Carlisle

I've been sort of unable to settle since we brought Jasper and Alice home. There's just been so much to process. If what he's told us was true the amount of abuse he suffered was greater than I could have imagined and might have included multiple murders committed by this Maria person. She is the suspect in the recent murder of her latest husband but she could have so much more blood on her hands.

I've been doing a lot of pacing in my study and trying to figure out what course of action I should take if any. I suppose my job now is to focus on getting my new charges settled and not worrying about things I can't change.

I make a few notes on things to possibly contact Dr. Knox about.

I my thoughts are deferred when I hear the kids and Esme come in the front door. I need to talk to them before they all go in different directions so I head out to greet them.

We all sit in the living room. Rosalie and Emmett seem pretty unfazed, almost excited about the situation and Edward has a sour look on his face, sadly that's what I expected from him. I know this kind of thing isn't always easy and Edward is at the delicate age where everything is about him and everything seems ten times more dramatic than it actually is, He's a smart boy. I do hope he will get passed any issues he is having without incident.

I start our little meeting. "I know your mother has requested that you keep any noise in and around the house to a minimum for a little while and we discussed as much before. I think we all had a good idea that some calm and quiet was what our guests were going to need. One thing has come up that I need your corporation with. It's something that we did not anticipate but I don't think it will too much of a hardship." I look out at the children and see a variety of inquisitive looks and some exasperation.

"It's nothing major it's just got to do with how you address Sergeant Whitlock." I think I hear Edward groaning from his corning on the couch and I'm about to proceed when Emse decides to continue for me.

"He'd like to be called Jasper." She gets straight to the point. "not Jack. If you please just for now call him Jasper."

The children look sort of befuddled. I can understand why they might be confused especially without any context.

Emmett is the first to speak up. "Oh ok that's cool, the way you were talking I thought he wanted to be called Sarg or Jessica or something like that." I've always appreciated his easy going attitude.

Rose looks a little uncertain about the request but she agrees. "Jasper… yeah we can do that, just got to remember."

Edward doesn't say anything he doesn't need to 'why' is written all over his face. "I know it's a different kind of request, your mother and I can assure you that this is for a good reason, we just can't share the reason because it's not our story to tell. We hope you all will respect that."

"fine." came from the couch corner. It was quiet and not exactly the pleasant tone I might have hope for but it was confirmation that Edward was at least listening and for now I'll take what I can get from him.

Edward

The three of us head to the garage. The only issue is that to get there we have to pass the music room and at the moment the thought of whose in there is going to make my blood boil. Still I'm not going to let that stop me from doing what I want to do and I lead the way down the hall.

They told me I needed to be quiet and respectful in the house right now, well I can't help it if I need to get out to the garage and the music room is right there and I can't help if the book bag I'm carrying is heavy and makes it hard to walk quietly and I can't help if I'm tired from school and feel a sign of exhaustion coming on just as I get to the music room door.

I try not to look it the room, I try to walk by and seem totally uninterested but the door is open and it was practically like they were broadcasting what was going on inside. Sitting on the bed together, you could hardly tell where Alice stopped and he began they were so close. I think it's shocking that they would be lying in a bed like that in our house.

I heard Rose stop behind me and ask Alice if she needed anything or wanting a magazine. I couldn't believe she'd talk to them while they were in such a public display of affection. I kept walking I didn't want to see anymore.

He wants to be called Jasper now? What is that? Who are these people?

I lean against the counter in the garage going over and over the talk we just had with Mom and Dad as Rose starts to work on her car and Emmett messes with an old bike.

"You need to calm down Edward." Rose says to me and her tone makes me cringe.

"I don't have to do anything Rosalie."

"They weren't doing anything but sitting on the bed."

"They weren't doing anything. Jasper was asleep man." Emmett defends them.

"Whatever, I just don't like this it's weird, they're weird and we don't know them and what's with his name?"

"Maybe it's his middle name and he likes it better." Rose suggests.

"Well he could have told us before he came to stay here instead of springing it on us, like anytime at the hospital he could have said hey by the way call me Jasper."

"Being in pain makes you do things that don't make sense." Emmett says seriously.

I roll my eyes even though I know Emmett is speaking from experience.

"Maybe he's opening up, like he's getting comfortable around us and wants us to us the name his friends use." I don't know why Rose has taken a liking to these two, but it's typical Rose to want to argue with anything I bring up. If Emmett had been concerned she would have agreed with him.

"Maybe being called Jack is like a reminder of his time in the army." Emmett theorizes. "Maybe his best friend was killed and his last spoken word was 'Jack...' before he died in his arms. I could see where that could be hard to hear over and over again."

"That's ridiculous. That kind of thing only happens in the movies" I argue.

I think that's a farfetched reason and I try to dismiss it but part of me can understand a reason like that one.

A thought starts to nag me.

After my parents died I didn't want to be called Eddie anymore. I put the thought out of my mind.

It's probably more likely that he's been lying, he's not who he says he is and he's getting worried his past is catching up to him.

Alice

It's been a couple hours since Jasper fell asleep on my shoulder and about an hour since the Cullen kids got home and Rose brought me a magazine to read while I sit here. Now I'm starting to fall asleep too. He's so warm pressed up close against my side and the slow rhythm of his breathing is practically hypnotic.

My eyes are starting to droop when Esme appears in the doorway. She smiles and speaks in a hushed tone. "Dinner is going to be ready in about forty five minutes. I just wanted to let you know. If he or both of you don't feel up to it, we'll understand and bring you something."

"Thank you, I'll see how he feels."

I hate to wake him but it's probably better that I do, if he wants to have dinner he can have time to wake up and get ready. Plus if he sleeps too long he might not get to sleep tonight.

I run my hand over his light wavy hair and speak his name softly hoping to wake him up gently. He shifts at my side and squeezes my hand that's holding his. "wake up Jazz." I whisper. That seems to do the trick he gets one eye open and then the other as his head lolls back onto the pillow bonelessly and he's looking at me totally relaxed. Our eyes lock and he returns my smile. "Hey there" he draws and squeezes my hand again.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Always better with you near."

"I'm glad, I'm sorry I had to wake you but it's getting near dinner time and I wanted to ask you if you felt up to going to join the Cullen's for dinner and I wanted to give you time to get ready. Dinners not for about half an hour but you might want to wash your face and brush your hair and Rose and Emmett and Edward are home and maybe you want to say hi, you were asleep when they were by earlier…" I know I'm talking a lot, I have lots to say and tell him and I'm not sure what I said wrong but while I'm speaking I see a shadow pass over his relaxed face and suddenly he's all anxious and angles and furrow browed. He pushes himself up from the pillow and sits straight backed on the edge of the bed. He blinks back any remaining sleep from his eyes. "What time did you say dinner is?"

"In about half an hour, Mrs. Cullen said if you didn't feel up to it we didn't have to go."

"If you show me to the sinks, I'll get ready." He says it seriously and stands up favoring his left leg and reaches for his crutches. He falters for a second and I move to support him but he rights himself before I can assist.

He puts one crutch under his left arm and turns back to me.

"You ready?" I ask him. He nods and takes my hand. He holds it tight as we move out of the music room.

Tbc...