Chapter Thirty Six

Jasper

Darius had the engine running and as Bella hopped in beside him I took the back seat content to be close to her for now, but only too well aware that there were stormy times ahead.

"How long will it take to fly to Forks?"

Darius glanced at her, then his eyes flickered to me in the mirror.

"I'll be filing a flight plan for Seattle and we'll rent a car there. About five hours to Seattle and from there… I guess by the time we rent a car and drive to Forks around another four or five hours."

She checked her watch and knew she was calculating when we would arrive in Forks.

"I guess that means staying overnight in Seattle then?"

He shrugged,

"It's your party so your call, but I would guess that waking your dad up in the middle of the night for a family reunion isn't the best way to get acquainted."

She scowled but said nothing. In fact, she didn't speak again until she and I were alone waiting for Darius to file his flight plan.

"You think I'm being a real bitch don't you?"

I turned to her, surprised she had actually spoken to me. I'd been getting the cold shoulder up to now.

"To whom?"

"To mom and pop. You think I should be back there with them instead of chasing after my real dad, don't you?"

"I never took you for a mind reader, but yes, I think you've been hard on them. They love you very much and even though they've done some pretty stupid things I think they deserve better from you. I don't understand why you never confronted them about your real dad when you found out about him."

She thought about this and I saw a much more mature person evolving than the child she had been when I first met her.

"I should have, I know that now, but I get the feeling I wouldn't have learned the truth even then. I don't get it. Why would they go to such dangerous lengths to get a child? Surely they could have adopted or fostered. They were great parents so I can't see why they would have been turned down. And please don't give me that crap about the dangers involved. Next, you'll be telling me they're on the run from the mob or something."

I pondered my response, Bella was far too close to discovering the truth to be safe. Whatever Peter and Charlotte wanted, this girl was going to keep questioning and digging until she got the whole story whatever the cost. She was never going to take no for an answer.

"What Peter told you, about it being dangerous to dig for the truth. He wasn't exaggerating. They are good people, the best, but there are those who would kill them for what they have done. There are bad people in this world Bella, far more dangerous or at least determined than you can imagine. Sometimes it's safest to stop and accept that there are certain things you aren't meant to know."

She looked around and lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Like how a man can be shot and not bleed?"

"You were mistaken, it missed me."

She shook her head, taking the misshapen bullet from her pocket and cradling it in one hand.

"I don't think so. I saw the hole in your shirt, I saw the spot the bullet hit you and there was nothing, no mark, no blood. There's something very strange going on and I want answers. I'm prepared to accept the consequences, whatever they are. You have no idea how many questions I have for you and my parents."

I sighed.

"OK, Let's say you have and you aren't going to give up. How about we come to an arrangement? You concentrate on meeting your real dad for now. Once that's over I'll talk to you if you still want to and tell you as much as I can. Deal?"

She studied my face as she mulled this over and I wished she knew everything, that she and I had been honest with each other and were planning on a new life together, but instead I knew I might well lose her to her real father for at least a couple of years. It seemed like an eternity after the misery of the last year.

Finally, she turned away and nodded.

"OK, but once this is over you have to promise to tell me the truth. All of it, not just what you feel you can. You owe me that much."

Actually, I owed her so much that I should just get up now and walk away, leaving her to her questions and a safe life as a human without the complications of a vampire mate. I should, but I didn't. I honestly didn't have the strength to do so, but I hoped maybe I would once I saw her happy again. She would hate me and make Peter and Charlotte's lives a misery with questions but they could field them. They'd done a pretty good job up to now and they could always deny any knowledge of why I had been seemingly invincible.

Darius appeared then and broke up an awkward silence, one that reasserted itself once we were airborne and eventually I left her dozing to sit up front with Darius.

"Still giving you a hard time Major? Why don't you just tell her the truth, get it over with? She's gonna find out anyhow, and what's she gonna do then? Run screaming to the cops that her parents are vampires? She's not stupid, she'll understand her only safety lies in keeping her mouth shut."

"She shouldn't have to. She's too young to be burdened with such responsibilities."

"Crap! You try to keep things from her you're going to find yourself in a whole world of trouble."

"Maybe. We'll see. What's the plan once we reach Forks?"

He shook his head.

"Of all the towns in the USA, her dad has to live in one crawling with guardians. I spoke to Carlisle. He knows the town best and the tribe. He thinks we'll be safe enough if we stay away from the reservation and don't hunt. It seems the ex-police chief and the Quileute elders are best buddies. Apparently, he's married to one so he suggested Bella should go visit alone. If they get the feeling she's a leech lover they'll make life difficult for her and things are gonna be hard enough as it is. He did offer to mediate but I thought you'd rather keep this little gathering intimate. Fewer people for Bella to question."

I closed my eyes in frustration. This situation just got worse and worse, the next thing would be the Volturi knocking on our door!

Bella

The closer we got to Seattle the more I wondered if this was such a good idea. After all, my mom had never talked about my dad and maybe that was because he had thrown her out when he discovered she was pregnant. A cop with a pregnant girlfriend in those days would have put a crimp in his style, especially if he was hungry for promotion.

He was a cop too, so why when he discovered my mom was dead didn't he keep looking until he found me? Surely with all the resources at his disposal isn't shouldn't have been difficult? Did he just do as little as was needed so people didn't ask questions? Maybe he already had his new family and didn't want his unwanted bastard messing things up.

All kinds of thoughts ran through my head, but despite everything, I knew I was doing the only thing I could. If I didn't confront him, then I would always wonder what had happened and what he was like. I would never know the circumstances that had led to my birth, to him and my mom being a couple. Not knowing was worse than anything I could discover.

If he didn't want me then fine, I would walk away with my head held high. At least that's what I kept telling myself. In reality, I would be devastated but I still had a home to return to, people who cared. They were still going to be waiting open-armed even though I had made their lives hell and rejected them for someone I didn't even know.

I was glad Jasper had left me alone, although I missed his quiet presence. The guy confused me, my own feelings confused me. I wanted to hate him for the things he had said at the party, but I was guilty of saying and doing far worse to him. Yet despite all that he'd come to help my parents find me and had never condemned anything I had done. He was an enigma, someone I wanted to hate but couldn't, just like mom and pop. Somehow I knew that underneath they were all good people, whatever they had said or done, and that I loved them, all of them.

What could be so deadly that it had to remain a secret? How were my parents mixed up with Jasper and Darius? Now those two were dangerous, I'd seen that first hand. Yet I wasn't afraid of them despite their superhuman capabilities. Now I didn't believe in Superman or the Incredible Hulk anymore than I did little green men or ghosts, but… How could I explain what I had seen rationally?

I'd already considered that pop and Jasper had been in the military once so what if I were right? What if there was a secret section of the military that experimented on human soldiers like in Captain America? Could that be possible with today's technology and medicine? It would explain the strength, speed, and indestructibility I had seen performed by Jasper and Darius. Thinking back to the photograph I had taken from pop's desk, I thought about the faces. Sure pop looked young for his age, my friends had even commented on that. Neither he nor Jasper had aged at all since it was taken and it appeared decades old.

As Jasper reappeared telling me we would be landing shortly I pushed these thoughts to the back of my mind. They could wait until I had worked out how I was going to approach my dad and what I was going to say to him. I had no proof that I was telling the truth except my knowledge of my real mom and that was sketchy at best, but surely he would recognize his own flesh and blood. He must.

Once we landed Jasper and I went to rent a car while Darius finished up the paperwork that would allow him to leave his plane here for a few days. It was strange, my life had been turned upside down in a few short weeks. I'd gone from parochial teenage high school student to runaway, to savage fighter, and now here I was flying around in a private jet with two of the most gorgeous looking and enigmatic guys I had ever set eyes on and about to confront a man I hadn't seen since I could remember, if ever, and tell him that he was my father. If this had been a novel I'd put it down as being too far-fetched.

Nervous as I was and still angry with Jasper for avoiding my questions I found myself observing him as he filled in the rental form. Close up and in profile, he could be taken for no more than twenty, maybe twenty-one, but when you looked into his eyes… Then things changed. Those eyes, those hypnotic golden eyes, they held the wisdom of a much older man. Those eyes had seen things that no man should ever see. I stopped, how the hell did I know that? I may not know how but I knew it was true.

Close up in the artificial light of the arrivals area, Jasper looked somehow different. His skin was still abnormally pale, just like pops and Darius' but there was something else different about him. I guess I must have been staring because he suddenly turned to look at me.

"You OK, Bella? Do you want to get something to eat before we leave? Darius said he would be about an hour."

To hide my embarrassment I nodded and with car keys in hand Jasper took my arm to guide me over to the restaurant which was pretty empty this time of the evening.

"Here, get whatever you want."

He handed me two twenty dollar bills which I took with thanks.

"What shall I get you?"

"Just coffee, black, thanks."

While I waited behind an extremely overweight man who couldn't decide what he wanted I glanced over to see Jasper watching me from his seat in a corner of the room. Funny that my parents always chose a corner table in a restaurant and they only ever had coffee unless I pressed them. Was it something to do with the experiments done to them? Yeah, Bella, they probably live on moon program supplements or blood, stupid! I was letting this Captain America theory take a hold of my imagination.

When I got back with his coffee and my tuna salad sandwich and a slice of cherry pie he smiled and suddenly my heart did a flip. Oh God, the last thing I needed was to find my crush on him reactivated. I didn't think pop could cope with that, he was sure to have a coronary this time!

While I ate, I asked him how he'd found out I was missing.

"Did pop call you? I thought I'd ruined things between the two of you. I'm sorry about that by the way."

I expected him to snort in derision or laugh, but he looked at me very seriously.

"Your mom called, but I was coming home anyhow. I will always be there for you Bella, just like Peter and Charlotte will be, just the same as we always watch each other's backs."

He said it so solemnly that I couldn't think of anything to say in reply so I just continued eating but I knew he meant every word. I didn't know why he should care about me, but he quite clearly did and that made me feel not only secure but good inside.