Chapter 4

Opal PoV

Jasper stares at me as if I've sprouted a third eye. "Are we related?"

"No!" I reply, needing to nip that in the bud, right away. "Our families were very close though. We grew up together. I was taken not long after you left for the war. I imagine you were taken soon after that as well, yes?" He nods his reply, trying to wrap his head around the idea that I grew up with him.

"I'm so sorry that I don't remember you. But I barely remember what my parents looked like anymore. Your scent is very familiar to me though. I thought that when I first met you. It reminded me of home. Lilacs, –"

"Sweet cream, and fresh cornbread," I finish, cutting him off. "You used to say that before. And you've always smelled of bonfires, sweet tea, and sunshine to me." He smiles warmly at me, knowing that while he doesn't remember me, I've known him longer than anyone else that's alive.

"Would you like to sing the song again?" he asks. I nod enthusiastically and before long the entire family has joined in, each weaving intricate harmonies into the simple song.

"That's some set o' pipes you got there lil' sis," Emmett chimes in, ruffling my hair.

"You do know I'm older than you right? So I'm not technically your lil' sis… unless of course you're referring to your size, in which case everyone is little."

"You're older than me? How?"

"I was born in 1847, Emmett," I condescend. Emmett gawps at me. Edward snickers from behind his keyboard. Jasper reaches over and squeezes my shoulder affectionately. "Mr. 1845 here is older, though," I say with a wink at Jasper. "And I'd venture a guess that Carlisle, Eleazer, Tanya, Kate, and Irina are also older than me?" each of them nods, surprised that I was able to guess that. They ask me how I know. "It's all a matter of how you speak. Even if you don't have any kind of accent to speak of, the word choice and inflection are very indicative of era. I'd guess that Edward grew up during the early 1900s in the Midwest. Yes?"

"Born in Chicago, 1901," he gapes.

"I had a lot of time to do nothing but wait until the next vampire came in to feed from me… and so forth… I thought about these things and did a lot of reading to occupy my time." My stomach chooses that moment to growl. Esme offers to cook something for me, but I decline, saying I'd love to cook for myself, Bella and Beck.

"Oh great… another human who likes to cook," Emmett complains. "We'll never get rid of the stench of human food in this house now."

"Would you rather not have us around, Em?" Beck asks, mock sadness in her tone. She adds a lip quiver for dramatic effect.

"Of course not, little sis!" he replies picking her up in his signature bear hug, completely oblivious to her obvious manipulation. "Feel free to cook garlic every day!" He twirls her around a few times before she threatens to get sick on him.

I slide past them and head down the stairs, Jasper hot on my heels. I guess he doesn't like being away from me as much as I don't like being away from him. Now that I'm with him again after 150 years, I'm never going anywhere. I'll follow him to the ends of the earth and beyond. I spent so long thinking he'd been killed in the war, or came home to find me gone and married someone else. I never found any records to prove one way or another, and now I know why. Our families brought us together back then, and luckily we loved each other. Fate has brought us together now, and I can only hope that he still feels the same way, or will once he gets to know me again.

Bella and Beck join me in the kitchen, and I instruct them to sit on the stools. "Now have either of y'all ever had a real southern home cooked breakfast before?" they shake their heads in unison. "Good," I reply

"Are you sure you don't want any help, dear?" Esme asks as she peeks her head in the doorway.

"No, thank you Esme. I can't tell you the last time I got to cook for anyone other than myself, and I used to love it." She nods in understanding and flits away. I pull out the flour, buttermilk, eggs, bacon, sausage, hominy, and everything else I need to make biscuits and gravy with fried eggs and grits. I start everything going while Bella and Beck are catching me up to speed on all things Cullen. Evidently Alice and Jasper joined the family roughly sixty years ago. I was in south America at that time, being carted around by some evolution obsessed vampire named Joham, being used as food for his unruly half-vampire children.

"What is that?" Bella asks, pulling me out of my memory. She is staring at the pot of cheesy grits cooking on the stove.

"Grits with cheese," I reply. She asks what grits are, which astounds me momentarily. "Didn't I hear you were from Phoenix?" I ask. Bella nods, "I guess that isn't really the 'south' though is it? Mostly Hispanic foods?"

"Yeah, and I'm sick of it," Beck replies. Bella giggles, saying their dad loves Bella's homemade enchiladas, and Beck always leaves the house while the meal is being made.

"Grits are made of hominy, which is a corn product. You kind of cook it like one would oatmeal, and serve it either with cheese and bacon or it can be eaten sweetened with sugar or honey. Today we're going the savory route." After a few more turns of the pan, breakfast is ready. I place a piping hot plate in front of both of the girls and serve one for myself, taking a stool on the other end of the bar. Jasper closes the distance between us and settles his hand on the small of my back while I eat.

Bella and Beck both take tentative bites of the grits before moaning and digging in for more. "Oh my god," Beck exclaims. "Opal, you can cook every day from here on out as far as I'm concerned."

"I think Esme might be a little hurt at that," Bella whispers to her, knowing full well Esme can hear that, too.

"Oh sorry Esme! You're a wonderful cook!" Beck calls out also knowing that wherever Esme is, she's smiling.

As I finish eating, Jasper takes my dishes and brings them to the sink to wash. "Jasper, you don't have to do that," I protest.

"Opal," he says, putting his hand up to stop me. "You know as well as I do that whoever cooks, doesn't clean up. We were both raised that way." I can't argue with him; we were raised that way. Our mothers and their servants were the ones who made all the meals but us kids and our fathers were the ones who cleaned up the dishes.

"So what's on the agenda?" I ask.

"Shopping of course!" Alice pipes in, dancing into the kitchen. "Coming Jasper?"

"Ah no, I think I'll stay outta the line of fire for this one. You girls have a good time though, yeah?" My heart sinks slightly at his decision to stay behind. He sidles up to me and wraps his arms around me and puts his lips close to my ear. "I got something special waiting for ya when y'get home okay, Darlin'?" I smile and nod as he kisses my cheek pouring an awful lot of emotion into me through his lips. Maybe he is falling for me again.

Alice pulls me out of Jasper's arms and out the door. We get into a yellow Porsche that seems entirely too ostentatious. Rosalie slides into the back seat. "Aren't Bella and Beck coming?"

"They hate shopping as much as we hate eating human food," Rosalie explains. Alice drives along at a steady pace. And by steady I mean 95 miles an hour. We arrive in Seattle in what seemed like 12 minutes, but must have been closer to an hour and a half.

The girls pull me from shop to shop, making me try on various clothes. "Aren't you having fun?" Alice asks with a pout on her face. We're currently at a nail salon having manicure-pedicures done. The nail technician comments that my feet have zero calluses or dead skin, something she's never seen before.

"I've never been pampered like this, so it's a nice change," I whisper in Portuguese so the nail tech doesn't understand. "But I have to be honest when I tell you, this reminds me of this little girl whose father owned me for a while. He changed his daughter at the age of 10, and she treated me like her life-size dress up doll that she also got to bite whenever she wanted. I know neither of you are going to bite me, but I can't scratch the memory."

"Aww, I'm sorry sweetie. I wish I'd known. I just can't see anything when it comes to you. I mean, I saw you coming with us to go shopping, saw you smiling and seemingly having a good time, but I can't actually see your decisions. It's quite maddening."

"Imagine how it is for the rest of us," I reply, smirking at her. "And I am happy, very happy."

"Spill," Rosalie states. I quirk an eyebrow at her. "What's the deal with you and Jasper?" The nail techs leave us to soak in the hot water and go off to chat in their own break room.

"What do you mean? I told you all that we grew up together. He doesn't remember me at all, which really sucks, but that's what happens I guess."

"Yeah, but it seems a little fishy to me. Not that I don't believe or trust you, but you are new to our family and I am very protective."

"Rightfully so, Rose," I reply. "You have every right to ask me anything and I will answer as truthfully as I can. Please, please don't tell Jasper, and try not to think about it around Edward, but Jasper and I were engaged." They both shriek in surprise. "It was a match made in heaven. Our families sort of arranged our joining, but we were already in love, and had been always. We were each other's best friend as kids and as we grew, so too did our connection. The day before he left for the war, he proposed to me, and I accepted. We exchanged precious stones of our namesake and promised to grow old together. I don't know if he still has the opal I gave him, but I wear the jasper pendant every day." I pull the stone out from behind my shirt collar to show them.

"You've never taken it off in 150 years?" Alice asks.

"Oh, I didn't wear it for a long time; for fear that it would be stolen from me. I had to keep it hidden for years at a time sometimes. Also I never wore it when I was being fed from. I didn't want to risk it breaking or someone taking it from me. It is my most precious possession, losing it would have killed me."

"But now you have Jasper back, so are you going to tell him all this?"

"Yes, my plan is to give him the full story at the costume ball. Considering we'll be dressing from our own era, I think it'll be appropriate, don't you?" Alice's eyes glaze over momentarily, and then she squeals in delight when they refocus.

"Opal it'll be perfect! He'll love it. He loves you already; he just needs to admit it to himself. Can't blame him though, he's been alone for sixty years and before that the woman who he thought was his mate turned out to only be manipulating him for her own gain."

"Maria," Rosalie hisses under her breath.

"Maria? As in the vampire ruler of the South, Maria?" I ask.

"Yeah, she created Jasper and used him and his ability to help her gain the most territory in the south," Alice replies. My mouth drops open. As I sit there, the rage starts to increase.

"That dirty, no good, foul, rotten, evil trampy harlot!"

"You know her?" Alice and Rosalie chorus in unison.

"Know her? I was her bloody slave for the better part of forty years!"

"What happened?" they ask.

"She got me after a fight with another vampire named Sir Raymond. His mate is the one that bashed my head in, damaging my pain receptors, and likely making it so Edward can't hear me and you can't see me," I tell Alice. "She learned early on that no amount of torture would make me obey her wishes. Not feeling pain really minimizes the affects of the torture. It becomes a mere annoyance at that point. She told me she knew who my fiancé was, and if I didn't do exactly what she asked of me, she'd turn him and throw him to the wolves, figuratively speaking. That was her ticket to get me to do every thing she asked of me for so long.

"Eventually she told me that he'd died of exhaustion, tilling the soil for a new season. It made sense; he would have been nearly 70 years old at that point, very old for that time period. He'd moved on without me, started a family, and lived a full happy life. I was happy for him. It made sense to me too; I mean, if I am a Silverblood, then I would have stopped aging at some point, while my husband, children, grandchildren, and everyone aged and died. But I lost all will to do anything and since Maria no longer held that over my head, she let me go. I was free for all of twelve seconds before another coven found me and took me away. But it didn't matter. I stopped caring what happened to me. I had merely been existing until Jasper walked through my door the other day."

Alice and Rosalie are sitting there, stock still. The way a vampire should not be sitting when trying to blend in with humans. "I wonder if she had any idea that the vampire who ran her army is the same person who she held over your head for so long. Amazing that you were right near Jasper for so long but didn't even know it."

"She kept me far away from her soldiers," I reply. "She was the only one who fed from me at all during that time, which was the only respite I got during my life as a Silverblood. Previously and since then I've had multiple vampires crowding me like pigs at the feeding trough."

"My life as a Silverblood? That sounds like a bad ABC Family TV Show," Rosalie jokes, thus ending the serious tone of our conversation.

Jasper PoV

"Edward!" I shout, needing to get his attention away from his conversation with Bella for a moment.

"What is it Jasper?" he asks.

"I told Opal I would have something special planned for her when she got back and I have no idea what to do."

"You love her, don't you?"

"Something tells me I always have, and that I've been missing out on that for a century and a half. I have a lot of time to make up for, and I don't want to waste a moment of it. Do you have any ideas?"

"Well she's been carted off by Alice and Rosalie for the day; she'll no doubt be exhausted when she gets back. I'd suggest something low key, where she doesn't have to expend any more energy than she already has."

"Movie night," Emmett chimes in.

"Why would she like a movie night?"

"Dude, all women love a movie night. Turn the downstairs entertainment room into a theater, big comfy chairs, popcorn, candy, big screen, the whole nine. You can even consign Edward and me to work the theater as ushers."

"Why are you dragging me into this nonsense?" Edward asks Emmett. "Look Jasper, I know you love her, okay, I've been hearing you scream it in your thoughts practically since the day you rescued her. I can't hear her, but you can feel her. And you feel loved. She loves you more than anything in this world, I can tell you that. Just do what feels right, what feels natural."

"Thanks, bro," I reply. He nods and wanders off with Emmett. I set to rearranging the entertainment room to make it look more theater-esque. All of the movies from everyone's collection are catalogued in an extensive wall shelf, the cases discarded, but the discs saved in thin sleeves so as to maximize the quantity in the space. One of Emmett's "ingenious" ideas. Though actually we all thought it was very smart of him. He set up a computer system that contains the cover and back cover art of the cases, and when you select a movie, the disc that it corresponds to will automatically come forward, flop onto the drive and start playing. A "glorified jukebox" he calls it.

I start the popcorn in the machine right as I hear the girls drive up the road in Alice's Porsche. Opal is putting off excited emotions, it sounds as though Alice may have told her a little about what I have been planning. "Have fun Opal, and don't do anything I wouldn't do," Rosalie calls as she walks up the stairs, presumably to find Emmett. I hear Opal's soft footfalls heading towards the basement door.

"Jasper?" she calls out. "Are you down there?"

"Yes, come on down, Darlin'," I reply. She skips down the stairs quickly and launches herself at me from the bottom step. I catch her deftly, and plant a kiss on her cheek. "I missed you," I whisper, letting my cool breath hit her ear.

"Likewise," she replies. "You never told me that your sisters would subject me to torture." She shoves her fingers out at me to show me her perfectly manicured nails. "And the toes match. It's ridiculous… how do you live like this?"

"Feel free to hold me completely responsible for how lovely you look," I reply.

"I think I just might. Now what's all this?" she asks as she looks around the room.

"I thought we'd have a movie night. Just you and me," I suggest.

"Wow, when we were younger, there'd be someone supervising us… usually my dad or your uncle," she replies. "I like this better. This is one culture change that I am completely okay with." She plops down into one of the overstuffed couches and waits for me expectantly. I hand her the touch screen computer where she can page through the movie choices, and go dish up some popcorn for her. I place the bowl on a tray along with several sodas in a bucket of ice, some selections of candy, and a chocolate bar or two. "Jeepers, Jasper! It's a good thing I don't have to watch my girlish figure!" she jokes. I chuckle, kiss her on the head and sit down next to her.

"Did you pick a film?" I ask.

"See? There's another sign of our age… no one today says film, they all say movie or flick. And yes, I did pick one. I'm a sucker for Charlie Chaplin, and this is his first Talkie."

"The Great Dictator? I've never seen it. You like this film?"

"Yeah, it's one of my favorites. You and I both lived through so many wars, and seeing how humans can treat each other. It's worse than what happened in the Southern Vampire Wars, or anything that's happened to me."

"Opal, you've been through hell," I reply. She places a finger on my lips to silence me.

"I know fully well what I've been through, Jasper. And what you've been through. Alice and Rosalie told me about your… upbringing," she says, as she traces one of the scars on my jaw line. "And those are horrible things that we've endured at the hands of greedy, power hungry vampires. But what the humans have done to each other in the name of religion, greed and a hunger for power is nothing short of abhorrent, gruesome and vile. If I could think of a worse adjective, I'd throw that in there, too. But I was never stuffed into a gas chamber to be killed merely for believing in a certain religion. I was never placed in an interment camp merely for being of the same country or descended of the same country that attacked an island in Hawaii. I was never forced out of my homeland, nor burned at the stake for being a heretic by the Inquisition. I was never given a blanket covered in small pox virus in an effort to snuff out my entire tribe of people.

"In my mind, those things are much, much worse than anything I ever went through. I can't say the same for you, as I don't know the details of everything; but in many ways, mankind is much more monstrous than vampire kind."

"You make a fair point," I reply. "And I think you're right. Vampires are by definition monsters, but not all of us are monstrous. Humans are capable of doing much worse things than I've seen any vampire do. Would you like to start the film?" I ask.

"Yes, what do I do?" she asks as she hands the tablet back to me. I instruct her to click on the selection and point to where the disc emerges from the shelves and is placed on the reader. Her eyes widen in surprise. "Where in the hell did this come from?"

"Emmett," I reply. She chuckles, already understanding the intricacies that are my brother. The film starts and she grabs the bowl of popcorn and settles up against me, placing the bowl in my lap as she snacks on it. When the scene with the upside down airplane begins, she has to take the bowl off my lap to prevent it from being spilled, from my shaking with laughter.

"What I'm loving about this movie is how Chaplin is able to take a rather serious topic and add humor without making it offensive," Opal remarks.

"Yes, definitely," I agree. "What happens in this film is very similar to what happened to the Jews in Germany and other parts of Europe during Hitler's reign, from what I remember. Chaplin's remarkable resemblance to the Fuhrer, only adds to the parallels." At this point, Opal places the bowl of popcorn back on the tray and sits up, crawling over, into my lap. My arm automatically wraps around her hips, holding her close to me. She leans her head against my shoulder as we continue watching the film.

As the film ends, I smell tears. "Opal, what's wrong?" I ask, brushing her hair from her face so she can look at me.

"I just missed you so much, Jasper," she replies, sobbing through her words. "I've daydreamed so many times about sitting with you like this, seeing films, going out to dinner, being normal. I know we'll never be fully normal, but this has made everything I've gone through not matter in the least. Being with you now has made me the happiest I've ever been."

"Opal I know you're planning on telling me more, and that I have to wait until the costume ball for the full story; Alice told me that much. She told me not to push for information, but I can feel your emotions. And I need you to know that I feel the same way." I decide not to drop the L word on her just yet, as I've just realized it myself, and she's got a lot to sort through, herself.

"You do?" she asks, astonished. I detect a hint of uncertainty in her emotions.

"Yes, silly girl. I didn't realize it at first, but just these few days with you have told me that you're the one I've been missing all these years."

"Jasper," she calls after a moment of awkward silence. I look up into the deep sapphire pools in her eyes. "Now would be a good time for you to kiss me."

"I wasn't sure if you wanted that. I know my kind has hurt you in the pa—" she cuts me off by pressing her lips to mine. I revel in the warm satin against my lips and pull her tightly against me. She turns her body so she can be pressed more tightly to me. I trail my tongue along her lip, asking for entrance, which she grants enthusiastically. Her body has shifted completely, and she is straddling my lap, her warm little body completely pressed along mine. Her fingers slide up my neck and into my hair, tugging gently, eliciting quiet growls from me.

There is no comparison to the taste of her. She is absolutely exquisite. I wrap my arms tightly around her waist, letting one hand trail up her back and into her silky locks.

After a few minutes, she pulls away, gasping for air. Oh right, humans need to breathe. "We should slow down," she whispers. I nod my head in agreement. If she hadn't stopped, I might have gone too far and ripped her clothes and mine off right there. She slides off my lap, immediately making me miss the warmth of her, and sidles up beside me, pulling my arm around her shoulders. She's paging through the tablet again, looking for another film to watch.

"Would you like something more substantial than candy and popcorn?" I ask. "I could have a pizza delivered, or whatever you like."

"I'm fine for now, but maybe later pizza would be great," she replies. "I'm not used to being able to eat whatever I want. I'm fairly certain that what I eat does not affect the taste of my blood at all, and that they just used it as a way to control me. But still, having this freedom too is so wonderful. Thank you again for rescuing me, Jasper." She nuzzles her head against my chest, and wraps her arm around my torso.

"Any time, Darlin'," I reply. "I would rescue you a thousand times over. No question about it." I can feel her smile against me before she turns back to the tablet to page through the list of movies.

"Ooh! Firefly! Have you seen this program?" she asks, suddenly very excited again.

"No, I haven't watched many programs or films. That's more Emmett's department. Is it a good one?"

"Well cowboy, you will just have to watch and find out," she replies selecting it and watching as the disc moves to the reader tray and the show begins on the screen. She settles up against me again, a bag of candy in one hand and a bottle of soda that she settles against my legs to help keep it cold.

"I have to admit, this show is pretty great," I say, once the first episode is over. "Want to watch another one?"

"Yes, but I must visit the loo first. I'll be right back," she hops up off the sofa and skips to the bathroom. Loo? Are we in England now? Emmett comes bounding down the stairs; he must have been listening far too closely for my liking.

"Firefly! You guys are watching Firefly and you didn't invite me?! I'm hurt, dude!"

"Oh you'll get over it. You know perfectly well that this is for me and Opal." I gaze longingly towards the bathroom door, waiting impatiently for her to be back in my arms again.

"Bro, you're projecting and it's making me want to kiss you. Which is really effing weird," Emmett warns. I reign in my emotions and head back to the couch to wait for Opal. "Dude! You totally kissed her!" he says, a little too loud for my liking.

"Actually, it was the other way 'round, but that's all the more detail yer gonna get. Now off you go!" I kick him in the arse to get him going.

"Fine, be that way," he replies as he jumps all the way to the top stair. A feat he is all too proud of, even though we all can do it. A couple minutes later, Opal emerges from the bathroom.

"Was Emmett down here?" she asks, looking around.

"Yes, and he was being an asshat, so I sent him on his way." She giggles, which is the most glorious sound in the world. "Mind if I suggest an alternate seating arrangement?" I ask. She waits expectantly. I pull a soft blanket from a basket in the corner and sit lengthwise on the sofa with the blanket on top of me. I invite her to sit in my lap, which she does and I wrap the blanket around her. My arms holding her closely to me. She leans her head back on my chest and we resume the show.