Chapter Seven: Make a Move
Bella, February, 2007
The punching bag bounced back to me and I hit it again twice as hard as I did before. I was in shape. I had started working out as soon as Carlisle said I could. I had to be ready for anything. I didn't have the luxury to just relax and be while I regroup. Not when there was so much to do and imminent threat breathing down my neck in the form of a fucked up spy!
The bag bounced back to me again and I kicked it.
Over the years, I found that kickboxing helped to relieve my stress. I found that out in high school when I wanted to punch a cheerleader through a fucking wall one day for the bullying she thought was funny as hell. The idiot didn't know what I was capable of at the time and Jamie would have had my ass if I drop kicked the bitch in the middle of the hall before class. We weren't hiding what we could do in terms of fighting. Back then, laying low was the best option when you hardly had your dad around and your mom was out there in the world living her life and pretending like you didn't exist.
That as Charlie and Renee's shit though. Not mine. I kind of made peace with Renee abandoning me long ago. It hurt, being a little kid and watching your mom drive off in the car of a man who wasn't your daddy and she didn't even have the courtesy of telling you goodbye.
I wasn't all twisted up inside because of her back then. I learned to deal. Besides, I had Jamie and Rosie so I was cool. It was my dad who was deeply affected by her absence.
It was what was bothering him now. That was why he hated me and Jasper being together. We had figured out what he couldn't. And what Renee wasn't willing to do for him.
We learned how to be together.
What made it work for us that I didn't try to reform Jasper. He was the same guy I had met and he has not tried to change me. I was the same girl he met, but he was around and he loved me.
And I wasn't afraid to love him.
So hitting the bag made me feel better and it kept that bitch cheerleader out of the hospital and my ass out of prison at that time. But now I realized that I would take her over having to deal with Agent Demetri Collins.
Edward and Emmett were carefully investigating him. We needed to find weak spots. Things we could use. But we had to be careful. He was a spy. And we didn't know all of his contacts. The search could take around the world.
The bag came back and I hit it again. With the morning I have had, I needed to hit my punching bag as hard as I could. With each hit, all I could think about was how I wanted to throw Agent Collins through a fucking wall and defeat all the progress we have made to get to where we are.
While he was here, I had to hold my breath and rein in my anger as he spoke of what he intended to do with Jasper. He knew about my plans to get him out but he wanted to take things a step further.
After he left I went to the gym in the barn and I nearly ripped it apart. Edward came out here to stop me. But one look at me, made him decide to leave me alone. I could only guess what he saw. I was breathing heavily and probably looked ready to kill.
When he turned away, I mentally thanked him because I needed this. I wanted to destroy something so I wouldn't take it out on those closest to me.
Agent Collins impromptu meeting had left me fucked up! How could my dad betray me like this? He let Collins know what I had planned and now Collins wanted to use Jasper like his own personal surveillance bug. He wanted to get him out of prison so he could use Jasper to infiltrate gangs and bring back information to him.
That wouldn't work.
Jasper went into prison with his head held high amongst his peers. He ratted on the powerful people who thought they could use him and then throw him away. His father and himself went through a lot for the information Jasper turned over. Now Collins wanted him to go back in, but this time as a glorified snitch for the CIA. He wanted Jasper to march back into his old life with a target on his fucking forehead.
I couldn't believe what he was saying to me. And how casual and happy he sounded about it. He couldn't be serious about what he suggested! He had to be joking. If he wasn't, then he must be out of his mind to think I'd allow him to do what he wanted.
I mostly couldn't begin to fathom why Charlie would fuck me over like this. I think I would have rather him punching me in the face continuously while asking how dumb I was over this betrayal.
Nevertheless, I had a plan and I was pushing forward with it.
The bag came back and I hit it twice as hard as I did before. My fist burned from the contact but it felt good.
How in the hell was I going to beat Mr. D at his own game?
'Cause this was what the power hungry fiend was doing. He was playing a game. He knew he had me a certain way and he was using it as blackmail at his own advantage. I hadn't even started working for him yet and he was already getting on my nerves with his manipulation. I had to find a way to get rid of him or else he would destroy everything.
Some time had passed since I went to see Jasper. Carlisle was all smiles when he learned that he had been right. Jasper wanted me to focus on making a safe home for the girls and find some way out from under Agent Collins' thumb. But I couldn't give up on him. I would get him out of prison. I had Edward, Emmett, and Leah in my corner. I even had Jake. Although he was just around to raise a little hell and if a prison break would give him that thrill then he was up for it. Carlisle might seem hesitant but he too was on board with the plan.
Rosie didn't like the tension between me and Dad. She thought that we needed to have a sit down and properly talk about what was bothering us. I wasn't interested. And neither was Charlie. We both had said our piece and were on opposite sides of the fence now. I guess he saw my support for Jasper as the mistake he made in trusting my mother and falling for her. He thought I was living his mistake. And I knew I wasn't. What Jasper and I had as true while my mom had been lying to Charlie the whole time. She was just waiting until she could reunite with Aro.
I explained this to Rosie and she saw it as a valid reason to talk to him.
I didn't.
So I decided that Rosie was on the fence when he came to Jasper and what I had planned.
Asking Emmett to keep things from her was hard, but he saw Jasper as a friend and brother and was willing to. It was for the greater good. And if it went to shit, her denial would be valid. So it worked out perfectly.
As days passed, I missed Jasper more and more. Seeing him for that short period of time only made things worse. I yearned of him. To feel his touch. To see his smile. Hell, I would even take him being mad at me right now. I just wanted him here. With us.
The girls were doing great. They were happy and thriving. Every day with them made me smile. I couldn't help it. Whenever I was around them, a smile would always be on my face and I couldn't help the happiness they invoked in me.
Each girl had her own little personality. At least as a proud mama, I told myself that. I knew my girls. Jamie-Lyn was the serious one. She was the oldest and in no mood for playing when she wanted her food or attention. My little Michaela was the quiet type. She didn't cry a lot. She had these beautiful, curious eyes. Whenever you picked her up, she wouldn't be trying to slap at you like Jamie-Lyn, she would try to touch your face then lean on your shoulder. I loved being around them. Whenever anyone was searching for me that was where you'd find me, in my babies' room. They were the best of me and I couldn't believe I was their mom.
I promised to protect them from the harm of everything. I promised to teach them to defend themselves once they were be able to. I wanted them to be smart and ready for whatever the world was going to throw their way. They had two dangerous persons as their mom and dad. The world they were about to grow up into, might be a little different from another kid's and I wanted to prepare them for that.
I don't know what Collins got planned for me. I don't know if I was going to make it out of this alive.
But I was going to make damn sure they had a life.
Whether I was here to live with them or not.
And I was going to start by giving them their father.