Stephenie Meyers owns it all.

Chapter 21 – Love Lost

When we got home, Jasper was on the phone with Jenks. The house closing had just been finished. The attorney that he had hired locally to handle the details was overnighting him the paperwork, and as soon as he got it, he would be overnighting it to us. That meant that Charlie could move into his house tomorrow. I was sure that that wasn't the reason why fury was written all over his face, and you could practically see the steam coming out of his ears. Jenks had also said that the divorce paperwork was being held up. Sue was trying to contest the divorce, saying that Charlie couldn't disclose the real reason that there were irreconcilable differences. Jasper took one look at Charlie and told Jenks to "convince her." Then he hung up the phone.

I went to Charlie and put my arm around his shoulder, pulling him away from everyone else. "Dad, don't worry about it. We'll get you moved into your home tomorrow. You'll be able to have some privacy, finally, and our attorney will take care of things in Forks. He can be very convincing when he needs to be."

"Bells, I just want that chapter of my life to be over with. I'm applying for the police department tomorrow. Did I tell you that?"

"No, Dad. You didn't. What are you going to put on the application as far as experience goes?"

"Bella, Carlisle has coached me well. I was the Chief of Police in Anchorage, Alaska for the past 12 years, working the streets for the 5 years before that. All reference material will go to the P.O. Box that is forwarded to Jenks."

"Very good, Dad. You catch on quickly."

"Don't worry. I'm not about to give you guys away. I know how important it is that you fully disappear when you leave a place. I'll protect you with my life, baby."

"I love you, too, Dad," I said reaching for him and giving him a hug, not too tight. He hugged me back. Charlie has gotten much more affectionate since he has been living with us.

We gave Alice her homework and told her about the unit exam for A&P. She didn't seem worried about it, and she sat down and worked through the packet of material without any problems. She finished the rest of her homework quickly. Then we all went out for a hunt together. We ran for miles, just enjoying the wind blowing through our hair. When we ran across deer, we avoided them. We had all had enough deer to last a lifetime. We were looking for something larger, more predatory. Edward managed to find a den of bobcats which he enjoyed immensely. Alice found a den of coyote which she enjoyed. Rosalie and Emmett shared a couple of black bears, and that left Jasper and me. Try as we might, neither of us could find anything that smelled the least bit appetizing. The closer that we got to Canada, the more that I found a delicious odor that I'd never smelled before. I looked at Jasper and saw that he was licking his lips as well. We honed in on the scent and went into tracking mode. The others just let us go. We trailed the animals over several miles until we happened upon a den. There we found a family of timber wolves. We pounced, each taking down two of them. I fed like there was no tomorrow. The blood called to me. It was so good. I found myself licking my lips when I was finished with the two that I had brought down. I was fully satisfied with the amount that I had drank, but I wanted more. I looked at Jasper, and he was leaning back with a grin on his face.

"Was that as good for you as it was for me?" I asked him.

"Bella, that was the best that I've had since I drank from a human," he said. "I don't know why their blood called to me that way, but it was wonderful."

"I'm so full, but I want more," I told him.

"I know what you mean," he said. "but we need to save them so that we can come back and get more another time. We don't want to kill off the species."

"You're right. Help me get rid of these carcasses?" He got up and together we buried the wolf carcasses. Then we headed back to the others.

"Well, what did you two find. You have shit-eating grins on your faces," Emmett said.

"Timber wolves," Jasper said. "They were delectable."

"Bella, you drank from a wolf? You swore that you'd never taste a wolf," Edward said.

"I couldn't help it. They smelled so good! Oh My God! I never thought that I'd come across something that would call to me that way!" I said.

"Humans don't call to you that way?" Alice asked.

"No, not at all. They don't even come close," I said, laughing. "I guess that it is a good thing that I don't go to school with timber wolves, isn't it." The others laughed with me. "Let's hope that there isn't ever a show and tell about wolves."

We all headed back to the house. We took our time and got home just as Carlisle was pulling into the driveway. Alice told us that the next day was going to be sunny, so we all resigned ourselves to being around the house. I pulled up one of the more comfortable chairs and started reading. About midnight, Edward asked me if I wanted to work on my Spanish some, so we did that until sundown the next day when we went to our P.O. Box and got Charlie's keys to the new house. We spent the next several hours unloading his two U-hauls of furniture and arranging his new house. We finished that around 3 a.m. Charlie had already gone to bed back at our house, calling it quits at midnight. Who could blame him? We all wished that we could sleep, so we weren't denying him any that he could get at all. After his house was finished, we went back to ours, and did our own thing until sunrise.

Carlisle wrote the five of us notes to get back into school. Then when it was time, we piled into our cars and made the already tedious trip to the concrete jungle. We went to gym, and after we all dressed our, we took our places on the dodgeball court. This was the one aspect of our day when we actually did have fun. Mr. Mitchell decided to liven things up a little bit. He added two more balls, meaning that we'd have to keep up with four balls now instead of just two. It made it all the more fun. We were ducking and dodging, falling to the floor and jumping. No matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't seem to hit one of us. It still came down to the six of us, but now there were four balls for us to play with. The decision was made among us to throw the balls just a little harder than we were throwing them before, yet still not hard enough for them to disappear to the regular eye, of course. They decided to pick on me first; Emmett shouting, "Bella." All four balls came flying towards me. I could tell that I could avoid three of them easily by falling to the floor, but the fourth one was going to be tricky. I would have to roll at the same time to my left and forward, but I would come close to going out of bounds. At the last second, I dive rolled to my left, hitting the floor harder than I wanted to, making a crashing sound and leaving a small dent in the floor. I scrambled back up quickly, but unfortunately, my shield had decided to go off. The last ball decided to bounce off of my shield. Because my back was to the bleachers, I think that everyone thought that I got hit. They started clapping, anyway. My siblings had a horrific look on their faces. I just went to the sidelines and took a seat. Mr. Mitchell had a funny look on his face; he was on the other side of the gym, and I'm pretty sure that he saw the ball miss me and bounce away anyway. He didn't say anything, though. My siblings, eventually got their acts together and ran after the balls. They finished with the game with Alice and Edward left. Neither of them could get the other one out. It ended in a draw, just like most of their battles do.

The rest of the morning went off without a hitch. At break, we held our breath that Kurt wouldn't approach Jasper, and we were relieved when he didn't. We were relieved when he didn't at lunch either. We went to English II and took our assigned seats, with me sitting in front of Kurt. We hadn't had any problems with him so far in the day. I guess that we had gotten complacent. He immediately started bugging me. He was whispering things in my ear. He was touching my hair. I would pull away from him and scoot my chair forward, but he just scooted his forward as well. I could tell that Edward was about to interrupt class and give him a piece of his mind, when Mrs. Willis went to the side of the classroom to the cabinets. She was getting something out from under one of them when my vampire hearing went on alert. I could hear the soft warning of a rattle. I immediately looked at Edward and Alice. They were on alert as well. Then, Mrs. Willis screamed and jumped back. Edward jumped out of his seat and told Alice to run get Jasper. He rushed to her and slammed the door shut. He pulled her away from the door and told everybody who was sitting by the cabinets to move away from them and get near the wall. I was by him while he looked at her hand. She definitely had two well spaced puncture marks. They were about two centimeters apart, right about three quarters of an inch. She was already starting to swell. He took a red pen and drew a line around the redness on her hand. The people beside the cabinets weren't moving very fast, and I told them to move, that there was a snake in the cabinets. He then told me to call Carlisle and tell him to get Crofab ready..

I dialed Carlisle's direct number. He answered, and I said, "Carlisle, are you in the ER today?"

"Yes, why?"

"One of our teachers just got snake bit. She is already swelling with erythema. It has only been three minutes. Edward says that you need Crofab and lots of it. We're calling Paramedics."

"Okay, we don't have Crofab here, but we'll arrange transfer. Get her here ASAP."

"Yes sir. Edward, they don't stock Crofab, but they're arranging her transfer as we're speaking."

All of the screams had alerted the teacher from across the hall. Mr. Nelson came into the room. "What the hell is going on in here?"

"Mrs. Willis has been snake bit," Edward said, walking her to her seat, keeping her hand elevated above her heart. When it had been five minutes, he drew another red line around the redness.

At that point, Jasper came in with Alice. "Alice told me. Alice, go to the car and get me a cloth bag. Then I'm going to need a long stick. He looked at me and asked me, "Where is it?" I pointed to the cabinet that she was reaching into. He started moving desks away from the area so that he would have room to work. When Alice came back into the room with the bag and the stick, he looked around the room. "Every one get back." Then he went to the cabinet and opened the door. He took the flashlight that Alice handed him and asked me to hold it for him. I shined it to where he was pointing. It shone on numerous sets of eyes. "There is a bed of them. I'll try to get them one at a time." He took the stick and reached it into the cabinet. He pulled it forward and everyone in the room could hear the rattle this time. When he yanked it out of the cabinet, it brought with it a three foot rattlesnake. There were several screams. He used the stick to get control of the snake, then he pinned down it's head. He reached down and took it by the head, picking it up. He went to the bag that Alice held, and dropped it into the bag. Alice immediately twisted the bag, holding it above the twist. Then he opened the door again. I shined the light back into the bed again. He took the stick and brought out another snake, this time a little smaller. He again worked with it until he could get it's head pinned. Then he reached down and picked it up, again depositing it in the bag that Alice held.

"What the hell is going on in this room?" Mr. Vance asked as he walked in.

"There is a bed of snakes in that cabinet," Mr. Nelson said. "Mrs. Willis has been bitten. We're waiting on the ambulance to come and get her."

"May I ask what Mr. Hale is doing here instead of in his classroom?" Mr. Vance asked.

"He seems to be catching the snakes, sir," Mr. Nelson said.

"He is doing what?" Mr. Vance cried. "We can't allow him to do that! He might be hurt! Young man, go back to your classroom, immediately."

"No sir. I know snakes. I'm going to finish getting these. I doubt that you have another snake handler in town, sir," Jasper said. "Now, please back up." He opened the door again, and I shined the flashlight for him. He hooked another snake and pulled it out. He almost immediately got this one pinned and picked it up. He put it into the bag. Then he went back into the cabinet. There were at least four left. He hooked another one, but this time, two came out with the stick. He pushed Alice and me back, even though they couldn't have hurt us. Then he scooped one and grabbed it by the tail, throwing it back into the cabinet, before he caught the second one trying to make a getaway. He coolly brought it back into his working area where he pinned it, picked it up, and put it into the bag.

"What kind of snakes are those?" Mr. Nelson asked.

"Timber rattlers. They are an endangered species. We can't kill them. I'll go into the woods and release them after school," Jasper said. He very carefully opened the door, expecting the other snake to be right at the entrance, and it was. As soon as the door was opened, it struck at him, missing him by several inches. It plopped out onto the floor. He had to play around with this one for several minutes because it was worked up and mad. Eventually, he got it pinned. He put it into the bag.

By this time, the ambulance had arrived. They brought the stretcher into the room and placed Mrs. Willis onto it. Edward had marked the increments of the swelling and redness by five minute increments. The paramedics tried to get IV access, but were unable to do so. I saw Jasper starting to lose it because of the smell of blood from their misses. It was strong to me as well. "Edward, they need to get her to the hospital. Carlisle can get the blasted IV," I said out loud, and then in vampire volume, I added, "and Jasper and I aren't liking the smell of that blood very much. They need to leave."

"She's right. Get her to the hospital. You can try for the IV en route. My Dad is waiting on her to transfer her out," Edward said.

I walked up to Jasper and put my arm around him. "Do you want to walk outside with me for a second? I need a breath of fresh air."

He looked at me, his eyes glazed over, and said, "Yeah, I do. Let's go. Nobody open those doors. There are at least three more in there. I'm going outside for just a little bit. I need to calm my nerves." I took him by the hand, and we walked by the paramedics and through the door. We walked to the end of the hall and outside into the fresh air. I led him around to the side of the building where nobody could see us or hear us, well, except for our siblings of course.

"You did good in there, Jazz. You held it together very well," I said, still holding his hand.

"I couldn't have for much longer. The smell was getting to me. It was ten times as good to me as the timber wolves were. I wanted to go over and suck her dry, Bella. I wanted to kill her."

"But you didn't. You held it together. You kept your cool, and there was actual blood, not just within her veins, but she was actually bleeding. You did great, Jazz. I'm so proud of you." I reached up and gave him a huge hug. "We won't go back in until they leave with her." So we waited. We both took big breaths of fresh air. When they finally wheeled her out and put her into the ambulance, we got up and walked back into the building. Jasper and I walked into the classroom. Edward and Alice gave us both questioning looks, and we both smiled at them.

Jasper got his stick which he had propped against the wall when we left and went back to the cabinets. He opened the door, and I shined the light into the bed of snakes. He hooked one after another, and soon the bed was cleared. Then he and I made sure to clear all of the other cabinets in the room. One snake had managed to go down two cabinets, and Jasper cleared that one out as well. Once the cabinets were cleared, Mr. Vance came up to Jasper and thanked him. Jasper told him that it wasn't any problem, that he'd been handling snakes since he was a little boy. He then took the bag away from Alice and secured the top. He took it outside into the cold weather where it would slow the snakes' metabolism so that it would be easier to return them to nature this afternoon.

The bell had rung while we were still wrangling the snakes, so we were late for Anatomy and Physiology. We asked Mr. Vance if he would give us a tardy slip for our next class, and he said that he would walk us there himself. We thanked him, and when we opened the door for A&P, Mrs. Mayatt started to say something about our being late for class. Mr. Vance told her about the situation in Mrs. Willis' room and that we'd helped to clear out the snakes. He told her to give us excused tardies. She nodded her head and gave us our tests. We took our seats and began to work them. We finished them with time to spare, handing them in before anyone else in the class did. She asked us if we were sure that we didn't want to go over them again, and we all said that we were confident that we didn't. She took them and graded them. We all had perfect papers. When the bell rang, she called us to the front of the room. "How did you all do that?" she asked.

"Do what?" Alice asked.

"Have perfect papers," she answered.

"We studied," Edward answered.

"Did you cheat?" she asked.

"Only if studying together is considered cheating," I said. "We've been study partners for years."

"How did you come from such an adrenaline inducing activity as seeing your teacher snake bit and helping capturing a bed full of rattlesnakes and calmly take a unit test, most of which you weren't present for, and still score perfect papers?" she asked.

"Well, first of all, when you are in an emergency situation, first take your own pulse. If it is higher than your patient's, take a step back and regroup. Our father is a doctor. We've been in emergency situations in the past several times. He taught us to always be calm when the situation around us was chaotic. So, to have Mrs. Willis injured wasn't traumatic for us. We just stepped up and performed basic wilderness first aid. We've been campers all of our lives. As far as Jasper catching the snakes. He has been doing that all of his life, since he was a little boy. He's never been bitten. He knows what he's doing. If it had been anybody else, we might have been nervous, but when you trust the person that you're helping, you don't have an adrenaline rush about it. So, no, we weren't on any kind of adrenaline rush when we came into your class today. As far as the unit test goes, we studied. If you prepare for a test, there is no reason to be frightened of it," Edward said.

"I see. So you're saying that you felt no anxiety at all during the whole event?" Mrs. Mayatt asked.

"No, I didn't say that. I felt anxiety for her when Carlisle said that the local hospital didn't stock Crofab. She had a severe envenomation, and she really needs the antivenin as soon as they can get it to her. It definitely wasn't a dry bite like I was hoping that it was," Edward said.

"Who is Carlisle?" Mrs. Mayatt asked.

"Our adopted father. He is a surgeon and works at the local ER," Edward said.

"You said that your father is a doctor," Mrs. Mayatt said.

"Our fathers' were doctors. Ours, the Hale's, and Carlisle, worked together where we grew up. We were all neighbors. Our father and the Hale's father were killed coming back from a conference four months ago. Carlisle adopted us all," Edward said. "Now, if you don't have any more questions, we need to get to our last class."

"Sure, go ahead," Mrs. Mayatt said. Edward put his arm around my shoulder and the three of us walked out of her room. We headed towards the driver's ed classroom. Today was our day to drive. We went to the driver's ed car and piled in. We took our turns and returned to school.

When we returned to school, we were a few minutes late. We saw a group of boys gathered around where Jasper had left the snakes. We flew out of the car and ran over to where they were gathered. Of course, Kurt was in the middle of the crowd. He had the bag and was starting to untie the knot in the top of the bag. Just at that moment, Jasper was coming out of the doors of the school. When he saw what was happening, he took off running for the boys as well. Edward, being the fastest of us, got there first. He tackled Kurt, knocking the bag out of his hands. Alice got there next, throwing three of the boys out of the way as the bag hit the ground, open. I got there about the same time as Jasper. One of the snakes was about to strike at one of the boys. I pushed him out of the way as Jasper grabbed at the snake, picking up the bag at the same time. Emmett and Rosalie were there by now, and Jasper threw the bag at Emmett who caught it and twisted it so no more would escape. Rosalie threw the remaining boys out of the snakes' range. The one that Jasper had grabbed during the strike had turned on him and was trying to strike at him. He tossed it to the ground and yelled at Alice to bring him a stick. The other two were trying to get away. He ran to them, one at a time, and grabbing them by the tails, he tossed them back into a kind of central area. Alice ran around to the front of the school where she'd left his stick from earlier and grabbed it, throwing it to Jasper. He caught it and separating one from the others, pinned it and picked it up. He put it in the bag that Emmett opened for him, then he went back and got the other two. When he was finished, he tied the bag again, this time making sure that Emmett had it, then he went over to where Edward had Kurt by the collar.

"What were you thinking? Were you trying to get yourself killed? Were you trying to get your buddies killed? Those things kill people! They don't just play around! They're not just toys that you can play with! You're out of your mind! If you have a death wish, there's many easier ways to commit suicide than to play with poisonous snakes," Jasper yelled, then he threw Kurt to the ground. The crowd around him parted as he turned and walked away, taking the bag out of Emmett's hands. We followed him to the car. He put the bag into the trunk of the Porsche, and we climbed into the car. He peeled out of the school parking lot and sped towards home.

"Slow down," Alice and Edward screamed together, but it was too late. Blue lights came on in the rear view mirror blocks from the school. Jasper swore and pulled over.

He took several deep breaths trying to calm himself. It didn't work. He was still furious and breathing hard when the officer approached the car. To our chagrin, Charlie was with him, a frown on his face. "Where's the fire, young man?" the officer asked. "Why did you feel it was necessary to leave the school grounds like that?"

He took several deep breaths, but still couldn't talk calmly. Edward leaned over. "We just had a confrontation with a student who tried to let out a bag of rattlesnakes in a crowd of people. Jasper here had to catch them before they could hurt someone. He's a little tense right now."

"Yeah, you think that I was born yesterday? Rattlesnakes aren't out in this weather, young man," the officer said.

"There was a bed of them in the cabinets of one of the classrooms. Out teacher was bitten. Jasper was the one who caught all of them. He put them in a tied bag outside to decrease their metabolism so that we could release them this afternoon, and one of the other students thought that it would be funny to release them into a crowd of students on school grounds. Jasper had to recatch three of them," Edward said.

"So, where are these rattlesnakes now," the officer asked.

"In the trunk," Jasper said, calming down, finally.

"Show me," the officer said. Jasper got out of the car, taking the keys, and opened the trunk. Charlie stood well back, and the other officer came towards Jasper as he picked up the bag.

"Do you want to see the actual snakes?" Jasper asked. The officer nodded. Jasper opened the tie, and held the bag open so that the officer could peer inside. We all laughed, including Charlie, when the officer jumped about two feet in the air and three feet backwards. "Seen enough?" Jasper asked, and the officer nodded. Jasper retied the knot and placed the bag back into the trunk, closing it afterwards. He went back around and got back into the driver's seat.

The other officer came back to the driver's window and asked, "You caught those single handedly?"

"No, Alice and Bella helped me. Ali held the bag, and Bella held the flashlight."

"And what did you do, young man?" the officer asked.

"I treated Mrs. Willis until the paramedics arrived," Edward said.

"Charlie, do you believe this? This must be a strange day for you, being your first day on the job and all," the first officer said.

"No, Frank. This is old hat for me. The kids in my old town were just like these here. You never knew what they'd come up with. In fact, these kids are just like my daughter, her boyfriend, and her best friends. I miss them a lot. I hope to see them soon," Charlie said with a big grin on his face.

"Well, what would you do? Would you ticket them?" the first officer asked.

"Nope. From what they said, I sure wouldn't. I think that the guy that let out the snakes is lucky to still be alive, and if Jasper here was able to catch the snakes again and save all of those school kids from being bitten, we kind of owe him one. Don't cha think?" Charlie said.

"Well, when you put it that way, I agree. Now, don't let me catch you driving like that again, young man. I won't be so nice next time," the first officer said.

"Yes sir," Jasper said, starting the car. The police went back to their car and drove away, and Jasper followed.

When we pulled into our driveway, I pulled out my phone and dialed Charlie's number. He answered. "Are you going to get into trouble if I talk to you?"

"Nope. I just can't talk long," Charlie said. "They're pretty laid back here."

"We just wanted to thank you for what you did for Jasper."

"No problem. I meant everything when I said it. I love you."

"I love you too, Dad. Bye."

"Bye."
I hung up the phone and we went inside. Emmett immediately accosted Jasper about being pulled over. "Did you get a ticket? Huh?"

"No, Emmett. I did not get a ticket. The snakes scared him enough that he decided not to give me a ticket," Jasper said.

"I can't believe that you got pulled over. That's a first for us! And you had both the mind reader and the psychic in the car with you. Amazing," Emmett went on.

"Just drop it, okay Emmett," Jasper said.

"Oh, No! This is too good to just drop. Jasper got pulled over, Jasper got pulled over, Jasper got pulled over," Emmett repeated in a sing song voice.

Jasper leaped and went for Emmett's throat. He latched his teeth into the back of Emmett's neck and ripped out a large piece of his neck and shoulder slinging it onto the floor. Emmett's scream echoed though the house. Edward and Alice were immediately on Jasper, trying to pull him away from Emmett, but he was like a madman. He sank his teeth into Emmett's neck again, twisting his head back and forth, ripping another large chunk from Emmett's shoulder. This time, as he leaned to spit the flesh onto the floor, Edward got enough leverage to sever Jasper's hold on Emmett's body. He and Alice managed to pull get Jasper to the floor, and I helped them to pin him down. Alice was trying to call out to Jasper to get his attention, but nothing that she said was getting through to him. He was face down on the floor, and I leaned over and whispered into his ear, "Jasper, please calm down. You're scaring me." He suddenly quit fighting and laid still. I leaned over and whispered into his ear again. "Thank you, Jasper. That's better." I got off of his back. I looked at Edward and with my eyes, told him to let him go. Alice followed suit. Jasper slowly got up. He turned around and looked at Emmett, then he ran out of the house and into the woods. "Aren't you going to follow him?" I asked Alice.

"No. When he gets like this, he needs to be alone," she said. I looked around at the others in the room. No one made a move to follow him. "Aren't any of you going to go after him?"

"No, Bella. He'll eventually come back. In a few days or a few weeks, when he's worked it out for himself, he'll be back," Edward said.

"That's bullshit," I said, and I took off after Jasper. With my newborn speed, it wasn't long before I had caught up with him. I just let him run ahead of me, following about a hundred yards behind him.

When he finally stopped, sometime in the wee hours of the morning, I stopped as well. I didn't approach him; I just waited. "Why are you here?" he asked me.

"I thought that you might need a friend," I answered.

"I don't deserve a friend," he stated, "not after what I just did."

"Bullshit! You are my friend, and you don't stop being my friend just because you make a mistake," I told him. I walked up a little closer to him. "If that were the way it worked, then I wouldn't have any friends at all, because I make a lot of mistakes."

"No, you don't, Bella. You're a good person. Not like me. I have this evil built into my core. When I lose it, the evil comes to the surface. I hurt the people that I love, Bella. The others know this. That's why they let me go. That's why they don't follow me anymore. They know that the evil is ever present, and that any moment, they could be next. They aren't willing to take the chance around me anymore, Bella, and you shouldn't either."

"That's not true. Alice loves you. The whole family loves you, except maybe for Rosalie, but she doesn't love anyone except for herself. I trust you with my heart, Jasper. I know that you won't hurt me. They think that you need time alone to get yourself back together. They don't think that they need to avoid you because you are going to hurt them. That is the last thing that they are thinking. If they were thinking that, do you really think that they would have let me follow you?" I walked another few steps towards him, close enough that I could reach out and take one of his hands into mine. "I don't want to intrude on your quiet time if that is what you need right now, but if you will let me, I want to be here for you as your friend. I want to hold you close and tell you that it is going to be okay, that everyone is going to forgive you for your mistake." I walked around in front of him and took his other hand into mine. I looked up into his face. His eyes were closed tight. His jaws were clenched. I took his arms and pulled them around my waist and then wrapped mine around his back, pulling him closer to me. I rested my head against his chest.

After several minutes, I felt him begin to sob. It was as if a dam had burst. He was shaking with his cries, and I pulled him closer to me. I rubbed his back and just held him close until his anguish had worked its way out of his system. As his crying subsided, I pulled him to a fallen tree and sat him down. I sat down next to him, pulling his head into my lap. As I ran my fingers through his hair, I asked him if he wanted to talk about it. At first, he didn't say anything, but after a little while, he started talking about his feelings about what had happened when he caught Kurt opening the bag at school. He said that he knew for sure that one of the kids was going to be bitten. He had taken a strike on the arm from the first snake, the one that was aiming at that kid that I had pushed out of the way, and though it hadn't hurt him in any way, shape, or fashion, it had angered him to no ends. He had never taken a strike before in his life, and if he hadn't jumped in, that boy would have been in a world of hurt, all because of Kurt. It all came back to Kurt again. He was enraged because of the strike and Kurt, and then when Emmett just kept on pushing, he just lost it. He told me a lot more about his life with Maria than I had ever known, how he'd been responsible for "recruiting" the newborns, and training them, and then when their newborn year was up, "disposing" of them. He told me that he'd changed near one thousand people into vampires and had killed approximately three thousand or more vampires in his day. He had killed at least one thousand people, not including those that he'd changed. It took all that I was not to shudder when he was telling me this. I just kept running my fingers through his hair.

At daybreak, he stood up, pulling me up with him. We started walking around the area, hand in hand. He was quiet, thinking. I didn't interrupt. We walked until we found a beautiful lake fed by an equally beautiful waterfall. There weren't any houses surrounding the lake that we could see, and Jasper asked if I wanted to go swimming. It sounded good to me, so I stripped down to my underwear and him to his boxers. We dove into the lake and swam around enjoying the freedom that the swimming allowed. It was a crystal clear lake; we could see all the way to the bottom. We dove to its depths only to surface like a dolphin would, breaking the water to dive again. Occasionally, the sun would break through the clouds, making our skin sparkle against the water. We would race, and we would float. But when the sun started down, we knew that our time in the water was ending. We slowly swam back to the bank where our clothes were and climbed out of the water where we sat in the dying rays of the sun to dry off. As our bodies soaked up the final rays of the day, Jasper reached over and took my hand into his. He brought it to his lips and kissed it. I was just a little bit stunned. I looked over at him, and he had a grin on his face. "Thank you for today, Bella. It means so much to me that you have allowed me to spend this time with you. I don't remember when I've had a more carefree day."

"Me too, Jazz," I said. "Today was magnificent." He smiled, and I smiled back. Then he lifted one hand and brought it to my face. He caressed my cheek. His hand felt so warm against my cheek, and without thinking about it, I turned my face into his hand. He brought his other hand up to take my head into his caress, and to pull me to him. He leaned into me and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. I closed my eyes, and God help me, I kissed him back. I wrapped my hands around his neck, and I pulled him closer, opening my mouth to allow him entrance, his tongue and mine, touching, sending shivers down my spine, beginning to dance and weave their way around each other.

Soon we were on our knees, grasping at each other, pulling each other as close as we could get, our kissing passionate, awakening other feelings within our cores, feelings that demanded to be satisfied. I knew that what we were doing was wrong, on so many levels, but my body was telling me that it didn't care. Jasper was kissing me on my neck, and my head was thrown back in ecstasy. I wanted more of him, and I wanted him now. "Jasper, more," I panted, reaching around my back to unclasp my bra and allowing it to fall to the ground between us. He lowered his head and took one of my breasts into him mouth, tonguing my nipple until it was pebbled and erect. Then he went to the other one, sucking and nibbling on it until it matched its sister.

"Um, Bella, you are so divine," he said as he nuzzled between my breasts, licking one then blowing his cool breath on the nipple to keep it erect. Then he laid me down on the bank of the lake and leaned over me, bringing his mouth back to mine. He took his hand and drew small circles on my stomach, working his way down to where my panties hid my core. "I'm so hard for you," he said, pushing himself into my thigh. I groaned and rubbed myself against him.

"Jasper, I want you inside me," I said, pulling him over on top of me. I kissed him again, and lifted up my bottom as I felt him pulling my panties down with his hands. I grabbed his boxers and pushed them down. Then I felt him, hard and firm, at my entrance. He was just holding there, giving me a chance to change my mind.

"Are you sure, Bella? There won't be any going back if we do this," he said.

"Are you sure, Jasper?"

"I want you, Bella, right here and now." I lifted up my hips, sliding him into me. Once he knew my decision, he thrust into me with a passion. We came together like a force of nature, slamming together again and again, neither of us holding back. We met each other at the peaks of out thrusts, taking each other as deep as we could get, our bodies crashing together, almost sounding like cymbals when they met each other. We neared our peaks, our breaths coming in heavy gasps. Our bodies were moving together at inhuman speeds. Then I screamed his name as I came, my moisture spilling over him and my insides clenching him in waves. It was enough to send him over, and he entered me one last time, shooting his warm juices as far into me as they could go. When he withdrew for the final time, we laid together, spent, neither of us talking.

After about thirty minutes, I got up and walked back into the lake. I tried to wash off as much of Jasper's smell from my body as I could. I realized what I'd done, and what it meant. I'd cheated on Edward with his brother. I had no tears, and I didn't deserve to have tears even if I could have them. Jasper had given me plenty of opportunities to back out, and I had chosen to go forward. I had no one to blame but myself. After a few minutes, I felt Jasper come into the water behind me. He put his hands onto my shoulders and turned me around to face him. He picked up my face with his finger, and he leaned down to kiss me. I turned my head, and his kiss landed on my cheek. "I'm so sorry, Bella. I should have stopped us," he said.

"No, I'm the one who pushed us forward. It wasn't your fault at all, Jasper. Don't blame yourself. This was my mistake," I said.

"No, Bella. I kissed you. That started the whole thing. I'll take the blame. I'll tell Edward that it was my fault, that I forced you."

"The hell you will! Jasper, I'm a big girl. I'm big enough to live with my own mistakes. Don't think that I didn't love making love to you. I did. Oh, God how much I loved making love to you, but it was wrong. We're both married. We both just cheated on our spouses. I don't know about you, but this is the first time that I've ever cheated on my husband. I feel kinda crappy about it."

"Bella, honestly, this isn't the first time that I've cheated on Alice, and she has cheated on me before as well. We don't have an open marriage, but we aren't monogamous either."

"So, I'm just another notch on your belt, then?" I asked, turning back around and covering my breasts with my arms.

"No, Bella. You could never be a notch in my belt. I love you, and I have ever since Edward brought you home the first time. I love you more than time itself. I know that I'm going to have to leave the family now, after today. After you know how I feel about you, I won't be able to live in the same house as you and Edward, with the two of you in love the way you are. I'll just use the fight with Emmett as the excuse to leave. Alice has probably seen what has happened and probably won't want to come with me, so I'll be in touch. I love you, Bella," Jasper said, and he turned and walked to the side of the lake. He picked up his clothes and started running.

"No, Jasper, don't go!" I yelled, but he didn't stop running. I went to the side of the lake to get my clothes, but he had thrown them, and I had to find them. I put them on and started to follow him, but then I stopped. I thought about what he had said, and then I thought about Edward. He wouldn't be able to live with Jasper in the house if he took me back. I had to decide between my husband and my lover. When I put it to myself that way, I knew that there was no choice. I would choose Edward any day.