*MAKE SURE YOU READ THE NOTES AT THE END FOR VERY IMPORTANT INFO*

Okay party people! This chapter is hella late but Imma tell you why - it's really fuckin long! Also it has been quite. a. week. I sent in my dissertation draft Thursday night and then spent the next two days writing what I actually wanted to write! (Which was this!)

It was originally planned to be two chapters, but I got excited and combined them into one, so fun fact, the plan for this chapter was 2000 words long. I've been adding bits and pieces for literally a year.

Also, funny story (I'm feeling very chatty today) I had to go reread chapters 3 & 4 to check some continuity stuff and saw in the chapter 3 AN that I said I wasn't going to do in depth research on American geography. I saw this right after spending an hour researching Canadian cities in the 1880s to make sure the one I chose was straight north of Montana, had a decent enough social scene, was close to good hunting grounds, and didn't have anything nasty going on in 1886 (lookin' at you Calgary!). So let's all laugh at past me for clearly not knowing herself.

And this chapter is dedicated to Bigmilk Darville, for listening to me ramble about Aristotle for a full night and finding me Bible quotes with your superior googling powers

(also please don't notice I changed Bella's birthday so I didn't have to go through the whole fic and change 2012 to 2011, k thnx bye!xo)

It was strange to be back here, at the spot her home used to be. Or will be. Or never will be again. It was here that they took her after they fought off the newborn army, where they won the battle but not the war. Victoria was dead but she still got her revenge. Bella was torn from her family before her time and whisked away to turn far away in the Montana forest.

Always forests. She was sick of forests.

It was easy to find the tree, she had an awful habit of getting emotionally attached to trees. The ground beneath it was still soft, grass was just beginning to cover the spot she had uncovered. Nature was trying to take it over in the summer sun.

She dropped to her knees and opened up the hole she had dug all those months before. There she unearthed a heavy metal box, with a thick lid locked with a keypad. It felt strange to hold something so openly from the future, so square, precise and impersonal. She tapped in the code and the mechanism unlocked with a click. There inside were her memories, memories of things still to come.

She hovered over the keepsakes and quickly checked them for any damage. It was fine, the thick box had held tight. She started to search through the box for the book she was looking for then and there, but then paused. She really didn't want to rebury the box. She was safe now, she wanted the memories with her; she wanted to feel like herself again. But the box was too big to carry in her satchel, and it was too conspicuous to carry by the boys without being questioned. After a moment's thought she decided to take the risk.

She replaced everything neatly and safely and slid the lid shut. The book would be safer in there, she would get it out when they got to the house. Then she ripped a large strip off the hem of her already ragged petticoat and wrapped it around the box; just disguising it enough that the telltale keypad was completely hidden. Nothing could disguise the distinct smell of heavy metal though.

Peter caught on to the deception as soon as she caught back up to them at the Canadian border. "What's that?"

"I'll tell you later."

He rose an eyebrow. She had roused his suspicion by insisting they leave her behind. He clearly wasn't planning on letting it go anymore.

"You'd better."

The new house was a few miles outside of Winnipeg, close enough that the sisters could sample the society they had been missing for so long, but far enough that if Carlisle decided not to stay they wouldn't garner too much suspicion. On the run up there, Tanya had been trying to convince Garrett and Kate to stay with them, at least for a little while. The two looked conflicted.

Irina still wasn't with them, something that scared Bella shitless. But she was told over and over not to worry, that Irina could handle herself and knew exactly where to go when she came home to an empty house. Yet she couldn't help but stress.

However, a decent chunk of that melted away when they arrived at a handsome stone house, with large windows and clearly enough space for the whole expanded coven. Bella heaved a sigh of relief as she stepped through the heavy front door, in the haste of leaving the last house, she never walked inside. She hadn't been indoors since December, five months ago.

It was still bright indoors. Light bounced around the white walls up the tall ceilings. The entryway featured a large staircase to the floors above, while the reception rooms to the left and right had wide stone fireplaces. A passage led down a little set of stairs to a kitchen in the back. The house was barely furnished, there was a sofa here and there and a table and chairs in the dining room. But other than that, everything was in boxes.

Tanya wasted no time setting large vats of water to heat on the stove and all the fireplaces.

"I think some vigorous baths are in order." She smiled, eyeing Bella and the new additions.

"Oh God, yes please!" Bella laughed, self consciously picking at the dried mud in her matted hair.

Jasper joined in and assented that yes, it would be nice to be clean again. Peter was not so enthused.

"I'll wait," he muttered. His eyes were on the ornate ceiling, darting each way and that as if an assailant could be hiding in the crown moulding. "I would rather find out what y'all know that I don't, first."

Bella winced. "Can I please bathe first? I've felt disgusting for months."

He snorted. "Sure. I'll set territory lines while you preen."

The sisters eyed each other as Garrett offered to help, territory lines had never been something they bothered with.

The baths were quickly filled. Jasper insisted on helping haul water despite it obviously being unnecessary, but he'd been totally confused by the stove.

Bella was hustled into an airy dressing room and saw herself in the mirror for the first time in months. The first thing she noticed was the orange eyes, almost glowing in their strangeness, so different from her usual butterscotch. No one had mentioned them, and Kate tactfully avoided looking at them in the mirror. One day soon they would fade, she reassured herself.

The scars were a different story, every family member had grasped her and catalogued all the ones they could see. She stripped off the remains of her mangled blouse and took stock in her chemise. There were two at her neck, but they had always been there. One ragged and violent from Victoria, intended to kill. One clinical and careful from Carlisle, intended to turn. That scar was barely visible, practice allowed him to pump the venom in without digging too deep.

The one from James was still there, on her left wrist, but now it was joined by half a dozen others. Four on her forearm, one on the top of her shoulder, one on the underside of her upper arm. A thick, jagged scar looped around her elbow; from the loss and delayed replacement of her forearm the day before. Another one, thinner but still visible, looped at the socket of her shoulder; from the day she first tasted human blood.

There were only two bites marring her right arm, so the left was officially the bad one. There was one scar peaking through the broken bones in her corset, and one on her shin. They would be there forever, but it could have been much worse.

That clearly didn't comfort the sisters, their jaws clenched and eyes watered every time they looked over to her. Bella decided not to let it hamper her joy as she sat in the hot bath and used an inordinate amount of soap to strip the grime off her skin. She scrubbed the algae from her thick hair and picked the dried mud and venom out from under her nails. Tanya helped in the end, when Bella's thick hair was waterlogged and it became difficult to differentiate the dirt from her dark brown locks.

Finally clean and out of the bath, Bella dried herself and dressed in a new chemise, corset and a simple navy dress; all soft, fresh, and perfectly her size. Irina's scent drifted up from them and Bella's heart swelled at the care. Tanya lovingly wove her damp hair into a french braid and clutched her to her side as they descended the stairs together.

Carlisle was leaning against the mantle in the sparse dining room, he beamed when he saw her.

"There's my girl. Do you feel like yourself again?"

She grinned back. As strange and almost vain as it seemed, she did feel like herself again. The blood, venom and filth that had clung to her like a second skin were a constant reminder of the atrocities of the camp. A part of her felt like they went down the drain along with the dirty water.

There was a bang from upstairs.

"Jasper. If you keep resisting, I will be forced to hold you down!"

Carlisle smirked. "He came downstairs with his hair unscrubbed and shirt incorrectly buttoned. Kate insisted he do it properly or not at all."

"He hasn't had a proper bath since the 1860s," said Bella, "he might not know how."

Carlisle's smirk faded into a look of sympathy. "Well he will now... and I believe being manhandled by Kate is initiation enough for this family."

"And you're okay with that?" Bella asked. "Him being in the family? I never really asked you."

"I don't know him," said Carlisle, "but I know who he will be, and I like that man well enough. Besides, you have love for him, and he clearly does for you. That is more than enough for me. The same goes for Peter too, of course."

"I'm so excited for you to get to know them." She sighed, relieved.

"Me too." He smiled. "Now, have you thought about how we will tell them?"

Bella groaned and turned to fetch her safebox and satchel from where they sat beside the front door; the box still wrapped in her ragged petticoat. Carlisle's eyes bugged out of his head when he saw the keypad, then grinned in amazement at the inhuman beeps as she tapped in the keycode. It never occurred to her that he had probably never heard that noise before.

Tanya got a peak at the photos inside and shooed the man away.

"You don't want to ruin a lifetime of surprises!" She insisted. "... But surely I can look, darling?"

Bella shrugged and let her. It was nice to have someone to share these things with, although she had a feeling Jasper and Peter weren't going to let her hide much from them when they found out.

Tanya ooh'd and ahhh'd at the glimpses she got at pictures as Bella rummaged through them. She was looking for a thin leather bound book, one that usually lived on the bookcase in Alice and Jasper's room. Alice had shown it to her just before she met Peter and Charlotte for the first time. It held pictures of all their times together, from the 1940s onwards.

She found the book and flipped through it until she spotted the photograph she was looking for. It was black and white, a little ragged and faded with age. It showed Peter and Jasper smiling in the back of a bar. The lighting was low and a pool table visible behind them where they stood; there was a dainty cream elbow resting on it that must have been Charlotte's. They wore white shirts, tucked casually into dark slacks and suspenders that should have been covered by jackets stretched over their strong shoulders.

When she flipped it over, she smiled too. 'Alice tests her new camera, 1948' was written on the back in Jasper's handwriting. Of course he felt the need to label it. She wasn't surprised that Alice knew she would need this photo. Her sister didn't need to see the future to know what was going to happen.

"Oh…" Tanya softly traced Peter's smiling, much more heavily scarred face. "Darling, look what you saved him from."

It was difficult to see in the photograph, but Tanya was right. Peter was scarred even up his jaw and cheeks, much worse than Jasper ever was. Jasper directed troops, he was second in command. Peter never stopped being a dogsbody; he was in the line of fire until the day he escaped. Yes, Bella realised, she had saved him from a lot. She just hoped he would keep that in mind when she revealed how much she'd kept from him.

She slid the remaining pictures back in the box and went to seal the lid shut; but before she did, sunlight glinted off the bracelet Alice had given her and she couldn't help but fish it out, along with Rose's necklace. They most likely had some metal or jewel that was impossible to get in the 1800's, or some method of making them that was only possible after some machine was invented. It didn't stop her hooking them around her wrist and neck. None of that mattered, she needed her sisters with her.

Carlisle had the papers she had left behind organised on the dining table. All the letters from her family were on one side, Jasper's pile of instructions on the other. The edges were dogeared from being thumbed through so often. He grinned when she passed him the photograph and greedily scanned every inch of it.

"1948…" He murmured. "How odd to think of… a time so far in the future, yet still so long before you will be born."

Bella laughed humorlessly, the century between her and her birth was somewhat stressing her out.

He smiled like he sensed that. "Do you know what convinced me that you were telling the truth?"

"The recording?"

"Yes, obviously the recording and the letter were extremely compelling. But the evidence that had me truly convinced was your satchel."

She snorted, but he looked completely sincere. She looked at the large brown bag on the floor. It was battered and well loved, but completely ordinary. "What about it?"

He turned and opened one of the large storage trunks behind him, out of it he pulled an almost identical bag. The leather was thick and rigid, not buttery soft like hers; the strap had clearly never been ripped and stitched back together; the gold lettering on the front was a brighter and crisper CC. It was the same satchel, just a century younger.

"I bought it a week before you found me." He turned the bag and pointed to a blemish on the side. "It has an imperfection, and so does yours. It was such a small and specific detail, and you never mentioned it. I realised it couldn't have been a deception."

"If only I had something like that to convince them."

He rested a hand on her despondent shoulder. "My point is that you most likely do. You are telling the truth, they will have noticed things you didn't even think of yourself. Don't be so nervous, sweet girl."

Bella felt a gush of affection for her sire. "Thank you, for always being there for me."

"Of course sweetheart," He cupped her cheek. "Even if you weren't everything I have always wanted, my venom runs through your veins - and that means something."

Bella froze, images of a terrified green eyed girl flashed through her mind.

"Better now?"

Jasper was standing in the doorway. Carlisle and Tanya were commenting on his appearance, but she couldn't focus on it. Thoughts of copper hair and the taste of blood were washed away, because Jasper looked like himself again.

His skin had been scrubbed of all the dirt and grime that had been there so long it had probably sunk into his pores. She could see all his scars, she could count the ones she'd saved him from - well and truly saved him from. A grin spread across her lips as she realised that was nearly three quarters of them. His face was completely free of scars, soft and unblemished. The one over his eyebrow was nowhere to be seen.

Once she tore her eyes from his face, she could appreciate the rest. Kate had clearly tried to style his honey blonde hair the way Alice had in the wedding photo; but without industrial strength hair gel, it refused to comply. Drying golden locks were starting to wave around his ears and fall forward on his forehead. He wore a simple white shirt, a green satin tie and a crisp grey waistcoat with matching trousers and shiny boots. They fit him wonderfully, clearly not made for Carlisle's slimmer frame. Irina must have made them specially.

When her eyes travelled back up to his face, he was grinning at her. She couldn't help but beam back. For a second she was back in the Cullen house, he was mocking her for losing to Edward at chess again. 'C'mon Bells, he can't even read your mind!' Edward was laughing as she played indignant, then Alice flitted in from behind him and plopped down on the couch beside her. Her head dropped onto Bella's shoulder and tickled her ear. They would be proud of her, she realised.

"Happy?" Jasper asked.

She shook herself back to the present. "Very."

She tried her best at sitting.

Carlisle had them all set out, sitting appropriately at the dining room table. He and Bella faced Jasper and a still filthy Peter with papers between them, like a job interview. A terrifying job interview.

Bella had only been able to stand it for a few minutes, she jumped from her chair and started to pace the room. That was better, she couldn't feel their eyes on her so much.

"So you have somethin' to tell us." Peter finally broke the tense silence. "And I'm starting to get the feelin' it's pretty bad."

"No, it's not bad!" Bella interjected. "It's not bad, it's just kind of big. But just know that I never meant any harm, I never had any ulterior motives!"

Carlisle winced. Okay, that might have made it sound worse than it was.

Jasper stared at her like she grew another head. "The fuck did you do?"

Carlisle winced again.

"It's not that I did anything…" She wrinkled her nose at the half truth. "Okay I did do stuff. But it was good stuff! Every dumb thing I ever did was for you!"

"Bella, it might be better to just tell them." Carlisle interjected.

"Okay…" Bella took a deep, calming breath. "My name is Isabella Cullen, formerly Isabella Swan. I was born in Forks, Washington, and I did grow up in Phoenix, Arizona."

"... Okay?"

"It's just that... I wasn't born when I said I was."

Peter was frowning. "Okay... when were you born then?"

She tried to get the words out but it was like she couldn't find the air. "God damn it, this is hard..."

"Bella, if you're older than you say then I don't see how that's a problem?" Jasper said.

"It's not that I'm older. I'm younger... sort of..."

"Bella…" Carlisle reached over to her and gently clasped her hand in this. "It will be alright."

She swallowed down the monster inside her that was screaming to keep lying.

"I was born on September 13th, 1988. I was turned on July 10th, 2007. I'm from the future."

Silence. They didn't say anything, just stared at her. She couldn't read anything in their expressions but surprise and disbelief.

Peter was the first to speak again. "Apologies, but - what?"

"Have you heard of the Volturi?" She asked. They shook their heads no.

"The closest we have to a government," Carlisle explained, "they maintain the secrecy and collect power to keep every other coven in line."

"They got someone who can turn back time." Said Bella. "It's just a gift, like my shield or your empathy. There was a rebellion that they wanted stopped and because of my shield I was the only one they could send back."

"So… you're here to stop a rebellion?" Peter asked. "That's why you broke me and Jasper out?"

"Wait - you believe me?"

"I didn't say that. I'm just tryin' to figure out what you're trying to tell us. 'Cause you told me a lot about how peaceful it is out here and the fact that you were actually recruitin' me to another war-"

"No no no!" Bella exclaimed. "It's not that! I went to get you because I know you!"

"You know me?"

"Jasper's part of my coven in the future."

Jasper had been staring into space in front of him, his eyes focused on nothing, but at that his head shot up to look directly at her.

"I am?"

"Perhaps show him the photograph, Bella?" Carlisle interjected.

Oh yeah, Bella had almost forgotten about the evidence.

She slid the polaroid of her, Carlisle, and Jasper towards him. He hovered his fingertips over it.

"The colour…" He whispered.

Peter glared at it. "Could be a painting."

"Is it like any painting you've ever seen?" Jasper replied. Bella decided to take his sarcasm as a good sign.

She slid the other photo, of them in the 40's, towards them. "I wasn't born for this one."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "That's a lotta scars."

"Yeah, I got you out of there a bit earlier than last time."

"You did, huh?"

They lapsed back into an awkward silence. Bella's mind felt wiped, she was so scared she couldn't even think clearly. Jasper wasn't calming her down for some reason.

Carlisle held the tape player out to her as a suggestion. She took it thankfully.

"What is that?" Peter asked as she fiddled turning the tape over to the B side.

"It's a cassette tape player," Carlisle explained, "you can record your voice on it and play it back later. My future self used it to send me a message - and yours did too, Jasper."

"You're not from the future?"

"No. Only Bella is."

Bella pushed in the chunky play button and Jasper's unmistakable southern drawl crackled through the speakers. Although it was softer than the one she had now gotten used to.

"My name's Jasper Whitlock, although I also go by Jasper Hale. I'm recording this to provide evidence for Bella's claims.

"This is an impossible thing to convince you of. I don't envy Bella, although I wish desperately I could go in her place. It's not just me, everyone wishes they could go instead. She is the baby, afterall."

Bella clenched her teeth and tried not to think about not being the baby anymore.

"I'll try to back up what she's likely already told you. She's Isabella Cullen, born of Charles and Renee Swan in Washington state. She was turned when she was eighteen by Carlisle Cullen, which in the year 2012 was five years ago.

"Now I s'pose I should tell you somethin' only I would know. Hopefully it is my past self listening to this. It's difficult to think of somethin', a lot of things could have been found out. In 1886, which is hopefully the year you're in, my family is still alive. Bella could'a just asked them."

Jasper's wide eyes shot up to hers, she tried to give him an encouraging little nod. Yes, his family was still alive.

The recording breathed a little awkward laugh, like he couldn't believe he was saying this. "I lost my virginity the night before I left for the war - to Jane Able, the cobbler's daughter. I felt so guilty I considered proposing on the spot. She would'a said no anyway, that girl could take her pick. I was terrified I would get a letter tellin' me I was a father for a year afterwards. Didn't calm down until I saw her again.

"Now I know you've never told anyone that, not even Maria. I've only ever told one person in a century and a half, and that was Alice.

"Mainly though, Jasper, if you are listenin' to this - you know this girl ain't lyin'. For one, she's a terrible liar-" Peter snorted "-and second, you can feel her; she's so genuine it's like a breath of fresh air. Peter was your light in that camp, tell me Bella wasn't too.

"I don't have much time. I need to teach our girl to slaughter some newborns. If I did my job right, you recognised your own moves. I hope she doesn't have to kill too many, I hope you protected her."

His tone turned hard. "You'd better have protected her.

"That girl risked everythin' for you. You owe her your life, so you better act like it. Peter too, if he's listenin', bastard better be good to her. Neither of you deserve her, and you never will.

"... And Peter better not be givin' any trouble about this, I tried to call him for some evidence, but the fucker never answers his phone.

"...I gotta end the recordin'. You idiots better believe her. Goodbye, and stay safe Bells."

The tape clicked off and left the room in silence.

After a few minutes in thought, Jasper spoke up; softly, as if to himself.

"That was me."

"Seems that way," said Peter.

Bella couldn't take the tension, she was waiting for two people she loved to decide if she was telling the truth after all. She found herself shuffling again.

Jasper kept zoning out, lost in thought. But at her movement, his unfocused gaze snapped back to her again, and finally that heavy haze of fear was stripped away and an artificial warm calm took its place.

She sighed in relief, he gave her a tight smile in return.

Pete slapped his knees under the table. "Okay, let's go into this. Let's say you are tellin' the truth, how well did you know me?"

"Not very, I only met you once."

"But you knew Jasper?"

"Yeah," she said, "Jasper was part of my coven. I knew him when I was still human, he helped with my newborn years, I lived with him for five years. We were family."

She could have sworn Jasper winced a little, but it was gone before she could really see.

"Okay, Jas. Ask her some questions."

Jasper finally spoke again. "Just because she lived with me doesn't make her an expert on me."

Peter rolled his eyes. "Sure..."

Jasper shook his head and sighed. "She's tellin' the truth. You know it, Pete."

He exhaled, deep. "Fine. So this is what you were hidin' from us, Bells."

"Yeah." Bella bit her lip. "You understand though, right?"

He ignored her question. "So you knew where we were because Jasper told you?"

She nodded. "He wrote me instructions."

"Can we see them?"

"Um…" She glanced over at the tall stack of paper to Carlisle's right. There was a lot of future knowledge in there and she wasn't sure how much they could know. But she did have something else.

She rummaged through her satchel and brought out a battered and well loved sheet of paper, drawn on with pink gel pen. The flowchart Alice had made for her. "Here."

Jasper frowned at the calligraphy. "I wrote this?"

"No. You remember my sister?"

"Yes, you mentioned one."

"She read your instructions and turned them into a chart. You basically wrote a book."

He flipped the chart and read the note on the other side, it had a signature Bella had reread over and over.

"Stay safe, I love you.

Alice Xx"

"Is this the same girl I mention in the cassette… thing?" He asked.

"Yes, she's the same girl."

"Does she exist right now?"

"Not for a while, no…"

The tension was echoing off Peter in waves. He was glaring at the flowchart in Jasper's hands.

"So this is everythin'? Every single lie?"

"I mean…" Bella frowned. "I wasn't trying to lie. I couldn't tell you in the camp."

"Bella." He growled. "You sat there and promised you weren't hiding anything from me. You sat there and lied to my face after I promised to give up my whole life for you!"

Her eyes widened, part of her couldn't believe she was actually getting the reaction she was scared of. Carlisle slowly rose out of his chair as if to defend her, even Jasper looked surprised.

Her voice rose to defend herself. "I had no way of knowing how you'd react! I didn't know if I had enough evidence to properly convince you back there. What if I didn't? You wouldn't have left with me and I couldn't risk that!"

"You should have fuckin' trusted me!"

He snarled and kicked his chair across the room, where it hit the wall and shattered. He turned and ran out of the house, the front door slammed so hard behind him that the stone walls rattled.

Bella started to go after him, but Carlisle stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

"Let him calm down." He murmured. "He will understand eventually."

He turned his cool gaze down to Jasper, who was still sitting at the table. "Will you be joining him?"

The blond slowly looked up at him. "No. I understand why she didn't tell us."

Bella finally found it in her to smile. "You do?"

"Yeah." He smirked a little at her. "I always knew you were lyin' to me, remember? I finally know the whole story. Unless there's somethin' else?"

She frantically shook her head. "No! There's nothing else!"

He nodded. "Good. I have more questions, but… could we go outside? I'm not used to…"

"...Walls?"

"Yeah, walls."

They left Carlisle in the house and went out to find somewhere to talk out of earshot of the others. Eventually they came across a decent sized hill that gave a good view of the sun sinking below the trees. They stood still, staring at it for a moment.

"Carlisle seems to be a good man." He said. "You're lucky to have a sire who cares so deeply."

She swallowed, those flashes of copper hair, papery skin and glazed green eyes plagued her again. "Do you know what her name was?"

He frowned at her. "Whose name?"

"The girl I turned."

He gave her a look that was half amused and half sympathy. "Harriet. But you know you're not obliged to be a good sire to a girl you were forced to turn."

"Neither's Carlisle…" Bella sighed. "But I won't go back to get her, don't worry."

He chuckled. "I'm not worried. You wouldn't dare, not when I have promises to my future self to keep."

She breathed a laugh and let him think. He had a look in his eyes that said he was brimming with questions.

"When would I have escaped?" He asked. "Had you not come and rescued me?"

"1938."

His eyebrows rose. "1938… I would have stayed there for another fifty years?"

He looked distraught, but she couldn't lie to him again. "Yes."

His nostrils flared and he stumbled backwards, disgust clear on his face. His head dropped to his hands. "I have never thought of myself a weak man before, but to think I would put up with that torment for fifty more years. I must be the weakest man alive."

"Hey!" She took hold of his wrist and tugged it down. "You didn't have my shield to take Maria's influence off you, it must have taken so much strength to leave without it."

"What let me escape in the end?"

"I'm not 100% sure." She said. "You thought you knew the whole story in the future, but you didn't know about Maria's gift so you couldn't have. You said she was sending you further out to manage far away territory, maybe her gift stopped working so well on you? Then Peter fell in love with one of the newborns and escaped; and three years later he came back and dragged you away with him."

He snorted, some of his reservations dissipated. "Peter in love, what a notion. Are you gonna go break his girl out too?"

"I don't intend on letting Maria take her in the first place."

"You'll kill Maria?"

"No…" She bit her lip, he could react negatively to this one. "I know how the wars will end this way. If we kill Maria, we don't know who will rise up to take her place. It could be worse."

"So we can never kill her?" He frowned. "She will never see justice?"

"Trust me, I want her dead too." Bella did some math in her head. "Let's say 1990. In 1990, we'll pack up and kill her. Set her own newborns on her or something."

"Did I never do it in your time?"

"You were in the wars for so long; I think you just craved peace."

"Huh…" He stared down at his shoes. "I s'pose he's a better man than me then."

"Not better, just older."

He smiled down at the ground, his hands hidden in his pockets. The sun was almost out of view, but the sky itself glowed with reds and oranges; they made him glow too.

He finally noticed her staring at him. "What is it? "

She felt the urge to flush at being caught, he smirked.

"I just…" She took a tentative step towards him and brushed some lint off his sharp collar. "I've been so scared for so long, but we did it. You're safe and you know everything, and you're here. You're where you're meant to be!"

He gazed into her eyes for a moment, then took her hand, bowed over it, and slowly kissed her knuckles. He lingered there, whispering over her wrist. "I'm meant to be with you."

Her breath caught. They were still separated by a foot, but the cool breeze of his breath sent shivers up her arm all the way to her squeezing chest.

He straightened and lifted her palm to cradle it against his unbeating heart.

"I was wonderin'..." he whispered, "if we could pretend, for a moment, that I don't know yet. Pretend that it's not complicated yet…" His thumb stroked the back of her hand and he inched a little closer. "... If that's okay?"

Bella bit her lip. There was a look in his eyes that said this was a situation she absolutely shouldn't be in. But also, if she really thought about it; was totally inevitable.

She nodded.

"There is just somethin' that I had been wantin' to do, before I found out about all this." He said, his other hand drawing up to cup her shoulder.

"What is it?"

He took a deep breath and closed the distance between them, the hand on her shoulder crept up to cup her jaw and tilt her head up towards his. He leant down and softly brushed his lips against hers, in a cautious, fleeting kiss.

He whispered against her lips. "Please tell me if I'm takin' liberties…"

He was, but in that second she didn't care. All conscious thought went out the window. She grasped the back of his neck and pulled his mouth back to hers. He let go of the hand held against his chest and she drew it up to hold on to his shoulder instead. He wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her closer, until every curve of her body pressed against his. The hand on her jaw moved back to tangle through her hair and pull it lightly in his palm.

She gasped as tingles raced down her scalp and he pulled back just a little.

"Thank you…" He murmured, his lips an inch away from hers. "I've been wantin' to do that for weeks and just… needed to before I find out somethin' that means I can't anymore."

Bella screwed her eyes shut to say what part of her really wished she didn't have to. "I'm not lying about being married."

He touched his forehead to hers. "God, but I wish you were."

They stayed there for a little while; breathing each other's air, as close as they could be. But Jasper pulled back when it was time to return to reality.

"Okay." He groaned, retreating to a safe distance. "Go on. Tell me I'm your brother or somethin'"

"Ew. No. You're my…" Best friend's husband. Bella realised with a start that she hadn't thought about Jasper like that in a long time. "... you're my husband's adoptive brother. And my friend."

"Your husband's brother?" He frowned, his eyes unfocused. "Do I know him?"

"Not yet." She gave a fake feeling smile. "He won't be around for a few years."

"Is he born?"

She bit her lip and didn't say anything.

"Bella…"

"He waited a hundred years for me…" She looked at him imploringly, begging him to understand. "I have to wait for him."

"You must truly love him if you're willing to do that." He laughed darkly and raised a hand to clench at his hair. "And what kind of man would I be if I ruined that for you?"

"Please don't think you're ruining anything!" She gasped. "Please don't go!"

His brows pulled together at her distress; he heaved a breath and drew her back to him, tucking her head under his chin and squeezing her into his chest.

"Relax, Bella. How could I ever leave you?" He pressed his lips to her hair. "I knew you were married, I'm sorry for puttin' this on you."

She laughed into his chest. "Don't be."

He laughed too, his face still resting in her hair. "I don't have to act like your husband's brother, do I?"

Truthfully, he didn't. Somewhere along the line she had stopped wanting him to. The man holding her wasn't the same as the one she left in the future, her relationship with him wasn't the same. They couldn't be together romantically; he wasn't meant for her and she wasn't meant for him. But perhaps they could still enjoy this closeness. For now, at least, she was content to hold and be held by someone she loved. They could soak up that combined affection even if it couldn't be romantic. She would stay close to him until she could bear to tear herself away.

And if that is the day she leaves to fetch Edward, so be it.

Peter came back three weeks later, his clothes ripped to shreds and eyes bright with blood. He kissed Bella's knuckles and embraced her quickly, muttering, "I get it. I'm mad about it. But I get it.". He then clapped Jasper on the back, shook Carlisle's hand and finally accepted the bath that had been offered all that time before.

He was grumpy for a while. But they had plenty of time for forgiveness.

*IMPORTANT INFO*

Hope you enjoyed that friends! It's been in the works for a long long time!

So, important information and important questions. This marks the end of what I have so affectionately been calling act one, or the Jasper arc. His arc obviously continues past this but the boy's been rescued. Next is act two, aka the Esme/Edward/Alice arc, who are all very close together time wise. It's currently 1886 in our story, and we won't meet Esme until 1911, so we're going to have a monster time skip. (the whole story so far has taken place in six months, imagine if I actually wrote through all those years!)

The plan is to have a drabble for every year we're skipping. Some are just a few lines, some are closer to a thousand words, I'd say the average is about 500 a year. You may be happy to hear they will be in a variety of povs, mainly pb&j.

So, here is my question to you, dear friends!

I have those chapters split into two parts: 1886-1899 and 1900-1910. Do you want them in two large chapters, each uploaded on the usual Saturday a week apart? OR do you want them split into 14 parts and uploaded one part a day? It's up to you! Go vote in the comments/reviews! I'll take an average on Monday or Tuesday (that's 22/03/21 if you're from the future) and post then if you pick lots of little chapters!

Thanks so much for reading so far, it's so exciting that we've reached a big turning point! It's so weird to be moving into the next phase where I'm not even 100% on what the chapters will be, let alone specifically what happens in them. (I'll have to get on that!) But I hope you stick with me and I'll see ya next week x