Ivy

I found myself getting closer to Bella. After all, she might end up as my sister-in-law someday! I knew it wasn't any of my business, but I was also trying to coax her out of spending all her time exclusively with Edward. If they broke up, she would have no one. Well, she'd have Alice, they seemed to be very good friends. But having a non-alien friend might help too.

I was thoroughly convinced the Cullens and Hales were aliens. There was no other possible explanation. I didn't know where in the universe they had come from and I didn't know why but at least they seemed peaceful and not hostile. That being said, if Jasper wanted to abduct me, I wouldn't mind. Hell, I'd even be willing to be abducted by Dr. Cullen. I still hadn't seen him in person but holy shit, even his picture made me hot. But I digress.

I was trying my hardest to shake off the uneasy feeling Jasper gave me when I was near him. I didn't want to feel that way and it made me frustrated because I couldn't understand it. It must have been an alien thing. Maybe it was a defense mechanism to keep people away from them.

Jasper and I had been hanging out as much as possible. He ate lunch with me and my friends a few times a week. The rest was with his family, minus Edward. Edward and Bella ate lunch alone together every single day. If it was a nice day, Dr. Cullen would take his kids out of school to go hiking. No other parents would ever agree to that; every kid had tried it on them. On those days, Bella would sit with some of the other kids in her grade, but they weren't really her friends. She would just sit there and mope. It was sad.

That brought me be back to Bella. The Cullens/Hales were gone that day as the sun shone brightly. We sat at a picnic table outside to catch as much sun as possible.

"Jasper invited me to go paintballing in Seattle this weekend," I told her, "You and Edward should come with us! It'll be a double date!"

"I don't think I should. I'm the least coordinated person. Ever," she declined the invite.

"I'm not taking no for an answer, Bella. Besides, I'm sure Eddie would protect you," I grinned.

"Edward," she corrected automatically. I tried not to roll my eyes. I never understood why that guy didn't go by Ed. Only Edward and Alice didn't have nicknames. I had heard them refer to each other as Em, Rose and Jazz. I liked Jazz for Jasper. Not only was it musical, it was just a fun name to have. I hadn't had the guts to call him that yet but I hoped I would eventually.

I was super excited by the prospect of paintballing. I had been a few times and sure, the paint stung when it hit you but you got to shoot other people as well. Seattle had one of the best facilities. It was in an old multi-level warehouse and had tons of places to hide and regroup. It was also really busy which just meant more people to shoot at.

Bella was just biting her lip, seemingly considering my offer. I pressed my advantage, "I'm sure Edward would be more than happy to teach you how to shoot. I bet he'd put his arms around you to position you properly," I wagged my eyebrows at her.

She looked like she was imaging it with a wistful expression.

"Okay. If Edward wants to go, we'll go," she said.

God, this girl couldn't even accept without it being conditional to Edward's approval. Their relationship was so unhealthy. Jasper would never be able to stop me from doing something I wanted to do.

Bella and I made plans to meet up at her house and drive to Seattle together in Jasper's Ford F150. He had a crew cab so we'd all have plenty of room.

Saturday dawned and I woke up earlier that usual. Waking up for school was torture but waking up for a day full of Jasper was no problem at all. I made my way downstairs to the kitchen with a bounce in my step and found my mom and Lily eating Lucky Charms. I poured myself a bowl and sat down with them. My dad was still asleep.

"Ready for paintballing?" my mom asked.

"Absolutely," I grinned back after swallowing a big spoonful of cereal.

"I'm glad you've found an outlet for your murderous rage, sweetie," she said, laughing.

"Why can't I go too?" Lily had been pouting about it since I had told her my friends and I were going. She loved paintballing even though she got more paint on her than on others. I have to say, for a kid, she was still pretty fierce.

"Because it's a date," my mom explained. Lily made a disgruntled face. "I'll tell you what," my mom suggested to Lily, "Let's have a girl's day, you and me. We'll go to Port Angeles and get our nails done, and then we can go to get ice cream and then catch a movie."

"Oh my gosh! That sounds better than paintballing!" Lily cheered. I gave my mom a smile and a thumbs up behind Lily's back.

My mom and sister embarked on an intense conversation about shades of nail polish while I put my empty bowl in the sink and went upstairs to get ready.

I didn't have much to do, opting to take a shower only after I was full of paint. I tied my hair back in a high bun to keep it out of my face.

I drove over to Bella's and parked behind her truck. I had beaten the boys with about fifteen minutes to spare. I was about to ring the doorbell when Bella came out, ready to go. She looked nervous as hell, paler than usual.

"Hey Bella," I greeted her. "Ready to kick some ass?"

She almost turned green. "Why did I agree to this?" she asked rhetorically.

"Because it's way more fun than whatever you would have done instead," I answered her anyway, sure that I was right. "What would you be doing instead?" I asked.

"Catching up on my reading," she said, longingly looking back towards the house.

Really? I thought. I loved reading too but seriously, who would rather do that than go paintballing with gorgeous, manly men? Well, Jasper was manly. I wasn't sure about Edward.

Jasper's truck pulled up to the curb soon after. Bella sat in the back with Edward and I took the front passenger seat in front of Bella.

"Hey Sugar," Jasper said to me with his trademark grin. My hands fumbled with my seatbelt because they started shaking. He had never called me 'sugar' before but I know he made his accent thicker. I had noticed he liked to do that to me. It seemed to amuse him to see me hot and bothered.

"Hey yourself," I finally managed, once I had buckled my seatbelt. I swear, were it not for seatbelts, I would have loved to lunge over the center console and attack him with my lips, teeth and tongue.

I turned to look back at Edward when I thought he made a brief gagging noise. He covered it with a clearing of the throat but I knew he'd made that sound. What a child.

Jasper connected his phone to the sound system and base-heavy rock music started. He turned it up loud.

"Good choice!" I yelled to be heard, bobbing my head in time. He turned his head and gave me that panty-dropping smile of his and a wink.

"Could you turn it down?" Edward said loudly, "I can hardly hear myself think!"

I rolled my eyes as Jasper did as he asked but kept it well above audible. I would get back at Edward with paintballs, I decided. I heard a scoff.

"Do you need some water?" I turned and asked him. "You seem to be making lots of rude noises back there."

"I'm fine, thank you," he replied tersely.

I had my hand on the console and jumped when I felt a cold hand on top of my own. Jasper went to pull his hand away but I snatched it back and entwined my fingers with his. It had only startled me but I was determined to touch him. I looked over to the driver's side and though Jasper didn't look my way, I saw the corners of his lips quirk up. I smiled to myself and looked at the passing scenery as his thumb occasionally rubbed the back of my hand.

We reached the paintballing venue and went inside to get kitted out and registered.

Bella looked even greener and Edward was whispering in her ear, trying to get her to calm.

"Jasper," Edward said as Jasper walked back to us after signing up. Edward inclined his head slightly towards Bella.

"Don't worry Bella. You'll be fine," was all Jasper said and Bella visibly relaxed. I quirked an eyebrow. How did he do that?

Jasper handed out the guns and as he hefted his, he took on this intense look. I mean, he always had an intensity about him but this was on a whole other level.

"I was a Major in the military when I was younger," he told me when he saw my questioning look.

"Younger?" I gaped. "You're only 18. What were you, like 8?" I scoffed.

"When I say military, I meant more like boy scouts," he covered. I guess that made sense. Sort of. Or not at all.

"Major is pretty high, isn't it?" I asked, not really knowing the ranking system.

"It is, especially for someone my age," he seemed to be smiling at a joke I wasn't privy to. Weird.

Before I could ask him about it, he pulled me close to his side and bent his head with his lips at my ear.

"Stay with me," he whispered.

I turned my head to look into his eyes, our lips only a hair's breadth away. "Always," I told him firmly, hoping he felt the sincerity and passion I felt in that one word. It seemed like he did as he looked down at my lips for a second before the moment was over as the signal was given. We slipped on our masks and the action started.

Bella and Edward sprinted away from us, probably to go and hide for the remainder of the round. Bunch of wimps.

Jasper and I headed for the top level. There was a series of catwalks above that served as a sort of shooting gallery if you were accurate enough. I usually favoured that position as I was pretty good at sniping people from above. I opened fire on a few unsuspecting players and smirked as they got splattered with my pink paint. They spun around, trying to see who shot them while running for cover. I kept shooting, using Jasper as a lookout for anyone that I might not see coming.

One massive guy spotted me from the ground and started shooting up at me. Jasper pulled me out of the trajectory of the paint and pulled me off the catwalk to a safer position.

"There are a bunch of players over there behind that structure," Jasper whispered, motioning to a wooden blind twenty feet away.

I couldn't see any movement and no paintballs were coming out from behind it. "How can you tell?"

"Trust me. They're there," he said quietly in my ear and I shivered not only at the low timbre and his closeness but also at the intensity with which he said it. "Cover me," he said before creeping towards the blind, ducking behind other smaller structures on the way.

I saw some people shooting at Jasper and I shot back, forcing them to take cover. Jasper jumped behind the blind with his gun raised. I couldn't see him but I heard screams of terror and a group of five ran away as Jasper stepped into view and took aim at the group, shooting as least three of them, puffs of pink paint splattering onto their backs.

Jasper motioned for me to join him near the blind and gave suppressing fire to anyone daring to try and shoot me. I felt very 'black ops' with Jasper using military hand signals.

We had made our way downstairs when I felt Jasper pull me behind him and narrowly miss a splash of blue paint on the wall where I had been just seconds before. He aimed at the young guy that tried to shoot me and the kid wasn't fast enough to get away from my soldier. He squeezed a shot at the teen's kneecap; it hit dead center. Had he been using real bullets he would have incapacitated the kid completely, shattering his knee.

"Thanks!" I told him, stunned at bit by the ferocity in his look. I held his arm when it looked like he was going to keep going after the boy as he limped away as fast as he could.

"Let's go find Edward and Bella," I said to distract him. "I owe Edward some pink painted hair."

Jasper and I started scouting the ground floor.

Every single time we were shot at, Jasper would shield me. It was as if he had a preternatural sense before someone even pulled the trigger and I'd be hidden behind him. Being an alien, he probably did, I reasoned. Many times, he would pull me against him, my back to his chest and his hands on my hips. I noticed he held me against him longer than necessary and I marveled at how cold and solid he was. It reminded me of when I had first touched him in the gym after confronting him: like marble and just as beautiful. Only now, I was starting to enjoy the feel of him.

We made it to the other side like a duo of trained mercenaries. I saw Bella's shoe peeking out from behind a fake boulder. No doubt Edward was with her. With his hand signals, Jasper motioned that we were going to take opposite sides of the rock and spring out at them in an ambush. I crept around one side while he crept around the other. We jumped around the rock and found nothing except Bella's shoe.

We were suddenly a few feet away as Edward, with Bella hiding behind him with one shoe, aimed his gun at us. Jasper shielded me and pointed his gun back at Edward. It was a stand off. I looked at the clock counting down the time left in the round. Just before the signal sounded, both men opened fire on each other. Jasper covering Edward in a lot of pink paint and Jasper being covered in Edward's green. They took off their masks when the round ended, both wearing a smile and did that one-armed 'bro hug' that guys do. Bella rolled her eyes, went to pick up her shoe and slipped it on. An employee came to berate the boys about shooting someone more than once and they were both banned from the facility for life.

Jasper didn't seem to mind.

"But what if we want to come back?" I told him. He shrugged.

"We'll go somewhere else."

I shook my head in displeasure.

"I'm sorry if I made you upset," he told me, looking contrite. "Wait here a minute," he told me.

I watched as he walked over to the employee that had banned them. Jasper spoke to the woman quietly, too quiet for me to hear but I saw a look of awe and desire grace the woman's face. She was nodding her head as if in a daze. Jasper walked back to me with his trademark smirk in place.

"We are no longer banned," he announced.

"What did you do to her?" I asked. Jasper seemed to have some sort of hold over people and it often frightened me when he used it. I worried that he might have used it on me but I didn't think he had.

"Basically, I flirted with her," he shrugged. I didn't blame the woman. I'd give Jasper anything too and he didn't even need to flirt with me. Just a look would suffice.

"You're my hero," I proclaimed to Jasper. I launched myself at him, utterly unconcerned about the green paint all over him, and hugged him. After a moment, he hugged me back. I tilted my head up to look deep into his eyes, smiling. He seemed to hesitate for a second before he pressed a kiss to my forehead. I closed my eyes, savouring the odd sensation of cold lips and tucked my head under his chin as I kept my arms around him, not wanting to let go. He just held me in return.

I finally opened my eyes and looked at the milling crowd of players and was pleased to see many of them had a pink stain on their clothes. When I looked closer, I noticed that most of the pink shots were all in exactly the same spot: the left side of people's chests.

My eyes went wide when I realized that nearly every single shot from Jasper had been a kill shot.

Fewer irregular pink patches were mine. I pulled away from his arms to look up at him and he smirked that illegally sexy grin.

"Thanks for protecting me in there," I told him. "I'd be dead ten times over without you."

"I'll always protect you, Darlin'," he told me and it sounded like a promise. I felt something far deeper and purer that just lust fill my chest. I'd hesitate to call it love but…it must have been close to it.

He started to lean his head down towards me. His gaze flicked down to my lips. His lips were a hair's breadth away.

Kiss me god damn it! I screamed in my head. I saw Edward jump as if startled. Bella was definitely startled by Edward jumping and she fell into my side, knocking me away from Jasper. Edward's hand shot out to steady Bella as Jasper's steadied me. Jasper shot Edward an annoyed look.

He leaned next to my ear and whispered, "Soon." My mind went blank and I don't even remember getting back into his truck.

We held hands all the way home like we had on the way up but it felt different. Something had shifted between us. Once at Bella's, Edward helped her out of the truck. Jasper lifted my hand to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to my knuckles. My heart rate skyrocketed by the simple but intimate contact. I looked into Jasper's eyes. They looked black like I had noticed in the gym. Another alien feature? I wondered. I forced myself to breath.

"I'll see you Monday, Darlin'," he said as I hopped down.

"See you, Major," I said back and the look of desire he gave me nearly melted my bones.

I forced myself away from the truck as Edward got in and they drove off.

"I'm never double dating with you and Jasper ever again," Bella said, but gave me a soft smile.

I smiled back, said goodbye to Bella, got back into my car and drove home.

Monday couldn't come soon enough.

Jasper

Edward and I didn't even bother going home to change before going out for a hunt. There wasn't a big difference between being splattered in paint and splattered in blood. Not that we were messy eaters, but no matter how careful you were, you would always spill a few drops. After taking down a few elk and Edward being lucky enough to have found a mountain lion, the sun was just finishing its descent to the horizon casting long shadows over Forks.

Before heading home, I wanted to check in on Ivy, and I'm sure Edward wanted to creep on Bella. Edward was such a dimwitted fool. I didn't care that he heard me. He had to have known that the Volturi would find out about Bella and seek to destroy her.

"Edward, how long do you think you can keep Bella away from the Volturi? You know they'll find out and likely end her life or change her, if you're lucky," I told him as we walked towards the town, keeping to the trees. "Why not change her yourself?"

Edward was silent for a moment but I felt his anxiety, uncertainty and guilt. "I can't take her life away from her. She has her whole human lifetime ahead of her. It would be wrong to deprive her of it. I can't give her children and I can't take her soul." The sheer weight of Edward's grief made my steps falter.

"Do you know if she wants to become one of us?" I asked. Some people wanted it desperately, maybe Bella was one of them.

"It doesn't matter. I can't do that to her. I won't." I felt his resolve. I thought it mattered a great deal what Bella wanted. Edward seemed to make decisions for the both of them. Ivy was right. She had spoken to me about her concerns about Edward and Bella's relationship but both of us were at a loss at what to do. We agreed to stay out of it but offer help should either one need it. We arrived just outside of Ivy's house and I could hear the sweet song she played on her violin. Edward and I lingered in the shadows, listening to her play. The evening was warm and her window was open.

She would play a melody, the music would suddenly stop for a moment, she'd sigh and the music would pick up again. After the fifth time of this I turned to Edward. "What's she thinking?"

I could feel the contentment she always felt while she played and felt frustration, yearning and joy.

He smiled. "She's thinking about you. She's trying to concentrate but you keep floating through her mind. She's replaying today but only as it relates to you. She's not thinking about anything that happened if you weren't part of it. She's particularly replaying the moments when you pulled her against you," he smirked at me and I felt a rush of warmth and affection for my girl.

"She's sure we're aliens, by the way," Edward told me offhandedly.

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"It's the only explanation she can come up with," he laughed.

"I guess that's safer than her thinking anything else," I muttered.

"Will you tell her?" he asked. He didn't need to elaborate.

"I can't. She'd be in too much danger. Danger you don't seem to care about," I looked at him pointedly. Edward ignored my jibe.

"Do you think she'd like to be a vampire?" he asked quietly.

"I honestly have no idea. You have more insight into her head."

"I recall she's thought that she wouldn't mind being abducted by you," he laughed and I smiled. My smile fell when he added, "She also wouldn't mind being abducted by Carlisle."

I ran through the conversation on Ivy's girl's night for Edward. He looked aghast when I 'showed' him the part about Carlisle.

"That's messed up. Your girl is into our dad," Edward cringed. "Oh no," he groaned after a beat. "What if Bella is into Carlisle?"

"I'll let you know if she feels anything when she's at our place," I assured him.

This seemed to satisfy him. He looked at his watch. "I should take a shower before heading over to Bella's. She'll be waiting for me," he grinned.

"Go be creepy," I told him.

"Bella knows I'm there. She doesn't mind," he informed me. So messed up, I thought.

"Not as messed up as Ivy being into Carlisle," he said.

"Before you go, I meant to ask you, why the hell did you jump like a frightened jackrabbit back at the warehouse when I went in for a kiss?"

Edward looked sheepish. "I'm sorry about that. I know I ruined your first kiss with Ivy. I jumped because she mentally screamed 'kiss me god damn it!'" he laughed. I mentally face-palmed. Edward, you ass, I grumbled mentally but was pleased at the news she had wanted me to kiss her. He ran off home, still chuckling.

I listened as Ivy played, stopped, sighed and played again.

I ran home after Ivy's last song and saw that Carlisle was in his study. After taking a shower, I went downstairs to talk to him.

I knocked on the door and he called for me to enter.

"Jasper, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he smiled. Despite pretending he was my father in public, we saw each other more as friends when we were at home. He gestured for me to take a seat at his desk. He walked around the desk and took the other chair next to the one I had seated myself in. I found it put me at ease. I never liked talking to him when we were on opposite sides of the desk.

"It's about Ivy," I began. Carlisle nodded his head, giving me his undivided attention.

"I'd like to invite her here to meet you all," I waited for his reaction.

"Wonderful! We're all eager to meet her!" He was genuinely pleased. "Esme will be especially glad to meet the girl who's made you so happy. We've all noticed how much more content you seem since you met her." I smiled; it was true. "Before he left, Edward told me that she's waiting for you to kiss her," he grinned. "Do you think you can?"

"I'm sure I can. She practically threw herself at me to hug me and in my surprise, there was a horrifying split second when I wanted to bite her, but it passed before I could even process it." Carlisle nodded and I felt his pride in me.

"Does she know what we are?"

"No. She's sure we're aliens though," I smiled.

Carlisle laughed. "A reasonable assumption to make, considering the available options. As I've said before, she's welcome here anytime," he told me.

"I was thinking next weekend?"

"Not a problem. I'll let Esme know. I'm sure she'll want to cook something extravagant," he smiled fondly, thinking of his mate.

I changed the subject. There was something I had wanted to ask him. "You know, for someone who says he cares so much about her safety, don't you think Edward is creating a catastrophe waiting to happen by letting Bella know what we are? The Volturi are sure to find out," I said, looking at the painting of the three kings and Carlisle that hung on the wall.

Carlisle sighed. "Yes. I do worry about that. If the worst should come to pass and Aro demands that she be turned, Edward has told me he won't do it. I told him it would mean her death and he stormed off. He's being reckless and I've been attempting to speak with him about this possibility. I've decided to take it upon myself to change her if I have to."

"And what about Ivy?" I asked, "What if she finds out and doesn't want to be turned? Wouldn't that be signing her death warrant?" This is the question I had really wanted to ask.

"That is a difficult question, without a doubt," Carlisle said. "I would hate to turn her if she were unwilling. We've seen what happened when I turned Rosalie without her consent." I felt deep remorse and extreme guilt on his part. "I do not wish that on another and Rosalie would never forgive me if I did it again."

"But I can't live without her," I told him desperately. "I love her." I surprised even myself with this public declaration. I hadn't said it to anyone out loud. Edward knew but he just intruded on everyone's private thoughts. At least he had sense enough to keep some things to himself.

"Perhaps you could explain the predicament you're in without divulging the whole truth? Let her make the choice?" It was sound advice.

I nodded. "That's a good idea. I'll put it to her as soon as I can. Thank you, Carlisle."

"You're most welcome," Carlisle smiled warmly at me and I went back up to my room to work on the wording of what I would tell Ivy.

A/N: How awesome would it be to go paintballing with Jasper. ivy is one lucky lady!

Next up, meeting the parents, an audition and a lack of good judgement.

A big thank you to my reviewers and followers! Every alert I get makes my day a whole lot brighter!