A/N: Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing the story. I am excited that after a slow start, people are finding it and liking it. Who do you think is out to get Bella? Also, there is still time to weigh in on the pairing. At this time, Jasper is in the lead. Remember that it could be anyone you want it to be, but majority rules. So if you want to have a say, then please either send me a pm or put in the review. Thanks! Enjoy this next chapter.
Chapter 7 – Revelations
Jasper stared out the window of the bedroom he had shared with Alice. He was letting his mind wander to the last couple of months. Alice's visions had stopped and then had come back. They were disturbing to her to say the least and when he told her to tell Carlisle that they were back, she had refused. He really couldn't blame her. She always did have her own way of doing things since she could see what others could not.
The former Confederate Major may have understood and accepted everything that came with Alice, but that didn't mean that he liked it. He was a tactical man and he liked to be in the know, when it came to Alice he found himself half the time in the dark. Sometimes she just took care of things without discussing it with anyone because her vision led her to do so. Again, he could accept it, but he didn't have to like it. That could have been what had led to all of the changes that had taken place over the last year.
His thoughts soon drifted towards Carlisle and that damned letter Alice had left for him. Jasper had no clue what had been in that letter until Carlisle had come downstairs with it held in his grasp. Carlisle didn't want to just talk, he wanted more answers and that was something Jasper was short on. He had given the coven leader all of the information and knowledge he had, which in the grand scheme of things did not amount to much.
The day before… (flashback)
"We need to talk," Carlisle said with the letter grasped in his hand, "Do you know what this is?"
Jasper's eyes moved to the wad of papers in Carlisle's fist and said, "I am assuming that it is the letter that Alice said she was going to leave for you."
"Do you know anything about it or what she is doing? What is her plan?" Carlisle said keeping his voice down so that he did not alert the others.
"I only knew that she wrote a letter. I did not know what it said. May I?" Carlisle handed the letter over and Jasper quickly scanned the contents of not only Alice's letter, but the supposed letter from Bella to her parents. When he was done, he looked up and said, "We need to discuss this elsewhere unless you want to alert everyone right now."
"Agreed. Let's go out back and into the forest," Carlisle said. Until he could discuss this with Jasper and get as much information as possible, he did not want to bring the rest of the family into the fold. Eventually he would, but not right now.
Together Jasper and Carlisle moved out the back down and ran into the woods. They only stopped when they knew they were a safe enough distance away from the house that no one could hear them nor stumble upon them without their knowledge. Jasper turned towards his elder, "I knew that the visions started up again and I told her that she needed to discuss it with you, but every time she did in her visions, you influenced her decisions and it eventually lead to death and grief."
"I knew when she was having the initial visions, but she didn't give me much information and when they stopped, we decided to dismiss them," Carlisle said.
"She actually never dismissed them and continually scanned using her gift to keep an eye on things. Almost three weeks ago, they started up again and they have been coming more frequently. Suddenly a couple of days before the wedding, everything went quiet again. It was almost like they knew about Alice's gift and were either trying to play with her or would forget and then remember that they needed to work around it. She never told me who was in the group, but now that I know that it is two vampires and a human, I am thinking they were hired. I am not sure what role the human plays, but it is still my theory. I just don't know by whom. This could be a little contingency plan that Victoria concocted or another enemy of ours. It is the only explanation of why strangers would be after her."
"That makes sense."
"Alice spent a lot of times working through different scenarios to find the best outcome. Talking to you was out, so she tried to work through talking to others and that led to the same ending. She couldn't even tell Bella because Bella would have told Edward or someone else. Every choice made put everyone in danger. The only one that seemed to offer some level of security was to sneak her away last minute. So she made her plans, but would not tell me what they were. She said she needed to keep them secret for now in order to keep everyone safe. I do know that she was happy when the visions disappeared for the second time and really hoped that the wedding would go off without a hitch. Then Edward heard the thoughts of someone talking about Bella and a plan. He immediately went and told Alice. When she heard what was going on, she enacted her plan and got Bella out of here as soon as she could."
"So I gather. You know that Edward will not stop until he finds them."
"He needs to stay put for right now and not look. It is for the best for right now. I am not even sure they are meant to be together," Jasper said and added the last part without thinking.
"Why do you say that?" Carlisle asked surprised by what was just spoken.
Jasper shook his head, "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that, but it is true. He coddles her like a child and I know he is over protective because she is a clumsy human, but he sometimes goes overboard. I know that they love each other, but sometimes it isn't healthy. Did you know that he had to negotiate and bargain with her in order to get her to agree to marry him? What Alice said in that letter is true. Bella did not want to get married at first and those were some of the reasons she had used. I could be wrong, but when someone has to be coerced into getting married, then it might not be the time to get married. In fact, it could be the wrong person. You should want to get married without the negotiations and dramatics. I know I am the not the model citizen about everything, but I do know that much."
Carlisle had heard Emmett say something to that extent to Rosalie, but figured they were not being serious. He didn't think Edward would do that, but in the end Bella had seemed happy to be getting married. Surely it wasn't all bad. Clearing his throat he said, "Be that as it may, in the end she seemed to want to marry Edward."
"I suppose so," Jasper relented. He wasn't so sure though, but he figured time would either prove that she did want to marry his brother, or that she didn't want to get married after all.
"What else do you know?" Carlisle asked bringing them back to the present.
"Alice told me that she would send for me when it was safe, but I am not sure when that will be and I am not sure if she does either. She will periodically check in to let us know she and Bella are ok and if there is anything coming our way that we need to prepare for. I did tell her that I felt like I needed more information, but she was very tight lipped and would not give me anything else."
"I see. Well the way I look at it, Charlie would probably calm down if we told him that we found this letter, but we need to figure out a location that it was found by us and missed by the police. They went over the house looking for clues and didn't find anything. So just saying that we found this will not appease him."
"I agree. We can say that we found it in the room where she was getting ready and it fell behind the dresser. Either you or I found it when we were cleaning up because we noticed a piece of paper was poking out from the back of it. It would give him a reason on why his officers didn't find anything and would explain why we found it instead. It would also make the most sense that it was found in that room than any other."
"That is a good plan. I will say that Esme and I found it. Do you want to come with me? I feel that the sooner we deliver this, the better," Carlisle said feeling drained and tired. This was not something he was prepared to deal with and could not have planned for.
"Yah, I will go. I might be able to keep things from getting too heated. I think it is best that we leave Edward here for now. I also recommend talking to him as soon as we get back. He needs to know that searching for her could bring danger to her and Alice, not to mention him," Jasper proposed.
"Yes, we will call everyone together when we get back. Let's take care of this now and let everyone know that we need to run an errand and talk when we get back," Carlisle said turning towards the direction of the house once again. He knew Jasper was following him and he hoped that Alice was right and that Charlie and Renee accepted this as the reason for their daughter's disappearance. Where a parent was concerned nothing was certain.
The meeting had gone as well as could be expected. Both parents seemed to be relieved to have answers, but they were still worried and wanted to know where she had taken off to. Carlisle assured them that if they heard anything from Bella or Alice, they would be the first to know. Renee actually seemed to be calmer than Charlie about it all saying that she is on a girl trip and needed to clear her head. None of the men could figure out if she was actually believed that or if she had deluded herself. When Jasper used his gift, he knew that she believed what she said, but that didn't mean that she had not concocted this in her head and forced herself to believe it. She seemed calm and in control of her emotions though. Both Jasper and Carlisle left them and hoped they would stop searching, at least for now.
When they returned home, it was time to face the family. Everyone was waiting for them in the living room. Carlisle had wondered if they should show everyone the letter that Alice had left and Jasper suggest that they read the letter to everyone. He knew that it offered an explanation, but he didn't think that the part about Bella's letter to Charlie and Jasper leaving to join them when it was safe needed to be included because it might cause more problems. Carlisle agreed and instead read the parts of the letter that he and Jasper had discussed.
The discussion had not ended well. Edward flew off the handle and Emmett had to hold him down until he calmed down. Esme looked worried and started to panic. Rose calmed her down. Carlisle and Jasper knew that it would not be easy for anyone, but they at least hoped for a little more cooperation from Edward. Then again, he had just lost his bride and was being told that he could not be with her or search for her. They were tying his hands and he didn't like it. Jasper used his gift to keep everyone as calm as possible.
"Edward, I know that you want to find her, but right now you need to think about what is best for her. If you search for her, you could put her in mortal danger and if she is in danger, so is Alice. Is that what you want? Alice did what she needed to do to keep everyone alive and if you fly off the handle and start searching for her, that could usurp everything that Alice has done. Think about it," Carlisle said trying to reason with his distraught son.
"So you trust Alice to take care of her and keep her out of danger? You trust in her visions that much? Maybe she was wrong!" Edward growled.
"You better watch what you say. We all know how accurate Alice's visions are and we have all trusted them throughout the years. Do I need to remind you that you did to? Something doesn't go your way and you think that she was doing this to hurt you? You all of the sudden question her visions? Be very careful how you answer. I know that you are hurting and that you are upset that you were left standing at the altar. I am sorry that Bella was in danger and Alice did what she had to in order to save her and that meant disappearing, but you have no right to question anything she has done then or now. She will keep Bella safe and we will do what she says. That means you will not search for Bella or do anything that will put her in danger. Do I make myself clear?" Jasper leered.
Edward closed his eyes and calmed himself even further. Jasper was helping, but he still felt like his emotions were all over. He was mad and upset, worried about Bella. Would he ever see her again? Who was after her? Was there still danger for her now that they were separated? So many questions and no one had the answers yet. Taking a deep breath, he said softly, "I know. Alice hasn't let us down so far. I will trust her and I will not attempt to find Bella. I just want her to be safe."
"We know you do son and right now the best thing you can do is nothing," Carlisle said. He wished he could do more for him, but knew that he couldn't. He watched as Esme walked over to Edward and once Emmett let him go, she pulled him into her arms to sooth him as only a mother could.
The family disbanded from the living room and went to their own spaces after that except for Esme, who was comforting Edward, and Carlisle, who was watching over both of them. Each person lost to their thoughts about the latest revelations. They were all worried about Bella and Alice, and could do nothing but pray that they would be safe and the danger would pass quickly. The other thought on everyone's mind was who were the strangers that had been after her? Jasper intended to find out.
End of flashback
It had been a lot to take in and everyone was still reeling about the letter Alice left. They still wanted answers, but the search for the AWOL girls had stopped. No one would put them in any more danger than they possibly were already. This was for the best and everyone had to accept it.
Jasper took one last look at the woods and turned around. He wasn't sure who could have possibly sent the three strangers after them, but he would find out. He just wished he knew where to start. One thought that he had not shared with Carlisle is that this could be the work of someone in Volterra.
