"Have a good walk with her?" Jasper whispered in my ear I glanced up at him as he smiled down at me. We were cuddled up to each other in our home in Seattle. We had a tendency to sit on the wrap around couch simply because it let Jasper lay his full body out with me in between his legs. I always enjoyed putting my head on his chest with his arms around me. Somehow it felt safer.
The Cullens offered to have us stay with them, they'd even gotten an open room that Esme was now set upon decorating in some fashion. We'd still declined, wanting to discuss in peace. I didn't want to pressure him into this anyways and being there felt like there was an expectation we'd stay.
"It was...eye opening." I replied softly. I wasn't sure how to phrase the question of asking him to give up humans and move with me to their home. I sat up and turned to look him in the eyes when I opened my mouth to start, he beat me to it.
"Cat, I think moving there would be a great opportunity for us." Jasper spoke quickly and watched my facial expressions after. I shut my mouth and began to grin.
"I was just going to say that. I mean it comes with a lot of benefits." I added on and he nodded vigorously.
"Theres the stability, connections, protection, you'd be safe and sound and hopefully happy. It'll be easier with the lack of killing. I know we can't have a family like you've wanted, and don't try to say you're fine with just the two of us, but this is still a pretty good trade off. I mean hell, if we ever get tired of it, we can start our own coven like that." He agreed as I mirrored his nodding. This felt like a good move for us and I snorted at his comment about just the two of us.
I knew he was fine with it and even thrived sometimes but I longed for the familial bonds. Mostly a just family of our own but I'd take being apart of someone else's. If anything I felt like Char was my sister-in-law most of the time. It'd take some time to really get into it and find our niche but it was possible.
"I agree completely, Jazzy. We'll move." I kissed his cheek softly, he beamed back down at me. He was apparently just as worried as I was, it was almost sweet. I laid my head back down on his chest, playing with his fingers.
"Good good. To be totally honest, I was terrified today. It was like you were just expecting to die right there on the spot. Like you'd given up. I mean I could feel it, you giving up." Jasper sighed as he kissed the top of my head. I seemed to have a habit of freaking him the fuck out all the time. Honestly I had a habit of freaking myself out too.
Though I had given up hope when Carlisle said I wasn't one of his. It seemed like that was the only chance of being saving I'd have from the angry shape shifting men. There were a lot more of them than there were of me and I somehow didn't think Jasper would be able to track me down that easy or that fast.
"Well I didn't think you'd find me that fast." I shrugged looking away from my mate.
"I see the level of faith you have in your husband, Catharin Whitlock." Jasper teased me with a small smile.
"And I see the level of faith you had in your wife, Jazzy. Admit it, you left to look for me earlier than the time we agreed on." I grinned back at him and poked him in the chest. He caught my hand and kissed the extended pointer finger.
"I may have. I'm not intending on ever findin' out what would of have happened if I hadn't. Felt like an angry Tarzan coming out of those trees. Just felt your fear and then I saw that mutt yanking your hair and went bat shit, Cat." I cringed at the memory, it was still fresh and I felt it would be for a while longer in my mind. It was a scary scary scaaary time.
"Either way, from now on we'll be hunting together." I nodded with a smile. We would be for a long time.
"Yeah, you get to show me the ropes again." He gently shook my shoulders trying to get me excited about this. I snorted and nodded at that, I would be.
In the next few weeks Jasper signed me out of the school in Seattle and got our papers in order for an internship in Carlisle's hospital. As he did that I focused on getting a moving company to pack up our books and my couch. I was hanging onto that couch. I swear to god that if I ever died, that couch would be there with me. The vampiric equivalent of my grandchildren would have that couch in my non-existent will.
"Seriously, Cat? The couch?" Jasper asked incredulously from next to me. I jumped a little out of fright, I had been a little skittish since the hunting incident. I nodded vigorously.
"Yes. Now go grab your stupid instrument from upstairs. I didn't think you'd want them to mess with it." I motioned to the stairs as he speed walked up them, it was the fastest we could get around humans. Of which there were tons all over the place.
"Holy fuck. CATHARIN! The books are missing! All of them." Jasper zoomed back down the stairs to me, yelling my name as I raised a brow.
"Of course they're missing. We're taking them with us, silly. The movers have just already gotten to them." I started to grin as the panicked look on his face dissipated into a bashful look.
"Right." He nodded and clasped his hands behind his back with his guitar on his side as he looked over at the movers. We had a lot of books. It was taking them several large boxes for all of them. We were closer to moving and it seemed that the Cullens were ready, Jasper had called them earlier to let them know.
Esme was delighted with it, she said she was looking forward to two new members. The idea was unnerving at first but after a century of loneliness, the vampiric mother idea wasn't so bad after all. However I wasn't sure of what to do about a mother in general. I'd longed to be one for years but my own died early on. The idea was alien to me and I think it was the same for Jasper.
"Ready?" I looked over at him, shaking me from my thoughts. His arm was extended, I placed my hand in his and we started to speed walk towards the Cullen's. In all actuality we should have taken a car but once we got to the more wooded area, we'd run and beat any car there.
We'd been living with the Cullens for close to a few years now. Our room was filled with a useless bed, my couch and wall to wall shelves full of our books. Jasper had begun to hang up some of his own memorabilia on the dark green walls. Things he'd carried around with him that came from his past like, his ranking from the confederate army, boots, and his jacket. I was laying the bed on my stomach with my arms crossed in front of me, watching him set up a stand for his guitar.
I felt odd with the antiques looking back at me, it reminded me of the day I'd met him and the weeks prior to it. He didn't hang any photos or remembrances of his home. He rarely spoke of it and sometimes I felt he didn't remember much of his childhood or his later years except for me. He'd always claimed that looking back and seeing me glitter in the distance was his clearest memory. The next was our letters and the moment he decided he was going to propose. We shared the sentimental values of those as I kept the letters he sent while he kept my letters. Really I wore the only strand he had left back to his family.
His mother's ring. It was supposed to be passed from each woman in the family down the line but as Jasper's sister never made it out of the womb, it was given to him. He'd kept it as an heirloom and gave it to me when we were married. It was currently my wedding ring and I tried my best to take care of it.I personally had nothing of my past up on the walls. All I'd had before was a ripped maternity dress and there was no way in hell I was putting that up, I'd thrown it away the first chance I got.
"Cat..." He finished with it and looked back at me I raised a brow back as I laid there watching him. He was fascinating sometimes. I could hear Rose in the garage and Emmett in front of the TV downstairs. Edward was in his own room across the hall, he was listening to his records.
It was a peaceful sunny day in the house today. Carlisle had given me the day off to spend with Jazzy as he was off from school. It felt odd to have my husband in a modern day high school but it was helping him over come his thirst issues. I'd probably enroll when I needed a break from medicine. That seemed more likely to happen next move though, where ever we moved to or the move after. I wasn't sure. I was determined to get through the process for a license to say I'd worked throughly for before Jasper started to have them made for me.
"We should take a photo together. We don't have one from our wedding day or anything so why not?" He finished with his idea as I propped my head up on my arm and looked at him.
"Where'd this idea come from?" I asked gently as I started to draw invisible circles on his thigh.
"Well if anything I'd enjoy having something with you in it up on these walls." He shrugged and nodded towards the one empty spot left on the walls. It felt cozy in here if nothing else. We had a window seat that I knew I was more likely to use than him. I had in the past while he simply sat under neath me on the floor.
"Alright." I nodded and smiled at him as he laid back with his head near my feet. He was still for a second before he began to blow softly on my feet, trying to tickle me. I giggled and rolled away.
"I have a camera!" Esme called out from downstairs. Jasper paused and snorted as I froze as well, I happened to freeze right as I went over the edge. I landed with a thump and heard his chuckles as I picked myself up.
"Woman can definitely hear." He muttered as he stood and held out his hand for me to take. We walked slowly for vampires down the stairs and came face to face with a grinning Esme.
She looked like the typical proud parent on their child's wedding day holding up her camera and snapping pictures as we literally just walked down the stairs. I'd gotten more used to her acting like a mother to the coven. It was actually rather comforting, at one point I felt that I'd almost lost control in the hospital and Jazz was at school when I ran home. I ended up hugging her while she told me it was okay. She kept reminding me how well I was doing and that I didn't hurt anyone. She even told Carlisle to watch out, just in case.
"Aw, you two should at least dress nicely. Rosalie, dear, could you at least do her hair?" Esme called out to Rose as I facepalmed, I hated when people touched my hair. Rose turned the corner with a grin as I glared at Jasper for his idea. He was snickering to himself when she pulled me away.
"Don't laugh, mister. You're changing clothes. You've worn that outfit for 2 days in a row now." Esme pointed up the stairs as Jasper's grin fell away. I started to snicker at that point. I told him he was going to have to change eventually, just proves me right!
Rose decided that an updo style was best for me. My hair was straight and long from my youth as a human, I never found the time to sit down and sharpen a blade to cut it all back then. Instead of curling it or anything, she merely twisted it up and stuck in a few bobby pins, letting some of the shorter hairs near my face hang down.
"...and you're sure you won't let me put any make up on you?" I frowned as she asked and looked at my features in the mirror. I had thin lips, almond shaped eyes and a dainty little nose. The venom had changed the nose mostly for me, the eyes and mouth stuck around from my humanity. My cheekbones never showed as a human but again, the venom can change a lot to make you appear more enticing for your intended prey.
"Uuuggggh. Fine, Rose. Only lipstick though!" I allowed and held a finger up to show I meant it. She looked excited as she pulled out the lipstick drawer she had going. They were all different colours and shapes, some were silvery while others were a matte black colour. She choose one and looked back at me.
"Now pucker." She commanded patiently as I stared at her and furrowed my brow.
"What the hell does that mean?" I stared at her as she looked incredulously back at me.
"Oh my goodness." She shook her head at my ignorance and pushed my lips together, drawing the stick of colour on them carefully.
"There we go!" She pulled back and exclaimed sounding excited. I looked back at myself and was almost taken aback, my lips were now the highlight of my face. They were a deep matte redish plum colour. It was almost distracting from how much it matched my skirt. Well! This was going to shock Jasper.
I stood and walked out with her to the stairs where Jasper had changed into a new vest and long sleeved shirt. He'd rolled the sleeves up to his elbows this time, it showed a lot of his scars. He looked up from his conversation with Esme as she smoothed out his brown vest's wrinkles and lint and stared at me.
"Wow..." He whispered and reached up to touch my lips. I heard a snap and a flash of light as Rose slapped his hand before he could touch it. He rubbed the back and glared at her.
"No touching. You'll smudge it." Rose declared and went back to her car in the garage. She loved that thing and we all knew it, sometimes Emmett hung around but often enough she kicked him out to have "some quality time" with the car.
"I know! Its so red." I jumped up and clapped my hands, I was excited about the red. It seemed like I had an actual top lip now. His look of awe slowly turned into a soft eyed smirk. I knew that look. We'd wind up rolling around on the forest floor in a little bit.
"Alright, now now. Look back at me and smile at least a little. You can have fun with it later." I looked back as Esme watched us with a knowing smile. She held up the camera and the same flash of light and snapping noise sounded as I was nearly blinded looking into the lens.
"Good grief. What's in there? A fog light?" I started to rub my eyes, leaning on Jasper for balance as Esme laughed. I looked back up to see her shaking her head.
"No, close though." She smiled back at us and motioned for us to go as we stood there, awkwardly waiting.
"I just wanted one. It'll go into the family album, you two can go now." She turned and walked back to her hobby room of sorts. She had clippings from home style magazines and a dark room in the back. This seemed to be one of her many hobbies among quilting, interior decorating, cooking, and apparently scrap-booking.
I turned right as Jasper swooped my legs out from under me and started to run towards the forest, we we weren't used to banging and having literally every other person in the house hear us. I giggled as he nipped at my exposed shoulders. I didn't mind running in his arms, he felt like he wouldn't drop me.
-)0(-
Sorry guys! I've been cramming for an astronomy exam tomorrow, bloody terrified.
Still time to let me know if you'd add in any events or even if it should run into twilight!
(I mean its still late 60s)
Also expect a slight plottwist next chapter, it won't stick around 24-7 but it'll pop up every now and then.