Chapter 9 - Unexpected

… The pain was excruciating. I heard the sickening crack of bone breaking under his weight, and I was sure that this was it. I was going to die.

He shifted his weight and I screamed, expecting death. But he was gone, and when I looked up, I saw Victoria's enraged eyes looking back. She was feral, snarling and growling as she tore him from the room. Riley was quickly at my side, gently lifting me into his arms. They had saved me ...

Jasper POV

Were Peter and Charlotte right? Was I happier? I hardly thought so, but it wasn't something I wanted to take the time to dwell on. We needed to move forward with our plans to protect Bella, and ourselves, from any threat Victoria could pose.

But first we were going to have to get some introductions out of the way. I was nervous about Bella's possible reaction to meeting them, but I had a suspicion that the red eyes they sported would work in our favor.

Bella had always had a way of looking at the world that was unlike anyone else I had ever met; it was like she saw your soul and knew whether you meant harm. That gift for seeing people for who they really were had allowed her to walk fearlessly into our lives. I hoped that part of it was still there, that she would come to see us as family again. Come to see me as a friend.

Peter and Charlotte were waiting outside for my word that Bella was ready. Esme and Rosalie were with them. I heard Carlisle trying to call Edward when he was upstairs with Bella, but again the phone went to voicemail. There was a vibe of intense concern and curiosity coming from Esme, and I assumed she was concerned for Edward's welfare. She would always see him as a son, not matter what he did.

The emotional atmosphere was killing me. If I was to go prepare Bella for visitors, I would need a calmer environment. With one last glance at the stairwell, I turned and walked out to the porch.

Peter was sitting on the floor with his back against one of the posts, his knees drawn up and his hands busy twisting a piece of straw grass. He gave me a gentle nod and a slight smile before continuing his mindless ministrations. Esme and Rosalie were showing Charlotte the garden. Charlotte seemed to be relishing the opportunity to talk to other people.

Peter looked up at me appraisingly. "Something on your mind?"

I shrugged nonchalantly and leaned against a post. "Just wondering about Edward?" I felt everyone's attention heighten, and I knew they were all awaiting the answer.

It was now Peter's turn to be confused. His brow furrowing as he spoke. "About his sexuality or his lack of thereof? Because I believe you know where I stand on both of those issues."

I stifled a laugh. "No, I meant, where is he?"

Peter looked surprised. "How would I know? I haven't spoken to him in years. When he arrived with the letter, I snatched it and walked off. For all I know he's still standing there like a scarecrow."

"Really?" I asked in shock. "When we didn't hear from him, I assumed that you had… incapacitated him."

Charlotte appeared at Peter's side and sat down in his lap. He loosely wrapped his arms around her as she addressed me. "No matter how ignorant Edward can be, he is still your family. Neither Peter, nor I, would ever overstep those bounds. Besides, I think we have all had enough violence in our lives that we don't need to be carelessly creating more."

"I apologize to you both. I didn't mean to offend you." I projected my emotions to them and let them feel my remorse. True to their forgiving nature, they both smiled and responded in kind.

"Jasper, we're all family here. No need for apologies. It's an understandable assumption given our last visit." Charlotte spoke with sincerity.

"We were all—" Esme started, but Peter put up his hand to stop her.

"Please no more apologies. It's in the past." He smiled warmly and Esme returned it with a smile of her own. The tension was now noticeably lessened and I felt comfortable going to see Bella.

As I walked into the house, I listened as Peter, Charlotte, and Esme overcame the previous tension and began speaking like longtime friends. It felt good that they were being so accepting of one another, like my past and present had melded into one. It was good.

When I approached Bella's room, I was smacked with a wall of frustration. I could hear Carlisle's movements in the far corner of the room. Bella's fear and panic was growing, and I didn't bother knocking as I entered the room. What I saw was heart wrenching. She was once again curled up in the corner with a pillow clutched in her arms. Carlisle knelt in front of her as he whispered reassurances, but upon my entering, he stood and walked over to greet me.

"I'm afraid she has reacted poorly to something I have said or done, but for the life of me I don't know what it was." Carlisle was visibly frustrated.

I sent him some reassurance. "It could have happened to any of us. Don't blame yourself."

He looked comforted by my words and a weak smile played on his lips. "That's very kind of you, but I am afraid I still feel responsible. I will let you have some privacy, maybe she will respond better to you alone." With a sigh, he patted my shoulder and turned to leave.

Before he reached the door, he stopped and looked at me with a pained expression. "Please tell her that I am sorry and that I didn't mean to scare her." His voice was no more than a whisper. I nodded and turned my attention to the fragile girl in the corner, who was watching me with growing curiosity.

I slowly approached and as I did I had a realization as to why she was curious. The light from the window was hitting my exposed skin and making my scars more visible. Although normally I wasn't one to parade my scars, this was different. This was Bella, and for her it seemed I would do anything.

Without a word I crouched down to her level and extended my hand to her, palm side up, making sure to go slow as not to startle her further. Her gaze darted between my face and arm before I felt her emotions begin to shift and a minute feeling of trust emerged. I tried to remain still, but knowing there was an inkling of trust for me made me smile.

She hesitantly looked up at me again, and noticing my smile, she pulled away looking confused.

"Hey, it was just smile. I'm happy, that's all." I cocked my head to the side, leaving my arm extended out between still, hoping that maybe that moment of trust would be regained. But it only seemed to cause her more confusion. Like a flickering candle, her emotions flashed in hazy spurts, fear, loss, confusion, and a tiny dash of trust just barely lighting the background. I breathed a sigh of relief, her trust was still there.

Her features twitched slightly with each passing second. It was like she trying to recall the expressions that belonged to each emotion. She seemed to finally settle on one that looked like a mixture of confusion and curiosity. Her brows were knitted together and her teeth were just grazing the dry skin of her bottom lip in quiet thought.

"What I wouldn't give to know what you were thinking," I whispered quietly to myself and was surprised when she not only heard me but answered.

"I-I-I was… I'm sorry, never mind." She shook her head as if trying to dismiss the thought.

"My scars." I reached over and tilted her chin to look at me. "It's okay, we both have them." Seeing the relief in her eyes at my words made a smile pull at the corner of my mouth. Seeing her relax like that let me a feeling of serenity wash over me I had never felt before.

She looked to my arm. "Did they do t-t-that to you?" she whispered pointing to my scarred skin.

"The people who gave me those have long since met their end." What I had hoped would calm her only now seemed to be confusing her more.

"Y-y-you mean the others didn't give you them?"

"No." I took her trembling hands in mine and calmed her with my gift. "They would never hurt someone like that. It's against everything they believe." I felt a twinge of guilt. They may not have believed in violence, but I once defined it. And the death I served Riley was far from painless.

"You can trust them, Bella."

"How?"

"How what?" I asked.

"How do you know to trust them?"

"It's a feeling. Do you trust me?" I was more than eager for her answer. I thought she was beginning to be comfortable with me but her ranging emotions made it hard to be sure.

She was silent for a long moment, considering my question. My hope faded. I had asked too much too soon.

"I do," she said eventually. "I trust you."

She trusted me. She trusted me. That was more than I ever imagined I would hear. I was grinning like a fool, and I couldn't seem to do much about it.

"That's good," I said. "Because I will never hurt you, and I promise you that no one here will ever hurt you."

She looked at me skeptically for a second, and then nodded. "Okay."

"There are two others here you haven't met yet, they have just arrived. Their names are Peter and Charlotte. They are good people. You can trust them. But their eyes aren't like mine. They're red."

Bella sucked in a breath, and she brought her hand up to her forehead and rubbed her brow. Panic flooded her system.

"Shhh, Bella." I sent her some calm and waited as her heart rate slowed again.

"I-I-I don't understand. It doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't?"

"This," she said gesturing around her. "You, your eyes. Maybe I am just falling for your tricks and Victoria was right..." she trailed off as she clambered to her feet. She wrapped her arms around her midsection and began pacing in short strides.

"Bella-"

"Good, bad... Red... yellow bad... Bad..."

Shit. She was having some kind of breakdown. Her fingers clawed into her arms. I moved and stood in front of her pacing line and pushed as much calm as I could at her. She slowed her pacing, but was still frantic.

I realized that everything she knew was being turned on its head. It was something that was bound to happen, and I hoped that in some way it was a good sign. I just wished that it didn't put her health at risk. Knowing how weak she was, I listened to each beat of her heart, hoping I hadn't pushed her too far.

Suddenly, she stopped her movements and stood frozen in front of me, her hands dropping to her sides and her eyes looking tired. "I-I-I can trust you." It wasn't a question. It was a statement and a correct one at that. She could trust me.

"You can trust me. I mean it when I say this, I would rather die than let anything happen to you."

Her features were still tense but she nodded sharply, wrapping her arms back around her middle. I stood frozen, waiting for her to step away out of the closeness that was between us, but she didn't. She dropped her gaze to the floor. She was like a shrinking violet, pulling closed.

I stepped forward, and in one move, I had my arms around her pulling her small form against me. She was so soft, so warm, and so frail. Her arms stayed around herself, but she allowed me to pull her close. After a moment, she nestled her face into my chest, her warm breath moving across my skin, sending an amazing sensation through me.

This was right. This is where I needed to be and I was never letting go.

I could have stayed like that for an eternity, there with her against me, but she had other ideas. With a small nudge, she pushed my arms away and I reluctantly let her go. I knew I wasn't looking at the Bella I once knew, but I was more than happy to get to know this one.

I watched her curiously as she walked away from me and carefully made her way towards the bathroom. Her gait was still slightly off. Carlisle had said it was from a poorly healed break in her pelvis. He said it wasn't something that should be overly painful now, but I could feel her slight twinge of pain when she bent to pick up the brush that had fallen to the floor. This was something I would need to discuss further with Carlisle. She had been through enough pain already. She didn't need any more.

She didn't close the door to the bathroom, and I could only hope she wasn't planning on doing anything too human in there. Thankfully she stepped out a minute later holding the hairbrush.

She sat on the bed and combed her hair and then shakily stood to face me. Though she wasn't as fearful as before, she was still afraid. But true to everything I had knew of Bella, she was pushing it down and trying to stand tall.

"I'm ready." She pulled at the hem of her shirt as she spoke, flattening out the edges again and again nervously with her palms.

"Ready?"

"To meet them, the ones you told me about. I just... I..." she trailed off, her emotions telling the story she couldn't. She was full of longing. She missed what she had come accustomed to. She had grown close to Victoria and Riley whether she had wanted to or not. I think for her, the chance to meet another red eyed vampire was a comforting thought. There really was a twisted sense of logic in it all.

"You don't have to explain, empath remember?" the corner of my mouth lifted into a smile. I hoped she would smile back, but I knew it was too soon. Instead, I was completely comfortable settling for her small nod of acknowledgment and not causing her to recoil into herself

I walked over and opened the door, gesturing her through. I was mindful of her heart rate and pain as we walked slowly towards the staircase, me slightly in the lead. I kept one arm out behind her prepared to offer her support if she lost her strength.

"This way," I said motioning toward the living room.

She walked beside me as we entered the room, my hand never leaving the small of her back. As we reached the middle of the room, Peter and Charlotte rose slowly from the couch.

Even though I knew that Bella saw red eyed vampires differently, it still didn't prepare me for the complete lack of fear she felt at seeing them. She was completely unfazed by their presence; in fact, she was comforted.

"Bella, I would like you to meet my friends Peter and-"

"Charlotte." Charlotte had stepped forward with a warm smile. "It's very nice to meet you, Bella."

Peter stayed a step back behind his wife, his thumbs hitched in his pockets and a crooked grin on his face.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Peter nodded and I felt Bella's emotions shift.

She stepped out from beside me and began to move towards them. I watched with rapt attention as she flitted her gaze between them both, and then without hesitation, launched herself into Charlotte's arms.

To say I was shocked would have been understatement. I was downright blown away, and from the bewildered expression on Charlotte's face, I wasn't the only one.

Her expression quickly changed to one of heartfelt compassion as Bella's soft sobs filled the room. Charlotte's whole demeanor changed. Gone was any confusion of why they were here. Bella had already won her over, just like she had us all.

Peter stepped back and moved to my side as we both watched Charlotte guide Bella to the couch. He was feeling shock at the scene, but a huge measure of compassion and concern was coming from him, too.

"I would say that went rather well, wouldn't you?" he chuckled.