Rosalie had to admit, she never would have predicted she would end up in a situation like this, much less with this vampire, the same one that she had fought so hard to make feel unwelcome.
But here he was, in the garage once again. Most of the time, if he was in the garage, he could be found sleeping in the backseat of someone's car.
However, sometimes he would just lay somewhere, wide awake, and watch her work.
The times where he did that were sort of unnerving for her, considering how intense his stare could be; it was like having a damn cat staring into your soul, waiting for the slightest sign of weakness so it could snatch it away.
But she had learned to ignore him. Jasper just had a weird stare by nature.
Today though, rather than just watching her, he had taken to sitting in the garage and sorting out her tools while she washed Emmett's jeep outside. She had told him to do that as a joke; she hadn't expected for him to actually do it. It was an amusing sight, watching the so-called God Of War crawl around and sort tools by size and shape with such a focused expression on his face.
At least he wasn't on the roof like he had a habit of doing when Alice was gone for too long.
Staring at him made her notice something though. It could be her imagination, but she could swear his hair was longer now than it had been when he got here, which wasn't possible since a vampire's appearance couldn't change. Fingernails. Hair. Height. Weight. All of that stopped changing once you were changed.
But then again.
He wasn't the same. He had that rotting blood in him, but it wasn't like it was even flowing; he had no heartbeat.
But she was pretty sure that when he first arrived, his hair was shorter.
It had grown.
He could sleep, so why couldn't his hair also grow? Yet another human thing he could do.
-lie. Rosalie.
Jasper's voice pulled her back to the present. She could almost feel the hesitant waves of calm being sent her way, and he was giving her a half-confused half-anxious look.
-Is something wrong?- His hesitant words forced her to crush her anger. Staring at him with anger would only make him more nervous, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.
Once upon a time making him nervous would have been great.
Now, not so much.
Now, she hated it; it made her uncomfortable and sometimes even angry.
Because it reminded her of that woman. Of how someone could wield such power over him, the one who was supposed to be one of the most lethal of their kind.
So she kept calm. Or, at least, she tried to as she asked him.
-Your hair. It can grow?
He shrugged at her question.
-Is that why you are jealous?
She glared at him. Sometimes she wondered which was worse to have around: a mind reader or an empath.
Still.
The last thing she wanted was for him to think she was jealous of something as stupid as his hair.
-I wasn't given a choice when I was turned. I would have rather died as a human than become this. Your hair grows. That's a human trait. Humans are the ones able to change. Not us. We are frozen in time. We don't change.
Oh.
Oh.
This was the first time Jasper had ever heard a vampire so outwardly despise their nature. Even he, who was cursed with many unique difficulties, had grown to accept and take advantage of his situation.
Still.
-You have Emmett. Isn't he enough to make this life more bearable?- Jasper asked as he finished sorting the tools and started arranging them in the toolboxes.
His words got him a small smile from Rosalie.
-More than enough.
Emmett was one of the few good things that this life had brought her. It was like Jasper said, he made living this cursed life more bearable.
And she guessed this family did too.
~~~~~~~~
Esme was cleaning the kitchen. The house was quiet since Carlisle was at work and the others at school, aside from Jasper, of course, and Rosalie, who was currently suspended after getting into an argument with a teacher. This left Esme watching over her quietest children.
She knew her daughter was outside finishing washing the cars, but Jasper had come back in from the garage a while ago. Now, he sat on the countertop while she rearranged the silverware.
And while she would have berated him for sitting there, she couldn't bring herself to do so when he had offered to dry the dishes for her. He was even kicking one of his legs in an absent-minded manner. This was the most carefree she had ever seen him, and she didn't want to spoil it.
So she let him be and turned back to the silverware.
She knew they didn't need to own silverware since none of them ate and, for obvious reasons, they didn't entertain human guests, but keeping up appearances was important, and, while it wasn't something they ever talked about, it was common knowledge in the house that the glasses were used by Jasper when he wasn't feeling well enough to go hunting or when he needed to feed but the sun kept him from going out.
-You are a great helper.- Esme praised him as she grabbed the last glass from his outstretched hand. Out of all her children, Jasper had turned out to be quite the helper whenever he wasn't with either Alice or Emmett.
-Always happy to help.
-I'm glad to hear that because that fan has been needing a new lightbulb for a while now, and Emmett's been ignoring it.- Esme told him, pointing at the ceiling fan above them. Emmett, as her tallest child, was the one tasked with taking care of this particular ceiling fan because, for her, not even climbing on the countertop allowed her to reach it, and the ladder, due the countertop, couldn't get close enough either.
Jasper was her second tallest and, unlike Emmett, he never whined about doing chores.
-How...
-You can stand on the countertop, but this is a one time thing. If I catch you standing up there just for the fun of it, you will be in a great deal of trouble, young man.- Esme warned him as she handed him the new lightbulb. Jasper gave her a short nod, a small smirk curling on his lips, before taking the lightbulb and standing up.
He removed the old one with ease and handed it to Esme before putting the new one in its place.
-Done.- Jasper said as he climbed off the counter.
-Thank you.
With that, Esme was finished in the kitchen, and since she had nothing else to do, she chose to read for a bit on her bed.
And, of course, Jasper found his way to her and Carlisle's bed as well. That habit had yet to disappear, and Esme hoped it never did, for she loved having him sleeping there.
Of course, the frequency of these visits had lessened since he had been getting better at sleeping during the night, but he still had his moments.
And she made sure to treasure them, for she knew sooner or later he would manage to stop sleeping during the day and, therefore, these little moments she had with him would stop too.
She was kind of dreading it, despite how much she hoped he did manage to change his sleeping habits.
Because having him here with her was endearing. Of all her children, Jasper had turned out to be the clingiest. He would follow her around like a lost puppy when they were the only ones in the house, helping her in the garden and even bringing her crown flowers from time to time.
He was a soft soul.
She still remembers when Alice and him had first arrived; he had been so withdrawn and skittish. Distant. Defensive.
Still.
Even though the others had been wary of him, she had just felt sad for him and had hoped that he would eventually be able to relax and understand he was safe here.
And he had.
At least, to an extent.
Even after almost six years, he was still easy to startle and would bite or lash out if he felt threatened; even now, he still becomes anxious whenever someone is mad at him.
And he still flinches.
She has learned that flinching when he woke up wasn't just something he did because Carlisle was close or because someone was in the room with him that hadn't been there when he went to sleep. It happened every single time he woke up, no matter where or with whom he was sleeping.
And part of her wondered what had had such an effect on him to make him react like that.
But then again.
With that horripilant woman, one never knew. Even after all he had revealed, Esme felt like there was even more he had kept hidden.
And if he had felt the need to hide whatever it is from them, even after revealing the appalling, inhumane torture that woman had put him through, she wasn't sure she wanted to know..
How someone so cruel could exist was something she still couldn't understand.
That woman had done a great job in breaking him, for even now, he still got worked up over the idea of Carlisle getting mad with him. Even if he had been assured over and over again that no one would hurt him, he still acted as though they would.
And she could understand it.
Knowing what Maria had done to him, Esme knew it would take more than a few years for him to heal, and that was if he could ever heal from something like that.
He had spent so much time under her abusive hand. So much violence in that place. Aggression. Death.
She found it rather amazing how he could still be such a gentle soul after all he had been put through. He was strong.
Stronger than he himself realized.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Carlisle had long ago gotten used to coming home and potentially seeing his newest son asleep on his and Esme's bed. Lately, Jasper had gotten in the habit of laying his head on Esme's lap as well.
And Carlisle knew for fact that his wife loved that, for even after all this time, Jasper still had issues with physical contact. It was not as intense as before, but he still got tense and started fidgeting whenever someone touched him for too long. There were days where he would flinch if someone touched him out of nowhere or touched him in general.
But, as far as Carlisle was concerned, he had made great progress.
He still had troubles with his sleeping habits and with being close to humans for too long, but he was doing better than he had been when he first arrived.
Plus, he was more relaxed.
Or, at least, as relaxed as Jasper could get.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jasper flinched awake to the sound of scribbling and the feeling of fingers carding through his hair. Carlisle was there, he noticed absently, doing paperwork if the light annoyance merged with calm in his emotions was anything to go by.
He still felt drowsy, and he was so comfortable that he didn't even bother to open his eyes, just choosing to lay there and enjoy the silence, the calm emotions, and the fingers in his hair.
Moments like this were one of the few he had come to hold close to his still heart.
Esme wasn't exactly his mother, and it wasn't like he'd had a bad relationship with his own mother, but... She reminded him of a mom. With her caring and understanding nature. Patience. Such overwhelming maternal love...
Part of him craved it.
He craved the kind of love only a parent could give.
It was the reason why he loved spending so much time around her.
Suddenly, a finger began tracing a familiar path across his cheek, and he couldn't help but shoo the finger away and roll over covering said cheek, he hadn't fed since Alice left this morning, thus he knew his skin was starting to give away his thirst.
That didn't mean he wanted to feed.
He was comfortable here, and he knew there was a good chance that all he would come across would be deer. Or wolves.
And he hated wolves. Their blood wasn't worth their stench.
Deer were herbivores and disgusting.
Emmett was the expert at finding bears here.
He felt Esme's flicker of amusement, and her fingers traced the back of the hand he was using to cover his cheek with. This woman truly took joy in being persistent.
-Jasper, darling, I know you are awake. Stop acting so difficult; you need to feed.
He ignored her.
With any luck, she would leave him be.
But this was Esme, and she had gotten rather sure of the unspoken privileges he gave to her as his second favorite person in the house the one who was least likely to be bitten, no matter what she did.
Thus, he wasn't surprised to feel her lifting her knees, causing his back to arch up with them while his head hung down on one side and legs were still sprawled across the bed on the other.
And it could have been his previous train of thought or how at ease he was or even his current half-asleep state.
But what came out of his mouth in response to this made the rustling of papers stop and the knees in his ribs fall lax under him.
-Mom.
It was a soft, near childish, whine of protest that no human could have ever picked up.
But vampires could.
Esme could.
He looked up, somewhat tense as her emotions became unreadable, and her expression seemed frozen in shock. His leftover sleepiness dissipated rapidly.
-What did you just call me?- Her voice came out almost breathless, and it wavered at the end.
Shock and surprise were clouding her emotions as well as Carlisle's.
-Mom?- He repeated, now hesitant.
The sudden wave of happiness that hit him caught him off guard. Joy. Love. It was overwhelming, and he couldn't help the smile that broke out as he became infected with her emotions. She pulled him into a hug, and it could have been his imagination, but he could have sworn he felt her kiss the top of his head.
And it made him grin like an idiot. He melted into her embrace and let her hug him as much as she wanted while his head rested on her shoulder.
Esme, for her part, rejoiced in this moment like nothing she ever had before. Because, if she was being honest, she had never expected Jasper to call her "mom" at all.
She could almost feel her eyes sting due to this wonderful moment she had never thought would be possible.
Carlisle, for his part, stared at the scene feeling baffled.
He had know that Esme would be the first of them that Jasper accepted as a parent
He had known it would happen.
And yet, he still couldn't help the sting of jealousy he felt as it happened, though he was quick to crush it before Jasper noticed.
He didn't want to make him feel like he had to call him "dad". He would call him that when he was ready.
-You do know this doesn't change the fact that you have to hunt, right?
Esme's words got her a groan in return, and neither Carlisle or her could help their smiles at his attitude.
One of the little changes in Jasper's personality through the years had been his growing tendency to protest against small things, and while that wouldn't normally even be considered something to bat an eye at when it came to dealing with teenagers, for Jasper it was new.
When he had first arrived, he never protested when it came to following their "orders". Even if he didn't want to do something, he would do so without a single peep.
Now, he had taken to groaning in order to show his displeasure with things he didn't want to do or found annoying.
And the occasional playful remark.
He was loosening up, and that was nice to know.
It made Esme and Carlisle wonder how much of his actual personality he hid from them.