Twilight character names belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. Thanks as always go to my betas, U2Shay and Adt216, for their beta skills and to kejce for pre reading.

A/N: Thank you for the wonderful response to the last chapter, it felt amazing to hear from so many readers out there. This chapter is posting a bit late because of my vacation, thanks for your patience. Now lets find Jasper.

Lady Liberty

It's time, Jasper told himself.

The risk was almost immeasurable. If he were to be discovered, it would certainly mean the end of him and his last link to his love.

I need to try. I need to find a way back. It's time.

Jasper had been following Vladimir and Demetri through the German forest for days upon end. Fortunately for Jasper, there had been no sign of Stephan's unit, or any other Russian soldiers for that matter. In reality, the three journeymen were utterly lost and too far under the cover of a blanket of leaves to allow the stars to guide their way.

The Russians' compass had been broken over a week ago. Vladimir thought it would be best to load Jasper with all of their supplies as the three men hiked, allowing them to save their strength while Jasper struggled with the heavy load. The extra weight coupled with his weakened body led to a bloody fall and the destruction of many of their coveted supplies. The compass had certainly been the worst loss for the trio.

Still as stubborn as a mule and as agitated as a hungry bear, Vladimir pushed on, refusing to believe the compass no longer worked. He followed the faulty instrument as it led them east but from the angle of the sunlight that did make it through the thick forest, Jasper supposed they were likely moving south instead. By the end of the third day of traveling by broken compass, Vladimir was so frustrated, he threw the object and nearly everything on Jasper's back into a muddy ditch then forced Jasper to retrieve and clean the items one by one.

Every move they made seemed to be a complete waste of time and energy, but Jasper willed himself to remain calm. He knew from experience that it only took a single moment for everything to change. Vladimir in his frustrated state began making more and more mistakes. Jasper only needed to be ready for his chance to strike. And although one captor was cruel while the other was complacent, neither were the guards at the gates of the Gulag. For that, Jasper was most definitely grateful.

Still, as the days passed his heart ached. It ached for his family in Texas, for his ma, his pa, for Sam Jr., Emmie and the boys. He missed Seth and Alec, Edward and Bella. Hell, he'd even be thrilled at the sight of Roberts or Colonel Swan.

Most of all he longed for Alice. He missed her words, her photograph, and her scent on pages written by her hand. He missed her handkerchief with its soft lace edging and wondered if she'd sewn it herself. He re-read her words in his mind, allowing her wit to calm him, to bolster him, and to give him a few precious moments of peace. He had hope when he thought of her out there waiting for him. He had a reason to live. He had a reason to be patient. He had a future to get home to, not only for Alice but for others as well. When Jasper left the remains of the Pathfinders Squadron behind at Stalag IA, he vowed he'd get home to someday tell their families not only how they died but how hard they fought to live.

I owe them nothing less than the honor of their story being told.

Each day Jasper allowed himself to touch the belt that contained Alice's last words of love. The touches were like pockets of air to a drowning man. Jasper only granted himself this gift a few times each day. He refused to call attention to it, fearing his captors would force him to give up his last physical link to his love. The sweep of his hand over her words of love became like little morsels of food. Jasper would save them so he could savor them during his day.

At night he slept sitting upright out of fear that he'd be unable to fend off an attack if he were lying down. Though his hands were bound together, he'd prop himself against a tree or rock then rest his clasped hands across his waist. His thumbs would stroke the metal that concealed Alice's words and he'd rest in the comfort of her love.

Tonight, however, his captors made another mistake and a rather large one at that. His hands had not been bound. Each man must have thought the other had done that task. Jasper held his typical position with this back against a tree, knees bent and arms folded over his lap, concealing his bare wrists. Jasper knew they were going to give him an opening to escape; it was only a matter of time.

It was most definitely time. Who knew when his captors would again grant him the freedom to attack them in their sleep? Pulling in a slow and controlled breath, Jasper focused on two beautiful, gray blue eyes, two soft, full lips and two slender arms held out to him in beckoning. She called out to him with her heart, with her mind, and with her body to come home to her. As his mind envisioned her beauty, his thumb traced the belt shaft that contained her words. He wanted to see her words lying in the palm of his hand, but the rare opportunity to gain the advantage over his captors was fleeting with each moment he delayed. He took courage from the knowledge they were still there. So with his mind settled, Jasper began his trek to the far side of the campsite.

Vladimir was lying with his back to the fading embers of the fire while Demetri's upright pose mirrored Jasper's on the far side of their campsite. Jasper could reach Vladimir first, as he was positioned closest, but his gun would be harder to take and get off a clean shot.

Demetri's gun would be easier to reach. It was propped against the tree beside him, but Demetri was significantly further away. Each alternative had its risks but in the end, Jasper decided that taking Demetri's gun would offer the best chance of his survival.

He moved slowly, carefully. Each movement made silent and controlled so as not to rouse his captors. He crawled forward, as quiet as a breath in search of Demetri's weapon. He would end this, tonight.

Slow and steady, slithering like a snake, Jasper inched forward. He had to be patient. He needed the cover of silence to remain undetected as he advanced toward the impending attack. The minutes dragged on as Jasper made his torturously slow approach. The fear that his captors would wake drove an icy chill down his spine.

Be strong, be silent, be brave.

Not for the first time, Jasper wished for the immortal strength of Perseus. Alice's words drew the last ounce of strength from him. Every inch brought hope that he'd make it. The natural instinct to turn and run was strong, but without a weapon they'd only hunt him down again and find him. This time, without the threat of Stephan's wrath, Jasper doubted that Vladimir would allow him to live, no matter how Demetri reasoned with him.

Why would Demetri fight for him?

Perhaps Demetri knew of the value of an American soldier to the Russian leaders. Perhaps he held some deeper moral code that would not allow him to kill his ally. Perhaps he wasn't self-sacrificing at all. Perhaps he acknowledged that going back to his army without some evidence of capturing an escapee would label him as a traitor and he would be shot or sent to the Gulag himself.

Colonel Uley's voice sounded in Jasper's ears.

"Let me tell you a little bit about strategy, Whitlock. First of all, you need to know your opponent before you make a move."

For the first time, Jasper second-guessed his actions worrying that not knowing his captor's motives would be his downfall.

His heart thundered in his chest as the distance to the Russian's rifle continued to shrink.

Just a few more feet.

A crackle echoed in the distance. It wasn't loud by any stretch and most likely typical for the natural inhabitants of the land. The scent of their campsite was bound to draw the attraction of animals in search of food. Jasper's head whipped in the direction of the noise. He could see nothing. The forest was black and thick. Though there were bound to be things moving, his eyesight was too limited to make out any approach. His pause kicked his senses into overdrive, searching for signs of an impending attack.

The danger was out there but no potential foe seemed stronger than the ones who lay in repose before him. Jasper closed his eyes and swallowed hard, praying for the strength to get through the coming violence. A silent breath settled him until he reopened his eyes.

A pair of eyes were staring right back at him.

Dear God.

His body lay frozen in time. Stuck between his attack and his place on the far side of the campsite. He could lunge at Demetri, but Vladimir would wake and end him before he took a second breath.

Demetri moved first, stretching out his left arm in search of his weapon. His fingers silently curled around his rifle and dragged it back into firing position. His finger poised lay against the trigger but still.

I should be dead, Jasper thought as his heart beat wildly inside his chest. If I'd gone after Vladimir's gun, I would be dead.

Demetri said nothing; instead he lifted his chin and motioned with his gun for Jasper to return to his station. Jasper rose silently, acknowledging that, at least for the moment, the man did not want to shoot him. The defeat he felt was crushing. The likelihood of having another chance like this one seemed as impossible as trapping sunlight with his hands.

Once Jasper was repositioned with his back against the stump, Demetri moved once again. His hand searched blindly beside him while his eyes never strayed from Jasper's. After a few moments of padding the ground beside him, Demetri found purchase against a thin coil of rope. It was the same one that had mistakenly been left off of Jasper's wrists for the night.

Demetri rose silently, his rifle poised and ready to fire. He took careful steps, glancing back and forth between Jasper and his still sleeping partner. He stilled a few feet from Jasper and tossed the rope to him. Once more he lifted his chin to Jasper and made motion for him to wrap the rope around his own wrists.

Jasper wondered what the point of this was. He wouldn't be bound by the rope if he tied it himself. It would only seem that way. Still he complied, making a circle of the length until the free end was concealed within his grasp.

Demetri let out a deep sigh and sunk to the ground. A few feet remained between the men. Demetri's back was to the fire. He could still see Vladimir from the corner of his eye. Even in the darkness of night Jasper noticed how often the soldier's gaze bounced from him to Vladimir. He seemed to be weighing something, warring with himself. Jasper waited, having no other recourse available to him. Once more Jasper wondered what drove the man before him to spare his life, again.

"You know Statue Liberty?" Demetri whispered.

Holy shit, he knows English.

Jasper, stunned silent, could only nod in response. Demetri waited. Both men were frozen in place, each waiting for the other's next move. Jasper took the opportunity before him, staring into the fearful intensity of the eyes that watched his every move.

"I saw it when we left New York. We sailed past her on our way to London."

"She is big?" Demetri asked.

Jasper nodded, pausing at how surreal the moment was. He'd never guess that the quiet man before him knew his language let alone was curious enough to ask about a symbol of his nation.

Jasper slowly lifted his hands and tapped his chest twice. Then he moved to position them a mere inch from the ground. Then he slowly raised them as far as he could stretch up to indicate the difference between his own height and that of the revered symbol known as Lady Liberty.

A smile spread across Demetri's face as he nodded in understanding.

"I see her in picture before war."

Jasper nodded, not sure of how to use the information to his advantage. After all this time together, he had no idea the man knew anything of his language. Jasper froze in mid thought.

The jump across the ravine, I heard someone calling out to me in English. It was him.

The enormity of the revelation hit Jasper hard. He could have made the jump if he'd not been distracted. He might have made it all the way to the Hussars…maybe. Jasper seethed in frustration. This was the man that kept him from reaching freedom. He might have been able to save the men of the 9th if he'd escaped. Jasper swallowed hard trying to calm the desire to lunge and strangle the man before him. His wrists were only loosely bound.

Maybe, I can overpower him before Vladimir can reach his weapon.

Demetri let out a sigh and lifted his hand to rub it back and forth across his forehead. Jasper saw the man before him, tired, weak, and hungry. And somehow, despite Jasper's own attempt to strike him down this night, Demetri had once again let him live. Demetri allowed him to wrap a rope about his wrists as a false measure should Vladimir awake and discover him unbound. Demetri did all of this for him, yet had no reason not to kill Jasper where he lay. The conflicting feelings left him flailing to find the surface after being submerged into a sea of contradiction.

Jasper watched as Demetri's hand left his forehead and traveled down the back of his head and beneath his collar. He pulled until the action produced a chain from underneath his dirty collar. There, dangling from the end, was a woman's locket. Demetri flipped open the clasp revealing the image of a young girl. She was just as fair as Demetri, with long dark hair and penetrating eyes.

"My, my—" Demetri paused as if searching for a word he only knew in his native tongue. "She write letters."

Jasper swallowed hard thinking of Alice's letters.

How we are all different, and yet, all the same.

"Wife?" Jasper supplied, struggling to continue the conversation with his captor turned confidant. Demetri shook his head. "Girlfriend? Mother? Aunt?" Jasper added quietly. Each time the response from Demetri was to shake his head no.

Jasper thought quietly for a moment. "Sister? Cous—" he began but stopped when he saw Demetri's eyes light up.

"Da, si-ster," he replied allowing the new word to roll uncomfortably off his tongue.

"You have si-ster?" Demetri asked as he motioned with his flat hand for something small.

Jasper shook his head and lifted his hand way up high. "A brother. A big brother."

Demetri nodded then froze. He lifted his head to look up at Jasper with a sorrowful intensity. "At war?" Demetri asked carefully. His voice was just barely loud enough for Jasper to hear.

"No, he was too old," Jasper replied, thinking of the nearly fifteen years that separated him from his elder brother.

Jasper's mother often called him her miracle baby as she'd thought she was too old to conceive a child in her later years. As Jasper grew he learned that his mother had also had a difficult time with his birth. Whenever he had done something bad enough to earn himself a strapping, it always ended with his father gently clapping him on the shoulder saying there was some purpose in him and his mother both surviving that night, and although he'd earned himself a punishment, he loved him no less. Though Jasper was often smarting from a punishment he rightfully deserved, he wondered what purpose it was other than giving his old man's belt a decent workout. On this night, Jasper prayed that his purpose in life still lay ahead of him.

Looking at the crinkle of lines surrounding Demetri's dark eyes, Jasper elaborated on the answer that seemed to puzzle Demetri.

"They sent young men to become soldiers. My brother was too old to go to war. I have two nephews, Samuel and Jeremy. My brother's sons," Jasper added not sure how much English Demetri understood.

"I Demetri Petrovski. My sister, Laina," Demetri replied, indicating the name of the woman pictured in the locket.

"Jasper Whitlock," Jasper replied, raising his hands to tap his chest.

"Yas-per," Demetri quietly repeated.

Jasper lifted one side of his mouth in a half smile. He appreciated Demetri's attempt to call him by his given name. Demetri smiled a little in return. Jasper still couldn't believe he was carrying on a conversation about his family, in English, with the armed soldier sitting before him.

Demetri's soft smile fell as he looked beyond Jasper and out into the dense wall of trees that surrounded their camp.

"Laina and I want travel after war. In last letter she write that mother and father die. Bad winter, no food."

For a moment, Jasper could almost see the ghosts in Demetri's eyes. A breeze blew, shaking the trees. Demetri's gaze fell from the forest down to his lap.

"I'm sorry," Jasper whispered, truly meaning it. He may have been the man's captive, but he could still read the sincere pain on Demetri's face. Jasper shuddered at the thought of his own parents passing before he made it home.

"Laina and I make plan before I go war. If parents die, she—" he paused looking once more back in the direction of Vladimir. "She go travel."

Jasper nodded, urging the man to continue.

"If I die at war, Laina have nothing. No family, no farm. Nothing. No good to wait for me. She travel. Parents health no good when I leave for war. I promise Laina if parents die and I live, I meet her after war over. On mother's birthday, May 23rd. I make promise. Laina make promise too. With last letter, I know she go," Demetri swallowed, and his lower lip trembled as he whispered his next thought. "I not know if she—"

Again, Demetri paused to collect himself. He licked his lips and tried to swallow down the fear that clawed against his conviction. Jasper understood Demetri's fears even with his harsh accent and shaky English.

"I not know if she make passage. Long journey. Very dangerous."

"Where is she going?" Jasper asked.

Demetri frowned. His mouth clamped down in a grimace. He waited a long time before he spoke again. When he did, he changed the subject.

"Gulag very bad. You no want to go."

Jasper nodded his head in agreement. "No, I want to go home."

Demetri nodded, understanding Jasper's desire. If he could, he'd return to the family he knew as well, but that was not to be.

"I fear we meet more comrades soon."

Jasper shook his head no, and Demetri stared back with doubt furrowing his brow.

This was it. This was Jasper's chance. He had to decide to trust his enemy or possibly perish by saying nothing. The decision weighed heavily on Jasper's shoulders threatening to crush him as he and his captor stared each other down.

This is it. This is my chance. If Demetri is a friend, he can help me escape. He can help me get away to the Americans. He can help me get home.

The thought of having a real chance at finding home brought back to life the fading spark in Jasper's eyes. It had all but gone out after missing the chance to take Demetri's rifle.

But what if he really is my enemy? He can turn on me and use this to help him get home and take me even further from my family…my Alice.

Jasper thought of the two times that Demetri had stayed his execution at Vladimir's hand. He thought of the scraps of food he tossed in his direction when Vladimir wasn't looking. He thought of the fact that he was sitting here now, even after attempting to take Demetri's life.

"I don't think we'll meet up with your comrades. The sun," Jasper began, pointing in the direction behind Demetri. He lifted his hands in an arc, demonstrating how the sun rose early in the morning. "It rises over there."

Demetri nodded in agreement.

"I think we're heading south."

Jasper swallowed hard and pulled a deep breath as he spoke. He had the distinct feeling that this confession would either seal his fate or lead him home. The vision of his home and holding Alice's hand as he stood at the edge of the ridge flashed before his eyes.

"When Stalin moved to take Berlin, the Americans split forces, moving both south and north to secure the German cities that were still threats against surrender and peace. The longer we continue to go south, the more likely it is that we'll run into Americans."

Demetri's brow furrowed as he took in the information. As he watched Demetri's reaction Jasper's heart clenched. He worried he'd just given away his last good chance of getting to the Americans, to safety, to home. He could feel the aching fear burrow into his chest. He couldn't bear to look at Demetri any longer, certain he'd wake Vladimir shortly and pull them in the direction of their comrades.

"I want to see Laina," Demetri whispered. "I need know she safe. I want find her."

Yes, safe. If you go home, you can leave the army and find her. You can see where she went. You can follow her until you know that she's safe.

Jasper opened his eyes to find Demetri rubbing his fingers along his jaw, scraping the scruff of his growing beard.

"I keep promise," he whispered and nodded as if trying to convince himself. "I go see Lady Liberty on day of mother's birth."

Jasper's eyes widened. His heart picked up to a frantic pace. He swallowed hard, trying to comprehend the full weight of Demetri's words. Before he could form a question to ask Demetri what he meant, Demetri answered the lone question that was burning inside Jasper's mind.

"Yas-per," Demetri began, nodding his head to show his deference and sincerity. "I want to defect."

A/N: Thank you to whomever nominated TLWH for two Hopeless Romantic Awards. These awards focus on stories where E&B are not the main characters in the story. Voting opens on July 18th. If you're interested in voting or nominating a story you love, the link is: http:/hopelessromanticawards(dot)blogspot(dot)com/

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.

-FirstBlush

The Long Way Home Historical Research and Reference Guide: Chapter 26 Lady Liberty

Story reference: Jasper confesses the American positions to Demetri in hopes that he'll help him escape to the American occupied zone.

Historical Significance: The Allied zones of occupation in post-war Germany, highlighting the the zone from which British and American troops withdrew in July 1945. The American zone consisted of Bavaria and Hesse in Southern Germany.

Source: http:/en(dot)wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/Allied-occupied_Germany

Map: http:/en(dot)wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/File:Germany_occupation_zones_with_border(dot)jpg