A/N: HUGE apologies for the wait for this chapter; I've been ill and if I can't carry on a conversation then I can't write one! The good news is that it's a longer chapter. Also, I just discovered / and have decided to start posting teasers there as I can work them into my writing schedule. You should go check them out, and follow them on Twitter if you're there! It's a great site with lots of resources and information. I'll continue to post my one line teasers on my Twitter account PetersSugarTits as I'm writing so keep looking for them, they'll have the hashtag #CIMTEASER in them. I also announce there when I've posted or updated a story. Feel free to follow me over on Twitter and say hey. You can also follow my Hubs there at TexAssPete. We're chatty folks on our OOC accounts.
"I have an idea," Peter said to me one morning while I was draped over him after a night filled with each other.
"Should I be scared," I asked as I raised my head from his bare chest to look up at him smiling wryly.
"Probably not," he answered with that smile of his that I can't ever seem to resist. "I think I need to get to the hardware store though."
"What for," I questioned as I sat up in bed so that he could move.
"I need to get some fence posts and stuff," he replied as he stood from the bed.
My eyes, naturally, grazed over his form as he moved to the dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans and a work shirt. He tossed them on the bed, along with a pair of socks and then leaned over to press a kiss to my lips.
"You want to come with me," he asked me.
"No," I told him, "I want to work with the horses a little today. I've nearly got that one ready for a rider."
"Sounds good Darlin'," Peter said as he started getting dressed while my eyes lingered on his chest. "You'd best get up and get moving unless you want to lie around all day."
"You just want to perv on me while I'm getting dressed," I laughed throwing off the covers and noticing the way is eyes roamed my curves, "It's just now seven am."
"You know me too well," he replied with that wicked smirk that makes me think of all the sorted things that I enjoy doing with him and to him.
I got out of bed and dressed for working with the horses while Peter finished getting himself ready. Once I had my hair pulled up into a pony tail and was downstairs, he came up behind me and snaked his arms around my waist, nuzzling his nose into my neck.
"I won't be long," he whispered as he kissed the side of my head.
"I'll be at the barn when you get back," I said through my smile as I ran my hands along his arms. "You'll come find me?"
"Always Darlin'," he said before unwrapping his arms and getting into the truck.
I started walking to the barn as the truck pulled off. I opened the door and stepped inside to the comforting smell of horses and hay. The four horses that Peter and I kept here whinnied a greeting to me and I spent some time with each of them, feeding them sweet feed from my hand, before I started working in the barn. I could have worked faster, using the speed that was so natural to me, but I enjoyed doing this work at a leisurely human pace. It kept the animals calmer and though I didn't get the satisfaction of sweating or muscle aches from the work it did bring back memories from my human life of long days of hard work. I think I found the slow pace just as soothing as the horses did. While I worked, I wondered exactly what it was that Peter was up to. He hadn't been forthcoming this morning and that usually happened for only a couple of reasons. He was either planning on surprising me with something, or he was up to something that he thought it would be better to ask for forgiveness for doing than for permission to do. I was just getting ready to saddle up the first horse for her work out when I heard the truck pull up just outside of the barn. I opened the big barn doors, not knowing why Peter would bring the truck out here other than to unload supplies. He stepped out of the truck and gave me a smile and I just smiled back at him.
"Why fence posts," I asked him as I pointed at the truck bed.
"I need to build a fence," he smartly answered.
"No shit Sherlock," I said with a laugh and a roll of my eyes. "Why are they so tall? You special order these?"
"Yup," he answered as he took an armful and walked them into the barn to put them down. "I needed something they couldn't jump out of."
"You do know that cows don't exactly jump," I told him as I dropped my armful on top of his. "And the fence line is still sturdy. I'm thinking I've got 10 more years in them posts."
"Ain't for cows," he said and dusted off his hands on his jeans. "Now come show me where I can put it up."
"Peter," I replied, "I don't even know what the hell you're doing, much less where you can put it up."
He smiled at me and laughed at the irritation on my face in a way that just made it seem to melt away. It helped that he'd kissed me soundly and twirled me around while he was laughing.
"You haven't told me shit about this project of yours," I huffed at him.
"I'm putting in a deer pen," he said as if it were the most logical explanation in the world. "We need some deer stock."
"We don't need deer stock," I told him.
"Yes we do," he answered me back.
"I'm pretty sure we," I started then held up my hands before continuing, "You know what? Never mind. Let's figure out where to put this thing."
He was hoping to put it directly off of the barn, but I thought it might be a better idea to put it just a bit away from the horses. We walked a piece from the barn before stopping and Peter declared that it should be a good place. I handed him the post hole digger after he put his armful of fence posts down.
"Now take off your shirt and get to work," I said as he took the tool from me with a grin.
"I didn't think you'd want anything to do with this," Peter said as he tossed off his shirt and started to dig the post holes.
I watched his biceps flex as he worked to get the dirt out of the hole for a few minutes before replying to him. God that man is beautiful.
"Oh," I said with a grin, "I'm all for anything that's got you doin' manual labor without a shirt on."
He just winked at me and kept working.
"So," I asked, "why do we need to stock deer again?"
"I have a feeling," was his answer and it was good enough for me.
"Work slow Sug," I said as I walked over to him and pressed a kiss to his cheek, "I don't want to miss anything and I promised the horses exercise today."
"You want some help," he asked me.
"That'd be nice," I answered as I started walking back towards the barn. "I always like it when we can work with them together. It's good for them to have the variety."
He wedged the post hole digger into the ground and threw his discarded shirt over his shoulder. He followed behind me, and I know he was staring at my ass. He'd say he was just being a gentleman and following the "ladies first" code, but I knew him well enough to know what he was really doing.
"I'd love to," he said to my ass, "and then you can come watch me dig holes."
We worked with the horses until the sun went down. Then Peter and I did what we love to do and took a nice, long bath together to get clean. Since my episode with the building crew, I'd come to depend on these times when we would be working together or just relaxing together more and more. Peter never looked at me funny because of what had happened or even asked what had caused me to lose it like that. I'd stopped all of the construction work and decided that if Jasper and his wife, Alice, wanted to visit; they'd have to be alright with staying in one of the spare bedrooms. I redecorated one of the rooms just for them and hoped that it would be enough to let them know that they were always welcome here. I really wanted to be able to give them a home of their own, but I wasn't willing to take the risk that what had happened would happen again. Peter said that he thought they'd be just as touched by the room, and I was sure that he'd already spoken with Jasper on the phone about everything.
We, meaning Peter, finished putting up the fence while I sat and watched him work the next day. It should have felt like a waste of time, but it didn't. I loved just looking at him watching him, just being around him made me feel complete. Finding deer to put inside Peter's brilliant idea was a little more difficult. The two of us spent hours scouring our land for them, and finding one always ended in a mad dash to get them to their pen before they had a heart attack and died from the shock of being caught. When there were about ten deer inside, Peter declared us done. I still thought it was a dumb idea, but Peter insisted and I couldn't deny him. We made the trip to the hardware store together to purchase food and a salt lick for the deer. Peter had read somewhere that hunters baited deer this way to ensure an easier hunt for them. I thought it seemed cruel, but I hunted in a similar fashion so I wasn't really in a position to judge anyone.
A week later, I was weeding the flower bed that hugged the front porch of our home when I heard a vehicle coming down the driveway. Peter must have heard it too because he stepped out of the house and onto the porch. My eyes met his and he shook his head at me slightly, letting me know that there was nothing to be concerned about. He didn't say anything, just stood there watching the driveway. It was a little odd, but, that was Peter and if I got overly concerned every time he did something odd I would have a long existence. I went back to weeding the flower bed and watching Peter from the corner of my eye. He half sat on the porch railing above where I was working and his face lit up in a smile as the vehicle came to a stop and the door opened.
"Bout time you came round," Peter said as he started off the porch and Jasper's familiar scent finally reached me.
"Yeah, well," Jasper replied.
I stood up and dusted myself off and walked over to where Peter was hugging his brother. It was good to see them together. I knew that Peter had missed Jasper's presence, and I was pretty sure that Jasper had missed Peter's as well. I approached the two of them with a smile.
"Is this a boys only thing," I asked, "or can I get in on it too?"
They separated and laughed a little. Jasper gave me a brief hug and stepped back from me. His presence didn't bother me nearly as much as it had when he'd traveled with us and been so much a part of our lives, but, I knew him a little better now that I had then. I still wasn't entirely at ease with him but he was a part of our family.
"It's good to see you," I told him.
"You too Char," he answered.
"Where's Alice," Peter asked, making Jasper look a little uncomfortable.
"Let's get him settled in first," I said firmly, pulling Jasper towards the house, "He'll talk when he's ready."
"Thank you Char," Jasper whispered and I just winked at him and patted his arm.
Peter showed Jasper to his room and left him there. I went back out to the flower bed to finish working, and Peter followed me to sit in a rocking chair and watch me. Like I took pleasure in watching him do manual labor with no shirt on, it seemed that he took pleasure in watching me do domestic tasks that made my boobs jiggle. I wouldn't deny him and he knew it, so he sat in his rocker and enjoyed the show that my weeding the flower bed gave him.
When I finished with the weeding and had cleaned up, I stepped back on the front porch to find Peter and Jasper staring at the horizon. It was tense, not an unusual thing when Jasper was a part of a conversation. I crossed the porch and curled one leg under me as I sat in the swing. I pushed myself gently and watched the two of them. I had the ominous feeling that there was something lurking just past the horizon that could possibly interrupt the way I thought about life. That there was this giant something that I'd missed that was happening right before my eyes, invisible, yet very tangible. It would be so easy to push all of this unease onto Jasper's presence, because it's what I've done since Peter brought me into this life. It wouldn't have been the right thing to do, because this seemed so much bigger than just his sudden reappearance in our lives.
"I'm going to hunt," Peter said and crossed the porch to kiss me.
"You'll be back soon," I asked him as I lay my hand on his cheek.
"A few days," he answered shaking his head, "I'm going to Dallas."
"Be careful," I automatically replied and he winked at me. "I love you."
"I love you too," he said and pressed another kiss to my lips.
He left the porch, and turned towards us from the center of the yard before raising his hand in a wave.
"You two behave," he laughed before taking off down the driveway on foot.
Jasper and I sat in a familiar, uncomfortable silence as the sun began its decent in the sky. When the sky was tinged with the oranges and reds of twilight, he finally turned to me and smiled a little.
"It absolutely reeks of you out here," he said.
"I sent Peter to pick out the plants," I replied.
"I should have known," he laughed back and then the silence surrounded us once more.
The moon rose before either of us spoke.
"You're still afraid of me," Jasper accused me.
"A little," I answered him honestly, "You did want to kill me once."
"It's not like that now," he sighed and seemed to relax into his chair finally.
"Why not," I asked, finally turning my head to look at Jasper.
"Because," was his answer.
"That's lame Jasper," I told him.
"I don't like to think about it," he said.
"I don't like to be so full of fear every time your name comes up," I told him.
"Fair enough," he nodded.
"But not fair enough to tell me why I should feel differently," I asked.
"It's not that," he sighed.
"Then what is it Jasper," I sighed right back at him, "because I don't like this."
"You think I do Charlotte," he asked.
"To a certain extent, yes," I replied.
"That's not true," he defended himself, but I was pretty sure that he was trying to convince himself that I'd not just hit the nail on the head.
"I'm the only one you still have like this," I accused him. "Peter loves you, and I can only tolerate you."
"He doesn't love me," he answered.
"He does," I said, "Why else would he have gone back for you?"
"Cause you told him to," He said with a smirk for me.
"That wasn't for you," I told him, then muttered, "jackass."
"He had you. He didn't need me," Jasper said, trying to make it seem like I had convinced Peter to go back for him because of some reason that related to him.
"You're his brother," I said, "Of course he needs you. What you did hurt him."
"It was our job," he defended himself.
"I realize that," I told him, "but he thought of you as his brother even then. He expected more out of you."
"You have no idea how much that cost me," he answered.
"It nearly cost you your brother," I said.
"I know," he replied and a wave of false sadness washed quickly through me before being replaced with a swelling tide of gratitude.
"Cut that shit out Jasper," I said, "Be a big boy and use your words. I convinced him to go back because I couldn't stand seeing him like he was. He was so hurt, and it was all your fault. I couldn't help him and he needed to heal."
"He would have been alright," he whispered.
"That looks like shit on you," I replied shortly.
"What," he asked.
"Self-loathing," I rolled my eyes, "You're a grown ass man. Own your actions for once."
"I did," he glared at me, "You have no idea the shit I went through for you two."
"I lived there too," I said wryly, "I have a pretty good idea. It was nothing less than you deserved."
"Fuck you Charlotte," he said quietly.
"No fuck YOU Jasper," I screamed back, "You could have come with him that day."
He just shook his head and sighed, looking at me like I was the most clueless person on the planet. He'd pissed me off. I thought he was being selfish, and I was pretty sure he thought that I was just being hateful. I wasn't though. I was genuinely interested in why he thought that I shouldn't hate him for the things that he'd put Peter and I through. I didn't understand his motives for being like he was, and I couldn't truly appreciate him as family, though he was family. I was trying to calm myself, knowing that he could feel just how much hatred I had for him in this moment, and failing miserably in my attempt.
"You're nothing but a manipulative prick," I stood from the swing and went to scream in his face, "You broke him that day! He loved you and you broke him."
Jasper grabbed my arms and stood with his eyes narrowing at me. I could feel his rage as he lifted me from the porch so that my eyes were level with his. His fingers dug into my arms as he shook me just enough to rattle my teeth slightly. This was the Jasper that I was so much more comfortable with, the unpredictable angry man that I'd spent my first year avoiding. I thought it was so much more in character for him to behave this way with me. The passive niceness that he'd maintained for Peter's eyes never made me comfortable, it just made me trust him even less. Despite the things that he'd done to try to make me more comfortable, I still couldn't see him as anything other than the Devil that he'd always been to me. I remembered the teachings from my human life about the devil having many guises, and I had never been fooled by any of Jasper's. It was something that I prided myself on. I both loved and hated him.
"Sometimes I really hate you," I spat out at him.
"That's too damn bad Charlotte," he said to me and put me back down, "because you're my sister and you might piss me off royally, but I'll always love you."
"Liar," I accused him, "You tolerate me for Peter's sake."
"No," he sighed and sat down scrubbing his face with his hands. "I owe you everything and I don't like being in debt."
"Why do you say that," I sighed right back at him as I took the chair next to him. "You don't owe me anything."
He sat there rocking in the chair, staring at the night sky while I watched him and waited for what he would say next. I was expecting more of his passive niceness, his attempt to smooth over the fact that our conversation was anything but nice. In this moment I hated him more than I ever had before. He wouldn't even try to understand my anger with him. He had no idea how much I wanted to kill him every day when we were in Maria's camp. Not for anything that he ever did to me or the other newborns, but for the things that he demanded from Peter. I hated him for his cruelty on our last day in the camp, and how he wouldn't let Peter be the one to come get me. I hated him for the way he looked at me that day. I hated that I couldn't be enough for Peter, and that he needed Jasper in his life to feel complete. I loved him for being there for Peter. I loved him for letting us go, both away from the camp and that day in Chicago when Peter had found us this home. He'd dragged both of us into hell and kept us there, but he'd also let us go. It was always so complicated with me and Jasper. It would never be easy.
"You're making me dizzy," he barked at me, "Pick one fucking emotion please."
"Fuck you," I said to him again, "It's your fault anyway. You won't give me answers."
Again, the silence intruded on our angry exchange. Hours passed with me glaring at Jasper and him glaring at the sky. It was sick, and it was necessary. We both wallowed in the rage and the love that we had for each other trying to sort through the nastiness of it all. He hated me just as much as I hated him; I knew it even if he wouldn't acknowledge it. And he loved me just as fiercely as he hated me. We were a lot alike in that respect. It was so much easier for me to accept my hatred of him, to cling to it tightly. I needed to be able to hate him, but I needed to be able to love him too because he was my family.
"Why did you come here," I asked him finally, changing the subject to something that we could hopefully be more level headed about. "Why now?"
"I slipped," he said, "I needed room to think."
"How's that working out for you," I questioned, genuinely curious since he'd been in conversation with either me or Peter since he'd been here.
"Good," he sighed, "I talked to Peter earlier. It helped."
"And I'm making it worse," I stated.
"No," he said, and turned to me with a smile. "You've helped more."
"I don't even know what you're talking about," I told him.
"Exactly," he shrugged at me, "and you're not tiptoeing around me. You hold me accountable and make me think."
"You're a grown ass man," I told him, "I won't baby you."
"I know," he said, "it's part of why I love you so fiercely. You're scared of me, but you'll still light a fire under my ass if I need it."
"The worse you can do is kill me," I shrugged at him. "You won't though. It ended far too terribly the last time you couldn't bring yourself to do it."
"It was the best thing I ever did," he replied, "I wanted to kill you first right after he bit you. I knew, you know."
"I always thought he was a little too naïve about that," I told him, "but that's Peter. Why didn't you?"
"Because of him," he answered, "I'd hurt him too much already. He deserved to have you."
"And that's why you let us go," I asked.
"Partially," he nodded, "I figured you'd both be killed quickly. I hoped you wouldn't, I wanted y'all to be happy. I was a coward. I just couldn't do it myself."
"He was your brother," I tried to reassure him, "He never blamed you for anything."
I didn't know why I was trying to make Jasper feel better about the terrible things that he'd done. He was the devil and I wanted him to feel bad about his past, and our shared history. But he was my brother and I wanted so desperately to care for him and make him feel better about his decisions.
"He forgave me too easily," Jasper said.
"Not really," I laughed, "It took me a long time to convince him to go back and get you."
"Thank you," he said.
"I've already told you," I sighed, "I didn't do it for you. I did it for him, Jasper."
"You saved me," he whispered.
"No," I answered, "Peter did."
"He would have been stuck with me if it weren't for you," he pointed out to me with a raised eyebrow.
I just shook my head at him and turned my face away from his to stare at the now lightening sky. A full night had passed while Jasper and I sat here in some weird attempt at trying to find some understanding for each other. I was uncomfortable with what he'd just said. I had to give it the weight that it deserved because it was the truth. Peter hadn't been happy in Maria's camp, but he'd been comfortable and could have lived a very long time there without being truly unhappy. I was the reason he'd left. I was the reason he went back for Jasper.
"I would do anything for you Charlotte," Jasper finally said to me. "You saved my life and I love you for it…"
"I hear a but," I told him with a snort of disbelief.
"BUT," he said with a laugh, "you are an infuriating woman sometimes. You expect too much, hold too many grudges."
"I love you too Jasper," I told him with a roll of my eyes.
He was right about me. I was holding on to things that were in our past, and though the thought of those things still hurt, I knew that I should at least consider starting to cut Jasper some slack.
"You want to go for a ride," I asked him. "I have a horse that would really suit you."
"Yeah," he said and stood up, "Just let me change."
We both went inside to change, and then went out to the barn together. I got the horses saddled up while Jasper protested that he could still saddle his own horse. I ended up growling at him to get him to shut up. I liked saddling up the horses myself and he could just suck it up and let me. Peter did. He let me lead, and we rode in silence for a while. He was taking in the land that surrounded our home, and I knew that he was probably remembering his human life.
"What did you mean," I asked him as we crested a rise, "that you'd slipped?"
"You know how hard it's always been for me," he answered.
"Feeding" I stated.
"Yeah," he breathed out and we began moving the horses down the rise, "Alice found a coven that feeds from animals."
"Eww," I replied making a face.
"Yeah," he chuckled, "It tastes like shit, but there's no emotion there, no familiar ones anyway. It helps."
"Then why'd you slip if it's so great," I questioned.
"Because it tastes like shit," he answered and I just nodded.
We rode in silence for a while before I spoke up again.
"You love her," I asked.
"I think so," he answered me. "If I don't, I want to."
"You're doing this for her," I continued questioning him, "or for you?"
"I don't know yet," he admitted to me.
"You should think about that," I told him. "If you're not doing it for you, you'll always struggle, you know."
"I know," he sighed.
"It'll work out Jasper," I said to him and turned to smile at him, "In the end, it'll all work out like it should."
"I don't always hate you," I told him after a few minutes of silence.
"I know you don't," he said. "It shows."
I let the conversation drop there, and we moved on to discussing the property until he pointed in the direction of the place where I'd unsuccessfully tried to build him a house.
"Is that y'alls too," he asked me though I was pretty sure that he already knew the answer.
"Yes," I answered quickly.
"Can I see it," he wanted to know.
"I don't go there anymore," I said.
"Why not," he asked and let his curiosity and concern fill me until I shot him a dirty look and he pulled it away from me.
"Because," I sighed, "I know Peter told you what happened and I don't like to be reminded of it."
"Show me," he demanded.
"No," I nearly shouted at him.
I didn't want him pushing this. We were already on shaky enough ground and I was afraid that we'd lose what little progress we'd made in the past 24 hours.
"Show me," he asked me softly, "I can help you."
"Fine," I sighed and lead the horse in the direction he'd pointed.
My panic began at having to face the site, though I knew that Peter had dealt with the mess that I'd made of it. I hadn't been back, and I felt Jasper's false calm battling with my insecurities at approaching the place where I'd completely lost my mind. I stopped my horse before entering the clearing, and dropped the reigns. Jasper did the same with his horse and slowly approached my side.
"Peter didn't say much," Jasper said.
"I didn't tell him much," I replied, "I didn't remember much more than flashes and colors."
"Sounds…" he trailed off, "familiar."
We walked into the clearing, and though the soot from the fires that Peter had set here had mostly washed away, it was still very dramatic when you considered the serenity of the rest of our property. I stopped at the edge, and wrapped my arms around myself as I wondered what was running through Jasper's mind. I wondered if he was judging me. I knew that he'd lost it in a similar fashion, many more times than me, but he'd been at war at the time. I felt weak that something as simple as being taken advantage of by a human contractor combined with not liking the intrusion into my territory by someone that refused to respect me had driven me to that place where rage overwhelmed rationality. I should have been able to handle it all so much better than I had.
"It's a nice clearing," Jasper finally said. "I think I would have liked what you were trying to do."
I couldn't respond to him. He was trying, but I wasn't. I didn't like sharing this part of myself with him. This should have been reserved for Peter alone, but then Jasper walked over and wrapped his arms around my shoulders and filled me with a mixture of his false emotions that combined to form a calm acceptance.
"I'm sorry Char," he whispered, "Thank you for showing me. You don't know how much this means."
I pulled away from him and walked back to the horses. We started back towards the barn, having been out all day. Our ride was silent except for the sound of the horses. I was sad, yet strangely relieved that someone else had seen my deepest darkest secret and didn't seem to care. He wasn't asking me a million questions, or blaming me for any of it happening. The silence between us continued as we got the horses cleaned up from their long day and put the tack back to rights.
"I'm going to shower and change," I said to Jasper at the front door.
"Char," Jasper replied and laid his hand on my shoulder, "don't be hard on yourself about it. Sometimes, shit like that just happens."
"Thank you Jasper," I whispered and pat his hand.
I took my time with my shower knowing that after all of the time that we'd spent together that Jasper would appreciate a break from me just as much as I would him. We'd somehow gotten to a place where the hatred that we felt for each other had faded into a low simmering in the background. I was sure that it would always be there. I couldn't imagine anything that would be able to quench it. I re-read some of the home construction manuals that I'd gotten, and it was eye-opening that I could do it. I owed that ability to Jasper. I knew that Peter had accepted what had happened and just moved on, but I also knew just how important I'd always been to Peter. He would have never acted any other way. Jasper's reaction reassured me in a way that Peter's hadn't. Jasper wouldn't have ever been able to help me get past what had happened like Peter had done, but Peter couldn't have helped me with the acceptance of it like Jasper did. I was beginning to acknowledge the importance of each member of my family, and the realization made me smile. Jasper and I spent the night in our separate places and neither of us emerged until late the following morning.
I puttered around the house doing mundane things that needed to be done. Jasper offered to help, and I let him. He swept and mopped. I did laundry and watered the houseplants. He dusted the high spots that I couldn't reach, after laughing at me over it, and I made him clean his own bathroom. It didn't take us more than a few hours to clean the house from top to bottom, and I noticed the time as I put away the last of the laundry.
"It's late," I stated the obvious.
"Not really," Jasper replied.
"I'm worried," I said.
"About," he questioned me.
"Peter, of course," I replied, "He's been gone longer than he should have been."
"I'll go find him," Jasper offered.
"Give it till tonight," I suggested, "then we'll both go. He's never been gone this long before."
And so the two of us waited. We played cards, which was terrible because Jasper used his gift to cheat mercilessly. I made a vow to myself to never play a card game with him again. We played Scrabble, and midway through the game, we heard him approaching. I instantly stood and went to the front door. Peter walked through it with a smile on his face. He looked more travel worn than hunts usually made him, but I chalked it up to his having run to Dallas.
"I'm glad you're home," I said to Peter with a smile and went to wrap my arms around him.
"I missed you Darlin'," he said and stepped back, "I need to get cleaned up before I get you dirty. Jasper."
With a wink for me and a nod for Jasper, Peter went upstairs and we heard the water come on in the bathroom. I looked over at Jasper and shrugged. It was odd, but it was Peter and I have always known that life with him would have a certain amount of oddness to it. I loved him, because of who he was not in spite of it and so I let this little oddity go and didn't think of it again. He joined Jasper and I after his clean up and we enjoyed watching some television together.
The rest of Jasper's visit was pretty uneventful, other than his eyes fading from the beautiful red that was so similar to Peter's into that dull golden color that meant he only drank from animals. I thought he was much more handsome with the red, but having the golden eyes meant so much to him. I hoped that he'd thought more about what I'd said regarding his choices. If this was what he wanted, then I hoped that he would succeed. If he was just doing it to make Alice happy and to gain a feeling of acceptance from his adopted family, then I was ready to rip some self-righteous fuckers to pieces. It was a good goodbye. I had hope that the two of us had come to some sort of understanding. Peter and I stood on the porch until we couldn't see him anymore. I gave his waist a squeeze and turned to go back into the house while he followed me.
"Y'all had a good visit," he stated.
"We did," I answered him.
"I'm glad," he said and pulled me into his lap on the sofa. "Y'all are important to me."
"We both know that Sug," I said as I pressed a kiss to his lips. "You had a good hunt?"
"It was," he reflected for a moment then blinded me with a smile, "rewarding."
"Good," I answered and settled into him.
Things weren't any different after Jasper's visit. We were still us, though Peter began to hunt on his own more often than he had before. He'd ask if I wanted to join him, but it seemed like he needed this time to himself. He would always come back in very good spirits, and I got to reap the benefits of his successful hunts in the physical pleasure that he'd give me when he returned. I could hardly be offended that he hunted with me less often, or resent the time that we spent apart. His solo hunts seemed to be a good thing for him, and for the two of us. It was a change from how things had always been between us, but it wasn't necessarily bad. I thought that it may have something to do with how clingy I'd been since I'd lost my mind and massacred the neighbors. This was his way of getting me to hunt alone so that I would begin to trust myself again, I guessed. It was just another part of the oddness that was Peter.
The first time he stayed gone a week for a hunt, I began to grow concerned, but it only happened once that he was gone for so long. The happiness that he radiated after his return from that hunt lasted for several days, and so I decided that I'd just overreacted to something that was no big deal. He hunted with me several times after that week long hunt before going on another solo hunt. I wasn't worried, though his behavior was weird. Our hunts together brought a different sort of pleasure, and I enjoyed having him bring my meals to me just like he'd done in the early days. There was passion there, but that giddy happiness that he'd have after hunting alone never came from feeding with me. It was something that I noticed but didn't grow concerned about, I just watched. I knew if there was something bothering him he would come to me with it without hesitation, so I continued to support him in his solo hunts and our life continued to move forward.
E/N: Well, we're starting to get to the meat of the story now! Thank you to everyone that's reading! Special thanks to those of you that have favorited me and put this story on alerts, and to those of you that are reviewing! Feel free to check out my O/Ss while you wait for the next chapter...all the same characters, just different pieces of their lives.
