Whatever Edward was going to do about what he perceived to be the situation regarding the Cullen's having to leave their home, he would have to be careful. If he made a hard fast decision, surely Alice would see and be able to warn Jasper, either that or tell the others and they would intervene before he could make his move. Jasper could be unpredictable in his reactions as well. Edward had seen him fighting his initial 'gut' reactions to different situations over the past few months before settling on the more peaceful path usually out of concern for Alice and her happiness. If he were to confront him head on, would he be able to take on a formerly trained soldier? He was younger than Jasper, so he was still stronger than him, but would raw strength be enough to ensure his favorable outcome, or would he make an ass out of himself? He cleared his head of such thoughts before he decided on anything, it would have to be spur of the moment or Alice would see. His timing would have to be perfect if this was going to work.

"Edward? Where are you?" Rosalie very seldom sought him out; she was usually glued to Emmett.

"What is it Rosalie?"

"We're going to go into town to do some shopping. Alice and I want to look for some new clothes and Esme wants to look for some new things too while Carlisle goes to check on a new patient of his. Do you want to come along, or can you play nice with Emmett and Jasper while were gone?"

There was that annoying little smirk of hers. Rose was definitely more like an irritating sister than what he would consider an ideal mate – what had Carlisle been thinking? "I'm sure we can manage without you while you're gone. Although I am surprised that you and Emmett can survive with that much distance between the two of you," I know it was a petty jab, but I wanted that smirk gone from her face and that did the trick. She gave me a dirty look and turned on her heels calling to the others to go. When Emmett fell in behind her I just started to laugh, the look she gave me was even more hysterical when he asked if he was invited to go too.

By the time I had finished laughing they were long gone, including Emmett. The opportunity I had been waiting for had finally arrived and this time there wouldn't be an audience around to alter the outcome. I listened for Jaspers thoughts trying to figure out where he was, outside of the house would be best. Esme would be mad if we broke anything in the house after all the hard work she had put into it. He was down by the river – perfect!

I strode down to the river, but my emotions had gotten the better of me, Jasper quickly turned toward me and took up a defensive posture.

"What could I have possibly done now to make you so mad at me Edward?"

"How about you're costing my family our first real home in a very long time!"

"What are you talking about? I thought everyone had just settled in here, not just Alice and I."

"We did! This was our first real home and we're going to have to leave it because of you! I want you gone. Alice is more than welcome to stay with us if she wants, but I won't let you take away our first true home because you won't control yourself!"

"Control myself? What do you mean? I've been following your diet, your rules, what could I have possibly done that was lacking in self-control?!"

"I'm not sure what you did! But why else would Carlisle be talking about us moving away from here already. He was talking about you and the treaty – that you would be the reason it was broken and we wouldn't just have to leave until things calmed down, that we would never be able to come back to our home ever again!"

At this point the distance between the two had closed down to nothing and they were nose to nose trying to stare one another down. Jasper was flooded by the amount of anger, and maybe even hatred coming from Edward; buried underneath it was something else he couldn't identify though. Edward pried into Jaspers' thoughts trying to see what his next move would be; he was ready for the fight.

"Back down Edward, you don't want to fight me."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you. I think a fight might be the very thing I do want from you. It will make it easier for the others to let go of you once you leave."

Jasper shoved Edward back away from him and pulled back his arm ready to levy the first blow. Edward was ready for it and blocked the first punch with ease.

"I may not be a soldier, but I'm faster and stronger than you are!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that" Jasper grinned back at Edward.

In Forks…

Alice gasped suddenly and dropped the spool of fabric she had been holding. Esme and Rosalie turned to see a look of horror cross her face before she regained her composure in the small store. No matter what she saw, she couldn't risk exposing them in front of the humans.

"Alice, what is it dear?"

"I think we need to leave Esme, right now!"

"What's wrong?" Emmett had taken a strong liking to his new little sister and didn't like seeing her upset almost as much as he didn't like having anything upset Rosalie.

"Jasper and Edward – they're, they're fighting! We have to stop them before they hurt one another."

"Edward, fighting" Emmett scoffed, "are you sure you're not hallucinating and not having a vision?"

"They're by the river, Edward wants Jasper to leave."

"Oh no," Esme stood with her hand over her mouth thinking back to the conversation she had with Carlisle. "I'm afraid that Alice may be right. I think Edward may have heard only part of a conversation earlier and misconstrued something. We should go."

"What are you all so worried about?" Rosalie asked. "It's not like Edward can take him or anything. He's never really been in a fight with anyone, has he? Although it might be funny to watch Jasper take him down a notch or two."

"Emmett, we may need your assistance," Esme wasn't one to make requests of this nature so they all immediately fell in line with her wishes to return home. Carlisle would be able to make his way home without them so leaving without telling him would not be an issue.

The four of them moved at the painstakingly slow human pace out of town towards the trees. As soon as they were under the cover of the woods they would be able to run home, hopefully before things got too out of hand between Jasper and Edward. By the time they made it back to the house, the small clearing had grown in size somewhat with several large trees broken off near the base or just knocked over with the large root balls now hanging over gaping holes. The path of destruction worked its way toward the river and away from the house. Esme was only slightly relieved to see that they had had enough sense not to destroy their home.

Emmett ran ahead in case he was needed to separate them, or if he needed to shield the women from the fighting. What he saw next brought him up short. Jasper and Edward were still grappling with one another but they were getting close to the border lines agreed to in the treaty. They were also unaware of the rather strange audience that had gathered on the other side of the river to watch their match. Emmett stared at the incredibly large wolves, larger than any he had ever seen or heard of and the small tribe of Indians. Some of them stepped back into the trees when they saw Emmett approach. "Edward! Jasper!" he hissed at them. He wanted them to be aware of the wolves, but was afraid to make too much noise and do something that would provoke the large animals.

Both vampires froze at the sound of their names and they slowly looked in Emmett's direction. Once they realized that he wasn't staring at them, they followed his gaze across the river to the large wolves that had been watching them battle one another.

Jasper knew it could be a fatal error for any of them to make any sudden movements regardless of the enemy in question but he had to keep the others from making that tactical error. He hoped that Edward was trying to read his mind, in fact, he was betting on it to keep them all alive. Edward, don't make any sudden movements and try not to make any noise…I don't want to do anything that would provoke them into attacking us.

Edward started to chuckle. "Jasper –they're watching us try to kill each other. We're taking care of one of their biggest problems for them –us. They aren't going to attack us, besides that would mean crossing the border and violating the treaty."

Edward slowly stood up and Jasper released him all the while he was watching this unknown enemy that he had foolishly allowed himself to ignore while he had desperately tried to best Edward. The kid had given Jasper much more than he had bargained for and he was almost relieved to have been interrupted by Emmett. At least he could try to proclaim it a draw to keep his image in place; he couldn't let Alice think he wasn't able to protect her properly.

A strange chortling sound drifted gently across the river as the three vampires continued to stare at the large wolves. Edward cocked his head to the side and muttered "What was that?" Emmett and Jasper looked at him wanting to know what he had heard.

"They're laughing at us!" Edward proclaimed. "They think that it's funny that we were fighting each other and were hoping that Emmett was going to join in."

Emmett looked cautiously at the large wolves. "How can you hear them? I didn't know you could hear animals too?"

"I can't, but I don't think that those are ordinary wolves. I think one of them is Chief Black."

"What? That's crazy! Are you sure he isn't just back in the tree line where you can't see him?"

"Emmett, Edward, perhaps we ought to move this conversation back to someplace safer, more private" Jasper interrupted. He was concerned about this strange new adversary and was afraid that they may have tipped too much of their hand already. He had no idea how long they had been watching him fight with Edward, or how strong they were.