Be careful what you wish for

This story is unbeta'd. All mistakes are my own, the characters however, are not mine. Everything you recognize from Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer!

BPOV

"So" I began, stretching out the 'o'. "Is there something on your mind or am I just imagining things?"

I was pretty sure Alice was nervous about something. I had agreed to meet her and Jasper for coffee but she seemed off. Sure, she was chatty and played with her coffee because she wouldn't drink it, but something just didn't seem right. Judging by the look she was giving me I was right.

"What do you mean?" she asked, twirling her finger along the rim of her cup.

"I mean.. oh, I don't know. You seem nervous. You can tell me, you know. Maybe I can help."

"I.. uh.. well.." she swallowed. "Ok, I have to tell you something. And please don't freak out, ok?"

"Alice, don't." Jasper warned. He didn't say anything else but she shot him an annoyed look. Now I was curious. I furrowed my brow. What could possibly be bothering Alice that would have me freaking out? And why would Jasper think it's a bad idea?

"Ok, I promise"

"Edward's back. He finally came home last week." She looked at me nervously, probably trying to anticipate my reaction.

"Oh, but that's great news! I know you've missed him. How is he?"

"He's.. as well as is to be expected." She started, but Jasper interrupted her.

"Bella, if we had known what he would say to you, what he would do.. I swear we would have never left you like that! Frankly, we don't deserve for you to give us the time of day after the stunt he pulled and I don't know if I'm amazed at how forgiving you are or if I should think you're being foolish." That stung. I felt tears pricking my eyes, but blinked to keep them at bay. Realizing the effect his words were having, Jasper grimaced and reached out to take my hand. It was incredibly soothing and I wondered how much of that feeling was his comforting touch alone and how much was due to his gift.

"Hey, hey, hey. None of that. I'm sorry I'm making an ass out of myself. I just.. I don't understand why you would want to be around us anymore. But I promise you: You will not be hearing from Edward. Ever. I won't allow him near you."

Alice huffed again and Jasper glared at her. Obviously they had been arguing about this for a while.

"See, the thing is" Alice began and she held up her hand to stop Jasper from interrupting her again "that Edward wants to see you. Somebody doesn't agree with that, but I think it's up to you."

I sat back and blinked at them, trying to process all the information they had given me in the last couple of minutes. And I felt the old anger starting to boil deep within me. It rolled around inside me, wanting desperately to be let out. I tried to keep calm, exhaling to center myself, but my voice still betrayed how angry I felt when I spoke.

"Excuse me?" I asked, letting go of Jasper's hand and looking him directly in the eyes. "You won't allow it?! What in the world makes you think, that this is your decision to make Jasper? The last time anyone made a decision for me was when you all decided to leave without saying goodbye. When Edward decided I wasn't worth the dirt under his shoe and decidedto break my heart and then leave me in the woods. And guess what? That was the last time I let anyone make decisions for me. Whether or not I want to see Edward has nothing to do with you. And if you're angry at him, then by all means, go take it out on him. But don't you dare start this crap again, where you think that making decisions for me is acceptable. It's not." I was seething. Oh, how dare he? My hands were gripping the edge of the table so hard, that my knuckles had turned white. I was very close to stomping off to cool down but then I took a good look at Jasper. He held his hands up in defeat and was looking down. He looked so sad and so remorseful. My anger softened. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he finally spoke.

"I'm sorry, Bella. Truly, I am. I never meant to upset you .. I just.." he sighed then and ran both his hands through his hair. "We fucked up. All of us did. You're birthday party was a disaster. The way we handled it afterwards? A complete fucking mess. We made bad decisions and the reasons seemed right at the time, but they probably weren't. And even though you think it's not my fault.." at this he held up his right hand, his pointer finger extended slightly to stop me from interrupting him. I snapped my mouth shut and nodded my head for him to continue. ".. I still feel so responsible for what happened at your party. And just a few days ago I learned what Edward really said to you, what he did.." he closed his eyes and shook his head slightly, as if to get rid of whatever he was picturing in his mind. "I said it before, I don't know why you want to be around us anymore. But I don't care, all I care about is that you're here now and I'm afraid he'll ruin it. And I don't want him to."

And with that, all the anger left me. Who knew Jasper could be so incredibly sweet even when he was being an insufferable dick.

"Ok. I get it. I get why you want to keep Edward away from me, but Alice is right. It's not up to you. This is my decision to make. And right now, I don't know if I want to see him or not. Once I figure out what I want, I'll let you know. Or I'll have one of you give me his number and I'll hash out the details with him. If I want to see him. No promises."

"Thanks, Bella" Alice said with a smile while Jasper only grumbled, that it was way more than Edward deserved. I lightly kicked his foot under the table. Ok, it was more of a forceful nudge.

"Hey! The only way to ruin this is if you guys disappear again. So, just stay. Simple." I smiled at both of them then. Everything would be all right this time. I might not be Alice, but I just knew that it would. "And while you're here, you can make yourselves useful" I told them, while I rummaged around my purse, and pulled out a book of baby names. "I want input!"

A/N:

Long time no read! I know, I know... I KNOW! It's been ages. Forever really, and I'm surprised that people haven't forgotten about this story yet. At least I hope you haven't forgotten. This chapter was almost finished weeks ago. And then I went back to it, reread it and you know what? Most of it just didn't feel right. At all. So I deleted more than half of the chapter and started new. The result feels right and works more along the lines of what I have in mind for this story. Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think!