Disclaimer: I own nothing of Twilight just this little plot.

Interlude

~Mending Fences~

There's nothing that pizza and a tub of ice cream won't fix.

Jasper stood staring down the drive long after Edward's car disappeared from view. He turned and practically skipped up to the front door pleased with himself that he hadn't been a total idiot this evening and the result was a new friend.

The front door was locked and Jasper didn't have a key yet. He looked around for obvious places to stash one without luck. He really didn't want to wake Bella if he could avoid it.

The door off the kitchen on the side of the house could still be unlocked. Jasper wandered around and was in luck. The handle turned easily. The door squeaked and the kitchen light suddenly turned on blinding him momentarily.

"Jasper you scared me!" Bella stood at the opposite side of the room with a bat in her hand causing Jasper to move into a defensive position.

"I'm sorry Bella. I didn't mean to wake you, I didn't have a key." He said hands held up in surrender.

"I heard a car drive up but no one came in then I heard footsteps crunching and well..."

"That was just Edward dropping me off." Jasper gently released the bat from her hands and set it by the door.

"I thought you'd be home before now," complained Bella.

"We decided to stop and eat dinner at the diner before heading home" Jasper responded flushing slightly at the mention Edward.

"Well you guys could have come and picked me up. Instead I had to settle for pizza with Charlie before he headed back to work. You heard about the crash?"

"Well yeah, I was at the Station when they got the call. Remember, I'm working for your Dad?" Jasper slipped off the hoodie but held onto it. The kitchen was warm and he was feeling overheated. Hopefully Bella's curiosity was satisfied.

"Oh, that's right." Bella bounced over to the fridge removing the half-eaten pizza and a tub of ice cream.

"Do you want to share? I'm still starving." Jasper was amazed at Bella's appetite. How could someone so small eat like a trucker? Jasper was stunned by her ability to consume mass quantities.

"I just ate" he began still full from the meal at the diner but faltered recalling his decision to work on his relationship with Bella "but maybe I'll have some ice cream and keep you company."

"Yay!" Bella clapped her hands. "We can watch a movie unless you're too tired…"

"I'm good. Let me get the ice cream, you heat the pizza." They worked quickly pulling together their snack settling down together on the couch and argued briefly over what to watch finally agreeing on The Hangover. Bella dug into her pizza while Jasper ate a bit of the ice cream before setting the bowl down. Jasper found himself laughing out loud at the movie while Bella giggled quoting choice lines to each other.

At some point Bella stretched out on the couch and put her feet up on Jasper's lap. Jasper's arms were stretched out along the back of the couch with his stocking feet up on the coffee table. He used Edward's hoodie as a pillow. Both were completely at ease with each other not feeling the need to talk.

Finally though, as the credits rolled, Bella came to a decision. She wanted to clear the air having been hurt by Jasper's distance over these past weeks. Jasper would just as soon have not addressed the subject and just moved forward. She straightened up and sat cross-legged on the far side of the couch facing Jasper. He knew something was up and started to get nervous.

"Jasper, I'm really happy that we're hanging out tonight," Bella spoke tentatively afraid that Jasper would clam up again.

"I was wondering though, did I do something to upset you? You barely spoke to me at all until tonight and no one was telling me anything so…" she was at a loss as to how to proceed wringing her hands.

Jasper sat up pulling his feet off the table and turned towards Bella upset that he hurt her feelings.

"Oh no, that's not it at all Bella." He sighed pushing his hair off his face and figured he should tell her something about what happened and why he was here without giving himself away.

"It's just after the fight with my parents I was so upset when they kicked me out. I was in a bad way until Uncle Charlie came and got me and then suddenly I was here surrounded by new faces, not knowing which way was up. I just kind of pulled into myself. I felt bad too and honestly, I talked to your dad about it and he gave me some good advice. He told me to forget about my problems and just be the same old kid I was before… um, well before."

"I'm sorry about whatever happened with your folks. I hope someday you'll trust me enough to tell me. Anyway, so can we go back to being best cousins then?" Bella grinned broadly at Jasper.

"I'm your only cousin, Bells!" Bella giggled and tossed a throw pillow at Jasper who without thinking picked up Edward's hoodie and launched it at her. Oops!

"Hey, I know who this belongs to."

"Um yeah, Edward let me borrow it so I wouldn't have to wear the uniform in the diner."

"Well that was nice of him, I know he wants to be your friend but wow, Edward never let's anyone touch his stuff."

"Well then I guess I must be special." Jasper joked, immediately turning bright red.

"Yeah," Bella smiled at her cousin her eyes gleaming. "Yeah, I guess you are."

…..

Please review and tell me what you think! Another update tomorrow…first day of summer school!

For those of you following Blind Faith, the next chapter will be up this weekend!