Please Note: Alternating points of view—Bella/Edward/Bella

25. Paper world with paper faces

"Jasper wants to run something by you," Tanya said as we walked to the car. "He wants to help you, but you're going to have to accept that he might put his foot in it. He's not used to being out of the loop, empathetically speaking."

"You mean he's not used to being unable to sway someone's opinion in his favour," I said. She smirked.

Jasper was sitting behind the wheel with the engine already running. Edward was in the back seat dipping into a purple shopping bag full of yarn, playing with the skeins and putting different colour combinations together. I looked at Tanya and raised an eyebrow.

"Sit with him," she said. "I think he'll find it hard when we go back home."

I climbed in the back, and as Jasper pulled away, I turned to Edward. "You're leaving?"

"Yes," he said. "Once you're settled here, Tanya and I will go back to Ithaca and contact the rest of the family. I suspect they'll want us to close up the house and find somewhere nearer…"

My mouth was hanging open.

"Too soon?" he said, frowning.

"I… I don't know. I'm… I…"

"I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't mean it to look like we wouldn't ask first, it's just I know they'll want to see you—to know you're really alive."

I chose not to debate that last bit and instead dug into his bag of yarn, pulling out three different coloured skeins: green, brown and golden yellow. "These remind me of Forks," I whispered, looking up at him. His smile didn't reach his eyes.

Jasper drove for about fifteen minutes before turning off the road onto a bumpy dirt track. What Carlisle didn't know about his car's suspension wouldn't hurt him, would it?

We came to a stop outside a cute, little log cabin surrounded by trees. I was beginning to sense a theme. As we were getting out of the car, a motherly woman wearing an apron opened the door to the cabin and beckoned us in to look around. We climbed the steps and followed her inside, but there wasn't really room for the five of us.

The living area comprised a couch, a coffee table and a television aside some French doors. A small dining table and two chairs were set against the opposing window. In the middle of the room there was a wrought iron spiral staircase which led up to a bedroom in the loft, though it barely had enough space for the double bed. Downstairs again, the compact but well equipped kitchen lead to another door, behind which there was a surprisingly spacious bathroom.

We filed back through the cabin and out of the front door.

"Walk with me, Bella," Jasper said, holding out his hand.

Where was that asking Edward had talked about? I refused his hand, but wandered through the surrounding woodland beside him, listening to the trickle of the nearby stream.

"Would you like to rent the cabin?" he asked eventually.

"I don't know if I can afford it, Jasper, even if I still have my cleaning job."

"You don't understand, Bella. I'm going to be staying here with you."

...

The owner of the cabin handed me the paperwork and walked further down the dirt track to the main house, her thoughts fixed on shaping the bread dough she had proving.

I leaned against the side of the car, watching Bella maintain a certain distance from Jasper as they walked further into the woods. Tanya stood in front of me, unbuttoned my shirt a little way, wrapped her arms around my waist and kissed my chest.

"Do you think she'll let him stay with her?" I asked, burying my nose in her hair.

"She needs one of us right now. It might as well be her sire."

"I don't want to tell my family."

"Why not?"

"Emmett won't hold back, even if I beg him to. He'll be here like a shot, and with him comes my sister, and whatever she thinks, she'll be sure to tell us without reservation. Esme will be a tamer version of Em, and Carlisle will want to analyse the hell out of whatever Bella has going on with her gift and, well, you of all people know how well that will go down." I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. "And then there's Alice."

Tanya pulled her upper body back to frown at me. "Why would Alice be a problem? She loves Bella, doesn't she?"

"Alice will not like that she has been effectively running blind for over a year."

"With Jasper and Bella maybe, but not everyone, surely?"

"Ever since she left me with you in Denali, she's kept quiet about her visions. She's barely even talked to me in months."

"Maybe she doesn't want to interfere anymore."

"Come on, Tanya, this is Alice we're talking about. Once she's back in the thick of it, she'll be meddling in everybody's business, and recently, I've discovered I'd rather not know the future. I prefer discovering it for myself."

"I love you, Edward. She can't change that."

"No, but she'll have us second guessing every single decision we make."

"Not if we stick really close together." She grinned wickedly and leaned up to kiss me.

As our tongues met, I let my hands drift down her back to cup her behind, pressing her body firmly against mine. Her left thigh slid up my right leg, and in her mind she pictured herself doing some very naughty things with me in the back seat of Carlisle's car.

I broke our kiss, breathing heavily. "That's the kind of vision of my future I don't mind seeing," I whispered. "Show me again."

…

My human self had always resisted Edward's money, his offers of help and his gifts. I never wanted to feel beholden, and I never felt I was a worthy recipient. I'd always been used to taking care of myself and, when I'd lived with her, my mother too. My father, on the other hand, had quietly done little practical day to day things to show how much he cared for me, much like Riley.

I stood still with my eyes closed, trying to work out what I wanted from Jasper and his family. I knew I couldn't do everything for myself at this point in time, not if I wanted to live among humans, and Jasper sure owed me for putting me in this position, didn't he?

But was it wise to share a home with someone I was so physically attracted to while being in love with another man? Probably not, but the alternative looked an awful lot like a backward step.

The rental contract signed and delivered to our new landlady, Tanya and Edward drove us to Seattle where we hugged and said our temporary goodbyes, but not before Edward had produced two tissue paper wrapped packages for Jasper and I from his bag in the trunk. We had to promise not to open them until we were back at the cabin.

Jasper took my hand and dragged me down a side street into a grimy looking diner. We headed toward the booth at the back, sitting down opposite an older man in a pale, grey suit. He was dabbing the sweat off his balding head with a paper napkin, though it wasn't particularly warm in there.

The man pushed an A4 manila envelope across the grease ridden table, his puffy-fingered hand trembling. "Everything is there as you requested, Mr Jasper," he said.

Jasper opened the envelope and looked inside then took a smaller, white envelope from his jacket pocket and passed it to the man. He nudged me to get up, and we left quickly, ducking down an alleyway further along the street to put the contents of the envelope into my backpack.

It appeared the Cullens had been prepared for an "accident" well before they left Forks. Their contact had kept a full set of documentation ready for me on file, complete with golden yellow eyes in the passport photo. I also had a high school diploma, a checking account, a credit card and a brand new name.