AN: It's sure funny and odd when after so much time, inspiration comes to you. This is the second to last chapter, so I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 25: Bella Luna

You expose all memory
You make the most of boundary
You're the ghost of royalty imposing love
You are the queen and king combining everything
Intertwining like a ring around the finger of a girl
I'm just a singer, you're the world

Jasper

Much like I've been doing for decades, I did the one thing I was good at.

I ran.

I ran as quickly as I could, as far away from that house as I possibly could. I didn't even chance it and look behind me, for fear of someone following me. Well, not just someone. I was fearful of it being Elizabeth behind me. In this state, I was afraid that I would say something to her that would break her, something I never wanted to do.

It was a matter of minutes before I reached the clearing. The clearing where I had 'taught' Liz to block her emotions, but clearly had failed miserably to do just now. I had let the innocent question of a child work me up into a frenzy and I didn't know what to do with these new found emotions.

Sinking to the ground, I tried desperately to think about anything other than Elizabeth, but all that I saw and heard in my mind was the conversation I had with Emmett no more than an hour ago. A conversation that I brushed off as nothing, but in reality it was everything. Emmett had asked and told me everything that I was refusing to see for myself. With good reason, Emmett was Liz's brother, Lilly's uncle and he would do anything to protect them.

Eyes open, eyes shut, all I heard was Emmett.

"I don't think you've been treating my sister fairly." Of course I knew that was true, but I didn't admit to it. "She deserves to be happy, Jasper. With you though, I feel she's only half content."

"I don't know what you want me to say Emmett. Liz knows I'm trying my damndest to be the man she thinks I can be."

"Well, you're not trying hard enough. My sister loves you, Jasper. Does that not mean anything to you?"

It means everything. "It does matter. You don't think I care about her?"

"Oh, I know you do. I knew you cared about her even before you did, but caring and loving someone are two different things. You two aren't on the same page an you know it."

"Liz told me…"

"Yes, I'm very aware of what my sister told you, but you can't honestly believe that she's fully content with it do you? Have you looked at it through her perspective? Every woman wants to find a man to love and cherish her, treat her like she's the most important thing in his world. For some reason, she's found that in you Jasper. Call it fate or something else, but whether you like it or not, you owe it to her. You…"

"I don't owe her anything." That was a lie and I knew it. "Liz knew what she was getting into the second we agreed to try and make this work. I'm sorry if I'm not being man enough for her or walking around expressing my emotions like the rest of you, but that's just not how I work and she knows that."

"That's just it." He shook his head, disappointed. "Liz loves you so much to the point that she's only seeing what she wants. She knows you care for her, buts she wants more. You can't honestly expect her to wait all eternity for you do you?" That question needed no answer. No matter what I said, we both knew that she would wait for me and that, well that wasn't exactly fair to her.

"Emmett, I…I can't give her everything she wants. I can't be this perfect man she deserves."

"Oh, please." He scoffed. "Liz knows you're far from perfect. For some reason, you two understand each other on levels no one else understands, including myself. You guys may not see it, but you've changed each other."

"So what do you suggest I do?"

"You need to man up and tell her how you feel. She's given herself fully to you, why can't you do the same?"

"It's not that simple Emmett…there's complications."

"We all have flaws and complications man." He laughed. "Look at Liz, look at Rosalie. They were hurt by men in the worst possible way and yet, here they stand, still capable of loving another man and letting them into their lives. You don't think Liz thinks about what happened to her every time she sees Edward or even Lilly? Her pain, the scars, they'll always be there, but she's learning to heal. The only thing that's keeping her from healing completely is you."

"Me?" I didn't understand nor did I appreciate accusation. "I didn't do anything to her in her past."

"No, but you did something to her recently. All that time you pushed her away, you don't think we all saw the pain you put her through? You may not have done what Edward did, but you hurt her by shutting her out. Liz is an amazing girl Jasper…"

"I know she is." That I didn't need reminding of.

"No, I don't think you do because if you realized just how amazing and truly unique my sister is, you still wouldn't be playing these mind games with her. You two may be together physically, but mentally and emotionally, she's still putting forth all the effort while you're barely trying, barely going along with it. It's not fair to her, it's not fair to Lilly…"

"Wait, wait." I held my hands up. "What does Lilly have to do with anything?"

He gave me a knowing look. "Honestly Jasper, if you have to ask, you're not as smart as I think you are."

Well that didn't help me.

"Don't you see? Lilly is just as big a part of my sister's life as you are. She loves that little girl and she'll always come first. She wants you to be a part of not just her life, but Lilly's as well."

"Are you implying she wants me to be a father figure towards her?" Oh, there was no way in hell. Liz was one thing, but being a father? That didn't seem right. As much as I cared about that little girl, she wasn't my daughter.

"No one's asking you to replace her father, but in time, if you and Liz stay together, Lilly's going to see you as more than just…Jasper. She's going to think of you as a father figure as she gets older."

"I don't think I can ever be that man then. There's no way, Emmett. Your sister is one thing, but I can't imagine myself being a father. Not today, maybe not ever."

"You don't know that. You're already amazing with her.."

"No Emmett." I stopped him, not being able to handle the wide range of emotions crashing down on me. "I can't, there's no way…I'm trying and that's all I can do. If Liz decides it not good enough for her, I'll let her decide. All I know now is that I can't handle this right now." I walked past him, preparing myself to explain to Liz what just happened, but he stopped me.

"Don't run, Jasper. It'll only hurt her." He let me go and the two of us walked down the stairs, into the kitchen where everyone else was at.

It was that very second that Liz looked over at me, that I instinctively shut down all my emotions, essentially blocking her. It was something I hadn't done in almost two months, but with one look I couldn't let her know how I was feeling. I wasn't so sure how I was feeling if I was being honest.

Confused, angry and bitter seemed about right though, I didn't want her to sense any of that. Emmett was right, she had been putting so much effort and yet, I wasn't doing much. Sure, I was letting her in slowly, but what good did that do if I could never let her in fully?

Lilly's simple question if I loved her mother made things so much harder. I knew I'd have to face that question sooner or later, but I hadn't been expecting it to come from a four year old little girl. With everyone's eyes on me, it was all too much. So, I did what Emmett warned me not to do: I ran. I ran and probably hurt Liz worst than I had before, but I couldn't take it back now. My running off clearly translated to the answer of no, I didn't love her.

"Oh, but Jasper you do love her." A voice answered my inner thoughts, causing me to look up and around me. There was no one out in the clearing other than myself. Even if there had been, only Edward would be able to read my mind, but there was no one.

"Don't tell me," the voice spoke again "that after all this time, you've forgotten me dear Jasper?" The second time I listened, something dull and unsettling panged the pit of my stomach. Rising, I looked around again, turning in a complete circle. When I came back to where I started, my knees nearly gave out at the sight before.

There standing right in front of me, clear as day was the last person I thought I'd ever see again. The one person who I had so longed to see just one more time.

"Evelyn?" My own voice sounded strained and foreign as I stared at the vision in front of me. "You…this isn't real." I backed away, feeling like I had completely lost my mind. Clearly I wasn't dreaming, I no longer had that capability.

"Of course I'm not real darling," she practically floated towards me "though you've been treating, talking about me as though I was for quite some time now haven't you?"

Evelyn was exactly the way I had her etched in my permanent memory. Hell, she was even wearing the same thing the night I proposed to her. It was night that she was a vision of perfection in my eyes. There was no trace of the all the pain and damage she had endured.

She was an angel.

"I am an angel, yes." She laughed softly. "I'm not here for that purpose though."

"How are you here Evelyn?" Giving in, I talked to her like she was actually here in front of me instead of this off hallucination.

"I came to tell you that you need to let me go Jasper." Though she was smiling, there was a twinge of sadness in her eyes. "You've been clinging on to my memory for far too long."

"How am I supposed to forget you? You were the love of my life Evelyn, and I was completely shattered when you were taken from me."

"I know, Jasper. I would've given anything for things to have been different. I wanted nothing more than to marry you, have a family and grow old together. However, fate seemed to have something different in store for each of us."

I scoffed. "Fate is cruel, Evelyn."

"Perhaps, but you've spent all this time trying desperately retain my memory that you've shut yourself off from everything good that's come into life since."

"There's been no good Eve, no good."

Stepping closer, her hand reached out and I actually felt her touching my face. "There have been two very good things that have happened to you since my death, Jasper."

When I didn't respond, she continued. "The Cullens and…and Elizabeth."

"I didn't ask to live with the Cullens and I've done nothing but hurt Liz since I met her."

"Sometimes we hurt the ones we love, but in the long run, it's worth it. Oh Jasper can't you see? What we had, it wasn't in vain. Though it was only for a short time, we were never truly meant to be."

"Eve, no you were my everything."

"At the time, I was. After everything you endured Jasper, you forced yourself to believe that I was the only good in your life. You convinced yourself that everything you touched died or was destroyed in the long run and that's why you refused to let anyone in. Then there was that cruel and vile Maria…" she paused, anger flashing in her eyes. "The things she did to you, that part of your life I wish you didn't have to relive. She broke you in so many ways. Ways that made you incapable of loving for quite a long time, but that's all changed now. Someone's come into your life that saw past all your flaws and pain and wants nothing more than to make you happy and to love you."

"I know she loves me." I admitted quietly. "Though, I don't know if I can love her back, Eve."

"Nonsense Jasper." She patted my cheek and backed away. "You already love her, you just need to bring yourself to see it. That's why I'm here, why you're seeing me."

"How do I love someone, when I haven't loved in so long?"

"You have to find the will. Elizabeth believes in you so much Jasper. She, like myself, saw things in you that you had long since forgotten about yourself. You possess remarkable qualities. You are a strong, compassionate man, Jasper. You just got a bit lost along the way. If you can just forget everything, every wrong that has ever happened to you, you will be able to find that good again. Only you can do it, search deep down."

"Everything that happened to me, all the bad, it's a part of me. Literally." She glanced down at my scars, a soft smile of understanding crossing her face.

"Your scars are a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness. While they are a part of you, they do not define you. You're not this monster you let people think you are. Things, people like the Cullens and Elizabeth matter to you."

"You matter to me too, Eve." I didn't want her to think that I would so easily forget her. "You taught me to love once, can you help me do it again?" It was a bit unorthodox to be asking a spirit to teach me something so simple.

"What I taught you is still embedded in your mind, you just need to find it again. I cannot teach it again, but I can show you." She came to me and wrapped her slender arms around me. Though she wasn't real at all, I felt her as if she was. She was warm, that warmth radiating straight to me as she did so.

"Close your eyes, Jasper." She spoke softly and, not ever being able to deny Evelyn anything, I did as she instructed. Closing my eyes, images began flooding my mind. Her doing this reminded me immediately of Luca and his gift of seeing people's past. However, everything Eve was showing me, reminding me of, were all good things.

I saw Susan, my sister and all the good times we had growing up before she was taken. I saw myself and Evelyn, and all the days leading up to the day she was taken. There were even tiny moments during my time with Maria that, while not exactly good, were not bad either.

There was my meeting with Alice and the few years we spent together, none of which was bad. I was always going to love Alice because it was almost impossible not to. Moments between my new family followed soon after. Though we may not have always gotten along, there were moments worth smiling over and fondly remembering.

The last thing Eve showed me were the moments with Lilly and eventually with Liz. The past two months had truly been something I hadn't experienced in such a long time. Though she hadn't said she loved me out loud since that day in the clearing, I could feel her love every day.

As I watched everything, I soon saw that Liz was perhaps the only girl who understood my sometimes twisted sense of humor. My witty comments laced with genuine concern, she got that too. When I pretended I didn't care, she knew I did deep down, but didn't call me out on it anymore.

She was beautiful like Evelyn. She was immortal like Maria, but that's where all comparisons ended. Liz was her own woman who didn't know the human Jasper or Maria's Jasper. No, she was in love with the me now, all flaws and quirks included.

All in all, she had learned to accept me for who I was without question. She took what she could get from me, but we both knew it wasn't enough nor was it far.

"Ah," Evelyn pulled away from me "you see it now don't you?"

"She's the one?"

"Why do you question what you already know?"

She was right, damn it she was so right!

It taken me this long, but I had come to see that I…I loved Elizabeth. I had just been too stupid and blind to see it. For so long, I had denied myself love that when I finally found it, staring right back at me in the face, I didn't realize what it was.

"I ran away from her Eve. What if she doesn't want me when I go back? What if I pushed her too damn far this time?" The very thought was unsettling. I had been known to shut myself off from people, but know that when I needed her and wanted her to be a part of my life fully, was it going to be too late for us? Had I pushed her too far, to the point where she would have given up on me?

"Now isn't the time to second guess yourself darling. Elizabeth has not given up on you nor will she ever give up on you."

Evelyn had never steered me wrong before so I had no choice but to believe her. "Go to her." She whispered.

"What about you Evelyn? You have to know that I will never stop loving you?"

"Well I should sure hope not. I will always love you too dear Jasper. There's no denying we had something special, but Elizabeth is the one for you. She is the one that you belong with. I was just there, all those years ago, to teach you how to love so that you could someday be able t love Elizabeth. We'll never forget one another, but it's time you move on."

Move on. The one thing Liz had been telling me for months, actually made sense now. I could actually see myself moving on with her and having a life with her.

For months, she had been trying to make me see the light and I had brushed her off. She had brought forth memories I didn't want to relive, but she did it with reason. She was doing it to give me second chance, to allow myself to love again.

She kissed my cheek softly, the warmth of her skin offering me the comfort I had so long been missing. Her kiss was our last goodbye. I knew after this moment, I would never see her again. This had been the closure I had needed all these years and wasn't even aware of it. Someone somewhere wanted me to be happy after all. I thought of my mother and sister, wondering if they were watching me from somewhere, finally happy and content that I was about to get my happy ending as it were.

"Goodbye Jasper." She moved away from me and, in what seemed like a flash, she was gone. A mere second later, I was gone. Running back towards the house, my mind was spinning. I knew I had to do this quick otherwise, I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it any other time. Sure Evelyn had convinced me of what was already there, but I was a stubborn man who always let his pride and past get in the way of things. It wasn't going to fade away in a day, but if I could do this, then everything else would fall into place.

Approaching the house, I sensed all the emotions floating around. Feelings of worry, confusion and anger were among only a few of them. The closer I got, I could feel hope and longing. I knew those two had to belong to Liz. For so long she had been waiting for this and I was finally going to be the man she needed to me to be and confess to her what was there all this time.

Walking in through the back, I saw Esme and Carlisle sitting in the kitchen with Lilly, the two of them working on some kind of art project. Lilly smiled immediately when she saw me. Such a innocent little girl, a child who I truly did care about. Walking to them, I kissed Lilly's forehead and Esme's cheek. I never realized what a truly wonderful person Esme Cullen was until now. Taking us all in, treating us all the same, but most importantly, giving us the love and comfort we had all seemed to lack when we came into this new life. Lilly laughed and Esme smiled warmly, she somehow knowing what was going on.

Slowing my pace as I walked into the living room, I scanned the room quickly looking for her. I saw Alice and Luca at the piano, him trying to teach her to play something. Edward and Emmett were on one of the couches, their gazes shifting towards me when I walked in. They didn't say anything, but they both looked rather upset with me. Finally, I saw her. Seated between Rosalie and Bella, was Liz. She had her head resting on Rosalie's shoulder as the other two women spoke to her quickly and quietly.

"Liz?" The second I said her name, her head was up, eyes narrowing at me. Her gaze was that of anger, but I felt something underneath that. She was actually relieved that I was back. Knowing it was now or never, I took her hand and pulled her to her feet. She watched me with wary eyes when I didn't say anything.

Tell her, Jasper. Tell her now.

"Elizabeth," I grabbed her face in my hands, gazing into those golden eyes "I love you." The words were rushed, but I knew she heard me. Still with her so close to me, I let my lips capture hers, attempting to let every single thing I felt for her flow between the two of us. She allowed it for a few moments before she pulled away, her eyes wild and frantic as she looked back at me.

So sure she was going to say she loved back right away, I began to grow anxious when she said nothing.

"Liz, did you not hear me…" My sentence was cut short when I felt a hand fly across my cheek. Stunned, I blinked a few times before looking at her again. She was standing, hands running through her hair and she seemed to be breathing uneasy. She didn't look like a woman who was happy. No, she looked like a woman who was pissed.

"I can't play games anymore Jasper." Her voice was strained as she looked at me. "I don't have the strength. You keep running and I don't think I can keep chasing you for all eternity."

"But, I just told you that I.."

"No," she stopped me again, backing away from me "this…no…no more games." She shook her head before making a run for the door, towards the back yard.

I stood there, completely dumbfounded by what just happened.

"Perhaps we should go talk to her?" Alice stood, rallying the girls at her side. "I'm sure she just needs time Jasper."

Time? What the hell did she need time for! I was the one who had been wasting time and now when I finally tell her, she goes running away? I didn't understand, I didn't understand on bit.

"No, Alice." I stopped her. "I need to do this on my own."

For the second time in one day, I ran. Only this time, I was running towards the one thing I had been so afraid of instead of away from her. Eve said that Liz would never give up on me, never stop loving me and damn it, I was going to make her see that this wasn't a game to me anymore.

I honestly and was completely in love with this woman, and she would know. If I didn't, I was very liable to lose her forever and there was no way in hell that was going to happen. Not now, not ever.

Who would've thought that a visit from the woman you'd been pining over for decades would be just what you needed to see what was right in front of you??

All I can say is...bet you didn't see that coming there at the end!

Last chapter is up next and I promise not to keep you waiting forever for it!The title and lyrics used are from the song 'Bella Luna' by Jason Mraz. Fabulous song by the way.

review, you know how much I love them!