A/N I was feeling a little nice and decided to update. I know you're all impatient to read what happens next so here it is. Enjoy.

Chapter 9

JPOV

I don't know how long I sat, watching Bella before my anger started to rise. Staring at her, pushing as much calm and lethargy as I could to help her sleep without nightmares, I couldn't help but wonder how the hell this happened.

"Jasper? Perhaps you should go and take a breather. You've been here all night and your anger is getting to Bella." Charlotte's soft voice came from beside Bella.

"I'm not going to leave her alone, Charlotte." I hissed.

"She's not going to be here alone, Jasper." She snapped. "I'm here."

I knew she was safe with Charlotte but my protective nature prevented me from admitting it. Without another word, I stood sharply and headed outside. I needed answers and I needed them now. I looked for Peter. He might have known how this happened.

I found Peter in the servant quarters, holding the child. "How's Bella?" he asked without looking up.

"Sleeping," I grunted. "You and I need to have a talk."

He nodded his head in agreement. Rhiannon appeared and took Adrian out of his arms. "I'll go feed him."

Peter nodded and stood up. I didn't speak as I turned away and led him to my office. I could feel the strain that Peter was under. He was pissed off about what happened with Michael and he was worried about what this attack is going to do to Bella.

I sat at my desk, silently watching him. I reigned in my emotions, knowing it wasn't doing any good to anyone. They knew I was pissed off.

"So, Peter. Can you tell me exactly how this happened?"

"I don't know." He admitted. "Bella was working with Rhiannon today. I think Rhiannon told her to take the laundry upstairs."

"Why was she alone?"

"The servants know better than to touch her. The only problem we've had was Michael and his group. The day Michael arrived, I saw him with Bella. He was a little too close for comfort."

"And that never struck you as something worth worrying about?" My anger spiked as I wished I tortured Michael more than I had. He deserved to die a slow and painful death.

Peter didn't say anything. His emotions were a jumbled mess. He felt guilty for leaving Bella alone but the thought that Michael would actually try something never crossed his mind.

"Why was Bella in my wing? That's usually off limits."

"I talked to Rhiannon about this. Apparently she sent Bella to change the sheets on your bed."

I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. "And no one realized she was gone for as long as she was?"

"I don't think the servants pay as much attention to her. Besides Rhiannon, Charlotte and myself, the rest pay little to no attention."

It stung to hear him say that. Did I really pay no attention to Bella at all? Besides when she annoys the crap out of me or I'm getting ready to feed from her?

Could Carlisle's theory about Bella being my soul mate be a lie?

Was I even considering that possibility? I thought that idea died down the minute I left the Cullen house. Didn't it?

If Bella really was my soul mate, I would have wanted to spend more time around her, wanting to get to know her.

It must be a lie. There must be another reason why I was seeing Bella's memories.

"Peter, you talked to Bella after I left right?"

His nerves spiked and he looked at me. "Yeah. Why?"

"Did she say anything about seeing my memories?"

"Well..." he paused and I saw him swallow. "She mentioned it."

"And?" Why was he so nervous? Was it really that bad? "Come on, Peter. I'm just curious."

"I don't think you'll like it very much." He admitted. "She saw you with Alice."

I stiffened immediately. "What did she see? What did she say?" I demanded.

"She said all she saw was you and Alice in a meadow. She didn't actually hear anything which I found a little odd. All she heard from the entire conversation was Alice's name."

"That's it?"

He nodded. "Well, that's... not too bad. I guess."

"She's been asking questions about Alice."

I growled. "She has no right to ask questions about Alice!"

"You can't blame her, Jasper. She's been subjected to your memory of Alice. What do you suppose she does? If you saw someone in her past, wouldn't you want to ask questions about it as well?"

I could understand his reasoning, but that didn't stop the anger from rising. "If Bella wants to know anything about Alice, she should come to me for them."

"In what state of mind would you ever tell Bella anything about your personal life?" he asked.

"You are the one that refused to talk to her. You are the one that kept a distance. You are the one that—"

"Yeah, I get it. I've been a cold hearted bastard towards her." I hissed.

"She really isn't a bad person, Jasper. She's fierce and protective. She's brave. Despite all that, do you really think she would have been able to come to you and asked you about Alice without getting her head cut off? Bella is afraid of you, Jasper. She may not show it for everyone to see but her eyes flash with fear every time she hears your name."

I growled in frustration. This only heightened the proclamation that Bella was not my mate.

There was a sharp knock on the door. "Come in."

Rhiannon stuck her head in. "Sorry to bother you, Jasper but Carlisle's here."

"Good." I stood up and left without another word to Peter. I walked through the house until I met Carlisle, and to my surprise, Esme, waiting.

"Thank you for coming, Carlisle."

"It isn't every day I get a message from you saying you want me to come to the manor immediately. And that you wanted me to bring my medical bag."

I nodded.

"How's Bella?"

"Sleeping."

"Is someone with her?"

"Charlotte."

He nodded. "Take me to her."

CPOV

I entered the room alone, after five minutes of arguing with Jasper and noticed Charlotte lying next to a hump beneath the comforter. She looked at me with her red eyes and smiled weakly.

"How is everything?"

"She's still sleeping. She woke up once from a nightmare and when I calmed her down and told her it was just a nightmare, she fell back asleep."

"She must be exhausted." I moved closer and saw a head of long mahogany tresses spread out across the white pillow. "How long ago was it that she fell back asleep?"

I watched as Charlotte ran her fingers through the girl's hair. "About an hour. She hasn't been sleeping well."

"I see." I sighed.

"Charlotte?" Her soft voice was weak and I heard it crack.

"I'm here, Bella." Charlotte said. "Bella, honey. There's a doctor here to see you. He wants to take a look to see if Michael caused any injuries."

There was silence for a moment as I saw Bella's chocolate brown eyes peek out from beneath the blanket. "He's like Rhiannon."

That was unexpected. Though I couldn't quite understand what she meant.

"That's right. Carlisle isn't going to hurt you."

"Would it be alright if I took a look at you, Bella?"

She nodded slowly and sat up, wincing as she did. "Charlotte, why don't you go find Esme? I think she's with Jasper. Keep him calm and out of here until I'm done. I'll tell him what's wrong when I'm finished my examination."

"He's not going to like that."

"I know. Just keep him out for as long as you can. Get Peter to help you, just so long as he stays out of this room."

"Yes, Carlisle." She stood up and kissed Bella on the forehead. "Don't worry, Bella. You're going to be okay."

Bella swallowed and nodded nervously.

When Charlotte was gone, I moved slowly towards the bed. "Bella? Can you tell me what happened?"

She shook her head in alarm.

"Bella, that's alright. I understand that this isn't easy for you. Just relax."

I watched as she struggled to calm herself. "Do you need me to get Jasper to help calm you down?" I didn't really want to get Jasper because once he was here; he wasn't going to want to leave.

Thankfully, she shook her head.

"Okay. I'm going to start my examination right now." I gently took her arms. There were several large bruises up her arms and across her shoulders.

"Bella, besides the pain Michael caused with his hands, did you feel any sharp pain between your legs?"

She shook her head.

I breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't break her barrier. I continued the examination, my hands gently probing down her sides. She winced a few times, indicating a possible break of the ribs.

"Bella, are there other places you feel more pain?"

She nodded her head.

"Where?"

She turned her back to me, lifting her shirt and I saw angry red lines running down her back. There was no blood, thankfully, but I could tell Michael must have run the tips of his fingers down her back.

"Anywhere else?"

"My head hurts."

It was the first time she spoke directly to me. That was a good thing. I hoped.

I nodded and probed my fingers along her scalp. There were certainly bumps. Michael must have thrown her against a wall.

Once I finished my examination, I stood up. "Bella, I'm going to talk to Jasper. Do you want me to get something for you?"

"Can you bring Adrian?"

"Adrian?"

She nodded. "Sure." I left the room and nearly ran into Jasper, who was pacing back and forth in the hallway.

"Jasper. I was about to come find you."

"How is she?"

"Let's go find somewhere to talk." I suggested. His eyes tightened. "Oh. And Bella wants Adrian."

"Of course she does." He muttered as he led me to what I assumed was his office. "Charlotte, will you get Adrian? Bella wants to see him."

"Sure Jasper. I think I saw him with Esme."

He nodded, distracted. I studied the tense way he held himself. He was definitely angry but trying to keep himself from projecting that anger.

Jasper walked into the office and began pacing, muttering things under his breath.

"How is she?" he demanded harshly.

"Physically? She will heal fine. There are a couple of bruises, maybe one or two broken ribs. She might have a concussion but I don't really know for sure. I would need an x-ray for that."

"Did he...?"

"No. Her barrier is still intact."

He breathed a sigh of relief before he realized I had more to say.

"What else?"

"While her physical state will heal with time, I'm worried about her mental state. Seeing the act of rape on someone else is one thing. Experiencing it first hand is a whole other matter. Her mind doesn't know how to cope with the changes." I explained loosely.

"You think she's seen someone being raped?"

"Wouldn't surprise me. You told me she lived in the tunnels." I said. "No one really knows what happens in those tunnels. And besides that, the vampires that venture into the tunnels often rape the older woman they know won't sell well."

He flinched at that. "What exactly can I do to help her?"

"For now, don't talk to her about it. She isn't prepared for it just yet. When she's ready to face what happened, she'll talk to you. Don't push her into talking about it. She will draw away if you push her too hard."

"It's not like she talks to me at all." He grumbled.

"What?"

"Bella is afraid of me, Carlisle. I can't go near her without feeling her terror."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"I can feel her emotions. I know it's true."

"Have you bothered to get to know her?"

He didn't answer. "Not really." He finally admitted. "But to be fair, I didn't realize it until Peter clued me in." He ran a hand through his hair. "Why did she feel so comfortable with you right away?"

"I'm sorry?"

"She let you touch her. Bella's only allowed Peter, Charlotte or Rhiannon touch her since she was attacked. Why did she let you?"

"You know her better that I do. But she did say something. She said I was like Rhiannon."

He stared at me. "Your eyes,"

"You really need to elaborate a bit, Jasper. I can't read your mind."

"She feels comfortable with you because of your vegetarian lifestyle."

I could understand his train of thought. "That doesn't quite explain why she was curled up against Charlotte when I walked into the room."

"She's comfortable with Charlotte because they've spent a lot of time together. Just like Peter."

"Ah."

"How can someone you say is my soul mate be so afraid of me?"

"So you admit that she is your soul mate?"

He stared at me for a minute, surprised, judging from the look on his face.

I was alerted to Peter's presence before his knock. "Jasper, Bella's awake and she wants to talk to you."

"Really?"

JPOV

I was actually shocked. Never in my life did I consider Bella would ever willingly want to talk to me about anything.

"How long are you staying, Carlisle?" I asked, looking at him. I was antsy to get to Bella.

"A couple of days." He said. "I want to watch the progress Bella makes."

I nodded, thankful that he was here. "Thank you, Carlisle. I really appreciate it."

I headed out the door and walked towards my bedroom. The closer I got, the more I heard the soft voices coming from inside.

"I'm okay, Rhiannon. Stop mothering me." Bella said, swatting the hand away.

"Bella, you were just attacked."

I peeked inside. "I know."

"Are you okay? I know what happened is hard for you—"

"It was horrible." She whispered. "I had to watch those vampires rape my mother before both my parents told me to run. And then it happened to me."

"Bella,"

I knocked, announcing my arrival. So Carlisle was right, I mused silently.

"Peter told me you wanted to see me?"

She nodded and looked at Rhiannon. "I'll take Adrian back to Esme. I think she was having a little too much fun playing with him."

Bella smiled weakly. "Thanks, Rhiannon."

Rhiannon touched my arm and I felt her send me her warning. Usually, I would have gotten angry but I knew she was trying to protect Bella from pain.

"You can sit down, Master."

I winced. "Call me Jasper, Bella."

She studied me with surprise. "If you say so," she looked at the blanket, running her hands over the seams. "Thank you."

Of all the things I thought she would say that certainly wasn't one of them. "For what?"

"For saving me. For pulling Michael off me before something else could have happened."

"There's no need to thank me, Bella. Michael was warned. He disrespected my wishes. When it comes to something as severe as this, I did what I had to to maintain order."

A flash of hurt went through her eyes before it was gone. She nodded her head stiffly. "If you don't mind, I think I'll sleep. I'm kind of tired."

I nodded and stood up. "Sleep well, Bella."

On my way out, I couldn't help but wonder how badly I screwed up.

BPOV

Jasper didn't care.

It was all about duty. He didn't do what he did because he liked me, even in the slightest.

Rhiannon's theory on soul mates is stupid and completely implausible. I was nothing more to him than a human slave.

If that's the way he wanted it, fine. He'd get exactly what he wanted.

A/N That's all! I hoped you guys liked it. It seems Bella and Jaspers relationship goes up and down. They're both too stubborn to admit their feelings. Anyway, review and tell me what your thoughts are on this chapter. Ya'll know reviews help me write faster.