I Followed Her, and She Led Me to You

Chapter 11

JPOV

I left Emmett in the early hours of the morning after I finished hunting. We hadn't gone far from our house in the end, settling for the Olympic Mountain Range just east of the house after we came across the tracks of a bear; Emmett's favourite. I wasn't as fussed about the bear, I tracked down an elderly mountain lion after leaving the bear for Emmett. Even after seventy years he still managed to hold a grudge against the species that ended his life, even if he had no regrets about where this life has led him. It only took me half an hour to reach home, and that wasn't even travelling at my usual speed, I wanted to think.

Bella was going to be staying with us for the next week while Carlisle, Esme, Rose and Edward were in Alaska holidaying and hunting. If there was ever a good time to make a move on Bella it was now, but I was still concerned about her mental state, she had been quite withdrawn for the last month or so of school, and although she seemed to be better now than she was, I couldn't help but worry that it could all go downhill. I needed to speak with Alice, as awkward as that could possibly be, she would hopefully tell me what to do. I ran faster, eager for Alice's advice, and the house came into view quickly, and I could see Alice sitting in the living room rearranging the large collection of movies.

"I'm not going to tell you what to do." She said knowingly as I entered the back door.

"Why not? I'm worried that I'll fuck everything up." I replied, admitting my fear, something I had only ever done with Alice.

"You won't as long as you let her decide the speed of the relationship." She told me in her annoying, know-it-all voice. "I had a good chat with her today, and I think you need to speak with her soon, the sooner the better. You'll probably be surprised at how long she's been interested."

"Thanks for telling me what to do." I teased, she always told me what to do, even though she always told me she wouldn't.

"Well I didn't do it for you, I did it for Bella, you will be good for her, and she needs someone strong to rely on at the moment."

I sat down next to where Alice was sitting after that, wanting to help re-sort the family's large collection of movies. Edward had moved them around before he left, I think it was out of boredom, but the system he had used was terrible. He placed all of the movies by year, and then his preference within that year. While that was all well and good for his personal music collection, it was infuriating to the rest of us. We often had to do this after Edward got bored. But hey, if it kept him sane who was I to judge.

We worked in companionable silence for well over an hour before Emmett came rushing in the back door demanding to know if Bella was awake and if he could do something with her. He wasn't too pleased when I informed him that it was three in the morning and most humans were still asleep then, and she would probably not appreciate it if he woke her for a video game tournament. Instead I offered to play some sort of shooter game with him, and Alice watched.

….

Later in the afternoon, after a lazy morning spent in the house, I drove Bella to work as she didn't have her death trap of a truck with her and she didn't want to be trusted with any of our cars. But because she wanted someone to take her we had to take the Merc' because today was extremely sunny. In fact Alice said the whole week would be sunny, and it would get hot, almost to the point of setting a new record for hottest temperature in Forks. Bella was excited to have some hot weather again, she missed the weather of Arizona.

I could totally understand that, I often missed the dry heat of Mexico and Texas even though I was incredibly happy with my life here up north. The peace was nice, but I longed to feel the sun on my skin in a way that I just didn't get a chance to often experience, although this week was going to be perfect.

"The only thing I hate about the hot weather is it gets too hard to sleep." Bella commented as I pulled into the parking lot of the outdoor store. "If there's good air conditioning or a fan, then I'm all good, but I'm guessing you don't have any of that in your place, do you?"

"Err, no. We don't sorry. I can go buy a fan or something if you want?" I asked her, annoyed that I hadn't previously thought of it. I pulled into a park near the entrance to the large store.

"No you won't! Don't spend any unnecessary money on me," She insisted, although I didn't think it would be unnecessary, "Any way, this week I'm living with three of icebergs, someone's just going to have to sleep with me I guess." She finished cheekily as she stepped out of the car and quickly into the store before I could reply.

Her emotions were different to what I was used to from Bella. She was feeling playful and slightly embarrassed and a little bit lustful. Usually when people felt like this they were flirting, was she deliberately flirting with me? Was that how she was telling me she was ready? I could go with it, I'll go home and get a few things ready because I had an idea for what to do tonight, a mix of family bonding with Bella and a chance to get close with Bella. And provide her with a cool place to sleep of course.

My plan was already formed before I pulled into the drive at home, and of course by the time I walked into the house Alice had started to move the furniture for me. Or at least she had somehow convinced Emmett to do it for her while she supervised.

"Oohh! Tonight is going to be so fun!" Alice squealed at a pitch I was sure only vampires and small woodland creatures could hear.

"Jesus Alice!" Emmett exclaimed, "Tone it down a few decibels, alright?"

"Fine! I'm just happy things are moving along! Bella is keen, and she's doing exactly what I told her to do!" She snapped back at him.

"Wait, what did you tell her to do?" I asked.

"She needed to flirt with you so you would see she was interested and do something, so now you are, and it's all going to plan." She sounded so unapologetic for meddling. "And I'm not meddling, just helping."

"Well thanks for 'helping', but Bella will be pissed if she finds out you are masterminding everything."

"She won't though, because as far as she knows I'm just being a helpful friend to her and not you."

"What exactly did you tell her?" I asked, wary of what Alice may have said about me.

"Just the truth." She assured me.

"The truth? So you told her she was my mate? You didn't have that right!" My hands balled up into fists and I clenched my teeth. I needed to control my anger before I started projecting.

"Actually, Bella figured it out and asked me, so don't you start blaming me for anything Jasper Whitlock!"

"Sorry Alice, I just thought you took the meddling too far."

"It's ok, just don't yell at me again or I'll stop helping." She teased me.

"Well, thanks. But is Bella going to like it? My plan for tonight and tomorrow?"

"No worries, and of course she will, and I can't see exactly what is going to happen tomorrow, there is something making my vision a little cloudy, but I can see that the end result is you two being closer."

I could live with that, although I was concerned about what could possibly make her vision cloudy, I trusted Alice and her visions, I knew she would have told me if there was anything to worry about.

…..

Bella loved my plan of course, it all went perfectly and I was giving myself all of the credit, not Alice. When I picked her up from work at seven I had already gone to the local pizza place and ordered her dinner and had it in the car with me. Bella seemed to love the smell of the peperoni pizza and garlic bread, but by the time we were home I felt nauseous from the smell that filled the car. I didn't even know I could feel nauseous.

As we walked inside I monitored Bella's emotions to make sure she handled my surprise well, and I breathed an unnecessary sigh of release as I felt her happiness and positive emotions. She liked it. We had rearranged all of the furniture in the living room by moving all of the chairs against the walls and bringing the mattresses downstairs from Alice's and Emmett's rooms so the living room now resembled one large bed. Alice had of course gone overboard by taking every pillow from around the house and artfully scattering them around the room, leaving everything looking like a comfortable place to sleep. Or what I assumed was a comfortable place to sleep.

"What's all this for?" Bella asked in a small, awed voice.

"You, we thought we would have a movie night and this room is a little cooler than upstairs." I replied.

"Thank you. That sounds great after a long day at work, I had some awful customers today and some dodgy horror movies sound great." She replied, as Alice and Emmett walked into the room from the kitchen carrying cans of drink for Bella and a small bowl of popcorn.

"Party time!" Emmett yelled, scaring Bella slightly as she hadn't seen him before that as she was still focused on the living room.

We spent the next few hours watching the horribly good 'Scream' series which had been dragged on for far too long and was far more comedic than frightening now, and just chatting. It was good, in our little nest of pillows, filled with food and people she loved Bella didn't have anything to worry about and I could feel the weight of the emotional baggage she had been carrying for so long lifted from her shoulders as the night continued.

By about two in the morning Bella had fallen asleep on top of the blankets due to the heat, but about an hour after she fell asleep she became restless, like she was searching for something, and then the talking started.

"Jasper?" She asked, in such a clear voice we thought she had woken. "Hot." She added a minute later.

I understood her unconscious message perfectly, and I moved from the other end of the room where Alice and I were talking to sit with Bella. As soon as I sat next to her she rolled over in her sleep and threw her arm across my waist, clearly trying to pull me to her.

That was possibly one of the best nights in recent memory for me. Laying there with my mate in my arms for a whole night was almost perfection. I thought about many things that night and came to a few conclusions.

One; in the span of a few short months Bella had become the very core of my existence and I knew I could never survive without her in my life in some capacity.

Two; this revelation that I truly loved Bella put her in immense danger, not only because she was too aware of the supernatural world but also because of the constant threat of my past coming back to haunt me.

Three; if this was going to work out, one day Bella would have to become a vampire, and although she had expressed her interest in this future before, the thought that Bella might say she didn't want to become a vampire left me feeling ill.

When Bella awoke midmorning she was mildly confused and slightly embarrassed to be in my arms, but I was still amazed she had slept the whole night with me. She got over the embarrassment pretty quickly and then once I told her about my planned activity for the day she was almost hyperactive with excitement. And of course as I was so close to her, and actually in contact with her, I couldn't stop myself from being ridiculously excited too. And then we both simultaneously realised we were still snuggled together. And were slightly embarrassed.

Luckily Alice saved the day by running in and pulling Bella up to get her ready. Thanks Alice. Alice spent almost an hour getting Bella ready, and I had no idea how. Where we were all going didn't exactly require a lot of clothing, and makeup and hair was just a waste today, it'd just get messed up again soon enough.

….

Once the girls were finally ready I gathered up the small picnic lunch I prepared for Bella, we headed out the back door and into the yard and to the small trail that lead to the river. The Sol Duc River wound its way through our property just north of the house, and during the summer, once all of the snow had melted and cleared away, the river was especially slow. It was a pleasant place to enjoy the sun in private, where prying eyes couldn't witness our abnormalities, and we often spent days in here playing or relaxing.

A little walk along the trail, only five minutes at human pace, Esme had created a grassy garden on either side of the river to give us sit or play our modified versions of sports such as football when we came to the river. I thought this would be the best place to go, other sections of the bank were closer to the house, but I thought Bella would prefer the soft grass to the rocks and moss of the rest of the bank.

"It's so beautiful!" Bella exclaimed as we moved through the trees and onto the grass. And it truly was beautiful today, more so than I had ever seen it. The recent warm weather and wet winter had caused pink, purple and white wild flowers to sprout around the outside of the grass and patches of clover with small pink flowers throughout. The colours were truly amazing and something I had never seen in this little clearing.

We spent some time in the river, the girls mainly floating along the river for a short while before Alice towed Bella back against the current to where Emmett and I were throwing a football at our preferred speed. Bella left the water for a while to eat her lunch and reapply some sunscreen at about one thirty as she was a little chilled from the water, but we all stayed in the river to give her some time alone, we understood she liked time alone, and I could definitely relate to that. Emmett and I kept up our game and Alice decided she wanted to join in.

"Oh, you want to play with us do you?" Emmett asked, his dimples appearing with his mischievous grin.

Then, quick as he could, Emmett grabbed Alice around the waist from where she stood near him and threw her up into the air and caught her again.

"What do you think Jazz? New game with Alice?" He called out, throwing her in the air again.

"Don't you dare drop me!" Alice shrieked, but her emotions gave her away, she was having fun.

When Emmett caught her again she curled herself up into a ball and threw her to me, and obviously I caught her easily and threw her back again. Alice's emotions of pure joy getting to me, and Bella's from on the back of amusement only spurring me on.

"Stop!" Alice yelled as I went to toss her towards Emmett again, obviously having a vision of some sorts.

"What is it?" I asked, placing her in the shallower part of the river where she could stand.

"Our immediate future just disappeared, something is about to happen that I can't see." She spoke quietly, but still loud enough that Bella could hear, obviously not wanting to keep anything from her.

Shit! That could be really bad, no future meant danger we couldn't see. I needed to protect them, get Bella to safety, and protect Alice because she was only safe when she could see!

"Wait Jasper! It'll all work out fine and I can still see all of us tonight, I just think there is something that is blocking my visions. Could be anything, really." Alice said in a soothing tone, obviously trying to stop me from going into full military mode and panicking.

"Alright, we need to think this through. What could do that? And how long are you blind for?" Emmett spoke up, clearly concerned for his family's safety.

"That's the thing, I'm not blind to everyone, just the four of us, and then it's only until tonight. It's like there's something that is only going to affect us, and it's small scale, I don't think there is any real danger because we are all laughing and smiling later tonight." Alice replied, and everyone's emotions calmed down.

So we were safe, but Alice couldn't see what was happening for a few hours, we were effectively blind. Could there be a gifted vampire coming past that stopped Alice from seeing but it all sorted out fine.

"Should we call the others, ask what they think, or let them know?" Bella asked quietly from the bank where stood.

"Nah, don't think there is anything to worry them about." Emmett cheerfully answered to reassure her.

Bella moved back from the edge of the river where it was a little muddy from our splashing to sit on the grass where she had abandoned her lunch in the slight panic of Alice's lack of vision. As Bella started to lower herself to sit Indian style Alice jumped up and went to move her but Bella had already sat down. And then she gasped in pain and felt a bit panicked.

"Fuck! I think I just sat on a bee and got stung!" Bella told us as she stood up again.

"Are you okay?" I asked, running out of the water and to her side.

"Fine," she laughed, "It isn't too bad, but I do need to go back to the house and need some help getting the stinger out." She admitted, obviously amused about my reaction.

In under a minute I had Bella in the kitchen, Emmett and Alice weren't far behind, they had brought everything back from the river, and I was in the downstairs bathroom looking for one of the first aid kits we had in the house for Bella. I found it quickly and ran back to her where she was trying to see where the stinger was.

Unfortunately for Bella, the stinger was high up on the back of her thigh and out of her sight, sitting just below her board shorts. I hadn't even really noticed what she was wearing before now, I had been too absorbed in conversations and looking at her face, but wow, Alice really knew how to pick great swimwear for Bella. The royal blue triangle bikini top and little blue board shorts looked amazing on her, her slim but soft body filling them out perfectly.

"Earth to Jasper, you helping or not?" Her soft voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Oh, right. What do I do?" I had no idea of what to do about human first aid.

Bella quickly explained how to use a credit card to scrape the stinger out and once I had done this, while ignoring the fact that I was so close to her gorgeous ass, I pulled some ice from the freezer and placed it in a plastic bag and wrapped it in the tea towel for her to put on the sting which had begun to swell quite a lot.

"Is that okay? It looks more red and swollen than I expected." I asked as I helped her to the couch, her leg was apparently too tender to walk properly on.

"I should be fine, I've been stung before and it swelled quite a bit." Bella replied, but she seemed unsure.

"How many times have you been stung before?" Emmett asked.

"Twice, years ago when I was about six. Why?" She replied.

"Sometimes allergies to insect bites and stings can take a few incidences to show, and that amount of swelling looks abnormal. Don't hide it if it feels like its burning or itching, okay?" Emmett was concerned, and he was in a better position than myself or Alice to give this advice having studied pre-med on more than one occasion.

Alice danced back into the room again, I hadn't even noticed she had left, and handed Bella a t-shirt that looked oddly familiar.

"Is that my shirt?" I asked as Bella pulled the plain white t-shirt over her head.

"Yep! Bella has so few nice t-shirts with her and I wouldn't want to ruin one of them because of her still slightly wet bathers, so your shirt seemed like the best way to go." Alice replied cheerfully, but I did have to admit that seeing Bella in my shirt was kind of hot. Or a lot.

My excitement over her attire was short lived however as Bella soon took a turn for the worst, obviously suffering from an allergic reaction.

….

AN: Thank you all for your patience while I was unable to write due to computer issues.

Sorry I left you with a cliff hanger again, I will have the next instalment up within the next few days, I had to cut this chapter shorter because it got so huge, so the next part is already extensively planned and partly written.

Thank you again, I hope you still enjoy this story as much as you all seemed to before this little hiatus.

Daisy
xx