A/N: All right, all right, I know. It's been forever and a day, and the chapter's not even all that long. I swear, I have been working on my stories - life has finally slowed down just enough to finish one chapter.
Chapter 2: Family
Alice's teeth sliced easily through the cotton of Jasper's shirt as she tried to stifle the scream again. "I swear to God, Jasper, something horrendous is going to happen to that little angel…" she growled in frustration, gritting her teeth to try and avoid biting his skin itself.
"Give her a break, Lissy," he sighed, detaching his wife and frowning at the messy hole in the shoulder of his polo. "She's just a baby." Rapidly changing his shirt, he unlocked the door and accepted Celia into his arms readily. "Lee-lia, what is it?"
"Jasper, I'm hungry," Celia complained mildly.
"We can go hunting in a little bit, Celia, if you want," Jasper replied.
"No, now," she insisted, twisting a lock of his hair around her finger with a slight pout on her face. "I want to go now."
"Okay, okay, we'll go now," Jasper soothed in reply, and Alice groaned softly from the bed. "Alice, are you coming?"
"No, no, just us," Celia protested, tugging at his hair to bring his attention back to her. "Just us, Jasper."
"Celia, please don't pull my hair," Jasper said warningly, detaching her fingers. "Alice?"
"No!" Celia shrieked.
"Celia Eleanor, you shut your mouth if you can't behave yourself," Jasper scolded.
"You go," Alice muttered darkly in reply. "I'm going to stay home and have a tantrum."
Jasper sighed tiredly as Celia beamed brilliantly at him and dashed a little ways ahead into the forest. "Celia, honey, come back here. Stay with me."
"See, Jasper?" Celia asked brightly, skipping back to him. "This is better. This is what it's supposed to be. And we can go back home and we can–"
He couldn't deny that she was infinitely happier and unfailingly better-behaved right now. The quiet atmosphere around them was familiar, soothing, and there was still a tiny part of him that had always wanted to go back to the way it had been before the Cullens had burst into his life. But Alice had wanted to find them, so he had agreed.
How did he balance what Alice wanted with what Celia wanted? How could he possibly manage to adequately divide his time and attentions to two girls who were so used to getting all of his attention, all of the time? How would he figure out how to adjust to this new life?
The hatred broiled away inside his chest. But he couldn't hate Alice and he certainly couldn't hate Celia, because neither of them were responsible for this total inadequacy. No, that was entirely his doing. He was the one who was completely incapable of doing what everybody else in his family seemed able to do: love more than one person at a time. So the dark seed settled itself in his silent heart, taking root and spreading little granules of self-hatred throughout his body.
"Jasper?" Celia queried, patting his cheek. "Jasper, can we find dinner now?"
He smiled at her softly. "Sure, Celia. What should we look for?"
She paused, nose wrinkling slightly as she sniffed the air. "I smell… kitties," she said with a delighted smile.
Jasper took a whiff after her, noting the scent of mountain lions off to the north, heading up into the mountains. "That sounds good, Lee-lia. Let's go find them."
She laughed and grabbed his outstretched hand willingly. "Jasper," she asked as they took off towards their prey, "why do we have to stay here with all these people?"
"Because this is our family now, Celia," he replied. "Families stick together."
"But what happened to our family, Jasper?" she persisted. "Why did Mother leave?"
He paused, thinking over the possible answers. None of them were particularly appetizing when delivered to 3-year-old girls.
"Never mind about Mother," he said finally, pulling her into his arms tightly. "What's important is that we're together again, and we have a new family that won't go away."
"But we were a family," Celia said softly, weaving her fingers into his hair again. "Before. In Houston. We were a family, weren't we?"
"Of course we were, Celia," he said patiently. "We were a different kind of family then. What's the matter?"
"I want our old family back," she said with a pout, wriggling down when they caught up to the pair of mountain lions. "I want that one," she continued, pointing to the smaller female by the lake.
He laughed. "Okay. You go get that kitty."
Celia sank down into a crouch, little tongue sticking partway out of her mouth as she eyed her destination and pounced like a lightning bolt. The female yowled in surprise and whirled around, trying to throw her off. Jasper quickly downed the accompanying male and drained him, then kept a careful eye on Celia's fight to subdue the large predator. Finally, the female collapsed, too much blood drained to continue fighting.
Celia finished off her capture, then climbed back into Jasper's lap, her clothes covered in blood. "I can do better," she said sadly, lip sticking out as she studied the dark red stains permeating her pretty blue dress. "I got all dirty."
"I suppose we should go back home, then, and find you a new dress," Jasper replied with a smile. "Or do you need some more?"
She shook her head. "I need to check on Baby."
Celia's earlier words echoed accusingly in his mind as he found a clean outfit for her in the wardrobe and got her changed. The other girls had all gone out hunting before they'd returned, so it was up to Jasper to make the wardrobe transition.
"I want our old family back…"
Throwing on his own change of outfit, he ventured back out into the living room, where Jacob sat scowling in the furthest corner. Emmett and Edward were deeply embroiled in a video game of some kind, and Carlisle was sitting on the couch with Celia, watching her hum softly to her doll.
What was wrong with this family?, he wondered as Celia glanced back at him and grinned. Why was she so dead-set on going back to the isolation and poverty? What was wrong with a full house and wealth? Sighing, Jasper sent a glance towards Jacob, who was glowering disgustedly in Celia's direction, and then sat down on the other side of Celia, catching her when she threw her arms around him and clambered back into his lap.
"I'm going to wait for the girls," Jacob muttered as he stalked out, giving Celia a wide berth. She scowled back at him and clamped her hands over her nose and mouth.
Celia smirked triumphantly when Jacob was gone and snuggled down comfortably into Jasper's hold. She watched Emmett and Edward's competition with a vague curiosity, until Emmett turned around to look at Jasper, holding out a controller to him.
"You want a go?" Emmett asked with a smirk.
"Sure," Jasper conceded, taking the controller. "Who's going down?"
"You are," Emmett replied, grabbing Edward's controller.
Celia reached for the controller Jasper held in his hand interestedly. Grinning, Emmett started the game without warning just as Celia had begun pressing buttons and moving the joysticks.
"Ah! Celia, stop that," Jasper yelped, trying to regain the lead and control of the buttons.
"What does it do?" Celia asked insistently, fending off Jasper with a remarkable ease. "Jasper, what does it do?"
Carlisle and Edward were both biting back chuckles as Emmett finished first, snickering when Jasper and Celia continued to struggle over the controller.
"Oh, who's got skills?" Emmett crowed, just as the girls walked through the door.
"Not you," Rosalie replied with a smile. "You had to get him distracted before you beat him. It doesn't count when Celia's sabotaging the competition."
Emmett rolled his eyes at her indulgently and accepted her into his lap when she sank down. "Whatever."
Finally, Celia gave up with a huff of discontentment, dropping the controller to the ground. "I don't like this game anymore," she announced.
"Mmm, don't look now," Jasper breathed into Alice's ear, "but she hasn't looked in my direction for three hours." Playfully, he nipped her earlobe with his teeth.
Immediately, Alice's eyes lit up and she tugged at his sleeve insistently as she edged towards the back door. "Come now," she whispered. "Before she realizes we're gone."
Jasper hesitated at the threshold, glancing back once more before he allowed Alice to pull him out. "Okay."
Alice gave him a bright, sunny smile as they ran through the woods, holding his hand. Finally, he stopped and pulled her to him, planting a hard kiss on her lips. Immediately, Alice reached up and wove her hands through his hair, clinging to him with all her strength. "I miss you," she whispered against his lips, laughing lightly as he began unbuttoning his shirt.
"Mine…" he growled into her ear.
"Always," she breathed back, just as the sound of his cell phone broke into their bubble. She groaned softly, banging her head against his shoulder once more as he sighed and withdrew the device. "Really, Jasper?" she demanded irritably. "Does that thing ever leave your side?"
"She's only 3, Alice," Jasper murmured in exasperation. Flipping open his cell, he said simply, "Hello."
"Nice try, man," Edward's voice came dryly over the line. In the background, he could hear Celia throwing a fit, with Bella, Esme and Rosalie's frantic soothing as a steady undertone. "Get back here and calm her down before she destroys any more of Esme's living room furniture."
Jasper sighed. "All right, put her on."
There was a shuffle as Edward moved into the living room, and the noise became clearer. "Celia," Edward interrupted softly. "Here."
"Celia," Jasper said warningly, hearing Celia's sniffles come closer. "Was that a tantrum I was hearing?"
"Where are you?" Celia demanded through her tears.
"Not far. I'll be home soon – why aren't you being a good girl like you promised me?"
From the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of Alice's lower lip jutting out as she began picking at invisible pieces of lint on his shirt
"Jasper, I want you to come back now," Celia said plaintively. "I don't like it when you leave."
"Darlin', I can't always stay with you. Sometimes I need to go away for a little while."
"You don't need to take Alice with you."
"Lee-lia," Jasper started to cajole as Alice separated herself angrily from him, whirling around and stalking off into the woods. "That's not fair. Sometimes you come with me, and sometimes Alice comes with me. And sometimes neither of you will come with me. It's not always going to be you –"
Celia interrupted with an angry shriek. "WHY?"
"Celia Eleanor Whitlock Hale!"
There was a screech and crash on the other end before the line went dead, and Jasper sighed in resignation.
"You know, you're not doing yourself any big favours by catering to her every whim," Edward commented casually as Jasper scooped up his sobbing little sister and settled her into his arms. "You're just teaching her that if she throws a big enough fit, she'll get what she wants." He paused for a moment as Jasper shrugged helplessly and rocked Celia. "We don't need another Rosalie in the house."
A purse came whipping through the air, smacking Edward on the back of the head with expert precision.
Celia calmed, winding her arms around Jasper's neck and laying her head down against his shoulder. From across the room, Jasper could see Alice glowering at him behind her laptop.
