A/N: On a lighter note, I played a game of "Let's see how many times I can use 'Call in to work' before jfka06 goes crazy". Other than that… let's hug it out. *hugs*

There were not enough blankets in the world to ward off the cold that had settled at the center of Jasper's chest. The block of ice pressed on his lungs. Breathing hurt. His eyes hurt. His heart hurt. It had been a long night.

Jasper opened his eyes to a new world. It seemed wrong somehow that the morning was so calm. Birds sang, traffic flowed in the background. The sun was even shining. He took a deep breath and looked down at the man in his arms.

Edward was still asleep. He was curled on his side, his hoodie up around his head, his head ducked against Jasper's chest. His legs were drawn up against Jasper's side. His cheeks were streaked with dried tears.

As often as Jasper had wished Edward would see past the wool over his eyes, he hated how much pain his boyfriend was in. Even though he knew it was the only way Edward would heal, Jasper almost wished he could guide Edward's head back into the sand. Limping from an old wound you couldn't remember receiving was easier to deal with than an open, bleeding sore.

Jasper was going to get him through this. He still hadn't forgotten the boy Edward had been - confident, vibrant. He would never be the same person he would have been if this hadn't happened to him, but he was stronger than he gave himself credit for. He would be fine. It was going to suck, but they were going to deal with it together.

Unless Edward denied it again.

As much as Jasper wanted to let Edward sleep, they both had responsibilities. Jasper had calls to make. Rather than try to ease himself away from Edward and hope for the best, Jasper chose to wake him with gentle kisses. He kissed along Edward's forehead, down the bridge of his nose. He tasted salt on Edward's cheeks and under his eyes.

Edward blinked awake with a tiny, whining noise. He looked adorably confused for a few seconds before the heaviness came back to his eyes. There was no doubt he remembered.

"I need your boss's phone number," Jasper said.

"For what?" His voice cracked with misuse, but his tone was flat, dead. Jasper had expected as much, but it still ached.

"You and I are calling in to work."

Edward stared. It took him almost ten seconds to process Jasper's words. "You can't call in."

"Don't worry about me."

"You just started."

"Don't worry about me. I'm not leaving you."

Edward wrapped his arms around his shoulders. He wasn't looking at Jasper anymore. He wasn't looking at anything.

"It's only Tuesday. I should work."

"Not today."

"You should work."

"Edward, I need your boss's number. Is it in your cellphone?"

It was maddening the way Edward stayed quiet, as though he hadn't heard, but Jasper knew he had. "My boss?"

"Is her number in your phone? Nevermind. I'll call Bella. Just stay put. I'll be right back."

Jasper unwound himself from Edward and headed to his own room. After he called Bella who logged Edward out sick, he called in himself. Then he went back to Edward's room.

Edward was sitting up on his bed, his legs crossed, his posture slumped. His hands were shoved deep in the pockets of his hoodie, and his stare was vacant.

Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Jasper went to sit beside him. He searched for words, but he didn't know where to start. He settled for lending his quiet support and waited for Edward to lead. He rested his hand, palm up, on Edward's knee. Edward stared at it as if he didn't recognize it, but after a moment, he pulled Jasper's hand into his lap.

Minutes passed as Edward played with his fingers. "I should have gone to work."

Jasper felt a rush of fury he had to choke down. "I don't want you anywhere near that asshole."

"What do you want me to do? You want me to quit? I can't quit."

He sounded so defeated. "You shouldn't have to quit." He bit the inside of his cheek. He knew better than to think his next words were going to go over well, but he had to try. "You should tell your dad."

"No."

"He'd help you. He'd get Aro-"

Edward flinched at his name and he pushed himself to perch on the edge of the bed. "What do you want me to tell him? Hey, Dad, you know that company you've been trying to work with forever? Well, you gotta get them to fire one of their guys because a million years ago, I was stupid enough to believe he loved me."

Jasper tried to look on the bright side. That tiny outburst was laced with emotion. Anything was better than apathy, wasn't it? "This isn't-"

"This isn't my fault?" Edward huffed. "Yes, it is."

"Edward-"

"Do you know why I never took him to meet my parents? I knew he was an asshole. You hated him. You hated him from the moment you met him. I could tell. I knew my parents would hate him, so I kept putting it off. It was my fault."

Jasper squeezed his hands. "An eighteen-year-old kid dating an asshole? Come on, Edward. You can't think you deserve what he did to you."

"I should have known better. I should have been smarter." He hung his head. His breath came in ragged pants. Without warning, he let out a rage-filled snarl as he grabbed up the lamp from the nightstand and hurled it across the room. Jasper jumped when it shattered against the wall. Edward dropped his head into his hands and tugged on his hair. "Why didn't I stop him?"

Jasper crawled across the bed. He moved slowly, out of his depth. He didn't want to make things worse. Edward didn't stop him, so Jasper knelt behind him. He wrapped his arms around his waist and drew him up and back. Edward didn't fight him. Jasper cradled him close. He felt the sharp rise and fall of Edward's chest as his shoulders shook. "That's not how it works. You know that, Edward. Why are you trying so hard to blame yourself for what he did?"

"Because I let it happen. I should have kicked his ass. I wasn't a helpless little kid."

"It doesn't say anything about you. It doesn't make you weak. You fought, and even if you hadn't, it still wouldn't have been your fault, but he… he held you down. He did that. You didn't let him."

Edward was quiet for a long time. Jasper rested his head against his back and kept his arms tight around him. "So what? I'm going to let him chase me away from my job, away from my responsibility. I'll go back to letting my father believe I'm a fuck up?" He shook his head. "I'm done being a little bitch about everything." He took a deep breath. "I'm going back to work."

Jasper's every instinct was to protect Edward. He wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around him, tuck him away so nothing in the world could hurt him ever again. But this was his battle, and he had to fight it his way. "At least ask to be taken off the project."

"Yeah." Edward hung his head. "That… that I might do."

Jasper kissed his shoulder. He lingered there, his eyes closed as he just held Edward close. After a minute, Edward spoke, his voice thin and shaky. "Can we lay down? Just for a little while?"

"Yeah. As long as you need."

They laid back and Jasper wrapped the comforter over them. He cuddled Edward close and kissed the top of his head.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't be better for you," Edward said.

Jasper sighed. "You think I don't feel the same way? I'm sorry I wasn't brave enough to tell you how I felt. Or if I couldn't have stopped this-"

"It's not your fault."

"If I couldn't have stopped this, I'm sorry I don't have the right words to fix this."

Edward was quiet. His breath shook. "I'm tired," he said after a minute. "I'm just really tired."

~0~

Esme showed up that afternoon. If she hadn't, Jasper wondered if they would still be in bed. All that day, Edward was a ghost. Jasper didn't think he slept, but he hardly moved one way or another. He didn't protest when Jasper untangled himself to go answer the door, but he didn't move either.

Jasper was equal parts relieved and dismayed to find Edward's mother outside their door. She had a bag in her hand. Her smile was tight but genuine as she looked up at Jasper in surprise. "Hey, Esme." He wanted to fall into Esme's arms. He needed a hug right then. He needed a lot of things, but he pushed it all down. He needed to be strong for Edward.

"Jasper. Carlisle told me Edward went home sick yesterday, and he called in again today. He isn't answering his phone and well…" She gave him a sheepish look. "Mothers never stop worrying."

If only she knew how much there was to worry about. "Yeah. I get you. I'm sorry. I should have answered for him."

She furrowed her brow. "What's wrong with him that you're home taking care of him? Don't you have a new job to be at, sweetie?"

"He's fine. I mean…" Jasper closed his eyes briefly. A huge part of him wanted to break down, to tell Edward's mother what was going on. He didn't know how he was going to be strong enough to get Edward through this on his own.

But he couldn't. He couldn't betray Edward that way. It was Edward's story to tell, and Jasper wasn't going to take that choice away from him.

Esme's features twisted. "Oh, no. He's not… This isn't like before, is it? He's been doing so well."

"No. It's not…" Jasper didn't know what to say. He was tiptoeing around a mine field of half-truths. Edward hadn't told his parents about them yet, so even that was off the table for the time being.

"Mom?"

Jasper and Esme both turned to see Edward in the hallway. His shoulders were hunched, his eyes drawn and tired. Esme went to her son and put her arms around him. She put her palm to his forehead and then cupped his face. "Honey, you look horrible. What's wrong?"

Edward shook his head and wrapped his arms around her. He didn't say anything. He just let her hug him.

After Esme led Edward to the couch, she spoke to him, her voice soothing. Jasper was glad. He watched a few minutes as she tried to get answers from him. She stroked her fingers through his hair and let him rest his head on her shoulder. This was what Edward needed. He needed his parents.

When he was sure Edward would be okay alone with Esme-he wasn't upset, he wasn't looking to Jasper for help-he took a walk. Before he knew it, he'd climbed into his car and was on his way to Alice's shop.

Alice took one look at him and shooed the employee she'd been talking to away. "Do you want to come to my office?" she asked.

Jasper shook his head. "No. Need somewhere no one can hear me." He didn't know what he needed until the words were out and away from him, but once he'd said them, he realized there was a terrible rage building inside him. It was exactly like knowing you were about to throw up except it was all fury and fire. Whatever was about to happen was going to be loud and horrible.

Alice's eyes widened, but she nodded. "Okay." She twined her fingers with his and led him through the shop and out the back door.

"Where are we going?" he asked when she opened the passenger side door of her car for him.

"Where we'll have some space." She held up a finger and put her phone to her ear. "Hey, Charlotte? Can you empty the place for me? An hour. Send everyone on an early lunch. My treat. Take the credit card. Yes. Thanks, Char." She disconnected the call. "Okay. Now can you tell me what's going on?"

Through gritted teeth, he told Alice about Aro coming back and how he couldn't protect Edward. How he'd had to send him off to work knowing in his gut something horrible was going to happen. What he'd wanted more than anything was to march into Edward's work, to grab Aro Scarpinato out by his prick and to make sure he would never be able to use it again. He wanted to show Aro exactly how it felt to be made helpless as someone hurt him without mercy. He wanted him to see how he liked it when he said stop, because Jasper wouldn't.

By that time, Jasper was vibrating with rage. Alice stopped the car, and he barely registered that they were in some industrial lot in front of a small warehouse. She opened the door and ushered him inside.

"Let it out, Jazz."

He didn't at first. He stood stock still and gnashed his teeth. But in the next heartbeat he was primal screaming. He swung his arm out, needing to punch something, and only barely snatched it back in time.

"Have at it, hon. All the boxes are filled with clothes."

That was all Jasper needed to hear. He drove his fist into the side of the box.

Minutes passed in a blur. Jasper pummeled the hell out of the defenseless box until it fell over, then he turned to the next one. He didn't stop until he was exhausted and out of breath. He sunk into a squat and gripped his hair, wincing as his scraped knuckles protested. His anger wasn't nearly spent, but his lungs were too tight. He drew in sharp gasps, the sound as thin and broken as his hear.

He heard the click clack of Alice's heels as she approached. She knelt beside him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"I'm sorry." Jasper was wracked with coughs. His throat was raw from screaming. "I made a mess."

"You think I care about a mess? Come on. Get up. There's a couch in the break room."

Jasper let her pull him up and into a room nearby. "I don't know what to do, Alice. I can't stand the thought of him going to work with that asshole. What? I have to wait for Aro to try something else or wait for Edward to withdraw again? Even if that fucker doesn't so much as look at him, what is this going to do to Edward?" He put his hands over his eyes, overwhelmed and more scared than he knew how to deal with. "Am I doing the right thing? I should tell his parents. Carlisle would help. I know he would, but how could I take away Edward's choice? I can't betray him like that."

He growled, frustrated. "We were doing okay. He was doing so much better than he has in years. Why did this have to happen? Seattle is a big city. Why did he have to show up again? And why can't I kill the bastard? It would be doing the world a favor."

Alice rubbed his back. "I wish there was an easy answer here. Or if not easy, I wish I knew the right answer."

"Well, fuck. If you don't know, I'm really screwed." Jasper rubbed his eyes. "Can't you tell the future, sugar? Tell me what will happen so I know how to help him." He sighed, and his shoulder sagged. "If I were sure it was the right thing, I'd tell his parents in a heartbeat. But he trusts me. He doesn't trust anyone, but he trusts me. I don't know what it would do to him if I broke that trust. I don't know what it would do to us. But I let him go to work yesterday, and look what happened. Last night was horrible."

"But necessary. You know he had to realize he was raped to begin to deal with it."

"Are you saying it's a good thing Aro showed up?"

"Of course not, but you can't undo that. I don't know, Jasper. Edward has been running for so long. Maybe having to literally confront his demon will be the catalyst he needs to finally deal with this."

"Before or after his life falls apart?"

"We won't let that happen. He has all of us now, even if Bella doesn't know the specifics, she won't let him slip away."

Jasper raised his head to stare at her. "Do you think that's what I did? You think I saw him destroying his life and I just let it happen? It didn't work like that."

"Of course that's not what I think." Alice looked as lost as Jasper felt. "I'm just saying neither of you are alone. What can we do but wait and see how he deals with this? I mean … I'm sure Aro wouldn't try something in Edward's father's office."

Jasper clenched his fists. "I'll kill him." His shoulders slumped. "You know what's the truly fucked up thing? That filthy asshole probably has no idea what he did to Edward. He didn't back then. I don't know if that should make me feel better in this case. He just thinks Edward is his ex-boyfriend. I guess that means I can hope he doesn't think of Edward like that anymore. I mean, he left him alone four years ago after they broke up."

He sighed and stood. "We should get back. I should go back home and see how he's doing."

"Okay." Alice wrapped him in a tight hug. "Just remember to take care of yourself, too. You can't help Edward if you're falling apart." She took his hands and rubbed her thumb under the wounds on his knuckles. "Maybe we should invest in boxing gloves."

Jasper wrapped her in a tight hug.

"We're going to get through this."

"That's my line."

"Not this time. It's your turn to listen."

A/N: So many thanks to my girls. And thanks to you. How we doing out there, everyone?