Touched up 09/15/2014

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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A/N: Just when I think I'm getting a handle on those commas … anyhow, this one is about 5166 words.

"I Live" is posted on FanFiction, The Writer's Coffee Shop (TWCS), and Archive of Our Own (AO3).

Age 18 and over, please. Thank you.

Inevitable by amaris12345

Chapter 26, I Find

Jasper's POV

Turning her head slowly to peer up at Emmett, a huge, bright smile broke across Bella's face.

"Good one, Emmy-dear!"

"Been waiting for the perfect opportunity to be able to use that one," Emmett said smugly. "And you gave it to me, Bellzy-bub."

"Bellzy-bub?"

"You know. It's another name for Satan. Satan? Demons? Get it?"

Rosalie—eyes wide and staring at Emmett in disbelief—stepped hastily around Edward's rigid form and stomped across the floor to Emmett, Bella, and me. She stopped a few feet away and looked incredulously from Emmett to Bella and back.

"Oh, my God, do you two ever stop? Knock it off!" She huffed in exasperation, and her eyes flicked up to mine. "Jasper?" Her right hand flashed out, gesturing toward Emmett.

"What?" I asked. "It was a good one. And, before you get all bent out of shape …" I held both hands up defensively in front of myself. "Bella might be able to kill him with her brain." Smiling proudly at Bella, I wrapped my arms around her, drawing her into my chest. "Bella is calm, I have calmed down, and we needed a moment. It's been quite emotional."

"Jasper! I can't believe you! Not five seconds ago, you were ready to kill Edward and now …" Rosalie threw her hands up in the air. "How can you stand the thought that Edward has something of Bella's tucked away somewhere? That is disgusting and … and …" She spun around to face Edward, pinning him with an icy glare. "I always thought it was downright creepy and stalkerish when he used to sneak into her room to watch her sleep." Rosalie shuddered and turned back to us. "And now he's got God knows what of hers hidden somewhere. It's disturbing to imagine what it might be." She shivered again and wrapped her arms around herself as if she caught a chill.

Raising an eyebrow, I looked from the corner of my eye at Bella. "It's morbid and creepifyin'."

Bella peeked up at me, snorted, clamped her hand over her mouth, and started laughing into her hand, her shoulders shaking.

Emmett elbowed me in the side as he shook his head and snickered.

Rosalie, glaring angrily at all three of us, sputtered, "What are you three laughing at?"

Emmett chuckled and said, "Quotes from Firefly." He patted Bella on her back.

"Best show ever!" Bella chuckled into my chest. "I don't know why I remember it, but I do."

I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out in satisfaction. That was just one more reason to adore my little hellcat.

Brushing my right hand down over Bella's hair, I pulled her back into my chest, and kissed the top of her head. Looking up at Rosalie, I gave her what I thought was a reassuring smile. "Whatever Edward has hidden, I'll find."

Bella pulled away from my chest and looked over her shoulder at Edward, studying him as a child might study an interesting bug. "So, where is it, Edward? We'll find out soon enough what it is."

Closing his eyes, Edward dropped his head to his chest. His shame was now vibrating through the air. At the intensity of his emotions, I was even more concerned, wondering what it was he had hidden.

Bella looked up at me as she slid her right hand down my left arm, taking hold of my hand. "What's the matter, Jasper? There could be some of my books up there in his room. There might even be some clothes?" She turned to look at Esme, a question in her eyes.

"Uh, Bella." Esme finally found her voice. "I collected all of your clothes out of Edward's room to wash them." She glanced over at Edward. "At least I think so."

"With the amount of shame he is projecting, I don't think it's merely that," I said cautiously. "Darlin', are you sure you can hold him while I go look?"

"Yes, I can." She looked determined. "But maybe Emmett should stay here with us?"

"Yes, Darlin'." I patted her hand on my arm and gave it a light squeeze. Catching Emmett's eye, I said to him, "Only one of you is to leave the room at any time. Do not leave her alone with him." Emmett nodded, grinned irreverently at Edward, and cracked his knuckles. Next, I turned my regard on Rosalie. "Rosalie? Join me?" Receiving a sharp nod from her, I looked to Carlisle behind me.

He had been unusually quiet, and when I focused my attention on him, I could sense disappointment under the despondency he was feeling. His darkened, sad eyes were studying Edward. I decided I would ask Carlisle if he would go with Rosalie and me to search Edward's room. A third person helping would make it go more quickly, and despite how unhappy he was, I could trust him to search thoroughly. He would also be able to witness what was found.

Though it was Edward's room, within Carlisle's and Esme's house, I did not need permission from any of them to conduct a search. No one interfered with someone's mate, and no one would keep me from finding whatever might be there that belonged to her.

"Carlisle, would you assist us in searching Edward's room?"

His golden eyes flicked to me, and a small sigh escaped him. "Yes." His troubled gaze dropped to the floor. "I have always strived to afford everyone some measure of privacy, as difficult as it can be at times. I know we have all endeavored to be considerate of one another and show respect for each other's boundaries and private quarters, but …" Another weary sigh escaped his lips, and his hand went to rub his forehead. "I fear, in this instance, a line may have been crossed." He glanced quickly at Edward and then to Bella. "I suppose we should get started." He turned slowly and made his way toward the stairs. He paused for a moment to look over the destroyed stairway, and then crouched slightly and sprang up to the second floor landing.

Smiling at Bella, I trailed the fingers of my right hand across her cheek. "If you have any problems, let me know. But I'm sure you, Emmett, and Esme will be fine."

"We will be." Bella smiled back. "And please don't destroy his room."

"Yes, Darlin'." I nodded at Rosalie, and we headed for the stairs, leaping together to the landing above. I asked her to wait for me as I walked quickly down the hall to my study to find another shirt. At the rate Bella was tearing them off me, I'd have to go shopping soon. Noting the few I had left, I grabbed a dark green V-neck T-shirt out of the wardrobe. Hurriedly slipping it over my head, I rejoined Rosalie.

As we made our way to Edward's room on the third floor, I heard Esme say she would go get the Shop-Vac from the garage. When she reached the front porch, she told Alice to grab a broom and dust pan and start sweeping up the broken glass on the patio.

Bella, speaking a bit louder than she really needed to, said, "Edward, never mind about cleaning, you go stand over there by your spot in the wall while we start cleaning this up. Em, flip the furniture back over and push it back where it belongs. I hope Esme brings in some trash cans." I heard light thumps from the living room.

Near the door to Edward's room, Carlisle stood silently waiting for us, his arms crossed over his chest, and his head bowed. As I stepped past him, I placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to send him a bit of strength along with my gratefulness and compassion, to help him push aside his sorrow and disillusionment. Bella's revelations in her discussion with Edward were disquieting, but all held a ring of truth. It was troubling to me that I had not seen the depth of his … obsession? Mania? Carlisle had to be having similar thoughts. It seemed none of us had recognized the magnitude of Edward's fixation.

I had experienced the emotions Edward held for Bella and they had all appeared very like the exhilaration of infatuation that the humans frequently had for each other. Having noted his giddy pleasure at her presence, I had never delved deeper and had dismissed it as the maunderings of a smitten adolescent.

Usually surprised at the depth of her feelings, and distracted by the lust and repeated frustration and rejection she had suffered through, I had been more absorbed in Bella's emotions. Normally, humans did not have the complexity of emotion that Bella had displayed and they certainly didn't have the intensity.

After entering Edward's room, I stood in the middle of the floor over the spot where I had ripped Edward's arm from his body, and silently took in the space. Despite the fact that Esme had cleaned and aired it out, I could still catch the rather sweet scent of Edward's spilled venom. I couldn't help the self-satisfied smile that crept over my face.

The delicious, appealing fragrance of Bella's blood, mixed with her enthralling scent as a vampire, still hung faintly in the air. I was curious as to why Edward was not spending all his time there, surrounded by her scent.

Turning to face Carlisle and Rosalie, I spoke in a low voice to them both, hoping to keep Bella and the others from hearing me downstairs. "We will thoroughly search this room. I expect there to be some things here that Bella had left. Perhaps books, like she said. That's not what I'm concerned with. Edward's guilt and shame were quite intense, so I don't think he was worried about a few books." I studied each of them. "We will be searching for Bella's belongings and anything that might contain her human scent. If you find anything, place it here on the floor."

I breathed in the faint traces of Bella's scent. It helped to ease the anxiety I felt being away from her. "I believe him when he said he didn't know Bella was my mate. A small souvenir of their time together, I could understand, though I don't think I'd like it very much. However, if he has something here to try to preserve her human scent …" I dropped my head and stared at the floor for a moment. "That would be beyond the pale." I raised my eyes to Carlisle who was standing by the closet. "That would be … fucking insane."

Carlisle's sad eyes met mine. "I have no explanation for this … behavior, Jasper. Perhaps because she is his Singer the attraction of her blood …" he whispered, shaking his head as if to force the thought away. "Previously, he had mentioned having little items—reminders—of their time together, but don't most indulge in that, whether they are human or vampire?"

"Yes, they do, Carlisle," Rosalie hissed. "Emmett and I have lots of souvenirs from our trips, but I never tried to keep anything with his blood or human scent on it!"

Downstairs, I heard Esme start the Shop-Vac and Bella squawked, "Those things are loud!" Next was Emmett's booming laugh. "Get to work, Belly-boo!"

It brought a smile to my face to hear her voice, but it was only fleeting as I thought of the unpleasant task ahead. "I'll start with the bed." Edward's bed; though he had bought it for Bella to use.

I found myself to be immensely relieved they had not used it together. A twinge of jealousy, then a hot bolt of possessiveness shot through me. Halting and containing it, I consoled myself with the reminder that Bella and I had actually been the last to put it to some use with my lying beside her as she fought against the fiery agony of the change. It was where I had taken as much of that suffering from her as I could. When I had found her inside her truck, so bloody and so badly injured, I had told her I would not leave her. Ironically, Edward's bed was where I learned I couldn't be without her.

Edward would probably have the bed removed as soon as possible. Luckily, I had my own. It just wasn't in this house.

Carlisle gave us a stiff nod and went into the closet to begin his search, the downward slope of his shoulders displaying his distress at the distasteful task.

The debris and crumbled drywall from where Bella had shoved me into the wall of the closet had been removed, but the broken studs and cracked door frame had not yet been replaced. Esme would have time to see to that once Bella, Rosalie, Emmett, and I left. Leaving her to fix all the damage herself didn't sit quite right with me, but I couldn't stay to help her, and I did think I would need Emmett and Rosalie's help with Bella. Esme had Carlisle, Edward, and Alice to lend a hand. They didn't have the same skills that Esme and Emmett had, but I was sure they could manage with Esme's direction.

Squaring her shoulders for the task ahead, Rosalie marched to the north wall of shelves containing Edward's many books and CDs. She took his desk chair to stand on so she could reach the highest.

Taking a slow step toward it, I studied the bed for another moment. It still had the pale butter colored sheets on it, infused with Bella's and my scents. I hadn't been back in the room since Bella had awakened, and I found that the combination of our scents pleased and satisfied me, and reinforced that sense of contentedness I felt when I had Bella in my arms.

Perhaps that was why Edward was not spending time in his room? There wasn't only Bella's scent—my scent was blended with hers. That realization delighted the absolute shit right out of me.

The gold colored comforter was folded across the foot of the bed, so I started with that. As I took hold of the edge and shook it out over the bed, I heard a faint crackling sound. It was coming from a corner, and I lightly pushed down on it. It crackled again. As much as I was sure Esme or Edward paid for it, it shouldn't have been crackling. I examined the seam of the comforter near the corner and found a section of stitches that were marginally different from the others. My first impulse was to rip it open, but I reminded myself of the care Esme took when she chose items for our home, and Bella's request that I not destroy his room. Using my fingernail as a seam ripper, I carefully cut the threads and gently opened the seam. Hidden there was a quart-sized, zippered, plastic storage bag. Folded inside was a scrap of bloodied fabric.

As I slid the storage bag from the comforter, my hands began to tremble with the wrath that exploded inside me. I briefly closed my eyes. I had thought I might find something with Bella's blood on it or in it, but having that suspicion confirmed by finding my mate's blood in his room ignited a blistering rage so intense my entire body began to quiver.

Instantly, I fought to repress it, so I wouldn't project it throughout the room and the house. I didn't want Rosalie and Carlisle to be subjected to it. Bella had been all too aware of my emotions, and I didn't want her becoming concerned and distracted, or running upstairs to see what I'd found. Searching for that subtle trace of Bella's scent, I took in a slow breath through my nose and exhaled just as gradually.

I tried to convince myself it was a just job I had to do. A task I had to complete. Right then I had to do that job without becoming emotionally invested in it, and without storming, raging, and destroying everything in sight. I couldn't allow my feelings to interfere. I would not destroy anything in that room. As badly as I wanted to, I would not destroy Edward because Bella didn't want me to. She had been right when she said he needed to remember the things he had done to her.

Inhaling again, seeking the scent of my mate, I willed my body to stop shaking. As I released the breath, I relaxed my shoulders and the muscles in my back. I stared at the blood-stained fabric. It was a piece of the T-shirt she had been wearing when she had been in the accident.

"Jasper … Jasper!"

Rosalie's voice finally broke through my spinning thoughts. "What is it?" My voice sounded dead and flat even to me.

"I've been trying to get your attention. I've found some photographs—some of Bella and some of Bella and Edward together. What do you want to do with those?"

If it were up to me, I'd strike a match to all those pictures, but that wasn't my decision. "We'll take them to Bella. She can decide what to do with them."

My fury wasn't too far beneath the surface, and I fought to keep it down.

"What's the matter? Your voice sounds funny."

Rosalie couldn't see the bag I was holding because she was behind me. I turned, holding it up to show her.

Her eyes widened and she gasped. "What … what is that?"

"It's a piece of the T-shirt Bella was wearing when she crashed. Finding this hidden inside Edward's comforter, I expect there to be more pieces of her clothing here somewhere."

Rosalie's hand flew up to cover her mouth. "Oh, now that's not just morbid and creepifyin', that's sick. What the hell is the matter with him? Was he going to huff her blood until the scent went away?" Then she twitched with a start and a baffled look formed over her face. "When the hell did he do that? How did he do that?"

Gaining control of myself, I shrugged. "Held his breath?" I studied the bag, turning it over in my hands. "We've all been a bit preoccupied, and he is fast."

I slid open the zipper and gave it a little sniff. Though I enjoyed the delicious bouquet of her blood as it wafted from the bag, it was in no way comparable to the tantalizing and provocative scent of Bella as a vampire. I had never smelled anything as entrancing as my mate, and a sensation of peace and well-being settled over me, enabling me to push my rage deeper and deeper.

Taking another small sample of the air from the bag, a smirk grew across my face, and a low chuckle began deep in my throat. I peered up at Rosalie. "I think he might have been a little disappointed. I can detect my scent." I felt better instantly.

A small smile formed on Rosalie's lips, and an evil glint twinkled in her eyes. "Serves him right."

"Jasper," Carlisle called softly from the closet. "Edward has a safe in here. You know we all keep cash and documents …"

"Open it," I ordered, interrupting him.

"I don't have the combination."

"Try Bella's birthday," I said as I zipped the bag closed and dropped it to the floor. "If that doesn't work, I'll go ask him."

I turned back to the bed and pulled the sheets off, bringing them to my face to take in Bella's and my mingled scents. I tossed them toward the windows before lifting off the mattress. Under the mattress were two more bags with pieces of Bella's bloodied T-shirt in them. I grabbed them and dropped them to the floor with the first one , and then began to closely examine the seams of the mattress.

"Bella's birthday worked," Carlisle's disheartened voice said from the closet. "There are two more of those bags."

He brought out the zippered storage bags and dropped them to the floor with the others. Inside those bags were pieces of the jeans she had been wearing. Nodding my thanks to Carlisle, I went back to work on the mattress.

-oOoOo-

For about three hours, Rosalie, Carlisle, and I had searched through and examined everything in Edward's room. All told, a total of eighteen storage bags with pieces of Bella's blood-stained clothing in them were found—along with one little bottle cap. Edward had been a busy boy. I could not think of the significance of the number eighteen, unless there was one for each year of Bella's human life. To which Rosalie had commented caustically, "Eighteen. He's always been such a sentimental fool."

Edward was fortunate he was downstairs. Rosalie had not been happy. She had hissed and snarled, albeit quietly, the entire time she had been searching. With the tenacity of a pit bull with a bone, she had opened and scrutinized every single CD and DVD, and had flipped through every single book. She had even removed every vinyl album and record from their sleeves to look them over before replacing them.

Carlisle had explored every pocket and felt along every seam of clothing in Edward's closet—finding several of the storage bags tucked between sweaters and behind shoe boxes.

Once I had completed my search of the bed and its frame, I turned my attention to the other furniture, inspecting every side, studying the bottoms of drawers and checking inside for false bottoms. I tapped and prodded everywhere else for hollow areas or hidden pockets. After finding one bag inside the mattress and three tucked up inside the box spring, Edward seemed to have used up his imagination for hiding places. Most of the bags were in the drawers of the night tables.

I even went over every square inch of wall and ceiling, and knocking and tugging all along the trim. There had been no odor or other evidence of fresh spackle or paint to try and cover any recent "repairs," but I wasn't going to let anything slip by me—not when it came to my mate. I also tugged at the carpeting, checked behind light switch covers and receptacles, felt and sniffed the curtains, and peered through the hollow curtain rods.

While by the windows, I did happen to notice Bella on the patio gathering up piles of broken glass and splintered wood with her hands while Alice swept and made more little piles. Bella would drop the handfuls into a trash can and quickly scoop up more. She and Alice seemed to be getting along well, though they didn't ever get too close to each other, and didn't seem to be speaking much. I supposed as long as I wasn't near them both, Bella wouldn't growl and try to attack her.

Rosalie and Carlisle also searched the bathroom just outside Edward's room, bringing Bella's strawberry-scented shampoo and other items to me, including her hairbrush, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, and tampons.

"The sealed package of tampons can be left in the bathroom." Let Edward have that small reminder of his obsession with Bella. "The opened box, we'll burn. She won't need them anymore. Her toothbrush and anything else that's been opened and used, also go into the pile we'll take to Bella."

Clinging to the well-being and serenity I felt when experiencing Bella's scent, I had managed to keep my rage subdued. Though I think that was due primarily to the fact the pieces of clothing that had been found had not included any part of Bella's underwear. I believe I would have lost complete control of myself if I had found her panties in one of those bags.

For once, Edward's overly strict, repressed, and guilt-ridden morals worked in his favor—but only partially. It hadn't prevented him from attempting to keep samples of her blood. At that point, I couldn't help wondering for a moment how Edward had become so excessively inhibited and puritanical in his thoughts and actions. From what I could remember of my time, people had not seemed so austere and prudish. That impression could merely be the fault of my lack of memories. But I had lived through his era, and I'd met vampires who had been turned within that same decade. Perhaps he had been too young when Carlisle had changed him, or the horrors of becoming ill and losing his parents in the Spanish flu epidemic had scarred him and caused him to cling desperately to his rigid and unbending standards. He had been ill, near death, and feverish when he had been changed. Too often it appeared a human's last train of thought influenced some of their later behavior as a vampire.

Of course, the agony of the transformation, and the shock of becoming a vampire, left its own marks on the psyche.

Those may have been reasons, but they weren't excuses for Edward doing something that he knew to be wrong, or he wouldn't have felt such guilt when he was caught.

Feeling no sympathy for him, as his plight was really no different than any other vampire's, I had shoved aside those thoughts.

Out of curiosity, I had opened and taken a sniff at each bag, gratified to find a trace amount of my scent in all of them. Some of them had even held a hint of gasoline. To add fuel to the fire we would be lighting shortly, I spit in each bag before sealing it again—much to Rosalie's disgust. And that had given me an idea. I pulled a pillow case off one of the pillows and rubbed it over my head to make sure my scent was on it. Then I squatted down on the floor near the pile of Bella's things, licking my fingers before I picked up each item to place in the bag. When I got to Bella's hairbrush, I brushed my hair with it and then dropped it in. I wouldn't be leaving any hairs behind, but my scent would be mixed with hers.

Childish? Perhaps, but there would be no mistake that I had handled everything, and it pleased my possessive side to be able to mark all of her things with my scent.

After treating the last of the items with my venom and putting them in the pillow case, I inhaled a deep breath, expelled it into the case, and then twisted the end to close it. I was sure the thread count was high enough that it would even hold water for a time. Curious, Carlisle watched me silently, arms crossed, the fingers of his right hand were at first spread over his face, then he brought his hand down and covered his mouth when realization dawned.

Rosalie just shook her head and rolled her eyes at me. "Are you through spitting all over everything?" she asked.

"Yes, I believe I am." I smirked at her as I stood up from the floor. "You know that's just one way to mark our territory." I tossed the pillow case over my shoulder, holding the end closed. "I trust that you both feel we've searched Edward's room thoroughly and completely?"

Carlisle just nodded. Rosalie looked toward the ceiling and said with a long-suffering sigh, "Yessss, Jasper. Can we go kick his ass now?"

"As much as I would fuckin' love to, there will be no ass kicking. I suppose if we're finished here we should head back downstairs," I said loudly enough for Bella and the rest to hear me down in the living room.

As we reached the bottom of the stairs from the third floor and prepared to jump to the main floor, I saw Alice by the front window where Edward's piano used to be. Alice glanced up at us and gave a little cough. I held my arm up to stop Rosalie and Carlisle. I wanted to give Alice a moment before we dropped down into the newly clean living room.

Alice nervously tugged at her blouse and shifted from foot to foot. "Well, since we're finished here, maybe I'll just go back up to my room. Uh, Bella, it was nice working with you. I think we did a good job on the patio."

"Yeah, we did, Alice. Thank you for sweeping. I tried not to break the other broom." Sounding a little embarrassed, Bella spoke from near the patio where I couldn't see her.

"I know. It's a good thing we have a few of them." Alice gave an encouraging smile. "You'll figure it out soon. I know you will." Then she gestured toward the front doorway. "Um, I'll just go this way and jump up. If anyone needs anything, just give a yell." She nodded, gave everyone a little smile, and she walked quickly onto the porch.

I dropped lightly to the carpet, swung the pillow case down from my shoulder, and turned to find Bella. She was sitting in the chair in front of where the sliding glass door used to be. She was lovely. The early evening light coming in the windows on the south wall behind her gave her skin a soft glow. I filled my eyes with the sight of her and then looked over the rest of the room. Bella's was the best seat to observe the entire room, but I hoped she was sitting there waiting to see me. Emmett was in one of the recliners to the left watching the TV on the east wall, and Esme was on the couch to the right. She was turned slightly so that she could easily see the room and keep an eye on Edward who was behind her, still standing with his back to the damaged wall.

When Bella saw me her entire face brightened and in the next instant, she was across the room standing in front of me and smiling up at me. Her right hand reached out slowly, and she gently touched my left that was holding the end of the pillow case.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Hi," I said back to her, drinking in her scent and her beauty. Seeing her, feeling her touch, breathing in her inviting and soothing scent, released a tension I didn't know I still had. It slowly drained away from me and was replaced with feelings of relief, warm pleasure, comfort, and peace. I'd only been away from her for a little over three hours, but I had missed her. I raised my right hand to her face, my fingers brushing gently over her cheek.

Her fingers traced lightly over my hand and forearm. "What did you find?"

..

Credits:

Paraphrasing "I can kill you with my brain" ~ River Tam to Jayne Cobb in the Firefly show "Trash."

"morbid and creepifyin'." ~ Captain Malcolm Reynolds, describing River Tam, to crew from the Firefly show "Safe."