I wanted to give a random reminder, I do not own the Characters names, they sadly belong to another much better author then I. I do however own the plot and content. Also even though she wont see this, I would like to thank my daughter who is my sounding board. She lets me read my chapters to her before they are posted.

If so inclined reviews are welcome. You can just pop in and say hi even. I am also considering adding some of my poetry into the story as well, but I haven't made any definite decisions. I want to see how well this chapter is received first. Thank you for you continued support.

Chapter Thirteen:

The Truth Shall Set You Free

For the next few hours we sat there not saying a word, just taking comfort in each others presences. As we continued sitting thoughts and questions started racing through my head so fast it almost made me dizzy. How did Edward and Emmett factor into the situation. Are they with Alice and Rose because they love them, or are their motives not as pure.

I was the first one the break the silence. "Jasper, did you know what they came here for? Did you know they were going to set their sights on Alice and Rose?"

"Bella," he said as he turned to face me once again. There are only a few questions I can answer that's why I want to wait, so Edward and Emmett can fill in the blanks. Will you call Rose and Alice? Ask them to text Edward and Emmett to meet us here. I don't think they would come if I was the one to ask."

I didn't know if this was such a great idea, but I nodded as I pulled my phone out, acquiescing to Jasper request. First I called Alice, she answered on the third ring.

"Hello," She sounded so dejected. This was not the Alice Brendon I knew.

"Alice, how would you like getting some answers?" I asked getting right to the point. I hated seeing and hear my best friends in pain, which was one of the reasons I went along with Jaspers request. Not only would I be getting answers to all MY questions, but Rose and Alice would get theirs as well.

"Bella slow down, what are you talking about."

"Well I met Jasper…" that was about as far as I got before Alice growled at me through the other end of the phone.

"How could you even think of talking to that lying sack of shit!" she yelled. I didn't have a chance to reply before she continued.

"He played you Bella. He made you believe he was someone he wasn't!"

"In all fairness Alice he never directly lied to me, he just wasn't completely open and honest with me as I was with him and believe me that is a mistake I will not make again." I finished, while staring into Jasper's eyes, letting him know my words were just as much directed at him as they were to Alice. I heard a defeated sigh come over the phone.

"I hate feeling this way Bella. My heart feels like it has been torn in a thousand little pieces, and I want to hate him…but I can't. I miss him; I know I can't go on like this. So what do I need to do?"

"First I need you to come meet Jasper and I at the beach I told you about. He and I will be waiting in the parking lot for you. I also need you to text Edward. You can either do it now or you can wait until you get here. I have no doubt he will come if you are the one asking him to. I am going to call Rose and ask her to do the same. Can you be here in about an hour?" I knew I was asking a lot, but at the very least I wanted her to have closer and I really believed this was the way to get it.

"Yes Bella I can do that, but I would rather wait to text him until I am there. I don't think I can bear trying to do it on my own."

"I understand sweetie, and just know, no matter what comes of today, I am always here for you."

"I know. I will see you in a hour." and with those parting words the call ended.

"So Alice is on her way, now I can only hope Rose won't give me to hard a time when I ask her." I dialed Rose's number and was slightly surprise she answered before the first ring ended.

"I already know what you want me to do Bella Swan, and I will do it, just because I want to show Emmett that I am fine without him."

"Wh..what…how did you know?" I sputtered out.

"I happened to be next to Alice when you called her. We are on our way to the beach as we speak. See you soon."

I slowly dropped the hand holding the phone to my side as the called ended. I stood up without

looking at Jasper and started walking in the direction of the parking lot. Just as I suspected he jumped up and fell into step with me. He seemed to sense I need this time to collect my thoughts and prepare for this. As we approached the end of the lot Jasper jogged ahead of me to his car. I observed him with a curious eye. He bent over the driver's side and pulled something out of the glove compartment. He stood up and proceeded to walk toward me. The closer he got the more defined the object became; it was a rectangular velvet covered box. When he was within touching distance, he brought the box up for my inspection, it didn't escape my attention that there was a slight tremble in his hands as he held it out to me.

"I was going to give this to you at Vigil, but things didn't go exactly as I expected so I never got the chance. I have been holding on to it hope I would still get the opportunity." He said while staring at the box. He seemed hesitant when he brought his head up until his eyes met mine. I felt like the breath was knocked out of me when I saw the pain, fear, hope, and love swirling in the their blue depths. I looked at his outstretched hand and then back up to his face. Gently I grasped the box bring it from his still trembling hand into my smaller ones. Turning from his beautifully breathtaking face I popped the lid to the box and couldn't help the gasp that came out. Inside was a mesmerizing silver necklace with pendent. Jasper picked it, walked behind me and brought it around my neck. I lifted my hair to assist him. After he had clasped it he rested his hands on my shoulders.

"I hope you like it. I was trying to find something special, but nothing in the stores would do, so I had this special made. The Swan represents grace, balance, and innocence. The Alligator is aggression, survival, and adaptability. The fox; cunning, provider, intelligence it also represents twilight and feminine magic. The circle connects them showing they are forever intertwined, one never really leading the other. Each one of them reminds me of you Bella. You are full of graceful innocence even after all you have been through, you are intelligent and cunning like the fox and you have adapted and you are a survivor. You have woven a spell around me, I am forever yours." He leaned in and kissed my neck and sent a shiver down my spine. I hadn't notice I was cry until Jasper spun me around and gentle grabbed my face between his strong hands. "Sh, Sh please don't cry I didn't mean to upset you, if you don't…

I quickly cut him off with my lips on his with a desperate kiss. He pulled me to him more and I felt his own tears mingle with mine.

"Well isn't this a surprise."

I pulled back from Jasper and wiped the tears from my face and turned to the new voice approaching us. Rose had a disgusted look on her face while Alice looked like she was in pain.

"I thought we were coming here to get answers not watch you two make out."

Jasper set in front of me without making an effort to brush away the wetness from his and my tears.

"Rose, thank you for coming and I want to first apologize for my part in all of this. It was never my intent to hurt anyone."

"I am not the one you should be saying sorry to, and as I can see Bella has already forgiven you. Just know you are on notice, if I see her like I did before, you will be sorry you ever met any of us."

Jasper nodded. "I would expect nothing less."

They stared at each other for another few moments before Rose nodded her head too.

"Okay then, Alice wanted to wait until we got here before texting those two jerks, so now that we are all present and account for can we get on with it, I have things I need to do today." She said as she examined one of her finger nails." Leave it to Rose to feign disinterest, but I knew her better than that, I could see the pain she was masking.

"I'll go first" Alice said, speaking up for the first time since they got here.

"I, I don't know what to say though." She said softly.

"It's okay Alice just tell him you need answers and to meet you here. He'll come I know it." I told her as I hugged her. I watched her bring out her phone and send the text out. Not even a full minute later her phone chirped. She took a breath and lifted it up to read it.

"He said he will be here shortly."

Rose then brought out her phone and text Emmett. She got a response just as fast as Alice did.

"So what do we do now?" Alice asked.

We wait for them. Did you guys bring any snacks with you? On my hurry to get out here this morning I forgot to grab something to eat." Just then my stomach growled to prove my point. Jasper gave me a pointed look while I watch Alice grab a bag out of the car. "You do remember who you are talking to right?" Alice asked with a small smirk. It was nice to see her perk up a little. She handed me a granola bar and Pepsi, not the most healthy but who cared, I accepted it gratefully. We made small talk; there was an undeniable tension though. The girls didn't trust Jasper and I didn't expect them to, but they were respecting my decision. To his credit Jasper didn't try to kiss up to them or push to be accepted, he just stood next to me with his arm slough around my waist. It was like he couldn't keep from touching me since we cried together. I know I didn't want to go without some sort of physical contact with him for even a second.

We continued to talk, then all of a sudden it seemed like both Edward and Emmett had pulled in to the lot at the same time. Edward was out of his car first and rushed over to Alice he stopped five feet away; appearing to just notice she was not alone. "What's going on Alice, why are you all here? I was hoping I could talk to you alone."

"No Edward. I will be asking the questions and you will be doing most of the talking. They are here with me not only as moral support, but it seems like everyone here is involved with whatever it is that is going on and we all deserve answers. It's the least you can do." Alice said with conviction in her voice.

While she was giving him a piece of her mind I also notice Emmett walking up and reaching a hand out to Rose who took a step back to avoid his touch. The hurt that flashed through his eyes was unmistakable. It also looked like he caught the last bit of what Alice has said. He stepped up next to Edward and placed a hand on his shoulder. "She right you know. They deserve to hear the truth."

"But we have orders." Edwards started to say but Emmett cut him off.

"I can give two shits about the orders man. I love Rose and I don't want to lose her. We can finish our assignment, but I'm not lying to her anymore."

"Your right Emmett. I can't think straight right now. Alice" he said as he turned from Emmett to her. "Please give me the chance to explain. I love you and I can't bear the thought of not having you in my life a moment longer." He said while pleading with his eyes.

"Okay, but I make no promises."

Rose turned to me and Jasper with inquiring eyes. "Are we planning to have this discussion in the parking lot or is there a more private venue?"

"Yes follow me." Jasper said while taking my hand, together we walked toward our safe place, soon to be a safe haven for my two best friends and despite their lies the men they still loved.

The blanket was just where we had left it so Jasper and I sat down, he with his legs around me so I could lean back comfortable on his chest. It took a little longer for Rose and Alice to find a spot further away from where Edward and Emmett had sat. Once everyone was settled Jasper decided he was to be the first to go, he retold his story while holding tightly to me as if I was his anchor keeping him from going off the deep end. When he got to the point where he left off during our conversation he took my hand in his.

"This is where all you will be hearing the rest for the first time. When the cops and the paramedics came I was still sitting with my head hanging between my legs my arms were draped limply over my knees. I heard them all talking trying to find out what happened, but I couldn't answer them. When they were getting ready to move my mother, father and sisters bodies," I could hear him fighting the tremor in his voice. I gripped his hand tighter and brought it to my lips. "I heard the lead detectives' mentions something about it becoming a FBI case. I decided then and there I was going to do whatever I could to find out who did this to my family."

Emmett turned to Rose, "So when he found out we were heading his case he came to us." There was a collective gasp from me, Rose and Alice. Rose jumped up and got in Emmett's face. "You are an FBI agent! What are we some sort of cover for you or something!" she screeched.

"No not at all please let me finish."

I couldn't understand it. "Emmett if you and Edward are FBI agents why are you here?"

Edward spoke up this time. "We are here Bella on assignment. We are following leads to the whereabouts of the Three Slashers."

"The what?" Alice asked confusion lacing her voice.

"The Three Slashers are the individuals who are responsible for the deaths of not only Jasper's family, but Bella's mother as well."

I was dumbfounded I don't know why I couldn't connect the dots to what Jasper had told me and the similarities of his family's death and my mothers. I felt like I was going to hyperventilate. I gripped Jasper's arms around me a bit tighter. He leaned in to my neck and murmured into my ear that he loved me, he was right here with me and he was not going anywhere. Slowly I was able to get my breathing under control so I could focus on the conversation again.

"We met Jasper outside of the funeral home. We saw the crime scene photo's but there weren't any statements and we knew Jasper was at the scene. He was still in shock but he had an air of determination about him. We should have known then he was going to be a problem." Edward gave a stern look in Jasper's direction. "But we didn't, we went out for coffee and tried to get him to tell us what he saw, but he refused until we told him what we knew so far. I can't tell you how he ended up here; we didn't tell him where our leads were taking us."

Jasper jumped in "I had a feeling after he told me about a case that was similar. I didn't come here because I thought the killers were still here, I came because I wanted to be close to the one person who understood what I was going through."

"Jasper no one said we think the killers were here." Emmett said almost defensively.

"You didn't have to. You're here. That tells me enough."

"Is that why you guys were so, I don't know weird when we thought you were first meeting." Alice asked.

Edward looked at Alice for a moment and then answered. "Yes, we were for a lack of a better term, surprised to see him."

"So where do Alice and I factor into all of this?" Rose asked in a small voice. I had never seen her as vulnerable as I did in that moment. I don't think Emmett did either because he scooted toward her and despite her feeble protest he cuddled her to him, his huge frame dwarfing hers.

"No, Rose when we literally bump into you on your guys' birthday outing we didn't know who you were. We didn't even have a definite lead at that time. When I saw you I just knew you were my destiny. I will give up my job at the Bureau if it meant I wouldn't lose you." He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. "Just give the word Rosebud and I will never look back."

"Emmett I don't want you to quit your job, your one of the good guys I…I can understand why you felt like you couldn't tell me, but please tell me you didn't lie about everything. I don't want to feel like I fell in love with a lie. I just…" Rose trailed off close to tears.

"No Rose everything I told aside from what I did for a living was the absolute truth. You know me babe, better than anyone else. Please will you take a walk with me along the water line, I want to talk to you privately."

I looked at Rose and I could see she wanted to, so I decided to give her a little push.

"Rose I think you should go."

"If you guys don't mind I would like to see what else he has to say." Rose said as she stood up and dusted the sand from her hands. Emmett stood as well. He reached for her hand and gave a brilliant smile showing off his white teeth when she didn't pull away from him. I watched them walk down the beach until they were out of sight.

"I guess it's my turn huh?" Edward asked as he looked to Alice.

"Is it true you didn't know who we were? When Emmett brought you over to our table, we really connected and it wasn't some stupid ploy to get closer to some objective." Alice pleaded with not only her voice but her eyes.

"Alice I swear I didn't know Bella was the girl in our briefs until we got our assignment and that was after I met you. I promise if you give me a second chance I will be completely honest with you. I promise complete transparency to everyone here."

"Okay then I just have one more question. Are you and Emmett really related or is that a cover?"

"We are actually related, I don't think I would be able to lie about that." Edward said with a shaky laugh. I didn't know how anxious he was about losing Alice until that moment.

"Edward. Would you like to go for a walk along the beach that way?" Alice asked while pointing in the opposite direction of where Rose and Emmett went.

"There is nothing more in this moment I would enjoy more." He said as he got up and bent to help her up as well.

"Bella thank you. I don't know how long we'll be so if we don't see each other later I will give you a call."

"Okay Alice don't worry about me. You just concentrate on you and what you want. Oh and have fun." I couldn't help the teasing tone when I said the word fun. I knew Rose and Alice well and I was confident that they were going to forgive Edward and Emmett. I certainly didn't like me and my friends being lied to, but in a way I understood. They had a job to do, and if Rose and Alice knew it involved their friend and the murder of her mother I don't think they would be able to play along.

"Jasper, do you think the killers are in this area? Am I, are we in danger?" I hated the way my voice broke at the end of my question.

"I not sure Bella but I promise I will keep you safe. You are my life now." He said passionately before turning me so I was facing him.

"I love you Bella."

I love you too Jasper."