Hi y'all! Yes, I am alive! I am so sorry this has taken so long! RL has been hectic to say the least, but I won't bore you so I'll let you get to the chapter, and you can see my excuse at the bottom. So this is the last regular chapter, just the epilogue left. Can't believe it's almost over.
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Last Chapter:
"Your not upset about her removing your mark?"
"Of course it pisses me off, but I'm more pissed that she hurt you. I'm also mad you would think your scars would bother me. How many times do I have to tell you that they don't bother me? If anything they show just how strong you are."
"I know that, but I think I just needed to hear it from your mouth," I say honestly.
"Then I'll tell you everyday of forever, because believe me when I say, your not leaving my sight for a very long time, cowboy."
"I've missed you calling me that," I say with my face in her neck, inhaling her scent.
"I've just missed you," she says burying her face into my chest.
"I've missed you too. I never want to be away from you again."
"You'll never have to be, cause I'm planning on handcuffing myself to you," she says with a light smile.
"Handcuffs, huh?" I say jokingly, which earns me a smack to my chest.
"Handcuffs, no. Shower, yes," she says with a wink, and starts to remove her clothes.
"Yes, ma'am," I drawl and follow her into the shower.
God, it was good to be home.
Jasper's POV
I had been back in Alaska for two months, and I couldn't be happier. Things had been going great for everyone involved, and it was amazing to see our family complete.
The first week, I had spent in seclusion with Bella. I had missed her so much and all I wanted to do was lay in bed with her and never move. She helped me get back to my life, she was patient with me when thoughts of my time with Maria would come back to haunt me, and I shut down. When I felt self-conscious about the scars she would tell me how much she loved me and how no matter how many scars I had she would always find me sexy, and after two weeks I started to feel like Jasper again.
When I wasn't with Bella, I spent my time with Charlie and Bree. Charlie was a whole new person after the change, to see him running through the house with vampire speed and even goofing around with Emmett made me laugh. Him and Tanya were a perfect match, she brought out the fun side of him, and he helped keep her grounded when she went a little crazy. The family was currently betting on how long it would be before he popped the question. Bella and Tanya had even grown quite close, even though their human ages weren't far from each other, Tanya had taken to Bella like a mother, and I think it helped her with the loss of Renee.
As for Bree, that's where it got interesting. She had been having a hard time adjusting to life outside Maria's army, she wasn't use to having a bedroom of her own or living with a family. She had taken to the vegetarian lifestyle with ease, impressing most of us, and everyday I saw the ghosts of the past slowly fade from her eyes.
Like I had thought, her and Bella had become best friends. Bella helped her adjust to the times we live in, showing her how to use the computer and how to drive, she was destined to be a Cullen with the speed she loved. Bella had bought her a bunch of books and CD's to help her discover what she liked, and she slowly started resembling the sixteen year old she was frozen as. Alice had bought her hundreds of different outfits, and she seemed to enjoy playing dress up, which delighted Alice.
What had us all confused was Bree and Edward. When she wasn't with Bella, she spent her time with Edward. He took her hunting all the time, and we would often here them in his music room, he would play for hours and Bree always came out with a smile. He even let her drive his Volvo a few times, something he didn't let anybody do. Everyone in the family knew they were mates, the signs were all there, but the two of them were blind fools.
Edward was still hung up on Bella, and his feelings for her were blocking any chance he had at realizing that Bree, was the one for him. Bree on the other hand, was so focused on her new life and being the vampire she wanted to be, that she didn't realize that the feelings she had for him were part of the mating bond. No matter how hard we all tried to get them together, out attempts always failed.
As for Jacob and Kate, the oddball couple of the group, they were doing amazing well. At first Jacob's father was upset over the situation, but soon realized that he couldn't deny his sons happiness. Jacob would be making a permanent move to Alaska to be with Kate, and would continue to go to school. Seth on the other hand, was on his way back to La Push. He missed his mother and he is too young to be on his own, but his relationship with the pack was over.
"What do ya got there, Darlin'?" I ask Bella as she enters the room and I stop my reminiscing.
"A package from Alice. Apparently she saw this at some store in Milan and said I had to have it," she says with a laugh.
Alice had left for Volterra a month ago. She stayed to spend some quality time with the family while we adjusted to everything that had happened, and offered to stay longer, but I could tell she was missing Demetri and we all convinced her it was time to join her mate. She kept in touch with us through emails, phone call and the occasional package, like today.
"Do you know what that reminds me of?" I ask with a smirk, as she pulls out a blood red dress, and she shakes her head.
"The dress you wore when we went out in Seattle," I say grinning at the memory.
"That was a great night, wasn't it?" she replies with a grin of her own.
"Great doesn't even cover it. Amazing, spectacular..." she silences me with a kiss.
"I get it," she says with a laugh against my lips.
"I think I need to take you out now, so I can show off my beautiful girl, in that very sexy dress."
"Or I could just put on the dress, and we could stay here. We do have the house to ourselves," she says.
"I like your thinking, Mrs. Whitlock," I say before capturing her lips with mine, and pulling her to me so she straddles my waist.
"Bedroom," she says against my lips. I wrap her legs around my waist and stand up, my lips never leaving hers as we walked up the stairs.
As we reached the top of the steps, the front door flies open smacking against the wall, causing Bella and I to freeze, and look at each other in question. Bella slides down my body and peaks out from behind the wall and looks downstairs. I could suddenly feel her shock and excitement, her eyes were wide and she covered her mouth. I had to see what she was seeing.
I came up behind her and looked in the same direction, what I saw shocked me, but made me grin like a fool. It was Edward and Bree, Edward had her against a wall and they were attached at the lips. Love, lust, and excitement was all I could feel from them. It was about damn time!
I wrap my arm around Bella's waist and pull her around the corner, so we are completely hidden from sight. I turn Bella to face me, and see the giant grin on her face.
"You saw that right? I'm not hallucinating?" she whispers making me laugh.
"No you're not hallucinating."
"Thank god! I've been waiting forever for this," she says excitedly.
"Maybe we should go out, and let them have their privacy," she says, and I frown. I liked her original idea better.
"Stop frowning, we'll go to a hotel, if it'll make you happy." My smile was instantly back on my face.
"Okay, you get changed, and I'll meet you out front," I say before kissing her gently, then proceeded to walk away.
"Where are you going? You are going to interrupt them!" she whisper yells.
"They interrupted us first. Besides what kind of brother would I be if I didn't screw with him a bit?" I ask with a smirk.
"I'll never understand men. Go have your fun, but don't take it to far or you'll scare them apart," she warns.
"I'll be good, I promise," I say before making my way down the stairs.
I'm about half way down the stairs, and neither of them had yet to notice me. When I reach the bottom step, I unnecessarily clear my throat, causing the two to jump apart, both looking equally bashful.
"Well well, what do we have here?" I ask with a grin.
"Jasper! What are you doing here? I thought you and Bella were out hunting," Edward says.
"We got back about an hour ago, but I think the better question is what are you two doing home? I was under the impression you were at the mall."
"Well we were, but then, we ummmm..." Bree stutters out in embarrassment.
"Relax, Bree. I'm just messing with you guys. To be honest I was expecting this a lot sooner," I admit.
"You did?" she asks shyly.
"The whole family did," I respond with a laugh.
"And nobody was willing to clue me in?" Edward asks.
"Like you would have listened," Bella says coming down the stairs.
She looked amazing in the tight red dress, Alice had sent. It hugged her in all the right places, and the heels she wore made her legs look like they went on for days, I had to check myself to make sure I wasn't drooling.
"Yes, I would have," Edward argues with little conviction.
"Keep telling yourself that, Eddie," I reply with a smirk.
"Was there something you needed, Jasper?" Edward asks, with slight irritation but more embarrassment than anything.
"Nope," I reply smugly.
"Damn it, Jasper! Stop bugging him," Bella says nudging me with her elbow.
"I'm sorry, but he makes it so easy," I say with a smile, and all three roll their eyes.
"What Jasper meant to say, is that we wanted you too know that we are going out for the night, and won't be back till morning, and everyone else is at the Denali's place till Friday," Bella says.
"So basically you can get busy with no one around," I add in with a laugh, which in turn leads to a smack up the head from Bella.
"Really, Jasper?" Bella says exasperated, but she can't hide the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"So where you guys going?" Bree asks, trying desperately to get of the current subject, her embarrassment the only reason I decide to lay off them.
"Well I am taking my beautiful wife out, maybe go dancing, then we're gonna head to a hotel for the night," I reply wrapping my arm around Bella.
"Sounds fun, have a good time," Edward says.
"Desperate to get rid of us, eh Eddie?" I say.
"You yes. Bella can stay, she's not as annoying," he answers with a smile, and I scowl.
"Alright, I think we'll be leaving now. Bye, guys," Bella says pulling me out the door.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't!" I call out as the door slams shut.
"So we can do anything." I hear Bree say followed by a laugh from Edward. I knew Emmett was rubbing off on her.
"I thought you said you were going to be good," Bella says as we get in my new truck, a replica of the one I had in Forks.
"I couldn't help myself," I reply with the puppy dog look.
"You're lucky I love you so much," Bella says leaning over and kissing my pouted lip.
"I am very lucky, you don't have to tell me. Now 'ya ready for some fun, Darlin?"
"Definitely," she says with a smile.
We started our drive to town, Anchorage was the closest town so we had at least a two hour drive ahead of us, but it was nice, it had been to long since it was just us. I look at Bella and see she is smiling, lost in thought, her smile makes me smile.
"What's got you so happy, Darlin'?
"How could I not be happy? Everything is working out. Bree is finally comfortable, Edward has stopped his moping and they've both pulled their heads out of their asses and realized they are meant to be. My dad is immortal, I don't have to worry about losing him and he's found love, I haven't seen him this happy, since well forever."
"Most importantly, I have you with me safe and sound," she adds giving me a bright smile.
"There's no where I would rather be," I say taking her hand in mine.
"You know this sounds like the perfect time for that vacation we've been talking about forever," I say.
"You think?"
"Of course. You said it yourself 'everything is working out'. It's time you had some fun. I was thinking Paris, we could even make a detour to Italy to visit Alice and Demetri."
"That certainly sounds amazing. I've always wanted to visit Europe," she says with a smile.
"So is that a yes?" I ask with a smirk.
"That's a hell yes!" she says excitedly.
"Good, let's go. I'm sure we can get a flight out of here tonight."
"Tonight? But we don't have bags or passports, or..."
"Check the back seat," I reply with a smirk. She looks at me with a raised eyebrow, but does as I said.
"Do you want to explain how you did this without me noticing?" she asks looking at the duffel bag in the back, while holding our passports.
"I had a little help from Charlotte. She packed for us while we were out hunting, and put it in the car before we got back," I reply with a grin.
"How did you know I was going to say yes?" Bella asks teasingly.
"I know my girl. Even if I was wrong, I've been told I can be quite convincing," I say wiggling my eyebrows making her laugh. She leans over the centre console and kisses my cheek.
"You're amazing. Thank you."
"No thanks necessary. You ready for some fun?"
"So ready!"
With those words, I pushed the gas harder and made a call to a travel agent. It was time for us to be us, finally after over 140 years, I was finally at peace, I don't know what the future holds for us, but I'm excited to see.
One thing that I do know for sure, is that forever will never be long enough as long as we are together.
A/N So what did y'all think? Again I am so sorry this took forever. I had quit my job, and I have started at a new place, so I've been crazy busy with training. Then I got a horrible tooth infection and it hurt to be awake, then I got it removed last Friday and I am finally starting to feel normal. So I really am sorry, but I promise I will never abandon a story, ever!
Alright quick thing, I hope I explained why Bree was able to rip Edward to pieces, she didn't know anything about mates, but I always wanted the mating bond to be the reason she didn't burn him.
Super big thank you to all those who added this story and/or myself to their alerts and/or favourites, you guys rock!
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-NKC-