I don't own anything other than the plot.

A/N: Hi all :) It's been too long once again I know. I'm sorry to make you guys wait so much in between chapters. The good news is I am updating though. I've noticed several stories on here are kind of on hiatus. There is one on here that I've been waiting almost 3 years for them to finish it and they just keep telling me that they are planning on finishing it but they want to write the rest first.

Anyway, here is my next chapter and I hope you like it.

13

Ugh, my head hurts. I should have taken Tylenol this morning. You would think I would know better by now but alas I once again proved that I was incapable of forethought. What was I thinking? It wasn't like the headache started long after I woke up. It was ready and present the moment I opened my eyes which was a fight in its self.

I marked the answer for question number 65 and moved on to the next. Good… I knew that one too now about the next… You would think this entire test would be a cakewalk after the hours I spent studying. I should have all of it memorized. Well…ok, so I am fairly confidant in my answers but I just wish I was completely confidant. A photographic memory would be nice right now.

Ok, question numbers 70 through 100 are to explain the differences between the different drugs. I fought the urge to groan loudly and bang my head on the little table of the lecture chair I sat in of Dr. Frances' lecture hall. Was this test ever going to end?

The guy behind me coughed a deep raspy cough. If I was to guess by the sound of it he had a case of bronchitis. The girl sitting a chair away to the right of me must have an ear infection. Not many girls would be caught in class with a cotton ball stuffed in there ear as a fashion statement. The guy in front of me was so hyped up on caffeine that he will not stop wiggling. How could he even write on the paper with a steady hand?

Dr. Frances was over seeing the testing session and he made it clear at the beginning of the testing that if our eyes left the paper for a second he would fail us without question. The test wasn't timed so that meant we shouldn't be worried about the time so looking at my watch was out of the question. I'm not sure how fair I think that would be if I got a piece dirt in my eye and needed to look up in order to help get it out but I guess I'll have to live with it and not move my eyes.

An hour or so later-

Finally… I finished the last and final question for my final exams. The moment I get up and hand this test to the professor it is final and I can't make any more changes. I will be given whatever grade and that will be that…. Should I go over it again? Nah. If I go over it again I might as well have brought my sleeping bag and toothbrush because I was going to want to go over it again and again.

A lot was riding on my grade for this class. If I didn't do well there was no way I would get in Dr. Fitzsimons internship. Passing was essential but it was absolutely imperative that I made this passing grade the highest possible. I'm not going to go so far as to say that I would need it in the 95th percentile but it would be nice I did get at least a 90.

I sighed and rubbed my face after the long grueling hours of starring at the white paper that would determine my future internship. I hefted myself up from my chair and I could seriously feel the imprint the chair had left on my butt. I wonder how long it will take to actually feel like I had a butt again?

After picking up my coat from the back of my chair and my bag from the floor I sidled down the row of chairs and went down the steps to the Dr. Frances' desk in the center of the lecture hall. He smiled at me as I handed him my 200 question exam and he shook my hand. "Have a Merry Christmas," he whispered to me.

I cracked a half smile and returned the gesture, "Merry Christmas, sir," I whispered back before turning back for the stairs that would lead me out of the lecture hall. The hall was over half empty and I wondered how much longer they were going to be here. My ever present headache continued to throb as I hit the stairs. When I reached the top of the stairs I pulled one arm through the sleeve of my coat then opened the door that led to the outside.

The shock of the cold wind hit me the moment I opened the door. I quickly switched my bag to my other shoulder so I could put my other arm through the sleeve of my coat as large wet snowflakes hit my face. This was quite a shock to the system after sitting in that hot lecture hall for half the day. I had almost forgotten that there was such a thing as fresh air.

As I zipped up my coat I headed for my car in the far parking lot. The sidewalks were slowly getting covered with a layer of snow that wasn't full of many footprints. As I looked around through the falling snow I saw only about 10 people making there way across campus. Most people had finished their finals earlier this week and had hightailed it home. I guess now I am one of them but I do not plan to hightail it home. Instead I get to hightail it to itsy bitsy Forks to spend a few days with Bella's father, Charlie. If it were my choice we would be headed straight to the airport and then to a 5 star hotel but Bella had promised Charlie we would spend some time with him during our Christmas break and who was I to make her leave the only family she had during a holiday that was centered around family and togetherness.

Ok, so I admit I've got a really bad feeling that Charlie is going to make me sleep on that God forsaken couch again rather than in Bella's small yet soft bed that contained most of all, Bella. It was a twin mattress but I was willing to make that work with lots of missed cuddling.

I finally reached my car and got in quickly. "Ugh," I groaned as I just sat there on my soft leather seats and leaning my head back on the headrest. It felt good to know that the exam was over and I could relax for once. As I breathed in deeply I could almost feel the stress of the last few weeks fall away and it felt amazing… Well, except for this stupid annoying headache.

I took my keys from my pocket then placed them in the ignition turned the key and the engine started with a roar. As I backed out of my parking space I hit the On Star phone feature and requested Bella's cell number. It rang through the speakers and I found myself wondering why I rarely used this feature. I admit I preferred using my cell phone but right now with this relentlessly pounding headache I was grateful I didn't need to hold anything to my ear.

Bella picked up after the 4th ring, "Hello"

"Hey," I greeted.

"Oh Edward," she said in relief, "I'm so glad you are out. How did you do?"

Her relief confused me. Was I gone that long or was something wrong? I glanced at the clock on the dashboard and I almost swerved into the next lane. It was almost 3 PM. My final had started at 11 AM. Hmm, perhaps my headache wasn't completely from lack of sleep and stress but from hunger as well. As if on cue my stomach growled.

"I'm not sure," I sighed.

"Well, I think you Aced it," she said without doubt and I had to smile. "Have you eaten?"

"No, I just got out," I said.

"Did you finish packing?"

I sighed and winced, "No."

"No?" she sounded disappointed.

"Sorry, I was kind of focused on my finals," I defended.

"Ha-ha, I'm kidding," she giggled, "I knew you wouldn't get to it but how long do you think it will take you? The weather outside seems to be getting worse."

"It is," I agreed, "Look, Bella, I know you wanted to head to Forks today but could we just go tomorrow morning?"

"Edward I promised Charlie," she pleaded.

"I know but even Charlie would want us to wait till tomorrow," I countered. Well… that and I really don't think I should be driving anywhere in all honesty with this headache.

"But Edward… Oh… Hold on," she said and the speakers clicked. She must have gotten another call.

I drove at least 5 blocks before she bounced back on the line. "Ok so fine," she muttered, "We'll stay here tonight."

I chuckled a little and winced when it made my headache even worse. "Who called?" I asked but pretty much already knew.

"Charlie," Bella sighed, "He's at some accident on the highway and he called to make sure we were being careful. When I told him we hadn't left yet he seemed even happier about it so I told him we'd just come in the morning."

I cracked a smile. 'Thank you Charlie', I thought to myself.

"So how long are you going be?" she asked.

"About 5 minutes," I estimated.

"Good I'll see you soon," she said cheerfully. "Love you."

I smiled, "Love you too."

I heard the click over the speakers signaling that she was gone and I turned off the phone feature in the car. The silence seemed to be short-lived thought when my cell phone began to vibrate in my pocket. I moved to grab it but it stopped buzzing. Hmm… I wonder who was calling.

I drove 2 more blocks and turned into the apartment parking garage. After getting out grabbing my bag and pressed the key locking mechanism for the doors I took out my cell to see who was calling me. Odd… It was a text from Jasper. Oops…. I forgot I had my phone on silent. I quickly opened the text. We need to talk. Usual place 30 min

Oh shit. Bella is not going to like that. Its bad enough I hadn't had time to pack and now I have to go meet up with Jasper so I can't pack and make her at least mildly happy. Hmmm, maybe because it is Jasper she might not mind so much.

She's been worried sick about Alice and Jasper for the last few days. After the last few days I would be too. I suppose it all goes back to the night when Alice admitted she was trying to make Jasper jealous. Jasper had come by the next morning to take her home after returning from a trip to Houston where Maria, Jasper's ex-girlfriend, happened to be working with the Feds. Unfortunately he got a little more than he bargained for.

-Flashback-

Bella and I hurried down the hall of Jasper and Alice's apartment floor till we got to the door at the end of the hall. I knocked and I could hear Alice's high voice though the door arguing with 2 lower voices that sounded like Jasper and… Emmett?

The door opened the Rosalie was there holding my nephew Declan. When she saw us her eyebrows knitted together in disapproval, "What took you? Jasper won't even give us a hint without you."

Bella laughed, "Some of us have finals this week, Rosalie."

"Oh excuses, excuses," she cooed to Declan and he giggled. "I wish I had finals sometimes. I need to get out more. All I dream about is feeding schedules and poopy diapers."

I snorted as I removed my coat, "Sounds amazing. I'd take that any day right now."

"Good," she smiled and within seconds Declan was thrust into my arms and Rosalie was across the room. I fumbled in surprised at the weight of the drooling baby now looking up at me with wide eyes. His face started to scrunch up like he was going to cry. "Bella," I whispered in earnest, "help me."

She giggled, "You're doing fine but it might help if you would hold him against your body instead of out like he was a dirty sock."

I pulled him closer and he seemed to be happier that way as he lay on my chest and sat on my arm. He started to gurgle and his tiny fist grabbed onto the collar of my shirt.

He was a lot heavier now and his hair had grown a little since last I saw him. He gurgled and laughed up at me when I looked at him then I winced when I saw a large clear stream of drool drop from his mouth on to my shoulder. "Oh yuck," I frowned in disgust and looked up hoping to find Rosalie but she was mysteriously hidden from me and Emmett conveniently was on his way to the bathroom. I looked back at the little drooler frowning but he just giggled up at me. I chuckled, "I guess I'm stuck with the little drool monster," and he laughed as he slapped his little hand against my face. "Ha-ha, ok, I take it back you are not a monster," I smiled. He smiled back and I sighed as I went for a seat on the couch in the living room and sat down with him on my lap.

Bella seemed to have found a couple of drinks for us and placed mine on the coffee table next to me. She laughed as she sat next to me, "He got you huh?" she said as she tugged a little at my shirt that now had a large wet spot on the shoulder.

I snorted and nodded, "You want to save me?" I asked hopeful.

She smiled and stroked a finger down the baby's soft chubby cheek as her other hand played with the hair at the nape of my neck. "I think you are doing fine," she smiled.

"Oh please," I grimaced, "Anyone can be good at holding a baby. The question is if I want to."

"Do you?" she asked raising one eyebrow.

I swallowed. I wanted to say 'no' but another part of me couldn't help but think this was some sort of a test. But a test for what? Do I want kids? Sure, in the far, far future. Bella knows that though. I've told her that before on more than one occasion. But what if I tell her I don't want to hold my nephew and she thinks that I was lying to her and she thinks I didn't really want kids. I decided to make it playful, "Well I didn't really come prepared I mean an eighth of my shirt is soaked in baby drool already at this rate I'm going to need to go home shirtless in the freezing cold."

She giggled and kissed the tip of my nose, "You still have your coat."

I narrowed my eyes at her and she laughed as she snuggled next to me and the drool monster.

"All I'm asking Emmett is that you stay out of my affairs," Jasper said in a slightly raised voice. "So it's been apparent that I need to give Alice more attention, so noted."

"I don't know why you are with…" Emmett started then he cut himself short. Good boy Emmett. Now is not the time to have that conversation.

Jasper came over to Bella and me, "Good you're here," he said, "I want to get this over with."

"I'm not here to interrogate, bro," I said, "but you promised…"

"Yeah, yeah I know," Jasper said as he stood in front of his gas fireplace. "I've been a selfish ass and an obsessed ass." He looked over at Alice who sat on one of the barstools at the kitchen counter. "Did I get that right?" She pursed her lips and seemed to look a little defeated.

"You have been a little obsessed bro," Emmett chimed in, "I noticed that months ago at first reek. As soon as you started smelling like an old man's wet and moldy armpit."

Bella started to choke on her water and Alice winced as she sat down next to Bella. Rosalie was just coming back into the room from using the bathroom as Jasper countered. "Yes thank you Emmett for proving once again how your genius astounds us all," he said sarcastically.

"Emmett, a genius," Rosalie laughed, "We are talking about the man who likes to belch his ABC's to his son because he thinks that will give him character."

"Yeah and you married that genius," Emmett said pulling her down onto his lap, "so that says a lot about you." He nibbled at her neck and she squirmed and squealed with laughter as he held her tightly against him so she wouldn't get away.

"Yes, yes you guys are an inspiration to us all but I only have a window of time to tell you what's been going on and I'd rather not waste it watching you two do your little foreplay thing," Jasper said in a sarcastic tone that made me crack up. Little Declan must have thought it was funny as well because he let out a loud giggle and clapped his hands together at his uncle Jasper.

"Edward, are you over there turning my son against me?" Emmett asked.

I laughed and held up my giggling nephew, "Nah but he seems have a good sense of humor already." I turned to Jasper before Emmett could sidetrack us any longer. "So what's going on Jasper?"

Jasper looked at his watch and seemed to be calculating something as I asked him. He looked up and took in a deep breath. "K, so I went to Texas to see Maria. I needed her to do some legwork for me."

"And you went there to ask a favor looking like that, bro?" Emmett asked, "What did you think she'd take pity on you?" I had to admit Jasper really did look like shit. He looked like a young Jerry Garcia with clothes that had 5 day old stink. It certainly was not his best bargaining chip.

I could almost start to see the fire in Jasper's eyes. If looks could kill, Emmett would be pushing up daisies. "Emmett," Jasper ground out through clenched teeth, "do you want to hear this or not?"

"Sorry man," Emmett said clearing his throat and his face turned serious, "Go on."

"For some time now I've noticed that the Feds have been trying to crack down on some of the activity of things I've been working on," he said and started to pace. "I've been able to cover my tracks well and I now have the proof to back that up." Alice exhaled loudly next to Bella and Bella began rubbing her shoulder as Jasper grimaced. I wasn't sure what that meant but I could tell they talked about this earlier. "I went to ask Maria to help monitor the Benetucci's for me. It's not that I couldn't do it myself but there are only so many times you can tap into a Federal Database without them noticing."

"Shit Jasper," Emmett sighed, "You're frickin lucky you're good at what you do. You could go to jail for a long time, bro, and I'm talking Federal Prison"

Jasper snorted, "Don't I know it."

"Not funny Jasper," Alice said walking up to him and taking his hand. "This was a close call."

"What do you mean? What happened?" Bella stole the words right out of my mouth as her hand grabbed my thigh and gripped it tightly.

Jasper sighed, "I was to meet her at a coffee shop but not long after she got there to meet me she was called back to the office. She took me along with her. I figured I could ask her what I needed and leave her outside of the building but she kept asking questions and it slowed me down. Before I knew it we were at the FBI Headquarters and at that point I couldn't just say, 'Well never mind see you later'. She took me through security and I was told to wait for her in her office till she got back. It was like the 7th level of Hell waiting in there. Her computer was there on her desk and was locked."

"I'll bet it ate at you knowing you couldn't touch it," Emmett laughed.

"Ha-ha," Jasper laughed, "Who said I didn't touch it?" Emmett's smile dropped and his mouth hung open. "It didn't take long to figure out her password. She was predictable that way. When her screen came up it had some files up on the case she was helping with which didn't surprise me. But then an e-mail came in that shot her a photo of Jane Mancini coming out of some restaurant. The text beneath it was that she was on the move." We all shifted in our seats and Bella's hand gripped my thigh even harder. "So I went back to the case she was working on. A file popped up that detailed an unsolved case with the murder of some guy of whom Alice just told me was part of the Benetucci family who smuggled drugs into the country. The Feds were trying to tie Jane to the murder somehow. Which would be good but Maria and her team are trying to find the cause."

"The cause," Rosalie said, "The cause of what?"

"Well they know the Benitucci's are a rival and you would think that would be enough," Jasper explained. "Unfortunately, they seemed to be looking into the history between the 2 families. The file mentioned an episode of thankfully very poor surveillance photos that were taken a few months before the big bust on the Benitucci family. The photo happens to be of Alice and a 'shady blonde man' leaving Demetri Benitucci's place in a hurry in the month of March."

"Oh shit," Emmett and I breathed in unison.

"They recognized me because I was known to be around them a lot before I got sober," Alice grimaced, "but they hadn't seen Jasper before so they couldn't ID him. Luckily his head was down and all you really can see is a blond moptop"

"So what happened next?" Bella asked Jasper.

"Well, I started to hear voices outside of the door," Jasper continued and Rosalie and Bella gasped in unison. "I logged out and got to the window to pick up some of the little photos on the ledge. She studied me as she came in and sat down at her desk. A minute passed before she turned, "I hope you don't think I'm that stupid Jasper" she said."

"Dude what do you expect, she could probably feel the warmth from you sitting on her chair," Emmett said which was my thoughts as well.

Jasper snorted as he checked his watch, "I wish, but I never sat in her chair. She told me that she expected me to log in though. She said that during her investigation of the Benitucci murder she came across this photo and she thought she recognized me in it. She staged it so I would look at this file."

"That bitch!" Rosalie blurted out, "Why would she set you up like that?"

"To warn me," Jasper said running his hand through his hair and resting it on the back of his neck, "Or so she claims."

"Warn you of what?" I asked.

"The investigation," Jasper said, "She said that she didn't know why I was in that house and she didn't want to know which is good because that means that no one knows what I did while I was there. However she did want to warn me that I could be linked to this photo if I'm not careful."

"What, is she blackmailing you now?" Emmett asked.

Jasper shook his head no but added, "Although she could I suppose but I doubt it."

"Why?" Bella asked.

"Well she believes that I aided the FBI in the evidence for them to take them down," Jasper said, "I did, but she really has no proof of it other than that the shreds of evidence started to fall into the FBI's lap slowly after our brief stay in Demetri's house. She thinks that "if that was me"," he made air quotes with his fingers, "That I wasn't there because I wanted to be and I made the best of the situation that I could and help bring down the Benitucci's in the process."

"So what now?" I asked as I shifted little Declan more comfortably onto my chest. The little guy seemed to be bored with our grown-up talk and decided he'd rather start to nap and who was I to complain about that. "You said that you had to run a…system sweep. What did that do?"

"Well after I asked her to watch for any in coming info on the family and she asked a favor of me in return I was able to leave."

"She made him decode some software she had been trying to crack so that she could take the credit and that's why he was delayed on getting back," Alice chimed in.

Jasper grimaced and continued, "But she dropped the hint that I needed to ghost my trail a little more. So I started with running a system sweep to see if anyone was trying to break into my firewalls." Jasper explained and he looked at his watch. "And speaking of I have to get back to it. I'll let you know more later." He squeezed Alice's hand and headed for his office.

-End Flashback-

We all left a little later after Jasper's update on his trip. I still say he left out a little too much for my liking but he usually told me things at his own pace.

I passed by Stan at the front desk, "Good Afternoon, Mr. Cullen," he greeted.

"Hello, Stan," I greeted and went onto the elevator. I leaned up against the wall and groaned. Ugh, this headache sucked. My floor could not come soon enough. Strike that, my couch…no, bed couldn't come soon enough.

The elevator dinged on my floor and I walked down the hall to our apartment. I opened the door and dropped my book bag and jacket to the floor as I shut the door behind me. Without thought I wandered to the couch and fell over the side onto the nice soft cushions and closed my eyes.

"Edward," Bella's voice called and I could hear her footsteps getting louder as she came into the room. I groaned into the cushion in answer and she giggled. "You that tired?" she asked.

"No," I mumbled into the couch, "I hurt that bad."

"You hurt?" she asked confused, "Where do you hurt?"

"My head is killing me," I mumbled.

"Oh," she said and went into the bathroom for a moment and returned. "Here," she said. I opened one eye to see that she had 2 pills and a glass of water in her hands.

I groaned again as I got up to a sitting position. She handed me the pills and water and I took them quickly. "Thank you," I sighed.

She took the water from me and returned the cup to the bathroom before returning to the couch where I had gone back to laying on seconds after she left. She hopped up on the couch and straddled my lower back as her hands found the tense muscles of my neck and shoulders. She started to massage them making me moaned in approval as she rubbed the balls of tension away. "Wow, you are tense," she commented.

"Finals," I mumbled into the couch.

"I'm glad they are over for a while," she said as she increased some of the pressure to help loosen up my muscles more. "You need the break."

"We need the break," I corrected, "and I plan to spend every moment with you."

"Ooo, I like to hear that," Bella smiled.

Just then my cell phone beeped a text message. I groaned loudly and reached for it. I lifted my head and looked at the screen "I'm there" was all it said.

"Shit," I hissed, "Bella I gotta go meet Jasper."

Her hands stopped moving and I wanted to protest, "Why?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," I sighed, "But he wants to talk and since we are not going to Forks tonight…"

"Ok," she said getting off of me abruptly, "How long are you going to be?"

I quickly moved myself off the couch, "I don't know. A half hour, maybe"

She nodded and sighed, "Ok, well hurry back."

I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her towards me, "Don't be mad," I pleaded.

"I'm not," she said unconvincingly, "I'm just disappointed that we couldn't go to Forks today."

"It'll be there tomorrow," I grinned, "Plus this way it'll give us more time to pack."

She narrowed her eyes at me and put her arms around my neck, "You just don't want to pack yet," she said in a playful tone.

I rolled my eyes and smirked, "Not right now I admit, no." I kissed her and her mouth molded to mine. I pulled back, "But I will when I get back I promise. I'll even bring home dinner. You feel like Chinese?"

A smile spread across her lips and her eyes lit up, "Oh I like that idea," she said and kissed me. Oh yeah, Chinese food, The Meal of Champions. Well… at least for us anyway. It always reminds us of our second "date" when I showed up on her door step with Chinese food when we first started dating. I just couldn't stay away from her and I count myself lucky that she wanted…wants my company.

My phone beeped another text and she dropped her arms, "Go and hurry back," she ordered.

"I will," I grinned and hurried out the door. I was all the way down and in my car when I noticed that my headache had deadened considerably. It was still there but it was at least bearable now.

A few minutes later I was at the bar not far from UW campus. I noticed Emmett at the bar having a beer. I headed over to him wondering where Jasper was and sat on the stool next to him. "Hey," I greeted.

"Hey," Emmett smirked, "It's been a while since we've had a drink here."

"Too true," I said as I signaled the bartender to have the same that Emmett was having. "Jasper text you too?"

Emmett snorted, "Yeah, I find it kind of funny. He texts and we come a runnin'."

"Well you know him," I said as the bartender placed a beer in front of me. "He always has something interesting to say. He text to say he was here already. Have you seen him?"

Emmett turned on his barstool and pointed at a guy in jeans and a leather jacket leaning over a table talking some girl with frizzy red hair. "Isn't that Victoria?" I asked.

"Yep," Emmett confirmed with a belch, "And that's not all…" Just then the man stood up tall and it was Jasper. I couldn't believe it. He had cut his hair to his moptop and his beard was trimmed down to what a girl I used to date called "sexy scruff". He looked like he had a total makeover. "Jasper seems to be back," Emmett commented.

"I'll say," I said, "and it didn't even take an intervention. I thought for sure that we would have to strap him down and take a buzzer to him after we hosed him off."

"You had that plan too?" Emmett laughed.

"It crossed my mind a time or two hundred," I smirked, "I was more of the mind that if Esme saw him like he was she'd probably call the Psychiatrist and push for him to go though all those psych tests to be sure he wasn't suicidal."

"Yeah," Emmett nodded and took a slug of beer, "Mom is one to go overboard. I'll bet dad senses something was up though. He always does."

"Carlisle was having me watch him for a while," I admitted, "but I admit I didn't watch him long. My classes are… were brutal this semester."

"Yeah I hear that. It was all I could do to get any studying done with a baby screaming half the time," Emmett said shaking his head. "I could swear that Declan knew when I really had to study and he'd plan his little Screamfest accordingly to fit that schedule."

I laughed as I took a swig of beer. "I'll bet he did," I smiled as Jasper made his way over to us at the bar.

Jasper took a seat on the other side of me and ordered a beer. I noticed he no longer smelled like moldy sweaty armpit and instead he had some cologne on. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hey," I said, "You look…"

"Like you've returned from the dead," Emmett supplied.

Jasper laughed as the bartender handed him his beer and he took a swig. "That's what Alice said yesterday," he said.

"You feeling better," I asked

"Do I feel better?" he asked, "I never felt bad."

"I mean did it feel good to get cleaned up," I clarified.

Jasper looked down at himself and then took another swig of beer before he answered, "I think Alice had more fun with the "clean up" job than I did. Of course," he said with a smirk, "when your woman offers to clean you up while in the nude…"

"Oh yeah, the Nude Barber" Emmett chimed in with an all knowing grin.

"…You tend to want to do exactly as she says," Jasper smiled.

"So you two have worked out some of your problems?" I asked.

Jasper shrugged, "Some but not all. I've been a little busy working to fix the mess we have been in. The aftermath has been a plan in my ass."

I nodded. He was right about that. Jasper told me of the plan he had setup in part with Demetri Benitucci but Jasper went even farther than Demetri ever would know. He designed some sort of virus that eats away at the Benitucci's known network. It makes the systems hiccup like any computer system except Jasper had set it on a type of timeline and completely random so it would not even be traced back to his encounter with the Benitucci's last Spring. With each hiccup random pieces of data would fall into the FBI's lap and it was up to them to put 2 and 2 together.

Then we got the confirmation that Jasper's brilliance had worked not only following the plan formed with Demetri but with his amazing plan to randomly and very slowly hiccup evidence against the Benitucci's to keep them locked behind bars. Aro, the head of the family, was still in Federal prison for the charges brought down on him and most of the family.

Demetri had even suffered a stretch in the big house with his father so suspicion would not arise to his involvement. Jasper told me that he was laying low on the "orders" of his father, Aro. If Aro only knew that it was Demetri that set him up…

"Hey Jazz," the red head Victoria smiled as she can up to him at the bar. She placed a hand lightly on his shoulder and leaned in, "If you ever want to hang out. Here's my number," she grabbed a small piece of paper out of her bra and handed it to him. She kissed his cheek and walked away swaying her hips in that all too familiar 'Come-hither' manner.

"Dude!" Emmett burst out, "Did I just see Victoria give you the Come-hither walk? And what's with the little paper pulling out of her bazzongas? What does she roll up a few every night and distribute them as booty call invites?"

Jasper and I laughed.

"Jazzy, my man, seriously what was that about?" Emmett asked.

"She called me over to her table when I was waiting for you guys to show up," Jasper said, "She said she hadn't seen me in a while and asked me where I've been."

"Well, either she and James are over or she's just looking for trouble," Emmett said.

Jasper snorted and finished off his beer. "It's not like I'd cheat on Alice, Em."

"Why not?" Emmett asked, "She grabbed what's his name's junk and offered to…"

Jasper slammed his beer bottle down on the bar so hard it almost shattered. Jasper got off the stool and walked around me to stand eye to eye with Emmett. "I know what she did Emmett," Jasper growled, "Are you ever going to let it go? Or am I going to have to go fuck some random girl to make what Alice did ok in your mind?"

"I wasn't saying random," Emmett said, "I mean if you're going to cheat. Cheat with dignity."

Jasper brought back his fist and whipped it forward making contact with Emmett's face. Emmett staggered in his chair taking the blow. The bartender started to scramble preparing for a fight to brake out but Jasper's next worlds had stopped all retaliation.

"I will not cheat on my future wife," Jasper growled.

"Future?" I asked. Emmett sat there in his seat stunned as we both looked at Jasper. "You asked her to…?"

Jasper stepped back and tried to rein in his anger before speaking, "No, I haven't yet," Jasper admitted. "That's why I asked you both here." Emmett and I looked at each other in confusion.

"I've been fucking up," Jasper said sliding back on the barstool next to me. The bartender seemed to see that the eminent fight he was preparing for was no about to take place and went back to bartending. "Alice's little stunt opened my eyes a little bit wider and I got to thinkin' on the flight back from Texas. I don't know her like I used to. I couldn't remember the last conversation we have had both verbally and physically."

"Dude," Emmett said in awe, "You really were having an affair with your dot-matrix."

I snorted. Bella had told me that's what Alice had called it.

Jasper rolled his eyes. "I guess so."

"I mean how could you not remember sex?" Emmett mused.

Jasper grunted and continued without answering, "The point is I need your help to keep me from going back to what I've been the last few months. And I need some of your help too?"

"No problem," I said, "What do you need?"

"Help give me some ideas to make the last few months up to Alice for starters," he said.

We gave him whatever came to mind. I admit I was not on my game. It's been a while since I've tried wooing Bella and I was a little rusty. I was going to make that up to her this Winter break. I had two solid weeks to bring my game on and I plan to not disappoint.

We parted ways a solid hour after I had left to go meet up with them. I hoped Bella was still going to be hungry for Chinese.

A/N: It's that time again. Review and let me know your thoughts. They inspire me and help the story to fly out of my head and on to paper…. Urr… computer. Haha

Have a Happy 4th!