AN: Welcome to the next chapter everyone! I don't have anything to say here, so I'll let you get right to the good stuff.

I'd like to remind everyone that this story is rated M for mature content, heavy themes, and adult language.

As always, a review gets you a teaser of the next chapter.

Reminder: these aren't Stephenie Meyer's vampires.

5 years before

cullen home

forks, washington

jasper

prequel: part two

That day sucked. There. I said it. It wasn't like I was keeping it a secret or something and it definitely wasn't a secret that I hated that life and that family. Sure, I was grateful for Esme and Carlisle, I mean they were the closest things I had to parents and truth to be told, they were about the only thing I had anymore. My 'siblings' sucked, and their 'girlfriends' sucked. My 'girlfriend' sucked. But, Edward, Edward sucked the worse.

See, Carlisle had this sick fantasy that if we all lived together and pretended we were a family, we would be family. I didn't mind Rosalie that much, sure she was a bitch from time to time, but then again, who isn't? I loved Alice, that's my wife, and I suppose to an extent I'd always love her. It wasn't that she was a bad person it's just Alice and I are very different people. Emmett, that's Rosalie's husband, and I never had any bad blood between the two of us. I guess between the whole clan, we had the closest relationship to actual siblings.

At first, it was just Carlisle and me. He met Esme not too long after we met. It was one of those love at first sight things with those two. I can't really explain how we formed a clan, we just did. It was natural. By that time, Carlisle turned Edward in the early 1900s. I guess he was dying of Spanish Influenza. Edward and his mother had been patients of Carlisle's, and her dying wish was that her young son could be saved and given a second chance at life.

Carlisle had just started working in the hospital as a doctor. It's incredible how a defined monster can save lives and defend humanity better than humanity itself. One of the things I admire about Carlisle the most, he makes promises and keeps them. He didn't change Edward and let him figure out what he'd become on his own like my creator had... I guess that's when we started looking like a family: a mom, a dad, and their two sons. Once the rumor started, it was just easier to blend into a world of humans when you look normal. Normalcy came easy to us, well as easy as it could come to a 'family' of vampires, but I was content with where life had taken me.

I met Alice sometime later, and life seemed to be moving forward even if we weren't. When Carlisle turned Rosalie, it was because he thought she deserved another chance at life, just like Edward had. I still think it's because he felt bad that Alice and I had married, and Edward was still single. I guess he thought Edward needed a girlfriend. That didn't really work out though. Those two fought just like real brothers and sisters. When Emmett joined our family, Rosalie saved him from a bear attack while hiking. Just like Carlisle and Esme, the two fell in love at first sight. Emmett and I were never close, we'd watch football from time to time, but I was always the loner in our clan. Ever feel like the weird one in a group of weirds? That was me.

-rm-

Leaving the clan wasn't something I had been thinking about doing. I guess something in me just snapped that day and I realized just how unhealthy it had been that I was continually living the same life over and over again. One can only graduate high school so many times until it gets old.

"Edward!" Alice whined. That's what she did best lately: whine and complain. Now, I know there was a time once where I loved her, when I worshiped her, and I just couldn't stand how adorable she was. Now, I went out of my way to avoid her. I was so sick of being an accessory to her life. That's how Alice lived, like her whole life was a fashion magazine, and I was a piece of arm candy like her newest Prada purse.

"This isn't fair! We've only been here for seven months!" Alice cried again. I couldn't take the whining anymore, and curiosity got the best of me. I got off my bed, tossing my guitar (that'd always had the name 'Old Oak') where I had been sitting.

"Alright, what's going on?" I opened my bedroom door to see what the hell all the ruckus was about.

"Edward wants to move! Again!" She said. As a vampire family, we couldn't stay in one place too long. We'd raise suspicions that we weren't aging, and suspicious humans lead to the Volturi knocking on our door. The Volturi are like the Royal Family. They are the closest thing our kind has to formal law. Their only rule: don't expose vampirism to mankind and if you do…let's just say it's off with your head. Literally. We usually stayed in one place for five to 10 years, depending on how preceptive people were. We'd just moved back to hour home in Forks about seven months ago.

"And?" I asked.

"And I don't want to go!" She folded her arms over her chest and pouted. It wasn't hard to forget that she was a measly eighteen years old when she was turned.

"So? Don't go?" I said.

"How am I not supposed to go?" She asked.

"Well, Alice, you're an adult, aren't you? You're over a hundred years old. You can make your own decisions."

"That's what I told her," Edward said. I rolled my eyes and left them to their arguing. I grabbed my guitar off my bed and went outside to the balcony.

"Oh, hey dad. I wasn't expecting to see you up here."

"Well, I'm sorry to be such a disappointment," he laughed.

"I didn't mean that. I was just kind of hoping to be alone," I said.

"The arguing drove you out here too?" He laughed.

"How'd you know?" I asked, taking a seat next to him in the fruit striped gum colored patio furniture, of course in the shade. Wouldn't want to burst into flames or anything. Not that I would. It's just incredibly uncomfortable. Humans were so silly with their nonsense fairy tales.

"Please," Carlisle said. "The whole house knows."

"So, I guess it's true? Edward wants to leave again? So soon?"

"Yes, that boy is always on the move."

"I know, dad, but why can't he just go to wherever it is he wants to move to on his own?" I asked. Edward usually was the one who was wanting to move. The rest of us liked to put down roots for a while.

"I like to keep my family together," Carlisle said.

"I understand that, but really, we're not actually teenagers. We are all just playing make-believe house like a normal family."

"We are a normal family, Jasper."

"We're really not, though. You know I've always been grateful for what you've done for me, and I love you and Esme, but I am sick of hiding and pretending. Why don't we just let Edward go off on his own for a while? How much damage could he do, I mean really?" I asked.

"We're not tearing our family apart," Carlisle said.

"And I am not asking for that, I'm just saying, why don't we let Edward run around like he wants without disrupting the rest of our lives. We've all been grateful living here together with you and Esme, and in many ways, you are our parents. We've agreed to live normal, human lives in exchange for our family, but at some point, this codling has to stop. It's not healthy."

"I'm sorry, Jasper. I can't abandon him. He needs us." He stood up from his fruit chair. "I'll give you some time to pack…or think about what you want to do." Carlisle left swiftly back inside the house.

-rm-

It was at that moment that for the first time in my life, I hated that I was alone. With Carlisle gone, I was forced to do what he wanted, to think. One of the benefits of living like a family is you get to soak up the benefits of being a child like having someone make decisions for you. I was absolutely certain that I didn't want to leave Forks so soon, especially on Edward's demand, but I was also absolutely certain that I didn't want to leave Carlisle and Esme.

Sighing, I picked up old Oak again and went back into my room and toss it back on the bed. I join the guitar on the stiff mattress and stare at the ceiling. I close my eyes and let my mind race. I didn't want to move either. I liked Forks. I liked the rain, it was soothing, and it always inspired me to write songs. I also knew I didn't want to stay in this big house alone. That would be weird, living in a place that used to house so many people. The silence would be too haunting.

I don't know how long I was consumed by my thoughts when I was pulled out of them by Bree- Anne.

"Jasper?" She knocked softly. Bree was the youngest in our family. Her own parents abandoned her when she was just a toddler. Carlisle found her in the dumpster at the hospital he was working. She was looking for something to eat. He took her into the hospital and patched her up. She had some scrapes and bruises. He took her to the police department to see if someone had been looking for her. They hadn't. They eventually found her parents that afternoon, but they were so consumed by drugs they wanted nothing to do with her. She was going to have to go to foster care, and while things settled with the adoption, that's where she stayed. She'd been living with us ever since. Despite what people think, vampires are very capable of living with humans. Even young ones with sweet, sweet blood flowing through their veins. We may be monsters, but when we're matured, we have self-control. The Volturi bent the rules a little for Carlisle since he'd always been such a good guy. It didn't hurt that Carlisle used to be apart of the Volturi before he started studying medicine.

"Why are Edward and Alice fighting again, Jasper?" Bree asked.

"Because Edward wants to move," I said.

"But, we just got here. I like it here." She whined.

"I know, squirt, I do too." I reached for her. Sure, she was now 12 years old, I never grew out of that old habit of treating her like that little girl she was when we first met. She hugged me back.

"So, you don't want to go either?"

"No. Of course not." I told her. "But, it's like dad just said, we are a family, and we have to do what keeps our family happy. Each and every one of us."

"But, if we move and it makes Edward happy, that's just one of us that ends up happy, right? If we go, you're unhappy, and I am unhappy, and so is Alice. That's not fair," she said. Sometimes I forgot she wasn't just a baby.

"I know. It's not fair," I simply agree. It's all I can do. "Hey, why don't you go talk to mom or dad about it. I have some stuff I need to do." Something about the conversation made me realize just how much I'd been depending on Carlisle and just how much I'd been letting Edward run me around.

"I can't stay here with you?"

"I'll be quick. Promise." I smiled. She nodded and left.

When the door closed, I sat on the edge of my bed with my head between my hands. I took a few breaths before I could convince myself otherwise. I had to get out of there- and away from that family while I still could.

Finally, I went inside my closet, grabbed a duffel bag and started stuffing various colors of plaid shirts and dark jeans and underwear into the bag. I grabbed a pair of boots and shoved them in too. That ought to do it. I sighed as I looked at my room for the last time.

Before I go to the garage to pack up my beautiful black truck, I stopped in Alice's bedroom. That was always so nice, we all had our own space. I had a room, Alice had hers. Edward had one, Emmett had one too. So did Rosalie and Bree- Anne. Even Carlisle had his own space in the form of a full office (stuffed with medical books and supernatural lore) and Esme, her area was definitely her 'craft room', as she called it and sure we all took turns spending the night in each other's spaces, but it was nice to have a place we could call our own. Though we lived as a family and we were a clan, vampires aren't the most sociable of beings.

In Alice's room, I sat at her desk. It was one of those beautiful old-fashioned ones with a roll top and gold trim around the wared silver- white paint. I took my wedding band off and set it on the surface. In the human world, we were all just dating, but in reality, we were all married to our partners. Me with Alice, Rosalie with Emmett and Edward was with whichever human he liked for a week until he got bored with them and drained them of their blood. That's generally when we had to move again. Bree had her flings with boys from school. I didn't approve of them, but, I suppose it's all in being a teenage human.

Along with my wedding band, I left Alice a note explaining all the technicalities of why I was moving and why I wanted a divorce and when to expect the papers. We both knew this was a long time coming. Sure, we tried to save our marriage and our life together, but we both knew it wasn't working anymore. Plus, she seemed to like Edward more and more lately, even if they fought. Something told me that if Edward wanted to go, Alice would follow regardless of what she really wanted. They'd be happy together, I'm was sure. More importantly, I'd be happy with them both away from me. Petty, I know, but hey a man can only live so long being a dress-up doll for his bride. Not only that, it's time for me to go on, start my own life though I couldn't stand the thought of never seeing Esme and Carlisle again.

With the end of my note, I picked up my bag and old Oak.

"What are you doing?" Alice asked. I jumped.

"What are you doing?" Was the best I could come up with being caught so off guard by her sudden presence. We definitely all had our gifts, where I was a man of emotion control, Alice was the one with the visions and the lightest foot.

"I asked you first." She said. "Now, what are you doing?"

"It's all in the note. Goodbye, Alice." I walked away only to be grabbed by her cool touch and pulled back.

"What note? What do you mean 'goodbye'?" She asked.

"I mean, I am not going with Esme and Carlisle to wherever Edward wants to go," I said.

"You're not? And you didn't think you should talk to me about this?" She folded her arms.

"No, because we aren't a 'we' anymore. You are you, and I am me."

"That isn't true," she said.

"Isn't it?" I asked.

"No."

"Humor me," I said.

"You're my husband, and I am your wife. We've been together for forever. I love you so much." She said.

"Do you?" I asked. "Or do you love the idea of a husband, and a dress-up doll and make-believe family in a little doll house?"

"I love you."

"I don't believe it," I said.

"Why?" She asked.

"Look at you, Al, you're far more interested in Edward these days. All we do is fight. It's been this way for a long time, and you know it. It's over." I knew the truth would hurt her now, but in a few days, she'd be over it.

"I don't know it, Jasper."

"You do. In your heart, you know this is the right thing to do. For both of us." She said nothing and looked as if she was crying, she probably was, but her tear ducts being frozen in time prevented tears from actually forming and rolling down her cheeks. It was better that way. It was easier to ignore the fact that I had hurt her when there was no physical reminder of what I had done. The shock of what I was doing was what probably what took her by the most surprise. While Alice can see the future, the future changes as soon as someone changes their mind, and I definitely hadn't been planning this. It was better that way, she wouldn't have time to change my mind.

"I am sorry, Al." I kissed her forehead and went to the garage.