Jasper Whitlock

I stood in the kitchen and waited for Garrett's arrival. It was the smartest move. He was coming in hot and fast. I tried to gauge how he was feeling, but he was using one of our old tricks; because our minds ran on battle-mode, if we let our minds run at full speed, everything flashed by too fast to catch. Garrett was doing this. He was feeling emotions, he was just feeling too many that I couldn't tell which ones were truthful.

Garrett arrived. I just stood there, arms crossed against my chest.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Just thought I'd come by and check on you," Garrett said. "With you acting so weird lately. …What's that sweet scent?" Garrett smiled. "Can I hear a heart beating? Major Whitlock, what do you have here? Have you taken on a pet of your own? Is that why you didn't save that girl from the Cullens?"

"Cut the crap, Garrett," I said.

"She told you I was coming?" Garrett's smile faltered. "That's surprising."

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "I'm fine, everything's fine, we don't need you here."

"Now, now," Garrett said, "don't be so hasty. According to the girl, you are her mate, at least you think you are. I'm not certain what she thinks."

I stayed silent.

"Is this true?" Garrett asked. "You think you've mated with a human."

"I don't think," I growled, "I know."

"How do you know?" he asked.

"I just know."

"Tell me why?"

He was just as bad as Bella. Why did I have to explain myself?

"I just know, it's instinctual, like most vampire things."

"Fine, answer me two questions," Garrett said. "First, do you love her?"

"Yes."

Garrett was still keeping a close lock on his true emotions, I hoped he would be accepting of this.

"Second," he asked, "what do you plan do to about this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Will you kill her? Will you change her? Do you plan on staying with her forever?"

Well, that was easy.

"I plan to stay with her forever."

"Right," Garrett said, "leave now."

"Excuse me."

"Leave," Garrett repeated, "I need to talk to her alone."

"I won't do that." I stood my ground.

"Leave now," Garrett boomed.

"I don't take orders from you."

"Do you want me to make you leave?" Garrett asked. "I'm only going to talk to her."

I didn't trust him, not entirely.

"I won't be so forgiving if you make me tell you again," Garrett said. "Leave and don't come back until I say you can."

I couldn't do that, but I knew Garrett well. He didn't tolerate much, he was older than me, he cared for me. He wouldn't harm my mate... not unless he thought she was a threat to me. I could feel his annoyance and nothing good ever came from that.

"You do anything," I warned him, "and I will hunt you down. I don't care if we are friends, I will kill you."

Garrett went to open his mouth, but I didn't stick around to hear him. I would not let him repeat himself. He would be fine, Bella would be fine, everything would be fine. I ran far enough away that I was out of Garrett's range, but close enough that I could still feel Bella's emotions. If anything happened, I could get there in time, I hoped.

Bella Swan

It wasn't long after Jasper left that Bella heard noises downstairs. She carefully got out of bed and got redressed, she didn't want Garrett to see her scars, or her naked body. Once done, she still wasn't disturbed so Bella took the time to make the bed. Now that her stitches were out, she was feeling better. It was the last thing holding her back from doing more physical stuff. The bed was made and she carefully sat on it, waiting for Garrett.

When he arrived, he leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed against his chest. His eyes were bright red, his face completely unreadable. Garrett laid his eyes on the Major's mate and he was a little impressed. If this was the girl the Cullen's took, then she was strong. It helped that she held Garrett's gaze with no fear on her face.

"Where's Jasper?" Bella asked.

"Away."

She wasn't sure if she believed that. Jasper was either still here, or he trusted Garrett enough to leave them alone.

Bella stood up and slowly made her way over to Garrett. She may be healed, but she was still stiff from spending so much time on the couch. She stopped in front of him and mirrored his posture with her arms crossed against her chest.

"What's your name?" Garrett asked.

"Bella."

He nodded. "Sit back down, you shouldn't be standing."

Bella faltered, but did as he said. She sat back on the bed and Garrett walked into the room.

"Major Whitlock cares for you," Garrett said, "he loves you, he believes you're his mate. I don't think he's lying, he believes this, what I have a problem with is you. Is he your mate?"

"I'm not sure," Bella answered. "Two of the Cullens were mated, but they never explained what that meant."

"Do you love him?"

"Yes."

"What are your plans for the future? With and without the Major?"

"Umm, I guess our immediate plans are to track down the Cullens and kill them, past that, I haven't really thought about it. I want to stay with Jasper though, and maybe go home and see my dad, I don't know."

"When will you become a vampire?" Garrett asked.

"What do you mean?"

"If you're the Major's mate, you can't stay human forever."

"I think we're both happy with how things are right now," Bella said, "but to be honest, I'm not ready to make the change yet."

"Why not?"

"Because of what the Cullens did to me, the fact that I'm only sixteen, I don't know," Bella shrugged, "I don't feel as though it's something I need to rush into. Jasper has never brought it up, so..."

"That is the most curious thing about this whole mess," Garrett said, "in your messages you claimed that the Major needed my help in accepting you as his mate, specifically because you're human, but I asked him the same questions as you and he didn't mention changing you either, it's not a priority of his."

"What does this mean?" Bella asked. "Does he not love me? Is it all a lie? Like the Cullens?"

"No, he..." Garrett trailed off. "I think he likes you as you are. It's unlike him, but then again, I never thought he'd fall in love. I thought he was like me, destined to be forever alone, but if he's found you, maybe there's someone out there for me too."

"Is Jasper really not here?" Bella asked.

"I sent him away."

"And he went? Why?"

"Because I told him to. Our relationship is a complex one," Garrett said, "I am the only person that could bring him down and he knows that."

"I don't understand it," Bella said, "if Jasper thinks he can best the Cullens easily, then why are you such a match for him?"

"Let me show you," Garrett said, pulling a stack of parchment out of his jacket pocket and handing it to Bella.

Bella unfolded the pieces and she was immediately in awe. The parchment held more sketches of Jasper from his human days.

"I know him," Garrett said, "better than anyone, and when you know someone so fully, then you know how to destroy them. Take the Cullens for example," Bella tensed up, "they got you good, no doubt about that, but if they'd done it right, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now, you'd be dead, or unresponsive. Are you following me?"

"Umm, no," Bella said, unable to take her eyes off the top sketch. It was one of Jasper stitching up a young boy, one of his soldiers, it reminded her of how he'd taken care of her.

"Aside from Jasper," Garrett said, "who is the most important person in your life?"

Bella looked up from the sketch. "I don't know, probably my mom and dad."

"Good," Garrett said. "Now, what if either of them had done to you what the Cullens did?"

"No," Bella said, "I won't think of them that way."

"What did I say wrong?" Garrett asked.

Bella didn't answer him.

"Fine, let me try again," Garrett said, "imagine that one of them said they didn't love you, that they didn't want you anymore, it would hurt right, crush you?"

"Yes."

"See, it's more impactful when you know and love and trust the person. That's why I can bring Jasper down so easily."

"I still don't think I understand."

"Forget it," Garrett said, "maybe you're not smart enough to understand why. I'm going for a hunt, I'll send Jasper back."

And then he was gone. Bella stared after him. She wasn't stupid. She could understand parts of why Garrett might be able to best Jasper, but in her eyes Jasper would never just back down and let Garrett win, he would fight and he would win. She decided it didn't matter. Garrett didn't seem hostile so she was certain he wasn't here to harm either of them.

Bella looked at the next sketch. It was another one of Jasper, he was sitting at the base of a tree, with a guitar on his lap, he even had a cowboy hat on. He looked so at ease and not as though he was in the middle of a war, but his abandoned uniform jacket that lay on the ground beside him ensured Bella that he was.

Jasper Whitlock

Standing my ground was hard, but necessary. Both Garrett and Bella were relatively level in their emotions and not long later I felt Garrett leave the house. He sent me a message telling me that he was going for a hunt and that he would be back. I wasted no time in getting back to my Swan.

"What did he do to you?" I asked Bella as I burst into the bedroom. She was sitting on the bed, unharmed, looking at something.

"Come over here," she said.

I couldn't believe she was okay. She wasn't even feeling any negative emotions.

I joined her on the bed and she tilted what she had in her hands towards me. It was another sketch of me. She had several of them. I didn't take them off her, Garrett had given them to her, not me. The first one was of me stitching a wounded soldier up.

"Do you remember his name?" Bella asked as she handed it to me.

"No," I said, as I stared at it.

"Look on the back," she told me.

I turned the sketch over, Garrett had written on it.

Major Whitlock tending to Private Logan Mulligan - 23 July 1862.

"There's more," Bella handed me another sketch.

It was a group photo, except I could tell it had been spliced together from Garrett's memory, we didn't pose for this, and as a result, we all looked happy. We were smiling and laughing. I turned it over.

Whitlock's Soldiers - 1863.

It had everyone's names too. Bella handed me another sketch. It was of me sleeping against a tree.

"You really seem to love resting against trees," Bella said, handing me another sketch of me lounging against a tree. In this one I had a cowboy hat on and was playing a guitar. It didn't really seem to fit in with the rest. Had Garrett fabricated this one? I turned it over.

Major Whitlock loses a bet - 1 April 1862.

"You played guitar?" Bella asked.

"I don't remember," I told her. "Maybe I can ask Garrett about it.

Bella handed me a series of five sketches, they were like a comic strip. In the first, I was in the trenches with my weapon, focused on the enemy. Next, I was looking behind me, wide-eyed. Next, I was on the move, out of the trench and in the open. Next, I was kneeling beside a wounded soldier on the battlefield. And lastly, I had picked the man up, over my shoulder, and retreated.

"I know you say you're the worst of the worst," Bella said, "but what you did when you were human, well, it's much like what you did for me. You found me, you saved me, you stitched me up."

She was right. Maybe this represented who I truly was; a helper. Maybe everything I did under Maria's command was only because I had lost who I once was.

"Is there any more?" I asked.

"Just one," Bella said, handing it to me, "but it's incomplete."

It was a sketch of my face, close up. Bella thought it was incomplete, and in many ways, it was. It only showed half my face, the rest was lightly shaded. It wasn't like Garrett to leave it unfinished, it had to be intentional. I flipped it over.

Major Whitlock, where are you? I'm sorry I left you, I will find you - 16 September 1863

"Do you think it's from the last time he ever saw you?" Bella asked. "You look tired, aged. In the other ones, I think he idealized you a little, made you seem more carefree and perfect. I don't know, but I think this is the truest representation of you from that time. The last time he ever saw you."

"He was supposed to be with me that night," I told Bella. "We were evacuating women and children and it was on the way back to Galveston that I was changed. I know he blames himself. I don't, he needed to feed. I guess it's like me and you, if we had known, we would've stepped in, but you can never know. I hope he can see how happy I am now, how in love I am." I set the sketches aside. "If all the fucked-up shit I had to go through was so that I could live to meet you, then I don't fucking care, because I love you, my Swan. I don't know why, I know I don't deserve you, but I love you, you're my mate, and no one, not even Garrett, will come between us. I promise you that."

"I love you too, Jasper," she said as she leaned forward and kissed me.