Another Bella-Jasper Kidnap Story

The usual disclaimers – Stephenie Meyer owns all. I just like to play with the characters. Especially Jasper.

I want to thank my amazing beta readers EdwardsMate4ever and MissAnnBlack for helping me with this story. Anything good is their doing, trust me.

Chapter 10 – Attempt at Flight and Edward's Visit

After my near incident involving Rosalie, I noticed that either Carlisle or Jasper were always in the house with me. I was never left alone with just Emmett again.

One day, Carlisle had spent the entire morning working in his office. He seemed unusually engrossed, as he didn't even look up to say good-morning when I passed. He had two large books open on his desk and was typing on his computer while he consulted them. I realized that he and I were alone in the house. Jasper must have gone hunting, and this was Esme's morning to go pick up groceries.

As I went downstairs, I heard a car pull up. I got to the kitchen just in time to open the door for Esme, who came in with a load of shopping bags. As she put them down, I said, "I'll grab the rest."

"Thank you, dear. There are some flowers in the front seat," she replied, starting to put things in the refrigerator, "but don't lift anything heavy. Emmett should be arriving in a few minutes. He stopped to pick up some additional things at the sporting goods store."

As I walked to the front of the car, I saw the keys in the ignition. I didn't hesitate; I just jumped into the driver's seat and had the motor running before I even had finished closing the door. Tearing off down the road at full speed, with no idea of where I was going. Just away.

The road was paved, but there had been some rain earlier in the morning. I kept driving as fast as I could while still remaining in control of the car. Eventually the road started winding down the side of the mountain via a set of sharp curves. I saw a flash to the left and for an instant took my eyes off the road. There, running next to the car at an impossible speed, was Jasper.

My eyes widened and I gunned the motor. Safety no longer mattered; I was in full panic mode.

"Slow down!" I heard him yell. I glanced in the mirror, and saw him jump off the side of the road. That didn't make sense, until I realized the pavement was curving around. He was going to get ahead of me.

I gritted my teeth, and decided that if I had to, I would run him over. He had killed people. God would forgive me.

He was standing at the side of the road, but he didn't get in front of me. Running alongside the car for a few seconds, he then jumped on top of the car. Crap! I wasn't expecting that.

I hit the brakes and went into a skid. He backflipped off the car, as I had planned, but I started to spin out. Suddenly, I saw another car come around the bend, headed straight towards me. It was Emmett's Jeep. The car continued to spin on a road with no room. Jasper was watching and had stepped to one side.

In an instant, Emmett's Jeep was next to mine and was scraping against the side of my car. We both spun out, but his car somehow slowed mine to a stop. We skidded to a full stop against the side of the hill. When his car made contact with mine, the airbag deployed. I couldn't see anything and was knocked backwards in the seat.

As soon as the car stopped, my door was torn open, and Jasper had me out in seconds.

I was trying to breathe, and he looked torn between fury and something I couldn't quite put my finger on. I could feel my body hurting, my chest and something on my face. Jasper lifted me gently, holding me closely against his body while he gently ran his hands along my body, checking for injuries.

Impulsively, against my better judgment, I put out my hand and slid it along his jaw. He looked beautiful in that moment. I reached up and threaded both my hands into his hair, letting it slide between my fingers. Subconsciously, I had wanted to do that for a long time, but kept putting up my brick wall around the thought.

Jasper's arms continued to hold me close, but he went completely still at my touch. We stood like that for a moment while I heard Emmett getting out of his car.

The moment was interrupted when Emmett spoke just loudly enough for me to hear, "I'm sorry, man. I just can't do this anymore." Then he took off running down the hill.

Jasper looked back at me, and loosened his grasp on me so that I slowly slid down his body. The moment had passed, and physical pain from the accident was starting to set in.

He seemed to sense pain, so he gently picked me up again, and carrying me bridal style in his arms, ran me back to the house at that impossible speed, his eyes never leaving my face. I had never moved so quickly before, and it was an exhilarating feeling, marred only by my increasing pain. Everything started to hurt, especially when I took a breath. I started doing a mental inventory, and figured I probably had at the very least bruised my ribcage, if not broken a few ribs. And from the feeling on my face, I was going to be sporting a shiner plus a split lip. Both my mouth and left cheek were throbbing.

I realized Carlisle had been standing on the hill above us, watching the whole ordeal. He silently joined us in our run back to the house.

When we got to the mansion, Esme was waiting at the back door, holding it open. I turned and saw Carlisle say, "Emmett left," to her. She nodded and bit her lip. She looked like she would be crying if she could.

I mumbled my condolences to her, but I couldn't help feeling that my apology just wasn't enough in this moment. I meant it, because I didn't want to cause her pain.

My feelings were still mixed up. Adrenaline was flowing, I was starting to hurt, but something else was mixed in. Jasper was staring at me silently. Carlisle brought his medical bag into our room, and after watching my grimace as I tried to take off my sweater so he could examine my ribcage, he gently pulled off both my sweater and blouse so he could examine my chest. I wasn't embarrassed to be sitting on a bed wearing just a bra and jeans with the two vampires. I was too busy trying to sort out the feelings that had pushed their way to the surface, past the wall I had been so careful to erect between Jasper and myself over the past few months.

Esme came to the door with an icepack. I could tell I would need it. The left side of my face was throbbing; my vision already seemed limited as if my eye was starting to swell shut. I had a feeling my whole face was going to blow up. When Jasper put the icepack to my face, it immediately felt better. He started to gently stroke the uninjured side of my face after handing me the ice pack to hold, and his cold hand felt good. I put up my other hand to hold the ice pack on my cheek and leaned into his touch. I didn't want him to move away.

Carlisle offered me some pain medication, but I told him I preferred to wait to see if I really needed it. He nodded, and left it in a cup by the bed. I lay down, and Jasper pulled off my jeans and shoes without speaking, then covered me with a blanket. I didn't want to look at him; I was too confused by the unexpected rush of emotions from the afternoon. I just gazed up at the canopy over the bed. Eventually I fell asleep, exhausted from the emotions of the afternoon.

I was still in bed when the sun set. Jasper and Carlisle thought I should continue to rest, but I wanted to sit up to eat something. I had lain in bed long enough, trying to sort out the onslaught of all my new feelings. I both loved Jasper and hated the vampire passionately, but the hate was beginning to fade. I needed a clear head in order to think.

I asked Jasper to take me downstairs so I could sit in front of the fire while I ate. He picked me up, being careful of my bruised chest, to carry me downstairs. I curled up against him, starting to give in to his smell. He smelled so good to me, he always smelled somehow like cinnamon, leather, and the air from a hot summer afternoon, and that combination sometimes made my toes curl. But I kept blocking it off with my wall.

As I sat in the chair in front of the fire and began to doze, I heard another car pull up to the house.

Jasper let out a growl, and stood up in front of me as if to guard me. Carlisle looked at him quickly, and went to the door. When he returned, Edward was with him. Esme came downstairs and hugged Edward. She was smiling, making a fuss over him. I could tell from this genuine smile that the one that had crossed her face for the past number of weeks had been forced.

Edward came into the living room where Jasper was still positioned in front of me. I had pulled my legs up into the chair and wrapped my arms around them. I was still thinking of what Jasper had told me in Texas, how Edward had left because he wanted my blood.

Edward's eyes were black. Usually all the Cullen's eyes were the same topaz color. Even Jasper's eyes had gone from red back to topaz after a few weeks. I had never seen a vampire with black eyes. Until now.

Looking at Edward now, I couldn't believe I could have ever thought he was mortal. He looked like a Greek god. Even his unruly hair was somehow perfect.

He stopped walking at the sight of Jasper. I sensed a face-off, though I couldn't see around Jasper.

He peered around Jasper at me. "How have you been, Isabella?" Edward asked. "I'm sorry I never got a chance to introduce myself to my lab partner. Things might have been different if I had."

Jasper let out a loud growl, and replied, "Stop it. You have no claim to her."

"And you do?" replied Edward, looking away from me and straight at Jasper. I started to get worried about the prospect of a fight. After seeing Jasper run this afternoon, I realized I had no idea of what vampires were physically capable of doing.

Carlisle got between them. "We're not going to fight. There are ladies present. They've both been upset enough today. So take it down a notch, please."

If the situation hadn't been so serious, I would have laughed at hearing such a slangy expression coming from Carlisle. Take it down a notch? Had he been watching too many crime shows? But the remark also sounded like something Charlie might have said in defusing a fight. Suddenly, the feelings I had been holding back over my separation from Charlie came crashing through and I gasped at the emotional pain. Jasper stiffened in reaction to my sharp intake of breath, but stayed crouched between Edward and I.

"You can't read her mind. You don't know what she wants," Jasper growled to Edward.

Wait, read my mind? I looked over at Jasper and said, in a voice that came out much more timidly than I planned, "I would like to go to bed now."

The heads of all three vampires whipped in my direction, and Jasper finally smiled. "All right, let's go upstairs, darlin'. You've had a long day." He scooped me up from my chair, wrapping my throw around me, and carried me up the stairs to our room. He settled me on the bed, then went into the bathroom and began running some water in the bathtub.

Even from what I presumed was the safety of our room, I could hear Edward and Carlisle arguing downstairs.

"She doesn't want him, Carlisle!" exclaimed Edward.

"That's not the feeling I'm getting," Carlisle said calmly, "and that's not the message we're getting from Peter."

"Why are you doing this? Why are you allowing it?" said Edward, almost petulantly.

"Because after what happened in Texas," said Carlisle, "I believe we have an obligation to keep her safe."

"Safe? What do you mean? How can she be safe here? You've only changed those of us who had no other choice. You've been adamant about this your entire existence, and now you're just going to let him…" Then their voices dropped, but the next words I heard from Carlisle surprised me.

"I've been very impressed with her. She's a true fighter, and a perfect match for him," Carlisle said. "She is resisting his personal charm at what sometimes appears as a great effort on her part. He wants to wait for her acceptance, and I'm proud that he…"

Carlisle's voice dropped again, I couldn't hear anything else.

I sat on the bed still dressed, legs dangling over the edge, fidgeting with the duvet. When Jasper finally came out of the bathroom with my robe, I stopped him from lifting me from the bed by putting up my hand.

"I have some questions, if we're still on speaking terms after our little impromptu speedway adventure earlier today," I began.

"We're on speaking terms, darlin'. We'll always be on speaking terms," Jasper quickly replied. He quickly pulled a chair over from across the room and sat on it with his legs crossed.

"What did you mean when you said to Edward, 'read her mind'?" I asked.

"Some of us have gifts," Jasper began, but I cut him off.

"You mean, in addition to your ability to run?" I interjected.

"We can all do that. We are all faster and stronger as vampires than we were as humans, and have much sharper senses," he continued, "including sight and hearing, and particularly smell. A few of us , however, have something additional. We call these additional powers 'gifts'. Edward can read minds, well, all but yours. I can sense and to some extent manipulate emotions."

I gasped. This made sense, as he had occasionally made remarks about other's feelings that seemed almost supernaturally insightful. And he always seemed to know when I had a mood change. "But you can't manipulate mine?" I asked.

"I could," Jasper said, "but I've always wanted to make sure that you know that your reactions to me are real. So in Texas, I sent you some relaxation, but that was it."

"What emotions do you get from me?" I asked.

He pulled his chair closer to the bed, and leaned forward, almost touching my knees. "You feel for me, but you're fighting it. You literally put up a wall at night," he whispered, reaching out to push my hair out of my face.

I gasped. So he knew. But wait, that was a mind-reading thing, wasn't it?

Gathering what scraps of dignity I could, I managed to say, "Sometimes it's needed. Most times." I started to reach for him, but then pulled back. It was too much. I was mortal, none of this made sense. He caught the gesture, and nodded, seeming to restrain himself from reaching for me. I was raw on the inside as I felt the acid of what seemed like a betrayal of myself and Charlie by giving in to him warring with this almost overwhelming, indescribable need for him. I turned away, and curled up on the bed as best I could with my sore ribcage, hiding my bruised face from view, and fell asleep.

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