A/N: Thank you for responding on last chapter... I now know what to do and what not to do. Really, anytime anyone wants to say that they don't get it, please let me know. As always, thank you for reviewing, favoriting, following, and simply reading. You guys are amazing :).

Enjoy!


"What color cast do you want?" The nurse queried, noticing the now bare arm of Meredith. Jasper held her well right hand, sending goose bumps up her forearm.

"White's free right?" Meredith retorted, knowing she'd have to pay an upwards of fifty dollars to have a cast that looked aesthetic. The nurse nodded and Jasper's jaw locked in place. "Go ahead and use white," Meredith answered, flashing Jasper a glare. She didn't need something that cost extra money when she could simply paint the cast herself. It was double win for her that way because it would solve her boredom and it would save her out of pocket costs.

"You know, I could've paid for it," Jasper mentioned as the nurse began to loosen the fiberglass bandage in water.

Shaking her head in rebuttal the nurse's lip slipped up on one side to turn itself into a half grin. "Thanks and all," Meredith paused, "But, you know, I can very well pay for it myself," her voice deepened and she dramatically puffed out her chest to mock him. The nurse sustained more than enough giggles than appropriate and began to wrap Meredith's already prepped arm with the hard cast. Wet and warm sensations tingled her numbed ligaments.

Dr. Cullen came in halfway through the process of the casting. He and Jasper shared a knowing look as they shared quick and silent words Meredith couldn't decipher. As she watched the blonde handsome men in the corner angrily argue with unknown sources of composure, she realized how dark Jasper's eyes were and how fierce the fine etchings carving his face into perfection protruded outwards. Whatever was being communicated between adoptive father and son wasn't pleasant.

Carlisle then turned to Meredith and smiled. She hoped it wasn't about her. The nurse finished up the wrapping of the bandage and Carlisle took a spot in the rolling doctor's chair. "What a pleasure to see you Meredith," he glared at Jasper through the corner of his eye before darting them upwards at her.

"You too Carlisle," Meredith stared to Jasper for some kind of inspiration. He simply moodily shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes—continuing to shoot daggers towards Carlisle's back with his onyx irises that screamed sinister to her.

"Any swelling or substantial pain from last week?" he interrogated, refusing to turn towards Jasper.

Meredith shook her head, "Unless you count that bombshell in the corner." She smirked as Jasper fought to keep a smile off of his smug face. Carlisle emitted an obviously strained chuckle.

"He can be quite difficult," Carlisle muttered under his breath loud enough for Meredith to hear. The origin of the statement came from an animosity Meredith didn't want to witness, she didn't even want it to exist between Jasper and Carlisle.

"Good things come to those who wait I guess?" Meredith nervously giggled.

Carlisle paused and they were all enveloped in an abnormal silence. "Any straining activities?" he inquired, staring into the depth of whatever enticing information on her clipboard—she could only imagine what was on there.

"You're making her uncomfortable Carlisle," Jasper retorted. The duo shared a concerned look. Did she cause the family disagreement? Meredith hoped in the depths of her soul that she wasn't the sole root of it all. She wasn't even worth the trouble. "Don't feel like that, because you are important, and this isn't about you," Jasper abruptly shot his head up to place the request.

"I apologize Meredith, it is utterly rude to be this childish in front of you…"

"Don't apologize," she tried to politely tell Carlisle. She let Jasper's words settle in her and felt tears brimming her eyelids. It wasn't true, and now, she felt obligated to be with him because of the hefty secret she had to keep from the world.

"No, it's not alright, but anyways, come back in a month or so for a checkup and call if you have swelling or any sort of fall," Carlisle instructed as he left. Jasper offered Meredith his arm on the way out but she declined. Once they entered the confines of the car, Jasper was stalling on leaving the parking space for reasons that Meredith didn't know.

He sighed as he flicked on, coincidently, her favorite radio station. It was some contemporary station from some place in Canada she wanted to visit in the nearing future. "What's got you all worked up?" Jasper reached out to rub her cast. Jerking her arm away, she didn't feel angry, just an unsettled rage between herself and Vito was resurfaced tonight with his meant-to-be caring words when they mixed with the feeling of obligation.

"It's nothing," she crossed her arms. A new song began playing and Jasper lightly rapped his hands on the leather of the steering wheel.

Frustration, that's what she perceived, and in her experiences a frustrated man wasn't someone to sit comfortably around. Meredith flinched away from Jasper. "I'm not angry," he hunched over the wheel in perplexity, "I swear on my life I wouldn't hurt you."

"Easy for you to say, you never die," Meredith chuckled, letting the tears fall. Humor had gotten her through it the first go round—it should aid in the second shot.

"You're really difficult, you do know that ma'am?" Jasper chuckled, trying to shift her focus to something less painful in her perspective. She forgot most of the time that he felt what she did, that is, until he threw it in her face.

Meredith let out a few pitiful chortles to the statement she focused herself back to. They both were terrible flirts, either that or something infinitely worse, they were hopeless romantics. "I don't think you'd have it any other way," Meredith smirked, letting her tense arms hang loose to her sides once more. She was pretty sure he'd have it another way.

Jasper returned to his state of relaxation. His rigid frame pulled back to the fabric of the seat, sinking into the pure bliss. Meredith realized just then how amazing he looked, his blonde hair, tousled to perfection, the strong jaw line, it was the kind of guy that was even too handsome to be a model. "Agreed, but what's bothering you," he slowly reached over to stroke her casted hand reassuringly.

Meredith's teeth clenched together. The two sets of pearly whites began to grind on each other in utter confusion. She had to make sure what she said was censored so feelings wouldn't be shattered like last time she spoke her mind. "Don't," she picked up on her demanding tone and immediately turned it into a polite, loving, octave, "Tell me what to feel Jasper, I've had…" she felt the monster creep into her venomous stressing in each syllable reverting it back to the Meredith she thought was appropriate, she confessed, "Your words were sweet and… The nicest most sincerest thing anyone has ever said to me…" She began to choke on the frog in her throat and the thought of censorship had gone out of the window. Tears trickled down her distressed face as Jasper still sat and listened intently at what was to come next. "But demands like that aren't something I want to experience again," she concluded. The topic of the obligation she felt were something for another day. Along with the future agenda, her wariness of the concept of vampirism and his sister.

He turned his body in the seat to face hers and she responded by hanging her head down in shame to wipe the tears away. His fingers reached to brush the side of her face, combing the hair away. "I swear on my never ending life that I will never do that again," he declared. Meredith giggled, swatting his hand away. Pulling her head up she recognized just how close their faces were. A blush crept into her face.

Jasper gulped, snagging his bottom lip with his two teeth. "Are you going to kiss me or what?" Meredith smirked weakly. She silently hoped for it, after all, maybe it would prove whether her obligation theory was just her cold feet and cynicism. Jasper sighed through his nose, pulling away quickly.

"I don't think I have enough control, I'm sorry Meredith," Jasper threw the car in reverse. Meredith cringed, control, essentially she translated that into Jasper wanted to eat her.

Without looking, he effortlessly backed into the parking lot, Meredith retracted her head from the position it was in moments ago when his cool nose almost touched hers. She turned herself back around, and refrained from sighing. After all, he was trying. "Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle," Meredith quoted.

"True, but if I wasn't who I was then you wouldn't have to suffer with me," Jasper exhaled loudly, racing down the streets.

Meredith crossed her arms in a thoughtful stance. "Maybe if I wasn't who I was…"

"Never…" Jasper sounded hesitant, "Please don't say that."

Rolling her eyes, she couldn't find any words to make a coherent retort. Jasper seemed comfortable with the silence that Meredith needed, not that the quality time was used for actual thinking, she was far too distracted for that. He had tried to kiss her.

Meredith's heart fluttered as she departed the house earlier than every late bone in her body could ever manage. A certain man was at the bottom of the steps, so she contributed that as her driving force to wake up earlier than usual to look more presentable and to be much timelier. "You get a good night's sleep?" Jasper questioned as he held the car door open for her.

"Thanks, and yes, it was quite peaceful," Meredith feigned a smile. In reality she had laid in bed all night tossing and turning, trying to grow accustomed to the stupid cast was her lame excuse to herself for thinking about him.

Jasper smirked and closed the door, hurrying over to the driver's side. Once situated, he began to chuckle, "It's disturbing how well you can lie." Meredith bushed and held a gaze with Jasper for an intimidating amount of time.

"It's way of life."

"Edward's not going to be staying with us anymore," Jasper blurted out as he pulled out from the space. Instead of his accustomed racing down the road he slowed to a leisurely pace.

Meredith sighed, she actually liked Edward much more than any other Cullen, maybe it was because other than Carlisle and Jasper, Edward was the only other one who hadn't tried to either kill her and actually made efforts to speak to her. Sure, Edward wasn't Jasper by any means, but everyone is who they are, and if someone else was like Jasper it would be too much. Literally too much, in her opinion she thought the world could only contain one Jasper. "Why?" she disdainfully pondered. Who'd be her Physics partner? Edward was very proficient at it and Meredith had been saved so many times by his passive aggressive hinting and sometimes not so passive aggressive calm moods that were relatively rare.

Jasper shrugged. "I'm going to take the honest route," he mused, "I don't want to tell you because I don't think you'll still want to be around me."

Meredith frowned. She knew she had no room to speak against Jasper for his wishes because it was the stance she took as well. "I'm still convinced you wouldn't consciously hurt anyone," Meredith covered the truth. While she was sure Jasper wouldn't try to hurt someone for pleasure, she was sure he could. It was acceptable to say this in her eyes it wasn't blatant lying, but it still left her with that crawling feeling that lies gave her even after using so many throughout the years.

"It's disturbing you give me benefit of the doubt."

"No I've just done some unexplainable things I don't want you to know about, I don't doubt you can hurt someone, I just doubt you'll hurt me," she explained in further detail. That wasn't a lie either, because while she believed the last thing she said, she also believed this. Jasper was one huge contradiction.

She liked him because he was himself, but she feared him for the very same reason. She believed in him, but she also doubted whether or not he could actually do it. She felt obligated to him, but at the same time she loved being around him. She always said to herself that nothing could be bad enough to drive her away, but there were certain things Meredith would never be able to forgive him for, and anyone else for that matter. Reassuring herself, she called these boundaries, another lame excuse in her altered views.

Sighing, he slowed down to turn at the not so busy intersection at the school. How early had she gotten up? Almost no one was here. "You really shouldn't have that much faith in me," Jasper iterated, sounding rather annoyed.

"Well I don't know why I shouldn't have faith in you," Meredith became quite confused with each facet of conversation. She could have faith in him, but she really didn't harbor as much as he let on.

"Yeah, well, I'm not a fan of reverse psychology. What kept you up all night?" Jasper passively asserted his aggression. Meredith let it go and pulled out a bag of rhinestones from her bag and a glue bottle.

"This is what kept me up all night," she pulled up her cast to reveal the rhinestones lining the edges of the cast, so had the top left and was insistent on finishing it.

"You're serious?" Jasper cracked a smile, shaking his head. Meredith chuckled along with him because she realized how pathetic it actually was. "It's certainly," he trailed off, kissing her temple. She silenced and blushed fervently as he pulled back his lips from the side of her face and traced his fingers over her arm to examine the craftiness. "My sister Alice would love this," he grinned at the possibility.

His sister—Alice—she mused to herself. Rosalie would simply like to kill her and call it the greater good. Meredith could relate to it in so many uncomfortable ways. Before the memories could attack her, she tried to focus on the rhinestones.

Meredith smirked halfheartedly, "You know you like it too," she pouted. Replacing all the supplies in her backpack, she questioned, "What kept you up all night?"

"Very funny," Jasper painfully hoisted up the corners of his pale lips, refraining from showing teeth.

"You vampires and puns," Meredith snidely remarked.

Jasper laughed to himself for a few seconds, taking the moment to lean back into the seat cushion and gaze out the window. His eyes were wide with wonder and perplexity as he stared out of the frosty glass observing the world. "I really don't want to go to school today," Jasper muttered.

Meredith had an idea and blurted it aloud, "You want to skip?"

Jasper's smile included his pearly whites that sent a shiver down Meredith's forearms. "Not my sweet, innocent, Meredith?"

She laughed at that, maybe a little harder than she should've, but a hope spread in her. He actually thought she was innocent. It's was the first time since everything happened anyone thought she did anything moral in the world. "I think it's a stellar idea, but this is your first and only senior year," Jasper patted her head with his chilly palm.

"I'll have a senior year in college, considering I make it there," Meredith protested. Jasper's palm slid to the side of her face and cupped her palm in utter amazement.

"You're so warm to me," he ran his hand down her arm and placed his elbow back on the armrest. "It's such an amazing experience for me to touch you," he confessed. Meredith was sure if he were human he would've blushed, as she was at the present moment. "What makes you think you're not making it to college?" Jasper defensively queried, giving her a stern look.

"Racial discrimination?" Meredith shrugged her shoulders, passing it off as a joke. Jasper chuckled and turned the ignition back several notches.

"Is this part of your notorious past?" Jasper furrowed his brow, "Because I don't care what you did or what happened, you're just amazing regardless."

Sighing, she commented, "Oh, the irony," she rolled her eyes. "I'll make you a deal, cut school with me today and I'll tell you."

"Deal."

Meredith knew she'd regret it.