"He looks pathetic." Carlisle sighs as he looks down at Jasper snoring softly on the couch. Esme pushes her husbands shoulder.

"Don't say that!"

"It's true, though. Look at him." Carlisle throws his hand towards Jasper. Apparently, the hour and a half long talk Esme and Carlisle had discussing what to do with the two fighting boys was long enough for Jasper to fall back asleep. He lays there with his head on the cushion next to the arm rest. His knees are pulled towards his chest and his ratty, tangled blond hair is hanging in his face. Esme sighs. Although she won't admit it out loud, Jasper does look pathetic to her, too.

"Jasper!" Carlisle says harshly. The sound of his name makes Jasper jolt awake. He pushes his hair out of his crusty eyes and looks up at his foster parents. "Get in the car. We're going for a ride."

"What?" Jasper asks. He looks around them at the clock, wondering how long he was asleep.

"I told you to get in the car."

"Okay." Jasper responds groggily. He stands and shuffles his feet towards the door. Carlisle watches him, but speaks to Esme.

"Are you sure you can handle Edward?"

"Of course I can. And try not to scream at Jasper. The boy is going through a lot right now."

"Okay. Call me if you need anything."

"Will do, love." Esme says and kisses him on the cheek.

The couple splits, each going off to speak with one of the two teenagers. Carlisle sighs as he exits the house. He can't help but feel that Esme somehow got the better end of the deal. He shakes it off, though, and puts on a firm face as he goes to the garage, opens the drivers door and slides into the drivers seat. He eyes Jasper up and down before saying anything. The blonde boy has his head bowed, looking down at his fingers.

"What the hell happened in there, Jasper?" Carlisle asks. Jasper just shrugs. "That's not going to cut it, young man. What happened?"

"You saw what happened." Jasper mumbles. "He was talking shit."

"Watch your mouth! Do you want to get punished?"

"What are you going to do? You already took my phone. I can't watch TV, I can't leave the house. What else can you do?" He says with a groan.

"Keep up the attitude and you'll find out!" Carlisle threats as he pressing the button on his garage door opener too hard and starts the engine. "This has to stop, Jasper! You've done nothing but misbehave lately."

"I misbehave? Edward started it! He kicked my boots!"

"But was it worth the argument?"

"He's a jerk! He's always complaining about me!"

"Jasper," Carlisle sighs.

"You heard what he said to me!"

"I know what he said!" Carlisle huffs, his volume rising as he speaks. "But you're responsible for how you react. Nothing justifies you acting like that!"

"You have no idea what it's like, Carlisle! Who the hell are you to tell me how to react to all this bullshit?" Jasper shouts back.

"I don't know? Jasper, I've been through more than you think!" Carlisle yells. He remembers his promise to Esme, and is even surprised himself that he didn't even make it out of the driveway before breaking it.

"Bullshit!"

"You really want to argue about this?"

"You don't understand half the shit I've gone through!"

"I don't? Jasper, my parents were drunks and my father was an abusive pastor! He beat the shit out of me so often that he moved us to a completely different continent to try to outrun his bad name! We were only here for a year before I was taken from them and they didn't even try to get me back! Trust me, I get losing your parents and abusive relationships!"

"Abusive relationships?" Jasper scoffs and rolls his eyes. "I ain't in an abusive relationship!"

"Bull fucking shit! What the hell do you think Maria was doing to you?"

"I've never been abused a day in my life!" Jasper demands.

"You don't have a fucking clue, do you?" Carlisle says with disgust. "Jasper, she manipulated you! You even said yourself, she made you believe she loved you! She used you!"

"Leave her out of this!"

"Leave her out of this? She's the whole fucking reason for this!" Carlisle yells, throwing his hands up in the air. Just as he does, he see's red and blue lights behind him. He slams the palm of his hand on the steering wheel. "God fucking damn it! You've got to be kidding! There's not cops on this road!"

"Esme's gonna kill you," Jasper mumbles as Carlisle pulls over. He crosses his arms and looks out the window.

"Fuck." Carlisle groans and rolls his window down. He pinches the bridge of his nose as Charlie Swan approaches his window.

"Don't worry, Cullen, I'm not getting you for speeding. Even though you were going forty over." Charlie laughs as he leans into the car. "I just wanted to talk about the kids with you."

"Esme's dealing with Edward now." Carlisle says. He drops his hand, glances at Jasper, then turns to Charlie with a look of pure exhaustion and anger. "I swear, these teens are going to be the death of me."


Jasper stares out the side window while Carlisle keeps his eyes fixed on the road ahead. After a short chat with Charlie over limiting the time Edward and Bell get to see each other, they were sent on their way, and not a word was said between the two. It wasn't until they were out of Forks and on the highway that Carlisle sucked in a deep breath and tried to keep his temper as he attempts to talk to Jasper again.

"Listen, buddy, we have to talk about this. And I mean really talk. Not yell." He say. Jasper ignores him. "Please, Jasper. I want to help you through this. I don't want to lose you, but if we can't work all this out, then I don't know what's going to happen. We're most likely going to have to go to court for this whole ordeal with Maria, and it's very possible that they investigate our home and-"

"You mean you don't want to lose my check." Jasper mumbles under his breath.

"What was that?"

"You don't want to lose my check, right? It's not about me. It's about the check."

"Jasper, let me tell you, if this was about the money, do you really think we'd be fostering teens?" Carlisle scoffs and runs his fingers through his hair. "You wouldn't believe how much heartbreak we've faced with these teens."

Jasper just sinks down in his seat.

"I'm not going to lie to you, the check is helpful, but if the money was all that mattered, it wouldn't be worth it. Esme and I do this because I know what it's like to be in the system without anyone there to truly help you. We've had six foster kids before you and Rosalie. They all aged out of the system. Jamal is hitch-hiking through the country. He's always been a free spirit. We get a call from him about every month, sometimes more. Kimberlyn is at University of California. She's going for her PhD in Biomedical Engineering. They were the easiest of the last six kids. Tyler is in prison for armed robbery, arson and motor vehicle theft. Adelina jumped out of her fourth stay in rehab and no one knows where she is now. Martin is in jail right now for aggravated assault. And Nathan," Carlisle sighs heavily. "Nathan came to us at fourteen years old. Esme and I stayed on the phone with him from ten o'clock at night to four in the morning talking to him. He was twenty years old, then. He moved out at eighteen and didn't talk to us again until that night. We thought everything was fine. He told us all of his memories of staying with us. We laughed and we thought everything was fine. But right after he hung up, he shot himself in the head."

This catches Jasper's attention. He watches Carlisle out of the corner of his eye. Carlisle's jaw tenses. He grabs the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turn white. His lips quiver ever so slightly, and his eyes start to water.

"We were the closest thing to family he had. We had to go to his apartment to clean it out all of his things. The blood stains were still there. No amount of money could make that bearable. The biggest check in the world couldn't heal our heartbreak those four kids gave us."

"My Mom shot herself in the head too. Put a bullet in her temple." Jasper admits softly. He looks down at his hands.

"We're not so different after all." Carlisle says with a sigh.

"I guess not."

"You've been through a lot, Jasper. I just want to help you get through this, too. But I need you to let me help you."

Jasper doesn't respond right away. He picks at his nails, fidgets in his seat. About five minutes later, he copies Carlisle's deep breath.

"Okay." He finally agrees.

"Okay." Carlisle repeats. "So, can you please explain what's been going on in that head of yours?"

"He just makes me so angry. He's always so hateful." Jasper sighs. "Like, the other day, Esme was crying. He didn't even care!"

"I agree, Edward can be insensitive. But does that insensitivity warrant you to grab him by the neck?"

Jasper pauses again.

"You said you were adopted. Who adopted you?"

"Don't change the subject, Jasper."

"I think it's only fair. I answer a question, you answer a question."

"Fine." Carlisle sighs. "Vanessa and Robert Cullen. Robert was a state senator and Vanessa was a registered nurse."

"I guess it doesn't warrant me chocking him. But he was talking a lot of crap!" Jasper finally answers. "You heard what he said."

"What can we do to help you and Edward get along?"

"I dunno."

"We have to think of something, Jasper."

"What do you think will help?"

"Well," Carlisle clears his throat slightly to buy more time. "If we had another bedroom, that would be perfect. You boys should have your own space to get away from each other."

"What about Emmett? Could I move into his room?"

"Are you bothered by messiness? Because that boy is a disaster. And I promise you that your thing and his things will get mixed together. You can't lose your temper over it."

"The only reason I got so mad was because Edward intentionally kicked them."

"Emmett will probably accidentally kick things. He will not keep his things on one side of the room."

"But Emmett actually likes me."

Carlisle pauses for a minute, thinking it over before nodding.

"If you can handle his mess, then it can work. But you and Edward both need to try harder to get along."

"He doesn't want to get along with me."

"Well, that will change. Esme's talking to him."

Jasper nods and peers out the window.

"What do you think is going to happen between me and Rosie?" He murmurs. His stomach knots. Just thinking about her being upset makes him feel horrible.

"Jasper, things will be fine between you and Rosalie. Once she calms down and all this settles, things will go back to normal."

"She didn't even want to talk to me yesterday." Jasper says. "She's pissed. I didn't chose Maria over her. I didn't. I told Maria that we could move to whatever city Rosalie goes to for college. I wanted us to follow Rosalie. But Rosie won't listen. She's never been this mad at me."

"She'll get over it, buddy."

"She's never been this mad." Jasper repeats. He looks out the window to hide his watery eyes from Carlisle. "She's never been so mad."

"She will, Jasper. I promise."


Where did you say you were? Esme questions Carlisle over the phone.

"Some truck stop just outside of Blyn."

What made you drive all the way out there?

"He was starting to get emotional over Rosalie and stopped talking, so I figured we'd keep driving until he wanted to talk again. This is where we ended up."

So he's talking again?

"Not really. He just said he had to go to the bathroom. How are things going at home?"

Pretty rough, actually. Rosalie and Edward are going to be at each others throats next. Esme sighs. Rosalie found out what Edward said about Jasper, and the two of them just had a screaming match. I swear, it's World War three right now.

"Tell them both that if they don't straighten up, they're going to be grounded."

If I could get a word in edgewise, I would. Rosalie argues just like Jasper. She's not backing down. Edward just slammed his bedroom door in her face. Emmett's talking to Rosalie, trying to get her to calm down, and I'm going to give Edward a little time to cool off before I go talk to him.

"Good luck, love. These teens are like wild animals." Carlisle huffs. "Try to get the real story about the boots out of Edward. Neither of their stories add up. And once Rosalie calms down, talk to her about Jasper. He's heartbroken that she wouldn't talk to him yesterday."

That's easier said than done, Carlisle. It may take me a while to talk to both Edward and her.

"Well, we have all day." Carlisle sighs. The glass door on the gas station swing open, and Jasper walks out in his wrangled pajama pants and uncombed hair. "Jasper just came out. I'll try to get him to tell me more. I love you."

Esme tells her husband that she loves him, too, and both hang up the phone. Carlisle watches Jasper walk back to the car. The young boy's eyes constantly scan the parking lot, looking at the drivers pumping gas and the cars parked closer to the building.

At home, Esme draws in a deep breath. She can hear Rosalie yelling at Emmett, calling Edward a hateful brat. Edward flings his door open to scream "stupid bitch" from his bedroom. Esme knows this won't end well if she doesn't stop the two from continuing insulting each other. Her mind races with things to say and possible threats to make to get the household back in order.

I meant to include the entire car ride in one chapter, but I didn't want to have a ridiculous amount of time between updates, so I decided to split it into two parts. Once again, I'd love to hear you ideas of what will happen next along with what you thought of this chapter. Please review!