This is a Jasper/Oc fanfiction. Basic things: Everything that happens in the twilight saga happens, the only difference is the new character added and no Alice/Jasper. There will be no bashing in this story so please no flames. It is rated T for now but will be raised to M once I start getting closer to New Moon for Explicit Sexual Situations (aka Lemons/Smut/Limes). Sorry if it's a slow start but let's be real Twilight had a bit of a slow start too.

Note: Obviously Jasper and Avery are mates but people constantly write about someone seeing their mate and falling in love at first sight. That's imprinting... So I'm taking more of a falls in love slowly type of thing like Carlisle and Esme did. And yes it will be a slow beginning because it follows twilight. Sorry but no good smut till New Moon.

This and maybe the very last chapter will be the only ones in 1st person, the rest will be 3rd person.

Life of a Reluctant Mate

Twilight

Prologue: Avery's Story

I was born in Lawrence, Kansas to seventeen year old June Hennessey and her eighteen year old sweetheart, Alcide Carter. June was beautiful, with dirty blonde hair framing a pixie face and an eternally glowing tan complexion which only enhanced her pale green eyes. The green eyes that had captured my father's attention, as well as his heart. In return Alcide was a contrast of her, his skin a harsh tan from summers spent in Louisiana as a child, with almost black hair and storm gray blue eyes.

They were an interesting couple.

June was about reading, writing, and all about expression with a free spirited heart. Her flowing dresses and skirts and beaded gypsy tops made the pregnant teenager stand out in the little community of Lawrence. She used her books to escape the real world as well as gain knowledge of a world she would never be able to explore herself.

Alcide was a soldier through and through. After coming from six generations of military he knew what he wanted to be before anyone had ever really asked him.

They were so different, yet their love complimented each other perfectly. They had gotten pregnant but refused to marry, saying they would do so out of love not obligation.

Nine months later they had me.

Avery June Carter.

They lived in a tiny house while they both went to college, and raised me with the help of friends and family that stayed by their side. To them it was a messy, crazy, perfect, life. Sadly nothing perfect lasts for long…

My mother had died when I was seven years old. We had been camping in the mountains when it happened. At the time we were in the middle of a drought, when the rainstorms suddenly appeared everyone was unprepared for the multiple flash floods that over took the county. The floods had caused millions in damages and close to hundreds in lives. My mother was one of those lives. She had seen the rain storm and had wanted to rush home in hopes of spending as much time as a family as possible before my father was deployed for his first tour. I remember watching the rain hit the mountain and the river nearby grow. The water turning a yellowish brown as it took over the banks and surrounding land. We had made it to the car and gotten a good few yards away when the water seemed to come crashing down the mountain side, rumbling like thunder as it cleared trees, shacks and even boulders. That was the last thing I remember seeing before everything went black.

I woke up in a blue and yellow room with clown on the wall. I hated clowns, they were scary and even at that age I knew nothing should be that damn cheerful all the time, it just wasn't natural. So the first thing I did was cry. I cried for my mommy like the child I was, I wouldn't deal with the doctors or nurses, I only wanted my mother.

However, she was busy being autopsied in the room twenty floors beneath me. My father came in though,...it was the first of very few times I had ever seen him cry. He was heartbroken hearing his baby girl call out for her momma. He held me for six hours that night cuddling and crying with me at the lost of the late great June Hennessey.

It took a while for me to understand. In all honesty I think I figured out she was never coming back before he did. It wasn't uncommon for him to be working on something or another and begin to call her name when he needed a tool or a piece, the same thing happened when he would call through the house looking for me. His odd state of mind had allowed him to stay with me for another year before being deployed. That year I had spent most of my time with my mother's parents. I didn't call them grandma and grandpa though, they had only come into my life after my mom's death. I think they just wanted the last remaining piece of their daughter they had so foolishly let go of all those years ago.

I spent the next four years with Lucy and Hank, my mother's parents. At the age of twelve my father finally came home, but he wasn't the same. It wasn't like the normal soldier who came back a bit different.

It wasn't him...it was me.

I could see it in his eyes when he looked at me. It was at that age I really had started to look like my mother. My once golden brown hair had turned into a golden strawberry blonde. My eyes were no longer his pale blue but a mixture of light green and blue with gray and silver flecks. My time spent in Hank's library had lightened my skin from his dark tan to my mothers natural glow. My baby fat now gone, revealed June's high cheekbones and nose.

I had become a living mockery of his lost love.

When I was thirteen he had decided to give up custody of me to Hank and Lucy. I wasn't devastated like most kids. If anything I was relieved to be done with this train wreck of a father-daughter relationship. He moved to Washington, a small town named Forks, soon after.

The night before he left, he came to me and hugged me for the first time since he had been back. He kissed my forehead and held me to him. It was the second time I ever saw him cry. We both new what it was, it wasn't an "I'll miss you" or "I love you". It was "goodbye", the final step in setting us both free from the obligation of trying to salvage what little claim we had to each other. He would move on with his life and I could now move on with mine.

We didn't talk to each other directly after that.

Lucy was the only one that talked to him, maybe because she was the only one besides the two of us that knew this was what needed to be done. The calls were simple, anything big happened in my life like a new school or injury or award Lucy would mention it to Alcide, as I had then begun to call him, and in return Lucy would tell me if anything important happened in his. We kept personal information out of it, we were more acquaintances then family by now. Polite niceties and vague interest our only exchange.

Don't get me wrong I'm not fond of my father, but to see people look at me with pity in their eyes and hear the whispers about him were uncalled for. Alcide was a good man, honest, loyal, polite, caring, and everything else he needed to be. He was a good man that just drew the short end of the stick and had no idea how to deal with the aftermath. I guess in weird way I'm grateful for it, maybe even a bit proud. It's one thing to abandon your kid for the hell of it, easier when you don't care, but what Alcide did was different. He loved me, that I knew, and to walk away from someone you love because you want what's best for them, even knowing how people would judge you…well, that was something no one would ever understand besides us.

The first time I saw him after we had gone our separate ways was at Hanks funeral when I was fourteen. He had attended out of respect and thanks for taking care of me. We made eye contact and nodding politely to one another before he took his leave. I pretended not to notice at the time but later that night his tearful eyes when he looked at me was all I could think about. Did he miss me? Did he regret leaving? Did he want me back? Was it because I looked like mom? These questions ran through my head till a sudden feeling of resentment came over me. It was then for the first time in my life I had ever felt lost and abandoned.

When I was fifteen Lucy informed me my father had volunteered another eight years into the army. I didn't know what to feel about this so I decided to feel nothing. Again, he wasn't really family as much as an acquaintance. Then again I guess I would worry either way, family or not.

Life continued as normal for me the next two years. I had friends, boyfriends, hobbies, extra curricular activities, etc. However that was all thrown off when I was pulled out of class by my Principle. Lucy had had a heart attack and was becoming increasingly sick. I spent the last year of my normal life taking care of her. The last week of her life I knew it was coming to an end. I was suddenly bombarded with grief, sadness, anger, and various other emotions I had suppressed my life to make it easier on the ones I loved. I had skipped school the last week, focusing all my attention on Lucy and making her happy and comfortable. She was the last one I had left, the only person who had loved me unconditionally and somewhere along the way, I had fallen in love with her mothering ways as well. It was the first and last time I had ever called her grandma. I kissed her hand, told her I loved her, and for the first time, called her something more meaningful then 'Lucy'.

She died the next day from another heart attack.

I can say in all honesty I was a fully independent person by this point. Sadly the state of Kansas didn't see it that way. They had tried to put me in foster care but I had taken them to court. After a few months fighting, it was decided I would be free to live on my own with my trusts and inheritance if I completed my high school education and moved into my fathers empty house in Forks until the age of eighteen.

I agreed to the terms and found myself standing in Alcide's empty house. As it turned out my father had placed a deed on the estate and given Lucy full power over the property when ever he was deployed. Of course as Lucy was now dead it had fallen in with the rest of my inheritance and become mine.

The first thing I did when I came to Forks, Washington was see Charles Swan. He was the police chief and apparently my somewhat guardian, someone to make sure I was following with the courts rulings and complying with the terms of my "independence".

I think Charlie and I had an instant understanding.

He was a man that didn't mind being alone, I was use to being alone.

He didn't hover, and I didn't get attached.

At least that was the deal in the beginning. I think what started that crack in the concrete was our second day…

Charlie took me to Alcide's which was surprisingly the only house next to his. He gave the keys and helped me bring in the stuff I took with me, just a few bags. I was surprised to see the house was in pristine clean condition seeing as my father had been gone for almost three years now.

"He had friends that hire someone to come clean for him." Charlie explained at my confused look. I nodded and let him take me on the tour. The living room was kinda homey with large couches, rugs, TV, and other basic odds and ends like a fire place, tables, pictures etc…

The kitchen looked brand new and never before used it was all so shiny and clean. "There's no food in the house, your old man lived on take out" Charlie smirked.

"Mom did all the cooking, he doesn't like kitchens, he's a bad cook." I told him honestly.

The rest of the house was like the living room, it had the basics, a few details and nick knacks to make it feel real. I had thought the tour had ended when Charlie showed me to one last room. I was at a loss for words as I entered what was clearly a bedroom. Books overran the walls on shelves over the bed, pressed up against the large window was just like it had been at my old home. On the other side a giant bookcase was filled to the top with at least a hundred or more books. What caught my eyes the most, however, was a spiral staircase tucked away in the corner next to another small window. I walked up and peeked in only to feel the sting of tears burn my eyes.. It looked like a replica of Hank's library, only in attic form with slanted ceilings.

I came back down the stairs after giving myself a moment to calm down and lose the tears threatening to spill from my eyes. "Why…"

"He wanted you back." Charlie said simply. He obviously knew about my father and I. "He wanted to bring you here to live with him but he went to your grandfather's funeral and saw you. He just couldn't do I, said you o...happier, without him. But he'd been getting information from your grandmother and had made this for you. This room is the only access to the attic, and you have your own bathroom through there-" He nodded towards what I thought was a storage space or another closet. "If you wanna change it he won't mind." Charlie's radio beeped signaling he had to get back to work soon, he ignored it and nodded for me to follow him.

We came into the garage, surprisingly empty and clean besides one hulking shadow in the center.

"He left this for you, it's in bad shape but give it a few weeks to get fixed up and it'll be like brand new." He flicked on the lights and pulled off the tattered cover. I almost buckled at the knees when I saw my mom's old car sitting there…

I think the look we exchanged after that was one of those moments you realize later on was the starting point in a series of events that lead you to where you are now.

For the next few weeks I settled into my home, got the lay out of the town and went to work with Charlie when I didn't feel like being alone. I filed paper work and took calls, even went out on lunch runs every now and then. At that point it was just common for us to have an understanding, I showed up he didn't ask questions. I didn't, he checked in to make sure I was fine but left it at that.

He wasn't my father, I wasn't his daughter.

I didn't know if I liked the oh so similar song and dance. I was thankful I didn't have to suddenly start getting use to the idea of a parental figure but at the same time I craved it. Hank and Lucy were guardians but they weren't really parents. I wanted someone to yell at me for not emptying the dishwasher, or for leaving my clothes everywhere.

I reveled in silence, but it doesn't mean as much when you don't have the noise to begin with.

That was the very beginning of it, my end. That much I decided. I guess sometimes you have to reach the end before you can really understand the beginning.

Now it's time to start the story of my last two years.

Remember…just because I'm telling you this story, doesn't mean I'm going to survive the end of it.

This is the story of a reluctant vampire mate.

This is the story of my life...

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