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SPOV

Esme smiles as I come downstairs for breakfast. "Morning Seth. How are you feeling?"

I hug her gently. "Better than I have in a long time. How are you?"

"I'm good. Breakfast will be ready in a minute. You can go take a seat."

I nod, sitting down at the dining room table, yawning. Nali and Adrianna thump down the stairs, rubbing their eyes. "Good morning," I greet them as they sit down. I hear another set of footsteps on the stairs and look up to see Jasper, but I quickly notice that something is wrong as he sits down beside me. He slouches over the table, looking exhausted. "Jasper?" I murmur. He looks up at me, and his eyes are dark, even though I know he went hunting yesterday. "Are you okay?"

He nods, looking at me like I'm crazy. "I'm fine. Why?"

I frown. "You don't look so good. You're really pale." He rolls his eyes. "Paler than normal, I mean. Are you sure you're feeling alright?" He shrugs, and I gently place my hand against his forehead. He feels different to me, but I'm not a good judge, so instead I ask Bella to check. Jasper doesn't even seem to notice as she feels his forehead.

"You're right, he does seem a little warmer than usual." Jasper sighs, resting his head on his arms.

I hear a lighter set of footsteps as Alice comes downstairs. She nods at me. "You're right. I don't know how, but he's sick."

"But he's a vampire. Vampires don't get sick. Do they?"

She shrugs. "I didn't think so, but it certainly seems that way. He'll be okay. Take him to Carlisle after breakfast." I nod, watching him close his eyes as I eat. When I'm almost done, Alice mutters a quick "Oh no…" I look up at her, and she stands as Jasper suddenly sits up, running from the table.

We both take off after him, and when we reach him he's retching up what seems to be his entire hunt from yesterday into the toilet. I kneel beside him, unsure of what to do. When there's nothing else left to come up, Jasper dry heaves miserably. I rub his back gently and watch as Alice presses cool, damp clothes to the back of his neck and his forehead. His gagging subsides, and he looks up at us. "Maybe we should go see Carlisle now," he murmurs weakly. I nod, hooking my arm around him and gently helping him up.

Alice grabs a bucket- Just in case, she says- and we slowly make our way upstairs. I set Jasper down on his bed as Alice goes to get Carlisle. He leans against me, his lips still stained red with blood. As Alice returns with Carlisle, she sits on his other side. Carlisle frowns. "Not feeling well, huh Jazz?" Jasper shakes his head, willingly accepting the thermometer he offers. Carlisle watches the numbers rise, frowning. I'm not sure what constitutes as a fever in vampires, but I'm fairly certain Jasper is well past that number. Carlisle removes it, checking the numbers again in disbelief.

"Is it that bad?" Jasper asks.

Carlisle hesitates. "Well, you're almost in the normal range for humans. Fever generally indicates an infection of some sort."

"But Carlisle, how is that possible?"

The doctor shrugs. "Maybe there's some strain of bacteria that's mutated to survive in venom. I'll have to take a sample and find out. But I think it must have gotten in through the bite marks in your arm. Can I take a look?" Jasper offers his bandaged arm, and Carlisle carefully undoes the dressing. The wounds look angry and red, and clearly haven't healed as they should. "Yeah, I'd definitely say infection. I'm going to take a sample and see if we can figure out what it is." He gently swipes a cotton swab through some of the clear, thin fluid that seems to be coming from the wounds. "I'm going to go look at this. Try to relax for a bit." He leaves, and Jasper sighs again.

"You should lay down," I say.

"I don't want to," he replies petulantly.

Alice rubs his back gently. "What's wrong Jazz?"

He huffs. "I hate being sick. It would be me who comes down with some bizarre vampire illness. Just perfect."

I chuckle. "It's not the worst thing in the world to let people take care of you for a few days."

"It isn't?"

"No. So try to relax, and Carlisle will figure it out." Begrudgingly, Jasper lies down, pulling the blankets up to his nose. "Cold?" I ask. He nods. I lie next to him, and he curls up against me, relaxing with the warmth. "Do you want a drink?" The very thought of it starts him gagging again. "Okay, you don't have to." He groans, pressing his face into the pillow. "What?" I ask.

"I hate this."

I hug him gently. "Don't worry. It'll be over soon." He nods, sighing softly. After a while, I hear soft snores coming from him. He wakes up a few minutes later, kicking the blankets off of him as Carlisle comes back. "So?" I ask. "What did you find?"

"Well, it's definitely an infection. But I do have an antibiotic that should clear it up."

Jasper looks up from his blanket heap. "So I have to swallow it?"

"No," Carlisle says, "Actually this one is given intravenously."

Jasper growls softly, pressing further back against me. "Take it easy Jasper," I murmur to him. "It's not that bad. And it'll make you feel better." He looks up at me, and I see the slightest hint of fear there. "Jazz, it's nothing to be afraid of," I assure him gently. "You know I wouldn't let anyone hurt you. This is going to make you feel better, so I really think you should do it." He hesitates, but nods slowly, holding out his arm. He rests his forehead against my shoulder as Carlisle gently inserts the IV, taping it in place. "It's done," I tell him as Carlisle finishes.

"Just try to get some rest," the doctor advises. "I'll check every now and then to make sure it's working, but I think you have the two best caretakers here. Feel better." With that, he leaves Jasper in our care. There's not much I can do for him until the medicine starts working, but sitting in silence is getting uncomfortable.

"Hey Jasper?" I murmur.

"Hmm?"

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," he answers quickly before frowning. "No, wait. No I'm not. I feel like shit. That first one was just a reflex."

I can't help but chuckle. "Alright. Well, we can try to keep your mind off of it until the medicine starts working."

"And how are you planning to do that?"

"Well," I say, "I figured we could talk for a while. Is there any particular subject you'd like to talk about?"

He looks up at me for a moment. "I'm not going to die, you know."

I smile. "I know. Don't worry about me."

He nods. "Well," he says after a while, "Why don't you tell me a story. I'm always telling you about where I come from, but I don't know a whole lot about you before all this, or about being a wolf."

I nod. "Okay then. Why don't you just get comfortable and I'll tell you whatever you want to know." I wait for him to settle back against the pillows. "Okay, what would you like to know first?"

He thinks for a moment. "Will you tell me about your life before you phased?"

"Sure. I guess it was…pretty human. I went to school, I was on the track team…It was pretty boring."

He nods, thinking. "What about your friends? Quil and Embry and all them."

I shrug. "I didn't really know any of them before."

"So who were your friends?"

"Well," I reply awkwardly, "Not a whole lot of people."

He looks mildly surprised. "Really? That's weird."

"Why is that weird?"

He chuckles. "I just wouldn't expect that. You're friendly and nice."

I shrug. "Yeah, well before I was really quiet."

He nods thoughtfully. "I guess you kind of get over that when you occasionally destroy your clothes." He grins at me, and I poke him.

"I know it sounds like a funny problem, but it's not." He laughs, and I can't help but join him. "Really, it's not that funny!"

"Yeah it is!" I roll my eyes at him, but allow him his laugh, because he's at least brightened a little bit. When he finally composes himself, he looks up at me. "Sorry, where were we?"

I chuckle. "I think that about covers my life before. What else do you want to know?"

He thinks for a moment. "What's it like, being a wolf?"

I frown, struggling to come up with an explanation. "It's…complicated. It's like having two people inside you that don't always agree." He raises an eyebrow at me. "Alright, say you have two roommates, right?" I continue. "And maybe one of them wants to paint the room red, and the other one wants to paint it blue, but they can only paint it one color. So there's a big struggle before they come up with something they both like, but sometimes that doesn't happen. That's what it's like sometimes. There's me, and then there's my wolf. We're the same person, technically, but we're different."

Jasper nods slowly, digesting this. "And you don't just mean physically, right? You could phase and still be you, or you could be in human form and be your wolf sometimes? Like when I got bitten, and when you saw Peter and Charlotte, that was your wolf. And when Zachary tried to grab me, that was him too, even though you were in human form. But when we were looking for the other tribe, and you were in wolf form, that was you."

I find myself a little surprised at how intuitive his analysis is. "Yes, that's exactly right. He's more impulsive, and I'm the more rational half. Most of the time I'm in control of him, but certain times, like when someone I care about is in danger, it's more him than me. Which sounds like a pretty good deal, but sometimes it's hard to mediate between what he wants to do and what I want. Like when Maria took you, he wanted to attack her right there at the beginning. But I had to stop him because I knew I couldn't do it alone. Does that make any sense?"

He nods. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. That has to be pretty hard."

I shrug. "It is sometimes. But it's not as bad for me as it is for some of the others. I think Sam and Jake probably struggle with it the most, because theirs are stronger; more used to being in charge. "

"Hey Seth?" he asks.

"Hmm?"

"Do you ever wish you weren't a wolf?"

I think carefully about his question. Do I? "Well…There are some times when it just makes my life difficult, but I don't wish I wasn't a wolf." I smile at him. "My life wasn't nearly as interesting before. And now I have two families and you. I mean yeah, sometimes it sucks. But it's brought me so many good things too. I wouldn't want to change that." He nods slowly. "Jasper?" He glances up. "Do you ever wish you weren't a vampire?"

Jasper is quiet for a long time, lost in his thoughts. "Sometimes," he says finally. "If I'd never been a vampire, then I would have never been a part of Maria's army. I guess in that way, death would have been easier. I wouldn't have met you and Alice either, but I wouldn't have known what I was missing. I don't think any of us would have chosen to be like this if we could. But lately I haven't been hating it so much."

"Well I can understand that. I don't know if I would have chosen this either. But I guess now that it's happened, all we can do is accept it and live with it."

"I guess so." He smiles. "It's not so bad, I guess."

I grin. "No, not so bad. You look tired. You should rest."

"Maybe I will," he murmurs as his eyes begin to close. "Try to keep your clothes on, 'kay?"

I chuckle softly as a light snore escapes him. "Will do, buddy."

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Until next time,

TheSongSmith