Chapter 1

Bella's POV

Jasper softly laid a hand on my elbow as he guided me to the bathroom. His touch was comforting, but I didn't let the waves of calmness radiating from his hand distract me. As soon as I saw the bathroom door, I was ready. I knew what to do, and how to escape. I could only hope that Edward would forgive Jasper and Alice for letting me make my escape so easily.

Jasper's POV

Something about Bella was different as she entered the bathroom. The walk from the waiting area had been strange. I sensed her nervousness, so I tried calming her, but it appeared to have no effect. I actually had to resort to using my touch to make the calmness stronger, but she still acted as though I had no effect on her whatsoever. Perhaps her nerves were too out of control for me to help.

As I pondered the reasons behind Bella's abnormal behavior, I heard her. I could pick out Alice's voice from miles away, I was so attuned to her. She was talking at vampire speed, "Bella is going to run. You must stop her. She just used the other exit of the women's bathroom to escape. Get her, and then meet me back at the car. Something is wrong. Hurry Jasper." I didn't waste any time, I yanked open the door of the bathroom and ran across at vampire speed. I navigated around the women waiting in line and washing their hands; to them my passing would feel like a cool breeze. I reached the opposite exit in a mere half a second, and yanked the door open.

Bella was just a few feet away from the door; I felt her guilt wash over me as soon as the door was opened. She didn't notice me because she was frantically running to the main exit of the airport. I caught up to her easily and stood in front of her to block her path. She almost ran right into me, but she was able to stop in time. I sensed the pure shock mixed with terror that rolled off of her. Was she actually afraid of me? Shock and terror quickly changed to frustration as I saw tears roll down her cheeks. I stepped closer to her, wanting to ease the tension. She said, "Alice saw me, didn't she? I wasn't fast enough."

I tried to be as gentle as I knew how to be. "She did Bella. Alice said something is wrong, we have to meet her back at the car. Whatever this is, for whatever reason you tried to run away from us, we are going to fix this, ok?" Bella just stared at me. Her frustration quickly turned to defeat, then to absolute devastation. What was wrong with her? Now more tears rolled down her cheeks, but these were not tears of frustration, they were tears of sadness.

I couldn't understand these emotions Bella was feeling, but we were wasting too much time. I put my arm around her shoulders and steered her towards the exit for the parking garage where the Mercedes was waiting. She didn't put up a fight, and she even sagged against my side, needing my support to walk. Her emotions told me she was absolutely crushed, I was definitely missing something. I put all my power behind sending her waves of calmness.

It was a sunny day in Phoenix, so I was lucky the airport exit led us right into the shade of the parking garage. I was even luckier there were no people in the garage. I guess I put a little too much effort into calming Bella because she completely sagged against me, no longer able to support her weight. I realized I had actually put her to sleep. I picked her up and ran to the car where Alice was waiting. I could sense Alice's tension as I put Bella in the back seat. She looked at me, "hurry up Jasper! We have to get the ballet studio fast! And wake Bella up, she needs to give us directions. I'll explain everything on the way."