Rekindles Ashes

Chapter 25: Reassessment

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, sadly, otherwise I would have a nice log cabin in the woods where I would be a complete recluse and write until my heart was content. Instead, I have a full time job! So, that being said, the characters all belong to Stephenie Meyer, but the story came from my twisted little mind. Rated M.

Be my friend
Hold me, wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small, I'm needy
Warm me up
And breathe me

Breathe Me by Sia

Jasper only managed to grab Bella in the last moment; she was an inch from making contact with the russet skinned boy standing in front of her. Her anger came off her in rolls and for a second she felt guilty about the effects it would have on Jasper, but she didn't linger on that thought. More than anything she wanted redemption for the situation Jacob had put Sophie into.

"You son of a bitch, she's fucking eighteen. Why would you even allow that?"

"Me?" Jacob asked incredulously, he was standing his ground against her and kept his composure. "Come on, Bella, you more than anyone else should know that once that girl has made a decision it sticks. I tried to talk her out of it, but Paul had already asked."

Bella tried to find composure. She knew that he was right. She understood just how headstrong Sophie could be when she wanted something. There was no doubt that Sophie had been attracted to Paul, he was probably the only reason she'd made the decision she had. Although Bella was certain living with the wolves still would have been the way she would have swayed. In Sophie's mind, she was certain that she considered the wolves the lesser of the two evils.

"Why did he ask?"

Jacob suddenly flushed in front of her, his dark cheeks flooding with color. His eyes moving to his feet rather than holding her glare as he had been. It didn't take much for Bella to fill in the blanks after that. There was only one reason two people got married.

"He proposed to get laid?" Bella guessed, closing her eyes. She should have known. Sophie may have been infatuated, but she wasn't an idiot. His proposal had more than likely caught her off guard to begin with; she may have been stubborn and foolhardy, but she still had her morals intact.

"I told him he was being selfish, but he'd already deduced that he liked her well enough, there was no point in waiting for a soul mate that could already be dead."

"Well, thank goodness it wasn't something stupid like love." Bella responded her voice heavy with sarcasm. "Unfortunately, I guess having him here is the only option. Our hands are tied."

"Why?" Jacob asked, he'd finally caught on to the serious undertones in Bella's voice; he was remembering the bigger picture. "What's so important you and the lee . . . Cullen's would tolerate having him around?"

Bella was actually debating on whether or not to tell him. He hadn't exactly proved himself to be morally apt. She didn't actually make her decision until Jasper spurred her on with a gentle rub to her back. It was then that she realized all of this was more important than some moronic wolf marrying a girl so he could get his dick wet.

"There's something coming. Actually," she amended, leaning back against Jasper. "There's two something's coming and we don't know when, we just know nothing goods gonna come of it."

"A fight?" one of the guys flanking Jacob asked.

"Yeah, a big one. And if we're going to protect the humans and stop them from becoming a buffet, then we have to get things in order."

The silence that met Bella made her realize the solemnity of the situation. Not that she hadn't clued into that before, but the girls had been her main objective, keeping them safe was always her first priority.

"How long would we have to stay here?" Jacob asked making his two minions shift uncomfortably.

"We?" Bella asked with a humorless laugh.

"Come on, Swan, you know there's safety in numbers," Jacob said scornfully. "We can help, we may not get along with the Cullen's, but working together will be more efficient. That way we all know the weakest links in the chain."

It was then that Bella had an epiphany. The way Jasper shifted behind her made it glaringly obvious that he'd felt the change in her emotions. That he'd felt her resolve. Jacob started to continue his argument, but Bella held up her hand to silence him. Something in Jacob's words had triggered an idea.

Before consulting or even replying to Jacob, she turned to face Jasper. They were so close that when she looked up, she could see the ring around his amber eyes darkening. The coolness of his body almost radiated from him. It was something she reveled in, but she pushed it to the side for a moment, intent on asking him the question that made her teeth worry her bottom lip.

"Does Maria know about the wolves? Did she see them?"

Jasper's eyes regarded her in such a way, that she felt as though he was looking past her exterior and into the confines of her soul. As far as she knew he was trying to pull where this was going from her emotions alone.

"Not that I know of," he finally replied. "But there's no telling what she did and didn't see, she was on the edges of the fight orchestrating her troops. Why?"

"Would the wolves scent be enough to deter them? You said we needed something to force her in the right direction, if the wolves ran the perimeter and left only a gap, would it be enough to drive her in the right direction?"

Jasper's lips curled into a smile. Bella knew he was piecing it together as she had been doing. Bella watched him calculate in his head. He was from a military background. There were hundreds of ways he could have been playing out all the options in his bottomless mind. While he stood deliberating, the sky above them seemed to have become bored with the accumulation and let the drops fall on the small group. Bella, though hasten to admit it, got colder the harder the drops fell. She imagined these supernatural creatures barely noticed, but the more the rain drenched them, the clingier her clothes became. It chilled her to the bone.

"It could work," Jasper finally said, snapping out of his mental war games. When he looked down at her again he seemed to realize his negligence. "Bella, you're freezing."

"I'm fine," Bella retorted fighting the chatter of her teeth.

Ignoring her, Jasper looked around her to Jacob and his friends. "I need to talk to my family, would you be willing to come back in the morning?"

Jacob nodded curtly, when he looked to Bella his hardened features softened. "We'll bring the girls with us."

With that, he turned and left. While Jasper tugged on her arm and pulled her toward the house, mumbling about the risks of mortality and rain.

Bella was dragged past the younger girls eating breakfast, and the basement door where the rest of the family still seemed to be convened. Jasper pulled her all the way up to her room where he waited while she changed. She'd insisted that he stay with her because she didn't want to miss whatever discussion he was planning on having with the family. She'd had the distinct feeling that he'd already said something to them in her absence earlier; she wasn't risking it again. It wasn't that she didn't trust them because she did, implicitly so, but the way the discussion had gone when she'd headed back down the stairs was just too convenient. She understood that Jasper wanted to protect her from his wicked ex of the south, but she was perfectly capable of looking after herself.

She realized that Jasper was aware of her diversionary tactics from her emotions, but she hadn't understood how upset he'd been about it until she'd rejoined him in the room and he was almost squirming. Well, she'd thought it had been her emotions. When she sidled up and stepped between his legs where he was sitting on the bed, she suddenly understood the source of his discomfort.

"Not here," Angela's voice said huskily from the hall. It was close to the bedroom door and her voice was easily identifiable.

"Why not? I've missed you," Edward murmured in what sounded like a purr.

Jasper's arms reached out for Bella reflexively, and he pulled her closer to him. Bella was momentarily distracted from the conversation outside once she'd caught a look at his face. His eyes were burning with lust, the darkness that had lingered around his saffron eyes had grown since she'd last looked and it stirred something within her. She was barely aware that the quiet voices had moved away. Bella had no idea what else was said between the two of them, all she could see was the way Jasper's eyes drank her in; the feel of his hands against her body, and the sound of her own heart hammering in her chest.

In that one moment, she could understand why Sophie had made the decision she had. If what she had with Paul was an inkling of what she had with Jasper, she could comprehend the girl's actions. Though the thought of how vigilant she'd been with the girls while she pursued Paul was still a worry. Not that was even a thought she could cling to with the heady air in the room.

The further Edward and Angela got from the room, the more rational Bella could see Jasper becoming. Unfortunately, her own body was betraying her and telling Jasper exactly what she was feeling. For a moment, she believed he could see exactly what she wished for.

"We should go downstairs and talk to the family," he said thickly, his fingers applying pressure to her hips making the tell tale sparks flood her body. His words and actions seemed to contradict one another and it flooded Bella with a sense of power. She had the ability to distract him that way.

"Not all of the family is down there," she countered. Becoming brave she ran her fingers through his hair, her nails scratching lightly against his scalp. Her breath stuttered on the intake as she leaned closer to him, she was only inches away from making contact when his hands closed around the nape of her neck and banished the distance between them.

As always when they kissed, Bella felt it throughout her body. She leaned into him, feeling the coolness of his body as she pressed hers against him. Before she was even aware they'd moved, they were a tangle of limbs on the bed. She'd never in her life felt anything like this before. Just being with him made her feel alive. When his lips moved from hers and traveled along the line of her jaw, she gasped for air, her body trembling under his lips.

She wasn't sure where this change of heart was coming from, but she was almost too afraid to breathe in case it deterred him from this course they were on. She could feel the same emotions rolling over her as she had the morning he'd used his gift to drive her to the brink of oblivion. He was using his gift again. Paired with his hands brushing over her body she found herself whimpering under his control.

"We should stop," Jasper growled as his lips brushed over her neck.

"I don't want to," Bella breathed, looking down to meet his eyes. "I want you, Jasper. I want all of you."

"I could hurt you if I get carried away."

"I could get hurt if you don't," she countered. She wasn't talking physically, but she was certain that the rejection would sting for a while.

"Bella," he sighed, as she hooked her leg around his valiantly.

She wasn't sure where this brashness was coming from. It could have been his proximity, or his talented hands; his cool breath washing her overheated skin, or maybe even her love for him. She wasn't sure what or where it was coming from, but she continued her insistent behavior, her body rubbing against his as he stared up at her; eyes hungry.

"Bella, I can . . ."

"No."

"You don't know what I was going to say," he mused, smiling up at her as his hand gripped her thigh and pulled it over his hip.

Oddly, Bella thought she did know, and it just wasn't going to cut it this time.

"You were going to offer to get me off with your Jedi mind tricks," she smirked as his eyebrows shot up in surprise. "As lovely as it was, it's no substitution for this."

"I've never been with a human, I don't know how it would work out."

Bella had never been with anybody, but she wasn't going to drop that bomb on him. She knew how that would work out. As much as people claimed it was a good thing to hold onto ones virtue, the only time Bella had even been close to being with a guy, it had blown up in her face when she'd mentioned she was still in possession of her V card. Just after that the world went to shit, and so did her chance of meeting a guy. Or so it had seemed.

In an attempt to distract him, she brushed her fingers over his cheek and over his jaw until her fingers were tangled in the downy hair at the back of his neck. She guided him back to her throat and hoped that he wasn't going to be as chivalrous as man from his era.

. O . O .

Jasper was amazed at how alluring he found the woman below him. Even with his best arguments she seemed to be refusing to take no for an answer. His gallantry aside, he wasn't sure he would be able to keep control of himself should they go any further than this. The smell of her arousal made him doubt his compos mentis. It would be so easy for him to give into temptation, but the thought of physically hurting her always played like the angel on his shoulder; while his animalistic, hormonally lascivious side sang like a true devil.

She was perfect, he couldn't deny that; she fit against his body as though she'd been molded to his form. The heat from her body radiated through him and ran straight to the hardening length between his thighs. The scent of her screamed passion and stimulation, and he knew exactly what he would find if he ventured to the nirvana between her thighs. That warm, slick heat that would drive her, and probably him, over the edge.

The only question he had for himself was could he stop at that? Could he take her to the edge and pull away? He may have been a vampire who had been voluntarily celibate for . . . a long time, but he was also a man. Could he stop his selfish nature from risking her life and taking it further?

Whether he was conscious of his decision or not, his hands tangled at the hem of her t-shirt. He pulled it up over her head before discarding it over the side of the bed. To be fair, she seemed just as willing, her torso curling and arching to make it easier for him to maneuver. Her modest cotton bra couldn't have been more perfect if she'd planned it. Even with her tenacious attitude and confidence, it seemed to embody the girl that hid under the tough exterior. The woman he'd come to know and love.

He ran his hand up her stomach and up to the valley of her breasts. He watched her skin pebble under his touch; her stomach trembled as she fought to keep her breaths even. He could feel her emotions pouring from her as they mingled with his, excitement, nervousness, lust, passion, and . . . He paused and leaned forward, his lips brushing the curve of the bra cup as he investigated the feeling further.

Love.

She loved him. She hadn't said it, but by God he could feel it. It's long tendrils reached out and wrapped around his heart, squeezing as he felt his own feelings reciprocate hers. He pulled back from her body for only a second to look up at her; her eyes were closed as her teeth impaled her bottom lip. She looked beautiful like that to him. So uninhibited and free it was intoxicating.

He was terrified of hurting her, but he couldn't deny her either; he couldn't deny himself. He'd wanted her for a while and no matter how much he told himself he would abstain he knew there was no chance of that while she was offering herself to him like this. There was no way he could say no to her while her pale flesh was laid bare for his taking.

The fabric of his jeans became suffocating. He hadn't been this aroused since he'd seen her in that spare room, her body writhing from his emotions as he took her over the edge. He'd felt powerful that morning, he'd known that whether he was comfortable with touching her or not, he could always offer her pleasure. This though, this was dangerous territory, this was what he thought about while he relieved himself as Bella slept. He didn't need magazines or movies. The memory of her arching body was at the forefront of his mind every time he stepped into the shower. This is the direction his mind took him when he continued the fantasy. She was more perfect than even he'd been able to visualize.

He could see scars littering her skin and gently stored the questions that arose for later. As his lips brushed over the ridges of rough skin, he could feel Bella tense below him. It was only a second before her hands untangled from the sheets below her and tried to cover the scars. He could see it was a source of discomfort for her; it was also an opportunity to stop this before it went any further. Yet, he found himself peeling her hands from her body, his lips once again drifting over the scars of her past.

"You're exquisite," he breathed reverently, his eyes lifting to meet hers.

"No, I'm broken," she replied, her emotions pulling back a little as she brought up the walls of defense.

Abandoning his position on her stomach, Jasper crawled up her body and hovered over her, his lips mere inches from hers. He could feel her warm breath dancing over his skin as her respiration once again escalated at his proximity.

"Talk to me," he whispered, his eyes meeting the never-ending pools of chocolate brown that seemed to lead to her soul.

"The scars," she started, practically stuttering over her words. "They're ugly, Jasper."

"No." He ran his hand over the subject of their conversation and he felt the muscles flutter under his touch. "They're beautiful, Bella. What made them is ugly, but what they've come to symbolize is the person you are. They show your strength, your integrity. To me, they add to you're natural beauty and appeal."

Jasper knew that this one conversation wouldn't change how she saw herself. They wouldn't take away the significance of these scars for her, but he hoped, with time, he would finally get through to her. He would kiss every marring on her skin; throw his love into it so she could feel it until her emotions reflected her comfort.

"You don't understand." She sighed; her body was in a flux of self-consciousness and lust. She wanted him to continue, of that he was certain, but there was hesitance coming from her discomfort.

Making a decision, Jasper sat back on his knees, surprise and rejection filled her features, but he gave her a confident smile as his hands tangled with his damp sweater. He pulled it over his head and discarded it as he had hers. Her gasp was almost inaudible, even to his ears, but there was no mistaking the look in her eyes as she drank him in. Her hand reached out tentatively, the fingers tracing some of the scars that covered his body. They were subtle against the pallor of his skin, but with the light, he knew she could see the shadows that were created from the small ridges of his scars.

"I do understand. I know how the past can't haunt somebody, Bella. I am reminded of my time with Maria every time I see a scar."

Bella sat up pressing her cheek against Jasper's bare chest as her fingers continued to trace the crescent scars of the newborns that covered a lot of his body. Her warm touch didn't help in diminishing his amorous feelings for her, as it were, he would need to relieve himself sooner rather than later. She'd had that effect on him for a while.

"I love you, Jasper," she said, her voice quiet enough for him to be unsure whether she'd meant for him to hear it or not. Regardless of intention, he'd heard it and it filled his chest with the love he'd felt for her. She'd been brave enough to tell him aloud, he felt compelled to do the same. There was no question in how he felt about her so the words fell easily from his lips.

"I love you too, I always will."

Her arms wrapped around his torso as their bodies became flush against the other. The rapture of the moment was dying down with their declaration, but it didn't take away anything from their situation. The flames of passion were kindling, but in its place was something more substantial, something Jasper wouldn't have traded for the world. He laid them both on the bed and held her to him, satisfied with this deeper connection. The sex would come, it was an inevitability with the two of them if their prior activities were any indication, but he didn't mind slowing it down, it would give him time to become prepared so he could be the person Bella needed him to be.

Authors Note: Awe, they're in love! I think everyone but them had figured that out. Still, at least they said it out loud and were able to get a little further. As much as they needed to talk to the family and work out some of the creases, I also think Bella needed this.

Thanks to all of you for reading, alerting, and the favorites... And thank you for the reviews. For the anonymous reviewers... THANK YOU! :) All of you are so amazing! I swear I wish I could give you all a big hug for your words of encouragement, and for the care and time you take to put into letting me know your thoughts. I know it sometimes takes me a couple of days coughsevencough to respond, but my schedule is clearing up so it should be better this week! I adore you all!

Hev99 and Sabi'sSookie I love you two to the ends of the unknown universe. You two have been so supportive and I love you dearly for it! Your gentle nudges in the right direction have meant so much to me!

MWAH!