Becoming a Cullen

[Thanks to everyone for such great reviews. "Findthewill" thanks for your thoughtful reviews. You make some excellent points. Will have to address them. In this chapter, I've added something about Edward's past, not sure if folks will like it, but it made sense to me. Would love to hear whether you like it or not – flames are okay too. – Thanks for reading! Kelli]

Chapter 4. Office Visit

Edward's phone call had come moments after an agitated call from Vice Principal Reed. Carlisle listened without asking questions. All he'd cared about was if their true nature had been exposed or if a human had been hurt. Or killed. That hadn't happened. Since that was true, they could solve any problem with the school's management. He was more worried about Jasper. His emotional dependency on Alice meant that they'd have to change the way they dealt with him.

Carlisle had asked Esme to move the loveseat into his office in place of the two chairs that normally stood across from his desk to the right of the door. When they came in, he gestured for Jasper and Alice to sit there. As he'd thought, Alice and Jasper clung together, waiting for his judgment. However, with her gift, Alice had to know that he wasn't planning on anything more than talking. Alice appeared to be comforting Jasper, keeping him calm. Edward was already there, sitting on the other side of the doorway.

"We need to talk about what happened today." Carlisle got the worst of it over with immediately. "I remember telling you, Jasper, not to go to the school."

Jasper didn't meet his eyes. "I didn't intentionally disobey you, sir. Wasn't going to set foot on the grounds. Just wanted to be close, make sure Alice was okay. She was already outside." Jasper's hands clenched. "Couldn't stop myself from going to her."

Carlisle turned to Edward. "If you hadn't driven Jasper to the school, Edward, this wouldn't have happened. Why did you help him disobey me?"

"I thought we'd stay in the car. I'm sorry, Carlisle." Edward added, "Jasper did a great job though. He convinced Reed that he wasn't ready for public school."

"We were lucky. I'm disappointed in both of you. Especially you, Edward. You know how important we stick to the rules to keep our family safe. For your part in this, you'll be doing the chore you hate worst for six months straight."

"Six months?" Edward's voice was horrified. "Carlisle, please don't-"

Carlisle gave him a stern look. Edward's protest cut off. "Yes, sir."

"Jasper. No books for a month." It had taken Carlisle some considerable thought to find something that would be a punishment for Jasper. A punishment without any physical component. Not for Jasper.

A gasp from Alice. From Jasper, no obvious emotional reaction at all. Just a nod. "Yes, sir."

It was over. Without too much trauma on anyone's side. Now there was one more matter to discuss. "Edward saw something that bothered him and he mentioned it to me. It's about the scars on your wrists."

Jasper's eyes narrowed. Edward leaned forward in his chair. Carlisle realized that he was reacting to some thought of Jasper's when he spat out, "I'm not Carlisle's spy!"

Carlisle jumped to his feet as rage raced through him. How dare Jasper hurl such an ugly accusation at Edward? For the first time he could remember, he felt an urge for violence. He raised his hands, fingers splayed and ready to claw, felt his face contort with his anger.

Jasper and Alice were on their feet now, both in defensive postures. A low growl came from Jasper. Edward growled his own warning back. The sounds pierced through Carlisle's flood of emotions. What am I doing? I've never felt like this before. He made an intuitive leap. Dropping his hands, he forced himself to sit down. Keeping his voice calm, he asked, "Jasper, is this anger yours? Please stop it."

Jasper's hot eyes left Edward's face to glare at Carlisle. Then comprehension softened his expression. He dropped his eyes, visibly swallowed. "Ah'm sorry, sir. My control's usually much better."

The anger bled away, calm replacing it. Carlisle exchanged a bewildered look with Edward.

"Are you doing this too? Making us feel calm?"

"Yes sir." Jasper sat back down. Alice wove her hands around his arm, pressing against him. She looked shaken herself. "Should I stop?"

Carlisle nodded. As the calm evaporated, a dawning horror filled him. Jasper's manipulation of their emotions, his matter of fact question to him about stopping, made Carlisle rethink everything he'd understood about the vampire sitting across from him. His horror grew as he remembered Jasper's brief recounting of the near century he'd spent in the territory wars. A century he'd spent creating, teaching, fighting and murdering newborns.

A pulse of fear swept through the room. Carlisle looked up to see the same emotion on Jasper's face.

"It's all right, Jasper," Alice said. "Carlisle isn't angry at you. He's not going to hurt you. Or me."

"Jasper thinks you're repulsed by his gift," Edward added. He'd retreated to stand with his back against the shelves of books lining the left wall, as far away as possible from the loveseat. "That you'll send him away. He doesn't understand why you're upset now, when he'd already told you what he can do."

"Not repulsed." Carlisle shook his head. "I'm horrified at what was done to you."

Confusion replaced the fear, then that emotion was gone as abruptly as if controlled by a switch.

"I apologize, Jasper," Carlisle said. "You did tell us what you can do, but I misunderstood the extent of your abilities. All of the vampires I've met that had some version of your gift were limited to sensing emotions only when they were touching another person. I assumed that you had the same limitation."

"Oh." Some of the tension left Jasper's body.

"You've demonstrated that you can control your ability to manipulate other people's emotions. Is your ability to sense emotions also under your conscious control?"

"No sir."

"You can't block out other people's emotions at all?" Carlisle pressed, wanting to be sure.

Jasper shook his head.

Carlisle let his amazement show in his voice as he said, "I simply don't understand how you managed to stay sane in the environment your coven created."

Jasper shrugged. "When it got bad, I could calm things down around me. Made it bearable."

Carlisle spread his hands onto his desk. He ached to know more, but wasn't sure if he should continue tonight or give Jasper some breathing space. Carlisle decided that he'd have to wait for delving deeper into the blond's past, but he did want, badly, to get one more answer tonight. "Your gift is much like Edward's then."

Jasper's eyes slid to glance at Edward, and then back at Carlisle. "Don't see how."

"Edward can't stop sensing other people's thoughts any more than you can stop sensing emotions."

Both Alice and Jasper appeared surprised.

"Which brings me back to the scars on your wrists."

Again, Jasper went rigid, his expression wary, tense. It was clear that his scars were a sensitive point. Carlisle made a mental note to talk to his other children and warn them not to tease Jasper about them.

"Edward's description reminded me of similar scars." Carlisle turned toward his oldest son. "I'm sorry to ask, but please show yours to them."

Reluctant, Edward walked to stand before Jasper and Alice. He pulled back the long sleeves of his gray jersey to expose his inner arms and the ridged line of silvery scars that led from his wrists up to his elbows.

"What are they from?" Jasper asked, clearly puzzled. "They don't look like bite marks."

Edward grimaced. He didn't want to talk about it, but Carlisle had warned him earlier it would be important. "When I was a newborn, I found that the only way I could keep from being completely overwhelmed by all the voices in my head was pain."

Rolling down his sleeves, Edward stepped backward. His eyes on the floor, his voice flat, he continued, "Couldn't use knives or scissors. Used just a couple of teeth to tear through my skin, then dig around with a fingernail. Then I found venom helped. Caused more pain. Helped keep the cuts open longer too. If I focused on the pain, I could remember who I was. "

Jasper and Alice seemed stunned.

"Then Carlisle found out what I was doing. He helped me find other ways to cope."

No one spoke for a long moment.

"I'm sorry, Jasper," Carlisle said. "But I need to know. Are you hurting yourself?"

(To be continued)