A/N: As always, thank you to WhitlockWoman for pre-reading, and carolinagirl1275 for general awesomeness. Texan FireKat helped with the Spanish, so another big thank you to her. :-)

I don't say it nearly enough, but thank you to everyone reading and reviewing as well. You all rock!

Lacy's on vacation, so that means you're going to have to deal with my irrational love for run-on sentences and my tendency to misuse punctuation. I think I might have that semi-colon thing figured out though...maybe...

Still don't own Twilight.


~-~- Chapter 11 -~-~

"Would you stop fidgeting? You're a vampire for God's sake!" Jasper snapped, my tension obviously rubbing off on him, and I stilled my bouncing leg immediately.

I couldn't help it, I was nervous as all hell. Peter and Charlotte were set to arrive today, and even though I was excited, and had told Jasper multiple times I was perfectly okay with them being here, every second that ticked away made me more and more anxious. There were so many factors to consider. It had been just Jasper and I for so long, and over the past two days I'd become increasingly apprehensive about the changes to our dynamic that were sure to come along with our guests.

"I'm five seconds away from sending you out to hunt," Jasper threatened, placing his hand over mine to still the fingers I'd started restlessly tapping against my thigh.

"I'm sorry, I'm just nervous."

"I'm very aware of that, but you have to calm down at least a little. You're so jumpy that you're even making me nervous, and that's just ridiculous when my gift isn't a factor."

I focused all of my concentration on remaining as still as possible, and after another five minutes Jasper let out a sigh and squeezed the fingers he was still holding down to my leg.

"What are you so worried about?"

"What if they don't like me?" I asked, embarrassed beyond belief that of all the things that I could be concerned about, this was the most predominant issue.

Jasper let out a short laugh, angling his body to face me, and shook his head.

"Of course they'll like you, they've been practically salivating over the chance to meet you for months. They're real nosy bastards like that," he said with a chuckle.

"Tell me again what they're like."

Jasper had told me all about Peter and Charlotte over the past two days, there was actually little else we'd discussed. I was sure there was nothing new to be gained from asking him to tell me about them again, but I needed some sort of distraction or he really was going to have to send me out to hunt.

"Alright, you silly girl. Peter's pretty quiet, and it takes him awhile to get comfortable with new people, so you probably won't see a whole lot of him. Charlotte's a lot more outgoing, I really think you two will get along well," he said patiently, paraphrasing our earlier conversations. "I'm not sure if the idea of you two becoming friends terrifies me or not."

My mood elevated slightly at his words, I wanted very much to be friends with Charlotte. It wasn't until a few hours after he'd told me that they were actually coming that I'd fully realized just how alone I was. I'd systematically alienated every person who'd tried to befriend me since, well, forever. I'd never really had any friends before I moved to Forks, and due to my change in circumstances, and my steadfast refusal to have anything to do with the Cullens, Jasper was all I had left. The idea of having another woman around was incredibly appealing, regardless of how nervous I was.

"And they're bringing stuff with them too, right? Supplies?" I confirmed, insanely pleased that instead of Jasper running to town to pick up provisions Peter and Charlotte were going to bring them along. He'd told me of the change in plans yesterday, and it was probably the very first time in my life that I'd not only not argued about someone spending money on me, but also made a list to ensure that nothing I deemed essential was left out.

We'd finally have another game besides chess to play, have more books to read, and I was practically drooling with want for something new to do with my free time.

"Yeah, Peter rented a U-Haul, they're probably bringing all sorts of ridiculous shit with them," Jasper said, and I couldn't quite tell if he was excited about the prospect or dreading it.

"I can't fucking wait until I have something to do besides watch you annihilate me at chess," I snickered.

"I'm still gonna wipe the floor with you," he teased back.

"In your dreams."

Our playful banter was cut short by the roar of an engine coming down the drive. It was like a switch flipped inside me, all of the tension and nervousness was back full force. Jasper tightened his grip on my newly resumed tapping fingers and pulled me to my feet.

"It'll be fine, just remember that they have scars, too, and they'll probably look scary, but they're not going to hurt you, okay?"

"Okay," I nodded, completely distracted and not really paying attention to what he was saying.

Jasper lead me out the front door and we stood in wait on the front porch, my body angled slightly behind his. After a couple of minutes the truck came barreling down the driveway, screeching to a halt just inches away from the bumper of the SUV Jasper had "acquired" when we fled from Washington.

Jasper had warned me many times, told me that Peter had scars, but there was nothing that could have prepared me for the reaction I had to him the moment he swung the driver's side door open and stepped out onto the gravel.

He had less scars than Jasper did, and that was about all I noticed before an indescribable hatred laced with terror bubbled up inside me at the very sight of him. He scared the absolute shit out of me. He was obviously dangerous, and he had somehow managed to sink his teeth into Jasper.

My chest vibrated as I ripped my fingers from Jasper's and clenched both hands around his right arm and tried to pull him back, I wanted us far away from this creature. For a moment my strength won out causing Jasper to stumble—but the second he regained his balance he swung his free arm around my back and pulled my face to his chest, rubbing circles on the nape of my neck with his thumb.

"It's okay, he won't hurt us. It's okay, Bella."

The growl ripping it's way up my throat lessened at his touch, at the inherent comfort that resided in him, and now that I wasn't looking at this terrifying vampire I was able to think more clearly.

"Take a hike, baby," a soft voice sounded from a few yards away, and once the sounds of Peter's heavy footsteps retreated far enough that I couldn't hear him anymore I relaxed.

"She's three months?" the woman I knew to be Charlotte asked.

"Getting there."

"You've done well, Jasper."

"Believe me, it's all her," Jasper responded, his thumb pressing just a little bit harder into my skin.

"Bella, I'm Charlotte" she said, taking slow steps closer to us. "It's so nice to finally meet you."

She spoke so...normally, as if the situation had no further complexity than being introduced to each other by a mutual friend, and her nonchalance helped me further regain my senses.

I turned my head against the inclines of Jasper's chest to catch a glimpse of her from my periphery. Charlotte was about my size, with straight as a pin light blonde hair falling to just beneath her shoulders. Jasper was right when he'd told me she couldn't have been more than seventeen when she was changed. Her eyes were vibrant as rubies, and I thought that maybe I should be more upset by the color, but it wasn't so long ago that my eyes were that same shade instead of the yellowed orange they were now.

She was dressed in a navy blue skirt that flowed down to just above her knees, a slightly lighter hue of the color decorated her simple button down shirt. She had a bag slung over her shoulder, and the ensemble made her look just like a girl I might have gone to school with. Her stature and the knowledge that I was, at least in some way, older than her was the last reassurance I needed, and I released a hand from around Jasper's arm and turned to face her fully.

"Hi," I whispered.

Her smile was blinding, and though she had the same scars Peter did they weren't quite as scary on her. Four littered her neck, another dozen laid over her arms, but somehow knowing that she was to instruct me, to teach me how to fight and defend myself made the marks scattered over her seem more like credentials than warnings. She wasn't nearly as mauled up as Jasper or Peter, and though I knew it was probably because she'd been part of the wars for a much shorter time part of me couldn't help but think that maybe it was also because she was an adept fighter.

"Since we've got the oaf out of the way for a while what do you say you and I talk? Would that be alright?" she asked kindly, and I nodded my head.

Jasper released his arms from around me, squeezing my shoulder gently before inviting Charlotte inside and guiding me back through the front door.

"Do you want me to stay?" Jasper asked, squatting down to my level, and I shook my head. I was fairly certain that I would be okay here alone with Charlotte. She seemed nice, considerate, and I really did want us to be friends.

"Okay. If you need anything, anything at all, call Peter," he said, pressing his cell phone into my palm.

My eyes widened at his request and I quickly shoved the phone back at him before I broke it with my tightening grip.

"I...I..." I couldn't get the right words to come out of my mouth.

Jasper just smiled and turned to ask Charlotte for her phone, giving that one to me instead.

"Then call me."

"Okay," I said, feeling much better now that I wouldn't have to talk to Peter in order to get to Jasper. I didn't like the insinuation that they would be together, out there alone in the woods—but Jasper trusted him, and I was going to have to get used to that no matter how much he frightened me.

"I'll be back in two hours," Jasper said, rising to his full height and giving me a reassuring smile before walking out the back door.

"I'm sorry, about how I reacted to your husband," I said to Charlotte once he left, staring at the floor.

"My mate," she corrected," and that's perfectly alright. I know how you feel, Jasper kind of scares me, too."

My head snapped up, but the only thing I could tell from her expression was that she was probably telling the truth.

"How could you be scared of Jasper?" I asked, absolutely flabbergasted. Jasper was...he was safety, he was comfort.

"I could ask you the same thing about Peter," she smiled. "The fact of the matter is that you know Jasper in a way that I don't, and the same can be said about me and Peter. Their scars mean different things to us," she said, making a motion to indicate the space between us.

Her explanation made a scary amount of sense to me, I'd already noticed that the marks on her skin set off a different reaction in me than either Jasper or Peter's, and if I looked at it objectively I could almost see us in reversed roles.

"He won't hurt me?" I asked, just to be sure. "He won't hurt Jasper?"

Charlotte shook her head, the curved corners of her lips never faltering, "Never. Not in a million lifetimes."

"Okay," I breathed, hoping I would be able to follow through with my tentative acceptance.

"Did Jasper tell you how he met us?"

"Yeah, a couple of days ago," I said, the restless tapping of my fingers resuming against my thigh.

"Good. Do you have any questions? Anything you'd like to know?"

I took a moment to think about it. I had a lot of questions, but I wanted Jasper to be the one to answer them. "Not really."

Charlotte nodded her head, her hair falling over her shoulders as she leaned down and rifled through her bag. How have you been adjusting?"

"Jasper says I'm doing well," I answered, not really sure where she was going with this line of questioning.

"And what do you think?" she asked, tilting her head up and giving me a speculative look.

"That it feels like it's been years and minutes, everything is fresh and old...like the world is shifting around me at a different pace than my life is changing in front of my eyes."

"Yeah, it was like that for me, too," she said with a nod, pulling her bag up onto her lap.

"I'm sorry?" I was astonished that she would ever think anything that was happening to me could be compared to what had happened to her.

"Just because my circumstances were markedly different doesn't mean that some things can't be the same," she explained patiently.

"I think saying your situation was different is understated to the point of stupidity," I muttered before snapping my mouth shut. I'd become far too used to the sarcastic banter Jasper I sometimes engaged in, he was a horrible influence on me.

"You are spending way too much time with Jasper if you're already talking like that," Charlotte laughed, and I relaxed a little.

"I was just thinking the same thing."

"Okay. Now that stupid man of yours told us you were in need of some new clothes. We picked up some basics; he said you usually wear shorts, but I have some catalogs, too. I thought maybe you'd like to pick some stuff out for yourself."

I couldn't have contained my grin if I tried.

We spent the remainder of our two hours pouring over each and every catalog Charlotte brought with her. Ever so slowly she made her way closer to me, until she was sitting next to me on the couch, and it wasn't long before I could have sworn we were just two normal teenage girls pointing out what we liked and giggling at the more ridiculous outfits. We traded stories as I flipped through the pages and she wrote down item numbers and sizes, and I was amazed to find that I was completely comfortable in her presence. Charlotte was quiet mannered and vibrant, a little foul-mouthed and entirely relaxed, and I could definitely see the two of us becoming fast friends.

It was the first time I could think of that I actually enjoyed shopping, though a lot of it probably had to do with the fact that instead of pawing through racks and shoving each other into dressing rooms we were sitting easy in the living room. She had taste very similar to my own, and I was happy to find out that she was shopping for herself as well.

"I thought you said you didn't trust yourself to turn pages yet?" Jasper's voice sounded from the doorway just after I'd flipped to the next page.

Shit.

"I...er...this paper is glossy. More sturdy," I stuttered, Charlotte shaking with silent laughter next to me.

We'd had a discussion earlier about my control, and I'd almost immediately confided in and sworn Charlotte to secrecy about how I constantly lied to Jasper every time I wanted to read a book. I told him I didn't think I should be trusted to turn the pages on my own so he'd sit with me, and I felt a little bad about it, but not much. Reading with him was my absolute favorite thing to do, and I didn't want to lose it just because I'd learned how to handle paper.

"Uh-huh. Sure," Jasper laughed, flopping down on the sofa next to me and slinging his arm around my shoulders. "Do I even want to know the total?"

"Shut up and just give me your credit card," Charlotte said, rolling her eyes and holding her hand out towards him.

Jasper fished his wallet out of his pocket and handed the whole thing over, muttering in Spanish too quietly for me to separate the sounds into words.

"Peter's on his way back, should be here soon," he said, casting a wary glance in my direction.

"It's alright, I'll be okay." I was determined to overcome my initial reaction to him and at least try to be civil.

A part of my brain had been dedicated to contemplating what Charlotte had said about how Peter's scars meant something different to her, and the more I thought about it the more sense it made. I remembered that first glimpse at Jasper after I'd awoken, those few minutes I'd feared him more than anything before an entirely different set of instincts jumped into the fray and cancelled out my terror.

I didn't know Peter, had no idea who he was as a person, but Jasper trusted him, and that needed to be enough for me. I just hoped that once I was looking him in the face I would be able to remember my conviction.

Charlotte was rattling off item numbers into her cell phone, ticking off items on her list as she went, and I couldn't help but think that maybe if I'd met someone like her in school, when I was human, then maybe I wouldn't have always been so distant. Perhaps that was significant, that this woman who so instantly had me at ease and so easily understood me was someone who'd been born decades ago. Maybe I really never had a place in the natural world.

Jasper had been completely silent since handing over his wallet, choosing to sit with his arm tight against me, ghosting the tips of his fingers up and down my arm, and staring at the blank wall in front of us.

"We should paint." he said, and I turned my head to look at him, but his gaze never faltered.

"Yeah," I answered, unsure of exactly what he thought I was going to say in response. It was no secret that I detested the yellowing white that decorated the living room.

"What color do you think we should use?"

"It's your house, Jasper," I said quietly. I had no place picking the color we'd splash over the walls.

"It's your house, too. You live here, don't you?" he countered, tilting his head to the side and laying his cheek against my hairline.

My response died in my throat when I heard the tell-tale signs of Peter approaching the house and climbing the deck stairs. Charlotte headed out the back door, ending her call as she went.

"You sure you're okay?" Jasper asked, tightening his arm around me.

"Yeah."

I took a moment to center myself, to be sure I was ready to set eyes on Peter again, and by the time Charlotte walked in the door, her mate trailing slightly behind her with his head bowed I was ready.

"Bella, meet Peter," Charlotte rambled off, pretending that we'd never had that disastrous first contact on the front lawn.

I appraised him more carefully this time. He was tall, almost as tall as Jasper, with straight dark hair that spread over his forehead, curling slightly at the ends. He was dressed much the same as Charlotte—casual and unassuming. I could almost see past the mangled flesh, the evidence that he was strong and dangerous, and the fear the ran through me at the thought that he had bitten Jasper and lived to talk about it.

"Hi." I managed to choke out the word, but couldn't stop myself from turning my face into Jasper, couldn't help but envelope myself in his scent and take deep breaths to try and calm myself.

"How-de-do, ma'am," a deep voice laced with a thick southern accent drawled from the doorway.

His footsteps echoed through the house as he approached us, and with effort I managed to keep myself from pressing even closer to Jasper.

Peter paused a few feet away for nearly a full minute before he took a seat on top of the coffee table, and said, "I know I'm a scary looking son of a bitch, but I swear not to hurt you. Even if you have trouble trusting that, believe that Char would have my nuts in a jar before you even had the chance to growl."

I nodded, commanding myself to acknowledge his terms. I raised my head to look him in the eye, and the vibrant red that shone from around his irises almost set me off again; the color looked different on him than on Charlotte, but if it weren't for that red I could almost mistake his gaze for Jasper's. Both of their eyes were haunted, so filled with horror and hardships, and from that one simple look into Peter's eyes I could understand why these two men were friends.

"Okay."

"Okay," Peter responded in kind. He stood swiftly, giving Charlotte's arm a gentle squeeze as he made his way towards the front door. "I'm gonna start unloading the truck."

"I'll help," Jasper said, releasing his arm around me and standing.

"Start with Bella's clothes," Charlotte yelled after them, gathering up the catalogs off the coffee table before raising her head to address me, "Which room is yours?"

"The one on the left," I said, deciding not to point out that I rarely spent any time in there.

"Well then let's see what we've got to work with," she said, pulling me to my feet and dragging me in the direction of what had been labeled as 'my bedroom'.

"Jesus," she muttered after she pushed the door open, "Bella, there's nothing here."

"Yeah, I don't have anything." She hadn't really thought the only thing I didn't have were clothes, did she?

"We'll have to send Peter into town to get you some new sheets and curtains, maybe something to put up on the walls. Do you even like this horrible wallpaper?" she asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

The look I gave her was answer enough, of course I didn't like the wallpaper. It was hideous and yellow and had too many fucking flower petals on it.

Jasper chose that moment to enter the bedroom, his arms full of shopping bags, and Charlotte immediately set in on him, much to my amusement. "Why didn't you tell me she barely even has a bedroom?" she snapped as he tossed the bags down on the bed. "For fuck's sake, Jasper."

"Seems there's a lot he didn't tell us," Peter said from the doorway, managing to sound both irritated and amused.

"¡Callate la boca, Peter!" Jasper growled, and I narrowed my eyes at him. "It's nothing," he sighed in a softer tone once his gaze fell on me.

"Sure," I responded sarcastically, holding his gaze and arching an eyebrow until it became apparent that whatever Peter was talking about was something that would not be shared with me. "Fine."

I turned my back on him to join Charlotte at the foot of the bed, where she was rifling through the bags and making neat little piles of clothing. Jasper was entitled to his privacy, but if he was going to hide things from me he could at least be a little more discreet. After a minute he left the room again, and resumed unpacking the truck with Peter.

"So I was thinking we'd take a few days to get settled in and get to know each other, and then maybe next week we could start our work," Charlotte said happily, completely ignoring the elephant in the room. "We'll start with the basics, evading and blocking, before we move on to attacks. Sound good?"

"Sure," I said, picking up a pile of plain cotton t-shirts and turning to place them in the empty dresser. I'd been living out of suitcases and duffel bags for far too long.

"And don't worry about them, they're men, and therefore complete idiots most of the time," Charlotte advised as she folded the now empty paper bag and tossed it near the door.

"He's so bad at keeping secrets, I feel like if he's going to keep things to himself he should at least not make it so obvious."

"You seem to bring that out in him, I've never seen him so flustered. It's quite funny," Charlotte said with a barely repressed giggle.

"He wasn't like this before, or maybe I'm only just now seeing it," I mused, unsure which was closer to the truth.

"I think maybe he's just worried about overwhelming you," Charlotte said thoughtfully, pulling a stack of shorts and jeans from the bag she was working through. "Give it some time, I have faith that it will all work out in the end."

"Thanks, Charlotte."

"No problem, sweetie," she replied, that same smile still set on her face.


A/N: Chapter 12 is written, and I'll try to get it up by the weekend. After that things may slow down a bit, I have to go back to work (BOO!) so that means less time for writing and pretending like I'm writing when I'm really watching TV.