"Epilepsy." Carlisle says as he pushes an old pamphlet with roughed up corners to Jasper and Rosalie, who sit on the opposite side of his desk. "It's a disorder that causes seizures. It differs from case to case. Some people grow out of it and can live seizure free for years, but some people don't. Esme, unfortunately, falls into the later category. That's why Esme shouldn't be driving alone."
Rosalie opens the pamphlet and scans over the bullet points that summarize the most important information on dealing with a seizure. Jasper just sinks into his chair and eyes Carlisle's office while still listening to what he's being told.
He and Rosalie were told to follow Carlisle into his office as soon as he came home. They had to go though his and Esme's room to get to it. Everything was well kept, and nothing seemed suspicious about the bedroom or office, but Jasper knows things could be hidden in the dressers, the nightstands, the closet, the desk drawers, the filing cabinet. The office and bedroom has the same hardwood floor as the rest of the house. Jasper's not one hundred percent sure, but he thinks the furniture is oak. Everything is orderly. Every book is put away, every frame on the wall is straight, even the desk is neat. There's not a piece of paper out of place. For the week that he's been here, he hasn't seen a mess in the house that stayed there for over thirty minutes. Even the dirty laundry was stored away in a hamper that never seemed to overflow.
Maria's house was never like this. With all the kids running around, new stains appeared everyday and some messes just had to be ignored so the bigger problems could be taken care of. Of course, Maria would bitch to Jasper and he'd have to get after the younger ones about picking up after themselves. He could strike just enough fear into them to get them to all clean for fifteen minutes, but never enough fear to get the whole house clean. Jasper sighs. Maybe he does better in a messy environment. Just another reason for him to want to be back with Maria.
"Are you listening, Jasper? This is important." Carlisle says. Sighing, Jasper nods.
"Yeah, I'm listening."
"Good. Witnessing a seizure can be scary, but if you know what to do then you can handle the situation just fine." Carlisle says. Opening his desk drawer, he pulls out a small flyer and nudges it towards Jasper and Rosalie. Jasper peers at it so Carlisle doesn't call him out again. "Now, not every seizure is an emergency that needs a 911 call."
Carlisle continues. Jasper tries to pay attention, but it's a lot of information being thrown at him and his mind is still on his last foster mother. She hasn't responded to any of his texts. If he calls, he's always sent to voice mail. She always had her phone on her before they left, so she must be seeing his messages.
"And that's all you really need to know about her condition. Any questions?" Carlisle asks. The siblings nod, and Carlisle breathes a sigh of relief. He never knows how new foster kids will take Esme's condition. It wouldn't be the first time if Rosalie and Jasper made jokes about Esme's epilepsy. "Well, why I have you both here, there's some other things I want to talk to you about. How's school?"
"Good." Rosalie answers. "But I am having a hard time in Accounting. Could you help me with it?"
"Of course I can." Carlisle smiles. He's always liked when his foster kids asked for help. Although he knows it's selfish, he loves knowing that they need him, even if it's just for help on a few accounting problems. Keeping his smile, he looks over to Jasper. "What about you, Jasper?"
"School sucks." He mumbles.
"How so?"
Jasper just shrugs his shoulders and looks away from Carlisle, whose smile fads.
"It's the other students-" Rosalie starts to say, but Jasper cuts her off.
"Shut up, Rose!" He snaps angrily.
Rosalie leers at him with hurt eyes. Jasper licks his lips, keeping his angry expression. Carlisle's expression hardens with Jasper's.
"Give your brother and I some time alone, missy." Carlisle commands Rosalie. He stands and walks around his desk so he's standing in front of Jasper.
Rosalie stands and looks down at Jasper. He just nods, so Rosalie leaves the room. She closes the door, but hangs around it to try to hear what Carlisle says to Jasper.
Carlisle stands and rounds the desk. He stands in front of Jasper, leans against the desk and crosses his arms. Jasper gulps, but does his best not to show any fear. Besides, he needs to know how Carlisle reacts to misbehavior. So Jasper stiffens his upper lip ad glares up at Carlisle.
"Listen well, Jasper. In this household, we are not rude to each other. Do I have to go get the rules off of the refrigerator?" He asks. Jasper just shrugs again. "Don't ever tell your sister to shut up again or you will be ground. That means no TV, no going out of the house, no internet. Everything's off limits. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Jasper murmurs. Carlisle nods.
"Good. Now, can you tell me why school isn't going well?" He asks. Jasper shrugs one more time. His reaction is child's play compared to punishments that Maria could dish out. "Come on now, Jasper. If you don't acknowledge the problem, we can't fix the-"
"Carlisle, Jasper, Rose!" Esme calls from in the kitchen. "Dinner is ready, and Alice is here!"
Carlisle sucks in a deep breath, but smiles.
"Oh, lucky you. You get to meet dear Alice. She lives next door." He says with a little sass in his voice. He pats Jasper's shoulder. "Let's go eat and if you don't lose your mind because of Alice, we will continue this conversation later tonight."
"Whatever." Jasper says. Carlisle offers Jasper his hand, but instead of taking it, Jasper stands on his own and stomps out of the office. When he flings the door open, he's surprised to see Rosalie standing there. He gives her a small smile to let her know everything's alright and they walk out of Carlisle's and Esme's room. Carlisle trails behind, making a mental note to remember how closely bonded these two siblings are.
As Jasper enters the kitchen, his eyes fall on the tiny girl sitting at the head of the table where Carlisle sits when he's home for dinner. A strong vanilla scent rolls off of her. Her dark black hair is cut short and straightened so it's flat against her skin. Her frame is small, but her pink shirt and black pants are tight. Emmett's laughing at something Alice said, as Edward and Esme shake their heads disappointingly.
"So, what did you do this time to deserve to be grounded?" Carlisle asks, knowing that is the only explanation of why she didn't visit for about two weeks. Alice turns in the chair to face him.
"My parents totally over reacted this time." She says, her thin lips turned up into a smirk. Her bright green eyes scan Rosalie, smiles, then watches Jasper. He keeps a harsh look, not really wanting to talk to anyone but Maria. But she still won't answer his texts.
"You always say they're over reacting." Carlisle sighs. Leaving the siblings where they stand, he goes over to his chair and pats Alice's shoulder. "Out of my chair, kiddo."
Alice stands with a dramatic huff and eye-roll. Carlisle chuckles and takes his seat, and Alice bounces over to Rosalie and Jasper.
"Hi, Rosalie! Emmett told me all about you." Alice says happily. "I think we're in the same Accounting class."
"Yeah, we are." Rosalie responds with a timid smile.
"And you must be Jasper." Alice says. She smiles and eyes him up and down again.
"Yeah, so?" Jasper mumbles, steps around Alice and slumps into his chair at the table. Alice glares at Jasper over her shoulder, then smiles at Rosalie and takes her hand.
"Esme took you to the nail salon? Without me?"
"Edward said you weren't responding to his texts, so I figured you were grounded again." Esme answers.
"I just told you to be respectful. That was rude." Carlisle scolds Jasper quietly. Alice leads Rosalie to the table.
"Sit with me. I'm so happy to have another girl around. They've had so many boys lately. The testosterone was out of control." She says. Alice sets next to Jasper with a smug grin. Rose sits awkwardly next to her with Emmett on the other side of her.
"No tummies at the table, Mary Alice." Esme says. "Go get a shirt. The dryer has the boys clothes in it."
"Why do you call me Mary? You know I hate that name!" Alice groans. She leaves the table, not surprised at being told to get a shirt. Although she saw no issue with the inch or two of uncovered belly, the Cullen's did, so it's not unusual for her to be told to put on a shirt of Edward or Emmett's. And she knows that arguing it will just get a miserable lecture from Carlisle.
"We will discuss punishments after dinner." Carlisle murmurs to Jasper. Jasper shoots him the most hateful glare he can muster. Esme notices, and hurries to get the main dish on the table.
"Eat up, everyone. Carlisle," She sets her hand on Carlisle's shoulder. He looks over to her and his eyes soften slightly. "Dinner is for family time. Nice family time."
Emmett dives into the big platter of spaghetti and meatballs. As Esme takes her seat, she starts making small talk, but no one is truly listening. Edward's impatiently waiting for Emmett to release the pronged ladle. Rosalie looks over at Jasper and bites her lip. With a quick look at Carlisle, she can tell that he's not happy with her brother. And she's pretty sure there's not much she can do to change that.
"Carlisle, I didn't know either of your boys went to Hanford High School." Alice says as she returns in a purple tee-shirt with the letters HHS printed on the wing of a grey falcon. Jasper furrows his brow even more.
"That's mine." He growls.
"Oh, is it?" Alice smirks, wrinkling her small, turned up nose at Jasper. She plops down in her seat while straitening the shirt. Jasper keeps his hateful glare locked on her until Carlisle gives his foot a little kick. When he jumps his view from Alice to Carlisle, Carlisle mouths the word 'behave'.
"Watch," Carlisle whispers as he and Esme watch Jasper and Rosalie. The couple watches their new foster children from the living room. Jasper and Rosalie were told to clear the table. "Jasper picked up one plate. He's letting Rosalie do all the work."
"What are you going to do about it?" Esme sighs.
"Jasper is most definitely grounded. He needs to fix that attitude. And now the chore issue needs to be addressed."
"I think you need to go easy on him, though. Don't take everything away."
"Would you go easy on Edward if he made Emmett do all the chores?"
"Emmett and Edward have been here longer than they have. It's different."
Carlisle takes a deep breath. Edward runs the vacuum upstairs and Emmett's throwing in another load of laundry with Alice talking his ear off. Rosalie keeps loading the dishwasher. Jasper has his back to Carlisle and Esme, unaware that they're watching him text.
"Two weeks grounded is fair." Carlisle suggests. Esme shakes her head.
"Not at all. One week. Set a curfew and no TV."
"He doesn't leave the house other than for school. One week, no phone, no TV, and extra chores."
"Sounds fair. Just don't yell at him." Esme says firmly. Carlisle nods.
"I'm taking Rosalie into the office with him. He's going to apologize to her for making her do everything." Carlisle explains. He leaves Esme where she stands, goes to the kitchen and orders the two siblings back into the office.
"I can't believe he grounded us both!" Jasper huffs in a quiet as he and Rosalie travel up the stairs. "He can't take my phone!"
"He can, Jasper." Rose sighs. "We did lie to him."
Jasper scowls. When Carlisle asked if Jasper was doing his share of the chores, both immediately swore that he was. The more Carlisle questioned them, the more they lied. Jasper wasn't going to rat himself out, and Rosalie wasn't going to throw her brother under the bus. The two were sticking together, even when Carlisle lost his temper and yelled at the duo.
"He took my phone, Rosalie!"
"He took mine, too!" She reminded. The reach the hall and pause at Edward's and Jasper's room.
"I swear to god, I hate it here! I want to go back to Maria's!" Jasper gripes.
"Well, we can't go back." Rosalie murmurs.
"I can't believe he took my phone. He can't do that!"
"Jasper, it's just for a week. You'll get it back-"
"Rosalie, Jasper!" Carlisle shouts up the stairs. "You should be in your rooms, not chatting in the hall!"
Jasper scowls and even though Carlisle couldn't see it, he flipped his middle finger up in the direction of Carlisle's voice. Rosalie sighs and pushes his hand down.
"Just go to your room, Jasper." She sighs before continuing to her own room. Jasper groans, slams his bedroom door and throws his pillow across the room before flopping down on his bed.
"I can't believe he took my phone." He says to himself. His voice breaks. Emmett, Edward, Esme and Alice laugh loudly downstairs. They're all happy. But he's still miserable. And now it's even worse. At least when he had his phone, he had a chance to hear from Maria. But now he doesn't. His face twists into the angry scowl he wears so often now. "I fucking hate him!" He screams.
Downstairs, Jasper's angry outburst is heard loud and clear. Everyone's eyes fall on Carlisle, who just looks up at the ceiling where Jasper's room is. He sets his jaw and stands from the couch.
"Honey," Esme grabs his arm. "Just leave him be. He's just upset."
"I'm not going up there." Carlisle says. He walks out of the living room and to the kitchen.
"Dad's going to kill him." Emmett mumbles.
With the eyes of his wife, children and neighbor on him, Carlisle mental counts backwards from ten to try to calm down as he looks at the family calendar pinned to the kitchen wall. Grabbing a pen from Emmett's open, overflowing backpack on the counter. He circles the next Saturday, writing "Clothes shopping -Jasper & Carlisle" inside. He goes back to the couch, counting backwards again. Edward, Emmett and even Alice sit anxiously to see how Carlisle reacts. He sits down again.
"He's really going to hate me when he finds out we're spending all of Saturday together."
So, what do you think? Any predictions on what will happen Saturday? Please review!
