Authors Note: Hello everyone! So I'm thinking that this may be a Twilight Plus Two (TPT) remake. (If you haven't read Twilight Plus Two don't worry it's not required before reading this story! The characters and everything will be explained! Please excuse my 13-14 year old writing skills if you do read it though...I like to think I've improved since writing that! But maybe not! *shrugs awkwardly*)

Anyway, this story will have the same characters as TPT, but the story line will be a little different and probably a little longer. Instead of just stating the semi major plot changes of the Twilight books that I made to write TPT, I'm going to take you through them in this story. Example: Lexi and Emmett.

This story will eventually get to following the Twilight books (All four of them) but I'm taking out some scenes that I had in TPT, replacing them with different ones, and adding some things that will really make this story different from TPT.

So no one asks why I just didn't take down TPT and rewrite it to make these changes, I'll explain myself: I wanted to leave it up there because some people really enjoyed the original story and might not like the changes I'm making. I would hate to take away a story that people like and might want to reread. It'd irritate and disappoint me if an author completely changed a story I loved without keeping original up for me to read. Also, since this story is different and TPT is a completed story, it'd be so hard to try and add in chapters where they need to go and rearrange things so they make sense. And I didn't want to make a mini story/excerpt because there's too many of them and I'm changing up the story line so it's not exactly the same. I'm going to try not to have a ton of short chapters and instead have very few long ones. Now few might not turn out to be few but I promise to at least make them longer so maybe we can stay under 50! :)

Because it might take me a while to write new chapters, I'll include "previously in Chapter blank.." things so everyone remembers what happened.

Sorry this Authors Note is so long, I promise this will be the longest one! When we get to them I'll include the rest of the plot changes in the Authors Notes so anyone who hasn't read TPT still knows whats going on! Sorry once again, please enjoy the story! :)

So first couple plot changes: For one, vampires can eat. I never understood why the venom couldn't dissolve food...it can penetrate cells but not food?! They can also sleep. Never really understood why they couldn't do that either. These changes are minor I swear, there's going to be no huge changes to the story because of them. Please don't freak out on me :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, it's all Stephanie Meyer's!

"Are you sure this is it?" I asked Alice as we pulled into a long dirt driveway. As we drove a cream colored three story house came into view.

She smiled over at me, "This is it! Aren't you excited?"

"I think you have enough excitement for the both of us. Maybe try and rein it in a bit...wouldn't wanna scare em."

"I don't have to! I've already seen them taking us in!" Alice squealed and opened up her door practically running to the house.

I lingered behind a little, staring up at the big house. It looked nice on the outside; very well taken care of. Hard to believe a coven of vampires lived in it. Though it was hard to believe that vampires drank animals too, yet here I was drinking them for nearly two years now. Definitely not as good as humans, but at least I couldn't feel the animals pain and fear as I drank them.

Alice waited until I was on the front steps with her before she knocked. Confusion and slight fear seeped from the house. Something told me they weren't used to having visitors no matter how "civilized" they were.

I tugged on the sleeves of my shirt, slightly nervous myself. I knew how badly Alice wanted to be apart of their family. Imagine how awful it'd be if they didn't let her in because of me and my scars that made every vampire on edge with one glance. It doesn't matter how nice Alice says these people are, they'll still look at me the same way everyone else does; with fear.

A woman with long, wavy, caramel brown hair opened the door and looked between Alice and I. She was surprised and I was sure that was because she wasn't expecting vampires on her doorstep.

"Hello, can I help you?" Her voice sounded cautious, though she was trying to hide it.

"Esme! We finally found you!" Alice exclaimed jumping into Esme's arms, pushing her back into the house slightly since she wasn't expecting it. Esme looked at me with pure shock in her golden eyes, her arms frozen at her sides while Alice clung to her for dear life.

A blonde girl came towards us then, coming to check out all the commotion. I stared at her and did a quick check of both of their emotions to be sure that neither of them were hostile. Surprisingly, they weren't. Curiosity and nervousness, mainly from Esme, were all I picked up.

I sighed and tugged on Alice's arm, "Come on, Alice. She doesn't even know you. You're making her nervous."

Alice stepped back and grinned sheepishly, "Sorry. I'm a little excited. I've been waiting my whole life to find you guys. Can I finish coming into your house?"

Esme still looked and felt very confused but agreed nonetheless. She looked back at the blonde girl and shrugged.

Of course Alice waltzed right in and made herself at home on the couch. She wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest. I, on the other hand, was very uncomfortable and not because Esme and the other girl were.

I stood on the outskirts of their living room as I watched Alice rub the black couch to see how soft it was. There was no one else in the house but us four. Alice had said that there was four of them total in the family. I wondered where the other two were.

"Have a seat." Esme gestured to the couch as she spoke to me. She rubbed her hands together. A very human thing to do when nervous. Not that she didn't have every right to be. Two complete strangers were in her house. One acting like she'd lived there all her life and the other acting like an intruder.

Everything about this place was wrong. I knew that I shouldn't have come along but I didn't show it, "Thank you."

I moved to sit next to Alice and waited for someone to do something. The awkward pressure in the air was thick, weighing on my chest.

Alice gasped and turned towards Esme, "I completely forgot! I'm sorry! I'm Alice and this is Jasper. Sorry about earlier, like I said I'm very excited. You see, I can see the future and I saw that Jasper and I would end up with your family drinking animals just like you do! When I first became a vampire, one of my very first visions was of your family drinking animals. Ever since then I've been following your lifestyle. It's been difficult, but both of us are trying and willing to keep practicing. Please let us into your family."

"Alice," I stared at her with wide eyes, unable to believe that they'd just decide to let us in because Alice had a vision.

Esme laughed, "Well, we'll have to wait and talk to my husband and son first though I'm sure they won't have any problem with it."

Alice checked the future, "I can't see yet. But I have seen us with you so I'm sure it'll be ok! Edward and I will be great friends, I have seen that!"

"Have you seen everyone in my family?"

"Yes and I know all your names! You're Rosalie," Alice gestured to the blonde girl, "and I've seen Edward and Carlisle."

"What about you," Rosalie asked me, sitting on the couch opposite of Alice and I, "what's your story?"

I glanced at Alice and shrugged not really wanting to repeat my tales of vampire war for fear it hurt Alice's chances of getting into the family, "I'm with Alice."

It became very clear that Rosalie was not going to let it drop at that, "She's your mate?"

"No, we've just been traveling together."

"I met Jasper at a diner. I had a vision that I would meet him there and then we'd find you together." Alice added.

Rosalie nodded, "So you just decided to follow some random vampire to meet some random family that you don't know?"

"She presented an opportunity for a better life so I took it."

"A better life? What do you mean by that? Was your life bad before meeting Alice?"

I was beginning to get annoyed with her prying questions, "Let's just say it wasn't ideal."

"And this is?"

"It's the lesser of two evils."

"Can I move into Edwards room?" Alice interrupted Rosalie and I's tense conversation. I gave her a grateful look, happy that the attention was off of me.

Esme laughed, "Why don't we wait for Carlisle to get home first."

Alice sighed, "But he left the hospital two minutes ago and he's still not here."

"He'll be here soon."

Rosalie smiled an evil looking smile at me, "So back to our conversation..."

"Another time Rosalie." Esme cut her off. Thank the Lord.

As soon as I heard a car pull into the driveway I began sending Alice engulfing waves of calm in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the days earlier situation. I couldn't save Esme, but I could sure try and save her mate.

"I'll go prepare him." Esme said as she headed towards the door. It was probably for the best. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep Alice down. It seemed that for every wave of calm I sent, she radiated a wave of excitement twice as big. How could somethin' so small have so much happiness?

If Esme was talking to him I couldn't hear them. I was trying my hardest to keep Alice in check. The only thing I could see was her short black hair as I focused on sending her more powerful waves of calmness.

Suddenly Alice jumped off of the couch and I gave up sending her calm then, seeing as I'd lost the battle. My eyes met a pair of gold ones that belonged to a man with neat short blond hair that was combed back. I assumed this was Carlisle.

"I'm sorry," I apologized to him, "I tried to keep her calm so she didn't do that."

Carlisle chuckled, "That's alright."

If he was weirded out or nervous at all he didn't show it. In fact he seemed very good-natured about the whole thing. I was a little wary about the way they opened their house to strangers and welcomed us with very little questions or fear. Perhaps they too had seen us coming. But Alice had said nothing about one of them seeing the future like she did.

When Alice released Carlisle she introduced us and went into her tale of her seeing them in her very first visions. She and Carlisle sat on the couch and he listened with immense interest. He asked her questions about her gift and what she remembered of her human life, which was nothing. He was so eager to learn about her that it was frightening. Who would want to know every detail of a strangers life? More importantly, what was he going to do with this information?

Since he was asking her so many questions about her gift it was clear that he didn't have a future seeing vampire as I originally thought. I wasn't exactly sure how to react to this information. It meant that they had never seen us coming. This was good in that they couldn't spy on us, but bad because they acted towards us in such a way that was very unusual for a vampire. I'd never seen a vampire react so calmly to a stranger before, let alone two of them.

"Do you have a gift too?" Carlisle then turned his attention to me.

I looked at Alice unsure of what I should do. I really didn't want him asking twenty questions of me, but I knew Alice would frown upon me lying to him.

Ultimately I decided to try my luck at warding off twenty questions, "Um, I'm an empath. I can read and change people's emotions."

"That's incredible! You know what everyone in this room is feeling?"

I nodded.

Carlisle looked deep in thought for a brief second, "How are you able to change others emotions? What do you do?"

"I just project the emotion I want to them to feel."

"Just like that...incredible. How were you brought into the vampire world," Carlisle leaned forward slightly, glancing at my wrist, which had become exposed, "are those bite marks?"

"Can I move into Edward's room?" Alice interrupted causing Carlisle to focus on her. I immediately pulled my shirt sleeve back down and crossed my arms so my hands were invisible to him.

Carlisle glanced over at Esme, who was staring at me, "Well, I..."

"I've already seen that he'll be ok with it." Alice added.

Esme shrugged, "I guess that would be alright, as long as Edward's fine with it."

Alice jumped up, "Yay! We need to go shopping for somethings for my new room! Rosalie come with me! You need to help me decorate!"

As surprised as Rosalie was she still decided to go with, leaving me with Carlisle and Esme. I followed Alice outside, trying to ask her what she was doing.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine! Get to know them, they're good people." Alice whispered to me before she and Rosalie got in the car and took off down the road.

I watched the car until it was completely out of sight.

"Would you like to come in and sit? How about something to drink or eat?" Esme's voiced sounded behind me.

"I've never tried eating human food, but I'm good. Thank you."

She nodded, "We do have a couple bedrooms already made up, sometimes we have family that visits. Feel free to claim one as your own. You were planning on staying with us, yes?"

Her question threw me off for a moment. I'd never really considered whether I'd stay with them or not. I knew I would go with Alice to meet them, but it was never discussed whether or not I'd stay too. It'd be nice to be surrounded by vampires who drank animals too, as it'd be easier to maintain the diet. However I didn't know these people and something about staying with strangers made me wary. I did travel the country with Alice and she had been a stranger, but there was only one of Alice and I was very confident in my ability to take her down if need be. There was four of the Cullens and I wasn't as certain that I could keep Alice safe while fighting all four of them off. I also had no idea how good they were in combat. What if they were as good as me?

On the other hand, if Alice trusted them then I really didn't have a reason not too. Though Alice's visions have been wrong before. What if they were just playing nice only to turn around to kill us for their own personal enjoyment? Something about the way Esme looked told me that wasn't true, but stranger things have happened.

I hadn't realized that I didn't answer her until I saw her staring at me with a concerned look on her face, "Um, I-I'll probably stay at least for a few days, yes. Thank you again."

"Of course. You're always welcome to stay longer if you wish, too. When we said Alice could stay, we meant that both of you could." Esme gave me a smile that looked genuine and with that she turned around and went back inside, leaving the door slightly ajar.

For a while I stood outside and contemplated going back in. I didn't want to for fear that Carlisle would begin asking questions about my past, but I couldn't just stand out here until Alice got home either. She wouldn't be very happy with me if I decided to do that. She did tell me to get to know them. Maybe I could distract Carlisle by asking him questions instead. That should work.

With a game plan in mind I reentered the house shutting the door behind me. I walked into the living room and noticed a new vampire sitting on the couch where I'd sat minutes ago. My muscles tightened up instinctively and I fought the urge to crouch in a defensive stance.

He stood up immediately and looked at me, holding his hands up slightly in surrender, "It's alright, I'm Edward. I live here."

I nodded to him, attempting to relax a little, "Jasper."

"I know," Edward chuckled with a smile, "I've heard about you and your companion, Alice. I hear you're our new family members."

"Yeah, something like that." I wasn't sure how I felt about him. He was trying to make conversation with me so I'd relax a little more and not feel so tense in my living situation, so he had to be at least semi decent. Despite his appearance, with his messy bronze hair and teenage face, he gave off a very mature vibe. I could respect that.

"Thank you." Edward smiled at me and all my good feelings about him disappeared instantly. I stepped back and narrowed my eyes at him, once again fighting the urge to be defensive, as if I'd never thought about how decent he appeared.

Esme gave him a slightly disappointed look, though she felt no disappointment, only fear for him.

"Sorry," Edward apologized, "I should've warned you before I began responding to your thoughts. I'm a mind reader. I can hear what you're thinking."

I leaned back in surprise, now extremely uncomfortable with him. I hated when people picked me apart with words, but now he was going to pick me apart with no words at all. He was taking the only private place I had. Maybe I wouldn't be staying after all.

"I'm sorry. I try not to read peoples mind I promise. I do try and give my family what privacy I can. You have my word that I'll try very hard to especially not read you mind."

He seemed sincere, which put me at ease but only slightly. I was fully aware he could be just saying that. Besides, why the hell did it seem like he was trying so hard to get me, of all people, to stay?

If he heard my question he didn't respond to it, probably trying to show me how he was keeping his word.

"Nothing gets past you, huh?"

So he was trying to show me that he could keep his word...figures, "Not usually no."

Edward chuckled and moved towards a piano that they had in the corner of the room. Seeing that our conversation was over I sat on the opposite end of the couch from Carlisle hoping that he wouldn't try and ask about my past again.

Carlisle glanced at me but turned back to the book he was reading. Relief quickly washed over me. I leaned my head back and shut my eyes pondering the predicament I seemed to have gotten myself into. Edward's piano playing filled the room while I "thought." In reality I was just sitting in such a position that told everyone I wished not to be disturbed.

I did need to seriously consider whether or not I was staying with them. So far I'd been unable to decide. If nothing else I could just give it a few days and if I didn't like it then I could leave. It's not like they'd force me to stay with them. At least I didn't think so.

I went over the days earlier conversations with Carlisle and Esme. How on Earth were they not afraid of us? Esme was slightly but it didn't last long and she still welcomed us with open arms. And Carlisle, why did he want to know everything and anything about Alice? What was he doing with that information? To any other person that stuff would be off limits. You just didn't ask about a persons past. It wasn't very natural. Was he going to use it against us? I didn't see how he could possibly do that unless he planned on verbally fighting with us.

Edward's piano playing stopped abruptly, "Take a walk with me?"

All three of us, me, Carlisle, and Esme, turned to look at him but he was only staring at me. Perhaps I'd made the wrong decision in trying to stay.

"It's not that. Just come with me."

Normally I wasn't one for following people I didn't know but hell I followed Alice so I might as well follow him too. I got up and he led us out the back yard and to the woods.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked. I certainly hoped he hadn't developed romantic feelings. I did not roll that way.

Edward rolled his eyes, "No. That's not it. I just want you to know that we're not going to hurt you. That's one reason why we drink animals versus humans. We're much more civilized and less violent. Both you and Alice are perfectly safe with us. Carlisle is a doctor at the hospital in town. He's naturally curious about new talents and very eager to learn. He's not using the information against you, he just wants to get to know you. You are going to be living with us."

"I'm sorry I didn't realize you saw the future now." I told him. How the hell did he know if I was going to live with them or not?

"Jasper, that's not what I meant. I'm just trying to help you see that we're not planning to kill you. Not everyone's a bad guy. I heard you thinking about Carlisle and couldn't help it. I just want to make this more comfortable for everyone."

"Well, you're not doing a very good job. If you want to make things more comfortable I suggest you stop reading my mind."

Edward ran his hand through his hair, a very human thing to do, "At least I'm trying! You're just acting all defensive and won't even give us a chance!"

My anger rose, "No you're not. You've been reading my mind since I got here. You haven't even attempted to not read it. And I have every reason to be defensive of you! You guys are four weird vampires who just allow people the don't know to come live with them! Do you know how strange that is? Normal vampires don't do that!"

"Well if you haven't noticed, we're not 'normal' vampires."

"Clearly. So don't get angry with me for not trusting you."

Edward shook his head, "At least lighten up. You're acting like we're diseased. What is your problem?"

"What's my problem? My problem is that some nosy ass vampire is trying to pick me apart with my own mind. My problem is that some pushy ass vampire is trying to get me to tell him and his weird 'family' everything about myself. Maybe I don't want to talk about myself. Why don't you stay out of my business."

I turned then and sprinted in the other direction. I wasn't sure where I was going, I didn't know the area at all, but I had to get away from him.

Alice would be upset with me when she saw me flipping out on Edward but at this point in time I really didn't care. She could go live with them by herself. I'd survived this long on my own and, now that I knew I could drink animal blood, life could possibly be a little better. I could go live with Peter and Charlotte again, but just drink animal blood. It wasn't like Alice was my mate anyway. She was merely someone who'd showed me a better life. Of course I'd always be grateful towards her for showing me this life, but I didn't need Alice to survive. I didn't need any of them to survive.

I ended up sitting in a tree in the woods somewhere. I knew I couldn't go into town. For one, Alice would be there. And for two, I didn't quite trust myself around humans yet. I was getting better, but I was angry and wasn't completely focused. Slipping up was the one thing I did not want to do right now. Hell I didn't even want to come in contact with anyone. I just needed to alone.

And alone time I got for a while. I watched the sun begin to set; the sky fading from blue to pink. The clouds turned from white to pink to orange as they got closer to the sun. It'd been years since I'd watched a sunset.

I wasn't sure how long I was alone until Alice found me.

"Jasper, please come down." Her voice was filled with worry, as were her emotions.

"Go home, Alice."

She sighed, "Jasper, please. Edward's sorry he made you mad and everyone's worried about you. The family-"

"They're not my family Alice. They're your family." I muttered. One day and they were already supposed to be family?

"We don't have to be family, if you don't want," Edward read my freaking mind, again, "sorry, it's hard not to. Listen, I completely understand why you'd be weary of us. I think if I dealt with what you did I'd be weary of others too."

If he dealt with what I did? Alice must've told them about my past. That must've been a good story to hear.

"We all would," Esme spoke up, "what you've experienced is truly awful and it doesn't sound like you've ever really had a place to call home. We want to be that place you can call home. If you want of course, we won't force you into it but just know that our door is always open for you Jasper."

Sadness radiated off of Esme and Alice. Edward was more concerned than anything. Now I was bothering them with my problems. That's always a nice thing to do to strangers. Great job, Jasper. Though it wasn't really my fault. Alice was the one who told them.

The three emotions got more and more distant as the minutes passed. I figured they had let me be. Esme's emotions stuck in my mind for some reason. She was total stranger, yet she'd felt so much sadness for me. Most vampires were afraid when they found out the meaning behind my scars, but she was sad. It threw me off. Could someone really feel that strongly for someone they didn't know? Did other people feel bad for people they didn't know? Why didn't I do that? Had I really become that emotionally detached? Was I really that much of a savage?

"May I?" I glanced up to see Carlisle standing on a different limb, gesturing to the one I was sitting on.

I shrugged at him, "It's a public tree...and you're already up here."

He sat down next to me and sighed, "It's so peaceful up here. I've never noticed before. I usually don't spend much time in trees."

"Yeah, you don't really look like the type." Mentally I rolled my eyes at myself. That was a clever thing to say. Judge the man based on his looks. Wasn't that the same thing I always complained about? Pretty sure it was.

"I'm sorry for my curiosity earlier. I'm always interested in where people come from; their experiences. I love learning things. Possibly to a fault." Carlisle chuckled. He was nervous. But why? I wasn't going to kill him.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I muttered.

His eyes met mine, "Of course not! That's not...I don't know how..."

"Sorry, just over-analyzing your emotions. You were nervous."

"Oh. I see, sorry. I...I worry about people more than I should. Another fault. When I meet someone who's hurt, I can't help but worry for them. I want to help them, to fix their problems."

"I'm something you'd like to fix?"

Carlisle quickly backtracked, "No! No! That's not what I meant. I mean, I want people to be happy and when someone isn't happy I worry about them. I'm like that with everyone. People at the store, people at work, complete strangers, I worry about them all... You've had a hard time, Jasper. We've all had hard times. I just want you to know that, if you want, you are always welcome with us. I know I'm an acquaintance and we don't know each other very well but if you'd be more comfortable here you're always welcome."

"Thank you...I suppose I'll stay for at least tonight. Alice seemed pretty worried."

"Well, we'd be glad to have you as we've all said so many times that I'm sure you're sick of hearing it. I know Alice misses you. And Esme's kind of like me; worries about everyone she meets."

I nodded, "Yeah I got that."

"Shall we? Or if you'd rather wait..." He stood up, pleased that I was coming back.

I shook my head and followed him back to his house. Alice met me at the door and quickly hugged me.

"I knew you'd come home." She whispered sighing. Of course she did. She saw the future.

Relief came at me from multiple directions. Carlisle wasn't lying when he said Esme worried.

"I made you a bed in the room next to Alice's." Esme informed me. I nodded my thanks.

Edward scoffed, "Yeah, Alice's."

Alice giggled, pulling away from me slightly, "Oh Edward you love your new room."

"Yeah...the garage. Great."

I looked down at Alice in shock, "You moved Edward to the garage?"

She just shrugged and smiled, "Oh he likes it. It's only for one night, then we'll move him into one of the spares. Jasper you should see the house. It's very nice."

Alice drug me upstairs and showed me where my room was. It was pretty plain, but I supposed with it being a guest room they didn't really decorate it. There was a king sized bed against the west wall. A dresser and a desk were both on the north one. The closet was on the east, with the door for it right on the corner of the east and south wall. The room itself was painted an extremely light brown, like sand. It almost matched the wood floor, but the floor was slightly darker.

"What am I going to do with a king size bed?" I asked. There was no way I'd use all that bed.

"Sleep in it," Alice gave me a playful shove and shut the door behind me so I had some alone time. I had to admit it was a nice room. Nicer than anything I would've had on my own. I briefly thought of my brother Cooper. I could only imagine what he'd have to say about it.

I could hear him in the back of my head, "Holy shit, Jasper! These people are loaded!"

That was what he used to say when we were still human. Every time we passed by a nice house. Our family was a poor little farm family. Nearly every house had been a nice house to us. Not because we didn't have a house, but because ours was old and small.

I noticed a few bags sitting by the door. Opening them up on the bed I realized they were clothes. Alice.

"You're welcome!" I heard her shout from her room.

"Thank you!" I called back rolling my eyes. That girl loved to shop. If worrying about people was Carlisle and Esme's faults, then over shopping was Alice's.

The next morning I showered and then headed downstairs. Carlisle and Esme were sitting on the couch, each with a book in their hand. I didn't know vampires could be so calm. All the vampires I'd met were never calm. But typically when I met vampires they were trying to kill me.

"Alice and Rosalie went hunting." Esme told me glancing up at me as I sat on the other couch.

I nodded at her and sat back closing my eyes.

"Well, what do you think?" Carlisle asked.

I knew what Carlisle was referring to. He wanted to know if I was staying or not. Hope came from both him and Esme as they patiently awaited my answer.

Sighing, I opened my eyes and gave them their response, "Can we paint it blue?"

Esme beamed at me, giving me the biggest wave of happiness I'd felt since Alice was waiting to meet Carlisle, "Of course honey!"

Three months later and Alice and I were still with the Cullens. They had yet to attack us and kill us so I figured we were in the clear. This helped me relax a little. Until I began thinking more and more about my brother. Then I wasn't relaxed. I'd finally found my peace, but what about Cooper? I kept imagining him dying at the hands of Maria. That was the one thing I'd regretted when I left with Peter and Charlotte. I hated the fact that I left Cooper behind.

I stood by the window in the living room one day and watched the world go by. It was times like this that I wished I had something or someone to distract me. Carlisle and Esme were out hunting, Alice and Rosalie were shopping...again, and Edward was reading something on the couch behind me.

I'd retold the Cullen's my story a few weeks after I agreed to stay with them at Carlisle's request, but I left out Cooper. I didn't need them worrying about him too.

Edward, the mind reader who said he'd stay out of my mind, had asked me who Cooper was a few times when I'd thought of him. I never really answered him though. It wasn't like it mattered. Cooper was probably dead anyway. I was sure Maria punished him for me leaving.

"Are you ever going to tell me who that is?" Edward interrupted my thoughts.

I looked over at him and gave him my typical response, "It's no one. Don't worry about it."

"You sending out some pretty sad emotions over no one."

Surprised, I quickly reined in the emotions I had no idea I was sending, "Sorry. I didn't realize I was doing it."

"Who is he?" Edward pried once again.

I sighed and told him, figuring he'd never leave me alone until he knew, "He's my brother. When Peter and Charlotte came back for me I left him there because I knew he wouldn't leave with me without an explanation and I didn't have much time."

"What's his name?"

"Cooper."

Edward nodded and let the subject drop. I stared at him for a few minutes wondering what he was thinking. For once I wished I could read minds.

"Don't tell anyone else." I told him.

His face scrunched up in confusion, "Why not?"

"I don't want them to worry about him. I do enough worrying for all of us, ok? The last thing I need is them bothering me about him too."

Edward shrugged, "Ok."

It was suspicious that he agreed so quickly. Usually Edward was an asshole to deal with about this stuff. I wasn't sure if it was because he was planning something or if it was because it was such a personal subject for me that he really did decide let it go, but I was glad he let it drop. Him not planning something would be an added bonus.

"I mean it." I warned, just in case he was planning something.

"Ok, Jasper." He sounded annoyed that I kept bothering him with it, so I figured he wouldn't plan anything.

Instead of doing nothing I wandered up to Carlisle's library and dug through his books. After finding a history book, I went to my room and decided to try and read to get my mind off of Cooper. Still, part of me wondered about him. Maybe I should go back and at least see if he really is dead?

I shook my head at myself. No, it was better not to know.

The rest of the night went by pretty smoothly, until Edward happened.

"Jasper, come down please!" Esme's voice rang through the house. I couldn't imagine what she wanted me for. Really I'd done nothing...literally. Unless I wasn't supposed to be going through Carlisle's books, which I highly doubted since he'd specifically told me that I could. It was one thing we had in common.

I walked downstairs and saw everyone sitting. We were having a meeting?

"Have a seat." Carlisle motioned to the couch. I sat next to Alice.

"So Jasper, Edward tells us you have a brother." Esme looked at me carefully as she spoke.

My eyes flashed over to Edward, "I told you not to tell them!"

"You're worried about him. We can help." Edward defended himself. This is why I had said Cooper was no one so I could avoid this.

"How? What are you going to do that helps this?"

Esme interjected in our arguing, "Bring him here. If he wants to go back we'll let him, if not he's welcome to stay with us."

I sighed, "I don't even know if he's alive."

"Well you could find out." Rosalie suggested.

I knew I couldn't go back there alone. But I knew that I couldn't take the Cullens with me. They'd never stand a chance. They were too untrained. That much I'd learned during my stay with them. I'd have to get a hold of Peter and Charlotte. Maybe they'd help me convince Cooper to come with me. We'd also have to find a time when Maria was away. That'd be the hard part.

"They're in Montana right now and planning on staying as far as I can see. We'll leave tomorrow and see if they're up for it." Alice rubbed my arm.

"We're not letting you go alone. We're coming with you." Edward protested.

Carlisle nodded, "Of course, we're not letting you go by yourselves. Please tell me that's not what you were thinking. What if she tries to hurt you?"

"Better me than you." I pointed out.

"No," Esme shook her head, "we're family and family goes through things together. We're coming with you whether you like it or not."

Figuring there was no point in arguing, I nodded.

The next morning we got up and headed out for Montana. None of the Cullens had ever met Peter and Charlotte before except Alice so I was a bit worried on how they'd react. I'd already warned them that Peter and Charlotte drank humans, but there was no way to warn Peter that Cullens drank animals. Not that I thought he'd need a warning.

It only took about 4 hours for us to get to Montana, but once we got there we had no idea where to find Peter and Charlotte. They were traveling so it was hard for Alice to get a clear view of where they were. Finally they stopped in a town called Billings. On the way there we stopped to hunt, just to be on the safe side. Then, once we got into town, Alice led the way.

"They're this way!" Alice danced ahead of us, looking back occasionally to be sure we were following. We walked down the road a ways before she suddenly stopped in front of an alley.

"Did you want some?" I heard Peter ask Alice as she watched him feed. She shook her head and looked the opposite direction. The smell of human blood filled the air. I was glad I'd decided to hunt with Edward and Esme earlier.

I nodded at Peter and waited as he finished. He dropped the lifeless body when he was finished and gave me a puzzled look.

"What are you doing here? Couldn't stay away from all this?" Peter ran his hands down his body, wagging his eyebrows at me in a very sexual manner.

"Gross. No, actually I need your help. I need you to come with me and get Cooper."

Peter quit making faces at me, "What the hell do you want that idiot for?"

"Peter he's my brother. I'm not leaving him with Maria."

"Alright alright," Peter sighed, "I'll go find Charlotte, take care of this, and meet you back here."

He picked up the body of the girl he'd fed on and went on his way.

"That had to be one of the most disturbing things I'd ever seen." Rosalie muttered breaking the ice.

I was pretty sure we all agreed. Peter was a very outgoing, impulsive, and generally happy person. He liked to have fun especially after he left Maria since there wasn't much fun in anything when we were there. Every once in a while Peter, Cooper, Davey, and Toby, a couple other vampires that they had gotten close too, would sit and joke around, but only if Maria wasn't around. Maria wasn't one for jokes and games.

"What's Cooper like?" Alice asked me.

"He's a lot like Peter, except he's a little more tame. He likes to have fun, joke around, and whatnot but when presented with a task or a serious topic he's the opposite. He'd always get mad at Peter for making jokes when we were trying to train newborns because he felt that training them was something that needed to be taken seriously. He's usually pretty vocal too. If he doesn't like something he's not afraid to say it. Just his opinion in general really, if he has something to say he's going to say it. Cooper's usually not ever speechless."

"So the opposite of you then?" Edward clarified.

I thought for a moment, "Yeah I guess so."

Peter returned a few minutes later with Charlotte and we started on our way to Texas after I introduced everyone. We only stopped once in Colorado to hunt.

"Still doing your new animal only thing?" Peter asked after I finished a deer. Alice and I had explained our new lifestyle to Peter and Charlotte before we found the Cullens. They didn't seem to quite understand why we did it, but they didn't say anything about it.

I nodded at him, "What does it look like?"

Peter shrugged, "I dunno. I guess so, eh? You seem to like it more than humans."

"It doesn't taste better than humans but I don't feel their pain and suffering so in the end it's better."

He just nodded. He'd never felt the painful emotions that went with hunting. Therefore he'd never know what I was talking about. Yes Peter could try and understand but he never really knew.

"Do you actually think Cooper's gonna come with you?"

It was my turn to shrug. I'd thought about this multiple times in the past couple days, "I'm not sure. I mean, I don't know if he's even alive. If he is I like to think he'd come with, simply because it's an opportunity to get away from Maria. I'm sure with us gone she's made him her puppet. But to be honest I'm not sure. I at least have to try. If he chooses to stay with her then I'll leave him alone."

Peter didn't say anything. We waited for the rest of the family to finish hunting before we left again. The run was very uneventful. Unfortunately running wasn't a thinking activity so I was left to my thoughts.

I wasn't exactly sure if Maria had moved camp or not. It was entirely possible that, as she gained new territory, she moved camps to have better control of the territory. She'd done that a few times when I had been with her. It wasn't uncommon. Many vampire covens did so as well. We'd learned that the hard way more than once.

Once we hit Texas we made plans. Only Peter and I would get close to the camp should things take a turn for the worst. The family, as well as Charlotte, would stay back about a mile or so. If we got Cooper to come talk to us we'd take him back to around where the family was so it was a little more private. If he refused I wouldn't push him.

I was uneasy about heading back to the camp. Not that I was afraid of Cooper, but I wasn't sure how Maria would act should she be there. Surely Maria had to have some sort of resentment towards me and maybe even Peter. The last thing I wanted was a fight. And not just because I knew we'd die in one.

We stopped a little more than a mile away from where camp used to be.

"This is where I leave you." Peter told Charlotte giving her hand a gentle squeeze. Charlotte oozed fear and worry. I sent her a small boost of confidence to try and ease her worry some, but it only worked as long as I sent it.

The rest of the family was slightly nervous, but not terribly so. They didn't know Maria. They didn't know what could happen should Maria react badly to seeing me. Hopefully she wasn't there at all.

"Be careful." Esme whispered to me after a short silence.

I nodded to her then looked at Peter, "Ready?"

He released Charlotte's hand and moved closer to me.

"If we're not back in a half hour, run. They'll be looking for more of us." I warned the rest of them.

Peter and I turned then and ran through the woods to where the camp used to be. It was pitch black outside, our only light being the moonlight. As we approached the camp, which thankfully hadn't moved, we slowed slightly.

"Who are you?" A male vampire shouted at us.

We both turned to the sound of his voice. A watchman. That was something we had not had when I was still around.

"Where's Maria?" I asked.

"She's away hunting."

Peter smiled at me. This was good news, but we couldn't let our guard down.

"Is Cooper around?"

The male nodded while the uneasiness from him thickened. I did nothing to stop it.

"I need to speak with Cooper." I told him then muttered to Peter, "stay here. I'll be go get Cooper."

I crossed the lawn to the edge of the old abandoned barn. Nothing much had changed about it except the fact that the paint was more worn and faded than it had been. Sticking my head through the door I saw Cooper standing on the wall to my left, watching the newborns train.

"Still standing around Cooper?" I smirked. Nice to know nothing changed.

His head whipped around to stare at me, his bright red eyes narrowed, "What are you doing here?"

"Come with me and I'll explain."

Cooper scoffed, "How can I trust you'll bring me back?"

"I brought you back the night you were changed didn't I? Are you coming or not?"

His face relaxed a little and after a glance towards whoever was training the newborns, he followed me outside and to Peter.

The guard immediately looked at Cooper when he saw him. He was terribly untrained.

"It's ok, Frank. I'll be back shortly." Cooper reassured him before following me and Peter back to where the rest of our group was. With any luck, Cooper wouldn't come back at all.

We stopped a few yards shy of where we left them, as we planned, so we could talk to him.

"Why did you bring me out here," Cooper demanded. "what the hell are you even doing here? If Maria finds out you're here she'll kill you. She was pissed when you left."

"Relax. Maria won't find us here. I have a proposal for you."

He scoffed, "Jasper I'm flattered but your my brother."

Peter chuckled next to me. I sent him a glare.

"That's not what I meant. Look, the world isn't all blood and war like we thought. In the north things are much more civilized. There aren't vampires trying to kill you, there aren't training sessions with newborns, it's just vampires roaming the earth. It's peaceful and a hell of a lot better than that hell."

"Yeah," Peter joked, "and if you want you can even go vegetarian and be a doctor."

I smacked Peter on the arm and explained, "I met a coven who survive on animal blood. The...coven leader if you will, is a doctor. He works with humans all day and resists his blood lust because he's drank animals for so long."

"Is that what you do? Is that why your eyes are a screwed up color?"

"Yeah...sure. It's better for me than drinking humans. I don't have to feel the humans pain."

Cooper scoffed, "So because you've found peace and joy in animals means I have to? Who ever said I even wanted to leave this? Unlike you, I don't turn my back on the ones who've helped me."

"I didn't say you had to come with me. It's an offer. You don't have to drink animals. Hell, roam around with Peter and Charlotte for all I care! I just didn't want you to have to live that way if you didn't want to."

"I think I can take care of myself."

This was a bad idea, "Never said you couldn't. I'm just asking if you want to get away from the fighting."

Alice came through the trees and made herself present, "I think you're misunderstanding what Jasper's trying to explain."

Cooper's full attention was on Alice as she restated what I'd been trying to convey to him. He never argued with her as he did me, in fact he just nodded and seemed genuinely interested.

"So you'll listen nicely to her, but you'll argue with everything I was trying to say?" I questioned him when Alice was done talking.

"Shut up, Jasper," Cooper blew me off and turned his attention back to Alice, "I think I'd like to try your way of living. It sounds a lot more peaceful than what I'm in now."

I gaped at him, slightly frustrated, "But when I explained it you wanted no part of it?"

Cooper shushed me and took Alice's hand as she led him to meet the family. It was then as they held hands that I felt it. Love, admiration, happiness...Cooper had found his mate.

"I think he likes her." Peter stated as he, too, watched them disappear in the trees.

"They're mates. It's the exact same emotions that come off of you and Charlotte." I explained following my brother. No wonder why he was so interested in her speech.

Alice had introduced them already and Esme and Carlisle seemed thrilled that he was coming back with us. Excitement and joy radiated from them.

"We should get going before Maria comes back. I don't want her to follow us...Jasper and Peter aren't exactly her favorite people." Cooper explained when were all together.

Carlisle nodded in understanding, "We should get going then."

"We should split up," Peter spoke up, "that way if she does decide to follow us, it'll be harder to locate us. She'll have to choose between me and Major."

"That won't be a hard decision for her. She'd much rather have Jasper's head than yours." Cooper pointed out, still holding Alice's hand.

"Either way we need to get moving."

"How about this," I formulated a plan, "why don't Peter, Charlotte, and I go west and take a long back and forth route around the area eventually heading up to Colorado. You guys can just head straight there. That way she'll think we split up. With us running back and forth around here will confuse them as to which direction we really went. She won't want to travel every single route, especially with most of them heading back to the same area. The chances of her picking the correct route will be pretty slim. Besides, by the time she realizes Cooper is gone and that I was there with him our scents will be pretty scattered from the wind."

Peter shrugged, "Well that's better than anything I got. It's worth a shot."

"That could work." Cooper agreed.

"We should probably hunt along the way." Alice murmured as she rubbed Cooper's arm. I figured she wanted to expose Cooper to animal blood as soon as possible.

Rosalie was growing impatient, "Well let's get going then."

"Alright, we'll meet in the same town that we stopped to hunt at on the way down."

We all agreed and headed our separate ways.

The run was silent, as usual. Peter and Charlotte followed me around the area for a while before we eventually went to Colorado. I hoped our circles, combined with the wind, would be enough to confuse Maria. Either that, or I hoped that she didn't care enough to follow us. I figured that the second one would be unrealistic so I was really hoping the plan worked.

The Cullen's were hunting in the exact same woods where we'd stopped to hunt on the way down. Carlisle and Alice were trying to explain how to hunt to Cooper. It was basically the same idea as hunting humans, but it felt odd since it wasn't a human. The hardest part was trying to convince yourself that animal blood was good so you could get into a "hunting mode" so to speak.

"How the hell do you do this?" Cooper asked when he saw me.

I rose an eyebrow at him, "What do you mean? You run after it, you catch it, you bite it, you drink it. It's easy."

"But how do you mentally make yourself not disgusted? The doing it is easy, the not puking is hard."

Carlisle chuckled and shook his head, "That's a new one. I've heard the unappetizing, I've heard the not as good as human blood, but I've never heard the 'It makes me want to puke.'"

"No offense, it's probably cause I'm not used to it." Cooper muttered.

"You do get used to it. Once you do it so long you kind of forget what human blood tastes like it gets better." I agreed with him.

Cooper looked to Carlisle for confirmation, "Is it true?"

Carlisle hesitated for a moment, "I'm not sure. I've never actually drank human blood."

"Never?" Cooper stared at him completely amazed. It was very rare that someone had never had human blood before. Carlisle was the only one I'd met who could say such a thing.

"Never."

Cooper shook his head at Carlisle, most likely believing that he was crazy. Suddenly his face changed from shocked to devious, "So Jasper I've been meaning to talk to you. You must've been pretty worried about me to come get me."

"No. Actually I was hoping that Maria killed you so I could come and dance on your grave."

"Really? That's not what Edward told me. So tell me again when you bought your first bra and panty set? Was it after you met the Cullen's or before?"

I rolled my eyes, "Screw you, Cooper. How the hell would you know if I bought a set? Digging through my dresser? Need to borrow some? I'm sure Rosalie or Alice have some you could borrow."

Carlisle chuckled at our banter, "So, how did you two get so lucky as to be changed together?"

There he went again with the questions, though I didn't really mind this one, "It wasn't that special. I was out hunting one day with Maria and I saw him. I recognized him immediately. Some more newborns where also hunting in the area and were going to kill him. I stopped them and brought Cooper to Maria and requested that he be changed, making up some lie about how I thought he'd be an asset."

"Oh screw you," Cooper shoved me, "I was an asset and you know it."

"Like I said, 'Still standing around Cooper?'"

"Shut up, that was my job. To watch. I had to make sure that no one got out of line."

I rolled my eyes, "Anyway, she agreed to change him and I spent the rest of my time covering his ass to make sure she didn't kill him."

"You make me sound like such a trouble-making pain in the ass. I'm promise I'm not as bad as he makes it sound."

"I'm sure." Carlisle laughed.

Peter gave him a nudge, "That's right you got a woman to keep you in line now."

Cooper chuckled, his humor quickly turned to embarrassment but there was an underlying joy and love, "I don't need someone to keep me in line. I make the line."

"Hear that Alice?" Peter shouted and pointed at Cooper. Alice simply rolled her eyes and laughed.

Cooper took to the life of animal blood surprisingly quick. Of course he slipped up a few times, which resulted in us moving, but Carlisle said it was to be expected. I, too, had slipped up when I first began. Though I'd tried to practice control after leaving Peter and Charlotte it had never worked out for long periods of time.

The Cullen's were surprisingly understanding and accepting when dealing with slip-ups. Much more so than I had expected them to be. As the years went on both Cooper and I had gotten better with our self control. Carlisle had been right, it just took some practice.

"I'm not sure what to do. They have everything else set up, they just need my answer."

She paused in thought on the other end of the phone, "Well ultimately the decision is yours. I think you should do it. How many vampires get the opportunity to do that?"

"I know. I just...what if something goes wrong? What if she gets hurt?"

"I think everything will be fine. Trust in your abilities as a doctor. I know you can handle anything that might come up throughout this. Either way, which ever you choose, you know that we'll support you. But it's a good opportunity."

"I know," I sighed deeply, "trust me I know."