back.

Unlike all of his other promises he didn't keep that one.

A/N

Well that was hard, I normally write in 1st person, but that needed to be in 3rd. Thankfully from now on I'll switch back to 1st , so it'll be better, because that's easier.

Reviews are always good.

See you next time for...2011

Ta

X

P.S. If you are interested, their house is like the Radley house in 'To kill a Mockingbird.' It doesn't matter at all, but if you are someone who likes a picture. That's how I saw it, just not so scruffy, and in colour.