Chapter 8

Edward's POV

Edward opened the front door and stepped inside. He could hear voices coming from the living room. The dinner with Bella and her father had been interesting, even though he'd had a hard time forcing down the food and a quite unpleasant experience trying to force it up again once he'd left. He still quite couldn't get his head around how he had ever enjoyed food, or how humans seemed to enjoy it so much. Most of it smelled disgusting.

He'd enjoyed watching Bella interact with her father, even though in many cases she seemed like the parent rather than Chief Swan. The way she gave him instructions to bring out plates and cutlery as he'd started to unpack the food, opting for eating it straight out of the box. The way she even took out napkins and folded them when Charlie was about to dig into the food. It was amusing to watch her take control of the household, with Charlie mostly looking out of place. The conversation that had followed the meal had also been very pleasant. Edward sensed that Charlie had always had a good eye to the Cullens and even though he hadn't know exactly what to expect he'd been grateful to avoid interrogative and curious questions. Charlie probably believed he had the Cullens all figured out and Edward wasn't about to let him think otherwise.

"Welcome home, sweetie! Why don't you come join us?" Esme called from the living room. Edward entered the room and found his family all gathered. Alice and Jasper sat closely together in the couch and Rosalie and Emmett were engaged in a game of chess. Carlisle sat in his chair going through some papers and Esme sat in hers, a book in her lap. "Did you have a good time at Bella's?",Esme asked, her voice filled with love and yet a hint of curiosity. "Yeah, did you have a good time?",Emmett said, emphasizing the word good as he shot Edward a bit meaning smile. Edward laughed and sat down on the couch. "Yeah, it was nice, I like her. And her dad was there too." "Her dad too? You sick puppy!",Emmett said and burst into laughter. Edward laughed too, and so did the rest of them. Except for Jasper and Alice that is, who seemed to be lost their own world.

"Yeah, her dad too. You can't even imagine what he can do with his gun…"Edward began saying, still laughing. "Okay, that's enough", Carlisle said laughing, raising his hands, "Stop, or I won't be able to ever look Charlie into the eyes again, never mind go fishing with him again." "Okay, okay", Edward said laughing," But to be honest, it was great. I felt like a normal teenager for the first time in ages. We talked, we had some snacks, we just hung out."

"Don't worry, you'll get more where that came from as soon as Jasper is gone", Alice suddenly snapped, looking fiercely at Edward. "Alice, please…"Esme started, but Jasper interrupted her. "It's fine, really", he said," Alice, honey. This has to be done and I don't mind. I'm sorry that I'll be far away from you all and I will miss having this, but it's for the best. And I think I'll be a bit more relaxed when I'm not surrounded by humans all the time. You know, not walking around in an area that smells dinner 24/7". He laughed, but it wasn't a happy laughter. They were all quiet, all suddenly at a lack of words. "Hey, we're gonna come and visit you. Often!",Emmet said, trying to comfort him, "We're gonna build the sickest snow fort ever and we're gonna chase polar bears." "And we're gonna have an even more epic snow ball war than we had the Christmas of '86", Edward added, smiling at Jasper. Jasper laughed, a bit more cheery now. "Really? You're gonna be able to top that? Even the local newspaper wrote about that one. But I have faith in you guys, and I do hope you'll come visit me often."

"Of course we will", Edward said and went over to Jasper to give him a big hug, feeling how his eyes were beginning to water. Jasper stood up and they locked their arms in a big hug. "I love you, you know. That hasn't changed and isn't going to change. We're still brothers", he whispered into Jaspers ear and he could feel Jaspers chin nodding against his shoulder. "I know", he said firmly. "Hey guys, stop it. This is too much of a Hallmark moment, you're gonna make us all cry", Emmett said and joined their hug, leaving both Edward and Jasper breathless with his big bearlike arms.

"I'm gonna miss you so much when I leave tomorrow", Jasper said, his voice strained," But I'm going to come back, sooner than you think, and I'm going to contribute to this family instead of being a burden. I just have to sort myself out first. But I promise you all, I can and I will."