Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: I can't even begin to apologize for how late this is.
Now that I no longer have I See Dead People as my focal point, all the story ideas in my head are waged in an all out Battle Royale. It has been near impossible to concentrate on just one when my mind is telling me, "Of course it's a good idea to try to write six different stories at once! And don't forget all these drabbles and one-shots!"
My mind is an asshole.
Jasper chewed lazily on his plastic spork – compliments of the untouched meal in front of him – and tried his best to tune out the emotions of a cafeteria full of hormonal teenagers.
Edward didn't appear to be faring any better and he chuckled when the mind reader fixed a disgusted glare on the girl that had just walked past their table and scooted closer to his mate in a clear, 'I'm taken', move. He thought about asking him to cut out of school early to go for a hunt – whether it was needed or not.
"Ask me again at the end of lunch," Edward responded out loud.
Alice narrowed her eyes and poked her mate's shoulder. "I don't think so. You're not cutting out of class early. We've already missed three days last week because of the sun. We can't miss anymore than we don't have to. We've only been here for a month; it'll make a bad impression."
"I thought Edward was supposed to be the mind reader," Jasper snarked around the mangled plastic in his mouth.
"Don't be a wise ass," Alice retorted as the rest of the table chuckled.
Jasper turned his attention back to the window, watching as the water droplets from a light drizzle trailed their way down the pane.
Couldn't have picked a better place to be inconspicuous, he mused, thinking of the perpetually overcast days since they got here.
Not that he minded. He had a soft spot for the rain, considering it played such a significant role in his life and had been there for all his biggest milestones.
It had been raining, the sky rumbling with thunder and flashing with lightning, as he stood at the center of a small town as it burned around him (the rain doing little to douse the flames) and the sound of screams and laughter in the air. He had looked up to the sky, allowing the rain to cleanse the blood that stained his face and emulate the tears that could no longer fall when he finally decided – after almost 80 years of death and destruction – to walk away from the Southern Wars and never look back.
Ten years later, while passing through Philadelphia during a mild – and not particularly worrisome – hurricane he had stumbled across Alice in a diner there, a smile on her face as she held out her hand and promised him friendship and better life. He tried animal blood for the first time that night, sinking his teeth into the soggy fur of a bear as a watchful Alice looked on and truly believing for the first time that there was another way.
And both of them had been soaked when they finally found the Cullens almost a year later and stood dripping on their doorstep waiting to be cautiously invited in. The memory of Alice throwing herself in a confused yet elated – though he hadn't been sure why at the time – Edward's arms and knocking them both to the floor was still a favorite of his.
Roughly five years after that, it had been threatening rain all day as he and Carlisle spoke in his study about his progress with his thirst. After being a human drinker for such a long time, it had taken him a while to gain firm control over it and, in that time, he had preferred to keep human interaction to a minimum. But that day, as he looked out the window just in time to catch the first drop as it splattered across the pane, he had told Carlisle that he was ready.
He had been enrolled in school, just in time for the new school year, the very next week.
With a huffed laugh – and perhaps a touch of cynicism – he wondered what life-changing event would happen to him today.
"What's so funny?" Emmett asked.
"The rain," he replied absently.
Emmett glanced out the window and, not finding anything particularly humorous, turned a confused look to Jasper. "What's so funny about the rain?"
Jasper shrugged, but grinned when he saw the soft look on Alice's face out of the corner of his eye and the smile that her and Edward shared.
The smile quickly transformed into a wince as he caught the reflection of a girl in the window the, 'I got cramps, get the hell away from me look', simmering just beneath the tight smile on her lips and he quickly tuned into Alice's emotions which – save for the really bad days – blared the 'life is fabulous!' channel twenty four hours a day.
He could admit that this was still a bit of a sore spot when it came to school. As happy he was that he could control his thirst enough not to feel the need to lunge at the nearest freshman, he only wished that the same applied to his gift. His biggest problem was that teenagers felt everything so strongly – one bad grade or the end of a relationship and life was pretty much over – which made controlling it twice as hard. Times that by over 200 students and...well, Jasper suspected it was almost time to take another long break from school.
Allowing Alice's familiar emotions to center him, he let his thoughts wander again, almost missing Emmett when he exclaimed, "Fresh meat!" in an excited whisper.
Alice crumpled up her unused napkin and threw it at him. "Don't call the new girl that!" she hissed. "It's creepy. She has a name, you know." When Emmett quirked his eyebrow in an inquisitive, 'what is it then?' look, she tapped her chin in thought. "I think I heard someone say it was Isabella."
"New girl?" Jasper inquired lazily. "Maybe that'll finally drag the attention away from us." Even though it was to be expected no matter where they went, he was getting tired of being stared at as if they were all a new exhibit at the zoo.
As he turned to look at where Edward was subtly motioning, his nose registered the scent of peaches in the air half a second later. Not just regular peaches, no, this different. Unique. And one he hadn't smelt in five years.
It was like everything was moving in slow motion after that.
As his eyes immediately zeroed in on the new girl, despite no further description from Edward, he felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. There was a suddenly a loud choking sound in the air that Jasper didn't realize was coming from him until a panicked Alice called out his name.
"Jasper? Jasper!" she repeated when he didn't answer her. "Edward, what the hell is wrong with him!?"
"I don't know," he responded in a shrill whisper. "He's cycling through his thoughts too quickly. I can't make heads or tails of it." He frowned in concentration. "Wait... there's something... Photograph?" he muttered confusedly.
The word startled Jasper out of his daze and he jumped to his feet, noisily knocking over the chair and drawing the attention of almost everyone in the cafeteria.
"I need to get out of here. Now."
He turned and headed towards the doors that lead outside to a small courtyard. Thankfully enough common sense remained that he didn't use vampire speed to get there. He ignored the concerned calls of his family as he burst through the doors and ran out into the sudden downpour the drizzle had turned into, heading for the woods that bordered the outer edge of the school.
Had he listened to his family and turned back, he would have seen the new girl staring at the space he had vacated – the same disbelief in her dark brown eyes.
-oo-
Jasper collapsed to the ground, ignoring the soggy squelch of the muddy forest floor beneath his knees.
It's her.
That had been the mantra in his head ever since his first glimpse of the girl Alice had called Isabella. His hand dove into his back pocket – ripping it in the process – and he withdrew his wallet. With shaky fingers he extracted the two hidden photographs, carefully unfolding the creased material and found himself looking at the second photo – the one where his mystery girl was still human.
Though the picture had faded slightly, he was still able to make out the details. Pale skin, a slight blush high on her cheeks, dark brown hair, brown eyes and the shoulders of a dark green hoodie. It was an exact – down to the sweater – replica of the girl in the cafeteria.
"It's her," he muttered out loud. "Isabella."
Elation burst in his chest at the thought that he could now put a name to the face.
She was real.
Now what? he wondered, sitting back heavily on his haunches when he realized he had no clue what to do. He had only recently begun trying to convince himself to give up on the hopeless endeavor. To stop wishing for a woman who probably didn't exist.
But there she was, clear as day – living, breathing, real – and he had no idea what to do about it.
Do I just walk up to her in the hallway and shove the picture in her face? His laughter was a touch hysterical at the imagined look she'd give him before he sobered at the thought that it would probably be followed by a restraining order.
His mind had no trouble conjuring up the scenario.
"What are you, stalking me, taking photos and photo shopping yourself in you freak?!"
So do I befriend her and slowly get to know her? He groaned and lowered his head to his hands. Who am I kidding; I have the social skills of a rock.
It wasn't that he was antisocial – at least not the extent of Rose, who simply couldn't be bothered to interact with humans more than she had too – he just wasn't very good at it. Put him in front of a group of newborns or other vampires and he could deal with them swiftly – an air of authority and suave nonchalance permeating his actions. Put him in front of a person and expect him to make small talk and he'd develop a sudden case of muteness.
More often than not, he'd walk away without saying a word – leaving the person with nothing more than the thought that he was the rudest bastard ever. Next to Rose, out of all the Cullens, he was considered the most unapproachable.
He heard the photos crumple in his hand and pulled back to look at them. Maybe finding out more about the picture should be my first step.
It had been roughly 12:30 when he left the caf, so if he ran – really ran – than he could probably make it to that same mall two states over before it closed. Deciding that plan sounded better than nothing, he tucked the photos back into his wallet and jammed it into his pocket (immediately transferring it to his right pocket when he realized how badly he had ripped the left).
Getting to his feet, he brushed at the mud on his knees, which only succeeded in smearing it all over his hands. Reflexively, he wiped it on the light grey pullover he wore, than glanced down and winced when he realized how disheveled he looked.
Can't go to the mall looking like a vagrant, he thought, angling his body towards his house and taking off in a run. Might get thrown out by security before I get any answers. Ten minutes to change my clothes – I'll still make it before close.
He hoped.
-oo-
Thankfully the weather managed to be a lot less miserable after he crossed the Forks border and he walked into the mall with thirty minutes to spare looking only slightly damp and a little windswept.
He carded a hand through his messy blond waves, oblivious to the appreciative glances he got at the action. He hadn't been in this mall since that day, but thanks to his near perfect vampire memory, he had no trouble finding his way back to the wing that held the mysterious photo booth.
His trepidation grew with each step closer and he paused at the last corner and took a deep, steadying breath. After one last word of encouragement, he stepped around the corner, his golden eyes immediately seeking out and finding...
He froze.
The photo booth was gone.
Even the wall it had been sitting against was gone, replaced instead by a store front to a clothing store with an angry sounding name and even angrier music pumping out of it. He scanned the remaining area, finding nothing more than the store that had been undergoing renovations the last time he was in, a skate shop that hadn't been here before, the same bank of candy machines and a small kiosk that looked – and smelled – like it was selling scented candles.
Maybe it's been moved, he thought hopefully, making his way towards the dimly lit clothing store with intentions of asking an employee. A woman with blue hair and tattoos decorating her left arm made a bee-line towards him the minute he walked through the entrance.
"Can I help you?" she purred, batting her heavily made up eyes at him flirtatiously.
Not one to beat around the bush, Jasper pointed over his shoulder. "There used to be a photo booth out there."
The woman pouted when he refused to respond to her advances. "A photo booth?" she repeated, playing with the neckline of her lacy corset in an attempt to draw his attention to the cleavage that was on display.
Jasper didn't even drop his gaze. "Yeah, right where this store used to be."
Seeing that he wasn't the slightest bit interested, the helpfulness disappeared from her eyes. "You don't say," she replied boredly.
"Do you know what happened to it? Has it been moved somewhere?"
"Sorry. I have no idea what you're talking about. I only started working here last month."
"Well, is there another employee here you could ask?" he questioned, scanning the empty store and failing to notice the guy behind him cocking his head curiously.
"Nope," she responded with faux sweetness. "I'm the only one here." There was a muffled thump and a curse from behind the door at back marked EMPLOYEES ONLY that proved she was lying, but he couldn't be bothered to call her out on it.
"Thanks anyways," he muttered as he left, thinking to himself that it must be this malls policy to only hire bitchy people to work in their stores.
"Wait up, man," he heard someone call behind him. He turned to watch a guy in his early twenties with bright red hair, wearing baggy jeans and a dark blue t-shirt jogging over to him.
"I heard you asking about that clunky ass photo booth in there," he said, jerking his thumb behind him.
"You work there?" Jasper asked, eying his clothes.
"At emo central?" the guy laughed. "Nah, I work at the skate shop. I was just trying to get the new girl's number." He frowned. "Might change my mind though, chick seems like a bitch."
Jasper sighed as he studied the man's boyishly open face, certain he was the type who easily got off track. "So, the photo booth?"
The guy rocked back on his feet. "You know, I've worked at this mall for the last six years. Three in the food court, three in the skate shop–" he found it necessary to point out, "–and I never even knew we had that thing."
Jasper resisted the urge to make a, 'get on with it', motion.
"But had a thing for the girl at Trendz," he motioned to the clothing store – the same one that had been undergoing renovations five years ago – behind Jasper, "at the time, so I was here when it went down."
"When what went down?"
He grinned. "Some crazy dude beat the shit out of it."
Jasper frowned. "Why?"
"Oh, he was ranting and raving so it was hard to hear the whole thing, but from the gist of it, he'd taken pictures with his wife – some hot blonde piece – and apparently some other dude showed up in the picture. Guy took it as a sign his wife was cheating on him." He laughed. "Clearly the man had issues. Dude was like, 6'5 and about 300 pounds of solid muscle and he ended up going all Mike Tyson on the damn thing and didn't stop until security pulled him away. Thing was a dented, smoking mess by the time crazy town was done with it."
"What happened to it?"
The guy shrugged. "What do you think happened to it? It was a busted old machine the mall couldn't be bothered to fix. Probably rusting in some dump somewhere."
"Nick! Get your lazy ass over here and help close up!" A similarly dressed man yelled from the skate shop.
"Don't get your dick it a knot!" the aforementioned Nick yelled over his shoulder before he looked back at Jasper. "Why you so curious anyways? That thing show you a picture of your girl with someone else or something?" he sniggered.
"Something like that," Jasper muttered. "Thanks for the help."
Nick shoved his hands in his pocket and grinned. "No problem, man." He turned and began loping lazing towards the skate shop, laughing as he flipped off the man who was pulling a stand of shoes into the store.
Jasper stood in the same place for a few long minutes until a voice over the intercom announced that the mall was closing.
Realizing he had hit a dead end, he did the only thing he could do.
He went back home.
-oo-
"Where have you been?" Alice demanded, leaping off his bed the minute he had crawled through his bedroom window. Her arms were crossed and her small foot was tapping impatiently.
Jasper's shoulders slumped. He had been expecting the third degree when he got home and had opted out of going through the front door in order to avoid the inevitable 'family meeting' that would be waiting for him in the living room. And here I thought I was being stealthy, he thought, smirking when Edward snorted behind her.
"Taking mothering lessons from Esme?" Jasper asked out loud, pulling off his jacket and slinging it across his dresser.
"You've been gone all night," she accused.
"I went hunting."
She frowned. "You left like a bat outta hell at lunch."
"I went hunting," he repeated flatly.
"Without telling anyone? You didn't even answer your phone."
"You're not my keeper," he said angrily, regretting his words the minute Alice's eyes darkened with hurt.
"No, I'm your sister and I'm concerned about you." She gestured at Edward. "We're concerned about you. Now," she pointed towards the bench seat underneath the window, "tell us what's going on."
He sunk tiredly into the plush cushion. "It's complicated." He noticed Edward's look and began humming The Battle Hymn of the Republic in his head to keep him from hearing his thoughts. "I'm sorry, man," he explained. "But just this once, I need my thoughts to be mine alone."
Edward nodded understandingly. "Does this have anything to do with the new girl?" he managed to guess anyways.
Jasper wasn't surprised, he hadn't exactly been subtle.
"Were you tempted by her?" Edward asked seriously.
Yes, but not in the way you're thinking. Jasper waited for Edward to react, but when he didn't he knew he had kept his promise not to deliberately tune into his thoughts.
"No. I just..." he sighed. "I told you, it's complicated."
"You don't have to keep secrets from us," Alice said softly. "Whatever it is, you know we won't judge you."
He felt the pictures burning a hole in his pocket. He had kept them secret for five years and it had almost driven him crazy. Perhaps it was finally time to tell someone.
Besides, the fact that Emmett had pointed her out and Edward had just brought her up, meant that she wasn't just a figment of his imagination – which, for a minute, he had genuinely worried about. She wasn't going to vanish into thin air.
"Alright," he agreed hesitantly. "Do you remember when we shopped for Edward's present at East Side Mall five years ago?"
"Of course," Alice replied.
"And that photo booth?"
"The one that wouldn't work you mean?"
He nodded and licked his bottom lip. "It did work... for me at least. I got bored and decided to try it."
"You willing got your picture taken?" Edward asked amusedly.
"Hey, I finally agreed to sit for that family portrait last year didn't I?" Jasper replied defensively.
Edward sniggered. "Yeah and it only took you fifty years."
Alice slapped his shoulder. "You're getting off track."
Jasper crossed over to the dresser and removed the picture of himself that he had buried under his clothes – the one he had never given Esme. "It gave you three prints. This is the first one."
"Oh, Jas," Alice murmured, venom misting her eyes. "I had no idea you were so lonely."
He shifted self-consciously and turned away. That was why he hadn't given Esme the photo. He was worried that his true emotions would stand out as starkly to them as it had to him.
Guess I was right.
"Well," he said, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "Like I said, that was just the first one." He shakily withdrew his wallet from his pocket and once again removed the pictures. "This was the second," he said as he unfolded it and passed it to them.
Alice and Edward gazed jointly at the picture, disbelief quickly mounting in their emotions.
"Is this... is this real?" Alice asked hesitantly seconds before Edward added his own, "You're saying this was taken five years ago?"
"Yes to both questions."
"That would've made her roughly thirteen at the time," Edward muttered to himself. "She looks exactly the same as she does now."
"So we all agree this is the same girl?" Jasper replied, trying to keep the shrillness out of his voice. He had been concerned that he had seen brown hair and eyes and simply superimposed the rest.
"Oh yes," Alice breathed. "I don't know how, but it's her." She looked up at Jasper. "Why didn't you tell us about this?" she asked, looking positively crushed that he had hidden such a big secret.
"I'm sorry, Alice. On some level I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid."
"Afraid of what?"
He offered a half-hearted shrug, unsure of what the answer was.
"I suspect," Edward began tentatively, "that you were worried that we'd look at it and see nothing but you."
Jasper let out a startled laugh. "You know, it was something almost like that. I've been a vampire for a long time and, even if I never admitted it out loud, half that time I had wished I had –" he rubbed at the back of his neck self-consciously "–someone." He shot a small, meaningful smile at Alice. "Meeting you, Alice, you were my first real friend and then eventually becoming a part of this family helped for a little while, but with three mated pairs, it got a lot harder to ignore."
Alice's pretty face twisted with guilt. "I'm sorry, we didn't mean to be –"
"You didn't mean to love your other half?" He chuckled. "Don't even apologize for that, it makes me feel like an ass." He took the picture from them. "When I saw this, I finally felt that I might get that too. But she wasn't real," he whispered brokenly. "She only existed in a picture and, for the longest time, I thought she was a figment of my imagination – that I saw her because I desperately wanted to."
"Oh, Jas," Alice murmured again, jumping up from the bed to pull him into a bone-crushing hug. "I'm sorry I didn't see her."
"No worries. Apparently there was a photo booth out there picking up the slack," he teased.
She growled and popped him lightly in the abdomen. "I wonder why I didn't see her," she muttered as she sat back down beside Edward. "I mean, not even a glimpse."
Edward cleared his throat. "I might be able to shed some light on that. She was staring at our table after you left and I tried to pick up her thoughts. I couldn't hear anything."
"Nothing?" Jasper replied, stunned. In fifty years, he had never known a vampire – let alone a human – that could completely block Edward's gift.
"Not a peep," he said, looking faintly bemused at the revelation. "I tried again when I passed her in the hall and still nothing."
"So she's blocking your gifts?" he clarified hesitantly, wondering if it extended to him as well. The thought of never feeling her emotions – and hopefully someday, her love – saddened him.
"Possibly," Edward mused. "It could be a latent gift of some sort. I doubt she's even aware she's doing it. We could ask Carlisle if he knows anything more."
"If what you're saying is true, I'd prefer not to inform Carlisle of it this early. You know how he gets when he's eager to learn something new."
"He's right," Alice agreed. "The poor girl would be poked and prodded the minute she walked through the door."
Jasper's heart leapt at the insinuation that she'd be close enough to visit his house... his room... his bed. He shuddered. Slow down, cowboy. You haven't even spoken to her yet.
"You said you had three photos." Edward's voice pulled him away from the naughty direction his thoughts had gone.
"Mmhmm," he replied, handing over the final photo.
Alice and Edward burst into laughter at the silly faces.
"You both look so happy!" she exclaimed.
"Look closer," Jasper encouraged.
Alice gasped. "She's a vampire!"
"And," Edward added, bringing the faded photo closer to his eyes, "you appear to be married." He tapped the surface with his finger, pointing out the matching bands to Alice.
She squealed and once again threw herself in Jasper's arms. "You're going to get married! Please say you'll let me plan your wedding," she begged, bouncing up and down in his loose embrace.
"Hold on, Ali," Edward laughed. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
"Yeah, I haven't even talked to her yet. There's no guarantee she'll even like me."
"Oh," Alice countered, gently waving the photo in the air. "I'm pretty sure this is definitive proof she will."
He snatched the picture out of her hand. "Remind me again how many possible outcomes there are to your visions," he replied sarcastically.
Alice scowled. "My visions might not always be clear, but you can't get much clearer than this, buddy. Besides," she continued in a sing-song voice, "a little birdie asked about you after you left."
Jasper snapped his head up to hers. "You mean..."
"We have the same class last period – she introduced herself as Bella by the way – and she wanted to know if you were alright. She seemed very concerned." Alice grinned. "It was adorable."
"Oh great," Jasper groaned. "No doubt she thinks I'm two cards short of a deck. Probably asked out of pity."
"I don't know. That pretty little blush on her face and the shy way she averted her eyes would say differently. So, what's the plan?"
"Plan?" Jasper deadpanned.
"Yeah, plan. You can't just run up to her and shout, 'we're married in a picture a mysterious booth took of us!'"
"Why not?" Jasper asked sarcastically. "She already thinks I'm the crazy guy." He looked at the picture in his hand again. "God knows I've felt like a crazy guy for the last five years." He swallowed thickly as he traced a finger down the features of her face. "How do you tell someone you've loved them before you even met them?"
Alice laughed lightly. "You'd be surprised how easy it is," she said, lacing her fingers with Edward's and smiling when he lifted her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles.
"It was different for you and Edward, Alice," he argued. "You're both vampires. You could feel the connection the moment you met."
"Esme and Emmett," Alice countered calmly. "Both were still human when they met Carlisle and Rose and both agreed they felt the pull before they were turned."
"You have a counter argument for everything, don't you?" Jasper grumbled.
She smirked. "Which is exactly why you should stop trying to argue with me. Now, tell me what you're plan is!"
"I'll let you know when I know," he grumbled.
-oo-
Turned out his plan was to ignore her.
Granted, it wasn't the most well thought out plan, but it was better than the gape-fished mess he had turned into the next day when Alice had seen it fit to drag over her new friend over and introduce them.
Emmett, being Emmett, had thought the whole thing hilarious – taking it on as his own personal duty to tease him about it until Jasper had finally sent him flying into a copse of trees. Rose had been disgusted by his infatuation at first, until finally after a week of this, he had sat the whole family down and told them the story he had told Alice and Edward.
-oo-
Rose held the picture the same way someone picking a dirty tissue off the floor would. "Is this really real?" she asked, the same hint of disgust and skepticism in her voice that he imagined would be in Bella's every time he thought about showing it to her.
Having already answered the same question moments earlier from both Carlisle and Esme, Jasper frowned in irritation. "Yes," he stressed.
The frown deepened when she shot a suspicious look at Emmett and flipped the picture over, as if expecting to see, April Fool's, written on it in her mates familiar messy scrawl – even though it was nowhere near April.
"I had nothing to do with it, babe," Emmett said, casually stretching his arm out over the back of the couch. He seemed to be the least affected by the picture, simply taking it in stride like he did everything else in life, which seemed to irk Rose a little.
"You realize how impossible this is, right?"
Emmett chuckled. "We're vampires, Rosie. We're pretty much a walking contradiction to the word impossible."
Rose rolled her eyes, schooling her look into one of bored disinterest as she placed the picture back down on the table with the other two.
"And you say this was taken at a photo booth at the... mall?" Carlisle asked hesitantly.
Jasper grimaced and ran a hand through his hair. "Trust me, Carlisle. A clunky old booth at a mall in the middle of suburbia spitting out that?" He gestured towards the pictures. "I know how crazy this all sounds."
"Not crazy," Esme replied soothingly. "Just... unexpected."
Jasper smirked. "Which is a polite way of saying crazy."
Esme gave him that, 'I'm not amused, mister,' look that all mother's seemed to be in possession of, but Jasper could see a faint smile tugging at one corner of her mouth.
"Do you know anything more about it?" Carlise asked.
Jasper sighed and shook his head. "I've googled the hell out of," he admitted, pausing to flip Emmett off when a lecherous grin split his face and a softly muttered, "Giggity," left his lips. "I didn't really have much to go on. I don't remember seeing a manufacturers name and every combination of search words I used led to nothing but ads for photos."
"You said a man attacked the photo booth, maybe it made the papers," Esme suggested helpfully.
"It did," Jasper replied. "It was really nothing more than a blurb, but it was enough to garner names."
"And?"
"Dead end." Jasper replied, pulling a face at the unintentionally dark pun. "The same names were in the paper a few weeks later. Domestic dispute that ended badly for the both of them."
Esme gasped. "You don't think it had anything to do with that booth, do you?"
Jasper shrugged. "I guess we'll never know." Secretly, he believed the answer was a big glaring yes. If that man had been angry enough to completely destroy an inanimate object, he was entirely capable of doing the same thing to his wife.
"So, what are you going to do?" Emmett asked curiously as he leaned over to once again study the pictures.
"Yes, Jasper, what are you going to do?" Alice cut in, a hint of ice in her voice. Jasper knew she was growing increasingly impatient with his avoidance issues.
He crossed his arms and looked away. "I'm working myself up to it."
She scoffed. "If you're talking about yesterday and the 2.5 seconds of eye contact you made without cringing, I'd have to say you're taking your sweet time."
"Give me a break, Alice," he snapped. "You have no idea how messed up this whole situation is." He stormed over to the pictures and picked them up. "That woman probably died over pictures exactly like this, because the man who had seen them couldn't deal. So excuse me if I'm a still a little unsure of the exact way to approach this."
Alice opened her mouth to protest.
"Ali," Edward gently chastised, pulling her down into his lap and lightly pinching her lips together. "Jasper's got a point." He tilted his head, clearly listening to her thoughts. "I know you want him to be happy, sweetheart and I know that you're frustrated you can't see what's going to happen..." He trailed off and looked up at Jasper sheepishly.
Jasper groaned. He had been hoping to put off that part until the next conversation.
"You can't see her?" Carlisle asked, an intrigued 'new information' glow in his golden eyes.
He sighed. Now that it had been brought up, he might as well get it out of the way. He nodded at Alice and Edward, giving his permission for them to answer Carlisle.
"Not entirely," Alice replied, her lower lip jutting out into a pout. "I get kinda rough, blurry images sometimes, but nothing substantial."
"And I can't hear her thoughts," Edward added. "At all."
"Hmm," Carlisle said, lightly stroking his chin. "What about you, Jasper?"
"Bits and pieces like Alice," he replied, resisting the urge to squirm. He suspected his had less to do with whatever latent gift Edward had suggested she had and more to do with his limited proximity to her.
Carlisle leaned back against the low set of drawers he stood in front of. "Well, I've heard of things like this before during my time with the Volturi. They used to look into any rumors of gifted humans and there were a few times they turned out to be true."
Volturi. Now there was a can of worms Jasper would prefer never to open.
"What did they usually do with them?" he asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.
Carlisle shifted. "If they suspected they could be kept easily under their thumb, they'd be turned. If not..." he cleared his throat. "Well, I'm sure you could imagine."
Jasper growled lowly. He could, but if they even thought of taking Bella from him, he'd show them why he'd earned the nickname the God of War during his time in the Southern Wars.
Seeing the tense set of his shoulders and the way Jasper's fingers were curling and uncurling, Carlisle was quick to assure him. "Don't worry, son. For the last decade, the Volturi has shown very little interest in our lives." He looked at his assembled family and chuckled warmly. "We're a little too... what's the word I'm looking for?"
"Vanilla?" Emmett suggested.
He laughed again. "Yes, I suppose that fits. And as long as we don't break the rules or draw unnecessary attention to ourselves, it will continue to stay that way." His face grew stern. "But, Jasper, that does mean that if we... when you," he corrected with more confidence than Jasper was feeling at the moment, "invite this girl into our lives, important decisions will have to be made."
Rose attempted to protest. "Carlisle, you can't possibly –"
"No one denied you your mate, Rose," he said authoritatively. "So, I'm sorry, but you have no right to deny him his."
Rose huffed angrily and stood, walking stiffly from the living room.
Instead of running after her, Emmett watched her go before looking up at Jasper. "She'll come around."
-oo-
Emmett had been slightly right.
While Rose still remained skeptical – and nowhere near friendly – she did stop glaring at him and forced herself to be civil whenever Bella was in the near vicinity. Which – considering her rapidly budding friendship with Alice – started to be a lot.
In fact the whole family was slowly getting to know and like the endearingly clumsy girl who managed to be soft spoken and cleverly cheeky.
Everyone but him.
As desperate as he was to listen to Alice (whose – despite her mate's advice had only given Jasper a one day respite – gentle prodding was rapidly shifting into loud demands) and approach Bella, the same photos that had led her to him, were now holding him back.
He felt like they were something he shouldn't have, almost as if they were nudie shots, and contemplated burning them once or twice. He was constantly afraid that she'd stumble on them by accident (which was impossible because he kept them on his person). But it soon became a legitimate fear. So much, that he stopped carrying them in his wallet, instead transferring them to a small safe in his room.
He felt like he had to live up to the future in those photos. Constantly worried that he would mess up and someday, she'd fade away.
And once again, he'd be alone.
-oo-
He was in his third consecutive week of ignoring Bella, when Alice cornered him at school, pulling him into an unused classroom.
"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed.
"Well, I was going to class," he drawled.
"Now's not the time to be a smart ass, Jasper Whitlock. You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"I don't know if I'm ready."
"Ready to even talk to her?" she asked incredulously. "To offer a simple, 'hey', instead of avoiding her like the plague? She thinks you hate her."
The venom in his veins froze. "What?" he whispered.
"You've rebuffed every attempt she's made to get to know you, so what else would she think?"
"I didn't mean to. It's just that every time she's around me, I think of that damn picture and –"
"And what?" Alice demanded.
"I realize what I'd lose if I failed."
Alice's eyes darkened. "Well, maybe you should stop treating her like some goal you have to achieve. She's just a girl, Jasper, a girl trying desperately to connect with her mate. You say you're scared to fail, but what you don't realize is you're already failing."
Jasper closed his eyes as the painful truth of Alice's words hit him. In trying not to do or say the wrong thing, he'd been unaware that he'd been doing the wrong thing all along.
"How do I fix this?"
Alice shifted the bag on her shoulder. "I'm in the dark when it comes to Bella, remember?" she said with a small smirk. "You have to figure this one out yourself." She walked over to the door and opened it. "For your sake, you better hope she's willing to give you a second chance."
-oo-
He stood in that classroom for what felt like hours, staring blankly at the wall and cursing himself for messing things up as badly as he had.
"Shouldn't you be in class, son?"
Jasper turned towards the voice. It wasn't a teacher (good thing because he really didn't feel like staying after school today) but the grizzled old janitor, leaning against his mop and chewing lazily on what smelt like cherry flavored tobacco.
"Yeah," Jasper replied numbly. "Class."
"Well get going," the man ordered gruffly, stepping to the side and gesturing his mop towards the door. "Gotta clean this classroom."
"Sorry," Jasper muttered, lowering his head and making his way towards the door.
"I hope it works out for you and whatever girl put that look on your face," the man called out.
Jasper stopped, one foot over the threshold, and looked over at him. "How do you know it's about girl?"
The old man grinned, showing off a set of tobacco stained teeth. "Isn't it always?"
Jasper barked out a laugh and continued out the door. He stopped in the middle of the empty hallway, wincing when the bell directly over his head shrilled loudly, signalling the final period.
He remained in the same place as the doors to the classrooms opened and people spilled out into the hallway – giving him a wide berth as usual. He looked up and caught Alice and Edward at the other end of the hall, both wearing twin looks of concern. He jerked his thumb in the other direction (towards a set of doors that lead outside) and mouthed that he would see them at home. They nodded and laced hands, walking off to their next class.
Checking to see that no teachers were looking in his direction, Jasper pushed his way out the doors and, instead of heading for the house; he veered off towards the woods.
Just as it started raining.
I know Jasper's being a bit of a wimp, but the way I see it: War Jasper (as I like to call it) is calm, cool, collected. But Real Jasper is a little withdrawn and unsure of himself. I got that vibe from the movies a lot, you know? I mean, there was confidence definitely (more so in Eclipse) but a vulnerability as well.
I'll try my best to hog-tie my mind into focusing on the next - and probably last - part.