Jasper's PoV

Bella was fragile, vulnerable and not wanting to ask for help right now. I felt her emotions as she dipped into the water before she zoomed back into her clothes having ran out of her hearing and smell range but not my empathic ability or sight. I still could slightly feel her as I watched from behind a tree like the stalker I was. I wanted to gauge her emotions without me there to feel the damage I had done. Although it was only a slight taste, it still brought me to my knees with sorrow. I picked myself up though, took my stuff out of our room as well as a spare couch to the loft as promised and made myself comfortable there till Rose found me.

"Did you talk to her?" she asked while dodging chickens that were trying to peck at her boots for food.
"Yeah" I mumbled.
"How did it go?" she asked as she leapt up into the loft, ignoring the ladder and sitting down on the couch next to me.
"She hates me, can I die now?" I mumbled looking away.
"No you can't Jasper, she needs time, she needs a friend, you two were friends first, you pulled her out of her funk once, you can do it again" she said.
"Yeah but last time it was because Edward left, not because I had raped her repeatedly till Maria commanded me to stop. Trust me, she doesn't want to spend time with me" I said, throwing a ball against the wall and scaring the chickens below.
"Did she say that?" Rose asked, catching the ball and keeping it out of my reach.
"No" I mumbled, looking away.
"Then suck it up, be what she needs right now," Rose said.
"She wants to go on cute dates but she doesn't want me closer than a few meters" I cried leaning forward and burying my face into my hands.
"She will heal Jasper, she just needs time to remember that you are kind, gentle, loving, loyal, protective, that you are not the monster she thinks you are right now" Rose said as she draped an arm over my back.
"Cute dates?" she asked after some time.
"Picking flowers, seeing movies, that kind of thing" I mumbled into my hands.
"That's super cute Jasper and that means she's willing to give you a chance, what do you want?" she asked as she brushed my hair softly.
"I want the same, I never wanted to rush into anything. Every relationship I've had has been a roller coaster from the start. I wanted to hold her hand and walk through fields of wildflowers. I wanted to watch movies, read books together, go horse riding, I want all of those things" I said leaning back letting my words sink in.
"Then stop moping and let's get going. Why not do a movie and game night with all of us minus the pups, It will be like a triple date without the intensity" Rose asked leaning back into the couch also.
"She won't sit next to me" I mumbled.
"Then she will sit with me and Char and you can slum it with the guys, time, understanding and patience Jas" she said before leaping down from the loft terrifying the chickens and making her way out to go start planning.

Some time later in the evening after Bella had fed again with Rose, we were all sitting around a television watching Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was an epic movie based off of Jules Verne's writing which I happened to have a copy of back in Forks. I sat next to Peter and Emmett while the girls sat on the other couch and mostly focused on Bella's emotions rather than watching the movie. She hadn't seen it before but was instantly in love with it, obviously having read the book she pointed out parts that were different as the movie went along. It gave me an idea to ask Carlisle if he could send my copy carefully down since he and Esme had returned to Forks for some time. I had a very old copy that I had managed to find on my travels with Alice in 1950. I had also warned Esme of what I had done to the house but she said it was fine.

The night was a success with watching a movie and playing games. Bella was reserved but Char and Rose got her to talk a little. Rose had been right, it was a good bridge to start something new. I sped off afterwards to hunt and prepare for tomorrow. I was going to race her to our waterfall to see if she could remember the way.

Bella's PoV

In the morning Jacob and I went hunting for the pups to eat since I wanted to get moving. I didn't want to stay inside anymore which is how I found myself upwind watching Jacob shoot a gun at an elk when I easily could bring them down. I had to admit it was nice doing normal things for a bit and helped carry them back to the farm to carve them up for roasting. Rose came out for a split second before bolting for the hills. The smell was bad but I had expected it and shrugged it off as I helped Jacob skin the animals.

Later Jasper found me and asked If I would walk with him after I freshened up. I said sure and ran to our room to take a shower, dress into another hoodie and jean shorts. I tried breathing like Jasper said and putting a bra on but gave up after yet another one broke. I would have to ask Rose and Char to go shopping with me at some point. I found Jasper on the deck waiting for me when I exited our room.
"I was wondering if you wanted to see who was faster, let's see who can get to our waterfall first?" he smirked as he pulled his boots and socks off leaving them on the deck. I was already barefoot so I nodded my head yes to wait for the go ahead.
"Okay three, two, one, go" he counted on his fingers and we bolted off. I went slow at first to get my bearings. Once I had an idea of where I was and which direction to head into, I zoomed off leaving Jasper in the dust or at least I thought I had. I made it over the ridge to see the wonder below and also to see Jasper laying in the grass waiting as he twirled a flower in his fingers.
"How the hell did you beat me?" I asked as I skidded to a halt in front of him in frustration.
"Easy, I took the direct route, not the route our horses took where they changed direction so many times to scale the hill" he said while sitting up and smirking.
I glared at him but noticed he had planned this, there was a massive picnic blanket with some card games to play. There was a mega boom quietly playing 'I Don't Want To Miss a Thing' by Aerosmith, and there were two blood bags of animal blood.
"Really? A romantic picnic?" I asked as I sat down on the opposite corner to Jasper.
"Hardly, I just hate this song and figured I'd give it one last listen. It was Alice's favorite and now I never have to listen to it ever again" he said as he bobbed his head to the song.
"What if it's my favorite song?" I asked teasingly.
"I'll burn my ears off, don't you dare torment me like that!" he said laying back on the edge of the blanket to look at the sky, stretching out his legs. I followed suit leaning back on my side and laughed when he started belting out the lyrics. Alice would like this song.
"What was Edwards?" I asked.
"No clue sorry, shouldn't you know? You dated him!" Jasper said causing me to smile.
"We didn't really talk about music with the whole 'hey i'm a vampire and now we gotta run from the bad guys', not a lot of time for real conversations" I said.
"And in all that time running away, he didn't teach you the art of distraction with a sharp knife and a conversation about culinary skills? Disappointing" he smirked. I rolled my eyes and fell into a comfortable silence as I took in the scenery and smell as a vampire.

"What music do you like?" I asked after some time.
"I like country music but I'm open to new things, here you can pick the next song, you have to follow it with a love song though" he said, throwing his phone in my direction. I was too scared to pick it up so I carefully navigated on the phone while gently touching it with my finger. I found a banger from last year, No air by Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown. Jasper bopped his head to the song in quiet contemplation for a minute.
"Still having trouble with your strength?" he asked out of curiosity after I stopped singing to the chorus. "Yeah I've shredded many pairs of bras and underwear, I need to go shopping with Rose and Char at some point" I said, laying back in frustration. I realized what I had just said, that I was wearing a hoodie, a pair of jean shorts and nothing else but Jasper kept his eyes on the sky and kept talking.
"It will come with time, just don't break my phone, I like that one, it's lasted me nearly half a year so far" he chuckled.
"Wait, you still break them?" I asked, looking over at him.
"Yeah, mostly when I don't want to talk to people, but this one has been the longest that I've had for a while" he said. Suddenly the song 'Dont Cha' came on by the Pussycat dolls which got a cringe from Jasper and a giggle out of me.
"Ohmigod, I can't change this, it's a classic!" I said as I scooped up his phone and flipped backwards just barley missing his hand that was going to grab the phone off of the blanket.
"It's not a love song Bella!" he tried while laying back in defeat.
"No but it's a great song!" I said as I changed it to 'Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar which got an eyebrow raise from Jasper.
"I actually really love this song" he said as he started drumming the beat out on his lap.

The sun was beautiful, it was high in the sky setting our skin both alight with sparkles. It was also just nice, laying here with Jasper, soaking up the rays, laughing at love songs, falling into our easy friendship, into an easy conversation. Soon we started playing a board game of monopoly while sharing a drink of our blood bags. It was cute and he never once over stepped, never once tried to push for more than I was willing to give.

On the way back I raced him and won this time now knowing how he cheated but nearly ran over Rose who was looking for me from outside of my room.
"Slow down Bella, the world isn't about to bloody explode" she sniped at me before breaking into a warm smile and hugging me.
"Did you have fun with Jasper? Do I need to remove any body pieces?" she asked.
"Yeah I had fun, he was the perfect gentleman" I said.
"Good, let it stay that way" she glared behind my shoulder. I turned to see him standing there with his hands up in surrender.
"Just here to pick up my boots ma'am" he said before winking at me and zooming off with them in his hands.