The Heat: Another Jasper/Bella Kidnap Story
Chapter 9 – Night time conversations
I want to thank the amazing beta readers at Project Team Beta for helping me with this story, and EdwardsMate4ever and MissAnnBlack for their special assistance. You guys have been phenomenal.
Days, then weeks passed. I tried to find ways to keep myself occupied. The other Cullen kids came and went, driving their fancy cars up and down the mountains that surrounded the house. I noticed that I never saw Alice or Edward, both of whom I remembered from school. The other family member I seldom saw, other than the occasional flash of blonde hair that I caught always leaving as I entered a room, was Rosalie, but she was clearly trying to stay out of sight.
I wondered mostly about Edward; as he had been the only family member I had actually spent time with prior to my kidnapping, but no one spoke of him. Considering what Jasper had said about how he was driven all the way to Alaska by the scent of my blood, I decided to leave it alone.
Over time, as I talked to the various members of the Cullens, I began to learn their stories.
Since Emmett was the easiest going of the Cullen family, it was only natural that his story was the frist I heard. He just told it to me one day.
"I was out hunting one day when I came across a grizzly bear," he began. "My gun jammed, and the bear attacked me. I was dying, with nothing to defend myself except a knife. Then I thought I heard another bear come, and the two bears were fighting over me. It turns out the other bear was Rosalie. She had come across me as I was dying. Killing the bear before he could finish me off, she carried me to Carlisle, who turned me into a vampire. My blonde beauty and I have been together ever since." A goofy grin came across his face, and he looked wistfully at the next room after he finished.
I realized Rosalie was probably in the other room. She clearly did not accept the situation, and stayed away from me.
"But what about you, squirt?" asked Emmett.
"What about me?" I said, surprised.
"Don't you think Jasper is cute?" he asked. "I mean, I'm a guy and everything, but he is good looking and seems to be a real chick magnet. I'm surprised that as interested as he is in you that you're not throwing yourself at him when he walks in the door…"
Something made Emmett pause and look up, which was a good thing, because I began to blush furiously. Esme appeared at the door, rolling her eyes. "Would you like some tea, dear?" she asked me. I got up and followed her into the kitchen, relieved to be saved from this awkward conversation. Once I was seated in the kitchen with the tea, I heard a "What?" and then "Ow!" from Emmett.
One day, while we were playing chess, I asked Dr. Cullen about his background.
"You're here," I said to him during our game, which he was winning, as usual.
He nodded and looked at me, waiting.
"I mean, you're a doctor, don't you have to see patients?" I asked.
He sat for a moment, thinking. Finally he said, "I've been a doctor for a long time. As soon as I was turned, I knew what I wanted to do; I wanted to help people. So I studied medicine at various universities across Europe and eventually became a doctor. Because I don't appear to age, I have to keep moving and changing identities every few years.
To cover for this time we're spending together, I've contacted my current hospital and requested a sabbatical. I've been spending the time catching up on reading and doing some consulting work. It's interesting, because I have a few identities that could still be working physicians, so I'm getting work from several sources," he continue with a grin. "All thanks to the anonymity of the internet."
"But don't you need the money, I mean income?" I asked, and then paused. Rude, I think. Of course the man is rich; just look around you, idiot!
He just laughed. "Surprisingly, most vampires lead nomadic existences, and require little real money. As a species, we do like flashy cars and expensive toys like phones, but we no longer actually require that most basic of human needs, a house. As I am a doctor, I am expected to maintain a certain lifestyle. With a coven this large, I am fortunate to be able to draw on both a doctor's income and my investments. I've been very fortunate with my stock market choices, largely due to my family's canny way with investment strategies." There was a twinkle in his eye at the last comment.
"But now, you're not doing anything, stuck up here with me. And not all of your family is here, because of the situation with me," I said, referring to Edward and Alice.
"Right now, I am exactly where I need to be, which is here with you," Carlisle said, looking at me seriously. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. As for the rest of my family, sometimes we need to take a break from one another. One hundred years is a long time to spend together. A little separation is a good thing."
Other than talking to the others, I tried to pass the time by reading the books that were on bookcases spread throughout the house, but they only held my interest for so long. Esme helped me order some clothes and other personal items, clearly trying to make me feel more at home. I always had someone discreetly hovering over me whenever I was on the computer, making sure I wasn't sending messages to my family or friends., Or maybe Special Forces, I thought wryly, not that I thought even Special Forces could get me away from the Cullens.
I was surprised when one of the orders arrived, though. My Victoria's Secret order from my time in Texas had been re-routed to this new location. But when I opened the box, it contained a few more items than I had originally ordered. I blushed looking at them—satiny items that I would never wear. Jasper must have looked at my shopping car before adding to it, because they were all in my size. I ended up stuffing the new pieces of lingerie in a bottom drawer, under my sweats.
Jasper hadn't been in the house when that Victoria's Secret order arrived, he had been out with Carlisle. But he clearly knew it had come and watched me with an ill-concealed smile for the rest of the day after he returned. I tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't help the flush that kept rushing over my face. Jerk!
I ended up spending a lot of time playing chess with Carlisle and Jasper, playing video games with Emmett, and helping Esme cook. After all, the food was for me. I was surprised at how Esme involved herself. Eventually, I saw that she was a housefrau at heart. I learned from her story that she had been a housewife. Cooking gave her a new domestic skill to learn since she hadn't prepared meals in over seventy-five years, as she clearly needed a distraction from the circumstances of my involuntary inclusion in her household. I realized that she was trying to find ways to make me feel more at ease, and food is a classic source of domestic comfort. Esme was distinctly uncomfortable in the situation, which was fine with me. I decided I would try to use that to my advantage, maybe she would help me escape.
Over time, I began to recall the conversations that I had overheard my father having with some of his war buddies. One of them had been captured in Vietnam. He described having been tortured and interrogated for months. What I was pulling from my memories was the technique Charlie's buddy had been taught by the Marines before he was sent into combat. They taught him to resist his interrogators by occupying his mind with a steady mental project. He had built a brick wall, one brick at a time. This went on for months. If the interrogators got through to him, or he had a really bad session of torture, a brick would fall off of the wall. He would mend the wall, and then continue to build it. He credited this technique with allowing him to stay sane during his captivity. "Everyone breaks under torture," he said, but he kept his sanity by continuing to work on his wall each night as he lay in his prison cell.
I began to use this, especially at night. Jasper was very attractive, and I couldn't help but be drawn to him. I had to keep reminding myself of the pain he had caused myself and my family. Maybe I could forgive what he had done to me, ripping me from my life and future, but I couldn't forgive what he must have done to Renee and Charlie. And how could I trust him after the deaths of those girls in the desert and the Texas Rangers? So I started building a wall between us in my mind. I spent a lot of time working on it just after I went to bed.
Jasper and I would be alone in the upstairs bedroom. I refused to call it "our" room in my mind. He would be sitting quietly and reading as I crawled into bed. Often he would walk over to the bed after I pulled up the covers and lean over me, as if waiting for my reaction, but I put up that wall. I was Charlie Swan's daughter. I was not going to fall for some man, immortal or not, who had destroyed my family. I kept the feelings of fear and isolation I had experienced during those terrible days in Texas in the front of my mind. They help remind me of the unknown dangers I faced.
One dark night, another possibility presented itself. I woke up with the feeling that someone was at my door. I could hear the knob turning gently. Holding my breath, with my heart pounding, I looked around and saw that Jasper wasn't in the room. Maybe Esme was going to try to get me out?
Then the turning stopped. I heard the sound of low voices, mostly Emmett's voice, giving muffled responses to unheard questions.
"No, babe. I can't let you…I know you want to set her free…"
Now I really perked up at that comment.
This time I could hear a second voice. It must be Rosalie, and she was getting so heated she was speaking more loudly. "But it's not what she wants. She doesn't want this life; I don't understand why Carlisle is allowing…"
The next set of remarks were too quiet, I couldn't make them out. I wanted to get out of bed and creep closer to the door, but I knew they would hear me. So I focused on taking calming breaths, so they wouldn't hear my heart rate accelerating.
Then I heard Emmett's voice again as he said, "…that's Jasper's lady. I won't let you… He's been waiting 150 years for her...snapping her neck may seem…because he doesn't want her to be like Edward, stuck at age seventeen…"
Both voices stopped. I heard the front door open and shut. After about a minute, Jasper came into the room.
"You're awake," he stated. "May I ask what you heard?"
I started to say, "What do you…" but he cut me off.
"I'm sensing anger and frustration from Rosalie, a touch of frustration tinged with worry from Emmett, and fear mixed with relief from you. What happened?"
"Rosalie was going to set me free," I answered. I hoped that knowing that one of his family members wanted to end my imprisonment would make him think about releasing me.
"Not the way you think," Jasper said.
My blood ran cold at his words. I had heard, "snapping her neck," after all. I really wasn't going to get out of here alive.
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