This is the final chapter. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Johona POV
I stood alone on the balcony outside the Cullen's house, just enjoying the fact that I could once again breath on my own. I hadn't been entirely sure what even happened to me, since my memory was fairly sketchy after getting hit by Maria. Carlisle and Jasper had filled in the blanks, once I was healed enough to desire to hear the story. I was, however, aware enough during the attack to witness Maria's demise. The thought made me smile. It probably always would.
I heard someone enter the room and looked over to see Jasper heading my way. My plans to leave had not changed. They were delayed until I was once again one hundred percent, but I still planned to go back to my old life. For his part, Jasper wasn't fighting me on the issue. Some parts of me wished he would.
"How are you feeling?" He asked, stepping up next to me, so he could look out over the garden.
I smiled at him. "Like I survived falling into a meat grinder. Carlisle says my healing abilities are still not all the way back to full capacity, but they'll get there in a few weeks. I'm very glad Marx is dead. I never want to feel the way I felt when he was controlling me again."
The thought made me shiver and Jasper wrapped an arm around me in a comforting way and I didn't shy away from him. I was slowly learning that sometimes taking the comfort offered by others wasn't a bad thing. Although, my closeness to Jasper was not helping me keep to my decision to leave.
Two weeks later, I had finally managed to say my goodbyes and was on the road south. I now officially had a passport, so I could more/less legally enter the US and I was driving a car Carlisle bought for me. I was reluctant to accept such a lavish gift, but once both Carlisle and Esme assured me that buying a car to them was like buying a toothbrush to other people, I changed my mind.
My inner voice, who once screamed itself hoarse about me following a pair of vampires into the unknown, was not doing the same thing, this time about leaving those same vampires. Every fiber of my being was telling me to stay, but I was being stubborn.
I was only a few miles from the house when something dashed in front of my car. I almost didn't stop in time.
A lone figure stood outside my car. I growled to myself, throwing the car into park and got out.
"What in the hell, Nessie! I could have run you over!"
She shrugged. "I got out of the way."
"What are you going here? Do your parents know where you are?"
She shrugged again. "Nope. I ran out here all by myself to stop you from leaving."
I sighed. Some members of this family were too stubborn for their own good. "I can't stay."
Nessie crossed her arms over her chest. "Why not?"
I gave the girl a stern look. "Because I can't."
"That is not an answer. You want to stay with us. I know you do. You're just too bullheaded to admit it."
I was slowly losing my temper. "Get in the car." I said to her. She didn't move. "Get in the car or I will make you get in. Now!"
A slight look of fear showed on Nessie's face, as if she realized she had stepped over a line, then she crossed over to the passenger side and got in the car. Once we were both in, I flipped the car around, digging up a good section of grass from the side of the road in the process.
"Where are we going?" She asked timidly.
"I am taking you home and you will stay there." I didn't look at her, just sped faster than was normally safe back to the house. I parked in the driveway and got out of the car. Jasper came out of the house, followed by Bella and Edward.
"Back so soon?" Jasper asked with concern, since he could obviously tell how pissed off I was.
"I'm just bring back something of yours, which I almost ran over with my car." Nessie slipped out of the car, standing next to it. "Get in the house." I ordered.
Jasper gave Nessie a look I couldn't quite place. Bella and Edward were smiling. Nessie just shrugged again and walk slowly towards the house. "I had to try." She said, passing her parents. All three entered the house and closed the door behind them.
Jasper approached me, giving me a sympathetic look. "Sorry about that. Nessie was having a hard time with your departure."
I scoffed. "I noticed."
We stood in the driveway for a few minutes, the silence was terribly uncomfortable. I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. "Well, I guess I should go..again."
I turned to get back into the car, but a hand caught me by the arm before I could complete the motion.
"Wait." Jasper said. There was a certain desperation in his eyes. "Don't"
I narrowed my eyes. "Don't, what?"
Jasper released me, but didn't back away. "Don't go. Stay with us." He paused, as if there was more he wanted to say, but was unsure if he wanted to say it. "Stay with me." He finally said.
"I can't."
"Yes you can. There is no good reason why you need to run off and live alone, when you have a whole family of people here who care about you." Jasper's words were almost angry.
I closed my eyes and sighed, closing the door to my car and leaning up against it. Jasper stood so he was standing directly in front of me. I could not avoid his gaze. I opened my eyes and locked them with his. "You are a pain in the ass." I stated.
"I know." He agreed.
"You've been a pain in the ass since the moment I met you."
"I know." He said again, this time with a small smile on his face.
"And you're going to be a pain in the ass until the day I die."
He chuckled. "Most likely."
"You do know that I am not an easy person to live with on any permanent basis. I'm irritable, easily agitated and like to have things my own way."
"I know." He said again. He was beginning to sound like a broken record.
"And it probably won't be easy being together, considering you are a vampire and I'm...ya know, not. I'm always going to have to eat and sleep and breath. It's not going to be like being with another vampire."
"I realize that." He replied calmly.
"And knowing all that, you still want me to stay with you?"
He seemed to think about it for a moment, then nodded. "Yes." He was doing his best not to crack a smile. He knew he'd won.
I stood, looking into his eyes for probably almost five minutes. "Fine. I'll stay. But you have been warned." I said, sounding exasperated.
One of the biggest smiles I had ever seen spread across Jasper's face. I just rolled my eyes.
"Will you wipe that stupid grin off your face and just kiss me already." I said, finally returning his smile.
"Yes Ma'am." He said with his usually hidden southern accent, then kissed me without hesitation, wrapping his arms around my waist. Instinctually, I wrapped my arms around his neck. After a minute of so, we broke the kiss, but still had our arms around each other.
"Don't call me Ma'am." I said as seriously as I could with how happy I was, at the moment.
"You got it, Darlin'" He said.
I chuckled. "That I can live with." I could hear happy chatter from the house, since our little exchange had been eavesdropped on by everyone. "And that is quite enough from the peanut gallery in the house!" I yelled.
There was a chorus of sorrys.
Jasper laughed. "Don't worry. You'll get use to them."
I smiled up at him.
"Yeah, I know. I look forward to it."
The End.
Hope you enjoyed my little tale. Thanks to everyone who has read/reviewed this story. I'm thinking of doing a sequel, but I need to finish a few other things first. If you got ideas, I will certainly entertain them. Thanks again... 2 Stories finished on this site... Woo Hoo, go me.
