All credit for the Twilight story and characters belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I just enjoy playing with the characters. My thanks to my wonderful beta, EdwardsMate4Ever, and to Jaspersdoll for the title.
Catching Bella
Chapter 6 – A Horse's Life
"We can't keep her here," Jasper said. "She'll need to go outside, and the ground is too soft."
After thinking for another moment, he patted Bella-horse, and added, "No room for you to run here. I'll find you someplace to play."
As far as Jasper was concerned, the only proper place for a horse was Texas. Emmett was dispatched to find a horse trailer for the Cullens' guest. The first one he brought back wouldn't do. Jasper snarled at the sight of it, so Emmett backed away and quickly removed the offending piece of equipment from Jasper's sight. Emmett decided to go to Portland to look for a trailer that would meet with Jasper's approval, and Bella-horse spent the first night on the patio. The Cullens arranged furniture so she couldn't run into the forest behind the house, and she clearly wasn't happy.
Jasper brushed her constantly, which seemed to soothe her. He also pet her, trying to call her back. She didn't respond to the name she had given them, Helene, so they started calling her other names, attempting to figure out her real name, but she didn't respond to any of them.
When an evening wind picked up, Esme brought out a blanket which Jasper wrapped around her to keep off the chill. She turned and tugged at it with her teeth, but eventually left it alone and dozed off.
The next day, Emmett brought a trailer Jasper approved of, and Jasper led Bella-horse into it.
With Edward driving, Jasper and Carlisle took her south to Jasper's friends' house in Texas. Peter and Charlotte had a ranch along the Rio Grande with plenty of room for a horse to run freely.
When they pulled up, Charlotte was waiting outside.
"How did you find a horse that wasn't afraid? Animals usually panic around us," Charlotte commented, approaching Bella-horse and patting her neck as she offered a carrot.
Jasper could hear Edward snickering as he waited for Jasper's answer to the question.
"This isn't any ordinary horse," Jasper said dryly.
"No kidding," said Peter. "She doesn't smell like a horse. And she doesn't appear to have a brand or scars anywhere."
"Just milky white skin, and look at this mane," Charlotte commented as she ran her hand through it, letting the glossy hair slide through her fingers. "It's been a long time since I could touch a horse. She's very special, isn't she?"
Jasper nodded wryly and let Bella-horse go, watching her run as she stretched her legs after the cross country trailer ride. He watched as she ran in long loops, seeming to enjoy testing out different ground surfaces, from dust to the paved road, snorting and shaking her head with each discovery. It didn't seem to take long for her to discover the pleasure of rolling in the dust. While he was watching, Jasper relaxed a little, enjoying the feel of the Texas sun through his shirt. The ranch was remote enough that he didn't worry about a passerby catching the sparkle from his skin.
After a few hours, they led the horse to a stall in the barn. Though she entered it easily enough, nosing the inside curiously and snorting when she saw the oats they had waiting for her in a bin, when Jasper shut the stall gate she became agitated, kicking and rearing.
"Something tells me you're spending the night out here," Peter said, leaning against the gate. "Have to admit, it's nice having a horse around. One that doesn't go into shock or kill itself trying to get away from us."
After Bella was calmer and had dozed off, Jasper told Peter and Charlotte the story of how he had met her and her subsequent transformation into a cat.
"You mean, she saw you from the train?" Peter asked.
"She saw me and somehow recognized me when I boarded the train at the next stop," Jasper replied. "When we got to the station, instead of going home, she started north. I followed her until her car broke down. She ran into Carlisle when she went to his clinic to try to get refills for the pills that appear to have been suppressing her shifts, and has been with us since."
"A shifter," Peter commented, whistling. "Aside from a few werewolves, I haven't run into them. I missed out on Caius's werewolf extermination project, and the shifters have avoided us ever since."
"With good reason," Charlotte said. "I've heard they keep to themselves, or occasionally join circuses or zoos, any place they can be around animals."
However, Charlotte had a few thoughts on Jasper's time with Bella as a human.
"What do you mean, you followed her into the bathroom?" Charlotte demanded.
"I could feel how scared she was, and I was worried she would…" Jasper began.
"Bathroom time is private time. That's not a way to win a girl," Charlotte scolded. "You say she shifted to a horse when you put your arm around her?"
Jasper nodded.
"Too fast," Charlotte replied. "Give her time. She's got a lot to sort out. You should be helping her, not making it worse."
"I know, but I thought knowing how I felt…"
"It's too much," Charlotte said. "Has it occurred to you she may not be able to control these shifts? You could be triggering them. You're just lucky she didn't turn when she was in the shower and wreck one of Esme's bathrooms."
"The thought had occurred to me, yes," Jasper replied. "I feel my connection to her so strongly though. I thought since she clearly isn't an ordinary human, she might feel it too." He kept his mouth shut on the topic after that, forced to bite back his frustration. Of course he knew that following her was wrong, and it wasn't as if the Cullen girls, from Rosalie to Alice, even the normally quiet Esme, hadn't given him an earful over the same issue.
Women and their sanctified bathrooms. They didn't seem to mind a guy being in their bedrooms, no not at all. But their bathroom? Hackles went up quickly.
He took off his hat to scratch his head, then knocked the dust off the hat before putting it back on. He glanced at Peter, who was watching him with a grin. Peter just rolled his eyes, with an "I hear you brother" look.
A few days passed. Carlisle and Edward spent their time on the computer, researching shifters and veterinary medicine, while Jasper took Bella out walking along the trails on the ranch, talking to her, trying to call her back. She seemed content to just walk wherever he led her, and he was becoming frustrated.
Three days after their arrival, Peter asked, "Have you let her see herself?"
"No, and that's an interesting thought," said Jasper. "I can sense the human personality is nearer the surface than the first time, when she was a cat for two weeks. Why don't we take her somewhere she'll see her reflection?"
So Jasper and Charlotte took her down to the river's edge while Peter cleaned out the stall. Bella-horse lowered her head to take a drink then paused, seeing herself for the first time in the water. She shook her head, turning it back and forth, seeming to take herself in. Finally she whiffled, turned away and started back up the bank.
"Do you think she liked what she saw?" Charlotte asked.
"I think the human's in there, now," commented Jasper. "I could sense it when the cat became aware of us."
As Bella climbed up the river bank, she spotted a rattlesnake and reared, frightened, pawing into the air.
Jasper leaned in and grabbed the snake, quickly dismembering it and throwing the pieces to the ground while the horse took off running.
"Whoa, there," he said after he ran Bella down. "That snake must have been dozing in the sun for it not to have noticed us," he began, when Bella-horse began to shimmer. Within a few seconds, instead of a horse, a girl was sitting on the ground, looking dazed. Charlotte peeled off her over blouse and handed it to her.
"Hi, honey," she said. "I'm Charlotte. "
As Bella pulled on the top, she said, "I'm Bella. Not Isabella, just Bella." She looked around, realizing she had given her real name. "Oh, well, you never believed Helene anyway."
"Nope," replied Jasper. "I'm glad I have your name now. I like Bella. It suits you."
Charlotte slipped off her sandals and handed them to Bella, and the three walked back to the ranch house.
Edward and Carlisle met them on the porch just as Peter came from the barn.
"You're back," said Carlisle. "It's good to see you."
Introductions were made to Peter, and they decided to go back to Forks, because Carlisle wanted to try Bella on some medications until she could control her shifts.
"I've been doing some research," he told her on the drive back to Washington. "I've been consulting with my old friend Eleazar. We're reluctant to ask the true experts, because, well, they might want to meet you."
"Somebody knows something about this?" Bella asked. "Who are the true experts?
"I have friends living in Italy who have been around since the Etruscan times. Their library is quite extensive, and I spent about sixty years with them once. But they like to acquire talented individuals, and we would prefer that you decide your own destiny."
"The circus was where my folks lived," she reminded him.
"Were they happy?" Carlisle asked.
"They seemed happy to me," she replied. "At least until whatever happened to my father took place. Then my mother, well, she just fell apart."
She fell quiet, and remained that way for the rest of the trip. They drove straight through, since the vampire drivers didn't need to sleep. Bella, however, dozed a lot, only waking up when they stopped to get food for her.
Once they got back to Forks, she seemed content to stay with the Cullens. She quickly warmed up to Alice, and they became friends.
"Jasper is very fond of you, you know," Alice said one night, as they sat in front of the fire while Jasper and Carlisle went out for a quick hunt.
"I know," Bella said softly. "And I appreciate all that your family has done for me. But I feel like I'm in the way."
"We're glad to have you."
"What about Carlisle's practice?" Bella asked. "I mean, didn't he have patients coming to the house before I came? I remember there were people outside the house the day I, um, came back from being a cat."
Alice smiled. "People were coming, but they were contractors working on the property.
Carlisle wants to offer hydrotherapy to some of his patients, and he became impatient waiting for the city to approve plans for a swimming pool, so he had one put in on our property. He hasn't brought any patients yet, as he had to train staff since we can't go into the water without humans noticing how different we are."
"You have a swimming pool?" Bella asked.
"We won't start using it until the therapists finish getting their certifications. Carlisle insisted on getting local students scholarship positions instead of hiring from the outside."
"Seems kind of odd, having people up here," Bella remarked.
"It's only until the city gets its act together," Alice replied. "And it's only until the hospital's pool gets built. After that, it becomes the Cullen's personal swimming hole."
Bella smiled, doubting very much that anything built by the Cullens would resemble a "swimming hole."
Alice turned their conversation back to Jasper. "You know he likes you. Why does it make you nervous?"
"Both my parents were shifters. I've seen those movies where shifters could only be with one another. I don't know if that's true. I don't know why they ended up together, or why they died within a few days of one another. I need to find out more."
"Is it time for a visit to the circus?" asked Alice.
"Yeah, it is," said Bella. "I just wish I knew what to expect."
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