AN: I own the plot and the characters belong to Stephenie someone that's not me. But we all knew that anyway.

We can't blame heavyinfinity for any issues here, I didn't send this to her for beta'ing I just wanted to get it posted. Hope it's not in too bad of shape.

I'm sure this is going to be another shocker for some but well it happened. Just enjoy it :D

Chapter 8

Emmett, Rose, and Char returned home just before dawn from their hunting trip and Peter quietly filled them in on the previous night's drama. I felt the sadness and worry radiate from everyone before turning their feelings off and focusing on the calm breathing of the beautiful woman in my arms.

The next morning we discussed it again and Bella got to give her thoughts on the event.

"I don't understand why he did it. Things were just fine then suddenly, he's all 'I love her' and shit and all of sudden my one and only human friend is gone! If I can't live a normal life maybe there's no reason to wait. Jasper?" she asked turning to me.

I anticipated this conversation last night while she slept. "Darlin', we aren't rushing things and we aren't doing anything because you had one incident. Rose really wants to continue school and I think you do too. You'll just have to keep away from Jack, befriend some of the other kids in your classes. I know you can do it." I hugged her to me and kissed her head before walking into the backyard to talk with Peter.

We wandered away from the house at a human pace quietly until we were out of ear shot. "What do you think? What do you know?" I asked softly, honestly worried about the answer.

"Oh Major, don't get your panties in a bunch. Everything will be fine." He gave me a cocky smile and I returned it with a genuine one. I didn't want to know if he actually knew that or if he was just reassuring me. Today it didn't matter. Things have become so human for us, it feels weird.

On Monday I followed Bella surreptitiously just to make sure that Jack wasn't an issue for her after we had our one class together. Jack tried to apologize after their first class together but given the cold shoulder treatment he felt very defeated about the whole thing.

When Thursday came around Bella and I met at the library and I could feel her nerves long before she got here. "What's up?" I asked as I got up to help her with her bag and held her chair for her.

She plopped down with a sigh and looked up at me, "Jack."

I immediately felt myself stiffen but I tried to maintain my calm.

"Okay?" I prompted her as I sat down next to her and turned her shoulders so she was looking at me. "Go on".

"Well, it's nothing really he keeps trying to apologize. I keep ignoring him and sitting far away from him but he always looks so sad now. I know he was an asshole, but maybe I should accept his apology?" She looked at me with pleading eyes and I closed mine against the onslaught of anger and frustration that radiated through me.

I sighed loudly and placed a hand on Bella's panther necklace I bought her for Valentine's Day. When I did she looked up questioningly. "Bella, you are strong. If you have the heart to forgive him, you can do it. I won't." I held my free hand up to explain myself before she could begin to speak.

"I will not tell you who you can or can't be friends with. Even if you do accept him back as a friend, I would hope you'd like to find other friends also whom you can split your time with. I will not be Jack's friend anymore, he not only has lustful feelings for my mate, but he blatantly insinuated that I hurt you. I'm not okay with that. I know you have lots of scars from me and from you, but those were our choices and none of his business.

"I do ask that for my sanity you do not find yourself alone with him ever. From last Friday's incident to forever, I will not trust him with the only thing in the world that matters to me, you. I love you. If you want me to be around when you are studying with him or whatever, I will do that for you. Anything for you, but I will not be his friend. You're strong and you're a good person. You do whatever you want, just keep me informed, okay?" I looked into her eyes, willing her to understand my aversion to this friendship but I would not stop it.

She searched my eyes for something and though I'm pretty sure it was my sincerity, I know she found whatever she was looking for and nodded in acceptance.

"I am making a new friend by the way." She smiled brilliantly at me with this news and her nervousness took on an excited form.

"Tell me?" I asked gently reaching to play with a lock of her hair. I just needed to touch her, I always needed to touch her. "Well it was a girl that Rose made friends with during orientation. Her name is Jennifer. Do you remember?"

"Yes, I remember Rose stating that she was from Oregon and kinda lost with all the changes."

"Yeah, that's her. She's in a couple of my classes and well she came and sat with me today and said that she remembered I was friends with Rose. I corrected her and let her know Rose was practically my sister-in-law," she beamed at the sentiment before going on. "Anyhow, she said she was having a tough time this semester making friends and noticed that I wasn't sitting with my boyfriend anymore." She looked away nervous.

"Bella, it's okay, just an assumption on her part."

She nodded and continued, "I did correct her and let her know that we were just friends but we weren't getting along anymore because he developed a crush on me. I didn't tell her what happened last week just that he went a bit too far and it hurt our friendship. She was sad for that but asked if I'd be willing to study with her because she has been studying alone in her room and she's so bored she falls asleep a lot. She's not doing well in some of her classes, the required ones that she finds boring. She's an undeclared major right now but is leaning towards philosophy maybe. She's really fun to talk to and she has a lot of knowledge about things. I can see why Rose liked her."

I smiled as she continued to tell me about their talk today and that she had agreed to go to dinner with her tonight. Obviously, none of us would joining her on that one. She told me about the bar they had picked so they could have dinner and maybe dance. It was one that kicked those under 21 out at 10:00 pm.

I sat with Bella while she studied a little while before her dinner date with Jennifer. Jennifer had told her she could invite whomever she wanted but Bella stated she didn't want to overwhelm her with her family.

We eventually went home so Bella could get ready for dinner and leave her books behind, taking a car with her. She was happy to tell everyone about Jennifer and Rose suddenly offered to go with them, if it was okay with Bella.

"Of course, you can go Rose, but you'll have to eat, are you sure you want to do that? You could come later and just hang out, after dinner." Bella suggested. Since Peter had made Bella watch everyone throw up after a dinner one night months ago, Bella was very sympathetic to our plight.

"It's fine Bella, I can handle a salad," Rose smiled at Bella and went to her room to get her shoes.

Rose and Bella dressed a lot alike but it wasn't because of fashion sense or anything else. They dressed like college kids, jeans and t-shirts or sweaters. Today it was sweaters, Rose in a mauve and Bella in green. The styles were different so they really didn't look like twins or anything but it was weird to always see Rose dressed down these days. One of us is eventually going to have to ask Rose what is going on with her.

"Ready," Bella called out as she headed for the door knowing Rose would be right behind her. They took my truck which was fine as Bella didn't technically have a car of her own here, it was my truck, Peter's Tahoe and Emmett's Jeep. Rose's convertible was left at the Cullen house in Forks so it could stay in the garage and Rose hadn't wanted it here since we were living on campus at the time.

Bella's truck stayed with Charlie because it surely would have never made it this far and we didn't think we needed it anyway. Bella loved my truck.

"Well, I hope this friend works out better than the last," Peter said as he sat down next to me on the plush grey sofa Char and Rose had picked out.

"I know me too. She is thinking of forgiving that asshole though. I told her to make her own decision but she's just not much of a grudge holder. Unless your name is Edward," I smiled brightly thinking of how much she still disliked him.

"Well don't forget she's not that fond of the parental Cullens either. But she's closer to forgiving them for their haughty attitudes. I think." Peter rubbed his hands together and then looked to the ceiling. "You know Jazz, I don't get that many feelings anymore, like knowing stuff. I kind of like it but I also kind of don't. Do you think it's Bella's unconscious shield playing havoc with me?"

My eyebrows furrowed as I considered this new piece of information. "I just don't know, Peter. I suppose it could be. We know it hasn't made an appearance since her blow up at Eddy but it's possible it's getting stronger in other ways. How long has it been going on?"

Peter sat for a moment before he finally answered as Char joined us sitting next to Peter looking slightly worried with her crimson eyes.

"I suppose it's been certain since the day we moved out of the dorms. I think it was on the fritz before that but I'm not sure."

"Jasper, do you think this is dangerous?" Char asked looking between me and her husband.

"No, if anything it's probably just Bella's shield. I can't think of another reason for it. I'm sorry to say but we know all the times I've bitten her during sex, involves just a little venom I think it's affecting her for sure, even though we've slowed on that particular activity."

Char nodded and took Peter's hand. "I love our home but I'm starting to feel like Bella runs the show a lot of the time and I don't like it anymore. I love her, I do, please don't be mad at me but I have to say something."

Emmett picked the wrong time to tune into our conversation from his bedroom, where he was doing God knows what. "Charlotte, don't you dare say a mean thing about my sister!" he boomed as he moved to join the conversation in the living area. "We agreed to do this for Bella. Of course, she is calling the shots, it's her first time at college, it's her last time at college as a human and Jasper has decided to let her have many human experiences as possible. Those are going to include some things we probably won't enjoy. So yeah, Bella is calling the shots but look at what she did for us, she moved from the dorms even though she didn't want to. She supported you dropping out of school, she supported you returning to a human diet. Even though SHE'S STILL HUMAN!" He bellowed and growled at her.

Peter stood in front of Char and I calmed the room down, this could get out of hand quickly.

"Stop, everyone. Emmett's right, when we agreed to this we agreed to everything for Bella. And it isn't going the way Bella had hoped right now. But Char, no one is making you or anyone else do anything. You are in control of you, you purchased this beautiful home and decorated it and now you are taking care of it and taking long trips to hunt when you need to. I'm sorry you sometimes have to take those alone. But seriously if you and Peter want to leave, we'll miss you and we'll be sad to see you go. But we won't stop you." I moved around Peter and hugged her to me while she whimpered a little.

"Here," Peter opened his arms and I passed her to him. "I think we'll go on a little vacation over the Thanksgiving holiday. How does that sound, darlin'?" he asked, moving his finger under her chin so she could look up at him.

She nodded and then returned to snuggling in his chest. "I guess we're gonna call it a night. Night." He picked her up and raced off to his room where he spent the rest of the night reassuring her of his love and their love for Bella.

Emmett stayed quiet on the sofa the rest of the night until the girls came home giggling and talking about a great night. I was happy to see someone was in a good mood and swept my girl up to our room before she could be brought down by anything else.

We spent an amazing night making love and cuddling. Friday came too soon and I was worried how things would go with Char and Jack.

Char acted fine as everyone got ready to leave for classes. That was one concern that was gone. Now for the bigger one. I wanted to know but I was scared to ask. Finally, as I parked my truck I turned to her and grabbed her arm to halt any movement towards exiting.

"Jasper?"

"I was just wondering, it's still your choice, but what are you planning to do about Jack today?" I tried to keep my face blank. I didn't want her to make any decisions because of me.

"Well, I'm still not sure honestly. I thought I'd just see what happened today. I'm very mad at him and I don't know if I can forgive him. But at the same time, I feel bad. I feel like it's my fault that this happened and he kept telling you he didn't want to lose our friendship but then he made a stupid play for me and well it wrecked everything. I just don't know." I could feel she was very indecisive about the whole thing and guilty. I wish she wouldn't feel guilty, none of it is her fault.

"Okay, I just wondered, but it's not your fault he chose to act how he did. Remember what your therapist said. 'You aren't responsible for other people's actions'."

"I know, I know. I'll see you later, Jasper and I promise to be safe and make my own decisions," she kind of snapped at me. I knew that was the way this could have gone if I asked about Jack. But I guess at least I know she hasn't decided anything for certain.

I waited in the library for her arrival after class. I had spent the hour wandering the campus and just trying to keep my mind off the problem with Jack. Unfortunately, that meant I began thinking about the problem with Char. She was getting frustrated and I'm not sure why. Then there's Rose and her desire to be very human, which has me puzzled and slightly worried, and then of course we're back to Jack. The hour was too long.

I smiled as Bella approached me and we were ready to begin our Thanksgiving vacation. Charlie would be arriving later tonight and we would pick him up at the airport, the meal was already purchased and Bella was excited about cooking. We spent a couple hours in the library so Bella could finish some last minute homework and turned that in before we walked hand in hand to my truck.

I opened the door for Bella without much thought and kissed her nose before she hopped in. I noticed she was very puzzled and scared as I entered the cab on the driver's side. In her hands was a small package.

"What's that?" I nodded towards the package.

"It's for you?" she answered with a question, fear still lacing her emotions. I took the shoebox sized package and looked at the writing.

If my blood could have run cold it would have. All it said was "For Jasper" but I could smell that it had been Jack that was in my truck.

"Were the doors locked, Jasper? How did he get in here? Why is he giving you a gift without signing his name?" she rushed through her questions which were also my own.

"Yes the truck was locked. How did you know it was Jack?" I could smell him but how did she know?

"I saw him with this earlier, he had it before class and then he was late to class and didn't have it anymore. Are you going to open it?"

I didn't like that he had been in my truck, especially without a key, I'd have to see if there was damage later. I nodded to Bella and began tearing the baby blue paper off the package. I was hoping it was an apology of some sort but I had the sinking feeling it wasn't.

I set the paper between Bella and I and looked at her before taking the lid off the shoe box. I could smell it before I even got the lid off and glared at the blue fabric staring at us. Bella leaned over and looked curiously in the box.

"What is it?" she asked reaching for it and I snatched up her hand in midair.

"Don't!" I instructed forcefully as I put the lid back on the box and took it out of the truck. Bella stayed in her seat while I walked over to a trashcan on the closest sidewalk and deposited the box in it.

I returned to the truck where Bella continued to watch me curiously and though I didn't want to say it aloud I knew I had to answer her question.

"It was his underwear, cum stained underwear." I crumpled the wrapping paper forcefully and tossed it into the bed of the truck, I didn't remember to bring it because I wanted those things as far from me as possible.

"Oh God," Bella nearly gagged and I couldn't blame her as she covered her mouth in revulsion. "Why? Why on Earth would he do that?"

Now that was the question. Why indeed. "I think," I paused, pondering how to put it, "I think, that his hero worship has ascended to new levels."

"New levels?" she questioned still feeling completely disgusted

"I think I've developed a stalker, Bella. And now he is a problem. We can't have him stalking us and more importantly, his desire to have you, isn't because he loves you, it's because he wants to be me."

She squeaked and curled into my side shivering. Her fear was real this time. It was time for a family meeting about Jack. Which was going to be difficult as Charlie was on his way and Peter and Charlotte have already left. But telephone would have to do. This was a very big situation. I rushed us home and yelled for Em and Rose to join us in the living room while I pulled out my phone and dialed my brother.

"We have a problem." I said to both the room and Peter as he answered the phone.