Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Beta services provided by BelleDuJour and Jennrosee of Project Team Beta.

A/N: Yes, the recommendations have been planned. There's even a plan for the story, believe it or not.

Messin' With Eddie by LJ Summers on FFn and ADifferentForest

I like bears by Alice laughed on FFn

"I Live" is posted on TwiWrite, FanFiction, and A Different Forest.

Age 18 and over, please. Thank you.

Chapter 11, I Drive

Emmett's POV

Normally, I enjoyed the shit out of driving my Jeep. I'd rather be driving it through a mud bog or up a damn mountain, but I didn't mind driving to Portland to look at that truck for Jasper. My Jeep was fuckin' loaded. But even with all the buttons and switches and dials it had, there wasn't one to make Alice chill out. She had been wound up since we got on the road. Well, she was always kinda wound up, but this was something else. She had discovered a whole new level of wound-up-ed-ness.

Man, she's been cranked off at Jasper.

I thought that maybe I should drive Jasper's new truck back to the house and have her drive the Jeep. She knows better than to do anything to my Jeep.

I hope.

"Um … Alice …"

"Emmett, it was horrible. Horrible! Jasper was horrible!" Alice cried as she brought her tiny hands up to cover her eyes, as if it would prevent her from seeing what she hadn't wanted to see.

"I … I know he's fought vampires before. I know he was in the Southern Vampire Wars. He's got all those … those … those hideous scars everywhere! But … but I never saw him behave like that before!" Her tiny hands flew from her face and sliced through the air. "Even when we would spar out in the yard, I never saw …" She shook her head. "Even when he killed James and tore him apart, I never imagined he could be so … so vicious! So cruel and vicious! He didn't have to rip Edward's arm off!" She slapped the dashboard with a loud crack.

Vicious? Fuck yeah, it was vicious! I thought it was fucking awesome. It was fucking EPIC!

Jasper was one fast son of a bitch, and he could have ripped Edward's head off.

Besides, how did she think he survived a hundred years of Maria and vampires trying to take a piece out of him and kill him?

I mean, who didn't like the occasional knock-down, drag-out, beat 'em into the dirt fight, right? But a hundred years of it? A hundred years of every fight being a fight to the death? I couldn't even imagine it.

When Rose and I had been traveling, we would run into a nomad vamp or two, now and then. Not real often, but once in a while. Luckily, there really hadn't been any problems after the initial … wariness. I just couldn't imagine fighting off hordes of them, day after day, year after year.

I didn't think there had been a male yet that didn't appreciate Rosie's "assets." A few females, too. And who wouldn't, right? She was one hot babe.

Once I made sure they understood Rosie was mine, (and I ain't sharin') we had gotten along fine. You just let them know up front you were mates and that usually took care of it. You didn't mess with somebody's mate. That was understood. Having to fight off every male that took a long look at my Rosie would have been … it would have sucked. I would have enjoyed it now and then, but still.

Well, there was that one time over in Ohio this female wasn't taking the hint that I wasn't on the market. She had been pretty damn persistent. I thought Rosie was gonna snap her into little pieces and zip 'em out into the middle of Lake Erie. Rosie had tackled her and embedded that female right down into that beach, which hadn't been easy because that beach was pretty rocky.

Well, I had stopped her from tearing the bitch apart, but Rosie wasn't satisfied she'd learned her lesson. Rosie started biting her hair off! One of the funniest damn things I had ever seen! She bit big chunks out, too. No way that female was going to be able to do a comb over and hide that shit!

That's my Rose!

That was just that one time though. Most of the time there weren't any problems with running across a nomad or two. Pass along a little vamp news, share a few vamp stories. Not a bad way to spend a couple hours or so.

What was surprising was how many stories we had heard about "The Major" or the "God of War." Once I figured out that was Jasper, I thought it was all bullshit. I thought they were all exaggerated. Just a little. You know how the tale grows with the telling? Hell, that's how ya did it! That's how it was back home in Tennessee — the first liar didn't stand a chance.

But we had heard more tall tales and legends from vampires all over the world, and all the stories were too similar. Details had matched up too well. Living with Jasper all those years, you would have never known he was such a scary motherfucker. I guess all the scars kind of gave it away, and they were all over him. The worst on his chest and shoulders though. I didn't think I had seen him without a shirt on more than a few times, except in gym class. But he changed clothes real quick. That always seemed to disappoint the gay boys. Of course, the humans really couldn't see the scars. It was easy to almost forget about them.

And he was so quiet. Always off to the side or in a corner or something — lurking, almost. Creepy vampire shit. Or reading another damn book, unless we were wrestling, or I was kicking his ass at video games. Then he started talkin' some shit.

He was always thinking. I had started to think all those history classes were rotting his brain. Hell! He had been there! Why would he want to keep taking classes on the Civil War? The outcome sure wasn't going to change. His side was still gonna lose. It wasn't like there were going to be any updates or advances in the technology, ya know? Not like with the medical courses Carlisle, Edward and Rose have taken or those engineering and architecture classes Esme and I take now and then. Believe it or not, there were even classes on the psychology of color and how to use it. Who would have believed that? Alice liked that crap. There were even new-fangled computerized sewing machines. They almost made a dress by themselves. Alice had two. Then there was that serger thing. Whatever the hell that was.

Alice must have seen his scars before. I knew he, uh, "plowed that field" once in a while (no secrets in this family) and he did tend to project those happy emotions a little. Which, if I happened to be with Rose at the time, was like kicking it into warp drive.

He couldn't have been wearing a shirt then.

Could he?

The way Alice had been acting, I could see her making him wear a shirt. I mean damn! He had even worn a t-shirt when we'd gone swimming. That would totally suck.

"Al, I'm pretty sure that whenever we were wrestling or sparring, Jasper let us win most of the time. Which kinda pisses me off, now that I think about it. But hey! You know Edward's going to be all right. I found his arm right away, and Esme and I attached it. 'Course he wouldn't hold still. I practically had to sit on him so Esme could get his arm in the right position." I patted her leg to try and calm her down.

Alice sobbed again.

Is she going to keep this up?

Damn, she was an emotional little thing. Always had been. Jasper had always been so steady and composed. So … stoic. How did he stand it? Must have been from all those years he spent with those screamin' ass crazy newborns.

"Alice, Edward will be fine. There's gonna be a scar, but he'll be fine. Though when Esme sees what happened to her rose bushes, she might start ripping limbs off Edward and Jasper." I had to laugh at that. When Jasper ripped off Edward's arm and threw it through the windows, it wiped out about four rose bushes and broke off three more.

Esme would not be amused.

I was glad I hadn't done it that time.

It was a good thing we had some extra windows. I thought I should order a few more just to keep the inventory up. Just in case.

Alice shivered and pressed her hands to her face. "So where are we going again?"

"Portland. Saw a truck on the internet that I think Jasper will like. It's a 2000 GMC Sierra 1500. Four door, four-wheel drive … looked nice on line, but I'm gonna hafta check it out."

Alice took her hands from her face finally and clasped them in her lap. "Maybe Rose should have gone to look at it. You know she knows more about engines than anybody."

"Yeah, she does, but Jasper sent Rose to Jenks. I got the impression he didn't want her too far away. Won't take her long to pick up Bella's new IDs."

And put the fear of God into Jenks.

Alice stiffened, and I saw her little hands clench into fists.

"Emmett, explain to me why you and Rosalie are letting Jasper order you around. He's shouting orders at everyone!" Her tiny hands waved through the air and clenched into fists again. "Explain to me why no one is allowed to get near Bella unless he lets them. Who put him in charge?" Her fists thumped against her thighs.

She turned toward me and anger sparked in her eyes. "Shouldn't we be discussing all this with Carlisle? Shouldn't we be discussing this as a family instead of letting Jasper take charge and dictate who does what and when they should do it? Bella is Edward's girlfriend and …" She snapped her mouth shut, squeezed her eyes closed, and turned away from me again.

Yup. Still pretty damn pissed off at Jasper.

"Hang on a minute, Alice." I reached over and patted her leg again. "Jasper found her and brought her right back to the house. She was about to die, and he bit her to save her without draining her dry! You know how good she smells." I sighed. "He did an excellent job staging the scene of the crash. I saw it, remember? This is Bella we're talking about here. The Police Chief's daughter! Everybody knows who she is! Because of Jasper, everybody thinks she was killed in the crash and some animal drug her off. Nobody suspects it was anything but a terrible accident. Which is a good damn thing, since we have to make her disappear."

Why was Alice so angry? Because Jasper bit Bella? Alice was the one who had always said Bella would be one of us. She had never said who had bitten her. I just figured since she hadn't said who bit Bella, she hadn't ever seen it. Did it matter who bit her? Maybe it did.

Maybe she was jealous since Jasper wouldn't leave Bella? She was the one who called Jasper disgusting. Well, Rosie had called me disgusting, but she hadn't really meant it. I thought Alice had meant it.

She sure seemed to be scared of him, too. Terrified, even.

Could you even be that afraid of your mate?

Was he her mate if he scared her that bad?

She moved all his stuff out of her room. Funny how everyone had always thought of that room as hers and not theirs. If that wasn't kicking somebody to curb, I didn't know what was. I didn't even think he knew about it yet.

How could you kick your mate out of your room? Rosie had chased me out of our room plenty of times, but she hadn't been kicking me out. There was a difference. I had just pissed her off. Again.

As many times as I've screwed up, Rosie's had plenty of opportunities to get rid of me, but I didn't think she could, just like I couldn't do it to her. There was no way I could. We were mates; we were connected. Even then I felt a pull toward her. I knew she felt it for me, too.

"Alice, I'm not understanding you. Jasper hasn't done anything except try to help Bella and protect the whole family." I waved my hand through the air and then grabbed the steering wheel again. "And he brought her back to us. Besides, she wanted to be changed into a vampire! I don't know why Dickheadward was being such a hard-nosed shit about it." I had to shake my head at that. I still wasn't able to figure that shit out.

Moot point now, I suppose.

"She'll need the IDs eventually, and we need to get her away from Forks." I glanced over at Alice and she was still staring out the windshield. "He's right about you and Edward having to stay in Forks, at least for a while, to go along with the story an' all. Jazz, Rose, and I are supposed to be away at school anyhow. We can't let anyone from Forks see us, so it only makes sense that we take her away."

To be fair to Alice, it had appeared as though he was only allowing some of us in the room. He had chased off Alice and Edward, but that was only after Bella had had a fit. She did that the first time either one of them had gotten near her. Otherwise, she had been pretty quiet.

Which was a little creepy, actually.

And, to be fair, Jasper had seemed to be a little more … uh, assertive than he usually was. Well, a lot more assertive than he ever had been. Right damn aggressive even.

"Okay, so Jasper's been a bit more, uh, firm than he usually is, but maybe that's because trying to keep Bella calm is wearing on him."

Alice smacked the edge of her seat then pointed her finger at me, "Jasper is just taking over when Carlisle is the head of our family and should be making the decisions," she snapped. She huffed, crossed her legs and crossed her arms over her chest.

She really was mad! My guess was she had been so used to telling him what to do and what to wear, and when he could go here or there, or when he should hunt — she was used to leading him around by the nose. He had never acted like that with us before. It must have been messing with her head.

I sighed again and rubbed the back of my neck. "Jazz isn't really doing anything we haven't done before when we had to leave someplace, uh, quickly. Everybody has their job to do and I'm doing what I can to help." My hand scrubbed my face for a second, and I glanced over at Alice again. "I … I don't know why Jasper has taken charge, but as long as what he says doesn't jeopardize all of us, I'll do what he says. If I think he's doing something that would hurt us or expose us, or hurt my Rose, I'll say so. Besides, he has a knack for it. He's good at it. Just something about his voice … I don't know, ya just do whatever he says."

Right then Alice froze and she stared off into space. She must have been having a vision. Hadn't had one of those in a while. Funny how she couldn't see Bella anymore right before the crash, and she couldn't see anything of Jasper's future when he was touching Bella. From what Rose, Esme and Carlisle had said, the only time he didn't have his hands on her was when he was in the shower.

Ya know, I had never seen him touch anybody so much. Had he ever even touched Bella before? Ever?

Anyway, then Alice said she couldn't see him at all. At the time, he was ripping Edward's arm off, so I don't suppose she had been looking for anything right then.

Rose told me that Jazz had said he would take Bella's pain, and he passed out. Of course, Rose and Esme put him on the bed with Bella, and he had been touching her ever since. Rose said he wouldn't let go of Bella's hand. They hadn't known what to do with him, and that was a lot of vamp to try and put somewhere.

They were in the same position when I went up to clear out the broken glass and window frames and put in the new windows. Neither one of them even twitched the whole time I was in there, as noisy as all that can be. Maybe that was because Esme had been there, too. Considering how Bella had reacted to Edward and Alice, and then Jazz's reaction, I was glad I hadn't upset her! Jazz was being pretty damn aggressive and protective. He was being a little possessive, too. Sort of. Never seen him act like that before.

Alice gasped then, coming out of her vision.

"What did you see, Al?"

Her hands flew to her head and she put her fingers against her temples like she had a headache. Vampires didn't get headaches.

"You and Rosalie. In the mountains, but not the mountains around here. I didn't recognize the area. You two were in a sort of clearing. A field with tall grass, looking toward mountains. Maybe you were in a valley? There were trees with leaves, and a few pines. I think it was summer. Mid-day. It was sunny. You and Rose were wearing jeans. She had on a light blue collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and you had on a navy blue t-shirt. I couldn't see your feet." She let out an exasperated sigh. "That's all I could see. I just saw you from the back; nothing about Bella or anyone else." She sighed again. "Did Jasper say where you were going?"

"No, he hasn't said yet, and now he's passed out or whatever." It was sunny? I was wearing a t-shirt? Must not have been Forks! Alice rarely ever allowed anyone to wear just a t-shirt, and it was almost never sunny in Forks.

"Standing in a field, looking at mountains doesn't sound very exciting."

"Emmett, you know my visions just come to me. I don't get to choose what I see. I've been trying to see what happens with Bella, or anything of her future, and I see you and Rose in a field. But it wasn't around here, I don't think…" She trailed off, her finger tapping her chin.

"Maybe it's where we're going to be. I would think any place Jazz chooses to go would be pretty isolated so Bella isn't tempted any more than she has to be. You know she wouldn't want to hurt any humans. Besides, it's not like she can make any decisions at the moment."

Alice moved her fingers back to her temples and scrunched her eyes closed. I guess she was trying to see more. Who knows? I sure couldn't explain all this mind voodoo mojo juju shit.

Bella could always block Edward from reading her mind. I had wished more than a few times that I could do that. Though thinking about bullshit to keep him out of my head was fun; you couldn't do that all the time.

She had blocked Aro from reading her mind, and even blocked Aro's little bitch Jane from zapping her. But Alice used to be able to see her future.

Jasper had always felt her emotions and even manipulated them. Jasper's mojo worked better whenever he was touching the person, or the vampire. Must have been why he kept holding Bella's hand. But she had been blocking Alice since just before she crashed. Alice couldn't see anything of Jasper's future either. Whatever it was that Bella was doing must have been getting stronger because of the venom. I didn't understand how all that crap worked. I didn't think anybody did.

"Alice, we'll be in Portland soon. I hope the truck is as nice as it looked online because I think we'll be leaving as soon as possible."

Alice huffed and crossed her arms over her chest again. "I think so, too, but I wish I could see what was going to happen!"

"We're away from Bella and you got a vision. Maybe you'll have some more."

She huffed again and turned to stare out the window.

Huffy little thing. I guess that's the end of the pleasant chit chat.

"creepy vampire shit": from A True Mate's Heart by mynxi on FFn and The Writers Coffee Shop