Jasper

Joanna tested the water of the community pool with her foot while she held onto my hand.

"Is it cold?" I asked her.

She shook her head and grinned. "It's hot!"

I laughed and bent down to kiss her cheek. She accepted my kiss and caught my cheek with her lips before I stood back up.

The few people that were here were mostly girls around their mid-teens. Joanna and Alice got many envious and mean looks when with me.

"Come on, Jazzy!" Joanna called happily, after jumping into the water.

I laughed and leaned closer to where she was standing near the edge in the water.

"Most girls would have done a swan dive, but you know that a cannon ball is so much sexier," I teased her.

She laughed, the sound music to my ears. I dove in next to her, surfacing and shaking my hair out of my face a moment later. She giggled as I shook water droplets from my hair onto her. She pushed at me as I grabbed her around the waist. I kissed her neck, earning and shriek and another giggle from her when I hit her ticklish spot.

Alice dove into the water moments after me and the rest of my siblings followed. Soon, there was splashing and laughing coming from all of us. Emmett snatched Joanna up and she laughed, screaming. She kicked at him, still laughing, but he just dunked her under the water. He brought her up quickly, and she was still laughing.

"Be careful, Emmett," Rose warned, smiling anyway.

"She's fine. Look, she laughing," Emmett defended, blowing a raspberry on Joanna's belly.

I took Joanna from him, but she squirmed away from me. The water was too high for her, and when she noticed this, it was too late. She fell under, sucking in several lung-fulls of water. She tried to pull herself to the top, but someone jumped in, sending a large wave of water crashing over her. She was pushed down and away from me.

I dove under the water, after calling Carlisle's name frantically. I randomly thought: why in the world did a community pool have water this deep?

Joanna was already becoming limp in the water, as waves continued to crash on the surface. Her eyes locked with mine, before they closed. I growled and pushed forward. I wrapped my arms around her, cradling her to my chest, and shot towards the surface. I crawled out of the pool, still holding Joanna as she barely clung to her life. She wasn't breathing anymore, and I mentally cursed myself for being so slow to react.

Carlisle had spread out her towel and told me to lay her down. He listened for a moment.

"Her heart's slowing," he snarled, lacing his fingers together and pushing on her chest.

He had to be even more careful not to break her ribs because she was even more fragile than normal humans.

All of the bravery and pain she went through in her life, and it's all ending because she misjudged how deep the water was.

When Carlisle blew into her mouth, she lurched up, coughing water out of her lungs. She gagged and continued to spit water from the organ that hated water. We all didn't touch her as she coughed and gagged. Her hand was fisted in her towel and she finally calmed slightly. Her beautiful brown eyes were wide and terrified as she looked up at us. Carlisle picked up the towel that had laid in the small patch of sun for a while and wrapped it around Joanna. He collected her onto his lap, and held her.

Alice and I moved back over to the water, and just sat on the edge of the pool. Occasionally, we would look back, and when I did, my heart swelled.

Joanna was leaning back against Carlisle's chest, and would every now and then take a drink from her soda. Carlisle stroked her hair, which was still wet, and kissed her forehead very gently. He kept his lips pressed to her forehead for a moment longer, and then rested his forehead against her head. He looked older than he had the right to then, and I'm assuming it's because he almost lost Joanna. That would have devastated him the most, knowing that he hadn't been able to save her. But she was there, curled up in his arms, alive.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A loud knock on the door startled Joanna. She looked up at me, and then at the door. Her eyes widened and she started to back away from the door. As Carlisle passed her, he kissed her head and rubbed her back reassuringly.

He opened the door and Joanna just whimpered, tears springing in her eyes. "No," she whimpered.

"What's the matter, doll?" I asked her gently, kneeling down in front of her.

She stared over my shoulder at our visitors, and the tears spilled over her lashes.

"Hello, Joanna. I see you've finally found a family," Aro purred.

She burst into tears, burying her face in the crook of my neck.

"What did you do to her, Aro?" Alice asked angrily.

"I assure you, it wasn't me. It was Demetri," Aro explained, smiling grimly.

As Demetri stepped out from behind Marcus and Caius, along with Felix, Joanna sobbed harder into my shoulder.

She pushed me away and bolted into the kitchen. Jacob was in there with Nessie, and I could hear their worried voices.

"Joanna, sweetie, what's wrong?" Nessie asked her gently.

I followed her into the kitchen, but not before I shot Aro an irritated look.

Both Jacob and Nessie were kneeled by Joanna as she sobbed into her hands.

"What's wrong, Jasper? What happened?" Jacob asked me when I walked in.

"Aro's here. With his brothers, Felix, Demetri, Jane, and Alec," I explained, smoothed Joanna's hair back. "Baby, tell me what happened with them?"

Joanna sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve, before swallowing. "They came to the foster care place, and Jane was with Demetri. He knew there was something about me that appealed to vampires, and he wanted to know what is was. He had Jane do that thing in your head, and it hurt so bad." She started crying again, and I picked her up, hushing her softly.

I walked back into the living room, and glared at Demetri, and Jane. They had hurt the second love of my life, and that was not okay.

Suddenly, Joanna gripped my shoulder with such a vice-like hold that I thought she would actually leave bruises. She let out a muffled cry, and opened her mouth as if to scream, but nothing came out. Her little back arched violently, and she let out a pained whine. It was as if Jane's power gave her actual, physical pain.

I gripped her tiny body as she writhed and jerked in my arms. I heard Carlisle say something, but I was solely focused on the child in my arms. A silent scream was poised at the back of her throat, and her face was twisted into a mask of pain and shock.

"Stop!" Alice shrieked.

Jane snapped her attention away from Joanna, and she collapsed in my arms, panting. She whimpered when I shifted her ever so slightly. It had caused her physical pain. That's why she had been making noise.

"If you ever visit us again, Aro, do not bring Jane with you. Or else you are not welcome," Carlisle explained through gritted teeth.

Aro nodded and made his leave with his guard and brothers.

"Joanna, are you all right?" Carlisle asked her.

She looked at him through tear-filled eyes, and shook her head slightly. She definitely was not all right.

"Take her upstairs, Jasper. I'll be up there in a moment," Carlisle ordered, disappearing into the kitchen.

I climbed the stairs slowly, and when I got to mine and Alice's room, I cradled her head in my hand as I lowered her onto the bed. She whimpered and sniffled pitifully when her back came in contact with the bed.

"Shh, just relax, honey," I murmured soothingly, stroking her hair from her face.

Carlisle knocked lightly before pushing open the door.

He looked at Joanna with an apologetic look and her eyes watered once more.

"Hush now, little one. Jasper will be right there with you, and it won't hurt as much as last time. It's a smaller needle, I promise," Carlisle soothed her.

She nodded and I let her hold my hand. She focused on my face, and I saw her grind her teeth together when Carlisle inserted the needle into her arm. I stroked her jaw comfortingly, and she relaxed it. Carlisle pulled the needle from her vein and brushed his thumb over the tiny hole.

"It's over, my love. You did so good. You didn't make any noise at all," I cooed, smoothing her hair back.

She nuzzled weakly against my hand, and I chuckled. Carlisle gently pulled her head over so he could look at her, and he kissed her forehead.

"I'll be in my office, if you need anything," he breathed, kissing her forehead once more.

She nodded, and I wiped a few remaining tears from her eyes. I wiped my hand on my jeans, and smiled to myself. Being a father was a messy job. I was constantly being covered in things, be it food or bodily fluids.

"Why are you smiling?" Joanna asked me softly, and I realized that Alice had come in and she was on the bed with Joanna.

"Because you're so beautiful," I purred, stroking her cheek with the pad of my thumb.

She sighed and closed her eyes, exhausted. Alice was laying next to her, on her side, and she reached up to stroke Joanna's hair lovingly.

"Just go to sleep, sweetheart," Alice murmured, kissing Joanna's forehead.

Joanna grimaced slightly, as she situated herself more comfortably, but her face relaxed as she dozed off.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"You'll have so much fun, honey. I promise. It is a fantastic city to visit," Alice soothed Joanna.

They had just come home from an entire day of shopping, and poor Joanna was wiped. She looked up at Alice and I from her spot on the couch, her eyes wide and fearful.

"Seattle is a beautiful city, baby. And you never got to see it while we lived in Forks. You didn't even get to see Forks!" I defended.

"But, Alice isn't going is she?" Joanna asked.

"No, sweetie, I won't be going with you. It's just you and Jazz. He'll take care of you, though. He wouldn't even let you out of his sight while we shopped at the grocery store, remember?" She continued to attempt to soothe Joanna, and then to ease her mind, she bashed on me. But I didn't mind in the least.

"I remember," Joanna whispered.

"Darlin'," I started, kneeling down in front of her. "I will make this so fun for you. I know you'll miss Alice and Edward and everybody, but you can't keep yourself locked up in the house. It's not good for you. I know you went shopping today, but I want you to have a sense of other parts of the country, and later, maybe the world.

Joanna slumped, defeated. I wished I hadn't had to get so stern and practically force her to do this. She's gotten so attached to Alice, and I didn't want to accidentally brake that bond by taking her away from Alice for eight days.

"Okay, I'll go," Joanna whimpered, tears forming in her eyes.

"Oh, honey, it'll be all right. I'll call you everyday, and you can call me before you go to bed too. I'm always up, you know that. You'll have so much fun with Jasper, I promise," Alice cooed, holding Joanna close and kissing her head.

Joanna sniffled, and as I got up to leave, she lurched up and grabbed me around the hips in a hug.

"I'm sorry that I made you think that I didn't want to go with you. I really want to go somewhere and see other places. I love you and I'm sorry!" Joanna sobbed into my hip.

I sighed sympathetically and stroked her hair comfortingly.

"Baby," I whispered, pulling her away from my hip and up into my arms. "You didn't make me think that. I will always love you and no matter if you choose me over Alice or Alice over me, we will keep caring for and loving you. I will make this trip as easy and fun as possible."

She nodded and sniffled pitifully. I kissed her forehead, stroking her bangs away from her face. Her face was flushed and she looked so apologetic and regretful.

"Hush, sugar bear. It's perfectly fine, and I'm so excited for us to go to Seattle together. We can to go the open market, where they throw the fish. And we can eat at the Space Needle. It'll be a lot of fun, I promise you," I murmured soothingly.

She nodded and snuggled up to my chest. She laid her head on my shoulder and I rubbed her back tenderly.


So sorry about the wait. I am actually in Seattle right now, so that's why Jasper and Joanna are going there together. I can't wait! For all of you diehard Twilight fans like me that are

obsessed (which is probably most of you), I went to Forks yesterday. I was very excited, so I thought I'd let all my readers know.

Much love,

CFD