A/N Thanks to all the wonderful reviews for the last chapter. I know you're all anxious to read what happens next but this IS a Bella/Jasper story. Jasper choosing Alice is just part of the story line.

Here is the next chapter. Enjoy

I own nothing

Chapter 7

BPOV

I walked into the house, feeling dead inside.

"Hey Bella," Emmett said from the couch.

I ignored him and made my way up the stairs, looking for Adam. I could hear him and Carlisle having some sort of conversation in the study. I knocked on the door. "Come in, Bella." Carlisle called.

Before I opened the door, I composed myself so no one could see how deeply I was hurting. The only person who knew was Jasper and I knew he wouldn't tell anyone.

"Hi."

"What can I do for you, Bella?" Carlisle asked.

"I need to talk to you about something." I said. "Have you called your friend yet? The one who lives in Alaska?"

"I have told him about you. Why?"

"I was wondering if Adam and I could go up there, rather than stay here." I mumbled, staring down at my hands. "I have nothing against you, Carlisle, but I can't stay here. Not anymore."

"What happened, querida?" Adam whispered, wrapping his arms around my shoulder. "Did something happen with Jasper?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

I looked up at Adam. "Please, Adam. You promised. You said if I was sure that it was what I wanted, than we would." I pleaded to him. "Please."

He sighed and nodded. "Yes, I did promise. Okay, Bella. When you're ready to, we will leave."

We both turned to Carlisle. "Can you call him?"

"Of course, Bella. Though I'm sad I won't be able to assist."

"I can call you when something happens."

"Thank you, Bella. That would be great." Carlisle picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Eleazar, it's Carlisle." He said.

"Ah, Carlisle, old friend. What can I do for you?"

"Do you remember the woman I spoke to you about? The shifter?"

"Yes, of course. I am eager to meet her. Kate and I will be coming soon."

"There's no need for that, friend. I've spoken to Bella just now and she wishes to come to you instead, if you're okay with that."

"Well that is splendid. I look forward to seeing her. Do you know when she is coming?" Eleazar asked.

Carlisle looked at me. I thoguht about it. I wanted to say goodbye to the rest of the family and wrap up some loose ties. I figured about—

"A week." Adam said.

I looked at him and nodded my head in agreement. "What he said. We have some things to do before we leave."

"Did you hear that, Eleazar?"

"Yes, I did. I look forward to meeting them both." He chuckled.

"Come on, Bella. Let's leave Carlisle to talk with his friend." Adam said. "We'll go tell the rest of the family. If that's okay, Carlisle?"

He waved us off. We went downstairs. Everyone was sitting in the living room. "Did you hear that?" I asked tentatively. Emmett nodded, his face surprisingly serious, completely different from his usual carefree personality.

"Bella, are you leaving because of Jasper?" Esme asked in a gentle voice. "Because you don't have to run away. We want you here."

I smied at her weakly. "I appreciate that, Esme but I can't. I can't see Jasper here, happy with Alice. It hurts enough as it is."

"Will you come back, Bella? You can't just walk into our life and leave without another word." Edward argued.

"I already promised Carlisle that we would stay in touch."

"We'll hold you to that promise, Isabella." Esme warned.

"We'd better get going. We still have things to do." Adam said, pushing me forward gently. "We'll come back before we leave."

JPOV

I went to Alice. I needed her. She was lying on the bed, reading a magazine. I went into the room and pounced on her. "Jasper!" she gasped, giggling. "What are you so enthusiastic about?"

"I wouldn't call it enthusiasm." I sighed and looked down into her eyes. "I told Bella the truth." I said.

"And what's that?"

"That I choose you." I nuzzled my face in her neck. "That I love you."

"Was that all you told her?" Alice asked. Her feelings were ranging between relief and hesitance. She wanted to believe what I was saying but she needed to hear me say it again.

"Yes Alice. That's all. Nothing else seemed important." I didn't like lying to Alice but I didn't want her to know everything I told Bella. It was between the two of us alone.

"We need to go shopping! I've been so depressed the past couple of days." She pushed me off her and ran to the door. "I'm going to talk Rosalie into going with me." Alice paused at the door. "I love you, Jazzy."

"I love you, too, Alice."

She blew me a kiss and darted out the door.

I rolled onto my back and covered my eyes with my arm. I thought back to what happened in the meadow, no matter how much I wish I didn't have to.



"I choose Alice."

Bella was silent for a moment, trying to work out exactly what I was saying.

"What?" she finally asked.

"I choose Alice." I whispered again.

Pain filled her emotions. I wanted to send her a wave of calm but I knew she'd just yell at me. She needed to feel her own emotions.

"But… why?" she whispered.

"It's best this way, Bella. We don't know each other anymore. It's been too long and to be honest, I don't really remember you. Things changed."

"That's why we needed time to get to know each other again. Jasper, you can't expect everything to be exactly the same as you remember it. You've changed and god knows I have as well."

"Bella," I moved forward, wanting to comfort her. She took a step back.

"Please, Jasper. Don't." Her voice was weak. She was suffering by my words and there was nothing I could do to help her. "I've been back with you for a couple of days. You haven't even bothered to get to know me. You won't look me in the eye." Bella's voice dropped to a whisper. "Not even now, when you know you're breaking my heart."

I tried to look at her, but thinking about all that pain made me wince. "I'm sorry Bella. You know I'll always love you but—"

"Love?" She laughed, humourlessly. "That's funny, Jasper. You and I both know that you don't love me. How could you possibly love me when you have her? When you have a family that loves you no matter what? What could I possibly have to bring you comfort? All I have is Adam and even that won't last. He and I both know that when he finds his mate, he won't have any time for me."

I heard the crack at the end of her sentence. I knew at that moment she wished she could cry. I also knew at that moment I would have rather she'd thrown something or gotten angry than feel her in so much heartbreak. Anger I could deal with. I was used to feeling anger.

But heartbreak?

"I always knew you were better off without me." Bella said in her quiet voice.

My head snapped up and looked at her. For once, she wasn't looking at me. She was looking down at her pale, tiny hands. "What are you talking about?"

"You could have done so much better than me Jasper. Sometimes I wondered how lucky I was that you picked me." She frowned. "I used to think it was all a dream and one day I'd wake up and realize that it was." She shook her head, her eyes glossy with unshed tears. "How could someone like you, beautiful and perfect, want to be with someone as pathetic and clusmy as me? It just doesn't happen."

Her insecurity washed over me. But what was I supposed to say? "Bella,"

"I knew that when you died, God was punishing me. I don't know why." She finally looked at me with her golden eyes. "I don't deserve love, I guess. I've lost so much, it's amazing I haven't gone to the Voltrui and asked them to destroy me."

"Don't say that, Bella. You deserve love. You deserve to have everything you want."

She looked at me with those hollow eyes. I shivered. How could eyes that lit up with love just dim to there was nothing but pain?

"Just not with you." she came to me slowly but I was too surprised to move. Bella placed her hand on my cheek and looked up at me. "I'll always love you, Jasper. I don't know whether or not you feel the same but just remember." She leaned closer and pressed her lips to mine in a soft, chaste kiss.

"Bella," I warned.

Her hand dropped and she smiled. "You'll come to regret this decision, Jasper. I don't know when or why, but you will."

I stared at her dumb founded. She turned her back to me and started walking towards the house. "Bella!"

She didn't turn back and tried to understand what she said.



I was still contemplating over what she said when I felt a range of emotions coming from downstairs. Disappointment. Rage. Concern. Troubled. Anger. Loss.

Dizzy from all the verying emotions, I sent a wave of calm before going downstairs to investigate. The family, besides Alice and Rosalie, were sitting in the living room. Edward sat, ramrod straight, staring at the piano keys. Carlisle was sitting in the armchair, with Esme at his feet, frowning.

"What's going on?" I asked, looking for any sign that could identify the reason behind their behaviour.

"Bella's leaving." Edward growled.

I froze. "What?"

"She's leaving, Jasper." Emmett repeated in a hard voice. "Whatever you said to Bella in the forest is making her leave."

"Bella's leaving because of me?" I couldn't believe it. "Where is she going?"

No one answered for a second. "We don't know." Edward said. "She doesn't want us to know."

I could tell he was lying. I couldn't believe he was trying to lie to an empath. "You're lying." I looked over at Carlisle. "Where is she going?"

"I told you it wasn't going to work." Carlisle said dryly. "Lying to an empath would only bring trouble."

"When is someone going to tell me where the hell she's going?" I yelled.

"Calm down, son." Carlisle said.

"Bella doesn't want you to know where she's going." Edward answered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly that."

"I need to go talk to her." I turned and walked out. I needed to tell her she didn't have to leave. The family needed her.

No one knew exactly how much. Not even me.