I'm so glad you all liked the arrival chapter (and its outtake). You guys are the best! And I want to offer a big thank you to everyone who has been brainstorming with me regarding this part of the story: abishop47, Rachel, EmeraldStar73, Camilla10, Strawberry4evr, zveka... I'm sure I'm forgetting some but thank you!

A couple of notes about Jasper:

-I'm going to be handling the "mechanics" of his gift differently than I did in Restraining Order. In that story, he "saw" emotions in terms of colored auras (at least, that was how Edward perceived it). But now that I "know" Jasper better, I'm going to keep his gift a bit more instinctual, having him just feel the emotions around him. The offensive part of his gift will be the same, with no visual description and very little that Edward can actually observe in Jasper's thoughts. This is how Jasper is able to continue hiding the fact that his gift has an offensive component. He's not being malicious, or lying, per se... he just feels that it's not a wise tactic to reveal his whole hand at first. I'm not making him the skittish, abused child that a lot of authors make him, but it'll be a little while before he can fully relax around his new "family".

-During this chapter here, he is emitting calm and peace at all times, though it's more instinctive than purposeful, and that's why Edward's not catching it. Jasper's not actually thinking "I must keep everyone calm", it's just something he's always done when in a situation where he feels uncertain/threatened. (Sorry, I know this was a bit of a spoiler but there was no way for me to put this into Edward's narrative) Anyway, he won't continue the "deception" for long.

At any rate, the plot will be slowing down a bit here, as we get into some of the more fun/fluffy parts of the story. Let me know if there's any particular conversation/event you'd like to see! As always, I love accommodating requests, as long as they go along with what I have planned. This story is going to be LONG and I have a lot of room for ideas.

"You're angry," Jasper said stiffly, backing away from where I stood on the garage steps. "We meant no offense. Alice saw that you wouldn't mind, but her visions aren't always fulfilled. We'll just use a different room, or stay outside." His mind was flashing with wordless activity; he must be processing my anger. My muscles relaxed and I held up my hands peaceably.

"No, it's all right," I said quickly. "I'm not angry, I'm just…" I paused, taking account of myself. Why did I have to fly off the handle again? It was just a room, for heaven's sake, and these were our guests. "I was just surprised," I continued in a calmer voice.

"I'm sorry, Edward," Carlisle said, walking back toward us. "Alice really thought you wouldn't mind. We can work something else out."

"No, they should keep the room," I insisted. "There's two of them, and only one of me. I'll move my things into that spare room beside yours."

"Might as well just leave it in here," Emmett said. "After all, you-"

"Emmett!" I hissed, shaking my head in warning.

What? I thought you were leaving. Didn't you tell Carlisle?

"What's wrong?" Carlisle asked, looking at Emmett, who was looking at me.

"I meant he might as well just leave his stuff in here, since Esme will probably just build onto the house before long," he said, recovering himself.

"Oh," Carlisle said thoughtfully. "That's true. Jasper, you've just made my wife a very happy woman. She loves having a reason to work on the house."

"I… you're welcome," Jasper said slowly, and the rest of us laughed. Carlisle caught my eye again.

Are you sure, about the room? Esme can just as easily build one for them.

I nodded, and Carlisle kicked off his shoes, stepping into his outdoor ones. Emmett and I were already in ours from our trip out this morning.

"You have special shoes for feeding?" Jasper asked, thinking about his own bare feet.

"They're more like outside shoes," Emmett said with a shrug. "For hunting, yard work, stuff like that. Esme would take our arms off if we tracked dirt onto that new carpet!" He mumbled an oath, finally realizing that he had probably tracked plenty of dirt into the living room just now.

Jasper stiffened again, if he had really relaxed at all. "She would?" I can't see her doing that. And how would she-

Emmett howled with laughter. "No!" That's hilarious! This guy is going to be so much fun. I wonder if I could trick him into-

"Emmett," I sighed. "Behave yourself. Not every vampire is used to our human ways, or our way of saying things. Remember what happened with that coven in Russia?"

"Why, what happened in Russia?" Jasper asked.

"Emmett is a bit of a prankster," Carlisle explained with a grin as he led us outside. "And he got himself into quite a situation back in '43. We were traveling through the world at the time, and we occasionally ran into old friends or strangers… our kind, I mean. When we were up in northern Russia, we ran into a mated pair of nomads, and Emmett challenged the male to a fight."

"I didn't mean to the death," Emmett interrupted, "but they sort of took it that way. Anyway, turns out his mate was talented. One flick of her gift and I was on my back."

"You should have seen his face," I laughed, remembering. "Her gift was a forward shield that she could extend twenty feet or so. He couldn't even get up until she let him. It took Carlisle a good ten minutes to convince her that Emmett hadn't been trying to kill her mate."

I fought a shield like that once, Jasper thought. I saw yet another battle scene begin to play out in his memory. He was fighting what looked like a fifteen-year-old girl, dancing away every time she looked at him. He finally managed to flank her, opening his mouth and roaring in triumph as he shoved her forward onto the ground, tearing her head off with a single jerk of his teeth. I flinched, taken aback by his ferocity. Jasper's eyes flicked back to mine, and his mind scrambled for something else to think about.

"Don't worry about it," I assured him. "I'm not going to judge you for your past. We've all done things we're not proud of."

Jasper nodded, but was already distracted. We were almost to the edge of the woods now, and he was watching the car as Esme backed it down the driveway. He could see Alice in the back seat, where she was blowing him a kiss. He swallowed, wondering when she would return, and whether she would be all right around so many humans.

"She'll be fine," I assured him again. "She was just telling Esme how good her control is. And she's thinking about you constantly, anyway."

"Esme?"

"No, Alice. She's..." I frowned in concentration, unable to keep up with the strange flashes and pictures racing through Alice's mind at lightning speed. I saw two pictures of Jasper, Emmett and myself in the woods, and then one of Jasper feeding from a black bear. "I think she's checking your future and-" I winced, hearing my name being called in Alice's shrill mental voice.

And tell him he'll be fine! You'll keep an ear out for humans, won't you Edward? He needs to stay at least two miles away.

"-and she says to tell you that you'll be fine," I relayed, giving Alice a nod and a wave.

Jasper frowned, uncomfortable with the idea of me hearing his mate's thoughts. This is going to take some getting used to.

"Yes, it is," I said. I was relieved to get away from Alice's mind for a while. She had been so focused on the immediate future throughout the afternoon that I had been hearing an echo of everything that everyone said right before they said it. That, in combination with the customary echo of the thoughts that everyone had before speaking, was making my head ache. I hoped she wasn't always this… attentive. Hearing her excitable voice in my head was challenging enough.

"Edward, are you thirsty?" Carlisle asked. "I thought you hunted with Emmett this morning."

I realized, then, that my hand had been rubbing my throat. "No, I'm not," I said in confusion, noting that the thirst had that phantom feel to it. "Jasper, are you?"

"Always," he admitted. Sure enough, his eyes had darkened a couple of shades since I had come home. "Does your gift… relay that?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I don't usually notice my family's thirst because they never let it go too long, but it was especially difficult when Emmett was a newborn. When did you hunt last?"

"This morning," Jasper said, glancing apprehensively toward Carlisle. "I need to hunt twice a day, usually. But it's all right- I can go later with Alice, if none of you are interested right now."

"I'm interested in you feeding," I said, rubbing my throat again. "Let's go."

We started to run, Jasper and I lagging behind Carlisle and Emmett. "You physically feel my thirst?" Jasper asked. "In your throat?"

I nodded. "My gift automatically blocks most physical sensations coming from others… pain, especially. I didn't have any trouble while any of the others were in transition. But thirst is different, I suppose. Anyway, it's not quite as bad as my own thirst, and I can usually tell the difference."

"I'm sorry," Jasper said politely. "I'll try to feed as often as I can."

"I'll get used to it," I shrugged. "What about your gift? Do you feel it, when Alice gets thirsty?"

"Not physically. But I do feel the emotions that thirst brings on, so she tries to feed pretty often. She always stays with me when I hunt, anyway, to keep an eye on the future… you know, in case of humans."

"She was just telling me about that, before she left. She wants me to keep an ear out, for your sake."

"What's your range?"

"I have a three mile radius, give or take," I explained. "Though that's only when I'm trying, which I am right now. I'll let you know if I hear anyone around."

Jasper dipped his head in gratitude- a comical gesture, consider we were running.

"What about you?" I asked. "What's your range?"

He nodded forward, to where Carlisle and Emmett were running. They were about one hundred feet ahead of us. "Not much more than that." I can tell that Carlisle is nervous. Can't say that I blame him. Alice almost jumped on HIM when we first got here. And meeting strangers is always difficult.

"No, it's not that at all. He's worried about there being any humans around, for your sake. That's why he's staying so close." Carlisle was also wondering whether he should suggest doing some blood challenges with Jasper. But that seemed to be a bit much for the first day, so I kept that part to myself. "I'm curious about something," I said aloud. "You mentioned that Alice's visions aren't always accurate? How does that work?"

"It's complicated- you'd get a better explanation from her. Her visions are always accurate, but they're not always fulfilled. Generally, her visions are based on decisions. A future is only created when someone decides their course about something, so if they change their mind, a new future is created, and her vision changes accordingly."

"That doesn't make sense," I said with a frown. "She said that she saw you, and all of us, when she woke up. She hadn't made any decisions about meeting any of us, or you, at the time, had she? And Carlisle certainly hadn't decided yet to change the others into vampires."

He shrugged. "Like I said, it's complicated." All I know is, her gift brought us together. That's good enough for me.

"And it brought you two here, as well," I added, hoping to get him thinking about it. Did he share his mate's "vision" of joining our family forever? And why had they decided to come just now? Had Alice seen me leaving tonight? But Jasper's mind was a steel trap; he was learning quickly how to block me out. I tried again. "I'm curious… what brought you here? Just now, I mean? Why not right away, when you first met Alice? Why not fifty years from now?"

Jasper locked down on his thoughts even harder, filling his mind with Alice. "We had always intended to come. It's just that… we wanted some time alone together first." I groaned as the images shifted to things I definitely didn't want to see. Just what I needed; another happily mated couple. Just great.

Jasper suddenly realized what he was thinking about and snapped his gaze over to me angrily. "That wasn't for you to see," he said coldly. "Ever."

"Believe me, I wish I could turn it off," I sighed. "And I'm sorry, Jasper, but I can't. I do my best to distract myself, or leave, when the situation calls for it. But I can't not see what you're showing me. especially when you're this close. So it's really up to you to keep it under wraps, or at least give me fair warning when you two-"

"I get it," he interrupted. "And I can tell that you're being honest." That's DEFINITELY going to take some getting used to. How can he stand living in the same house as two mated couples, one of whom he considers his parents?

"Like you said, it takes some getting used to," I muttered. And it just got harder, I added to myself. At least I could tell already that Alice and Jasper were nowhere near as physical as my siblings were. And from the way Jasper had recoiled just now, it looked like he wasn't going to be nearly as carefree as Emmett in fantasizing about his mate in front of me.

Thank God.

Carlisle and Emmett had stopped running, and we soon caught up to them. "There's a black bear off to the northeast, Jasper," Carlisle said, pointing into another part of the woods. "It's all yours."

Jasper sniffed the air, guessing that the bear was nearly a mile off. He hesitated, wondering if he should get that far away from me, since it would take him closer to the edge of my "lookout" range. He wanted to ask me to come with him, but he was unsure whether I would just end up fighting him for his prey.

"I'll come, if you like," I offered. "And I'll give you some space, when we get there."

"I'll come too," Emmett added.

"There's only one bear, Emmett, and it's not for you," I teased, but he came along anyway. Carlisle said that he wanted to get some paperwork done before heading into work, and went back toward the house.

Emmett and I hung back when we sighted the bear, and Jasper ran on ahead. He simply walked up to the bear, crushed its skull with his hand, and began drinking.

Emmett turned to me in disbelief. Um, why is he drinking standing up? I held my finger to my lips, not wanting him to annoy Jasper when he was vulnerable like this. Just because we wouldn't have fought him during the hunt, didn't mean that Jasper wouldn't attack us if he thought we were . But a quick check into his mind told me that he was simply drinking without descending into the frenzy, like I had with the deer this morning. I was impressed; I didn't think I'd be able to do that with bear blood.

"It's called dining with style," I said with a smirk. "I do it all the time."

"You do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

I shoved him playfully, and he tumbled into a tree with a crack just as Jasper finished feeding. He tensed, watching Emmett warily as he extricated himself from the shattered tree.

"It's all right," I told him. "We're just playing ar-" Emmett crashed into me, head down like a bull, and we skidded a good twenty feet before we stopped. "-round," I growled, shoving him off me. I stood and twisted my head back, scowling at the huge smear of mud and leaves running down my back.

"Edward's sort of a girl sometimes about getting dirty," Emmett explained cheerfully. "But what's the matter with you, Jasper? You call that hunting?"

"No," Jasper replied with a frown, stooping down to dig a grave for his kill. "I call it feeding."

"But you just passed up a golden opportunity for a good fight! I mean, granted, black bears are pretty small and tame, but once you get 'em riled up, they're plenty of fun!"

Jasper looked shocked. "You torture animals?" he asked. I wouldn't have thought the Cullens would go for that kind of thing.

"No, we don't hurt them," Emmett replied. "I mean, not on purpose. And we kill them real quick, same as you just did. But the predators enjoy a good scuffle just as much as we do. I figure if they've gotta go down, they might as well go down having fun. I tried it with a deer once, but it just had a heart attack and died right there."

Jasper finished digging and stood up fully, kicking the bear down into the hole and following it with the dirt he had unearthed. "What's the point of fighting an animal?"

"It's fun."

"I don't see how. It's not like there would be any challenge."

Emmett grinned, showing his teeth. "So, what you're saying is, you're looking for a challenge?" He sank slowly down into an attack crouch, waggling his eyebrows in invitation.

Jasper froze, unsure of what to think. I just closed my eyes in exasperation. "Emmett…"

Emmett rolled his eyes. "For fun, Jasper. Come on."

"Some other time, perhaps." I would hardly call fighting 'fun'.

"Suit yourself." He pounced, but not at Jasper. I was prepared this time. I swept around his attack, grabbing his feet as he flew past me and throwing him into a spin. I had my teeth on his throat before he even hit the ground.

"You're right, that was fun," I said, standing back up and winking over to Jasper. He was just staring at me, marveling at my speed.

"You don't bite each other at all?" Jasper asked in awe.

"Of course not," I replied in confusion. "We're family. We would never hurt each other on purpose. The match ends when you touch your teeth to your opponent's throat."

Emmett sprung back onto his feet. "Oh sure, embarrass me in front of the new brother. See Jasper, this is why I need lessons from a real fighter like you, so I can beat this cheater once in a while."

"Cheater?"

I tapped the side of my head. "Can't turn it off, remember? I see his moves before he makes them."

Emmett dusted off his pants. "No, you just hear me thinking about them before I make them. Alice would be able to see them before I made them. Ha! Maybe she'd be willing to give it a go, if Jasper won't."

Jasper finally came to life. "Maybe I will teach you a lesson," he growled, crouching down for the attack. He gathered for the spring, baring his teeth slightly. I stepped forward in alarm, but he winked at me. Don't worry, I could tell he was kidding. I won't hurt him, I promise.

"I get winner," I said, backing away again.

"No dismemberments," Emmett muttered, and attacked. Jasper ducked under Emmett's grasping hands and shot back into standing, heaving him a good fifty feet into the air. He jumped to meet him in his descent, and they crashed down together in a tangled mass of knees and fists. Emmett landed a nice punch on Jasper's stomach, filling the forest with a crack of thunder, but the fight was soon over. Jasper got in a kick to Emmett's throat, and followed his foot immediately with his teeth.

"Four seconds," I announced. "I don't know, Emmett, maybe you should try going against Alice!"

"That was awesome," Emmett sighed, staying on his back. "Jasper, I want you to show me that kick-bite move again."

"In a minute," I protested. "My turn, remember?" Jasper turned to me, and we both sank to the ground before shooting forward into each other. Jasper's thoughts contained layer up layer of strategy, and I almost couldn't keep up. But I saw him dive for my feet just in time, and jumped, kicking down into his back just before he twisted back up to land a punch to the back of my left knee. My leg collapsed, but I saw his plan to circle back around toward my throat as I landed, and I blocked his face with my elbow. I drove my elbow home with my other hand, and he flew backwards away from me, waiting for my next move. He was trying not to plan ahead, but he was so used to fighting with strategy that he simply couldn't do it. He was also consciously holding back, constantly reminding himself not to really hurt me. I hated to think how I would have fared if he was really fighting.

I rushed him, and he decided to take me with a spin and throw me off to the right. So I hit him with a spin in the opposite direction, and he stumbled just long enough for me to jump onto his back. He threw himself down head-first, trying to dislodge me. I grabbed onto his shirt as he flipped me, and the fabric tore off in my hands as I fell. But I landed on his chest and got my teeth into his throat, anyway.

"Not bad, not bad," Emmett called, clapping slowly. "I thought he almost had you for a…" he trailed off, staring at Jasper in shock. I scrambled away backwards, my instincts screaming.

I had torn his shirt completely away, and we could see now why he had been wearing long sleeves. His arms and upper torso were covered in battle scars. There had to be literally hundreds of bite marks criss-crossing each other, and there were several chunks of skin missing around the backs of his shoulders, and at the base of his throat. The jagged line he had shown us on his neck earlier was actually one of three, and there were similar lines circling halfway around his wrists, elbows and left shoulder.

Emmett gave a low whistle. "You really have seen some action, haven't you?"

Jasper shrugged. "Never lost a fight," he said simply.

I was still in shock. "Jasper, when you said you were in the Wars for a 'while'…"

He answered slowly, watching my eyes as he spoke. "Eighty years or so. Though a good half of these scars happened during training, not combat. I was a soldier, but my main task was to train the newborns as they came in. But newborns can be a little feisty, as you know." I touched the wrist of my right hand, glancing down at the now-invisible line and feeling like an idiot.

"Did you ever lose your head?" Emmett asked in awe, eyeing the bigger scars.

"No. It was close a few times, as you can see." Then he held up his left arm, tracing the scars around his shoulder. "But I lost limbs, or parts of limbs, pretty often. A scar is laid down only where the venom touches, though. Most of my wounds aren't visible at all. The worst was when I was set upon by three opponents, during the battle for Monterrey. They just about tore me in half, working together, and my side cracked open by a good six inches." He slid his fingers over the skin in question, dotted only by bite marks now. "Nothing to show for it now."

Emmett and I still stared without blinking, taking it all in. I felt like a schoolboy who had just met a real soldier for the first time. Jasper didn't seem to mind, though; it made me wonder why he had bothered to hide them in the first place. Perhaps he hadn't wanted to worry Esme.

Emmett was duly impressed as well. Amazing. And yet you beat him!

"He was holding back," I admitted. "Jasper, I take it that the sparring you've done in the past followed different rules?"

"It followed no rules. Except that we didn't burn in training, of course."

"Of course," I said nervously.

"You did well, Edward," Jasper said with a nod. "Your gift gives you an interesting advantage. I've never fought a telepath before. And Emmett, that's a nasty right hook you've got."

"Thanks… I think," Emmett replied. "Now, how about that kick-bite?"

Jasper showed us the move in slow-motion and gave Emmett a chance to try it on him. Only Emmett's kick was far too powerful, sending Jasper flying backwards through the trees.

"I suppose that's one way to do it," Jasper chuckled as he came back. "Except that it leaves your opponent free to attack you from a new angle. Want to try again?"

We spent the next couple of hours sparring, and Jasper showed us several other moves, some of which he had special names for. As we went on, Jasper grew more relaxed around us, and became more free with his conversation, as well as his thoughts. When the sun had set, we made our way back to the house, and Jasper was hoping that Alice would already be home.

"I doubt it," I snorted. "If she's anything like Rosalie, shopping is about to become a major part of her life."

"Not my Alice," Jasper said confidently. "She's a practical woman."

"I bet she comes home with at least ten bags," Emmett mused.

"Two," Jasper insisted. "One for me, one for her."

"You're forgetting shoes," I put in. "Five, at least."

"Why don't we make a little wager?" Emmett offered. "Ten or more, I win, five to nine you win, four or less Jasper wins."

"I don't have any money," Jasper pointed out.

Emmett laughed. "No problem. The losers have to paint the new room that Esme's going to build."

Jasper shrugged. "That doesn't seem so bad. It would only take a few minutes." I don't see the point of painting it anyway. Who's going to see it?

"It isn't the time involved that makes this a good bet," Emmett argued with an evil smile. "Have you smelled fresh paint since becoming a vampire?"

Jasper grimaced. "No, but I see your point. All right, I'm in. Edward?"

I nodded. "You got it. I'll be more than happy to let you two paint my new room for me. Light blue, please, and some crown molding would be nice."

"I'll be happy to paint you light blue," Emmett muttered under his breath. Jasper grinned, the first real smile I had seen from him. It made him look younger.

They can actually have fun together, he thought. Amazing.

He seemed to be genuinely surprised. What kind of life had our new brother had, to make him so scarred in so many ways? The easy rapport that Emmett and I shared was completely foreign to him. He kept muttering to himself, mentally, about all the strange emotions that we were letting off. Humor. Feelings of trust, safety… warmth. He was walking physically closer to us now and taking in our emotions eagerly, like a homeless man drawing near to a fire.

"I'm trying to figure out how your gift works, Jasper," I said aloud. "It seems like you're inhaling our emotions, almost."

Jasper's mind seized for a moment, and then he relaxed. I'm not used to being... analyzed like this. "You're right," he said aloud. "I think that's as good an analogy as any. Emotions are like air to me. I'm surrounded by them, breathing them in, so to speak. I don't just observe the emotions of those around me, Edward. I feel them. The positive ones, and the negative ones. I can usually separate my own out, but I'm not immune to the effects of what I'm taking in."

Emmett frowned. "So, back when you were in the Wars…"

"It was a difficult environment, for any of us. But for me…. well, let's just say I was incredibly relieved to make my escape. I travelled with the mated pair that I told you about earlier- Peter and Charlotte- for a while, but then I went off alone. I suppose after so many years of living in a cloud of emotions, I wanted some… peace, I guess you could say."

"I can understand that," I said. "I frequently need some space from my family, even though I love them. Sometimes I just need silence." Jasper nodded in understanding.

"But," he continued, "that still wasn't enough. I still had to feed, and I was still suffering the emotions of my human victims. In fact, they bothered me even more once I was alone. There was so much emotional silence that their fear and horror hit me that much harder. I tried to feed less often, but I was only ever able to go three days. It was a painful cycle, with no end in sight. I was… depressed, I suppose."

"And then you met Alice?" Emmett guessed.

"And then I met Alice," Jasper said softly. His eyes stared off into the distance, and his conscious thoughts evaporated as he remembered. Alice had raced through this part of their story earlier, but now Jasper's mind lingered on what was no doubt one of his favorite memories. Alice was sitting at the counter of a diner, just hopping off a high stool as Jasper entered. She floated toward him, smiling, and he remembered being afraid for just an instant. But then she reached out her hand…

Jasper's thoughts were so different from anyone's I had observed before- so saturated with emotion surrounding this memory that I could almost feel it myself- the surprise at her touch, the warmth that flowed through him anew.

"She changed my life," Jasper whispered. "No… that's not quite right. She gave me life. She is my life." She's everything.

I caught my breath, stunned by the intensity of his focus on Alice, and what it did to me. It felt like I was turning inside out, lifting off the ground, immersed in a sea of… something. Jasper's eyes snapped over to me, and everything was gone suddenly as his mind moved on.

"Nothing like it, is there?" Emmett asked. "Being in love. Being a vampire in love." He stopped breathing, remembering the moment Rosalie had picked him up, cradling his broken body in her strong arms. It was a fuzzy human memory, but powerful nonetheless.

"No," Jasper agreed, breathing deeply. "There isn't. You're thinking of Rosalie right now?" Emmett nodded, and they both looked over at me awkwardly.

"I'll leave you two alone," I growled playfully. "Or should I say, the four of you?"

"Edward's never been in love," Emmett said helpfully. "And he definitely hasn't done the deed."

There's no need to feel embarrassed, Jasper thought, grinning.

"I wasn't feeling…" I began. "Oh, never mind."

"I've been wondering," Emmett said to Jasper, tactfully changing the subject. "How come you've got long hair? I thought you were in the Army when you were changed."

"I was, but I was an officer," Jasper answered. "We didn't often trouble ourselves with the rules that the enlisted men followed. Besides, the main reason for keeping a close cut was because of the lice. Being an officer, I had my own tent. What about you, Emmett? Did you ever serve in the military?"

"No, I couldn't. I thought about the Navy once or twice – I wanted to see the world, and all- but my family needed me."

"I never knew you wanted to be in the Navy, Emmett," I said in surprise.

"Hey, just because you can dig around inside my head doesn't mean you know everything about me."

"What about you, Edward?" Jasper asked. "I suppose you were too young to enlist."

"Yes, I was seventeen. The Great War- World War I, I mean, was going on then. I suppose I was just like every other young man In 1918, dreaming about going off to save the world. My mother would have been heartbroken. But the Spanish Flu decided for me, in the end."

"And then Carlisle found you," Jasper said thoughtfully. "I'm curious about that. Did he ever say why he changed you?"

"He was lonely. He had thought for decades about creating a companion, someone he could teach to respect human life like he did. He was working in the hospital that I was taken to, and my mother was dying, like I was. She asked him to save me, even if it meant doing something that others couldn't do."

"She knew what he was?"

"I don't see how. Maybe it was some kind of sixth sense, or hallucination. Anyway, her request was her dying wish, and it moved him to act. And he said he saw something in me, something good…" I waited for the usual bitterness to fall over me, but it didn't.

Odd.

"Anyway," I continued. "He decided to try it… he wasn't sure he knew how to do it correctly. But here I am."

"And Alice started watching a few years later, so I know about Esme, and the rest," Jasper said. "But I'm still trying to figure Carlisle out. In my experience, the only reason to purposely turn someone is so that they can fight for you."

"That's terrible," I said. "Your creator had no affection for you at all?"

"Maria was… fond of me," Jasper said tightly. "I was her greatest asset, from the moment I awoke. I..." He clenched his teeth, locking down his thoughts. I'd rather not discuss her.

"I'm sorry, I meant no offense," I said. "But surely you can see that Carlisle is nothing like that."

"Yes, I can see that," he admitted. "Although I'm still trying to understand it."

"He's our father," Emmett said with a shrug. "Our dad. Think of him that way, and it makes a lot more sense."

"I feel that way, too," I added. "From almost the very beginning, Carlisle and I treated each other as father and son."

"So Carlisle created you, and told you that you were to stay with him, as his son?"

"No, it wasn't like that at all. I mean, he did say that I needed to stay with him throughout my newborn year, but that I would be free to stay or go as I chose, after that. But I never wanted to leave him. It just felt natural, for both of us. I've never once seen him as anything but my father since then."

"That's always how Alice described him, too," Jasper said with a nod. "I suppose I didn't really believe her until now. Not that I didn't believe her visions; just that I wondered whether her interpretation was correct. Even now, I still don't understand. Why do you all stay with Carlisle and his mate? You're not really children, and you say he's not forcing you to stay."

"We choose to live as a family, together," I explained. "Carlisle and Esme are the parents, in a way, and we're the children, despite whatever age we're playing for the humans. Though Emmett and Rosalie spent a few years off on their own, just recently."

"It wasn't the same, though," Emmett said. "We missed being at home. I even missed this joker," he added, ruffling my hair. I snapped at his hand with my teeth, which made Jasper stiffen again. Emmett and I broke down laughing, and Jasper chuckled as well, after a moment.

They really are a family, he thought, smiling at the humor and love that he was feeling from Emmett and I. I don't believe it. Alice was right all along.