Thank you to everyone who's reading and/or reviewing these! I've been a bit lapse in thanking you by name on this one because... Well, honestly I don't know why - I'm sorry for that! Thank you Anita Simons, Heiress Writer, Guest, chellekathrynnn, souverian, JosieNightOwl, QualityBean, WickedlyMinx, Ella, derniermom, Momochan77, and ReadLikeHermione!
Thank you for your suggestions - in working on the Cullen kids as suggested by Ella, but Momochan77 asked about first impressions of the Cullens and when they came to like her, and honestly I planned that this scene would happen between Twilight and New Moon, but the main story skipped over summer. I've been trying to work it in to the story ever since but haven't found the right place, and it's too late now!
If you'll remember, there was a recurring issue of Alice watching Carys once when she was little, and I think this will explain that, her excitement when Carys turned up, Jasper and Carys' closeness, and their training (which we didn't see).
"D'you recall the first time we met?" Jasper asked after the silence stretched for minutes.
Carys nodded. "Carlisle was telling me his story... What does that have to do with anything?"
He glanced up. "No, Care. I mean the first time."
Carys frowned again, wracking her brain. "That was the first time," she said after half a minute or so. "You came in and we talked."
Jasper shook his head. "When was the first time you met Alice?"
"Erm... The hospital - but, kinda... She'd watched me before, hadn't she?" Jasper watched her in silence, and she turned her head to the side, keeping her eyes on him. "You're not saying you were there too?"
He nodded. Slowly. "Did that ever seen strange to you? That Alice would watch you for hours? She's less taken to watchin' humans as she is the future."
"Well, I mean. Yes. Of course it was strange." Dropping her arms to her sides, she mirrored his position against the wall, a few paces away.
Jasper took a breath and looked away again, staring at the wall opposite.
"There was a portrait she wanted to see-" he nodded at the wall "-the room next to yours. Galleries are strange, beautiful places for me. So many emotions - so few of which are... Difficult.
"I'd hunted the night before to prepare for the humans, but it was slow. Alice knew it would be; she chose the day an' expected I'd be more comfortable. Less of a risk.
"A couple was arguing quietly nearby, somethin' about a bill. It was... Changin' the atmosphere. I told Alice.
"There we were, getting ready to move on, when I felt somethin'...
"An interest growin' nearby, borderin' on desperation. It attracted my attention of course. How could it not? It filled the space. I turned to see from whom it was comin', and tried to calm you down some.
"I reckoned I shouldn't have when something shifted in you. You looked around, stared at me, and came runnin' over after a minute. Strange, I reckoned. You were so little - no more than six or so - and determined."
Carys couldn't believe it. She'd met them? Properly met them? She'd thought Alice said she'd only watched her. Had she heard wrong?
It didn't surprise her that she'd seemed to feel him try to calm her. She'd been able to since the first day she'd thought they'd met.
"What happened?" she breathed.
Jasper's expression became unreadable, but he continued his story.
"'Excuse me,' you said when you reached me, 'are you a grown up?'
"Well, I wasn't sure what to say, an' Alice was suddenly beaming at me. I nodded. You grimaced; I'd disappointed you.
"'How grown up are you?' you asked.
"'Very,' I said.
"'You don't look grown up,' you said, frustrated by my answer.
"Alice told you we were nineteen.
"'So you're not a grown ups...? Not really?' you asked, all suspicious. 'I'm Carys,' you announced.
"'Alice, and this is Jasper,' Alice said quickly.
"'Alice and Jasper... You're American, aren't you? I've never met a real life American. Do you want to see the best painting in the world? The whole wide world?'
"You had your little arms spread wide; your desperation grew, and I found myself nodding despite myself. You jumped and waved at the couple - your parents - then pointed at us. Neither gave us much of a glance, but your mother called out to stay where they could see you."
"That was so dangerous," Carys muttered to herself despite her absorption in the story.
Jasper's sudden smile grew fonder and deepened.
He said, "You all but ran in.
"'I'm not supposed to talk to grown ups,' you said, 'but they're fighting again. And you're not grown ups, and look! Isn't it pretty? It's the best one.' Clamberin' onto the bench, you pointed to the painting and said, ''She's getting her head chopped off soon, but right now she's okay. See? She'll always be okay here.'"
A soft whine emerged from Carys' throat. Had she really been that blunt?
He chuckled. "When Alice said she watched you for hours, she meant she watched over you."
"Didn't you want to eat me?"
"No," Jasper laughed, "I'd just hunted, remember? I could easily stand it if I was a ways away an' you didn't move much.
"I stared at the painting. It was fascinating, just as you told me it would be. Beautiful in a heartbreakin' way. I kept a distance, but I doubt you'd noticed if I were sitting next to you.
"Eventually, your father came through to get you. His unease when he saw me a few feet away... I o'course calmed the worst of it, but he'd have noticed if I did too much - such was the intensity of it, more so than most.
"'I'm sorry, when she sets her mind to something...,' he said by way of explanation. 'She likes pretty things.'
"He could hardly look at me. I could tell he didn't know why he felt how he did, so he told you in hushed tones not to go off with strangers. Well, you didn't take kindly to that." He chuckled, a low, warm sound.
"'But-but-but you were fighting again,'" he recalled her saying, "'and he's not a grown up. I'm only not supposed to talk to grown ups! Teenagers don't count!' you argued as he grabbed your hand an' pulled you off. I looked to Alice - over to the side of the room, an' she winked.
"You came running back half a minute later, smacked your hand over your mouth and all but threw a kiss at me. I made no move to respond and you sighed in this whole body sorta way, stamped on over, picked the kiss from the air and slapped it on my arm.
"'It's just a thank you kiss,' you announced with a smile, ignoring my hardness or how I stiffened. 'It's not going to bite you.'
"Alice caught her kiss, and you went streaming off...
"Well, when Alice saw you comin' to Forks, she wanted to meet you. We get so few chances to see how humans grow up. Carl-isle was worried. Alice only told him about her watching, but it was enough to make him wonder if we shouldn't be movin' on already."
"She told me the same," Carys said slowly, trying to remember. "I thought she said we'd never actually met, that she'd just watched me."
Jasper nodded. "S'pose it never really felt like a meetin' to her."
"Wouldn't Edward know we actually met though?"
"'Course," he agreed simply. "Only, by the time he cottoned on, Carl-isle had met you, and an exchange of names never really feels like a meetin' to us. It wasn't the same after Carl-isle met you; there was nothin' any of us could say about leavin' then.
"When we met again, you were different. Less confident. Quieter. I didn't feel the same things from you. It was like you were muted. But you were warm, fearful an' hopeful, an' you loved Carl-isle, I could feel that. Then you set to worrying you were hurtin' us with your scent.
"I'm an empath now, but I think you always have been. You know who to trust an' when to trust them. You feel and see just a little more than others.
"I can't help you with all o' what you'll become, but I can help you learn some o' your confidence in your instincts again. Learn to tell how to consciously do what you do unconsciously."
"Wouldn't that mean I ended up with a similar power to you?"
Jasper shook his head. "I don't know what you'll be, but if you had that power, you'd have it anyhow. This is about... Makin' you stronger, so next time it don't take you a year to believe in yourself."
