One shot Twilight
The first time I saw him was when I was in terrible loss. The first time he touched me was when I was in terrible pain. His cold hands touched me with gentle care and warmth. He was heaven sent. When he decided to take me in instead of leaving me to the care of my social worker, I was speechless. He even went as far as naming me. Christine. Christine Jasmine Cullen. The first thing that went through my mind was, 'What did I do to deserve what I did?'
Ten years later, he still had not changed, not even a little bit and so were his wife and other adopted sons and daughters. When I was about seven years of age, he began to tell me about the family secrets and why we had to move so much. A secret that bind us beyond legality and beyond flesh and blood.
For three years, I never knew what Carlisle, Edward, Jasper and the rest felt when they were in the same room as I was. I never knew why Jasper never touched me. I never knew why Alice was always so happy when I was around and I never knew why Edward was always so kind to me.
When the secret came out between us, we were even more bonded than ever. My eldest brother and protector, Emmett, my big cheerful sister, Alice, my other protector and best friend, Edward, and my shoulder to cry on and my study buddy, Jasper. As for Rose, she will always remain Rosalie, the one I call after if I want to escape the fantasy life with Alice, which is a rare case.
It had been years that I had been pleading for to be turned into them. Carlisle did not say yes nor did he say no. He had been stalling for more than four years now. Edward was strongly against it. So were Jasper, Alice, Emmett and Rose. Especially Jasper.
"Hey, Jazz." I greeted him as soon as I got home. He was already in the upper level living room, silently and patiently waiting for me. Alice, Rose and Edward were out hunting without him again. He just replied with a smile, that same solemn smile that he always gave when he was disappointed in himself.
"Jasper, what's wrong?" I asked as I kept my distance from him. I knew well enough when he was unfit to be around humans, but I had a hunch this was not one of those times.
"I won't bite, I promise," Jasper said, humoring me. His tone was a bit softer than his appearance. "You're afraid of me?" he asked.
"Don't be silly, Jasper. You know I'm never scared of you, even if you will bite me. You know how tense you are if you're thirsty… Are you?" I asked, unsure of what he was feeling. He just shook his head. As I usually did, I hugged him and took all his scent in as if I would never meet him again. I had no idea why I did it. Like a ritual of ours when ever Jasper and I meet, I would always do that to him. Every day, I'll miss him the most if I don't see him for more than five hours.
"I miss you," I said inadvertently under my breath. I could feel his lips curve into a thin smile. This time more like he was happy and content to be with me. Alone. Sort of telling me something that I could not decipher. I finally sat beside him and leaned on his chest. Although I could feel his breathing, I missed the sound of a heartbeat other than my own. I wrapped my hands around his waist and closed my eyes as tightly as I could, imagining the sound of another heartbeat. Jasper wrapped his arm over my shoulders protectively.
"Alice saw something." He finally broke the silence. I looked up at him, questioning him with my eyes. He loved to talk in puzzles and riddles. There wasn't a smile on his face anymore, not even a hint of it. It was replaced by mere sorrow and confusion.
"Is it about me?" I asked. His eyes were in anguish. The golden flakes in his topaz eyes froze still. As if the life was stolen from them when he mentioned what Alice saw. "Jasper?" I whispered.
"Everything is fine, right?" he questioned. His voice was filled with wariness and fear. I just nodded. I looked at him, searching for an answer for the doubt he has. If he had a heartbeat I swore it could beat as fast as Alice's Porsche could go or maybe faster.
"Yes," I answered for my part, doubtfully. "Unless Alice said otherwise, I guess," I said to him. As I looked into his eyes, searching for an answer, he tried to manipulate the hormones in me, making me less anxious for the answer. He was probably hoping for me to forget what he had just said.
"Jasper, what is it? And stop that. You know it won't work on me," I said as I slapped his arm.
"Awhh…" He reacted to the pain. I knew it was not that painful and he was just being a baby about it, but he always just reacted like any other normal human just for my entertainment. "It hurts you know." He winced.
"Very funny, Jazz," I said as I stood up to stand in front of him. I am not that tall in my four feet and eleven inches frame. I'm just a little bit taller than Alice, nothing compared to Jasper, but while he was sitting he still had to look up at me.
"Why wouldn't everything be fine, Jazz?" I asked. I was not angry but my voice was a little harsher than I expected it to be. He just sighed. "Jasper Whitlock Hale, you better tell me what is going on," I said. "Is something going to happen to me? Something bad?" I questioned. He looked away from me without even answering.
Without saying another word I walked away from him. Even if I walked or even ran, I could never outrun him. So what is the point in running from Jasper physically? Well, for one it is a statement, but the other reason was just to show that I was walking away from him emotionally.
"Princess, come on. Don't do this," Jasper said as he came up beside me. "I don't know how to tell you. I really don't," he said.
"What could possibly be so bad that you are not able to tell me? Jasper, it's me. I've lost my family, I've known that my new family are not normal, I've dreamt of my death over and over for the past fifteen consecutive days. What can possibly be worse than looking to my own death over and over every day?" He cringed as he listened to what I said.
"Is that it? She saw me dying?" I questioned. He did not even need to answer. I knew that was it, with his bleak reaction. It had to be the reason. He was very against me being turned but he was also afraid to let me go. I knew that for a fact since if Edward was not beside me, he would either force Alice to stick beside me at all times or he would.
"Emmett knows?" I asked him. He just shook his head. "Edward?" Again he shook his head. "Mom, Dad and Rose?"
"No one knows. She asked me to talk to you first," Jasper replied. He hesitated to even tell me about what Alice told him. "But I can't. What she saw, well, it was not, I don't know if I can restrain myself." He hesitated while he spoke. "All the blood, God, what if…"
"Chris…" Emmett's voice suddenly called from downstairs. Emmett was a little over protective over me if I was alone with Jasper, even when he knew Jasper would rather die rather than hurt me or turn me into a vampire. "Christine… where are you?" he called again.
I sighed at Jasper. Now he could not talk about it since Emmett was here and we had lost our time alone for the day. "Up here, in Daddy's study," I replied and I stepped into Carlisle's study room and inched to the racks full of first editions classics as Jasper sat at one corner of the room.
In less than ten seconds Emmett was up beside me. His strong scent was unlike Jasper's or Edward's. He smelled deeper and stronger. "Hey, baby girl. How are you today?" he said as he ruffled my hair and kissed the top of my head. I just looked up at him and smiled. "You look flushed. Hurt or angry?" he asked with slight hint of annoyance in his voice as he turned to Jasper who was shaking his head.
"Both," I replied as I glared at Jasper. "He wouldn't tell me what Alice told him about me," I complained. I knew I could be a little brattish when either Edward or Emmett was present, especially towards Jasper. Jasper just sighed at my remark. Emmett knew my tricks. He knew me more than I knew myself, maybe a little less than Edward and Jasper but definitely more than myself.
"You solve that yourself with your brother," he said nonchalantly, clearly not wanting any trouble with anyone today. I pouted, annoyed at the fact that one was keeping secret about me from me and that another was doing nothing to help me about it. I knew they were just trying not to hurt anyone, namely me, but sometimes I felt suffocated because I was being overprotected by everyone.
"Come on. Don't do that," Jasper said, smiling up at me. "Come here," he said, shaking his head as if he instantly regretted it. I walked slowly towards him and stood right in front of him. Emmett took a seat on the other chair opposite Jasper.
"Okay, I'm going to tell you. Just don't freak out and think too much about it. Okay?" he asked. I kept as still and as quiet as I could. Truthfully, I was terrified as well as excited to hear what he was going to say. "Okay?" he asked again. I did not realize that I had not answered him. "Christine?" he said.
"Okay." I nodded and he motioned for me to sit on his lap. He could really be persuasive when he wanted to, not even having to use his powers. I sat on his lap but I could feel Emmett's eyes burning a hole on my back as he giggled as leaned my heavy head on Jasper's chest. I glared a piercing glare back at Emmett.
"I swear, one day you're going to swallow me whole with that glare," Emmett joked. Jasper just rolled his eyes. I looked back up at his face. The golden flakes seemed to be dancing in the topaz of his eyes, they seem to be getting the life back in them.
Jasper just let out a little laugh at the motion. "Well, I don't know how to tell you. The way Alice saw it." He hesitated. "I hope I don't have to see it. I wish Alice didn't foresee it," he said. His voice was again solemn with grief. I looked up at him, listening intently. My eyes did not move a bit while he spoke.
He closed his eyes as if he was trying to forget what Alice had said to him. The words seemed to burn him. His protective arm around my waist seemed to tighten as if someone would snatch me from his arm right that second. Emmett's breathing seemed to stop. "There was blood everywhere on the floor. You are lying in my arms, lifeless. The small dark room was bathed in your blood. All over me… but none on my face. She's unsure whether I did it or someone else did, though it was humanly impossible for a person to do that. There were no bite marks, not at all, not that she could see off . You were wearing…" He trailed off as he told the story in agony.
"Edward's clothes. His light blue Armani t-shirt without anything else," he continued. My heart beat like a bullet train running a thousand miles per hour. Cold sweat covered my now trembling body. It was just like my dream, the dreadful dream I keep trying to forget.
"Like my dream," I whispered. "It's going to come true." My voice quivered. I was not sure whether it was a result of my fear or because I was trembling in Jasper's arm. "Jazz, I'm scared. What if it comes true?" I asked. "What if even in death, I am tempt you and lure you to be what was?"
"I swore, and I promise, I will never be like I was before. I will never hurt you. I swear I'll never do that," Jasper said as he caressed my hair softly. "I will never even sip at your blood. I will not have a drop of your blood in me for me to be filled with guilt my whole life. Life or dead, your blood I will never taste."
"You didn't kill me. I…" I choked, unable to get the word out of my mouth. I was not sure to tell them the whole dream I had been having or not. Emmett was by my side, sitting on the floor as his big strong hand touched me lightly, giving me strength and filling me with control. "I, I…" I stammered.
"What is it?" Emmett asked softly. A single tear streaked down my cheek. I reached for Emmett's hand and held it tight.
"I killed myself," I said. They both look at me questioningly. Now sobbing, I could barely hear other noises other than my heartbeat and my sobs.
Without them realizing, Edward, Alice and Rose were already home, and apparently they had heard what I had said. Swiftly Edward took me into his protective arms and let me cry. I buried my head into his stony cold chest as he sat down on my bed.
"Who did this to you?" he asked quietly. He read my mind. He could not literally read my mind as he could to other people, but as an elder brother, his instinct was beyond any human. "Who hurt you?" he questioned. He did not need an answer; he just needed to let me know that I was protected.
The last thing I remember was me soaking Edward's t-shirt with my tears. I woke up with my brothers and sisters in my room. Edward was on the bed reacting to every move I made even in my sleep, Jasper was waiting patiently on the floor at the foot of my bed, Emmett and Rosalie were unwearyingly waiting on the couch for me to wake up, and Alice was beside me, caressing my hair softly and caringly.
The first person I looked for when I woke up was Jasper. I jolted up from bed and into his arms, panting. Edward crouched beside Jasper, humming a melody that soothed me in hope to relax me. The dream had been more intense and felt more real than ever.
"Tell me what's wrong," Jasper whispered softly. Edward caressed my hair softly as Jasper held me close to him. My eyes still stung from the endless tears streaming down my face.
"I saw the man," I replied in sobs. It was not easy to talk and to control my tears. Jasper soothed me more. He could feel the pain I felt. He could feel the fear and anguish I was feeling. "He raped me. He raped me," I cried over and over again. "He's masked. He tore me. He slashed me… he… he…" I could not continue. I was afraid to remember the dream. I was afraid of the extent that my family would go to to save my honor.
Rosalie fell silent. Emmett was speechless. Edward was shocked. Jasper and Alice could not digest my story as I told them that I was better. Rose knew how it felt; she had been through it herself. Emmett swore he would never let the person or people go without avenging me.
We swore to each other. We swore not to let this information or even the hint of it to Carlisle or Esme. From that day on I was never alone, not even while I slept, especially when I slept while Edward and the boys are hunting. Because I was so used to wearing Edward's blue Armani as my nighty when they were gone.
While my dreams came and went and the material stuff wore off, the protectiveness of my siblings never did. Even if I was strong enough to fend for myself now, they would still protect and care for me.