Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No copyright infringement is intended.
An early update, surprising huh? Thank you to the nine of you who reviewed last chapter. And thanks to the 191 of you who also read but didn't review. It still means something to me.
Chapter 36 – Amor
It didn't take long for us to set up the house. I hadn't heard much more of the mysterious 'close call' of the previous week, and eventually chose to put away the thought for another time.
Things were going well; returning to Forks had, by far, been the best choice. The surrounding forest was teeming with wildlife, we'd had no trouble with wolves – so far – and it would be possible for us to enrol at Forks High and Carlisle to return to hospital since Forks had shunned the ID tagging and usually let everyone through.
Life was good.
Jasper and I, returned to the place where we began our love, were thriving. I enjoyed long walks amongst the towering greenery, and Jasper too enjoyed the history of the small town.
I had been to visit my father's grave, had cleaned it up a little and laid down flowers. I didn't stop for long to speak, and visited in the dead of night. A mysterious brunette tending to Chief Swan's grave - he who had no living descendants – would have looked more than slightly suspicious.
Everything went swimmingly (literally at some points when Emmett found hot springs around 50 miles away on a hunting trip) for a month.
It was a rainy October day that I walked from mine and Jasper's room and realised something was wrong. He'd already gone, I had been drying my hair after our shower.
I rushed down the stairs taking three steps at a time, my clumsiness as a human still holding me back slightly.
The open space before me seemed shadowed by the figures dressed in black standing facing my family.
"You're here then, Isabella." Demetri said solemnly. "This shall only be a short visit. You must prepare for war immediately."
"Immediately?" I repeated.
"Yes; the forces are accumulating. This is no prediction as before, this is a short term warning. They may well be here within the week."
"Here as in...?" I asked quietly. My family stared at me with solemn eyes, they had obviously already heard this news. Carlisle was on the phone, talking quietly. Alice was hissing once again at Jasper in the kitchen, but Flynn was by her side this time.
"Here as in Forks. It seems to be the only place that the vampire world can pinpoint the Cullens. And you do seem to be the catalysts for trouble." He let out a malicious smile. "I trust you'll be needing this, Mistress." Demetri held out a black cloak not unlike his own. It was a challenge – would I waver or stand my ground?
I accepted the cloak. "You know where my loyalties lie."
"Then we will bid you adieu."
Demetri and the two flanking cloaks exited and unlike before, the shroud did not lift from our home.
I looked at the cloak in my hands.
Hours later, Jasper and I sat on our bed upstairs together. We had been talking about the upcoming war.
I had not yet voiced my own fear – amongst Jasper's military persona, full of plans, techniques and choices, there seemed to be no place for my quiet revelation.
Then Jasper took my hand, bringing me out of my dreamlike state. "Darling, were you even listening?"
"Not really, no." I smiled sheepishly.
"Don't matter I guess." He said, his Southern twang reappearing as it always did when his emotions were heightened. "But you need to listen to this."
He clasped both my hands tightly, and against mine, his were shaking. "The family- we might not all come out of this unscathed. I'm not saying...dead, but there could be casualties. And I don't wanna risk that with you. With anyone."
"Well neither do I Jazz, but we can't stop this. It isn't a little run in with a nomad, or even newborn vampires. This is the entire vampire world accumulating against its ruling force. This is a revolution, this is an uprising."
"I've been around to know the dangers of uprisings." He sighed. "I know I could lose someone. Not you; you're strong and doubly protected. But if we lost any of the family...it'd tear us all apart, Bella. You have to understand how dangerous this is before you go choosing a side. It's a war over nothin', Bella. We've been getting on fine with the Volturi's damn behavior for centuries, we coulda' left it that way. This war is over nothing."
"So all I've got to do," I said, "is pick the side that's gonna win."
"Don't quote at me Angel, not when I'm so angry." He stroked my hair, ran his fingers through my loose curls.
"Sorry, you know how I like that song." I grinned, but became solemn. "I know that sides is important. And I love you, but I haven't chosen yet. You need to give me time- you need to let me battle reason inside myself before I choose whether to don that cloak or not." He hung his head. "Even if I'm wearing that cloak, I'll walk out there beside you, I'll kiss you good luck. I won't touch a hair on your head. I could never hurt those I love." Even as I said it, I knew it was a lie. "I would never do that again." I amended.
Jasper looked up, and breathed out. "When we walk out there, possibly to my death, I want you beside me."
"It'll be my death too, darling. I'll never leave you...and I've not been truthful." I began.
"How so?" A frown darkened his features.
"I've been losing my powers, dear. I can't really...harness them all any more. Sometimes I can get a few to work weakly...but only two are really strong."
"How? How did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?" He demanded.
"Disuse. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to think me weak. But you know now." I murmured.
"I'll protect you," Jasper growled, lion-like. "I'll protect you with everything I have. Not one of those scum will touch you, friend or foe."
"Jasper, you've got to let me fight my own battles. You have to let me do this. And we might walk out unscathed, we might not walk out. But I'll be with you, all the time. We won't be far from each other, and at the end – I'll find you. I'll always find you."
"I love you." He murmured, voice deep and unsure.
"I love you too, more than you could know. You truly are my all."
We stared at each other, and Jasper's mouth began to open, ready to say something. He stopped and stared at me so intensely that I felt a tightening in my chest.
Alice audibly growled and a resulting fist against the ceiling had Jasper sweating. "Just do it!" She screeched. "Now!"
"What the hell are you-" I started, connection broken, preparing to go downstairs. I'd been shaken from the day's events and I wasn't in the mood for Alice being shrill.
"Bella. Baby." Jasper murmured huskily. "Listen to me right now, okay?"
Of course, I couldn't say no to him when he spoke like that and kept my silence.
"I lied." My mouth opened instantly to protest, but he put a finger gently over my lips. He was all calm and control today, the direct opposite of myself, who'd had a day full of outbursts and unreliability. "I lied about the key. Do you remember it?"
I nodded and crossed to the bureau. It was an ornate object; carved into the front by none other than Emmett was our family crest, our reminder of the present, past, and future. In the second draw down lay a box also ornate but looking slightly worse for wear. It was old during my human days, and now was becoming more like an heirloom – rather than what I saw as an heirloom that lay inside.
I had outgrown jewellery a while back, only allowing Alice to apply it to me when she descended from her hovel before a night out with Rosalie – this, of course, being while I was still in love with Edward.
And so the bracelet cradling an infant, a shoe, a bear, a swan, a jigsaw piece, a diamond heart, a lion and a lamb, a wolf and finally – a key was laid to rest in an ornate trinket box that an aunt of Renee's had given me when I was born.
It now was time, on the cusp of war, that I decided to retrieve it. "Yes, I remember it." I said, smiling and returning to the bed.
"Good. Because yes, I lied - it does open something."
He handed me a plain silver box that had a small keyhole. I needed no instruction, I inserted the key, still attached to the years old bracelet, and turned.
"Clockwise," he whispered, eyes trained on me.
There was a soft click and I lifted the box gently, my breathing accelerating even before I spied what was under the lid.
Inside was a wedding ring.
Before I had a chance to speak, Jasper was on one knee at the side of the bed, my hand in his. "I don't know if we'll live through this, Bella, whether you take the Volturi's side or not, but whatever happens, I want you to be my wife when we walk out there and lay down our lives. You're my other half, my everything. I have fought for you, and I have died for you, and all my life, human and vampire, I have been looking for the chance to find someone who completes me, who is all I could need and all I could ever want and I have found her in you. I want to spend every moment with you, in life and whatever comes after. I want to be tied to you officially, too, when we walk out there. I know this isn't the best time to suggest this, but I had to ask you. I have to do it now, before it's too late. I love you too much to lose you. Please, be my wife."
Words failed to come for an instant as I swallowed tears that weren't able to fall. The second of hesitation brought uncertainty to Jasper's touch, but I softened and whispered, "Yes. Yes, of course I will."
I threw my arms around him, feeling his body around mine, before pulling back and looking at the ring, nestled amongst red velvet.
Jasper extended his hand for the box, and I gave it to him.
"I liked when you wore the bracelet. It made me feel like you had the key to us on it, the key to my happiness and to my future and to my heart. It gave me hope." He pushed the ring on my third finger and kissed it.
"I'm sorry I stopped wearing it, love," I said, resting my forehead against this. "But I promise, I will never remove this."
"If I could, darlin', I'd wrap you in my love. And I'll never remove that."
We kissed, and questions could wait, for now.