Hey all, I've been sitting on this story for some time and well I couldn't wait to post it any longer :) enjoy! I don't own Twilight but if I did, I'd be married to Jasper :D he's by far the hottest and best person for Bella, Edward was always too controlling and Jacob well he refused to see what Bella really wanted :) Oh and definite use of drugs, alcohol and abuse so don't read if its a trigger.

Winter's Crescent

Jasper's PoV

It had been four months, four long months and Bella had hardly left her rocking chair outside of going to school. School didn't really count however as she was barely there also. I had never felt someone feel so hollow, empty, devoid of emotion except when she was having nightmares. That was the only time I ever felt anything from her, and that was extremely painful. Imagine being suffocated and when you're finally allowed to take a breath, the air refuses to go into your lungs, like it's blocked by a wall deep in your throat. That was what her anxiety felt like alone, the physical pain didn't measure anywhere close to that feeling of running out of air and I was a goddamn vampire. I didn't need air but when she had those nightmares or an anxiety attack in the middle of the day, somehow she would break through my empath defenses and make me feel like a weak human.

Why was I following her everywhere? Why was I not with my wife on some exotic island somewhere in the Bahamas? That was the million dollar question. I had replayed that night a million times and I still didn't know. All I knew was that I could feel pain and loss from my wife the moment I charged Bella and felt failure from Edward. I had no intention of hurting her but none of them believed me except Rose and Emmett. I had seen him push her back and something in me was set free when I saw her falling through the air to smash into his piano. I wanted to catch and protect her before she hit the piano yet everyone was snarling at me with Edward in my face. By the time I calmed myself to try to talk, I realized it was too late, her blood had been spilled and no one was going to believe my story.

None of that is what really stuck out though, I was used to being judged before I had a chance to speak. Sometimes it was easier to let people believe what they wanted to believe. What struck me the most was, Bella wasn't afraid of me. So here I am, on a Friday night, watching her from the forest line as she stared into the abyss from her rocking chair. I had packed that night with full intention of going to Brazil with Alice for some shopping as planned but when he told me how he had broken the news to her, something just snapped and I ran out the door after punching him in the face. I sent a message to Alice to tell her I needed a break from the family then snapped my phone in half. It wasn't like it was a shock to her, we had grown estranged since Bella stepped into our lives and being an empath I could feel how Alice felt about me. She no longer loved me the way she used to and was always having secret conversations with Edward when they thought no one was watching them. She had started to disappear for weeks at a time on various holidays and only came back to tumble with me in bed before running again. I felt used, I felt as I did when I was with Maria but I had stuck around because it was Alice, because she had shown me a new life and because we had been together for the past fifty years. There was history that was worth holding out for in hopes we could find a way past this road block. I had gotten into a few discussions with her about it but none of them resolved in an answer so from the outside everyone assumed we were fine, well except Rose. My sister really was my sister, she noticed immediately and we had gone hunting for some privacy so I could vent. She had no idea what had gotten into Alice and had offered me comfort and support. So after punching Edward in the face and tearing through the house with my bags, Rose was hot on my heels with Emmett in her car. She knew where I would be heading and arrived a few hours later.

I had run all the way to Charlotte's and Peters farm deep within Argentina after checking that Bella was safe at home. Bella was safe and fast asleep on the couch which confused me as well as multiple people from La push talking outside of her house. I decided I couldn't stay as some of them would notice me so I continued on my way. I managed to stay a week before I felt a pull to go back to Forks. I didn't want to find Alice or my family but I couldn't forget Bella. I knew she would be devastated and all alone in the world so I told myself I was just going back north to check on her, make sure she was safe. Victoria was still out there and Bella was definitely a magnet for danger. Problem was I couldn't leave after I had seen her.

It had been three in the morning when I arrived back in town and I expected to find her fast asleep dreaming, instead she had been in anguish, screaming at the top of her lungs. I nearly exposed myself that night as I had heard her from the forest, at least a two minute sprint away from her house. I had run as fast as I could once I heard that blood curdling scream and many trees felt my wrath. I had jumped to the tree outside her window from the forest line in one jump expecting a fight with Victoria. That was when I saw a very tired Charlie rush into her room, turn on the light and try to wake her. I was frozen in place on that tree branch trying to catch my breath that I knew I didn't need and felt like I was about to faint. Eventually he left and Bella tried to go back to sleep, once she found peace I was able to breathe and think again.

So that was how I found myself on a Friday night, at the forest line, listening and watching. I felt like a stalker but at least I knew she was safe. That was the only reason I was here right, something was coming and somehow I knew and she needed protecting. I didn't really believe that any more, it had been months and nothing had changed, she was a ghost of herself and the real reason I stayed was to make sure she lived eventually. She would eventually get out of her funk, her depression and move on and that is why I stayed, to make sure she reached that eventually I guess. Or if she didn't, I was going to eventually man up, knock on her door and ask if she wanted to take a gap year to travel the world. Her environment didn't help her mental state at all but she refused to leave in case he ever came back. I didn't have to be an empath to work that out, so she stayed in one of the most miserable towns in the world, always rainy with hardly any sunshine. I just wasn't convinced that she would say yes if I asked, so I stayed in the treeline, hoping by some miracle she would begin to move on as humans did with time.

It was hard to not use my empathic ability on her to help her sleep better or feel better, especially when she occasionally turned her emotions on for a minute or two to spiral deep down a suicidal train of thought before she would bounce back to a void of nothingness. I knew though that if I aided her, she wouldn't learn how to recover on her own, it would do more harm than good.

It was currently storming outside, there was a little bit of lightning and thunder and buckets of rain. I had managed to keep myself semi dry under the cover of the trees. Charlie had left over twenty minutes ago to deal with some flooding issues around the city leaving Bella alone. Bella didn't move a lot, usually to just use the washroom or occasionally drink water. She barely ate and had lost a lot of weight because of that. It worried me but I knew her father would do something if he felt like he had to. She still ate the occasional chicken salad to appease her father, so her body was still mostly functioning.

Bella suddenly got up and I thought she was off to take a bathroom break but I heard her rummaging through the drawers. I decided to risk getting seen by moving closer to sit in the tree outside of her window. I could hear her cussing now under her breath and was wondering what she was looking for. I knew her period wasn't due for another twelve days. Yeah I had learnt her cycle and was still wondering how Alice hadn't told Rosalie yet because I'm sure I would be getting slapped for that. I had done Alice the decency of emailing her telling her that we needed to take a break and I was sorry for my actions so I knew I wouldn't hear from her for a few decades. That girl didn't take to being told no very well.

I heard the lock turn in the bathroom door which drew me back to paying attention to Bella. Why would you lock a bathroom door if you are alone in the house? I decided to slide her window open as quietly as I could so I could get a smell of what was going on. I could hear her heaving and crying in the bathroom so maybe she was vomiting? I nearly backed back out till I caught a whiff of blood, steaming hot blood dripping from her veins.