A/N: I've been thinking a lot about how I want to structure this story and I have a lot of ideas that I can't wait to unravel. I think this story needed the reconstruction.


Jasper

A quiet Cullen house on a quiet Forks evening. A commonality these days. I flipped through an old book I'd read a thousand times over, tapping my feet in boredom. Emmett joined me in the living room, his attention directly on his phone. I glanced at the wall clock.

10:22

A car pulled up outside. The Volvo.

"Don't kill her," I murmured to my brother as he barreled through the front door to greet Edward and his human. Cue the classic scene of a bone crushing hug and Edward cautiously examining the human to make sure she survived unscathed. A typical Friday evening in our household.

Esme descended the stairs. "Bella's here?"

Not like you couldn't hear her. "Why don't you go find out?"

She frowned at my sarcasm and disappeared to join Emmett.

The family loved their pet. Humans love their dogs the same way we love our Bellas. They keep us distracted from the realities of our lives and have a significantly shorter lifespan. However, most humans don't eat their dogs.

My thoughts scattered as I felt anger radiating from the front lawn. "If you don't like my thoughts, brother, don't bring her here." I whispered. I knew he heard me from a more prominent spike in his anger.

How many Cullens did it take to escort a human through the front door? Three.

"Hey, Jasper," Bella greeted me. I nodded back with a smile, which pleased Edward.

Esme asked if she was hungry and immediately offered to make her food. I hoped she was full, because then she wouldn't have to spend more time here.

"She'll be staying the night, Esme," Edward said. "She'd probably love some pancakes tomorrow morning."

10:28

Watching the clock, I anticipated Papa Cullen's arrival. Esme began gushing about Bella's haircut as I began imagining her blood gushing through her veins. Edward's snarl put at end to that. I thought about bleeding bunnies instead.

10:31

"Is Carlisle working the night shift?" I asked.

"Not on a Friday," Esme said.

"Strange," I noted. He should've been home by now.

I could see Bella's slender neck vibrate with her vocal cords before any noise came out. She spoke dismissively. "He's probably just running a few minutes late."

I wanted to hiss at her. If Carlisle came home at 10:30 every Friday, he would do so every Friday. If we didn't collectively take a breath and blink every three seconds that we were around her, she would find us unnatural. If we didn't count the intervals between our steps to match human speed, the Volturi would've slaughtered us for exposing ourselves.

You want immortal life, Bella? Get ready to start counting.

Thankfully, a car pulled up into the driveway in the next few minutes. Carlisle. Anxiety was something you wouldn't normally see in a vampire, but I was ready to diagnose Papa Cullen the moment he stepped foot into the house. Esme was by his side in an instant, leaving Bella slightly disoriented by her speed.

"We have a problem," he began grimly. "There's a patient at the hospital. We don't have a name, but she knows about us."

"Us, as in the Cullens?" Emmett asked.

"Us, as in vampires."

Fun. I leaned back against the sofa. "We're not doing that great of a job of blending in, are we?"

"We need to take her in," Edward interjected sternly. "We can't have her out there."

Another human in the Cullen household? Bella shifted her weight. Did dogs enjoy the company of other dogs? Or did they get jealous due to shared attention?

"Where's Alice? What has she seen?" Carlisle looked at me. I shrugged and informed him that I hadn't heard from her. He looked defeated. He was already breaking the rules with Bella, and now another pet wanted to be adopted. We didn't have the resources or patience to be a full-fledged animal shelter.

"Call Jenks," he turned to Edward. "I need an ID, twenty-years-old, slightly taller than Bella, light-brown hair. Make the rest up. Tie her to the family somehow – anything that will let me check her out of the hospital."

"What exactly did she say?" Edward inquired.

Carlisle was silent for a moment. "That I should have red eyes."

"She knows her vampires," I murmured.

Edward went to put his pet to bed, Carlisle retired to his study, and Emmett suggested that we go on a hunt. He probably thought I needed it. With another human in the house, he was probably right.

It didn't take us long to enter the greenery that made the Pacific Northwest so popular. The trees blurred by as we prowled for our prey. I knew Emmett needed to go deeper to find a bear, but all I ever needed was a couple of deer. Their necks were long, their bodies slender. Even though their taste was less than exquisite, my imagination never failed me. When I pinned down a deer, I was pinning down the barista at the local drive-in coffee bar. When I broke its neck, I was crushing the football coach's skull. When I drained its body, I was draining the college girl that worked weekends at the only bar in Forks. Katie, was it?

That was why I never went hunting with Edward.

"You worried about this?" Emmett pried as we started to head back.

"No," I told him. "Just a human."

He nodded. He didn't say much, but I liked Emmett. I liked him more than the rest. I knew his opinions and he knew mine. He respected them and that's all I could ask of him.

"You think these humans are going to get us killed one day?" I could tell he was trying to add some humor into the situation, but I could sense his worry.

"Protect Rosalie. That's all that should matter to you."

After that, we walked home in silence.


A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you! See you for the next update.