''...Look, I was perfectly happy killing myself, alright? But then you asked me to try…And for the first time in my life it felt like someone actually gave a shit. And that person was worth trying for. And now I'd…I'd fucking make the world record biggest sandwich if you asked me to. I'd kick old grannies in the tits. I'd fill the rivers with Panda Pops. I fucked up big time. I'm more than sorry. I love you. You're my whole world.'' – 'Skins'

APOV

Jasper and I had really bonded over the course of my stay, it was gradual, we were taking baby steps and we were changing ourselves in the process. I didn't completely trust him, but it was getting easier and easier to be myself with every passing day. His home felt like my home and I was happier than I'd been in longer than I cared to remember.

I loved Jasper's mother, Esme reminded me so much of my own mother that I very nearly sobbed the first time I met her. She welcomed me without pity, conversed with me without obligation and it was easy for me to see where Jasper's caring nature originated from, it just gave me further proof that Jasper's intentions were genuine.

I adored Charlotte; she made me feel like a normal girl, with a real friend. We gossiped, she brought me weekly fashion magazines, we watched movies, she would show me some of her latest photographs. Charlotte was a photographer that worked for a local travel agent's, often taking photos of the city and it's attractions for advertisement purposes.

The way that Charlotte could take something like a skyscraper, or a subway station, and make it look almost haunting, a little dark, mysterious with an indescribable lure, it baffled me, it drew me in. The way she could take a dying tree, or a water feature and make it come alive with beauty, light, and magic, it enchanted me, I always found myself trailing my hands over her print-outs, wanting to be in the scenes her lens created.

Charlotte had proven to me that photography was indeed an art in itself and she loved her work, she was ambitious and passionate and a beautiful person inside and out. I couldn't help but think that what I saw in her prints was what she saw when she looked at the world. Her work was believable, and I could tell that her employers would be more than satisfied with anything she presented to them.

She treated me like we were old friends, and she always had this aura of enthusiasm about her, it was infectious. She lit up the room when she walked in, and anybody would be lucky to have her as a part of their life.

She'd told me about how she met Peter and Jasper, on that day she'd ducked into their workplace. It was just little over a year prior to her meeting me and she'd moved to New York city to study photography and she thrived in her course, but when she was offered the job to photograph for tourism, she didn't feel she needed to pursue her classes further, she wanted to stay with Peter and shed a little light on even the darkest parts of the city that she'd always seen as beautiful.

When it had started to rain that day, her only thought had been to find shelter, not caring where as long as her equipment was out of the wet.

She'd laughed when she'd told me how Jasper and Peter had flipped a coin on who would be her server, both of them bored to tears after an unusually quiet morning. She'd smiled widely, adoration shining in her eyes as she explained how charming Peter had been, and just like with her photographs, I could tell that Charlotte saw something in Peter that I didn't think I'd ever understand.

But, I wished I could see things the way Charlotte did, she didn't ignore faults, she didn't bypass imperfections, but she acknowledged them, she factored them in and counted them as nothing more than a piece of her subject. She accepted, completely, wholly, and found beauty.

I'd only met Peter a handful of times, they were brief encounters and we didn't tend to converse much, I could tell he was wary of me, but he was Jasper's best friend, the brother he'd never had, I understood he was just looking out for Jasper, and not ready to trust me.

But Peter was always pleasant with me, never once shunning me or showing any distaste, he was just a little hesitant, but that was completely fine by me. He mostly just talked to Charlotte anyway.

Jasper seemed overjoyed that I was getting along with his friends and family and I knew that he'd feared I might've been a little socially deprived or socially awkward after what had happened to me. Jasper was supportive in everything I did, large or small. He was a helping hand through everything and I really did owe a lot to him, more than I could ever repay him for.

I did find Jasper attractive, any straight female that laid eyes on him would. But aside from his obvious physically attractive aspects I also found more of him that I liked, more of him that I was drawn to. He was funny, easily embarrassed, open minded, he wore his heart on his sleeve, he knew when enough was enough, he always gave the benefit of the doubt, he was patient, he was dedicated, passionate, sociable…the list went on and I found myself thinking about him a lot, sometimes unexpectedly. As I flipped through magazines with Charlotte, or as I watched soap operas while preparing dinner, every man that was presented to me, I compared them to Jasper. I once even found myself listing the qualities that the other man didn't have, and the reasons why he could never be Jasper.

The first couple of times I'd shrugged it off, thinking that it was just my mind getting ahead of itself because he'd shown me affection, but these thoughts began to escalate in frequency and it was more than a little unnerving to discover they occurred nearly daily and I didn't even try and stop them, I hardly acknowledged a reason why I should stop at all.

It was foolish of me really, to let myself think like that, to open myself up enough to be destroyed, when I wasn't in any form of position to pursue anything, whether I wanted to or not.

I didn't know exactly what I wanted; I didn't know how I would deal with it, but I did know that these thoughts would do me no good, but I couldn't seem to bring myself to want to stop them. Because it felt nice, to imagine more than I was willing to step toward, my fantasies might have been inappropriate and confusing, but I liked them. And that only baffled me more.

Jasper smiled brightly at me as he came in and caught eye of me preparing food, I smiled back softly before turning back to my task to hide the flush in my cheeks. I never wear my heart on my sleeve, never. But, with Jasper, I couldn't seem to help myself.

Life would never be simple for me, I'd accepted that. But, with Jasper in my life, it was easier, but it was even less simple, for whole new reasons.

So, Review! Thought I'd included a little more Charlotte, she needs love too! And here's Alice's overview of the first few weeks with Jasper and the developments that she's made. What'd you think? Too much? Too little? Too fast, too slow? More of any particular character? Less of any character? Let me know!