So I was requested an update for Halloween so I thought, yeah sure, I owe you guys for your awesome reviews.
Disclaimer: I do not own twilight.
Carlisle's POV
It had been three days since Jasper's most recent "runaway" although I shouldn't really call it that. He was just running after his brother but Edward doesn't seem to appreciate the fact that Jasper was getting rather protective of him. In fact, he didn't seem to appreciate Jasper at all and it was clear to me that he was holding a grudge against him but I was already aware of the reason why and as much as I wanted to, I couldn't do anything about it yet.
Edward had been happy about the family we already had. He liked knowing that as long as I wasn't working at the hospital, I was there for him. I still am, of course, but now I am struggling to find time to spend on him. Jasper is a handful to look after and as proved a few days ago, you take your eyes off him for a single second, and something will happen. Recently, I have also debated whether I should leave him on his own in his room or not. Jasper wasn't like us when it came to sleeping. Excluding those with insomnia, we could sleep for 12 hours straight if we wanted to but Jasper doesn't sleep for a long period of time. He tries to take naps throughout the day but Esme and I try our best to keep him awake so his sleeps will last longer at night time.
Unfortunately, the only thing that keeping him awake does is distress him and increase the amount of times I have to put him on the naughty mat for bad behaviour. It's like his body is programmed to sleep for only small periods of time; like it was part of his survival.
I woke up in the middle of the night yesterday to find Jasper curled up next to Emmett. He wasn't sleeping; no, his eyes were clearly very alert, especially when I walked in. It was as if he was once again, guarding one of his siblings.
I had been feeling rather hesitant as to what I should do because I knew that Jasper felt like he was doing good but at the same time, I was teaching him to stay in his own room at night. But then again, that had only been because of what was happening between Jasper and Alice. He was obviously attracted to her, not Emmett and I highly doubted that Emmett would touch Jasper the way Alice had (Even though I never expected behavior like that from her). Emmett most likely had no idea that Jasper was laying right next to him.
In the end, I told him to go back to his room and he did so without hesitation…..but of course, the following morning, I saw him taking a nap outside of Emmett's bedroom door so I had been force to once again, move him before Emmett tripped over him.
It was Thursday now and we were waiting for Peter to arrive. We both knew it would be best for Jasper if Peter visited him where he felt most comfortable rather than Jasper travelling out. He was currently leaning against Alice as she wrote her school work. He was dozing; his eyes were closed but would flutter open at the slightest sound, usually a quick glance at Edward before shutting them again.
Knowing that Jasper was feeling a little too tired for my attention, and I will note that that's a very rare occurrence, I decided to use that time playing chess with Edward. Usually, Jasper would have at least whimpered and chewed on my sleeve until my attention was on him but today was different.
I knew Edward was happy, I had spotted the smile on his face when I asked him for a game and it was obvious that he wouldn't deny it. Like Jasper, Edward was also taking quick glances at him as if he were expecting him to suddenly find a way to interrupt our game of chess but Jasper didn't seem too bothered about us.
I did hear a whimper come from him but that had only been because Alice had moved her hand away from his hear in order to turn the page. It took another few minutes before his whole demeanor changed and his body stiffened and his eyes were wide and alert.
"I think Peter's here" Edward mumbled as he watched Jasper.
He jumped off the sofa and ran towards the front door, whimpering desperately. The front door was the only door in the house that Jasper hadn't figured out how to open. It was clear to me that Jasper wanted Peter otherwise his behavior would be entirely different and probably like the way I heard he acted with Bella.
I rose from my seat and rushed to the door before Peter could knock or ring the doorbell as that would only make Jasper go crazy. Jasper's face lit up as soon as he saw Peter and he rushed over to him, greeting him with a hug like he had known him his entire life.
"Hey, Jasper! It's so great to see you" Peter said with enthusiasm.
"I draw you pitchure" Jasper announced, proudly.
"Awesome! Can I see it?" Peter asked.
With a nod, Jasper rushed passed me and into the house. Peter walked towards me with a grin on his face.
"He seems a lot happier since I last saw him" he noted.
"That's because he didn't know you when you last saw him. Now he sees you as his friend. He's been looking forward to seeing you all day" I explained.
It was his excitement that had probably tired him out but now he seems wide awake once again. I guided Peter into the house and showed him to Jasper's play room where he was planning on spending some time with Jasper.
"I'll be just in the lounge with my other children if you need me but I doubt Jasper will be any trouble with you" I stated.
It was clear that Jasper really liked Peter which probably had something to do with the way Peter understood him. Jasper appeared by Peter's side with a piece of paper held firmly in his hand and he looked up at Peter; waiting for his attention.
"I'll leave you to it" I said as I gave Peter a nod.
And with that, Jasper pulled on Peter's sleeve and walked him into his play room and closed the door. I walked back into the lounge and sat back down at the chess table in front of Edward who was waiting patiently.
"It's your turn" he informed quietly.
I nodded and moved one of the chess pieces while thinking about what I should say to him. Alice had returned to her room since Jasper was no longer around and Esme was making a start on lunch in the kitchen. Emmett and Rosalie were probably in their rooms too so it was just the two of us in the lounge.
Edward's eyes were flickering between each of the chess pieces, debating which would be best to move and where. I took this as my chance to talk to him.
"It won't always be like this, you know?" I started.
Edward looked up at me in question.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
His eyes remained on mine as he waited for an answer.
"With Jasper" I stated. With his face still in confusion, I explained what I was talking about. "Edward, I know that lately, I haven't been the best father in the world to you; that my attention is always somewhere else…on someone else but that doesn't mean I love you any less. I'm just trying so hard to give Jasper the chance he needs in life and that requires a lot of attention, not just from me but from his sibling too. I'm aware that you are helping him and praising him when he needs to be; your mother told me that but I can tell that Jasper senses your dislike towards him" I finished.
"I don't dislike him. Why does everyone think that?" He mumbled.
He moved his chess piece before looking at me again. "Look, dad, I know that it seems like I'm being a jerk about it and I get that he needs special attention if he's ever going to get out of his certain habits but what I don't understand is why us? The fact that Rosalie is his sister isn't an excuse because the majority of siblings put in foster care or put up for adoption end up being separated anyway so what makes Jasper so special"
"He wasn't put in foster care though, he went missing" I stated clearly.
Edward shook his head. "But if he didn't go missing and they found him with Rosalie in that car, then he would have been put into foster care and then you wouldn't have brought him home because you and mom had planned on bringing back a girl and only a girl. You even said that the family felt complete once you got Rosalie so why have we got Jasper?"
I understood what Edward was getting at, that if things went differently then we wouldn't have Jasper but then again, if things had gone differently, Jasper wouldn't need help in the first place; he would be a perfectly normal boy. But because of Jasper's animalistic nature, he masters the puppy eyes and it feels impossible to say no to him so if he calls me his dad, then that's who I am to him.
"Rosalie has never been happier. The two of you don't argue as much because she has someone else to focus on. Besides, he needs us, Edward. Not many people out there can give him what we can" I told him, desperate that he would understand.
Edward looked back down at the chess board, despite it not being his turn; he was thinking about it.
"Edward, you're my son…my first one actually. Just because my focus has been on Jasper doesn't mean that I no longer view you as one" When Edward remained silent, I continued. "I tell you what, on my next day off, we'll go for a hike. Just the two of us" I added.
Edward looked up at me once more and smiled softly. "Really?" He asked.
At my nod, he frowned a little. "Won't Jasper make things difficult for mom if you're away for too long? He usually does his best to keep your attention on him.
I shook my head. "Not if I give him a reason to behave. If he gets rewarded for good behavior, he'll keep it up" I explained.
The smile returned to Edward's face. "Okay"
Peter's POV
I was surprised when I found out that Jasper had been rather eager to see me. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about his reaction when I reached their house; especially because he was extremely wary when I first met him in the psych ward at the hospital. But I didn't expect him to run up to me and pull me into a hug. I had thought that I would need to allow him to get used to my scent again but instead, he seemed to trust me, despite only seeing me once before.
I was aware that Jasper was also close with Carlisle, even accepting him as his father only after a few days of being with him so I was even more surprised when his focus was on me rather that Carlisle who had been right in front of us.
The second that he dragged me in his very own playroom, which was an awesome place to spend time as a kid, he handed me a picture that he claimed to have drawn. I was amazed when I realized what the picture was of. It must have been my dog that I told Jasper I had and even looked a lot like a wolf like my dog does…or perhaps that's because wolves were the only dogs he ever came across. Just the thought of that was upsetting. Wolves were dangerous so it's possible that Jasper might even fear dogs because of them.
"Jasper, this picture is amazing. You have gotten so much better at drawing" I praised.
It was no lie either. His drawing was more detailed so somebody must have taught him how to draw. Jasper's face lit up with a huge grin as a complimented his drawing.
"Ali always dwar with me. She like dwarwing but I do this all by myself" he informed proudly.
"Well it's great. It looks just like my dog" I told him.
"What your dog name?" He asked curiously.
"Chester" I answered.
Jasper nodded and then pulled out a crayon and wrote at the bottom of his drawing before showing me again.
"Like that?" He questioned.
He had added the spelling of 'Chesta' and I had to chuckle at his attempted to spell the name. Although it wasn't perfect, it was clear to me that he was getting good at this; like he knew that it begun with a 'Ch'. This family were sure doing a great job with teaching him with his spelling. I remember Carlisle telling me that his wife was helping Jasper with that and Rosalie, too.
"Yeah, that's close enough" I replied with a grin.
Jasper turned around and pulled a small box out of the wooden one which I assumed was full of toys for his mental age. I recognised the box he pulled out to be a game of Jenga and he placed it in front of me.
"Emmy teach me how to play. You play with me?" He asked innocently.
"Sure" I agreed.
Jenga was actually one of my favorite old fashioned games, it wasn't something that relied on technology like a lot of games do these days. I watched as Jasper focused carefully on setting up the game; his hands getting a little shaky as he stacked up the wooden pieces.
"So can you tell me about the wolves? Did you ever see any?" I asked him, cautiously.
I noticed Jasper pause for a moment and then carried on what he was doing like he didn't hear me. I waited patiently, hoping that he was just taking time to answer but unfortunately for me, he remained silent.
"Did they ever hurt you?" I asked more specifically.
He stopped once more and looked at me directly in the eye.
"They are not the bad ones" he mentioned rather darkly.
With that, he continued stacking the last pieces of the wooden blocks so that we could start the game.
"What do you mean?" I asked, curiously.
Jasper made the first move and used one of his shaky fingers to push out a wooden block out of the middle of the stack before placing it at the top.
"Wolves are only bad when they are scared. They are nice if you leave them alone" He said as-a-matter-of-factly.
I nodded in understanding but I was still a little confused about his earlier statement.
"So who are the bad ones?" I questioned him as I pulled out a Jenga block and placed it at the top.
"The creatures with the loud sticks" he answered.
Despite my hope for an answer, that only confused me even more. Who were these creatures with the loud sticks?
"Can you tell me about them?"
Perhaps if I got him to do that, I would understand what he was talking about. Plus, I would need to think more like Jasper; somebody who had lived on his own all his life, teaching himself survival.
"They look like us but they have big sticks dat make noises and they hurt all the animals. And they put down things and hide dem under the leaves and if you step on dem, they really hurt" he explained further.
It suddenly dawned on me what he was talking about; hunters. He was talking about men with guns and bear traps and it was almost as if he were talking from experience about the pain.
"Did they ever hurt you?" I asked gently.
I was almost afraid of what the answer would be. I felt like I already knew it but I wasn't sure in what way. Had he stepped on a bear trap? No, surely not. That would have taken his leg off or broken it in the least. Maybe he had fallen into some other kind of trap so he either managed to escape or he was caught but wasn't reported. What kind of man would find a child on his own in the woods and wouldn't have told anybody. No, that couldn't be it. Perhaps somebody had thought he was an animal as he moved and he got shot but lived through it. I was just so curious as to how he would have been hurt by hunters. That's if he was hurt.
"Jasper, did they ever hurt you?" I repeated when I realized he hadn't answered.
He looked down and studied the pattern on the carpet, fiddling with his fingers.
"I want daddy now" he suddenly mumbled.
For any of those curious, Jasper will be meeting Peter's dog rather soon. The name 'Chester' was the birth name of my most recent deceased rat but I ended up changing his name to 'Nikolai' because I liked that name more.
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