Woahhhh! I had to throw in some family drama before the end. Read more at the bottom!

APOV

Jasper and I are sitting in biology together, dissecting frogs, when I have a sudden vision. I look up, alarmed. "Jasper you should leave the room."

He frown. "Why? What's happening?"

"Ask to go to the bathroom or something," I say urgently. "Hurry."

He shakes his head. "Not unless you tell me why."

I groan. "Because-" I start.

But it's too late, and there's a gasp behind us as Jeremy Robbins cuts his hand with the scalpel. My grip on Jasper's arm tightens automatically, and his frown deepens as he shakes me off. The teacher goes to help the boy with the cut, and I feel Jasper's hurt as he walks out the door.

I mumble something about going to the bathroom before sprinting out of the room to find him. When I do, he's sitting against a wall, his head in his hands. I slowly walk up to him, crouching in front of him. "Jazz, I'm sorry, I just thought-" I try to explain, but he cuts me off.

"You don't trust me." It's barely a whisper, and the pain he's feeling escapes him.

I realize that it's true, I didn't trust him to handle the situation. "Jasper I'm sorry, I just thought it would be hard for you, and I didn't want you to be upset if something happened."

He shakes his head slowly. "You assumed I couldn't handle myself. That I was going to attack him, even though you know I'm getting better, and that I went hunting last night. You don't trust me." He gets up, walking away from me down the hallway.

"Jasper wait!" I call after him, but he doesn't turn. Instead he walks straight through the doors, disappearing into the woods.

JPOV

Once I lose sight of the school behind the trees I break into a run, trying to decide what to do with myself. I end up back at the house in a few minutes, and though all my siblings are at school, I think Esme's home. Sure enough, I find her in the dining room, drawing up plans for something. She looks up at my entrance, surprised and concerned. "Are you, um…busy?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "No. Is something wrong Jasper?" I can't even begin to explain how hurt and angry I am, and a choked sob escapes my chest, somewhere between a howl and a whimper. Esme is by my side in a flash, sitting me down on the couch and wrapping me in her arms as I sob into her shoulder. She holds me close, murmuring soothingly, and I allow myself to be calmed slightly by her presence. When the sobs have subsided, she kisses my cheek. "Honey, what's wrong? What happened?"

I take a breath, looking up at her. "Why didn't you look at my eyes?"

She looks puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"When I came in, and you looked at me, you didn't look to see if my eyes were red. Why?"

"Well, it didn't occur to me that I should. You just looked upset, and you obviously came to me because of it, whatever it is. I just wanted to help."

A small laugh escapes me. "It didn't occur to you that I might have screwed up again?"

"Well of course it didn't," she replies. "The only thing that occurred to me is that you needed a hug, desperately."

I find myself a little less hurt at her statement. Before I can stop myself, I hug her tightly. "Thank you. I did."

"Did what?" she asks, "Need a hug? Jasper, can you tell me what's wrong?"

I nod, trying to keep my emotions in check. "Alice doesn't trust me."

She rubs my arm. "Oh honey, I'm sure that's not true."

"No, it is. Today she saw that some kid was going to cut his hand, and she tried to make me leave before he did because she didn't trust me to deal with it. Edward doesn't either. I felt his emotions when I hugged Bella last week. None of them do. I don't even know if Carlisle does."

Esme hugs me a little tighter. "Oh sweetheart, I'm sorry. First of all, your father loves you, and he trusts you just as much as he trusts the rest of us. Did you feel his emotions when you hugged Bella?" I nod. "And how did he feel?" she asks.

"He was…happy," I admit. "Proud."

"And did you ever feel any distrust from him? Any worry that you would hurt her?"

I think about it for a moment before shaking my head. "No, I didn't."

She nods. "He trusts you very much. You have to remember that. As for the others, well, I understand your frustration."

I sniffle a little. "It's just…I try so hard to be good. I really do. I know I struggle with it sometimes, but I really do try my best not to hurt anyone. You don't know what it's like to have to feel all the disappointment when I screw up, and I really don't want to disappoint anyone. But sometimes it feels like it wouldn't matter if I never hurt another human for the rest of my life, and they still would hold my past against me. Sometimes I think they'll never trust me. And my own mate, too. The one person who's supposed to be on my side, always, doesn't trust me."

Esme runs her fingers through my hair. "Well I can certainly understand why you're hurt about that. I had the same problem once."

I look up at her, confused. "You did?"

She nods. "Did anyone ever tell you how I ended up here?"

"You jumped off a cliff, didn't you?"

"Yes. Well, after I was turned and Carlisle realized I was his mate, he followed me around all the time. He was worried I still wanted to die, and he thought if he never left me alone then I couldn't find a way to do it. No matter how many times I told him I wasn't going to, he wouldn't leave me alone. I was really hurt, because I knew he didn't trust me. So I understand that."

I frown. "I never knew that. So what did you do?"

"I told him how upset I was that he couldn't trust me to tell the truth. I told him that if he truly wanted me with him, he was going to have to stop treating me like a child and let me take care of myself."

"And that worked?" I ask hesitantly. "I mean, does he still think that?"

She smiles. "No, not anymore. The truth was, he didn't know he was hurting me until I told him. He just wanted to keep me safe, and happy. He didn't understand how it made me feel. And when I told him, he stopped. I think Alice knows how much you hate it when you lose control, and she doesn't want you to be upset if you don't have to be. I don't think she meant to hurt you. I think she was honestly trying to help."

"And you think that if I talk to her about it, it would help?"

She nods. "Sure. You've got nothing to lose, right? Talk to them all about it. Tell them how it makes you feel. In fact, we could have one big family conversation and just explain it to them all at once. I don't think they mean to make you feel like you're not trusted. I think if they knew how you felt, and how hurt you were, they would realize how silly they're being. Carlisle and I both know you can handle yourself."

I sigh. "But I haven't. They don't trust me because of all the times I've already messed up. Why should Edward trust me around Bella when I've already tried to kill her once before? If you look at it that you, you and Carlisle shouldn't trust me at all."

"That's not true," she says, pulling me closer. "We trust you because you are our son, and we know that you are always very mature and we know how hard you try. You need to stop thinking that you so much worse than everyone else. The kids might like to forget what they've done, but the truth is they've killed just as many people in their time with us, and this was the first lifestyle they'd known as vampires. This wasn't the usual for you, and you're still getting used to it."

"Esme, I've been here for decades," I murmur. "I'm not that new."

"So what?" she counters. "Edward lost it just a few years ago, and he's been doing this almost as long as Carlisle has. It happens to us all sometimes. Each and every one of your siblings has killed just as many, if not more people than you from the time they started on animal blood. We can't always help it. They just want to ignore the fact that they've all had trouble with it and focus on the fact that you're having trouble with it right now. It doesn't make you any different from them, or any less trustworthy."

I nod, accepting her words and her comfort. A car pulls in the driveway, and I rest my head against her shoulder and pray it's not Alice. I'm not ready to talk to her yet. Instead, to my surprise, Carlisle walks through the door. He looks worried, and I realize that he's here for me. Esme seems surprised to see him as well. "Hi honey. What are you doing home so early?"

His worried gaze shifts to me, not searching or critical, but concerned. "Alice called me and told me you were upset about something and that you left school. I thought I'd come and see what was wrong."

Great, now Carlisle's left work for me, and someone will probably die because he's not there to save them. "You didn't have to do that for me," I say.

He smiles. "You're more important than any patient, Jasper. She didn't tell me what made you leave. Can you tell me what happened?"

I sigh. "I shouldn't have left. I was just…upset."

He nods. "About what?"

I hesitate. "I didn't attack anyone," I say.

He smiles. "I didn't expect you did."

I nod, telling him the story of what happened. "So, that's why I left," I finish. "I'm sorry."

Carlisle looks at me, puzzled. "Sorry for what? You're allowed to be upset."

"Yeah, but I left school, and called you away from work, and I know we're not supposed to do that unless it's an emergency, and it wasn't."

To my surprise, he smiles. "Jasper, you were upset for a viable reason. Under those circumstances, you had every right to leave and for me to be here. You're more important than anything I could be doing at work. You have nothing to apologize for. So what do you want to do about this problem?"

"Well, Esme suggested we have a family meeting so I could explain how I feel about it. What do you think?"

"I think it's a good start."

I nod, leaning against him a little. "Can I ask you about something?" He nods. "Is it weird that it's harder for me to stay on track when I know they don't think I can?"

"No, that's pretty normal actually. It tends to be much harder for people to succeed when they feel like everyone expects them to fail."

"Okay. Do I have to go back to school?"

He smiles. "Do you want to?"

I think about it. "Not really. I don't want to talk to Alice again yet. I'm still mad at her."

He nods. "I understand. You don't have to."

"Thank you."

Esme takes my hand, squeezing it lightly. "Want to come help me in the garden?" I nod, happy that she wants me around, and follow her to the back yard and the little garden patch she's planted there. "Hey Jasper?" she says after a while. I look up from where I'm watering plants. "You know that you're perfectly entitled to be upset about this, right? It's a completely valid reason to be upset."

I nod. "I know. Thank you. I just hope I can make them understand."

She smiles. "I'm sure they'll understand. Just be honest."

"Um…Mom?" I say.

She smiles, the way she always does when I use that word. "Yes Jasper?"

I smile. "Thank you, for before. I'm sure I looked pretty deranged when I came in."

She giggles lightly. "Maybe a little. But I'm glad I was able to help. And I'm very glad you came to me."

I nod. "Me too."

She checks her watch before looking up at me. "Everyone should be home soon. Are you ready?"

A snort escapes me. "No. But I'm going to do it anyway. I have to."

She nods sympathetically. "Well, your father and I will be right there with you, and we're very proud of you for talking to us about this."

She takes my hand, and I follow her into the living room, sitting with her while my siblings' various vehicles park outside. Carlisle greets them at the door, asking them to come sit down with us. I feel curiosity from both Emmett and Rosalie, who have no idea what's going on. Emmett is hoping he's not in trouble, and when I whisper this to Esme she laughs. Edward is confused, though I don't know why he hasn't just read Carlisle's mind. Or maybe he has, and he's confused about it. Alice is guilty, but I avoid focusing on that for too long. I nod to Carlisle, hoping he'll start, and he does. "Hello everyone. I know it's a bit sudden, but we have something important to discuss with all of you. Jasper has brought a problem to our attention, and we think all of you need to know. Your brother, who has worked so hard to adapt to our lifestyle, and who has been trying his hardest to control his instincts, as we all do, and has had much success, feels that he is not trusted to control himself. Alice, perhaps you could tell us what happened today."

Alice looks up at him briefly before returning her gaze to her lap sadly. "Well, I…I had a vision that one of the kids in our biology class was going to cut himself, so I told Jasper he should leave before that happened."

Carlisle nods. "And did you have a vision that Jasper would lose control when that happened?"

She shakes her head. "No. I didn't see anything about Jasper."

"But you thought he would attack the bleeding student, so you told him to step outside."

She sighs. "No. Well…I just know how hard it is for him sometimes, and I didn't want him to be upset about it." She looks up at me. "Jasper, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I know that you can control yourself. I just thought it would be easier for you if you didn't have to deal with it. I'm sorry."

"Well that may be," Carlisle continues, "But I think it's time all of you started considering how your actions make you brother feel, no matter the intention." He looks at me. "Jasper?"

I take a deep breath. "I know you don't try to hurt me, but it really does hurt when you do things like that. I can feel your emotions, and I know when you think I'm going to mess up. I know I have in the past, but I try my hardest not to, and it hurts that you don't believe I can do it. Edward, the other day, with Bella, I know you were upset. But I wouldn't have gone near here if I thought there was any chance I could hurt her. And I know I did once, but if you guys don't stop holding my mistakes over my head, how can I do any better? I am trying my best, but sometimes it feels like no matter how perfect I am, you'll still hold my mistakes against me, so why should I even try? And that makes it much more difficult for me to do well."

Carlisle waits for me to finish before continuing. "I would like to point out that several of you have killed more people over your lifetimes than Jasper has since he's come to us. His may be more recent, but that doesn't make you any better at this than he is, and you should not be passing judgment about that. Jasper is not a child, and he needs to be allowed to do this himself, just like the rest of you did, and he needs to know we support him. I know he is perfectly capable of controlling himself, and that he takes steps to make sure that he is in control. It's time you started supporting him, instead of trying to remove him from any situation where he might encounter human blood. You're not helping by stopping him from learning. You need to give him the same respect that you got, and you have to trust him to take care of himself."

Edward, Emmett, and Rosalie exchange a glance while Alice looks down at her lap. Emmett is the first one to speak. "I'm sorry bro. We didn't mean to come off like that. We just know how upset you get when something happens, and we didn't want you to be upset. But Carlisle's right. We know you can do it yourself."

Rosalie nods in agreement. "We're really sorry. We didn't realize you were hurt by it. We thought we were helping, but I guess we weren't. We do trust you."

Edward sighs. "I'm really sorry about how I acted with Bella. I know it wasn't fair to you. It was just an instinct reaction. I know you wouldn't have hurt her. I guess I just forgot it for a moment. I'm sorry. I do trust you around her, even if it doesn't seem like it."

I nod slowly. "She's not afraid of me, you know," I tell him. "Not even after I tried to kill her."

He smiles. "I know. What can I say, she's smarter than me, I guess. She made it very clear that I was being an ass to you when I drove her home last week."

I have to laugh at the idea of little Bella telling off Edward for the way he reacted. "Really?"

He chuckles. "Yeah. And I quote: 'God Edward, it was just a hug. No need to get your panties in a bunch.'" Emmett snorts at this, though I know he's trying to be serious. "So yeah," he finishes, "I'm sorry for the way I reacted."

Finally, Alice looks up at me, and I can both see and feel how upset she is. "Jazzy, I'm so sorry," she murmurs. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I thought I was helping. Can you ever forgive me?"

I think for a moment. "Yes, but you need to stop treating me like a child. If you see someone bleeding, I don't mind if you tell me. But I don't always have to leave. If you see me attacking someone, tell me and I'll make sure it doesn't happen. I can do it, I know I can. Just give me the chance."

She nods. "I know you can do it too. I'm sorry." She shifts over to the seat next to me, hugging me tightly.

Carlisle smiles. "Alright then. Now that that's settled, you're free to go."

Everyone moves except for Alice, who's snuggled against my side. "Well," she says, "I think today has been far too emotional."

I nod. "I agree. Did I miss anything?"

She giggles. "I don't think the teacher even realized you left. She was so busy with Jeremy. He had the knife stuck in his hand and didn't want anyone to pull it out. They argued about it for ten minutes."

I chuckle softly, holding her close. "Sounds exciting."

She laughs. "Oh, it was. But I'm so glad today is over." She looks up at me. "Hey Jazzy?"

"Hmm?"

"You know I love you right? And that I honestly believe in you?"

I smile. "Yeah, I know. I love you too."

Alright peeps, so here's the deal. I have the next (and final!) chapter written for this already. It's done. And really good! BUT I am refusing to post it unless I get more than one review this week. All of you have slacked off, and that makes me sad. I promise it's totally worth that extra five seconds (maybe seven if you're a slow typist). I'm so exciteddddd! So please review so I can share my excitement with you lovely people!

Love

TheSongSmith