A/N for 2020-03-15: Well, like the rest of the world, I'm washing my hands a great deal and trying not to watch the news. I'll try to get the next chapter up in a few days.
As always, my profound thanks to chaysara for beta-ing this story. Please know that I fiddled with it after the fact, so all errors are my own.
Finally: chaysara was nominated in the 'grammar guru' category over on the twifandomawards blogspot, and today is the LAST day to vote. So make sure you go cast your ballot there.
Cheers,
~ Erin
"Bella," Jasper said, seeing her come down the stairs. He'd stood up from the table, walking at a purposefully human pace. She'd been agitated since she arrived, and the turmoil of feeling hadn't quite abated yet. He hadn't tried to use his influence, but he wanted to make her feel at ease. Behaving as humanly as possible seemed a logical place to start.
"I was just going to take her home," Edward said. His voice held a note of warning. His mood was more articulate in this respect.
"What is it?" Bella asked, still a little uneasy around Jasper. It didn't feel so long ago that he'd been snarling at her with blood-thirsty intent.
Edward huffed a breath out. It didn't take Jasper's gifts to sense his impatience.
"Two things," Jasper said, gesturing towards the chairs nearby.
Bella sat, Edward standing behind her, a tight hand on the back of the chair.
Jasper sat across from her. "First, I've been in touch with our lawyer on your behalf."
"Okay," she said, "why, exactly?"
"To expunge your records."
"Which means?"
"The investigation into you is now a matter of public record," Edward said, "meaning it's there until it's expunged, but that takes some legal work."
"Why does it need to be expunged?" Bella asked, looking back at Edward.
"It doesn't," Jasper said, "but it would be better if it was. Just in case, any ill-intentioned social workers get any ideas again."
"Okay," Bella said, letting out a breath. "Thank you, Jasper."
"Happy to help," he said. His own guilt eased a bit, hearing her thanks. It was a drop in payment to the many debts he owed her.
"And the second thing?" she asked.
Edward shot Jasper a warning look. Jasper threw it right back at him. "Keeping things from people didn't work well last time, did it?" Jasper said.
Edward frowned but nodded begrudgingly. His hand slipped from the chair to Bella's shoulder.
"When you broke your hand," Jasper said, "did you feel what I was trying to do?"
"Yes," Bella said, remembering her anger, followed by the cloying calm that had prickled over her.
"Do you remember what you did with that?"
"I don't understand." While her gaze at Jasper was direct, she leaned away from him slightly, the movement so subtle as to be instinctual.
Jasper said nothing, leaning back as well. "What it felt like was you shoving my influence away."
Edward's face told Jasper that his patience was waning. His gaze to the door was clear, too. When Edward's fingers twitched at Bella's shoulder, Jasper made sense of the feelings rolling from his brother. Bella had been through enough, and she didn't need more stress from Jasper.
"I have no idea, Jasper," she said, shaking her head. "I was . . . very angry." She shrugged.
"No!" Edward said, making Bella startle.
Jasper's eyebrows brushed his hairline, and he eyed his brother. Bella turned back to look up at Edward. His face was rigid with anger.
"Don't even think about it." Edward snarled at him.
Bella looked vaguely nauseated, and her emotional unease was commensurate with the expression on her face. She eyed Jasper and then Edward in turn, her own expression uneasy.
"I think I should go home," she said softly, standing tentatively. Her arms curled protectively around Sarah.
"I'm sorry," Jasper said, standing up. "Edward's right." With a curt nod, he excused himself from their company.
Bella was shaken by Edward's outburst, so she didn't ask him anything until they were in the car, and even then, only after they were many minutes into their drive.
"What was the yelling about?" she asked.
Edward's jaw tightened, but he didn't answer right away.
"I need honesty, Edward," she said.
He nodded but slowly. "Jasper thinks you're gifted, and that if you were changed to be like us, your gift would manifest."
Ah, yes. She could see why that would cause yelling. She glanced over at Edward. His jaw was tight.
"And what are your thoughts about that?"
He made a derisive noise in his throat. "That hasn't changed."
"Oh good." she quipped. "Yay for continuity."
He looked at her, surprised and alarmed. "Is that . . . do you still want that?"
"No," she said with certainty, "and even if I did, I wouldn't." Her hand moved to rest on Sarah behind her in the car seat.
His shoulders relaxed. "I've never wanted that for you, Bella. Never." He looked at her, "To see you change in your life, to have watched you grow, to see your child in this world. I don't think I can convey the . . . wonder of it."
They pulled into the driveway and he turned to fully face her. "It's miraculous to me, to see that you're different. That—"
"I'm older?" she said.
He grinned. "No," he said, "I was going to say that your experiences have transformed you." He reached out to touch her cheek, feeling the blood rush to join it there. "Even that is subtly different."
Bella could feel just how similar and different it was, to have him touch her—even just his palm to her cheek and had to quickly cross her arms over her chest, stemming the flow of milk. The blush intensified.
"And that," he smiled. "Amazing."
Bella gave another half laugh. "Embarrassing is more like it."
He smiled, and he watched a small smile blossom on her lips too.
So many miracles and so many gifts.
DISCLAIMER: S. Meyer owns Twilight. No copyright infringement intended.
