I Followed Her, and she Led me to You

Chapter 14

Jasper's POV

Bella's eighteenth birthday fell on a Tuesday this year and due to the stress and drama going around she didn't particularly want to celebrate with a big party or anything, she just wanted to have something small with family so we decided to do it actually on the day of her birthday. We also all needed to hunt and there was an inconveniently sunny day on the Friday before, so all of the family were going 'on a camping trip'. I was planning to go closer to home and stay with Bella but she insisted that I go with everyone else as we hadn't had a family hunting trip in quite some time. I was a little worried about Bella spending the weekend home alone as Charlie was usually out on a Saturday but in the end he invited Bella to go with him to La Push to get her out of the house.

When I told the family that, Edward had a little moment of worry due to the possibility of Bella being around the Quileute Wolves but Carlisle reassured him they had no evidence there were any wolves currently and he assumed their line had died out. Of course I was concerned for what could happen should there be any wolves- I had heard stories from the rest of the family about them- but Bella was only going to be seeing her friend Jacob and some of his friends. They were all young and the one time I had come near Jacob at prom he seemed to be a nice enough boy.

Just as I suspected there were no dramas while Bella was on the reservation, we texted each other a few times and she was having a great time getting away from the drama that was in Forks and meeting some new people who really couldn't care less that she was new to the area- most of them had known her when they were kids anyway! I sent her a message saying I was home and asking if she wanted me to stop by her place, and of course she wanted to see me, and I met her in her room. The change in her from just Thursday night when I had last seen her was amazing! She radiated a peaceful happiness that I couldn't help but feel too and had a genuine smile on her face for the first time in a long time.

"You have a good day?" I asked her as she cuddled into me where we lay on her bed.

"Yeah everyone was so nice," She answered as she picked her head up from where it had been buried in my shoulder. "There was no talk about how I steal my friend's men, and we just got to hang out and have fun. How was your day?"

"That's great to hear, you should go and spend time with these guys more often then." I smiled at her, drinking in the happiness she emanated. "And mine was alright, found a bear for myself and had a good run- stretched my legs out."

I spent the whole night with Bella cuddled into me. I couldn't imagine how she felt comfortable laying on my cold, rock solid body, but she hardly moved all night. And I couldn't stop thinking about how just a few months ago I didn't even know Bella and now we were here. It was amazing how fast everything had happened and yet it hadn't. We had only been officially dating for two months and only for one of those had it been public knowledge, and we were still taking things slowly. We hadn't even had sex yet- although that wasn't exactly for lack of wanting but rather me being a little afraid of the logistics of me having super strength and her being relatively fragile. Maybe I should speak to one of the Denali girls, but I had never been all that close to them, but Kate was (in my opinion) the more interesting and nicer of the sisters. Perhaps I should speak to her the next time I saw them. I think they were planning on coming down for a visit in the near future.

After Bella had woken up on the Sunday morning I ran back home to change and wait for Bella to get ready and drive over. At home Alice, Emmett and Esmé were in the lounge room watching the news while Edward was at his piano and I assumed Rosalie was in the garage and Carlisle at work. Alice looked up from the television as I sat in the free arm chair.

"Definitely a good choice to speak to Kate." She said with a devious smile and mirth radiating.

"What do you need to speak to Kate about?" Esmé asked, clearly curious as I didn't often go out of my way to seek advice from anyone let alone the Denali's.

"Jasper just needs some of her expertise. He could talk to any of them really but Kate and Jasper get along the best." Alice answered as I lightly glared at her, willing her to shut up. In the other room I could feel Edward almost laughing but at the same time somewhat repulsed by the topic of conversation.

"What about?" Emmett laughed. "The only thing those girls have expertise about is sleeping with—" He paused for a moment before continuing, "Humans." Another second passed. "No. Nope."

"Well it's none of your business." I replied.

"Good. I don't wanna know about it, I don't wanna hear about it, I don't wanna hear it. Period."

"Good."

Emmett was radiating disgust. I could understand why, Bella was his little sister; he didn't want to know any of this. But also it was none of his business and he needed to piss off. I could hear Edward's laughter but it was a little strained, he felt similar to Emmett in some ways but he was probably conflicted too as the whole situation was a little complicated. That thought triggered a snort of agreeable laughter from him.

We soon returned to watching the news in silence. Emmett was still disgusted but Alice was pleased. That meddling little pixie had planned all of this for her own entertainment and was enjoying every second of it. Esmé was vaguely amused too but she was always about loving passionately and all that so I guess for her this just seemed like another step romantic relationships inevitably took and at least we were being sensible about it.

Eventually, finally, Bella arrived and I was able to think of something other than the awkwardness of that conversation. She had not only come to see everyone but to help with her little birthday celebration. She insisted on keeping it small and rather smartly didn't trust Alice to plan what she wanted to do and so was working with Alice and Esmé. They had decided that the only food would be a small cake so not too much went to waste and just the family. Originally we were going to invite Charlie but he was working night shift that night and instead he and Bella were going to go to dinner first. And although it would be nice to have Bella's father here for her birthday it made it a lot easier for us if we didn't have to remember to play human in our own house and pretend to eat human food.

Bella stayed at our place until after dinner as Esmé was going through a little bit of a phase of wanting to learn how to cook more and not use a recipe so much and Bella was teaching her. Tonight was Mexican themed and I was intrigued- I had lived in Mexico for a long time but only as a vampire so I had seen the food of course but never prepared it or eaten it (other than to keep my cover on a couple of situations of course). In the end Bella was making me translate the names of all the ingredients into Spanish for her and teaching her the proper pronunciations of them. It felt nice to be able to teach her something that was a big part of me as for a large portion of my life I had spoken exclusively in Spanish and there were times and situations where it felt more natural than English, and also it was great because Bella had been making a real effort recently to learn Spanish other than what she needed to do at school.

Eventually I drove home with Bella, not fully intending to spend the whole night at her place but definitely wanting some time alone together. Nights like this when I spent a few hours with Bella were our favourite times. It was our chance to be alone and have as much privacy as one could come by in a family such as ours. And more often than not lately, these few hours together extended to whole nights together.

I stayed overnight on Monday too. Bella had wanted to stay up to see in her birthday and spent the last hour of Monday snuggled together on her small bed, her head in its usual position tucked into my shoulder.

"You should get a bigger bed if we're going to keep doing this." I said to her as we waited for midnight.

"I don't know… I kind of like it, being close like this." She tiredly replied.

"Me too, but surely this isn't too comfortable for you."

"When I sleep like this it's the only time I don't get so many dreams about James, and the pulling in my chest goes away."

"If all it takes to keep the bad dreams away is to stay with you all night, then I'll be here every night."

"Good because I don't want you to go anywhere. I love you Jasper."

"I love you too Bella."

At midnight we celebrate with a kiss that last quite some time that progressively became more passionate. I eventually ended the kisses when I was hovering over Bella, supporting my weight on one arm resting by her side with the other hand making its way up her shirt. We were both breathing heavily and lust filled the air. If we didn't stop now there might not be any stopping at all.

"We should stop."

"I know, right now isn't the best time or place." Bella panted.

Neither of us made an effort to move other than to resume the kisses and touches. I lost my shirt soon after.

Eventually I moved to lay beside Bella again and she snuggled into my side. She was tired and it was unfair of me to keep her awake. Lust was still filling the room and we could both feel it but we needed to be careful. This wasn't the first time we had nearly gotten carried away and it wouldn't be the last but I needed to learn to control myself better.

Bella fell asleep eventually as I whispered sweet nothings in her ear in Spanish, apparently it sounded beautiful to her, and I continued to work on calming down.

Bella briefly stirred at about six when I got up- I needed to head home and shower and dress before school and I had planned to meet Bella beforehand- but she fell asleep as quickly as she had woken; even if it was only for another half hour or so.

School on Tuesday was fairly slow. We watched Romeo and Juliet in English and it might have been more bearable had I been in class with Bella, but Alice and I had English together, and Bella and Edward did after us. Slightly awkward was one way to put it. At lunch we sat together and quietly snuck Bella her favourite parts of our lunches as usual and ignored most of the humans. Angela came to say hello and happy birthday which was nice, and finally it was time to head home. I'd really had enough of school. Actually I'd had enough of it a few decades ago but I really couldn't see myself heading back too soon, it was time for a break in our cycle of school. But I would finish this go around with Bella and maybe we could take a few years to travel or something. And I knew she wanted to become a vampire in the near-ish future and that would make a good excuse to have a break.

The wait from the end of school to when Bella came over to our place was the longest few hours I'd had in a long time. Alice had insisted on decorating the front sitting room with the piano and forced me to string up hundreds of little white lights to 'enhance the mood'. The overall effect was pretty, but I wasn't sure if it was too much as Bella didn't really want to do much to celebrate. Once the lights were up Alice had me rig up some speakers for music which again wasn't hard and would be nice but this was an awful lot of work for a kind of unwanted celebration.

Eventually the thundering engine of Bella's truck could be heard coming down the driveway and the house of statues sprung to life. Alice turned the music on to a comfortable background level and Esmé brought the cake she had so carefully baked and iced from the recipe Bella taught her out to the small table we had set up. I met Bella at the truck and escorted her in to the loud chorus of "Happy birthday!" After a kiss and my own happy birthday to her, of course.

The night was quite pleasant actually. Bella thought it looked beautiful and apologised a little to Alice for assuming she was going to make it over the top and not listen to her. She loved her cake and was very grateful for all of the presents she received from us.

Emmett and Rosalie bought her a new car stereo and installed it while she was distracted early on in the night and made a bit of a spectacle handing her an empty box. Rosalie even smiled when Bella just about threw the box picking it up out of Emmett's hands as she expected it to be heavier; the two girls were really trying to not be hostile with each other.

Edward presented her with several CD's he either knew were some of her favourites or ones she would like and a few books with the same reasoning. Alice went with the expected route of several new outfits but she had based them mainly on good quality jeans and shirts and jackets that were in Bella's usual style just slightly Alice-ified. Bella was over the moon with Carlisle and Esmé's gift of plane tickets to go see her mother.

My gift to Bella was a simple necklace. It had a fine white gold chain and a circular pendant that was just a ring of very small diamonds and deep blue sapphires that alternated. It was simple and elegant, much like the beautiful woman I was giving it to.

Then came the gift from the whole family. It wasn't large or extravagant but it was important. On a small, silver, oval shaped key chain was the family crest with 'forever loved' inscribed on the back, which was attached to a single key.

"It's a key to the house, so you can come here whenever you want, even if there is no one home." Carlisle explained as Bella held up the key.

"You're a part of this family now Bella, we just wanted to make sure you knew." Esmé elaborated.

"Thank you so much! This is amazing." Bella radiated happiness, not so much because of the key itself but for the reinforcement that she was a part of the family.

"If ever we aren't here and you need, or just want, somewhere to go, feel free to let yourself in." Carlisle added.

"This really means a lot to me, thank you." Bella replied to Carlisle and Esmé before looking to the rest of the family standing behind them and lightly leaning back into me where I had my arm around her waist. "All of you."

"Well this is lovely, but time for cake!" Alice excitedly called out and bounced over to the table holding the cake.

Everyone gathered around and sang happy birthday to a blushing Bella and cheered when she blew out the eighteen candles Esmé had artfully arranged around the outside of the cake to avoid messing up the 'happy birthday' she had piped in icing. Well, Rosalie politely smiled while the rest of us cheered; she wasn't as into this as the rest of us.

Alice and Esmé then set Bella up for a photo of her cutting the cake and handed her the large knife to cut the cake and make her wish with the first cut. Bella looked beautiful as she closed her eyes to make her wish- I don't know if she was actually wishing for anything or if she was just humouring everyone but it would make a beautiful memory and photo. Once she had posed for the photo she finished cutting herself a generous slice and jokingly asked if anyone else wanted some, and of course some of us replied with our usual excuses for refusing food.

"Oh no thank you, I'm on a special diet." Was Edward's response which earned a laugh from Bella.

"I have a gluten intolerance." From Rosalie, which was great as it showed she was trying to interact with Bella more.

"I'll pass, I'm watching my figure!" Emmett contributed while patting his stomach and chuckling. We all joined in with that.

Bella then placed the knife down on the table and went to pick up her plate and fork, but as she did so she knocked the knife off the edge. Automatically she tried to catch it.

Alice froze.

Bella's hand grabbed the knife.

Bella gasped.

Blood.

There were several growls in the room.

I was thirsty. So incredibly thirsty. I realised I was one of the growling vampires. I held my breath and the thirst decreased.

Rosalie grabbed my arm and I snapped out of the mindset I had so easily fallen into. Rosalie was pulling me out the front door, and I wasn't fighting her one bit, she barely even had to pull. I could see Emmett struggling to pull Edward out of the room so I pushed my way past Rose and into the fresh air so she could go help Emmett.

The thirst I was feeling didn't leave me. It should have gone. I was gulping in the fresh air and the wind was blowing towards me bringing the damp scent of the approaching rain. There was no blood in the air but I felt so thirsty.

Edward was dragged out and as soon as the wind hit his face he inhaled the fresh air and stopped struggling. I was no longer thirsty.

Alice and Esmé soon joined us on the front porch, and trusting that we were all under control Rosalie left to see if Carlisle needed any help. That girl's control was amazing, almost as good as Carlisle's, and miles better than anyone else's. When she stepped inside the thirst I felt increased noticeably, but not dangerously. It was a similar level to what I felt at school.

We could all hear exactly what was happening, Bella was apologising profusely and Carlisle was reassuring her as he checked the wound on her hand, and carried her to his office when she began to feel faint from the blood so she could lay on his couch while he bandaged her hand. It wasn't deep and she didn't need stiches.

As Carlisle took Bella upstairs, Rosalie pulled out the bleach from the laundry under the stairs and began to clean up the blood. I had no idea how much there was until that moment, but it was barely a second between her opening the bottle and fastening the lid again, from what I could hear. Clearly there wasn't too much blood or she would have needed more bleach to clean it up. I guess it was lucky we were in one of the rooms with floorboards rather than carpet. When she opened the windows to the room, right near where we were all standing, we took it as our cue to enter. Except Edward and Alice that is.

"I should have seen it." Alice muttered as I approached the two of them by the door, almost looking scared to enter.

"I'm so sorry. I lost control." Edward whispered.

I placed a hand on each of their shoulders and tried to send them reassuring feelings.

"Both of you, this isn't your fault. In a lot of ways we have become complacent. Alice," I looked to her, "Your gift isn't perfect and we all know this. We rely too heavily on it and we need to be better at anticipating the unknown." I took a breath and made my feelings of sincerity were obvious. "And Edward, you did remarkably well for someone exposed to the blood of their singer. You didn't harm her, and we all need to be more careful."

We stood there for a moment, Alice looking like she was about to cry, even though I knew it to be impossible, and Edward didn't look all that much better. While we were standing there in silence we could hear Carlisle help Bella down the stairs and everyone move into the dining room.

"Come inside everyone, we have a few things to discuss." He said calmly as we could hear him pull out a chair first for Bella and then himself, and everyone else take their seats.

We were quickly in the dining room and found our places. I sat in the empty seat next to Bella and Rosalie. Bella was looking a little worse for wear but blushing from embarrassment and wearing one of my t-shirts. "Are you okay?" I asked as I took her uninjured hand.

"I'm fine," She said to me before looking at Edward and Alice where they sat opposite us. "I'm okay and I don't blame any of you for what happened, I made a mistake and things got a little out of hand, but that's the price I pay for having a vampire family." She lightly laughed at the end, proving to all of us that she was okay.

"And that is what we all need to discuss." Carlisle addressed us all. "We should have had this discussion quite some time ago, but we have all taken risks and it's time we discussed how we can manage them and what we are going to do from now on."

Author's note:

Dun dun dunnnnn. Bella's party done! I hope I've done this justice to the original and yet still made it work for my story- I think I have. Basically the way I have modified the plot there are a lot of events from the original that I'm playing with but you'll just have to wait and see what happens next chapter. But also, I'm sticking to my original goal of trying not to just rewrite the series substituting Edward for Jasper.

Anyway, another chapter in less than a week?! What's happening? Basically I have been bitten by the writing bug and I am also procrastinating from exam revision so here you are. Enjoy. I'm going to avoid writing too much this week so don't expect another too soon- I have an exam Tuesday and Friday, but after that I'm finished with uni until March so I'm going to try and write heaps over summer.

I hope you enjoy this, please leave a review- it really makes my day and makes me want to write more, so the more you tell me you love it and the more predictions about what's going on, the more content you get