The next week went more smoothly. I did not faint and I gained weight each day. Not a whole pound a day, but most days I gained half a pound. So by Wednesday I had gained a whole five pounds. At least, Carlisle thinks I did.

"It looks like you did it Jasper. Five pounds. So, you can come home today. I will go get the paperwork started."

"Yay! You did it! I knew you could," Alice said hugging me.

"Yep, let's pack so we can go home," I replied hugging her back.

Carlisle had the paperwork complete by ten, and we were home by noon. In the week and a half that we were gone, Esme had made a lot of progress on our apartment. All of the walls and doorframes were moved; all that was missing was the drywall and the doors.

Esme and Rosalie were both extremely excited to see us. Rosalie gave me a big hug and said she missed me. Esme had a celebratory dinner for us that night. Emmett even said the house felt empty with out us around.

But, the next morning, Carlisle found me out. In the hospital, Carlisle did not come to check on me until nine a.m., because he had to drive two hours first. That gave me plenty of time to get dressed and eat. I also took the time to put on my heaviest shoes and a pullover.

It was one of those pullovers with a big pocket in the middle. And, when Alice wasn't looking, I would put a bottle of water in the pocket. I would also put my wallet in my back left pocket, my cell in my back right pocket, my DS in my front right pocket, and my calculator in my front left.

Now, I did not add all of that on the same day: I added one piece at a time so that it would seem like I was gaining weight at a reasonable rate. And, since they were all things I might legitimately have in my pockets, Alice and Carlisle did not think much of it when my DS fell out on Monday. I simple said, "Oops, I was just playing that before you came," and set it down on the bed before my weigh-in. I did not gain any weight on Monday.

This morning Carlisle did not have to drive two hours to see me, but he did have to get up early and go to work. So, he came in and woke me at seven a.m. "Sorry Jasper, but I need to weigh you myself until you put on a little more weight. You can go back to sleep when I'm done."

I grunted and followed him to his office, without thinking to put on my shoes or my other apparel. Big mistake. The scale read six pounds less than the day before. Six pounds lower was even less than when I was admitted. "No shoes. I always had shoes on before," I tried to explain before he freaked and sent me back to the hospital.

"Fine, go get the same shoes and come back," Carlisle replied.

I nodded, and hurried to my room, pulling on my pullover, putting on my shoes, and searching for things to put in my pocket. I grabbed my calculator and cell, but I left the DS in the living room, I had no water bottle, and I couldn't find my wallet. I was fairly certain the wallet must be in my pants in the laundry hamper in the bathroom.

I was considering running to the living room or bathroom to get these items, but when I stepped into the hall, I could see Carlisle waiting in the hallway outside his office. There was no way I could grab the items with Carlisle noticing. So, I walked back to his office and let him weigh me again.

"You lost a pound and a half, Jasper. That is a lot to loose in one day."

"But I didn't eat yet! In the hospital they fed me before weighing me."

"But you also did not use the bathroom yet. It should balance out. It should at least be closer than a pound and a half. Either way, you still lost weight. I'm going to weigh you tonight, and if your weight has fallen again, I will have to take you back."

"But I just got home!" I whined.

"I know. But, you were so malnourished that you fainted last week."

"Fine. I'm going back to bed and I'll try not to loose any weight today."

"Jasper, I am not doing this to be mean. It is really dangerous for you to be so underweight."

"Yeah, I know. And I am trying to eat more. Honest."

"I know. But, between your growth spurt and the baby and exercising, you are burning too many calories a day. According to my measurements, you grew another centimeter in the last two weeks.

I nodded and went back to bed. Before Carlisle weighed me that evening, I made sure to stuff a water bottle, my wallet, and my DS in my pockets. And, I ate so much that I was stuffed. That should be enough to bring my weight up by a few pounds.

When Carlisle weighed me he was pleasantly surprised. "Well, maybe you were right Jasper. You now weigh two pounds more than this morning. That means you gained half a pound form yesterday morning. Good job son."

Mission accomplished. Now, I just have to be prepared for tomorrow morning's weigh-in so that this does not happen again. This time I left my calculator, cell, DS, and wallet on the dresser, and the water bottle in the pullover on my desk chair. I even left my shoes by the door, so that I would not forget.

But, Carlisle must have been suspicious, because the next morning he was watching me like a hawk. He woke me up, handed me my shoes, and waited in the room with me while I put them on. When I went to grab my pants, he said "leave your pajamas on. I want to start weighing you in them again now that we are home."

I nodded, and grabbed my pullover saying, "I'm cold."

But, when I went to pull it over my head, the water bottle fell out. Carlisle grabbed it, and placed it on the nightstand. "Come on, let's go to my office for the weight in."

Well, I could not grab the water bottle and put it back in my pocket with Carlisle watching, nor could I get the DS, wallet, or calculator, or cell phone. So, he was weighing me with the exact amount of clothing and shoes I used to wear for weigh-ins before the hospital.

Since I really had gained half a pound, but was lacking the DS and phone, I weighed in at exactly the same as I had the previous morning: two pounds less than last night. "Jasper, is there a reason that you weigh two pounds more during the day than when you wake up?" Carlisle asked.

"I'm hungry. It must just be that I have not eaten. Yesterday, I stuffed myself at dinner because I was afraid you would send me back to the hospital."

"So you had two extra pounds of food in you?" I nodded. "And that water bottle that fell out of you sweater had nothing to do with it?" I could feel the suspicion and confidence radiate off of him. He had me: he knew I had been putting the water bottle in my pocket in order to increase my weight.

"I'm sorry. It was just that I was so close to getting to go home. I put it in my pocket Wednesday morning so that I could come home a day early. But, I have been eating a lot here. I really tried hard yesterday to gain weight."

"It's okay. But I need you not to alter your weight like that. I need your true weight, not you plus a bottle of water."

"The water bottle does not weigh five pounds. I still gained weight."

"It's okay. I'm not going to send you back to the hospital right now. I'm going to weigh you again tonight, with no water bottle. If you do not loose weight from now, you can stay a few more days. But, if you have not put the five pounds on by Monday, I will have no choice but to drive you back."

"Yes sir," I said and went back to sleep. I was going to have to work really hard on gaining weight today. It was currently Friday morning, so this meant I only had three days to gain a pound and a half. Half a pound a day was a lot to ask of me.

Author's note:

Reviewers for last chapter: aurike, VoldieBeth, and Megan Geyer! Thanks!

Review counts for this week (counting from Saturday morning):

Megan Geyer- 10 (cheating counts); Master of the Boot- 3; VoldieBeth- 6; ShadowCub- 2; Just A reader90- 2; aurike- 4; Hi- 1; Runp3rf3ct94- 3

3 rollover reviews from last week. Plus 31 reviews this week, for a total of 34 reviews already! Hmm, I wonder if you gals (and one boy) will win all four bonus chapters this week? It could happen...