I'm so glad everyone seems to like this! I'm really happy about that. :D It's because Jasper is so awesome.

Okay, So this song is by Run Kid Run and called "My Sweet Escape." It fits pretty well to this chapter, I think, except for the line that's (). It's a christian song, and it's really talking about God and all that...so that doesn't really fit in this story. :D It's a really cool song, and catchy! You should listen to it. (I don't own it, by the way. :P)

This is it, confidence is all I need
This is how You're going to save me from myself
From all that fails
I see You and me and everything in between
And I know I'm wrong but You long to
Fuel the fire beneath these tired bones

As I dance this road back to You
A place of sweet escape I fell into
(My everything will always sing Your glory)

Progress, I confess is way overdue
I get caught up in the things that I've held onto
For too long I've been alone
I'm stronger ever step I take

-- And this song is "Can I have a Kiss" by Kelly Clarkson. :D -giggle- Wonder what that means...

I know why you left
I can't blame you myself
Must be hard living with ghosts and such an empty shell
I tried to warn you
I've been a mess since you've known me
I can't promise forever
But I'm working on it
If I can't hold you
Can I give you a kiss
Can I have a kiss

I see that you're torn
I've got some scars of my own
Seems I want what I know is gonna leave me hungry

Bella

I was very thankful that today was Friday. School dragged on as I waited for the last bell to ring, releasing me. I wasn't comfortable being away from Jasper. At least we would have the weekend to spend time together.

I raced to my truck when gym was finally over. I drove as fast as the speed limit, and my truck, allowed me to. Of course Jasper beat me home. He was sitting in the living room when I got there.

He grinned at me and my heart melted. I had never truly noticed how handsome Jasper was. Of course that was because I had a boyfriend. And he had a wife.

I sat next to him on the couch and uncertainly leaned against him. I hoped it didn't bother him too much. It didn't seem to, though, because he put his arm around my shoulders. Soon, though, I got too cool laying up against his cold body. Jasper noticed and grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around me.

We sat there talking for at long time. He got me caught up on everyone in his family, and I tried to tell him as much as I could about me since he had been gone. But I honestly couldn't remember anything exciting happening.

Jasper did ask me about my life in Phoenix, when he realized that there wasn't much to talk about from here. "It was great," I said enthusiastically. "I love the fact that you can stare up at the sky and see only blue for miles. And the smells are wonderful. Whenever it does rain, it has the strangest scent. It's almost bitter, and it takes some getting used to, but once you do you can tell when it will rain."

"Interesting," mused Jasper. "And how different is that than here?"

I wrinkled my nose. "Will first of all, it's always raining, so there is nothing else to smell. It just smells like the plant section of Home Depot here - all the time. And you can't see the sky. It feels claustrophobic." I shrugged. "But I guess I've grown used to it."

Jasper sighed. "I think I know what you're talking about. I can't remember too much of my human life, but I do remember the cloudless, blue skies. I took that for granted, then. Now I only live in places were you never see blue."

I knew that feeling.

"So…." Jasper began, beaming. "You sleep talk." I groaned, thinking of my dream. Why did this always happen? He laughed.

"What did I say?" I moaned.

He became serious. "You said my brother's name….and for him to go away." I nodded. "What was that about?"

I bit my lip. "I think my subconscious is telling me to just…let go." I looked up at Jasper's golden eyes. "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked.

"For…waking me up. I would have never been able to do any of this without you," I admitted. "But I'll probably need your help some more."

"Of course," he said, tightening himself against him. "Bella…" Jasper stopped. "Well, I just want you to know that I'll stay with you as long as it takes for you to be whole again."

My mouth dropped open. "Really?" I asked, unbelieving.

"Really." I knew he had sensed the disbelief in my voice. "I won't go until you want me to, Bella," he assured me. "But I think that I should make my presence known to Charlie, and the rest of the town, I suppose," he pondered.

"Why?" I asked. I knew that Charlie wouldn't like seeing him here.

"That way I can hang around here even more," he explained. "And at lunch with you at the school."

Of course I couldn't resist that thought. It was much too tempting. "Okay," I said after a moments deliberation. "But you get to come up with your own little story of why you're here."

"Okay," he chirped happily. I stood up a few minutes later to start dinner then. Jasper sat at the kitchen table, watching me with fascination as I hurried around the kitchen.

I was just finishing up when Jasper told me that Charlie was pulling around the corner. Jasper stayed seated, so I guessed he was going to introduce himself to Charlie. That made me nervous.

Charlie opened the front door and hung up his gun belt. That's good. "Smells good, Bells!" he shouted, walking into the kitchen. He froze when he saw Jasper.

Jasper stood and slandered over to Charlie. "Hello, Officer Sawn. I'm Jasper Hale. I don't think we were ever properly introduced." Charlie was frozen as he shook Jasper's hand.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, and he couldn't keep the harshness from his voice.

"I just finished my first semester of college up," Jasper lied smoothly - but then I remembered that he really had been enrolled in the college Carlisle had been teaching at part time. "And I didn't really want to go back home for break, as Alice and I have broken up, making family gatherings a little awkward.

"Carlisle and Esme said I could come back here for break, since they still own the property, and I decided to come by and see Bella. I know we weren't really close when I lived here, but it was a familiar face." I grinned when he looked at me.

Charlie glared at Jasper. "Is anyone else in your family dropping by unexpected, then?"

Jasper's face set into a frown. "If you mean my idiotic brother, then no. I haven't spoken to him for a month or so. He's in South America at a boarding school." Jasper looked a Charlie with sincerity. "I don't want him anywhere near Bella either, sir."

This seemed to cheer Charlie up, but he looked over to me with a frightened glance, as if all this talk about Edward would make me crack. And it probably would have before Jasper came. But it stung a little.

"It's okay, dad," I reassured him. "Jasper and I have been talking since I got home." I grinned. "I think Jasper should be majoring in psychology. He could be the next Dr. Phil or something." I quit my joking. "I'm sorry for the way I've been lately, dad. But I think I'm getting over it…slowly."

Charlie glanced at Jasper. I think he was wondering if Jasper's mere presence was really doing this much good for me. Honestly, I wondered ths same thing. Why was Jasper able to affect me this way? We'd had never really been close, as he had mentioned...but maybe that was why I had latched myself to him so forcefully in the past two days.

We all sat down to eat after a moment. I dished up food for Jasper, but wasn't really sure what he would do with it. I think he was hiding it in his napkin.

Charlie and Jasper talked a lot about different things. Guy things that I didn't really understand at all. By the sound of it, the two liked the same baseball team. I grinned as I thought of the Cullen baseball team. I'm sure Charlie would give anything he had to see that.

Jasper stayed in the kitchen to help me with the dishes. As I suspected, his napkin was full of food, but he had also snuck food on mine and Charlie's plates when we weren't looking. How could I have not caught that?

After we were done we sat with Charlie in the living room. He and Jasper talked a little about the game, and it seemed they were really getting along. Charlie's earlier scorn toward Jasper had completely disappeared.

Around nine Jasper stood and said he should be getting home. The moment I heard the door shut, I knew he was probably already in my room waiting. I excused myself, saying I was tired and walked up the stairs.

I was right. Jasper was in the rocking chair when I got up there. I left and got dressed for bed. When I got back I laid down in the bed, but didn't want to go to sleep yet. Jasper and I talked quietly in the darkness till my eyes were so heavy, I didn't even remember falling asleep

--

Saturday morning I woke up and panicked a little when I didn't see Jasper anywhere. Instead I found a note on the seat of the rocker.

Bella,

I know you probably panicked at not seeing me when you awoke. For that I am sorry. But don't worry, I am most certainly coming back.

On that subject, I have a wonderful Saturday planned for us. It will be normal, nothing that will involve vampires or the things we consider 'fun', like baseball. I don't think you've had a normal outing for a while.

I will pick you up at nine o'clock. Write a note to Charlie saying you've gone to Port Angeles just incase we aren't back before him

- Jasper

At least he hadn't left. But the mini heart attack wasn't the best feeling in the world first thing in the morning.

I glanced over at the clock - it was 8:32. With one nervous glance at Jasper's neat writing I began to get ready.

As I stepped into the shower I couldn't stop the butterflies that invaded my stomach as I thought about what Jasper had planned. Why was I so nervous? It was just a day with Jasper. And a pretty normal one by the sound of it.

The doorbell ran when I put my finished cereal bowl in the sink. I had already written my note to Charlie, so I grabbed my jacket and shrugged it on as I opened the door. Jasper was standing under the roof's edge, and I could see a light drizzle behind him. He smiled and the butterflies make themselves known again.

"Hello, Bella," he greeted, flipping his completely dry honey hair back.

"Hi, Jasper," I returned.

Of course Jasper's car was shinny and fast looking. "It's a Jaguar," he said, grinning as we shut our doors.

Even I knew that was a nice car. And it really seemed to fit Jasper.

The drive to Port Angeles didn't take very long at all, not only because of Jasper's speeding, but for the fact that I seemed to laugh mostly the whole ride.

I never knew Jasper was this funny. I always thought Emmett was the comical one in the family, but so was Jasper. Granted, his humor was mostly sarcastic, just the way I liked it.

First we saw a movie, and since I didn't think I could really deal with the romantic show, and had little desire to see a zombie movie, we saw the comedy that didn't seem to have any point to it. But it was great, because Jasper kept whispering stuff in my ear that made the movie even funnier.

We walked out on the pier after the movie, and stopped somewhere for lunch. Well, for me. We found a book store after that, and I spent pretty much an hour and a half before Jasper decided we should leave. He paid for my stack of books and carried them to the Jaguar.

When we got home we went into the living room, and since there wasn't much else to do, we put in another movie from Charlie's small collection. I wrapped myself in a blanket and leaned into Jasper, and he put his arm around my shoulder.

Today had been amazing. I actually felt normal. I hadn't done anything like this for months. I just stuck to a schedule. Wake up, school, work, home, sleep. I was glad that Jasper broke that for me.

Jasper

I was staring at Bella as she watched the movie. The light from the screen lit up her pale features.

I thought today was wonderful. Bella seemed to be happy, as well, and that was the whole point of the outing. I wanted to make her happy. She had been so downtrodden for months.

Every so often Bella would catch me staring and blush. Every time she did so, my emotions flared.

At first, I thought that it was because of our close proximity, and the sudden rush of blood to her face was just causing my will power to be tested.

Then I examined my emotions closer. It wasn't the same feeling as blood lust, I realized. I think I was mostly pass that.

What was it then? I glanced at Bella's delicate, soft face. What was this strange feeling?

Then I comprehended it with a thrill of what it was.

It was so similar, but different, than the first time, that I hadn't even recognized it at first. The first time it had happened, I had been partly influenced by another person's emotions, and was influenced instantly to match them.

Love.

The first time, with Alice, she always knew she loved me, from the moment she awoke to this new life. And when I first felt those emotions, I felt them for her as well. It wasn't a mistake that I loved her for so long, but the way that love actually came about was different than this time. That was brought on by another's feelings, that I was so sensitive to.

This love, though, was very different. It was I who developed this love for Bella. No other feelings influenced me to feel this way.

I must have made a gasping sound when I realized this, because Bella turned to me with a questioning look.

Should I say my feelings? Act on them? Bella was just getting over Edward - my brother- and this may just confuse her further.

Despite all the reasons I could think up, I couldn't' stop the words that spilled out of my mouth.

"Bella," I whispered. "I think - no - I know….I love you."

Bella stared at me, barley breathing. "W-what?"

"I love you," I repeated. "I don't even understand how it happened. You were my brother's girlfriend! You are just healing from those wounds he left. I just got divorced, for God's sake!" My eyes pleased with her wide ones. "But I am," I said in no more than a whisper.

I became nervous when Bella didn't say anything. Had I scared her? Had I just ruined our developing friendship with my confession? I didn't want to lose any sort of a relationship with Bella, even if it was strictly platonic. I couldn't get a grip on my emotions, so I couldn't even begin to decipher hers.

"I…" Bella began, trailing off. Bella's eyes suddenly told me all the emotions I could now feel, full force. Nervousness. Hesitancy. Love. "I do, too." Surprised showed on her face. "I really do! I can't believe it, Jasper." She looked at me, a few happy tears falling down her face. "I feel whole, Jasper."

I reached up and brushed the tears from her face. Her hand flew up to mine, holding it to her cheek. Our eyes stayed locked for what seemed like hours, but was really only a few seconds. I knew that she wanted me to do, and I wanted to as well, but how strong would I be? Kissing a human girl would be much different than kissing an indestructible vampire.

But I leaned in anyway, throwing all the worries out of my head. I could control myself.

My lips touched hers, finally. They were so warm, and molded to my own. I felt almost human again, listening to Bella's quickened heartbeats. This felt so right, kissing Bella.

XXXXX

Giggle. :D So, what'cha think? I hope it wasn't too rushed or anything, getting to the romance, but I think there was a lot of development in just a few chapters. But please, tell me what you think! I'll get the next chapter up soon!