AN: Okay, so I think I might have accidentally put everyone to sleep last chapter? Anyway hopefully this one should wake you up ;-*

Bit of a warning that things might start getting a bit more incesty going forward :P

Also the word "orgy" gets bantered about a fair bit in this chapter by a bunch of drunk twenty-six to thirty year olds so if discussions around group sex bother you, consider yourself warned.


Chapter Five

Jasper's POV

Billiards was...entertaining.

I still can't determine if anyone is actually fucking or not but the tension around this place is always so damn thick you could cut it with a knife.

This afternoon while Em and Rosalie were 'watching a movie' I was thinking about it while hanging out in Edward's room grading papers while he did a bit of research online and emailed our realtor with some questions.

"I'm just gonna ask Emmett," I said at one point looking up from my work.

"Why do you care so much?" Ed frowned.

"Honestly? Because I'm pretty sure they're in love. It's damn well written all over their faces. It's in every interaction they have. And really, they both deserve to be happy. If they're not fucking, it's only because they're worried about what people will think," I admitted.

"You know...they probably think the same thing about us…" he pointed out, looking over the bridge of his reading glasses at me.

"That we're fucking? Or that we deserve to be happy?" I smirked.

"Well, both. But I meant the other part." He shrugged looking way more vulnerable than he usually is.

"Ahh, the part we don't talk about?" I confirmed.

He nodded. "Yeah, why is that?"

I shrugged. "Because we're scared to talk about it, I guess."

"Yeah, I guess." He nodded slowly, lost in thought. "But Jas...don't we deserve to be happy, too?"

I've been thinking about that conversation ever since.

It was on my mind when I talked to Emmett out at the barbecue. It was on my mind during the pool game. And then, that stupid challenge from Ally, which was specifically worded in a way that was entirely presumptuous and unfair.

Sitting at dinner, it's hard to focus on our parents' situation, given everything we have going on in our own lives at the moment.

But Em was right about it being time-sensitive. They go back in two weeks unless we can convince them to stay. That's not a lot of time, so it begs the question...why are we beating around the bush about it? Wouldn't we have more success just being honest?

I set my utensils down, a few bites into the meal (which is delicious, even though I can't focus on it).

"So...I know we're all intentionally avoiding the elephant in the room...but I guess what I'm wondering is...why you four are acting like we know, even though you can't possibly know that we know," I puzzle, blinking rapidly.

Aunt Esme sets down her chopsticks with a small sigh. "Okay, looks like we're doing this now. Let's just say...someone wasn't very careful putting the photo album back this afternoon," she reveals, glancing surreptitiously around the table in search of the guilty culprit.

We all hang our heads, feeling bad for having invaded their privacy.

"So, we figured, if you all know anyway...what the hell is the point in pretending?" Dad says, finishing her sentence.

Bella looks worried. "We're sorry we invaded your privacy, Mom. It was my idea to look through the album. We had figured out there was something, we just didn't have any evidence. I thought, given the number of times I had seen you put that book away discreetly over the years, it might hold some answers," she admits.

"And just how many answers did you find?" Dad asks her.

"We got about halfway through or a little less than that before we felt too guilty and put it away," she admits.

They all breathe a sigh of relief. Mom interjects with a slow nod. "Okay. Good. There is a bit more that you should probably hear directly from us, not from the book. But it is a conversation we shouldn't have until everyone is sober. So the book is now locked away in the safe for tonight, and we fully intend to still go dancing.

"So I suggest you all enjoy your night as well, and we can have a family meeting to discuss all this some more in the morning. Or perhaps afternoon, since we'll all likely be pretty hungover," Mom decides, with a nod of agreement from Aunt Esme.

We all resume eating and compliments are made to Rose for the quality of the food. We tell a few light, anecdotal stories from work and whatnot, and after the meal, everyone saves a bit of room to have some cheesecake.

The mood is somber since we all feel like a bunch of little kids who got their hands slapped for digging in the cookie jar. But while Mom and Aunt Es are putting the finishing touches on their hair and makeup, Uncle Carlisle and Dad come walking up to us where we are gathered around the island doing the clean-up.

"We're glad that you kids know now." Uncle Carlisle smiles softly at me. "And we're glad you brought it up tonight, Jasper."

"Yes, and we're very glad you went snooping, Isabella," Dad says, tweaking her nose the way he used to do to Alice whenever she was feeling bad about something.

"So, we're not in trouble?" Rose confirms.

"No. No one is in any trouble. We just all have a lot to talk about tomorrow," Uncle Carlisle confirms, just as Mom and Aunt Esme return, looking gorgeous in their going out clothes.

Dad and Uncle Carlisle both whistle and stare as the ladies spin around slowly, giving them a bit of a show.

"We'd better play our cards right tonight or some young studs will come along on the dance floor and sweep these stunning angels right off their feet and steal them out from under us," Dad cautions.

"Could never happen," Aunt Es assures them. Even though we know, it is still a bit shocking to see her walk up to Dad and give him a long, passionate kiss right in front of us.

A similar kiss transpires between Mom and Carlisle, and then they all make a point of looking around at us kids.

"Okay, good, no one fainted!" Esme giggles. "Let's get out of here before we manage to shock them too much more."

And with that, they head out the front door where their taxi is just pulling up to the cul-de-sac.

"Well, I need a drink," Edward says, proceeding to down three shots of tequila in a row.

"We had a plan, Jas." Alice punches me in the arm. "Why did you deviate from the plan without talking to us?"

I sigh exasperatedly.

"Because it occurred to me at dinner that we only have two weeks to convince them to stay and I think we'll have better luck by engaging them in direct conversation and making them deal with the issue than we would by just trying to pull their puppet strings from behind the scenes and hoping for the best. So I didn't think, I just blurted it out, I'm sorry!" I apologize, putting my hands up in surrender before continuing.

"I still think all the ideas everyone had were good and I think we should still do them. Like taking Mom around to the different schools, for example, I think that will help a lot. But I also think that as soon as we suggest the idea of them staying…

"Esme and Carlisle are going to be so excited by the possibility that they'll probably be able to help us convince them. It's harder to say no to eight people than it is to say no to six. Especially given that they have to know how heartbroken Aunt Esme and Uncle Carlisle will be if they leave again," I reason.

"Okay fine, you make a good point. But still…" Alice huffs.

"Aww, I know, Baby, it feels nice to be consulted, doesn't it?" Bella teases Ally in a baby-talk voice, ruffling her pixie haircut. I feel like I missed something but am not sure what, as we all head back to the family room for another game of pool, with another pitcher of margaritas in tow.

This time we decide to play siblings versus cousins, with Me, Em, and Ally on one team, and Ed, Rose, and Bells on the other.

"Are we sure about these teams?" Em asks us pointedly.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I puzzle, not sure what the problem is.

"Well...it seems unfair to put the three people who are good at pool on a team against the three who aren't." He grins cockily.

"Oh shit, yeah, okay, fair point. Umm, how about I switch with...Bells?" I offer.

"Sure, yeah." Bella nods, coming across to this side as I cross over to hers.

"Hey, now it's essentially blondes versus brunettes!" Em observes.

"Who are you calling a blond?" Eddie huffs.

"Yeah, I guess your hair is more reddish, like Esme's. But if you divided the world into blondes and brunettes you'd be blond." Em shrugs, racking the balls.

"Hmm, you know...meh, nevermind." Bella frowns, biting her lip.

I glance at my new team and then back at my siblings. I take another couple of shots of tequila because I'm fairly certain Bells and I are both thinking the same thing now at this point.

Everyone turns their focus onto the game for a while and enough shots are missed throughout it that everyone is very, very buzzed by the time our team wins.

"Let's play a different kind of game now!" Ally suggests.

"If you say Truth or Dare, I will disown you. That game is so juvenile," Rose insists with a glare.

"Okay, fine, let's play Honesty or Challenge!" Alice giggles.

"Is it the same but with a different name?" Bells laughs.

"Nope. We all take a seat on the floor in a circle. And we go around the circle clockwise. When it's your turn, you either have to tell the group one of your biggest secrets or accept whatever challenge the group agrees on giving you. So it's a little similar, but the power is never in one person's hands," Alice suggests.

"Okay, that sounds a little better, I guess. At least the person gets to decide their own secret." Rose nods as we all take seats in the circle.

"As a show of good faith, I will go first," Alice states, slurring a little. She's very drunk, so this should be good.

"I...am in love...with Bella."

Welp...that happened.

"Jeebus, Alice! Don't you think that might be something you should have told me first before announcing it to the group?!" Bella squeaks, turning fifty shades of red.

"Maybe…?" Alice shrugs apologetically.

"Okay, I guess we're adding that to the list of things to talk about once we're sober," Bells mutters. Alice nods to the next person in the circle which happens to be Emmett.

"Still want to live in that honest world, Rosie?" He confirms, clearly harkening back to an earlier conversation.

"Yeah, why the hell not? Go for it." Rose nods, taking a big swig from the tequila bottle.

"Okay, so...you've all been wondering about Rosie and me. Well, here it is. I'm not gonna lie and say there isn't anything there. I suppose I'd call it...an emotional relationship, I guess?

"We aren't having sex. From my part, it certainly isn't for lack of desire. It isn't anything to do with being related, either. Cousins can legally get married in California ya know. It's not nearly as big a deal as you clowns all make it out to be.

"I think for me, it comes down to the privacy issue, mainly. I don't want to start something and then get barged in on or called down for dinner or what have you. I really do think we should get our own place," Em admits, much to everyone's shock.

"Yeah, I uh, asked them for their realtor info," Rose admits bashfully.

"I know. I'm really glad you did." Em smiles tipping her chin up to capture her gaze.

"Okay wow, as adorable as this is, and before you two start making out...Rose needs to take her turn." Ally beams.

"Okay, um...for me, it hasn't been about the privacy issue. I...uh...well...my secret is that I'm a virgin," Rose admits.

"No shit, really?" Bells frowns. "How the fuck did I not know this? I'm your sister."

"I told you. When I was eighteen, and you were sixteen. I said you shouldn't be in such a rush to have sex and that I was waiting for the right person," Rose reminds her.

"Yeahhh, and then you proceeded to date Hank Pearson for all four years of university. I assumed you were sleeping with him?" Bella puzzles.

Edward bursts out laughing at the same time Rose does.

"What's so funny?" Bella pouts.

Edward pats her on the head. "Oh Honey. Hank Pearson was as gay as the day is long. I should know, I swiped his V-card. Rose was just his beard. That's why he never once came to any family dinners. They weren't in a real relationship."

Bella frowns, biting her lip. "Well, no one told me that!"

"Hun, that's because your best friend at the time was the most gossipy person I've ever known and her older brother was Hank's college roommate whom he absolutely did not want knowing the truth.

"So, I'm sorry I kept it from you. But I wasn't about to out someone against their wishes for the sake of appeasing your desire for sibling bonding. Why do you think I always kept the discussions centered around your love life?

"Did you think I was that genuinely curious how good a kisser Kristy Swanson was or whether or not Mark McDougall was a premature ejaculator? No, we talked about all that stuff so we didn't have to talk about Hank," Rose admits.

Alice bursts into a giggle fit. "You dated a premature ejaculator?"

Bells rolls her eyes. "Only the first time out to bat. I devirginized him, so we just had to work on his stamina, that's all."

"Oh, well, I guess that's acceptable. I thought maybe he just came in his pants every time you started kissing him. I know I would." Alice wriggles her eyebrows and Bella rolls her eyes.

"Okay, so since I was supposed to be next anyway, can that thing about Hank's V Card be my secret?" Edward suggests.

"No!" Everyone laughs.

"Fine." He looks at me for permission.

I nod, slowly, knowing he plans on going there.

"Okay, so... regarding the question on everyone's minds...the answer is yes. Sort of. It happened once. And right after that was when we started looking at houses. We didn't want it getting serious while we were still living here under so many sets of watchful eyes," Edward confesses.

"So you two have fucked?" Emmett confirms.

"Once, yeah," I admit.

"How was it?" Em smirks.

I roll my eyes. "Let's just say...we wouldn't exactly be moving in together if it was bad, now would we?"

Everyone laughs at that and the tension is sufficiently lighter.

"Can that count as my secret too? It was a pretty big one," I plead.

"Nope," Everyone states in unison.

"Fine. My secret is...I'm scared shitless about what we're gonna learn tomorrow," I disclose.

"What do you mean?" Rose puzzles.

I sigh. "To put it bluntly. I'm blond."

"Huh?" She shakes her head, clearly not getting the significance.

"All four of our parents were fucking. Until Bella and Alice were one-year-olds. And I. am. blond." I spell out more clearly.

"Ohhh."

"It doesn't necessarily mean…" Edward trails off when I shoot him a look.

"Will it make a difference?" I ask, my voice barely audible.

"To me?" he confirms. I nod, playing with a thread on my sweater.

"No, I don't see why it should. It's not like we can procreate either way. If Elijah and Milo can get away with being twins who are lovers, who cares if it turns out we're half-brothers?" Edward sighs.

"I love that your shining example of people who are 'making it work' is a couple of pornstars." I snicker.

"Hey, those pornstars are very much in love. Don't judge." Edward pouts.

"I hate to burst your bubble, but I don't think they're even dating anymore," Emmett states. "I read online that one of them married a woman."

"Why on earth were you reading up about gay pornstars?" I smirk.

"What part of 'don't judge' did you miss when your boyfriend said it like two minutes ago?" Em grumbles, suddenly seeming very interested in the pattern on the carpet.

"Definitely not judging, Em, just curious," I assure him, putting my hands up in a gesture of peace. "When I came out, you did say you had never questioned your sexuality though," I remind him.

"Actually...I said I had never questioned whether I was gay or not which is true because I have always been into women. And I said I had never experimented and didn't plan to. By the time we were having that conversation, I was already living out here and I already had feelings for Rose.

"So I didn't exactly have a burning desire to go bang some guy just to see if I liked it. But you never asked if I'd had any attractions to men and I didn't see how that information was relevant," Emmett qualifies.

I frown, chewing my lip. "Okay, fine, so you never directly lied to me...but it just seems like an odd piece of information to intentionally leave out when your brother is pouring his heart out telling you he's gay," I grumble, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice as I fold my arms across my chest.

"Yeah and I can guess exactly how that particular conversation would have gone. I would have said, 'Hey, I know how you feel. I've been known to experience the occasional attraction to men, too.'

"And then you would have said, 'Really? Like whom?' Then either I would have remained silent, made something up, or told you the truth. And considering the only guy I had felt an attraction to by that point was you...it wasn't a can of worms I felt like opening," Em blurts out.

I freeze, totally speechless.

"What?" I manage to mutter after what feels like an eternity has passed.

Emmett sighs. "I don't want to get into it, Jasper. This is not a conversation I ever planned on having with you. Can we please just drop it?"

"What are you actually saying, though? I can't 'drop it' until I know what it is I'm dropping…" I puzzle, still feeling very confused.

Rose sighs dramatically rolling her eyes. "Want me to fill in the blanks for you, Jasper? Nine nights out of ten, it's my name on Em's lips when he moans in his sleep. Once in a while? It's yours."

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Edward chugging more tequila.

"Huh. Never saw that one coming," Ally says quietly to Bella.

Bells chuckles. "If this 'game' is about to turn into the world's most incestuous orgy, I think I'm gonna need a lot more booze." She snatches the bottle from Edward and chugs some of it.

"Uhh, we're not really having an orgy, though, right? Virgin here, remember…" Rose panics.

"I'm pretty certain we're not. Although the boys all seem to have perked up at the suggestion," Alice notices.

"No one is having group sex tonight," Edward states. "I think everyone needs to get their shit figured out in their own relationships before anyone goes attempting anything quite so...experimental."

"Not to mention the fact that you and Jasper don't even like girls," Bella points out.

"Hey! I consider myself gay because of how seldom I find myself attracted to women. Not because it hasn't ever happened at all," Edward clarifies.

"So you're gay in the way that Emmett is straight, then? Because apparently, he's only gay for Jasper. So...who is it you would hop on the pussytown express for, Edward?" Alice snickers.

"Oh my gosh!" Bells exclaims. "Is this about that time when I jumped onto your lap and you got a boner?" Bella squeals, dissolving into peels of laughter.

"I refuse to dignify that with an answer. Especially while you're laughing at me like that." Ed pouts.

His crush on Bella has always been a pretty well-kept secret. The only reason I'm vaguely aware of it is that he told me about this girl he once slept with to decide if he liked girls or not.

He said he picked out the most beautiful girl he could find. He told me he was attracted to her enough to get hard but that no matter how long they went at it, he couldn't cum. He also mentioned offhandedly that she looked a lot like Bella.

"Oh, Edward! I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at my memories of that experience and how embarrassing and awkward it was for both of us at the time," Bells assures him.

"Okay so at this point, is it safe to assume everyone in this room has a crush on everyone else in this room, or what?" Rose laughs rolling her eyes.

"Well...you're still straight, right? So that eliminates a few options," Alice retorts.

"Technically, I've never done anything with a girl." Rose shrugs. "Who knows? Maybe I would like it."

"Okay, wow, now I'm even starting to wonder if this is gonna turn into a giant orgy," Emmett jokes.

Rose glares at him.

I jump in to diffuse the situation. "As Edward said before, I think everyone needs to return to their respective corners for tonight and talk to their own...partners...or whatever we wanna call it. Don't get me wrong now, I find the idea of drunken group sex just as appealing as the next red-blooded American,

"But these aren't just a bunch of people who met at a bar or on some website. These are the people we'll all be looking at across the family brunch table for the rest of our lives. So anything kinky like that probably oughta be a decision made while genuine, sober consent is possible, m'kay?" I insist, reluctantly taking it upon myself to be the voice of reason here.

As much as I'd rather just throw caution to the wind and worry about the consequences later, I know what a stupid idea that would be. And honestly, I don't have the mental focus for anything like that right now anyway, given the identity crises I anticipate I'll be having myself as of tomorrow.

"Any questions?" I ask, looking around at the group.

"I have one," Ed begins.

"Floor is all yours." I nod, waiting to hear what he has to say.


AN: Please review! A happy author is an active author ;-*