Chapter 6

A week had passed since Lily and Jasper had come to a standstill and November had officially began. She had been living in Forks now for two months, the time seemed to have flown by in the girls opinion. For Jasper it had been the longest week of his existence. He had been going over and over inside his mind what to do about Lily.

Did he tell her, or did he not?

He found, much to his surprise, the majority of himself did want to tell her his secret but that small part of him shut down that idea profusely. There were so many pros and cons for either side of the argument as to what he should do. He wasn't going to ask the opinion of his family because he felt he should come to the conclusion on his own - it had to be his choice. Besides, he had a good idea what his family's views would be.

Edward would want him to do what he thought was best, but would ultimately think he should stay quiet. Alice would be all for it, jumping up and down screaming 'tell her'. Emmet wouldn't care either way, Rosalie would shut that down immediately and tell him how stupid he was for even contemplating the idea of opening his mouth and Carlisle and Esme would tell him to follow his heart and do what he thought was best.

What did he think was best? He knew the answer immediately - tell her. He had to, for her own good. If the situation was different, if she didn't need help, he would keep it to himself because nothing good could come from this. Yet, he knew Lily wouldn't open up unless he did. He needed to prove to her she could trust him, and he could only do that by telling.

Jasper had watched her from the moment he met her waste away. She smelt different too, not as good because of what she was doing to her body. She wasn't healthy, it was one of the reasons being around her was easier than others. There was no true want for her that put her in danger, at least not from himself. Her body was weak and malnourished, and she needed his help. He wanted, needed, to help this girl.

Even in the past week he had noticed the young woman's small appetite and the weight she had lost. She was severely underweight and Jasper would be lying if he said he wasn't scared she was going to kill herself if something didn't change, and soon.

In every other case he hated being around people like her. It was draining being around someone who was so negative and depressed. Being able to feel someone's emotions was draining when they weren't in a good place, which was one of the reasons being around Alice was refreshing. Nothing brought his sister down. She was constantly happy and cheerful, and that energy helped keep him sane sometimes.

How to go about telling Lily was the problem. He needed to really work this out without scaring the girl. In the mean time he needed reinforcement, and he knew just where to get it.

Sitting in the office in the hospital building Lily shifted nervously in the seat. Jasper's father, Carlisle, had called her the day before asking if she would be willing to come to the hospital to talk. She had agreed, but was cautious. Lily had the feeling Jasper had put him up to this so she wasn't sure why she agreed, but her instincts to not come off as rude also made her say yes.

Said man had just entered his office with an apologetic smile for having been called away a moment prior. "Sorry about that." he said, sitting. Lily just shook her head with a smile. "So, I hope you don't find this insulting or too presumptuous of me but... As a doctor it's in my blood practically to help someone when I see need of it."

Lily didn't reply, she didn't really know what to say. Carlisle smiled kindly at her. "Again without coming across as rude I'm just going to be straight forward with you when I say I think you need help."

"What with?" She replied, locking eyes with the blond doctor. Carlisle seemed to sigh at her blatant denial of having any sort of problem.

"You're terrible underweight Miss Shepherd." Carlisle told her. "And that leaves me worried." Waiting to see if the girl would make a comment, he continued when she did not. "I would like to do a full health check on you to get a good idea where your body, and health, is at before recommending anything further."

Lily did not like the sound of that but again, didn't feel like she could say no. So she let Carlisle do what he pleased to her. When he was done he was frowning heavily. "I'm fine." Lily told him.

"I'd like to recommend a phycologist." The doctor said, rifling through some of his things.

"I don't think I need one, sir."

"Why is that?"

"Because I'm fine." It was like a mantra. She kept repeating it until the end when Carlisle finally let her leave. He did make her take the business card of the shrink he thought could help her.

"Miss Shepherd, Lily, if you carry on the way you are now... You'll die." Breathing heavily, Lily clutched the card he gave her whilst the other hand held the door handle.

"I'll be fine." She then fled the man's office and didn't look back. Days passed and Lily found herself back at work on a day shift. With utter astonishment (though she shouldn't have been shocked as this was a small town) she watched as the rowdy drunk men from the previous week enter the diner. Thankfully this time they were sober, but that didn't make her want to wait on them any more than she did when they didn't have full control over themselves.

Like last time they, or rather just one, paid her compliments, though this time around they seemed much more sincere and less perverted. Something she was thankful for and maybe even would have been flattered if the week prior hadn't happened. He was not such a gentleman when drunk.

Giving their order to Derek Lily cleaned the free tables and gave the men their drink order as she waited for their food. The entire time they were there Lily ignore the eyes she felt watching her from that table the entire time. Only when they left did she feel relief and calm. Where was Jasper when you needed him?

Turns out she wouldn't see Jasper until Sunday. He had apparently been too busy to meet with her the previous day, along with Alice but that was fine by her. Sometimes she just needed to be by herself and digress from the stress of the week.

Jasper had missed the rain by mere seconds when he turned up at her house, smiling pleasantly at her as he walked inside. He had mostly smiled due to the smell of food wafting from her kitchen. He had hoped she had eaten something and this wasn't some ploy to make him think she had eaten simply because she knew he was coming over.

"I should warn you, Alice had been talking about dressing you up again." he told her as a greeting. Lily rolled her eyes but didn't protest at the idea. She couldn't stop Alice if she tried. "She bought a few too many clothes which is why she thought of it."

"Really, and something tells me they'll be my size despite me and Alice being different sizes." Lily smirked. Jasper just shrugged, not defending nor even acknowledging Alice's behaviour. "I'm guessing there is something you wanted to talk about, specifically I mean. You sounded a little serious over the phone."

"Yes." he sighed, sitting. Lily slowly sat beside him, arms folding across her stomach. Jasper looked at the baggy jumper (that Alice would want to burn on sight) and frowned. Lily didn't usually wear such oversized clothes, and the only thing he could come up with was her weight was even becoming noticable to her and she wanted to hide it.

It just made it easier for him quite honestly. "Jasper?"

"Sorry Lily, I didn't mean to drift off. I was just thinking." he apologised.

"That's okay. So, what did you need to talk about?"

"You won't tell me your secret if I don't tell you mine correct?" Lily paused and fidgeted before jerkily nodding her head. "And you will tell me your secret if I tell you mine?" Again Lily didn't speak but hesitantly gave another jerky nod. "Right, then that's what I'm going to do."

"What?" Lily gaped.

"I'm going to tell you my secret." Jasper said confidently. "Then you are telling me yours."