A/N: Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer. I'm only borrowing her characters for a little while. The plot and original characters of Longing do belong to me, however. Jasper as the God of War and Peter "just knowing shit" are ideas that belong to Idreamofeddy.

Thank you to my beloved sister/beta/prereader, Shelljayz, and also to the fabulous juliangelus for prereading. You guys rock! :)

Thank you to all of you who have read, followed, favorited and reviewed my story. :) I was an epic failure at responding to reviews this week, so I'm sorry to any of you who didn't hear from me.

On we go ...

oOo

Wednesday, November 18th, 2080

PPOV

Bella was Jasper's mate.

Well, I'll be damned.

It was about fuckin' time my gift came through for me. It was also about damn time Jasper found his mate. What I didn't understand was why I'd had no clue that his mate was Bella, that she would be here in Forks or that he would find her now. Yes, I had known he couldn't come to spend the summer with Charlotte and me, but I hadn't known why. I knew my gift didn't tell me everything. I was generally okay with that, but I'd always been especially attuned to Jasper. I needed to be for his sake—I sometimes wondered if that was the whole point of me being changed. I also needed to be for Charlotte's and mine. I would think that something as fuckin' monumental as this, I would have just known about, but for some damn reason I hadn't. If I wasn't frustrated before, I sure as hell was now.

Charlotte's hand slipped into mine, the electricity of her touch that was a direct result of the mating bond flowing through me like a wildfire. Without words, she instinctively knew I needed her, the comfort of her skin on mine as well as her quiet, soothing presence surrounding me. Perhaps she'd seen it in my body language or just from how well she knew me after all the years we'd spent together, the tells I had giving me away. Maybe it was the tension I felt drifting through the link of the mating bond. It was probably all of those things. It didn't matter which it was. What mattered was that I needed her, and she was there, just as she always was.

I wanted to tell her what I'd discovered, but I couldn't. Not here. Not where Jasper might hear. He was my brother, both in venom and in arms, my best friend. I couldn't rightfully say it was my place to keep this information from him, no matter what we were to each other, but he could not know what Bella was to him. Not yet. He wasn't ready to know. He wasn't ready for her, and she wasn't ready for him. I knew that because I knew him, but I didn't have to know her to pick up on the fact that she was nowhere near ready for what they would eventually have if things worked out.

It had been over a century since Maria and Savannah had fucked with Jasper and thoroughly turned him against the idea of mates, but he was still raw and bleeding over it, and every once in awhile it broke him. Jasper would never admit that he was breakable—everyone had a breaking point, though some never learned what theirs was—not in a million years, but that didn't make it any less true. I had watched him ache over it for as long as I'd known him, from the moment I'd woken a vampire. Charlotte and I were always the ones to pick up the pieces when it happened because the Cullens had no idea just how fucked up he was, and even if they did, they wouldn't have any clue how to go about putting him back together. We were his glue of sorts, but he still had to do most of the work that kept him together. That's why we were there—to make sure he could do that work. Anyone else would have shattered and stayed that way because of what Maria and Savannah had done to him, but he hadn't, didn't. It was proof of his incredible strength and will, but despite his strength, he wasn't invincible. Even recognizing his vulnerability, I still wondered if he could hold himself together without us because of that strength and will. I never wanted to find out. Just as there was no life without my Char, there was no life without Jasper. He needed us, whether we were his glue or not, and we needed him.

If Jasper discovered Bella was his mate now, he would fight against the pull as hard as he could. From what I could tell, he already was on a subconscious level. If he found out now, when he wasn't ready, he would run away from her, as fast and as far as he could. He needed to put the pieces together himself, at his own pace, so he could come to terms with it slowly. That was the only way he would be receptive to the idea of being with Bella. That was the only way he wouldn't fight it. Oh, he would still fight it, but he wouldn't fight it so hard that he wouldn't eventually come around; he wouldn't fight it with such stubbornness and animosity that it would make him any more unstable than he already was. That was the only way he wouldn't resent her. It wasn't my gift that was telling me that. I didn't need it to. It was how well I knew him and that I had been there with him through so much.

Bella was his chance at happiness, and if anyone deserved happiness, it was Jasper. No, I couldn't tell him.

That was another decision I had to keep between me and Charlotte. If I allowed Alice to see, she wouldn't be able to keep her damn mouth shut. She had always loved Jasper. She'd once even thought she was in love with him, though she'd always managed to conceal those emotions. Her gift came in handy that way. Once she'd made the decision to do it, it had shown her how. She never had been in love with him, but she'd been naive when she woke to this life alone, and she wanted to love and be loved. Alice had seen in her visions that Jasper needed her—for companionship, acceptance, friendship, comfort, to bring him to the Cullens, the second family he hadn't known would be vital to him. Jasper didn't know he needed her at the time. He rarely knew he needed things. He even more rarely would admit it when he did know, but Alice had known, and she needed to be needed, so she was okay with his ignorance. She had been okay with it for two years before they finally made their way to the Cullens.

I didn't blame her for mistaking those visions as signs that they were mates, and I was grateful to her for not giving him hell when he broke things off with her, but having Edward there, waiting in the wings as her true mate, cushioned the blow, even if she didn't know what Edward was to her at the time. She still loved Jasper in a way that was consuming but sisterly, and she wanted nothing more than his happiness because of all they'd shared. The knowledge that he wasn't happy wasn't something that had ever escaped her. Knowing that his mate was in reach, that she was Bella of all people, would be glorious news to her, making it that much more impossible for her to hold her tongue; she wouldn't approve of the way I planned to handle this.

That was why it was so important that she, and consequently everyone else, didn't find out because I did not give a fuck if she, or they, approved. The fact of the matter was that I knew him better than they did and always would, so there wouldn't be a conversation around the dining room table. I wouldn't listen to what they thought on the matter or take their ideas into account. I did not give a fuck. I knew best what needed to be done if Jasper was to ultimately end up happy, and I did not care if that made me an egomaniacal jackass. In this instance, the Cullens could fuck off. We were doing things my way. They had absolutely no fuckin' say, and I had no qualms about ripping them to pieces to make sure they understood that; my Char would gladly help. Jasper was our priority, his happiness was our priority, and if we had to sacrifice our relationships with people we liked, loved even, to make sure he got it, we damn well fuckin' would. It didn't make us the nicest people, but it made us loyal and honest and realistic. That was one of the unsavory rules of survival you had to play by, not only to keep yourself alive but to protect the people you loved, and we unquestionably, fiercely loved Jasper with everything we were. You learned to pick and choose who you valued more and what you were willing to do if those that didn't make the cut got in the way. After that, you had to learn to live with yourself and the things you did to those people to ensure your own survival. It was never easy, but it got easier. It was an awful thing to admit, but in the world Charlotte, Jasper and I had "grown up" in, it was reality, it was truth, it was life. You lived by it or you died by it. If you didn't acknowledge or accept that truth, you died because of it. I loved the Cullen family, but if it came down to a choice between them and Jasper, they wouldn't make the cut. That reality filled me with genuine sadness. It would probably be the most difficult thing I would ever have to learn to live with, but when you'd lived through a decades-long war, you picked up and moved on, no matter how hard and painful that might be to do. It was what it was though; there was no changing it—not for us, not after so long. I hoped, I prayed, that Charlotte and I were never put in a position where we had to choose.

I squeezed Charlotte's hand. I would be whisking her away later to break the news that Bella was Jasper's mate to her, and I knew she was going to have mixed feelings about it. She had always been savagely protective of Jasper, even more than I was, and it seemed only to grow in its intensity as the years passed. We'd never discussed it, but I knew it stemmed from more than just her immeasurable love for him. It was also spawned by guilt over how much she'd hated him and longed to see him burn when she was first changed, even though she had nothing to feel guilty for. If I didn't have the gift of "just knowing shit," I wouldn't have had a damn clue there was anything more to Jasper than the Major, and eventually the God of War, and I would have wanted the fucker dead too. If I wasn't gifted, he would have ended my second life when my newborn year was up, so I got where she'd been coming from then. I'd be lying if I said there weren't times when I'd hated Jasper too—I had made it my mission to save him, knowing it wouldn't be a pleasant one, and I loved the guy, but I didn't enjoy the kind of pain and punishment he dished out. Plus, I preferred that kind of shit to come from someone with tits and a pussy. Even with those trappings, I wouldn't have found his brand of pain enticing and that's saying something.

Before the time came for me to take my Char away to tell her everything, I would be alone in the potential shitstorm of my revelations, and I would have to be really fuckin' careful around Jasper today, though I doubted he'd have much attention to spare for me. Once his worry over Bella's safety faded, that would change, and I definitely couldn't let my guard down around him after that. Charlotte wouldn't be able to either. His control was balanced on the edge of a knife. If he thought we were being dishonest with him, he would fuckin' flip, and he couldn't start asking too many questions. There was still too much of this puzzle that hadn't been solved. I just had no idea how to go about solving it, and if Charlotte and I didn't figure it out soon, things could blow up in all our faces ... the shit would hit the fan. Everything would be ruined.

As frustrated as I was though, I was also happy and fuckin' relieved. After more than two centuries of misery and mooching happiness off of others, which I knew for a fact was a hollow, empty echo of the emotion for him, Jasper finally had a shot at his own. That filled me with such an overwhelming sense of peace that I could hardly contain myself. I wanted to pull Bella out from underneath that van, squeeze her tight and lay one on her. I also wanted to bend her over my knee and paddle her ass, tell her to quit being such a first-class bitch and fall in love with my brother already.

I sighed. Patience is a virtue, I reminded myself, scoffing. Then I steeled myself with a renewed sense of determination. Eyes on the ball, Peter. Eyes on the fuckin' ball!

I had to start making plans. Just because I wasn't going to tell Jasper that Bella was his mate didn't mean I wasn't going to do my damndest to help things along if I could. I'd have to be on my A game, be my best, smoothest motherfucker and handle the whole thing with finesse and subtlety, but I would have my Char to lend a hand, and we were sneaky fuckers on our worst days. We were brilliantly, genius sneaky fuckers on our best ones. I didn't have it all worked out yet, but once my Char and I had a game plan, Jasper and Bella wouldn't know what hit 'em.

oOo

JPOV

School had let out for us half an hour ago, and I was now in the woods six miles east of the house with Rosalie, Emmett, Peter and Charlotte. Em was there to police Rose, and Pete and Char were there to keep me in line. I'd been doing a little better on the God of War front, but I was still unstable, and none of us would risk Rose getting hurt.

Edward, Esme and Alice had stayed at the house, knowing too many bodies in what would definitely be a heated situation wasn't a good idea. Carlisle was there examining Bella. I had wanted to stay for that, but I didn't have a good excuse to. I'd already raised enough eyebrows for remaining at Bella's side all day, and I had enough to explain without having to explain why I was sticking around for her check-up too.

We couldn't have our family discussion on matters until Carlisle was finished checking Bella over, and as I'd suspected, if Carlisle gave her a clean bill of health, she was insisting on going to work. Until it came time for the meeting, Rosalie had free reign to rip me a new asshole.

Alice wouldn't be at the family meeting. She had volunteered to keep a covert eye on Bella at the diner while she worked if Carlisle cleared her to as an insurance policy of sorts. We wouldn't doubt Carlisle's diagnosis, but our concern for her well-being still weighed heavily on us and having someone there to watch over her would ease all our minds. Alice was the logical choice because she didn't have to physically be with us at the meeting to be there. Her gift worked just fine when our decisions had nothing to do with Bella. Since we were only figuring out how we were going to tell her about us, those decisions weren't directly connected to her, and Alice's visions would be unhindered. She'd had to get creative since Bella moved in.

"What the hell, Jasper?" Rosalie demanded furiously.

"What was I supposed to do, Rose? Just let the girl nearly everyone in our family loves die?"

"You potentially revealed our secret today, you stupid fuck!" she screeched. I didn't fail to notice she hadn't answered my actual question.

"It's fine," I assured her. "The read I got on everyone's emotions on the scene of the accident suggests they don't suspect anything."

"You're going to have to do a hell of a lot better than 'suggests,' you idiot!" she spat, shoving at me.

I caught her hand before it had a chance to connect and pushed her away from me. She stumbled backward and tripped over a tree root. Emmett caught her before she hit the ground even though she never actually would have. I hadn't pushed her that fuckin' hard; she would have righted herself before any part of her aside from her feet touched the ground.

"Watch it, Jazz," Emmett growled, glaring at me.

I glared back but didn't respond to that.

Charlotte responded for me. "You would be the ones who would be wise to watch it," she said evenly.

I ignored this exchange and returned my sole focus to Rose. "Edward confirmed the same thing with his gift, and Bella covered my ass with the paramedics and Sheriff Dwyer. Everything is goin' to be fine, Rose."

Her scowl went from merely furious to murderous. "You don't know that!" she shouted. Her voice retained its heated quality, but her primary emotions were terror and concern. "We could all be seriously fucked, you stupid asshole!"

"I know you're upset," I said calmly. "I don't blame you, but I strongly advise you to quit insulting my intelligence."

Rosalie huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Are you upset that I nearly outed us to Forks High School or because I outed our secret to Bella?" I asked.

Something wasn't quite adding up here, and I couldn't help but think back on the past few days. Rose's ire toward Bella had calmed considerably ... the ice was in serious danger of melting completely, and I didn't know what had changed between them.

"Are you really asking me that, Jasper?" she demanded incredulously.

I chose not to answer verbally (there was no telling what would come out of my mouth) and nodded instead.

"Both!"

"You're lyin', Rose," I said. If steam could come out of her ears, it would have. "You can't hide the truth from an empath."

She remained obstinately silent, so I decided to go fishing.

"You like Bella," I said with certainty. That much I knew was true, even if she didn't. Whether or not she knew it, the idea pissed her off, so it was a great way to stoke the fire.

Her mouth dropped open. "I. Do. Not!"

"You do!" I crowed, jabbing a finger at her. Her emotions confirmed it.

Rosalie glowered at me. "No, I do not like her," she insisted, but then ... "Fine," she snapped, breaking more quickly than I thought she would. "She's not as bad as I initially thought, and I would like her if she wasn't living with us and could potentially bring about our doom, but she is, and she could ... so I reiterate, no, I do not like her."

"Whatever you say," I responded while trying not to sound smug. She really thought she meant those words, but she did like Bella, and from Emmett's emotions, he knew it too. Peter's emotions echoed them all.

"And what about you?" Rose demanded hotly. "You don't like her! You hate her! You fucking voted no, so why the hell would you save her and risk everything!"

"Have I ever once actually said I don't like her?" I asked patiently. I'd told myself I hated her plenty, but while it had always been implied, I had never actually said those words to anyone else. Even when other people had said it and I hadn't denied it, I'd still never said them out loud. I hadn't actually confirmed my hatred with any definitive nonverbal gestures of agreement either.

Rosalie's mouth dropped open. Emmett frowned.

"This discussion is gettin' us nowhere, so I'm goin' home," I announced, turning my back on them. I wasn't in the mood to elaborate. "Join me if you want."

Peter and Charlotte flanked me, and we headed back to the house without a word.

Rose and Emmett didn't immediately follow us; she needed time to cool down and collect herself.

oOo

Carlisle had indeed given Bella a clean bill of health, assuring all of us that he could neither hear nor smell any kind of hemorrhage in her brain.

An hour and a half later, after Carlisle had driven her to work, we were gathered around the dining room table with him seated at the head. He had asked for the details of the accident, but he hadn't asked why I'd done it. Apparently, he didn't give a fuck as long as Bella was still alive. I could have kissed him.

"So how are we going to handle this?"

It was Emmett who asked. It probably should have been me since I had made this mess, but I was content letting the others take care of things. I would step in if our asses got in hot water with the Quileutes or The Volturi. I was a soldier, the family protector—that was my allotted role, what I was good at. Sometimes I wondered if that was all I was good at, but that was beside the point. The Major was riding shotgun and fully prepared to kick my ass out of the driver's seat if it was necessary. That was all that mattered.

"There's nothing to handle, Emmett," Carlisle answered firmly. "We knew we most likely wouldn't be able to keep what we are from her indefinitely. It was one of the risks we took, and now that it has happened, we sit her down and tell her everything, just as I said we would when we discussed her moving in."

"That's it?" Rosalie questioned in disbelief.

Carlisle regarded her with his characteristic calm and patience. "Would you rather we lie or play mind games?"

"Well ... no," she answered, bewildered.

"We'll keep it simple and straightforward," he continued. "We'll answer all her questions honestly, and then we'll brace ourselves for the potential fallout."

"Fallout," Esme echoed dejectedly.

Carlisle reached over and took her hand in his. "Yes, dear. We have to prepare for the possibility that we might lose Bella over this."

Venom clouded Esme's eyes and my own took on a glassy sheen that mimicked it when I picked up her emotions. I felt hollow and empty.

The mood in the room turned from nervous and tense to somber and apprehensive.

There was nothing we could do but wait for Bella and Alice to come home from the diner so we could get this shit over with and Bella could put us out of our fuckin' misery.

It was quarter to eight when the phone rang.

It was Carlisle who answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Doc." It was Bella. She didn't sound any different now that she'd gotten some distance.

"Bella," Carlisle said warmly, no trace of nerves in his tone. "How are you feeling? Is work going well?"

Bella chuckled. "I'm still feeling fine, Carlisle. You're the one who cleared me, remember? And work is actually why I'm calling. Ellen was supposed to come in for the 6 to 12 shift, but her kid is sick again. Shay can't do it because she had chemo today, Leah is unavailable and I need to make up for the time I took off, so I'm stepping up. I'll be home really late, but I will be home," she assured him. "I'll see you sometime, though I doubt it will be before tomorrow."

"I know I cleared you, Bella, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to work such a long shift."

"I'm working it anyway," she said stubbornly.

"Alright." He sighed in resignation. Talking reason into her was damn near impossible.

We all sighed with him. We would be holding our breath for longer than we'd supposed.

oOo

True to her word, Bella had come home at quarter after one, which was especially late for a closing shift. She'd gotten a ride from Laurie's husband, Joe, refusing to let one of us come pick her up. I had a mind to tell her to shove her stubbornness up her ass, but considering I had no idea how she would take the news that we were vampires, I figured I should do what I could to stay off her shit list. She had gone straight to bed, ignoring that we'd all been up, as soon as she'd walked through the door.

She had continued to avoid us, not coming downstairs to eat the breakfast sandwich Esme made for her until we left for school. Even then, she'd grabbed it on her way out to Edward's Volvo and spent the entire ride eating it instead of talking according to Edward and Alice. I rode with Emmett, Rose, Pete and Char in Em's Jeep like nothing had changed, even though everything had.

We were currently in Physics, doing some stupid lab that all of us vampires, with the exception of Peter and Charlotte, had done too many damn times. The five of us were all nervous as fuck, and I was picking up just how much Edward and Alice shared in those feelings clear from their Biology classroom. It was grating on me, the tension twisting my stomach up into anxious knots, and I felt like I was on the verge of losing it, God of War style. It had been a little while since I'd nearly attacked anyone. Though the ache had lessened some, it had not gone away, and I was still fuckin' miserable for it. Maybe I shouldn't have come to school today.

Riley was chattering at Bella like a goddamn idiot, but the two of them had made plans to get together to work on a project we'd been assigned to complete with our lab partners. I supposed that was a good sign, but she didn't know we were vampires yet, so that didn't hold much meaning.

When the bell rang, she headed out the door with him, but as the five of us exited, we saw that she was waiting for us, leaned up against the lockers just to the right and across from the classroom.

"Hey, Texas," she called. "You mind walking me to English?"

Okay, apparently she was waiting for me.

"I guess not."

The others gave me meaningful looks as they headed off to our Spanish class, leaving me and Bella alone.

Technically, we should have been going in the same direction since the two classrooms were in the same building, but I let Bella lead, and she took us on an alternate route.

She waited a few beats before she spoke. "So I'm skipping sixth period again," she announced, sounding a little nervous. It was nice to be able to understand what she was feeling for once. "P.E. is an absolutely pointless class. This school's idea of organized team sports is a joke. Organized is actually the last word that should be used to describe their version, and I run, amongst other things, anyway, so it's not like I have to rely on Forks High's pathetic excuse for an athletic program to keep in shape ..."

Bella was rambling. It was fuckin' cute, and I would have teased her for it if not for the seriousness of things to come.

"Bella," I interrupted, very impressively not sounding amused. "Is there a point you're tryin' to make, and are you plannin' on makin' it any time soon? Because this place isn't that big, we'll be at your English class in no time and we only have six minutes between classes."

"Right," she said, and then she did something I wasn't expecting her to do. She blushed. I had only seen her blush at the sight of Emmett's fake cock, which were special circumstances. She'd been caught off guard by that, but this was different because she was unsure of herself and unable to hide it; that was cute too and really fuckin' sexy. I fought off my grin and was surprised when I was successful. "Uh, I was hoping you and I could take a ride on your motorcycle, you know, go somewhere and talk ... you know later, when I skip?"

"Yeah, sure," I agreed, swallowing hard. The image of Bella on my motorcycle ... Good God!

We arrived at the English class she shared with Edward and Alice just after that and stood there awkwardly, hovering near the doorway.

"Um, I guess I'll meet you at the cars after class then?" she questioned, fidgeting.

You're killin' me, Bella!

"Yeah, I guess."

The bell rang, and we both jumped slightly, the shrill noise taking us by surprise.

She gave me a small wave, and I nodded stoically. Then she turned and ducked into her class, and I hauled "human" ass to Spanish.

It looked like I was going to be giving the "Surprise! We're vampires," speech on my own.

oOo

The feel of Bella's slender hands on my torso had made it really fuckin' difficult to concentrate, but I was a vampire. We were good at multitasking. She'd requested that we go somewhere remote, possibly with water. When I asked her why, she said she found it peaceful.

How ironic.

I took her to a lone and little used stretch of beach not many knew of. It was one of my favorite places to go when I was feeling especially chaotic and needed to clear my head. I had never brought anyone here before, I'd never had any desire to, but it fit what she'd asked for. Since those were Bella's requirements and this would be a difficult and most likely awkward conversation, I made an exception.

We were sitting on the sand, watching the waves crash against the shore. It was a typical gloomy, Pacific Northwest winter day, overcast and cold, but it hadn't snowed again. Bella was wearing a coat, but it didn't seem thick enough to ward off the bite of the chilly air.

"Are you cold?" I asked. I kept my tone more conversational than concerned. I hated that shit, and I knew she did too, but I didn't want her to think I didn't care at all.

"I'm good," she answered without turning to look at me.

"Alright," I said.

I paused after that. I knew I needed to start this conversation off, but I was hesitant to. It should have been simple enough. Carlisle said to keep things straightforward, something he and everyone else had reminded me of through Edward's gift before Bella and I left.

Hey, Bella, guess what? We're vampires.

That was simple and straightforward, but it seemed so abrupt. That didn't feel right to me. I certainly wasn't looking to coddle her. She deserved better than that, and it wasn't my style nor would she appreciate it, but I couldn't shake the wrongness of it.

Why is this so fuckin' hard? I didn't know, so I decided to procrastinate.

The silence between us lasted a good half an hour. It would have been companionable if not for my discomfort. I wasn't the only one who looked uncomfortable though. Bella was an even mix of somber and apprehensive, taking turns staring off into the distance and deeply breathing in the salty air and chewing on her bottom lip.

I was so apprehensive I didn't even want to bite it.

I had just about resolved to speak, but she beat me to it. "I owe you an apology."

I frowned in confusion and was about to ask what for when she elaborated without needing a prompt.

"I've been holding you responsible for something you're not responsible for, and I've treated you like shit because of it."

"Oh?" My confusion had only deepened, so I wasn't sure what else to say. I wouldn't push her to give me a more in depth explanation because I knew this was hard for her to get out. After witnessing her grudging apology to her boss in Louisville, it was obvious she found apologies difficult. I would let her go at her own pace. I certainly hadn't been expecting this of all things, but I was going to go with it. It gave me more time to figure out how the hell I was going to tell her we were vampires. Plus, I was curious.

"Yes," she said with a sigh. "It took me a little while to figure out you weren't involved and it shouldn't have. I was just so angry, and I needed to blame someone. Instead of really thinking about it and considering things from all possible angles, I went with the easy target—you," she continued, dropping her head into her hands and running them through her hair. When she finally looked at me, her eyes were genuinely remorseful. "I was wrong, and I'm sorry, Jasper."

"Can I ask what it was you thought I'd done?"

"Uh, no," she refused without hesitation.

"Hey," I protested. "You've been treating me like shit for the past several weeks. The least you can do is tell me what for."

"Fine," she huffed irritably, and then she rubbed the heels of her hands into her eyes. "After you left Louisville, I got arrested."

My mouth dropped open.

"What? Why?" I demanded. I was furious, and my worry over telling her about us slipped my mind. Sure, I knew Bella wasn't always a law-abiding citizen but arrested? What the fuck?

Bella smiled wryly. "For violating the Safe Citizens Act."

"Are you fuckin' kidding me?" I asked incredulously.

Bella's laugh was humorless. "Unfortunately, no."

Now that I knew this tidbit of information, her behavior over the last weeks now made a hell of a lot more sense, but I didn't get something. "I'm sorry you were arrested, Bella, but why would you think I had anything to do with it?"

"Because you were the only person in Louisville who knew how old I really was or so I thought, and the police got an anonymous tip literally an hour after I left you in the alley," she said. "And their crowning piece of evidence? A recording of me admitting to you I was only 16."

"Fuck, Bella," I exclaimed, scrubbing my hands over my face and feeling sick over the whole thing. I wished I hadn't left so quickly. I never would have allowed that to happen to her if I'd known. "No wonder you thought I did it. How the hell did you get out of that?"

"I had a good lawyer."

She didn't elaborate further, so I asked another question. "What convinced you I wasn't involved?"

"I'm not sure I ever really believed you were," she admitted. "But it was a bunch of small things." She reached down and began dragging her index finger through the sand. At first I thought she was just raking out random lines, but I soon saw the outline of a horse taking shape. It was the same horse she'd been doodling off and on in the classes we shared. "The popcorn war, letting Alice use you as her Ken doll, helping Esme with the desk, the birthday gift, which was incredibly sweet by the way."

I shrugged. "I have my moments."

"Apparently," she said, her tone amused. Then her voice turned quiet and tinged with sadness. "Thank you for that. It means a lot."

"Like I said, I have my moments."

Bella rolled her eyes but returned to seriousness in an instant. "The history project was another thing ... and the way you were in the alley."

My eyebrows shot up into my hairline, and she dropped her gaze from mine, blushing again. "How could that possibly have convinced you I wasn't responsible? I was kind of a dick."

She chuckled. "You were more than just kind of," she said and scrounged up the courage to look at me again; she abandoned her drawing to focus her attention on our conversation.

I felt a rush of shame overtake me, and I was the one who dropped my eyes this time. "Sorry," I mumbled. "That's something I've been meaning to apologize for for awhile."

"I don't need an apology for that," Bella said. "I wasn't exactly a peach, and you weren't a dick the whole time. If I correctly recall, you tried to give my pathetic virgin ass a way out of the situation, which I didn't want by the way. I didn't think guys did stuff like that," she mused, eyeing me speculatively before moving on. "There was something in your eyes. That something alone should have convinced me, but I was too angry to pay attention."

"Something in my eyes?" I questioned curiously. "What do you mean?"

Bella lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. "Then there was the whole you saving my life thing. Even though I was already certain, that was a pretty big tip off." She paused briefly. "You didn't tell anyone we saw each other in Louisville."

It wasn't a question.

"Because that wouldn't have been awkward at all," I said sarcastically.

"You didn't know you were ever going to see me again."

I snorted. "I was banking on that."

"I would be offended if I hadn't done it for the same reasons," she told me. Now I was a little offended. It was hypocritical but whatever. "That's exactly why I'm surprised you didn't say anything."

"You don't think much of me, do you?" I asked with a raised brow. I didn't want to know the answer to that, so I didn't give her the opportunity to respond. "I don't kiss and tell, though as I'm sure you've figured out, in our house, that doesn't mean much."

Bella shuddered. "Your house is like a nonstop porno."

"Our house," I corrected. "And yes, it is. It's annoying, isn't it?"

"God, yes," she agreed emphatically.

I smiled at that but felt it was time to change the subject. "Who do you think did it?"

"Sharon," she answered immediately.

"Harpy Bitch?"

"Yes." Her certainty was blatant.

A growl rumbled in my chest, but I didn't bother attempting to quell it. Bella gave me a questioning look, and I shrugged noncommittally.

"You're really good at that," she said. At my confused expression, she clarified, "The noncommittal shrugging."

I smirked. "I learned from the master."

The tiniest grin curled the corners of her mouth, and she returned to her sand drawing, which was becoming increasingly more complex. Bella was a phenomenal artist. I could watch her draw her masterpiece in the sand all day.

"Why would she do that, Bella? Sure, she wasn't the nicest person but ..."

"Because of Christian," she answered simply. "Why else?"

"I know she had feelings for the guy but that's taking it a little far." I was practically shaking with fury. "You could have gone to prison or worse."

The thought of either of those befalling Bella was enough to draw out the Major.

We should hunt the bitch down, Jasper.

I ignored the voice. Bella and I weren't done talking, and I already had enough to explain without having to explain about my different personas as well. Hunting Sharon down was something I would consider later though. Violating the Safe Citizens Act was an incredibly serious offense. If found guilty, Bella really could have been tossed away in a military prison, never to be seen or heard from again, where she may as well never have existed in the first place and ended up enduring all kinds of cruel and unusual punishment. She could have gotten the fuckin' death penalty. That was un-fucking-acceptable. Sharon should die for that shit ... painfully.

"It would have been the latter," she whispered, and I couldn't tell if she meant to say it out loud. "Sharon and I never got along, and I not only told her off that night, I called her out too. Plus, I'm almost certain she overheard Christian asking me out on a date."

I did try to suppress the growl this time. "Douchebag asked you out, huh?"

"Yep."

"And you said yes." I ground my teeth.

Bella peered at me. "No, I didn't actually."

I released the tension in my jaw and cast a glance at her. "Why not?"

I was curious and something else. I just couldn't put my finger on what that something else was.

She glared. "I fail to see how that is any of your business."

"It's not," I agreed, covering my annoyance and disappointment well. Never knowing whether or not Bella had feelings for Douchebag had always bothered me, but she was right; it wasn't my business. "I'm just curious."

"Christian is seven years older than me," she said. "And I don't date. Why I don't date is none of your business either."

I held my hands up in surrender. "Beyond my curiosity, I don't give a shit."

"Do me a favor?"

"Possibly." I wasn't going to make any promises. She scowled, and I emphasized my gesture of surrender. "I can't make a commitment to a favor until I know what it is."

"Fair enough," Bella conceded easily. "Please don't mention the arrest to anyone. I don't like talking about it. It's kind of a sore subject."

"I can imagine, and sure. I'll keep it to myself."

In all honesty, if it had been me, I wouldn't want to talk about it either, so I would do this for her.

"Thanks," she said, and I could tell she meant it. "So, are we good?"

"Yeah, we're good."

All of a sudden, she jumped to her feet, wrecking her beautiful sand portrait as she rounded to face me. She looked furious, her chest heaving with rage. "Why the hell are you being so nice about this? I treated you badly for weeks and pretty much accused you of turning me in for treason! What is wrong with you?"

I gazed at her evenly for a long while, waiting until her breathing and heart rate returned to normal before I gave her an answer. "You had good reasons for thinking it was me, Bella, and the whole experience couldn't have been pleasant. If I was in your place, I'd have been a bitch to me too."

She settled back down next to me, her fury abruptly deflating, and sighed.

"As damning as it all seemed, you still could have just asked me," I said. "Hell, you could have taken a swing for all I care if it would have cleared things up between us sooner. All the assumptions made things really fuckin' uncomfortable the past couple weeks."

"Making assumptions about you seems to be a bad habit of mine," she said. Her voice turned teasing, "I promise I'll work on it, though I'm not entirely sure you'll know what to do with yourself if I'm nice to you."

I rolled my eyes. "Please," I scoffed. "Like what I do with myself is solely dependant on you."

"There are so many places I could run with that comment," she laughed.

"Perv," I teased.

"Says the guy who pinned me to a wall after seven sentences."

She remembers how many sentences we exchanged before I pinned her to the wall? How could she possibly remember that? Why would she remember that?

"Says the girl who let me," I came back at her.

"Touché," Bella said, amused but matter-of-fact. She studied me for a moment. "Just so we're clear, that was a one time thing."

"Yes, because I've obviously been dyin' to pick things up where we left them." I said it sarcastically, but I didn't really mean it that way; I just didn't want her to know it. She was still human. It was never a good idea for humans and vampires to mix in that way despite my behavior in Louisville. As far as I knew, she was still a virgin, she still deserved better than me, and it still would have made things awkward. Oh, and there was still the little matter of me being fucked in the head. Plus, she should be with someone who wanted more than I did. It wasn't a decision I was aiming to make for her, but I didn't do relationships … ever, and I could admit that I actually cared about her now; I just wanted more for her. No matter what I wanted for her, she didn't want me, so it worked out.

"I'm sorry for everything, including the things I said to you yesterday after you saved me," she told me again. "I just really hate being told what to do."

"I've noticed, but it's not like what you said isn't true," I told her. Her eyes widened in surprise. "What? I'm not delusional. I know I've got faults. You know, most of the time, you drive me fuckin' crazy. It's not an excuse, but why else do you think I got domineering? Do you not care about your health or safety at all?"

The part about her making me crazy slipped out without my permission, and I wanted to slap myself. At least I didn't mention how or why.

"When I'm not trying to pretend you don't exist, which I do mostly out of respect for your father, driving you crazy is usually my intention," she said honestly, and I snorted. "And I do care about my health. I just don't have to worry about it as much as you think I should."

I didn't understand what that meant, but I wasn't sure how to ask her to explain. Her next statement was contemplative and got us back on track. "No matter what, I know better than to judge people I don't know ... but maybe we could."

I was confused again. I really fuckin' hated that I couldn't read her emotions. "Maybe we could what?"

"Get to know each other," she clarified, looking and sounding shy. This Bella was so different than all the others I'd encountered so far. I hadn't thought there was an unsure bone in the girl's body.

That just goes to show how clueless you can be, fucker! I couldn't tell if the voice belonged to the Major or me.

"At least enough so I don't go around making ludicrous assumptions and holding deadly grudges. You have no idea how many times I fantasized about stabbing you in the neck."

"Stabbing me in the neck, hmm?" I asked, unable to mask my amusement this time. "Most girls would have just gone with the standard 'kneeing a guy in the balls' fantasy."

"I'm not most girls."

"You don't say."

She ignored my comment and continued on as if I hadn't said anything. "I am far more creative. If I was going to exact revenge via a guy's balls, I certainly wouldn't go for the mundane. That is just an insult to my intelligence."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," I admitted, which was entirely true. "But what would you do?"

"I'd string you up by them," she said casually.

"I'll take the neck stabbing," I said with a grimace.

"Smart man, but you always did strike me as one," she told me. Then she got to her feet and brushed the sand from her ass. The motion had me mesmerized. She really did have a fantastic ass. "We should get back."

"Wait, seriously?"

She turned back to look at me. "I accomplished what I came out here to accomplish, so yeah."

"You aren't goin' to ask me anything about yesterday?" I questioned incredulously.

"Nope," she replied frankly.

"Why?" I asked, truly confused.

Bella plopped back down next to me and stared at the waves again. "Why should I?"

"A normal person would," I said.

She snorted, a trace of bitterness coloring it. When she spoke though, there was no bitterness to be found. "People keep secrets for all sorts of reasons, Jasper—some good, some bad, some in between. Your family has been nothing but kind to me since I met them, and considering you used whatever your secret is to save my life, I'm inclined to believe your reasons are good ones. Therefore, I don't need to know it. Also, a condition of my living with you is not to pry. I always do my best to hold to the deals I make."

She dropped her eyes to her lap with an emotion I couldn't place, and I wanted to reach out to her but didn't.

"I'm pretty sure that no longer applies," I said with a snort, but she didn't respond. I changed tack. "You're not curious at all?"

Bella moved her gaze to mine. "Oh, I'm curious, but I'm still not going to ask. It's not my business."

"You are a funny girl, Bella Crawfield," I noted.

"There are worse things to be," she said.

"That's true," I agreed. "You know, this is not how I pictured this conversation goin'."

She smiled. "Yeah, well, I enjoy taking people by surprise."

I snorted yet again. "It's one of your many talents." She didn't respond to that, so I asked another question. "Why did you cover for me?"

"Like I said," Bella answered. "People keep secrets for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes they need a little help keeping them is all. I already told you I believe your reasons are the good kind, so why wouldn't I?"

"On occasion, you're kind of amazing," I said, shifting my eyes away from her.

She threw a handful of sand at me. "There's no need to brown nose, Whitlock. You've already convinced me you're not a backstabbing bastard."

"The rest of the time you're an insufferable bitch," I proclaimed with a glare. I could only hold it for a second before it morphed into a reluctant smile, but I'm not sure if she saw it. I was still gazing out at the waves, and I couldn't feel the weight of her eyes on me.

"That's better," she said approvingly. "We really should be getting back."

"Hey, can I ask you another question before we go?" This was an important question, at least to me.

"You can ask," she said with a slight lilt to her voice. The words "doesn't mean I'll answer" were implied. I wasn't surprised. I expected nothing less, in fact.

"Is Bella your real name?"

She gazed at me thoughtfully for several minutes, as though she was torn over whether or not she should reveal that information.

After what felt like forever, her expression filled with resolve. "Yes," she answered. "Bella is my real name."

I nodded at her. "Thanks."

She didn't have to tell me but she did. I kind of felt honored.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Don't get all cocky, Whitlock. You're not special."

There was something about the way she said it ... the words just didn't seem to ring true. She said I wasn't special, but I still felt like I was.

I rolled my eyes right back. "Yeah, well," I echoed. "Neither are you."

She turned away from me in an effort to hide her grin, but she wasn't quick enough.

I got to my feet and brushed off the loose sand stuck to my clothes. Bella did the same, and we headed back to where my bike was parked. As we walked, I couldn't figure out how I felt about her not wanting to know what our secret was. Was it relief? Disappointment? Anxiety? I just didn't know, and I was so tired of not knowing when it came to her. In the grand scheme of things, my confusion over Bella wasn't my biggest problem, so I would live with it just like I lived with so much else.

We really did have to get home.

oOo

As Bella and I walked in from the garage, the family was waiting for us, the uncertainty plain on their faces and in their emotions … everyone's faces except for Peter's, Charlotte's and Emmett's that is. I wondered if Peter knew something. It was because of my distraction over this possibility that I failed to inform the family that Bella didn't want to know what our secret was in time. I was just on the verge of it when Emmett spoke.

"It's pretty awesome that we're vampires, don't you think?" he blurted excitedly.

I didn't know if I was okay with her decision, but I'd had every intention of respecting it. That was blown to high hell now. Fuckin' Emmett.

Bella's face scrunched. "Vampires?" she mused thoughtfully, though there was no lilt to her voice that suggested it was a question. "Huh."

oOo

A/N: And there we have it! Peter's gift came through, and now he's plotting. Ominous or awesome? I believe it will be both, the latter more than the former. ;)

Jasper and Bella talked and cleared some things up. It was about damn time. I know everyone thinks so.

Emmett, Emmett, Emmett ... how I love you and your big mouth. Does anyone else love Em and his big mouth? :)

The Cullens' secret is out! How will Bella respond, do you think? You shall find out in chapter 32, but before that there is an outtake in Charlotte's POV.

Take care until next time! :)