A/N: Hello, lovelies! Just a quick thank you to those of you that reviewed the last chapter and a hello to my new followers! Also, since I haven't mentioned this before, I don't have a beta so all mistakes you may find are mine. I read and reread each chapter multiple times before posting but I can't always catch every mistake. I hope you all enjoy chapter 4!

BPOV

"Jasper?"

I immediately assumed he was just a figment of my imagination. It's not like this would be the first time I was in danger and it caused me to hallucinate. Then again it was always Edward before.

Well lookie here. I managed to not even wince at the mention of his name that time.

All thoughts that Jasper wasn't real were quickly thrown out as he reached his hand behind him and grabbed a hold of mine, lightly squeezing. I was glad he grabbed the one with the not so broken fingers.

"It's alright darlin'. I won't let her hurt you. Everyone's on their way."

I swear I stopped breathing and panic flooded me.

They were coming? Was I ready to face the Cullen family again?

I didn't think so but I guess I didn't really have a choice in the matter. I couldn't think about that now. There were more pressing matters at hand, like the possibility that I was about to die. I hoped that Jasper would be able to stop her from getting to me, but seeing as how I didn't really know Jasper all that well I had no clue if he would be able to take her out on his own.

"Oh, you didn't think I was alone, did you?" Jasper asked her.

If the look on Victoria's face was any indication, I wasn't the only one in a panic about the rest of the Cullens showing up.

Before I could blink she was gone. Jasper let out a deep growl and in a flash, he was gone too.

I sat there just staring off into space trying to come to grips with everything that had just happened.

First there was the fact that Victoria had confirmed my suspicions that she had killed Charlie. Not too much of a surprise there. Of course I could have done without the play-by-play of his murder, but it's not as if she cares about hurting my feelings or anything.

Next there was the whole, I'm gonna torture you angle she had going. I'll admit that it was naïve of me to think she was just going to drain me and wash her hands of me. She was hurting over the death of her mate, so it was only natural that she would want me to feel some, or all, of that pain.

Am I seriously feeling sympathetic toward the psycho that has every intention of killing me? Slowly and painfully might I add?

Okay, so maybe I really was starting to lose it.

Of course there was also the fact that she was, in all reality, coming after the wrong person.

Laurent had told me that she had said 'a mate for a mate'. Okay, I get that, but Edward didn't kill James. Emmett and Jasper did. So if you want to get technical she should be going after Rosalie and Alice. Not me.

Doesn't really matter I guess. It's not like she would be willing to sit down and talk semantics.

Now I was trying to come to terms with the fact that none other than Jasper Hale had come to my rescue. Talk about a plot twist.

Why was he, of all of the Cullens, here? Had Alice had a vision of Victoria coming for me?

I guess I would have the opportunity to ask since my biggest issue was the fact that Jasper said they were all on their way here. I was having a difficult time wrapping my head around this. I hadn't heard from any of them in five months and now, all of a sudden, they're coming back.

Are they coming back to stay? Had Alice seen Charlie's death and they were coming to be here with me through all of the hoopla like I had wanted?

I wasn't sure which scenario I wanted it to be. There were so many questions and nowhere near enough answers. Well, I didn't have any answers.

I felt like I was on overload. I wanted nothing more than to shut down for awhile so that I could process everything that was going on. In less than a day my world had once again been flipped on its ear and I felt like I was going to snap.

While I was lost in my internal struggle Jasper had returned. I could see him moving through my peripheral vision. He was walking toward me at a slow human pace. He probably assumed I would freak if he moved too fast.

Good call, Jasper. Good call.

He crouched down in front of me, ducking his head to look me in the eye.

"Bella? Are you alright, darlin'?" he asked.

"Jasper?"

Okay, so I wasn't being very eloquent with the fact that I had only been able to say his name, but give me break. I'm in shock here.

"Yeah, it's me sugar. You alright?"

I didn't answer him. I just stared. I was trying to figure out just how I felt about him being here.

Relief. That's what I felt. And fucking grateful. Really his timing was impeccable. I really didn't care how or why he showed up when he did, but in this precise moment it didn't matter. He was here and he saved me. I still didn't seem to be able to answer his question. All of my words were stuck in my throat. Well, all but one it seemed.

"Jasper!"

Before properly thinking about my actions, I launched myself at him and wrapped my arms around him as tightly as I could. Of course as soon as I moved a searing pain shot through most of my body but I pushed it away. Yeah, it hurt like hell but I was alive… and Jasper was here… and the rest of the Cullens were coming.

I was a bit embarrassed that I had jumped on him like that, but it didn't last long. Now don't ask me where the fuck it came from because I honestly don't know, but when the embarrassment left anger took its place. I was so pissed the edges of my line of sight were actually tinted red.

I pulled back away from him just as quickly as I had launched myself at him.

Fuck! I gotta stop moving so fast. That shit hurts.

My anger was seriously misplaced. I had no reason to be mad at Jasper. Well, I did what with the whole him trying to eat me thing, but I didn't care then and I still don't. He's a vampire, I was bleeding. You do the math.

No, I was angry with the rest of them, Rosalie excluded. But the fact was he was a Cullen, he was here, and I needed someone to take my anger out on.

Sorry, Jasper!

I narrowed my eyes at him and to my surprise he actually flinched.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I gritted out between my teeth.

If I didn't know any better I would have said that he was a bit scared.

"Uhhh… saving your life?"

I rolled my eyes.

"No shit Dick Tracy. I meant why are you here in Forks? It's been five months Jasper and I haven't heard from any of you. Why did you choose now of all times to show up and play hero?"

He looked a bit taken aback but I didn't really care. I wanted answers.

"Alice. She had a vision about your dad. Everyone decided that we would come back so that we could be here for you,"

The look on his face caused my anger to all but disappear. I didn't know if he could feel the pain inside me over the loss of Charlie since I still wasn't allowing myself to feel it. If he couldn't then the look he was giving me showed me that he really was concerned for me.

"Can you feel me?" I asked

"No, and I have to admit that I'm a little concerned about that."

I sighed and placed my head in my hands, wincing when I made contact with my broken fingers.

"I guess that might be because I'm not really feeling anything right now. I'm just numb. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, what to feel, how to act. Hell, I don't even know who I'm supposed to be calling to tell them Charlie's gone. Now I have even more on my plate to deal with; with you and the rest of your family coming back. It's just too much. I don't know how to do this, Jasper. I feel so… lost."

He stood from his crouched position and sat down beside me. He reached over, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him.

"Bella darlin', that's what we'll be here for. We'll help you with whatever it is that you need. No one is going to expect anything from you or expect you to act a certain way. Right now all you need to do is grieve. You're holding all that in and that's not good. You've been through so much in the last few months. You need to cry and yell and throw things if that's what you feel like doing."

I let out a humorless laugh.

"Trust me Jasper, if I unleashed all of that right now you'd be crying and yelling and throwing stuff right along with me. I don't think my house could survive that."

He chuckled and I actually gave him a genuine smile. It was the first one I had given anyone in a very long time and it felt nice.

"You look tired," he said as he traced the dark circles under my eyes with his free hand.

"Yeah, it's been a long five months."

This time I knew my smile was sad and didn't reach my eyes. The smile he gave me in return mirrored my own.

"I'll tell you what. Why don't you go upstairs and take a bath, and when you're done I'll help you get some much needed sleep. Sound good?"

"Sounds perfect," I replied.

I stood up, slowly this time, and made my way to the bathroom. After closing the door I leaned my head back against it and took a deep breath. It hurt which brought my attention to the fact that I had injuries I needed to tend to. I looked down and grimaced at the swollen purple mess that I had once called my fingers. There wasn't much that I could do about them right now outside of taking a trip to the emergency room. I really wasn't in the mood so I decided to wait for Carlisle. We'll call it a welcome home present.

Using my good hand, I turned the knobs to start my bath water, making it as hot as possible. I stripped out of my clothing, taking as much care as I could with my shirt so as not to further injure my ribs. I struggled with the button of my jeans for a minute or two before finally getting them undone.

I slid into the steaming hot water relishing in the way that it seemed to immediately relax every muscle in my body.

I soaked for awhile before pulling the plug and turning on the shower so I could actually get clean. As much as I loved a nice relaxing bath I never felt clean afterward.

I towel dried my hair a bit before wrapping the towel around my body. Then I realized I had a dilemma. I didn't have any clothes. I thought about just asking Jasper to grab some for me, but then he would have to root around in my panty drawer.

Yeah, so not happening.

After a few minutes of trying to figure out what to do I just said fuck it and opened the door. I walked across the hall to my room, quickly closing the door behind me.

"You know that probably would have worked if I were downstairs."

I screamed and jumped about three feet off the floor. I turned to my right to find Jasper sitting in my rocking chair with an infuriating smirk on his face.

"Sweet fucking Jesus, Jasper! What the hell?"

"Sorry darlin'. I didn't realize how unobservant you are. I figured you would have seen me when you came in."

"Well I didn't. So now that you've made the human's heart stop can you give me a minute to get dressed?"

He grinned and I could have sworn I saw him scan my nearly nude body before he stood up and walked to the door.

"Sure thing, darlin'. Give me a holler when you're done."

Once the door was closed I grabbed clean clothes and got dressed as fast as I could manage with only one hand.

"I'm decent," I called.

I grabbed my brush off of the dresser and sat down on the bed as the door opened. Jasper once again took a seat in the rocking chair and watched as I brushed the knots out of my hair.

We sat in silence, me staring out the window and him just watching me. It was like he was waiting for something.

"What?" I finally asked after I couldn't take the silence anymore.

He cocked his head to the side with a confused expression on his face.

I sighed before turning to face him.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Looking at you like what?"

"You're staring at me like you're a cop waiting for their suspect to crack." I felt a twinge in my heart at the cop reference.

He shrugged.

"I guess I'm just not understanding how you're so calm. I've been around humans before when they've lost people they love and I've never experienced nothing from them like I am with you. It's just strange to me."

"Aren't you the one that told me that no one is going to expect me to act a certain way?"

He grinned at me. "Touché."

"I already told you, I'm numb. Too much has happened in such a short period of time and I just can't deal with it all."

"You have had a rough day."

"But it's not just today. It's every day for the last five months. It's almost like you all leaving opened up some sort of door and the bad shit just keeps stomping in like it owns the place. No matter how hard I try I can't seem to close it and when I get close something else comes along and busts it wide open again."

He was quiet for a beat, contemplating what I had just told him.

"I'm sorry, Bella" he finally whispered.

I was confused. I had no idea what he could possibly be apologizing for.

"Why are you sorry?"

He stood up and made his way over to my bed, sitting down beside me.

"I'm sorry because this is all my fault. If I had been in better control of my thirst none of this would be happening. Edward never would have left you and we would have been here to take care of Victoria before she had a chance to get to Charlie. Your life is in chaos because I'm weak and I'm so, so sorry."

Well, this just won't do. This won't do at all.

He sat there staring at his hands while he spoke. He couldn't even look me in the eye. I don't know if he realized it but he was projecting his feelings. I felt all of the guilt and remorse that was obviously eating away at him. It was all consuming and I hated that he felt that way. This wasn't his fault at all. His actions were just the catalyst that Edward had been looking for and I refused to let this man go another day feeling like this.

"Jasper, look at me."

He shook his head, so quickly I almost missed it. Now he was projecting shame.

Fuck that!

I grabbed his chin with my good hand and tugged. He wouldn't allow me to move him.

"Jasper, I said look at me!"

He sighed and finally allowed me to turn his face so he had to look at me.

"First of all, you have to know that I never blamed you. I forgave you the moment it happened. I knew that you wouldn't hurt me. Even if you had managed to get to me someone would have stopped you before you could have had the chance to drain me. Yes what happened sucks, especially since it's caused you to carry around all this guilt, but you didn't do anything wrong. I lived to tell the tale, so to speak, and that's all that matters.

"Second of all, I don't ever want to hear you say something so ridiculous ever again. . . You are an empath, Jasper. That night it was not only your own bloodlust that you had to deal with but the bloodlust of five other vampires. I'm Edward's singer for fuck's sake! His bloodlust alone was probably what pushed you over the edge. Even if you had the level of control that Carlisle does you still probably would have taken a snap at me. The fact that you have to feel that from all of them all the time speaks volumes to your strength. Weak is never a word that I would choose to describe you and I don't ever want to hear you use it again either."

"But Bella, the fact remains that my actions are what caused Edward to leave you. If that hadn't happened he would still be here."

"No actually, he wouldn't. Your actions were just the excuse that he was looking for to leave. If you hadn't lunged for me that night he would have found some other reason to go. He didn't love me and he didn't want me forever. That was made blaringly obvious when he refused to change me after being asked God knows how many times. Not to mention he told me himself the day he left me. It hurt like hell to actually hear him say it, but it wasn't like I didn't already know I wasn't good enough for him."

"Wait, what? He actually told you that?"

I nodded.

"Asshole!" he exclaimed under his breath. He shook his head and let out another sigh.

"Bella, what exactly did he say to you?"

"He didn't tell you?"

"No."

I opened my mouth to repeat the words that had shattered my soul, but nothing came out. I couldn't do this right now. I couldn't relive that day, not with everything else.

"Jasper, I promise that I'll tell you, but can we hold off on this conversation for another time? I'm mentally and physically exhausted and I don't know if my already fragile psyche can handle reliving that right now."

He studied me for a moment before nodding his head.

"Alright, but we will talk about this."

"I promise."

He stood up from the bed so I could pull down my covers. It felt so good to crawl into my bed and allow my body to relax.

"Oh my God!" Jasper yelled, making me jump.

"What? What's wrong?"

"What the fuck happened to your hand?"

I hadn't exactly been hiding it, so I don't know how he managed to not see it before now.

"Oh, right. Psycho vampire paid me a visit today. Remember?"

"Bella that looks horrible. You need to have that looked at."

"Tomorrow. Right now I just want to sleep. Besides it doesn't hurt that bad and you know from personal experience that I've had worse."

"Still, I don't think you should wait. If you do they may need to rebreak the bones so they set correctly."

I shrugged, not really caring.

"I know, but at least I'll get some really good drugs if that's the case."

He chuckled and shook his head.

"You are one strange human."

I laughed along with him. "So I've heard."

"We'll have Carlisle take a look when they get here."

"Speaking of which, I thought you told Victoria they were on their way?"

"Oh, yeah, kinda stretched the truth a bit. They are coming but it's a two day drive."

I had to admit that I was glad that I had some more time to prepare myself for their arrival.

He pulled the blanket up over me and I turned on my side to face the window. He sat back down in the rocking chair, picking up a book from the floor.

"What's that?" I asked indicating the book.

He gave me a sly grin and held it up so I could see the cover.

"Interview with a Vampire? Seriously?"

"Hey it's actually a good book. Once you get past all the inaccuracies about vampires."

I rolled my eyes and readjusted my head on the pillow to get more comfortable.

"If you say so" I said, closing my eyes.

"Goodnight, darlin'" he said.

"Goodnight, Jasper" I replied through a yawn.

Only seconds later I felt myself drift off as Jasper blanketed me with feelings of peace and comfort.