Chapter 14 Phone Calls

"Hey, Bro, I was just thinking of calling you," I said into the phone. I heard him chuckle in response.

"I know, why do you think I called?" he jeered.

I chuckled. "So, how much do you know?"

He growled lightly in frustration. "Not much. Just that you were planning to call and invite me and Char for a visit. What's up with Edward's little human? Did he finally get the balls to change her? Is that why? Did you want our help with the newborn?"

"Close. It is about Bella, but I'm the one who changed her. I was planning to invite you two to help me raise her, if you wanted."

"What about your family? Surely they won't want two human drinkers around that might corrupt their newest inductee into the vegetarian cult. Besides, I thought Edward hates us."

I snorted. "Well, you do tend to get a kick out of annoying and discomposing him, so you can hardly fault him for his dislike."

"It's mutual, believe me," Peter muttered, his tone disgruntled. "So why would he let us around his mate?"

I sighed. "That's the thing. I seriously doubt she's his mate anymore. He screwed her over, dumped her in the worst possible way, lied to her and played on every single one of her worst fears and insecurities. The damage that does to the soul tends to change it's shape, what with the scar tissue. It's possible he could have repaired it enough to still have her accept him, if she were still human. She has such a forgiving nature that she might well have taken him back and learned to mesh with him again, given enough time and enough work on his part. A few life or death situations, which seem to happen so often around her, could have accelerated the reshaping of her soul. Unfortunately for him, she decided to act on her pain right away, rather than try to live through it. She blew her brains out at the top of a cliff and promptly plummeted over the side to the rocks below, once she lost control of her muscles, just as she planned. She really didn't intend to take any chance of not dying. I happened to be on hand to witness it and filled her to the brim with my venom, so she is now changing in the seat beside me. She used a 45 magnum pressed to the temple, so you know a lot of her grey matter left her head at the same time as the bullet. Now, not only is she a newborn, but her soul is frozen in its new pain state. I seriously doubt she's gonna want anything to do with Edward when she awakens."

"Holy shit! So that's why you said we were gonna raise her. You meant from scratch, like that time before . . . She's gonna be like that? No memory of even the basics?"

I sighed again. "Yep, that's my best guess, based on others I've changed with similar wounds. The good news is that we don't have to worry about Maria issuing orders this time. I'm not gonna give up on her just because she needs constant supervision. It's not like I really have anything better to do with my life right now. Alice confessed she'd been stringing me along all these years and isn't my mate after all."

"What? How dare she?" he growled, outraged on my behalf. "I've never liked the manipulative bitch and the way she tried to control your every action, word, and thought. I knew she didn't make you happy the way you deserved, though you seemed content enough, but I didn't think she could fuck you up so badly that you wouldn't even know she was doing it. Now you have no way of knowing if you maybe missed your soul mate some time over the years because she was blocking you!"

"I know, but she's in the same boat. She didn't realize it worked that way, though she could've easily asked Edward or Carlisle. Of course, I don't think Edward really understands the whole mating thing either, or else he never would have betrayed his own."

He sighed. "Well, you know Char has never fully recovered from her experience with the other head injury newborn. I need to discuss it with her and see what she wants to do. I don't know if this experience will give her a sense of closure over Daniel, or if it will only bring back painful memories and send her back into a depression. You know if we help, we'll be permanently attached to the girl. They are just so helpless and cute, just like a real baby, a real vampire baby would be if we could have them. There's no way not to love them and get attached. Like the immortal children, only better, because having an adult vampire mind means they should be capable of eventually reaching an adult level of understanding and restraint. There won't be any getting rid of us once we're there."

"Well, talk it over with the wifey and let me know what you decide. It's okay with me either way. Besides, it's only Alice and Edward that have a problem with you two, and their opinions don't count for shit right now."

"That's good to know. I'll get back to ya soon, bro. Good luck."

"You too," I remarked, smiling to myself. I've always felt better after talking with him, which is one of the reasons we got along so well. I doubt I would have let him get close to me all those years ago, when he first started making friends with me, if he didn't have such a positive effect on my emotions.

I found myself absentmindedly running my fingers through Bella's hair soothingly and softly singing various songs that caught my fancy as we traveled along, even though I was fairly certain she wouldn't be able to hear or feel me at this stage of her transformation. In some ways though, I was trying to bond with her, similar to the way family members would sometimes speak to a baby while it was still inside its mother's womb. Nobody knew for sure if the baby would somehow subconsciously recognize the person's voice after they were born and thus be more accepting of him or her. I figured it couldn't hurt to try, and I needed all the help I could get. Having a baby who was strong enough to dismember you or demolish a building by accident, fast enough to outrun you and craving blood, with teeth sharp enough to cause permanent damage to your body and able to slice through a human's flesh like butter, wasn't the easiest way to approach parenthood. Especially when baby doesn't understand what she did wrong and thinks it's all a game. Yeah, life was going to be very interesting for a while.

I wondered how long it took for one of these special newborns to become full grown, to fill their massive brains with enough knowledge and skills to make them rational and able to function on the same level as any other adult vampire. Well, I was in for the long haul, however long that might be. Bella was part of my family and I would never leave her behind again. Whatever she needed, I would give her. Even if that meant I had to supervise her for the rest of eternity. She was worth it. Besides, I had always wanted to complete the education process and see for myself the capabilities of someone who learned everything at a vampire level, never remembering any other way, even subconsciously. My personal theory was that she would be even more comfortable in her new vampire body, with her enhanced senses, than she would have been if she had gone through a normal change and awoke with her brain knowing she shouldn't be able to hear, see, or smell so much or move so fast.

It was very hard on a brain used to being human to compensate for the vampiric changes, which was the main reason for the mood swings most newborns experienced. To a brain that was built from scratch out of spare DNA and venom, all the vampiric qualities would be perfectly natural and no more overwhelming than birth was for a human infant. Though it was quite possible birth was extremely overwhelming, and the human baby simply had no way to express it. Maybe that was the real reason for colic - discontent with the overwhelming nature of life outside the womb. I briefly wondered if Edward had ever tried to read the mind of a newborn human. Maybe someday in the future, I would test the emotions of a baby in its mother's womb and then again after birth. I bet it would be a fascinating study, which could grant a lot of insight into the minds of young babies.

xxxxxxx

To my surprise, the rest of the family except for Alice were all waiting for us when I drove off the ferry at Ketchikan. Esme had procured an auto trailer for my truck to pull behind the moving truck, allowing me to concentrate on Bella, instead of having to worry about driving while she was screaming or twitching. I knew from previous experience she likely would never move or scream until after she had come through the change. Even then, it wouldn't be in the way they were expecting. However, I chose not to argue and simply climbed into Emmett's jeep, which was now towing Rosalie's M3, allowing her to ride with him to keep him company. Edward and Carlisle were still stuck driving the Volvo and Mercedes respectively.

As we traveled now, everyone wanted to stay close to Bella, so we made a caravan, all close enough to carry on a conversation, even though we were riding in different cars.

"Has anybody talked to Alice and discussed our change in plans?" I asked. I heard the chorus of 'No's and was surprised she hadn't called to berate us or harass us for that matter.

"Speaking of Alice," Carlisle calmly suggested. "Edward, I've noticed how loyal she is to you. You two seem to share a connection. Have you ever considered she might be your mate?"

"Alice? No!" he scoffed. "No way. Why would you even ask me? She's Jasper's mate."

"No she's not," I snarled, remembering my enlightening conversation with her. "She admitted as much already, so you'll just have to find something else to use next time you want to blackmail her."

"What? I . . . I d-don't know what you mean," he spluttered nervously.

I rolled my eyes, though he couldn't see it. "Of course you do. Alice already admitted it. Besides, I can feel your emotions letting me know you're lying."

Chagrin and remorse filled his emotions, and he sent me a wave of apology. I ignored him. His cowardly, selfish, immature behavior and reasons were the least of my concern at the moment. I was over him and Alice and whatever little game they'd been playing all these years. The girl changing in the seat beside me deserved my undivided attention. Losers, who knowingly and willingly played games with other people's hearts and lives, could wait.

A short time later, my phone rang, and I wasn't surprised when the ring tone indicated it was Alice on the other line. I'd been expecting her call for a while now to bitch us out for messing up her plans for our future.

I answered the phone and was immediately hit with her demanding and irritated voice, "Why do I see you arriving with a changing Bella? Edward is distraught! You know he didn't want this life for her! I can't even see a future at all for her anymore! How could you do this? To her, to me, to your brother?"

"How do you even know? You promised not to look for her future, right?" I taunted, using her own excuses against her.

"I looked for the family's future, to see when everyone would finally get here, and that's when I saw you carrying Bella's limp body into the house. Edward was hovering around you, but for some reason you wouldn't hand her over to him. Why wouldn't you give her to her mate? I asked what happened, and Emmett said you changed Bella, but wouldn't say why or why you had her instead of Edward. Then you took her up to the guest room instead of to Edward's room like he wanted. Carlisle and Esme supported you when you refused to listen to Edward, but nobody would tell me why. What is going on and why won't anybody talk to me?" she wailed.

I laughed and accused, "It's just tearing you apart that you have to wait and learn things as they happen like the rest of us, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is!" she whined dramatically. "Why can't I see anything, Jazzy?"

I snorted. "Probably because Bella is not in any position to be making decisions, and the rest of us don't plan on saying anything before we get there and are able to discuss the situation as a family. Even then, nobody knows how they want to start or what they want to say yet, so there's nothing for you to see. A lot depends on what Bella feels and remembers when she awakens."

Alice huffed. "Well, if you had just listened to what I told you, then there wouldn't be a problem, would there? We wouldn't have to wait for the little princess to awaken before we knew what the future held."

"If I had listened to you?" I snarled. "If I had listened to you . . . Why would I listen to you, you lying, coldhearted, manipulative sack of shit? You've been playing with me for half a century, but no more. Never again will I fall for your lies, your deceit, you betraying bitch!"

"Jasper!" she gasped, shocked and offended. "You don't mean that! Don't talk to me like that. How could you say such things to me? I'm your wife!"

"Not anymore I'm not! You're a Black Widow, remember?" I sneered. "And it's Major to you, you treasonous traitor. You don't deserve the honor of calling me by my given name."

I heard her sobbing on the other line, but ignored her, ending the call before she could anger me further.

xxxxxxx

AN: Never a dull moment, eh?