Esme taps on the bedroom door of the stubborn teenager. She's been at it for ten minutes now and really doesn't expect him to change his mind about going to school, but she keeps trying anyway.

"Come on, Jasper. You have to go to school." She calls halfheartedly. "You can't keep missing days like this."

"Leave me alone!" Jasper cries back.

She sighs but isn't surprised. It's Wednesday, and it will be the third day in a row that Jasper refuses to go to school. Not that she blames him, she wouldn't want to go back to school if she were in his shoes, but she can't simply allow him to continue to skip and still feel like an adequate mother. She gives another knock on the door.

"Jasper, can you at least unlock the door? Let's talk." She asks, but gets no answer. It isn't until she sees Rosalie coming out of her bedroom that she has even a glimmer of hope of getting Jasper out of bed and to school. "Rose! Can you talk to your brother?"

Rosalie comes over and knocks on Jasper's door, just like Esme did.

"Hey, bro," she calls. "Let me in."

Rose and Esme wait and listen as they hear soft footsteps as Jasper makes his way to the door. He unlocks the door, then drags his feet back to his bed. Rosalie slips in, leaving Esme in the hall. As much as she tries, she can't hear what's being said between the siblings. Only a minute or two passes before Rosalie reappears and shuts the door behind her.

"He's not going today. Try again tomorrow." Rose says simply.

"He can't keep missing days. He was supposed to go back on Monday. We fought to get his suspension down to only a week." She reminds Rosalie with a defeated sigh. "He has to go back."

"Does Carlisle know that he missed Monday and Tuesday yet?"

"I never told him," Esme shamefully admits. "But I can't keep this from him. Can you convince him to go?"

"Sorry, But He isn't budging. I know my brother, and he isn't going to school today. He won't tell me what's wrong, but I told him we can talk when I get home," Rose explains. "Anyways, I have to get going before I miss the bus."

Rosalie hurries down the hallway and leaves her foster mother hopeless in the hall. Esme debates her options. For the first time ever Esme is thankful for her husband's twelve hour shifts. He's gone before the kids get up for school and they get home before he does. She hates lying to him and letting him believe Jasper has been going to school, but she also hates to think of Carlisle coming home to yell and argue with Jasper.

She hasn't forgotten the fear of expecting a baby at a young age and thinks back to how badly she needed support. Not just from Carlisle, either. At such a young age, she still needed support from her parents. She reaches for the doorknob and slowly lets herself in.

Jasper lays with his face buried into a pillow. He looks as though he has dissolved into his bed with the tangle of sheets and blankets around his limbs. As Esme gets closer, she can start to hear sobbing. Very gently, she sits on the edge of his bed.

"I'm here for you, Jasper." She tells him.

He lifts his head to expose his red, tear covered face. His hair is tangled and matted and greasy. Esme thinks about how little he has left his bedroom since he found out about the baby. Almost every meal has been brought up to his room. He's managed to drag himself down for most dinners to keep any questions from his siblings to a minimum about why he has secluded himself so severely. He couldn't bring himself to tell them about the baby yet. Esme tries to think back to how often she's heard the upstairs shower run, and if she could pinpoint how many of those showers were taken by Jasper. It's obvious from his broken out, oily face and greasy hair that it's been far too long since he has cleaned himself.

"What can I do to help you?" She asks.

He blinks back tears and just reaches out for her hand. She gives it a squeeze and he just lays there and cries. They sit together for three minutes in silence before Jasper speaks.

"I don't want to be a father. I can't. And what will I do about Maria? I don't want to be reminded of her every day of my life. I'll never get rid of her now. How am I going to tell Rosalie? And the kids at school are really gonna make fun of me if they find out." He whimpers.

"One at a time, dear. Tell me the first concern you need help with." She tells him.

"I can't be a parent. I was too young when my father died. I didn't get to look up to him for long. And my mother was a terrible parent." He says quietly through his tears.

"You've talked about your Dad. You obviously remember him."

"I don't remember everything."

"No one remembers everything. But you remember plenty about him. You remember all the good memories you made with him. You remember how he raised you."

"I don't think I can be a good father like my Daddy was."

"I'm sure you will be more like him than you think," Esme promises.

"I miss him," Jasper say quietly.

"Of course you do. I may not have known him personally, but I know that he was a great man by what you've told me."

"My Mom was a bad parent. What if I'm more like her?"

"You're thinking so far ahead, Jasper. You have months to prepare." Esme explains. "You will be a good parent. You remember the example your father set for you, and Carlisle and I will be here for you through every step."

"Carlisle," Jasper groans and uses his free hand to wipe his face again. "Are you going to tell him that I haven't gone to school?"

"I can't keep letting him believe a lie, dear."

"He's gonna yell at me again," Jasper sighs. "I don't want to deal with it."

"I'll try to calm him down before he comes to talk to you," Esme promises the sad teen. She remembers what Carlisle said after the fight between Jasper and Edward over the pair of cowboy boots. *He looks pathetic*. She's sure he would say it again if he saw how rough he looked now. "You and Carlisle have a strained relationship, don't you?"

"I guess," Jasper shrugs.

"I think you two should work on that. You could find something that both of you enjoy doing."

"I don't want to hang out with him," he grumbles under his breath.

"Why?"

Jasper pauses for a moment and watches Esme's hand in his. It's a strange new feeling to him. His mother never took the time to spend with him like this. He thinks back to past foster mothers to try to remember if any took this extra step with him. Maria surely never took on a motherly role. Images of June Cleaver and Carol Brady fill his mind.

"Avery Whitlock is my Dad. Carlisle isn't. He wants to act like he is," Jasper admits hesitantly. He watches Esme for her reaction, and when her patient expression stays put, he continues. "But he's not. Avery will always be my Daddy."

"Oh, Jasper," Esme reaches out and brushes his tangled hair back from his face. She regrets it, though, when it gives her a better look at his tears. "He knows he'll never replace Avery."

He watches her again, gauging her attitude and the look on her face. The maternal attention doesn't waver. He squeezes her hand like she did to him earlier.

"Can you stay with me today?"

————JWiD————

"I bet you feel better already!" Esme encourages Jasper as he comes down the steps in a clean pair of sweatpants and wet hair. He gives her a small smile and wonders over to the couch where Esme is sitting.

"Yeah, I guess so," he shrugs and flops down next to her.

"I put your bedding in the washer, so by tonight you'll have clean sheets for tonight."

"Thanks, Esme," Jasper tells her and scoots closer.

"So now that we have you out of bed, let's face another issue. What is the next step that you want to take?" She asks him. It earns her a heavy sigh from Jasper, but he crosses his legs and turns to face his newest accepted mother figure.

"I have to tell Rosie." He sighs.

"How do you think she'll respond?"

"I don't know," he mumbles. "I don't think she'll be happy."

"But I'm sure she will stay by your side."

"She kept pestering me about it this morning, so I promised to tell her when she gets home from school. I don't know how I'll tell her."

Esme takes his hand and squeezes it, earning a small, sad smile from him.

"Just say it. You and she are so close, Jasper. It will go fine."

"She wasn't happy about me going to see Maria. She won't be happy about this either." Jasper says as he remembers that horrible few days that she wouldn't speak to him. The thought of dealing with that again makes his throat tighten. "I don't want her to be mad again."

"I know, honey. Think about everything you have gone through together. Even when you weren't on good speaking terms, you both have always gotten through the troubles. You will be okay."

Jasper nods, even though he isn't convinced that it will go as well as Esme says. He squeezes her hand back, takes a deep breath, and decides to run a practice conversation. Another touchy subject that he's not sure how it will go.

"Can I call you Mom?"

"Of course you can," Esme smiles and gives him a nod.

"If I call you Mom, does that mean I'll have to call Carlisle my Dad?"

"No, honey. Not at all," she reassures him with another squeeze of his hand. "Carlisle will understand."

"Can you talk to him about it for me?" He asks.

"I'll talk to him tonight when he gets home. Don't worry about it, though. It will be fine."

Jasper feels a weight lifted off his shoulder, and after everything he's facing, it feels good to be able to breathe a little easier. He smiles at Esme and takes a moment to bask in this feeling, this new found, never before explored relationship.

"Thanks, Mom."

—————JWiD—————

Jasper sits on the top of the steps, wrapping the drawstring on his pants around his fingers. Esme is only a few feet away further down the stairs as she dusts the multiple picture frames hanging on the wall. He's kept close to her all day, but now he's only a few minutes from leaving her side when Rosalie gets home. Even after all of Esme's encouragement, he can't shake the feeling of this going badly.

"Mom?" He says.

"Yes, dear?"

Jasper just responds with a sigh. He really doesn't have anything to say, but the silence is becoming too much for him. It isn't but a few seconds, though, for the silence to disappear when the door flings open and Rosalie and Edward come inside. Shoes are flung off, backpacks are dropped down, and their heavy footsteps bring a new life into the home. Edward heads to the living room, and Rosalie goes up the stairs.

"Hi, Esme!" She greets, then smiles at her worried brother. "Look who's out of bed."

"Hi honey," Esme greets back.

"Hiya, Rosie," Jasper mumbles. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, c'mon," Rose tells him as she makes her way up the stairs. She holds her hand out to pull Jasper to his feet. Rosalie hurries down the hall, anxious to talk about what has him so down and how she can help. Jasper, however, drags his feet behind her. She waits in the doorway for him to catch up, and shuts the door behind him when he finally enters. She sticks by his side while they make their way to the freshly made bed with clean sheets. When they sit down, Jasper reaches for Rosalie's hand. "Tell me what's going on. I thought you were handling everything with Maria better. Is it about her?"

"Yeah, it is." He mumbles.

"Did she contact you?"

"No."

"Is it all the talk about the lawyers and trial?"

"Kinda, I guess."

"Tell me, Jasper."

Jasper locks eye contact with his sister, praying that she isn't too angry with the news he's about to break to her.

"They had to run a test to prove we hooked up, something about comparing my sperm to sperm found inside her." He explains in a shaky voice.

"Oh, Jasper. Is this because they found something from another boy?"

"No." He takes in a nervous breath before continuing. "They found a baby. And it's mine."