Disclaimer: not mine

Chapter 6

Bella sat in her chair by the window, staring out at the woods behind the house. The temperature was continuing to drop as Halloween approached. Maybe they'd have a white Christmas, which would be very different. It had been a week since Edward had talked to her and she still wasn't sure what to think of him. They hadn't spoken much since, but he would say hello and ask how her day was in Biology and she would answer. She should be avoiding him entirely after her brainless and embarrassing babbling on Monday. And she was suspicious of him; why had he lied about his eyes? Bella was still frightened of the hostility she sometimes felt emanating from him, and she was still tongue-tied whenever she pictured his too perfect face. She was well aware that her league and his league were spheres that did not touch. So she shouldn't be at all anxious to see him and yet every day she felt the same.

She felt a lot more comfortable around Alice and Jasper. How could anyone be unhappy around Alice? Though she did wonder how much sugar she had every day. Maybe it was the happiness of being with Jasper? They were so sweet together, he was so attentive and gentle with Alice.

Jasper tended to be reserved and kept a little bit of distance, but he would still greet her. She did wonder if maybe he was ill or perhaps physically disabled in some way as he always seemed to be in some level of pain, but she wouldn't ask, it was up to him if he wanted her to know. It was weird, most people found Jasper intimidating but she didn't understand why. Yeah, he was tall and quiet, and she could tell there was muscle hidden under his sweaters, but he was also very academic, she'd seen him a lot reading military history books outside of class while waiting for Alice. The way other people avoided the whole family was just wrong, they were just like everyone else once you got past the movie star looks and nice cars.

That led to thoughts of her trip to La Push and the legends Jake had shared with her. Why couldn't she put them from her mind? Vampires and people turning into wolves….it was a fairy tale, well, horror story really. She was too old to believe in such things anymore.

That night she dreamt of Jacob blurring into a massive wolf and attacking Alice only for Jasper to come to her rescue. She jolted awake and for a second she could have sworn someone was in her room, but when she turned the lamp on she was alone, her window open. Shivering she got up and shut it, locking it. She needed to remember to close it with how cold it was getting at night.

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Edward dropped to the ground, hearing her heart rate slow. Had she seen him? She had reached for the lamp after all…hopefully she would assume it to be the last of whatever she'd been dreaming. It was frustrating, to know nothing, to be able to hear nothing from her, even when she was relaxed in sleep. He knew he shouldn't be watching her sleep, he'd been raised a gentleman, but constant exposure to her scent made it easier to ignore in class.

He ran home and entered the house, feeling the disapproval Jasper was projecting, his brother knew where he'd been. And then his hand flew up to catch...a shirt? The scent wafting from it was immediately obvious and he looked over at Alice. "Alice?"

"She saw you, you're lucky she thinks it was her imagination. This is a little less creepy," she answered from her place in Jasper's lap, her head on his shoulder.

Edward nodded and headed upstairs to his room, putting her shirt on his couch before turning his stereo on and moving to do his homework, it only took a few minutes. He felt sorry for his classmates who spent hours on the work, although he'd seen Bella do hers relatively quickly. It appeared that Forks High was not challenging her academically.

"It'll be sunny tomorrow, Esme called the school earlier," Alice told them all, and Edward sighed softly. He should hunt anyway.

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Bella was shocked to wake to sunlight across her face. She scrambled up and over to the window, seeing the clear, blue sky, and grinned. She grabbed some clothes and went to the bathroom to shower and dress before heading down to start on breakfast, humming,

"Someone's happy this morning."

"It's sunny!" She grinned, and he laughed as she plated up.

He ate quickly and grabbed his gun belt. "Have a good day at school kiddo."

"Stay safe Dad," she answered as he left.

Forks was pretty quiet crime wise, usually he ended up helping find lost hikers but as a police officer there was always some kind of risk. She washed up the dishes then grabbed her bag and coat, getting into her truck for the drive to school.

She was surprised not to see the Cullen's cars in the lot but headed to class. Class passed by until it was finally time for lunch, and everyone sat on the benches outside, taking advantage of the sun, she was one of the few in long sleeves, although she'd left her coat in her truck. She glanced around, missing her ritual hello with Alice and Jasper.

"They aren't here," Lauren said, and Bella frowned.

"Pardon?"

"The Cullen's. Anytime its remotely sunny Dr. and Mrs. Cullen pull them out of school to go hiking and camping."

"I tried that with my parents, no joy," Jessica pouted, and Lauren laughed.

"You don't camp Jess."

"I could."

"The school lets them?" Surely that was too many absences?

"With their grades? Yeah, they always keep up anyway," Jessica shrugged, and the subject was dropped, instead they began chatting about the Halloween dance.

"Who are you going as?" Jessica asked, and Bella shook her head.

"I don't do dances," she answered quickly. "Not too fond of Halloween either," not after the disaster when she was eight.

That got her some weird looks, but they ignored her while they talked about who they hoped would ask them and what sort of costume to get, within the school dress code.

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The next day was gloomy again and the Cullen cars were in the lot when Bella arrived.

"Hi Bella!" Alice called, and Bella turned, waving to the couple as they walked towards her.

"Hi Alice, Jasper. Did you have fun hiking yesterday?"

"We did," he answered with a small smile.

It was odd…were their eyes lighter? It had to be the lights in the hallway playing tricks, right?

Alice grinned. "Soooo…Halloween dance?" she asked and then laughed when Bella groaned.

"I don't dance, and I don't like Halloween," she grumbled, and Jasper chuckled.

"Been asked a bit?" he smirked slightly.

"Just a bit," she admitted, shifting her bag. She was surprised when Jasper held his hand out in offering, but Alice smiled so Bella let him take her bag as they walked to the lockers. "Thanks Jasper. I'm thinking of heading to Florida that weekend, see my Mom."

"That would be nice," Alice agreed.

Bella took her bag back and emptied what she didn't need into her locker. "Well It'll be my first Christmas away from her in years so I thought it would be a good compromise."

"At least with only a weekend you won't be driving your truck down," Jasper offered, he'd been talking to her more lately and she was glad. He seemed like he needed more friends.

"Hey, don't hate the truck," she mock pouted, and he chuckled again before kissing Alice on the cheek and then walked away to his own classes. Alice watched him go and Bella smiled. "You're lucky," she whispered, and Alice looked at her, smiling softly.

"You don't think it's weird?"

"Why? Because you're foster siblings? You're not actually related," Bella shrugged.

"Thanks Bella. I'll see you at lunch."

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Bella collapsed on her bed, happy to be home, even if it seemed to have gotten even colder while she was in Florida. It had been good to see her Mom and Phil, and she was happy he'd been signed to a team for the coming summer. Florida was making them happy so she hoped the team would keep Phil on for at least two seasons. She had enjoyed the heat, but she missed the quiet of Forks, something she'd never thought she'd say. School may be boring but at least she had friends here. It made a nice change from Phoenix.

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Bella woke up slowly and blinked, something was different. It was the light. It was still the grey-green light of a cloudy day in the forest, but it was clearer somehow. She realised there was no fog veiling her window. She jumped up to look outside, and then groaned in horror. A fine layer of snow covered the yard, dusted the top of her truck, and whitened the road. But that wasn't the worst part. All the rain from the day before had frozen solid, coating the needles on the trees in fantastic, gorgeous patterns, and making the driveway a deadly ice slick. Bella had enough trouble not falling down when the ground was dry; it might be safer for her to go back to bed now. A white Christmas was a nice idea, but why did it have to snow in November? School was going to be a disaster.

Charlie had left for work before she got downstairs. In a lot of ways, living with Charlie was like having her own place, and she found herself revelling in the aloneness instead of being lonely. She threw down a quick bowl of cereal and some orange juice from the carton before grabbing her things.

It took every ounce of her concentration to make it down the icy brick driveway alive. She almost lost her balance when she finally got to the truck, but she managed to cling to the side mirror and save herself. Clearly, today was going to be nightmarish. Driving to school, she distracted herself from her fear of falling by thinking about Mike and Eric, and the obvious difference in how teenage boys responded to her in Forks. She was sure she looked exactly the same as she had in Phoenix. Maybe it was just that the boys back home had watched her pass slowly through all the awkward phases of adolescence and still thought of her that way.

Perhaps it was because she was a novelty here, where novelties were few and far between. Possibly her crippling clumsiness was seen as endearing rather than pathetic, casting her as a damsel in distress. Then again, she had been getting better every year when it came to that clumsiness, so maybe all the hard work had finally paid off. She knew she wasn't model beautiful like the Cullen's, but she wasn't plain either, despite the lack of attention at her old school. Then again, she hadn't fit the stereotype there so that may be why she had been largely ignored. Whatever the reason, Mike's puppy dog behaviour and Eric's apparent rivalry with him were disconcerting. Bella wasn't sure if she didn't prefer being ignored.

Her truck seemed to have no problem with the black ice that covered the roads. She drove very slowly, though, not wanting to carve a path of destruction through Main Street. When she got out of her truck at school, bundled in her jacket and many layers, she saw why she'd had so little trouble. Something silver caught her eye, and she walked to the back of the truck, carefully holding the side for support, to examine her tires. There were thin chains crisscrossed in diamond shapes around them. Charlie had gotten up who knew how early to put snow chains on her truck. Her throat suddenly felt tight, she wasn't used to being taken care of, and Charlie's unspoken concern caught her by surprise.

She was standing by the back corner of the truck, struggling to fight back the sudden wave of emotion the snow chains had brought on, when she heard an odd sound. It was a high-pitched screech, and it was fast becoming painfully loud. She looked up, startled.

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Alice bounced on her heels when they heard Bella's truck approaching. She had missed her friend over the weekend while she was away, but she'd kept an eye on her, seeing how happy her visit made her Mother. She heard Jasper chuckle, enjoying her emotions. She turned to smile at him before looking back at where Bella was checking out the snow chains Charlie had gotten up extra early to put on for her.

Alice froze, a vision flitting before her eyes, seeing it so clearly to her sheer horror. And then she heard the screech in real life. "No," she whispered in horror.

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Hearing her word, feeling her terror, Jasper's head snapped up and he saw the van hurtling for Bella's truck…Bella between the two vehicles and he didn't hesitate.

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Bella saw several things simultaneously, nothing was moving in slow motion, the way it did in the movies. Instead, the adrenaline rush seemed to make her brain work much faster, and she was able to absorb in clear detail several things at once. Alice was standing across the lot, staring at her in horror, Jasper beside her, his own eyes widening. Their faces stood out from a sea of faces, all frozen in the same mask of shock. But of more immediate importance was the dark blue van that was skidding, tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to hit the back corner of her truck, and she was standing between them. She didn't even have time to close her eyes.

Just before she heard the shattering crunch of the van folding around the truck bed, something hit her, hard, but not from the direction she was expecting. Her head cracked against the icy blacktop, and she felt something solid and cold pinning her to the ground. She was lying on the pavement behind the tan car she'd parked next to. But she didn't have a chance to notice anything else, because the van was still coming. It had curled gratingly around the end of the truck and, still spinning and sliding, was about to collide with her again.

A low oath made her aware that someone was with her, and the voice was impossible not to recognize. She felt arms tighten around her body and then they were rolling fast across the pavement, the van coming to a stop inches from where they lay. A groaning metallic thud hurt her ears, and the van settled, glass popping, onto the asphalt, exactly where, a second ago, her legs had been. It was absolutely silent for one long second before the screaming began.

In the abrupt bedlam, she could hear more than one person shouting her name. But more clearly than all the yelling, she could hear Jasper Hale's low, frantic voice in her ear.

"Bella? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," her voice sounded strange. She tried to sit up, and realised he was holding her against the side of his body in an iron grasp.

"Be careful," he warned as she struggled. "I think you hit your head pretty hard."

She became aware of a throbbing ache centred above her left ear. "Ow," yeah, she had hit her head when he tackled her. How? He'd been with Alice…it wasn't possible.

"That's what I thought." His voice, amazingly, sounded like he was suppressing laughter, even as cold fingers moved to gently probe the wound, the cold feeling nice.

"How in the…" she trailed off, trying to clear her head, get her bearings. "How did you get over here so fast?"

"I was standing right next to you, Bella," he said, his tone serious again.

She turned to sit up, and this time he let her, releasing his hold around her waist and sliding as far from her as he could in the limited space. She looked at his concerned, innocent expression and was disoriented by the force of his gold-coloured eyes, feeling suddenly calm. What was she asking him? And then they found them, a crowd of people with tears streaming down their faces, shouting at each other, shouting at them.

"Don't move," someone instructed.

"Get Tyler out of the van!" someone else shouted.

There was a flurry of activity around them. She tried to get up, but Jasper's cold hand pushed her shoulder down. "Just stay put for now."

"But it's cold," she complained, sitting on the ground really was freezing, and then she felt another coat settle over her shoulders, wouldn't he be cold? "You were over there," she suddenly remembered, and he tensed. "You were by Alice." She looked at him. "Aren't you cold? Are you hurt?"

Jasper shook his head, "Easy Bella, I'm okay," he soothed, reaching out to gently feel her head again, and she remembered his foster Dad was a doctor.

"I saw you." All around them was chaos. She could hear the gruffer voices of adults arriving on the scene. But she obstinately held on to her observation; she was right, and he was going to admit it.

"Bella, I was standing with you, and I pulled you out of the way." He stared at her, golden eyes locked on hers, as if trying to communicate something crucial.

How could foster siblings all have the same eye colour, she'd never been this close to Jasper before, but she could see now they were almost the exact same shade as Edward's "No," she set her jaw.

The gold in his eyes blazed. "Please, Bella."

"Why?" she demanded.

"Trust me," he pleaded, his soft voice strained, and Bella hesitated even as he glanced over to where she knew Alice had been.

She could hear the sirens now. "Will you promise to explain everything to me later?"

He turned back to her, staring and she crossed her arms. "Some secrets aren't mine to tell," he sighed.

"But some are," she shot back, wincing as her head throbbed.

It took six EMTs and two teachers, Mr. Varner and Coach Clapp, to shift the van far enough away from them to bring the stretchers in. Jasper vehemently refused his, and she tried to do the same, but the traitor told them she'd hit her head and probably had a concussion. She almost died of humiliation when they put on the neck brace. It looked like the entire school was there, watching soberly as they loaded her in the back of the ambulance. Jasper got to ride in the front, and she saw Alice get in her car, obviously going to meet them there. It was maddening.

To make matters worse, Charlie arrived before they could get her safely away. "Bella!" he yelled in panic when he recognized her on the stretcher.

"I'm completely fine, Char…Dad," she sighed. "There's nothing wrong with me."

He turned to the closest EMT for a second opinion. She tuned him out to consider the jumble of inexplicable images churning chaotically in her head. When they'd lifted her away from the car, she had seen the deep dent in the tan car's bumper, a very distinct dent that fit the contours of Jasper's shoulders… as if he had braced himself against the car with

enough force to damage the metal frame when he had first grabbed her.

And then there was his family, looking on from the distance, Emmett showing disapproval while Rosalie was furious, but there was no hint of concern for their brother's safety. Only Alice had looked relieved and that look had been aimed at Bella, not her boyfriend. A fancy car drove into the lot as she was watching and she knew it was Edward, would he be concerned for his brother? She tried to think of a logical solution that could explain what she had just seen, a solution that excluded the assumption that she was insane.

Naturally, the ambulance got a police escort to the county hospital. Bella felt ridiculous the whole time they were unloading her. What made it worse was that Jasper simply glided through the hospital doors under his own power. She ground her teeth together.

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Jasper could feel Bella's embarrassment and frustration, overriding her pain for the most part. He couldn't believe what he'd done. He'd felt Alice's terror and grief and then he'd seen the acceptance and fear in Bella's, had felt it, and he had just moved. He had risked them all to save his wife's best friend…his possible mate. What else could he have done? Edward had just been arriving, if her blood had been spilled…well the results wouldn't have been pretty.

"Carlisle," he whispered, knowing he would hear him as the ambulance drove into the emergency bay.

"Jasper?"

"There was a car accident, EMT's are bringing Bella and another student in."

"How badly is she hurt?" Carlisle asked as the ambulance parked and Jasper got out.

He walked towards the doors as Carlisle appeared. "She hit her head on the pavement pretty hard, but she was conscious though in pain," he answered as he walked towards his 'Father'. "I…I pulled her out of the way…it would have killed her," he admitted softly, and Carlisle gripped his shoulder.

"Did anyone see?"

"Just Bella. I couldn't let her die, Alice cares so much about her…she was scared but accepting, she knew she was going to die. Edward was just arriving too, if he'd smelt her blood we wouldn't have been able to stop him in time."

"It's alright Jasper, go wait in my office, I'll say I examined you there." Carlisle squeezed his shoulder gently before moving away.

Jasper nodded and went into the office to sit on the couch, head in his hands.

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They put Bella in the emergency room, a long room with a line of beds separated by pastel patterned curtains, she was pretty sure it was the same bed as when Dr. Cullen had given her stitches. A nurse put a pressure cuff on her arm and a thermometer under her tongue.

Since no one bothered pulling the curtain around to give her some privacy, she decided she wasn't obligated to wear the stupid-looking neck brace anymore. When the nurse walked away, she quickly unfastened the Velcro and threw it under the bed. There was another flurry of hospital personnel, another stretcher brought to the bed next to her.

She recognised Tyler Crowley from her Government class beneath the bloodstained bandages wrapped tightly around his head. Tyler looked a hundred times worse than she felt. But he was staring anxiously at her. "Bella, I'm so sorry!"

"I'm fine, Tyler, you look awful, are you all right?" As they spoke, nurses began unwinding his soiled bandages, exposing a myriad of shallow slices all over his forehead and left cheek.

He ignored her. "I thought I was going to kill you! I was going too fast, and I hit the ice wrong…" He winced as one nurse started dabbing at his face.

"Don't worry about it; you missed me."

"How did you get out of the way so fast? You were there, and then you were gone…"

"Umm… Jasper pulled me out of the way."

He looked confused. "Who?"

"Jasper Hale, he was standing next to me." She'd always been a terrible liar; she didn't sound convincing at all, but she wasn't the only one with a head injury.

"Hale? I didn't see him… wow, it was all so fast, I guess. Is he okay?" Tyler asked in alarm.

"I think so. He's here somewhere, but they didn't make him use a stretcher."

She knew she wasn't crazy. What had happened? There was no way to explain away what she'd seen. She refused to let the thought form, no, she would not think of…vampires. Urgh!

They wheeled her away then, to X-ray her head. She told them there was nothing wrong, and she was right. Not even a concussion. She'd gotten good at working out her own injuries over the years. She asked if she could leave, but the nurse said she had to talk to a doctor first. So she was trapped in the ER, waiting, harassed by Tyler's constant apologies and promises to make it up to her. No matter how many times she tried to convince him she was fine, he continued to torment himself. Finally, she closed her eyes and ignored him. He kept up a remorseful mumbling.

"Is she sleeping?" a musical voice asked. Her eyes flew open to find Jasper was standing at the foot of her bed, frowning.

"Hey, Jasper, I'm really sorry," Tyler began.

Jasper lifted a hand to stop him. "No blood, no foul," he said, with a smile that was closer to a grimace. He moved to sit on the edge of the empty bed on her other side, facing her. "So, what's the verdict?" he asked me.

"There's nothing wrong with me at all, but they won't let me go," she complained. "How come you aren't strapped to a gurney like the rest of us?"

"It's all about who you know," he answered with a small smile. "But don't worry, I came to spring you."

Then footsteps approached and a familiar figure stepped around the corner into the Emergency room. Dr. Cullen smiled softly at her. "So, Miss Swan, we meet here again," he teased gently, "how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," she said, for the last time, she hoped. "I was kind of hoping to avoid having to see you again professionally, no offence."

"None taken," he assured her, walking to the lightboard on the wall over her head, and turning it on. "Your X-rays look good," he said. "Does your head hurt? Jasper said you hit it pretty hard."

"It's fine," she repeated with a sigh, throwing a quick scowl toward Jasper.

The doctor's cool fingers probed lightly along her skull. He noticed when she winced. "Tender?" he asked.

"Not really," she'd had worse.

She heard a chuckle, and looked over to see Jasper's amused smile. Her eyes narrowed and he held his hands up in surrender, neither noticing the surprised look Carlisle shot them at their interaction.

"Well, your father is in the waiting room, you can go home with him now. But come back if you feel dizzy or have trouble with your eyesight at all."

"Can't I go back to school?" she asked, imagining Charlie trying to be attentive.

"Maybe you should take it easy today."

She glanced at Jasper. "Does he get to go back to school?"

"Someone has to spread the good news that we survived," Jasper offered.

"Actually," Dr. Cullen corrected, "most of the school seems to be in the waiting room."

"Oh no," she moaned, covering her face with her hands.

Dr. Cullen raised his eyebrows. "Do you want to stay?"

"No, no!" she insisted, throwing her legs over the side of the bed and hopping down quickly. Too quickly, she staggered, and Dr. Cullen caught her, looking concerned. "I'm fine," she assured him again. No need to tell him her balance problems had nothing to do with hitting her head.

"Take some Tylenol for the pain," he suggested as he steadied her.

"It doesn't hurt that bad," she insisted.

"It sounds like you were extremely lucky," Dr. Cullen said, smiling as he signed her chart with a flourish.

"Lucky Jasper happened to be standing next to me," she amended with a glance at the subject of her statement.

"Oh, well, yes," Dr. Cullen agreed, suddenly occupied with the papers in front of him. Then he looked away, at Tyler, and walked to the next bed. Whatever it was, Dr. Cullen was in on it. "I'm afraid that you'll have to stay with us just a little bit longer," he said to Tyler, and began checking his cuts.

As soon as the doctor's back was turned, she moved to Jasper's side. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" she hissed under her breath.

He took a step back from her, frowning. "Your father is waiting for you," he reminded her.

She glanced at Dr. Cullen and Tyler. "I'd like to speak with you alone, if you don't mind," she pressed.

He tensed, and then turned his back and strode down the long room. She nearly had to run to keep up. As soon as they turned the corner into a short hallway, he turned to face her and she was surprised to see something…wary in his eyes. "What is it?" he asked briskly.

His unfriendliness intimidated her; he'd never acted like that around her before. Her words came out with less severity than she'd intended. "Are you going to explain what happened?"

"Can't you just leave it at I saved your life?"

She flinched back from the pain in his voice. "You said some secrets weren't yours to tell and I can understand that. Please Jasper."

"Bella, you hit your head, you don't know what you're talking about," he tried, and she glared defiantly in reaction.

"There's nothing wrong with my head," she snapped, feeling a flare of pain in her head as if it was disagreeing with her words.

He sighed tiredly, running a hand through his hair. "What do you want from me, Bella?"

"I want to know the truth," she said. "I want to know why I'm lying for you." For the first time she was seeing why others found him intimidating.

"What do you think happened?" he asked.

It came out in a rush. "All I know is that you weren't anywhere near me, Tyler didn't see you, either, so don't tell me I hit my head too hard. That van was going to crush us both, and it didn't, and you left a dent in the other car, and you're not hurt at all, and the van should have smashed my legs, but you rolled me way too fast." She could hear how crazy it sounded, and she couldn't continue. She was so mad she could feel the tears coming; she tried to force them back by grinding her teeth together.

"Nobody will believe that, you know," he warned.

"I'm not going to tell anybody," she said each word slowly, carefully controlling her anger and he flinched slightly, almost like he could feel how angry she was.

Surprise flitted across his face. "Then why does it matter?"

"It matters to me," she insisted. "I don't like to lie, so there'd better be a good reason why I'm doing it."

"There is a good reason and its better, safer, if that is all you know. Please Bella, leave it."

She crossed her arms and just waited, earning another tired sigh.

"You're not going to let it go, are you?"

"No."

"Bella please," he whispered.

"Jasper! Bella!" they both turned to see Alice rushing towards them. "Are you alright?" She demanded and Jasper pulled her into his arms, leaning his head down on her head.

"I'm fine Darlin'."

"I'm fine too," Bella offered when Alice looked at her and Alice smiled.

"I'm so glad you're okay. Good thing Jazz was so close."

"Yeah. I better go, see you tomorrow," Bella turned and headed for the waiting room, knowing she wasn't going to get any answers that day.

The waiting room was more unpleasant than she'd feared. It seemed like every face she knew in Forks was there, staring at her. Charlie rushed to her side; she put up her hands. "There's nothing wrong with me," she assured him sullenly. She was still aggravated, not in the mood for chitchat.

"What did the doctor say?" Charlie demanded to know.

"Dr. Cullen saw me, and he said I was fine, and I could go home," she sighed. Mike, Angela, Jessica and Eric were all there, beginning to converge on them. "Let's go," she urged.

Charlie put one arm behind her back, not quite touching her, and led her to the glass doors of the exit. Bella waved sheepishly at her friends, hoping to convey that they didn't need to worry anymore. It was a huge relief, the first time she'd ever felt that way, to get into the cruiser. They drove home in silence. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she barely knew Charlie was there. She was positive that Jasper's defensive behaviour in the hall was a confirmation of the bizarre things she still could hardly believe she'd witnessed.

When they got to the house, Charlie finally spoke. "Um… you'll need to call Renée." He hung his head, guilty.

Bella was appalled. "You told Mom!"

"Sorry."

She slammed the cruiser's door a little harder than necessary on her way out.

Her Mom was in hysterics, of course. Bella had to tell her she felt fine at least thirty times before she would calm down. She begged her to come home, forgetting the fact that home was empty at the moment, but her pleas were easier to resist than she would have thought. She was consumed by the mystery Jasper and the rest of the family presented. She wasn't as eager to escape Forks as she should be, as any normal, sane person would be.

Bella decided she might as well go to bed early that night. Charlie continued to watch her anxiously, and it was getting on her nerves. She stopped on her way to grab three Tylenol from the bathroom. They did help, and, as the pain eased, she drifted to sleep.

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"What the hell were you thinking!"

"Rosalie!" Esme chided her immediately for her language and Jasper looked at his twin.

"I wasn't," he admitted.

"I saw the accident, Bella would have died, spilling blood right in front of Edward," Alice interjected. "It wouldn't have ended well for anyone. Jasper reacted to my emotions and Bella's."

"How is she?" Esme asked her mate who chuckled.

"Not enjoying the fuss but her scans were normal. She should be back at school tomorrow. Alice, does she suspect?"

"She's observant. She's known we're not normal the whole time and she's curious, but she won't tell anyone."

Carlisle nodded, it looked like they wouldn't have to move. He was glad her life had been saved, and not just because it meant Edward hadn't lost himself to the siren call of his Singer's blood.

TBC…