Jasper POV

I hovered outside Alice's door, before I could knock she pulled the door open with an excited smile on her face.

I rolled my eyes and walked into her room, "I asked her out."

I flinched as she began to squeal, "Yes! You've been putting it off for so long."

I frowned slightly, even decades seemed like a short amount of time for a vampire, but not to a human. I guess it was testament to how long we'd been doing the school charade for.

I guess that was something that I was still having difficultly grasping, Bella is human. She's human and I'm not. There were different timelines for us. I wanted her now, I wanted to be with her forever, but she wasn't there yet, humans didn't love like that.

Alice's emotions had settled, and she stood analysing my expression, "I know you want to be with her now, but you know that humans don't work that way. You have to give her time, it's not necessarily a bad thing, the time spent is still spent with her. That's got to be something."

I nodded, "I know, it's just hard."

"I know, but it's the path you chose."

I nodded again, and asked her what I came for, "I don't know where to take her, what do humans do on dates?"

Alice shrugged, "I think they go to watch movies, for food, and things like that. I think you should take her for food, humans are always eating."

"But where would I take her? I don't know what food is nice."

Alice wrinkled her nose, "I don't think there's such a thing as 'nice' human food, but Shanna mentioned Bella liking pasta. Take her somewhere where they sell pasta."

I thought on it for a moment, "Okay, I'll think of somewhere. Thanks Ally."

She smiled brightly, "No problem."

I held her hand and squeezed it, "For everything."

She smiled again, "You might as well go straight out my window."

I grinned and ruffled her hair as I walked past her to jump out the window and go for a hunt. I needed to think.

The hunt lasted around 30 minutes, I drained two deer and felt full of blood, I raced back to the house and when I got close enough, I leapt through the open window in my study.

I changed my muddied jeans and went to pick a book to reread when I saw a note on my desk. I frowned and walked over to it, there was a business card for an Italian restaurant and a small note written in neat looped writing.

I didn't mean to overhear, but this is a nice place, you should take her there.

Love Esme

I felt warmth spread through my heart as I read through it.

Esme was the most caring person I had ever met, including both humans and vampires.

I went to find her, she was sitting on the sofa, reading through a newspaper at human speed.

She looked up when I entered the room, she smiled at me, but I felt an undertone of nervousness in her emotions as she spied her note in my hand.

I sent my appreciation and love to her without saying anything and I saw tears well up in her eyes as she felt it. I felt too awkward to say anything, I didn't know how to respond to her kind gestures. She nodded at me, letting me off the hook, I gave her a small smile and sped back up to my room like the coward I was.

I sighed and rubbed my face when I made it to my room. I had fought in more wars than I could count, faced innumerous situations that should have resulted in my death and not backed down or ran away, but this had me running for the hills. Why did I find it so difficult to handle these situations? I sighed and put it out of my mind. I decided I would focus on my date rather than my incapability to handle gentle emotions.

I felt Alice's emotions on the otherside of the door, anticipation and hope. I looked at the closed door in suspicion and spoke, "I will not let you dress me, Alice. It's not going to happen, so give it up." I felt her annoyance and heard her walk away grumbling about being surrounded by vampires with no sense of style.

I smiled, it was nice to be surrounded by caring people, it was truly a change from how I started my vampire life.

I studied the business card Esme had given me, called the number printed in silver ink, and booked a table for Bella and myself.

I started getting changed, smiling as I thought about Bella. There was something about her that made me act like a real 21 year old. She made me happy, nervous, excited and relaxed all at the same time. I lost my train of thought when looking at her, and lost my words whilst speaking to her. I smiled and groaned at the same time as I thought of a multitude of scenarios where I could mak e myself look like an idiot; and I knew that a fair few of them would come to pass.

I lay back on my bed, closing my eyes and only saw Bella's face behind my eyelids.

Bella POV

We got ready for school again, following the usual routine. I walked downstairs, mumbled a good morning to Shanna and got breakfast. I was only half-paying attention to what I was doing, my head was still full of the date I'd had with Jasper, wringing out everything that had happened.

I was broken out of it by Shanna's sudden snorting laughter. I looked up at her and frowned, she just covered her mouth and pointed at the bowl in front of me. I looked down and felt my face heat up, I was eating a plain bowl of milk, I had forgotten to put cereal in.

Shanna laughed again and handed me a box, I just nodded in thanks, poured in the cereal and started eating, while Shanna continued to chuckle at me.

She was still laughing on the drive to school, I rolled my eyes, "It wasn't that funny."

She chuckled again, "It really was, the pure determination to finish the bowl of milk with a spoon was truly inspirational."

I gave a small smile.

"I take it the date went well?"

I nodded, blushing at the thought.

"Well? Do I have to drag every detail out of you bit by bit? I want a breakdown of everything. What happened?"

"Well, I think we're official now."

I nearly swerved into the wrong lane when she let out a excited squeal.

"What was that? You've never made that sound in your life. We nearly went off-road."

"I'm sorry, I'm just excited, when did he ask you?"

"It was before we got our food, I figured you'd already know and what makes you think he asked me? I could've been the one to ask him."

Shanna snorted, "No way, you're chicken shit about stuff like that Bells, come on."

I couldn't argue with her on that one.

"So...?"

"So, we went to dinner at this Italian place, it was fairly fancy but not, like, uncomfortable and we were talking the whole way about random stuff. Though it was mainly about war tactics; considering that they were supposed to have been doing this human thing for a while, Jasper let quite a lot out. If I didn't know the crazy truth I'd have thought he was a genius historian or something."

"You can't blame him, you make him forget he has a secret."

I chose to ignore her comment, but felt my blush intensify slightly.

"The Italian place was really nice, but you should have seen the woman waiting on us. She was so obviously into Jasper and kept trying to make digs at me. She even tried to put her number in the bill, I kinda stopped her though."

Shanna raised an eyebrow and the corner of her mouth twitched, "Stopped her how?"

"I may have made the note fall onto the table, and called her out on... hitting on my... boyfriend."

Shanna's laughter echoed through LadyBug, I told her the full story and she continued to laugh right up until we parked up in the school lot. I leaned my head against the steering wheel, my face was bright red, "It's not a big deal."

"Woah, woah, woah, there is no way you're doing something that badass and then playing it off as no big deal. It's about time you stood up for yourself Bells, and that damn waitress really put her own face in it." She chuckled again "I wish I could have seen it."

"I thought you would, you usually have a thousand things to tease me about."

"You know it doesn't always work like that, sometimes I see things or just know things and sometimes I don't. It's annoying and unreliable but what are you gonna do? Let's head to class."

I had one class with Shanna in the morning, where I told her the full events of the date, the rest were boring, but when it got to lunchtime, Jasper was stood outside my class.

He smiled when I walked out, "Do you want to eat lunch with us?"

I nodded, and we walked to the cafeteria, I saw Shanna go into the lunch queue, and turned to Jasper, but I didn't need to say anything, he smiled and headed to the table where his family was. I walked over to Shanna and linked arms with her in the queue.

She smiled at me, "What's up, Bells?"

"We're eating lunch with Jasper's family, I came over in case you decided to sit somewhere else."

"Oh, so you're holding me hostage?"

"Yup, so let's get lunch."

We sat with Jasper's family at lunch, everyone was chatting happily, even Rosalie, though she didn't really talk to me and Shanna.

Emmett managed to turn the conversation onto games, bringing up how good Shanna was at the fighting game they'd played last time. "I've got a new fighting game, you should come round to play it. I'll definitely beat you this time."

I laughed at the pure determination on his face, "Still feeling sore from the last beating?"

"I thought you wold have had enough of a fight last time." Shanna taunted.

Emmett scrunched up his face, "It was a fluke, this time I'll have you."

"Sure, sure, was there a light in your eyes or something?"

"Jasper was looking at me funny, it threw me off."

Jasper snorted, while the rest of us continued to laugh at Emmett.

"You guys should come round this weekend, that way, I can beat Shanna at my new game and Jasper and Bella can be all lovey-dovey."

This time everyone was laughing at my bright red face.

The rest of lunch continued in a similar manner, everyone picking on me and Emmett. Afterwards, Emmett slunked off with Rosalie to their next class, grumbling about being bullied.

The rest of the week passed at a crawl, we went sat through dull classes and enjoyed lively lunches. Finally, the weekend rolled around and Alice drove to pick me and Shanna up on Saturday, "Jasper would have done it but he went to help Carlisle with something. He should be back at the house by the time we get there though."

I nodded, Probably needed to go for a hunt

Alice sped just as much as Jasper so we were at the house in no time, and like Alice said, Jasper was in the house when we got there. The whole family was in the living room, we talked for hours about school, homework and upcoming tests.

Esme had once again, prepared an amazing meal for us, that me and Shanna ate and the others pretended to eat. Shanna and I cleaned up, and Esme and Carlisle retired to their room.

Emmett then challenged Shanna to a battle on his new game, when Shanna agreed the rest of us sat on the sofas surrounding them while they sat cross-legged on the floor waiting for the game to start up.

Emmett won the first two games, Shanna the next three and for the next hour they each won every other game. I snuggled up to Jasper on the sofa watching them and rapidly losing interest. Alice gave us a grin, "I'm going to work on some designs, Jasper why don't you show Bella your book collection."

I perked up at that, Jasper alone and a book collection sounded like the perfect combination.

Shanna snorted and laughed, she attempted to maintain her focus on the game whilst she spoke, "Yeah, I'm sure the interest is just the books."

I blushed bright red but was rewarded by her annoyed growl as she lost the round.

"Dammit, I shouldn't have said anything."

I smirked, "That's right, I've got karma in my corner."

She turned to look at me, her eyes slightly bloodshot, to make a face at me. "Why don't you go to look at books and let me destroy Emmett?"

Emmett snorted loudly, "Please, it's a tie."

"Only just, and only because I had to tease Bells. Thought I'd let you win another to help your ego a little."

I rolled my eyes at them as Jasper stood, he smiled at me. "Let's go up, I do have some books you'd probably like."

I smiled, and felt my face once again heat up as I heard Shanna's chuckle. I gently slapped the back of her head as I walked past her to go upstairs with Jasper.

Jaspers room was as minimal as I expected, he had a double bed with grey sheets in the corner of the square-shaped room, at the foot of the bed was a large dark-wood desk covered in messy academic papers and a laptop, and the wall was covered by a huge bookcase that matched the desk. The bookcase was completely full, no space for new additions. All the books had some wear to them, showing that they had all been read multiple times before. It was my dream, so many books to read, and all perfectly stored.

I only realised that I had been staring open mouthed at the books when Jasper nudged me with his shoulder and chuckled.

I smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, there are just so many." There could have easily been 500 books on his wall. "Have you read them all?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, "Most of them I guess, some are Carlisle's or Edward's that they've lent or given to me. I really enjoy reading."

"No kidding, do you have a favourite?"

He thought on it for a few seconds, "Sort of, I guess I have a favourite book for each different genre. It's difficult to come up with just one favourite."

I nodded, "Must be even harder in a library like this."

I continued to ask him questions about books that he answered before asking his own, and before I knew it two more hours had passed.

I was sat on the end of Jasper's bed, reading the first few pages of a book about the American Civil war, when Jasper spoke, "You seem very interested in history and wars, you seem to have a lot of knowledge. What about them interests you?"

I smiled and looked over at him in his office chair. He smiled back at me, the sun catching his soft blond curls, and I found myself momentarily distracted. He gently cleared his throat and I was thrown back into the moment, I blushed and shrugged, "I find the tactics quite interesting, and I guess the thoughts behind what starts the wars. Though, I started learning about it because there was a lecture in the community centre back in Phoenix."

"Community centre?"

"It wasn't exactly a community centre, but they had a lot of free classes for different things there. We went to a lot of them, some were pretty boring, but others were interesting. I liked the history classes, and they had a few different speakers and lecturers come in, a few of them did seminars on conflicts and tactics, things like that. Those were the really interesting ones; those and the psychology of war, and I guess the stuff they taught just stuck."

"Did you and Shanna go to the classes together?"

I nodded, "For the most part, yeah. We weren't always interested in the same thing, but it's always more fun to do the classes together. We went to almost all the classes they had on."

Jasper nodded, looking thoughtful, "No wonder you're in the super advanced classes. I guess your Mother liked you putting in all those hours and furthering your education."

My stomach dropped slightly at the mention of my mum, but I kept my smile firmly on my face as I shrugged, "She was happy that I went to the centre."

I wasn't technically lying as my mother was happy for me to be away from her, but I doubt she had any feelings at all about my education.

I didn't want to talk about my life in Phoenix, "What interests you about history?"

I shifted the conversation onto him, barely missing a beat, hopefully he wouldn't notice that it was a desperate attempt to stop talking about myself.

It was his turn to squirm now.

"I don't really know either, I find history books quite interesting because history is written by the victor, so the authors could be grossly exaggerating or under exaggerating the actual events. Reading these and comparing them to the actual truth in history is fun."

I smiled, "But how do you do that? Find the truth I mean, because if no one writes the truth how would we know?"

"Usually just by cross referencing with other texts, and things that were written in that time, common factors in writing tend to point towards a more factual account of what happened." He answered the question so smoothly, if I didn't already know his secret I would have bought his answer. Though he also wasn't actually lying to me since he was, in fairness cross-referencing with his own memories because he'd lived it himself.

"I have some books you might like, if you wanted to borrow some?"

I felt the smile spread on my face as I nodded enthusiastically, "Yes please!"

He chuckled, I'll get some together, do you wanna head back down? I want to pick some out that I think you'll like, but you're not allowed to see them until you get back home."

"Sounds exciting, what are you going to do if I don't like them?" I challenged.

He stood and came to sit next to me on the bed with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"I know that you will. When you read them and you do like them, then you have to let me drive you home from school everyday."

I raised an eyebrow, "And if I don't?"

"Then you can pick any condition."

I thought on it for a second, "Sure, I'll think of something. How many books are you lending me though?"

"I have eight in mind."

"Deal, but I have to like all of the books."

Jasper smiled confidently, "Deal"

He held his hand out and we shook on it.

I let my hand linger in his for a few seconds longer, enjoying the cool temperature of his skin, and looking into the molten gold of his eyes..

He reached up with his other hand to gently cup my cheek as he slowly leaned in, maintaining eye contact. His eyes began to slowly darken, and as our lips met I closed my eyes and melted into him.

The kiss began to get more intense but he suddenly pulled away, his eyes were pitch black and he seemed to be breathing heavily. I looked at him, slightly confused.

He just smiled slightly embarrassed and ran his fingers through his hair, "Sorry, I can't control myself around you."

I smiled and squeezed his hand, "It's mutual, you're like lightning."

He chuckled, "You to."

His eyes were still dark but beginning to lighten, I smiled at him, "I'll head down so you can pick my books out, I still don't know what to get you to do, so pick carefully."

I stood and headed towards the door, opening it to leave, "See you down there."

He was gazing at my with a passionate look that made me want to turn back around and continue what we were doing, but instead I forced myself to head down the stairs and back to the sitting room.

Alice and Rosalie were sitting on the sofa talking and Emmett and Shanna were still sitting on the floor, with a small pile of games that I presume they had played while me and Jasper were upstairs.

Alice beamed at me when I walked in, Rosalie didn't react much, but didn't glare at me which was progress. Shanna and Emmett who seemed to be playing a game where they were on the same team, paused the game and tilted their heads back to look at me.

Shanna's eyes were bloodshot, she gave me a lazy smile, "Have fun?"

I walked over to her and gently pushed their heads forwards, "Yeah, it's like a national library up there."

"You should see Carlisle's book collection. He could give any library a run for their money." Emmett said, stretching his arms as if his muscles were sore.

I sat down next to Alice, and smiled at her and Rosalie.

Alice smiled back, "Well these two dorks have been playing all of Emmett's games, I don't know how they do it. Rosalie and I got bored after 5 minutes."

"I've never met someone with the same attention span as Shanna with games."

"Hey, I am an all-round focused mind." Shanna said, making a face at me.

"Suuure, and what else exactly can you focus on?"

"There was that roadster that I spent ages restoring."

"Roadster what kind?" Rosalie was the one to speak, stunning the room to silence, Shanna broke out of her shock first.

"Umm, it was a 1958 MGA roadster."

Rosalie nodded, "The restoration on those can be difficult."

Shanna nodded, "Yeah, this one was tough, I pretty much had to make most of the engine from scratch using blueprints I got from an old friend, and the frame for the car was barely holding together, has to fuse it with other bits of metal to secure it. It took ages, but it was fun. Do you restore cars then?"

"Yeah, I mainly just fine tune the family's cars, but I enjoy restoring old cars, I usually try to get my hands on cars from around the 20s though. I like the way they work, and it takes a lot of patience."

Shanna nodded, "It does!" She stuck her tongue out at me, "See! Rosalie gets it, it takes a lot of time and patience, I am a truly focused mind."

"Patient is probably the last word I would use to describe you."

"I can be patient when I want."

She turned back to the TV and Emmett resumed the game.

We sat quietly for a few seconds watching them play when I heard footsteps descend the stairs.

Alice, Rosalie and I all turned to look behind us. It was Jasper with a backpack, which I presumed was full of books, slung over his shoulder.

Jasper locked eyes with me, "I found some good ones, there are eight, if you like at least four of them, then you'll have to honour our deal."

"Agreed."

He handed me the bag, and looked at the clock, "It's getting late, I should drive you two home."

I made a face, but nodded. "Thanks, you ready Shanna?"

She yawned and nodded, "To be continued Emmett, I like this one, the story for it is really good, and the artwork is amazing."

"Yeah, the graphics engine they used for it wa-"

"Okay, okay, time to go." Jasper interrupted, "Once Emmett starts, he won't stop."

Shanna smiled, "For another day then." She stood and stretched out.

I walked over to Jasper and he linked his fingers through with mine.

I said my good byes to everyone, Rosalie gave us a small nod, Emmet, waved and Alice gave me a hug.

Shanna patted Emmett on the head as she passed him, exchanged nods with Rosalie and ruffled Alice's hair, "See you guys, and pray for me to get my own ride soon."

Everyone laughed, I just rolled my eyes and walked towards the door with Jasper.

The ride was quiet, Shanna must have been pretty tired, she barely said a word, and when we got to the door, she said good-bye to Jasper and wagged her eyebrows at me before shutting the door behind her, leaving me and Jasper outside.

"I guess that's her way of giving us some time."

I turned to look at Jasper and saw his black eyes, this time I was ready when he leaned in to kiss me. I put my arms over his shoulders as he put his arms around my waist.

When we parted, I was breathing heavily again, he pecked me on the lips, "Goodnight Bella."

I could tell my face was bright red as I smiled shyly, "Goodnight."

I opened the door and turned to watch as he walked back to the car, he turned before he got in and waved at me before driving away.

I went inside and locked the door, ignoring the pull at my chest that tried to demand me to go after him.

"Awww, do you miss him already?" Shanna said from the kitchen.

"Shut up, I can't help it."

She laughed, "I know, you're a love struck mate. Maybe he'll call."

I made a face at her and threw a cushion at her as I passed the sofa.

I'm going to shower, have fun thinking about lover boy."

I rolled my eyes as she went upstairs. As the shower started up, I heard the key in the door, and in walked Charlie looking like he'd aged a decade.

"Hey Dad, are you okay?"

He let out a long sigh and gave me a small smile, "That bad, huh?"

I grinned, "You just look a little tired is all."

"Yeah, this case is pretty draining."

"Do you want to talk about it?" I went to sit on the sofa, patting the seat next to me.

He came and sat down, "You seem a little different, more comfortable, did I miss much?"

I blushed, "Not really."

He huffed, but didn't comment, "I'm not really supposed to talk about the case, but it seems a lot of the town already knows anyway. They have found a few bodies around the Port Angeles area, the initial thought was that it was animals, but now we're not too sure. The bodies are getting closer to Forks. Please be careful Bells, we don't know who or what this might be, and there doesn't seem to be any connection between these victims."

"Why did they think it was an animal?"

Charlie rubbed his face before speaking, "I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to hear the details."

"It's fine Dad, I can take it."

He sighed again, before answering, "Well, many of the bodies were found in the surrounding forests, some were... fairly clawed up. Ripped clothes and signs of a fight, it looked like some of them had been hunted. But the strangest thing was that there wasn't any blood left in the victims bodies. I can't make heads or tails of it, none of us can."

My heart stopped for a moment, bodies drained of blood? Wouldn't that point to a vampire? That couldn't be though, the only vampires in town were the Cullen's, and humans weren't really on their menu.

Charlie's hand on my shoulder made me jump, "Sorry Bells, I didn't mean to scare you, but you should be careful."

I nodded, "I'm fine, but isn't it dangerous to work on this case? It looks like you've not been sleeping at all either, you should have some time off."

He nodded, "I have a couple of days off now, I sent a few of my men back home too, I'm not the only one at the station looking like this. Though for the duration of this case we have some other police departments involved, many outrank a chief " He grinned at me.

He poked my forehead with his finger, "No need to look so worried for your old man Bells. We won't be on the case at the end of the week, we're passing it on to the bigger fish, we just don't have the manpower and resources to handle a case like this. Though we'll be helping out wherever we can."

I smiled, relieved, if vampires were the cause of this then Charlie didn't stand a chance.

I leaned my head on his shoulder, and we stayed like that for a few moments. Quiet and comfortable, the only way to really describe mine and Charlie's relationship.

He kissed, me on forehead and looked towards the stairs, "I'd better head up and get the grime off, if you're not doing anything tomorrow, maybe we could hang out. It's been a while."

My mind went to Shanna but I heard her 'speak'.

Don't worry about me Bells, I'm out tomorrow, I'm gonna see where I can buy a cheap car, and I'll probably be heading back to my house tomorrow anyway. No point in paying for a house I'm not staying in.

I nodded, "Sure thing Dad, maybe we could go out to eat or something."

"Sounds like a good plan to me, though do you mind if we make it a late lunch? I'm not sure if I'll make it out early. What's Silvers up to tomorrow?"

"She said she was going out, she said she was going to see about buying a car."

"Well, I'll have to treat her one of the days, for keeping you company."

"It'll be a pretty expensive bill." Shanna called on her way down the stairs, "Bella is a nightmare."

Charlie chuckled and ruffled Shanna's hair as he walked past her up the stairs, "No problem, the three of us will go for a big feast."

Shanna sat next to me as Charlie went to shower.

"Did you hear all that? This case seems like it could be supernatural. Do you think it's vampires?"

Shanna shrugged, "Yeah, I was eavesdropping a bit; the human way, I thought you'd want some time with your Dad. It seems like it, but it's pretty strange. Vampires are usually discreet with their kills, it's weird."

"Is that why you suddenly have plans tomorrow? Is your freaky brain telling you anything?"

"Nope, but we don't know what it is, it could just be a crazed human, who knows. I'm sure it will be fine. And no, I just know I need to get a car."

I raised an eyebrow, "Sure, but the actual chances of it being some human seem to be slim."

Shanna sighed, "Yeah, but there isn't exactly a lot we can do about it, if it's a human the police will deal with it. If it's a vamp then they'll deal with it."

"Do you really think it's a human? Charlie said the bodies were drained of blood."

"There's no point stressing about it."

I nodded, "Why are you moving back? You can stay here longer you know."

She just smiled, "It's time I went, it'll get crowded easily if all three of us consistently stay here, and like I said before, there is no point paying for a house I'm not staying in."

"I get it, it'll just be weird."

She rolled her eyes and changed the subject, "By the way, why do I need to get a car?"

I grinned, "Jasper gave me some books, if I like them then he's gonna drive me home from school. I guess I'm going to lose the bet."

"Looks like you two are going to have a lot of time to get to know each other then."

I just smiled happily.

"Well, I'm going to sleep, you have fun in your lovey-dovey bubble."

Shanna went up, and I spent the rest of the night, thinking and dreaming about Jasper.

When I woke up the next day, Shanna was already gone. I rolled over to look at the clock, it was 10AM, I couldn't hear any movement in the house so I decided to get some more sleep. I cuddled up in my duvet and drifted back to sleep. When I next woke up it was it was 12:30, I still couldn't hear any movement in the house, but I knew I needed to get up. I yawned and stretched out, slowly kicking the duvet off me. Finally, I got up, showered and dressed. I heard Charlie's snore as I passed his door and decided to let him sleep longer. He had been sleep deprived for a while he'll need to catch up.

I made a piece of toast and put on the TV, when it got to around 2PM I heard Charlie get up and the shower running, and around half an hour after, me and Charlie where in his cruiser looking for a place to eat.

We drove at a leisurely pace through Forks.

"What do you want to eat, Bells?"

"Ummm... What about that diner you used to take me to? I can't remember what it was called."

"Joan's?" Charlie asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, is it still here?"

Charlie nodded, "Yup, and they still make the best bacon, egg and pancakes in town."

"I guess you're their biggest customer?" I asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Charlie went slightly pink and cleared his throat, "You know I'm not much of a cook, so me and some of the officers used to swing by after a long shift."

We drove for another five minutes before pulling into the diner parking lot. I looked out the window and the fading building. The only difference from my memory was the age, the sign up front was heavily faded, the once vibrant colours a paled version from my childhood, and the red bricks a fading pink. The inside however, was just as lively, it was about half-full but the chatter and energy from customers and workers was vigorous.

We sat down at a small booth by the window, the bench seats had a few tears that were sealed with a thick tape that was beginning to lose it stick at the corners. After a few seconds a middle-aged woman with dark blonde tied up in a pony tail walked up to us with a smile on her face, her name tag read Shirley.

"Hello, again Charlie, how are you?"

"I'm okay, how have you been?"

"I've been well, busy here, but you know how it is, you just missed a big rush". She looked over at me and gave me a big smile, "Are you Isabella? Your Dad was talking about you non-stop and there isn't a lot that would get out dear Sheriff here talking."

I just smiled back, and didn't bother to correct her on my name, not that I would have gotten time to, as she immediately went on to ask for my order.

"I'm guessing you want your usual steak and eggs, and for you?" She turned back to me with an expectant smile.

"Um... Bacon and pancakes please."

She laughed, "You used to order that when you were a child as well. Just like your old man, sticking to what you know."

I blushed slightly as she jotted it down on small notepad, "Extra maple syrup as well?"

I nodded, with a big smile and she just laughed, "I'll grab you some coffee Charlie and I'm guessing you'll want some iced tea. You Swans don't change do you?"

She walked off to the window to kitchen and clipped up our orders.

"I feel like I haven't seen you since you got here, sorry for that. I didn't think we'd be wrapped up in a case like this. It's very rare for something like this to happen around Forks."

"I know, it's okay I've been hanging out with Shanna and making some friends at school."

He smiled, "I'm glad you've been making friends, and it's great that Silvers has moved back to, it should make the adjustment a little easier for you. What friends have you made?"

"The Cullens." I smiled as I thought of Jasper.

Charlie nodded in approval, "They're a good family, Dr. and Mrs Cullen are amazing people, and I've not had one spec of trouble from the kids."

Shirley came back and put our drinks down at the table before heading towards another.

I took a sip of my iced tea, it tasted exactly how I remembered.

"So... are you.. dating one of the Cullen's then?" He asked.

I chocked on my iced tea, and blushed bright red, I looked up and saw the red on his cheeks to.

"Um... that was out of the blue." I evaded.

"I just saw your smile and just assumed... Which one?"

I buried my face in my hands, "Jasper."

"Hm, okay, just make sure he treats you well."

I looked up at him, burning with embarrassment, "I will."

Charlie just nodded, and blew on and sipped his coffee. "How has the school work been?"

I breathed a sigh of relief for the subject change, "It's good, I already have a good understanding of the curriculum and I shouldn't have any issues with it at all."

"You always were a smart one."

Shirley came up to us again with our food, "Hope you both enjoy, call me over if you need anything else."

We ate the food, scarcely talking through bites, but once we had finished we had a great time, we spoke about school, the minimal changes in Forks, the summers I used to spend in Forks and the trouble me and Shanna used to get up to.

It was great to spend time with Charlie again, when it started to darken outside as the sun set, we headed back to the car and back home.

When we got back there was a dark blue parked outside, Charlie parked behind it, "I guess Silvers found her car then."

I nodded, but didn't say anything, when we got in Shanna was sitting on the sofa reading.

"Hey guys, how was food?"

Charlie sat in the armchair and turned on the Tv changing the channel to football, "It was good, got to hear about Bella's new man on the scene."

"Urgh, Dad really?"

They both just laughed at me, "What do you think about it? Think Jasper's good enough for our girl?"

Charlie put on a fake stern voice, "No man will be good enough."

"I'm sure he'll come up with the dowry to marry her soon."

"Good God, please stop."

They just laughed again.

"I like the car. Did it take you long to find one?" I asked.

"Thanks, I got a good deal on it. Not really, it's surprising how easily I managed to find one I liked."

I saw Shanna's backpack on the floor at the end of the sofa, and felt a ball of worry build up in the pit of my stomach. "Are you really heading back today?"

Shanna looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Yeah, don't worry though, you'll still see me all the time. But the money I'm spending on rent kind of goes to waste if I'm not actually living in the house."

"I know, it'll just be weird."

She rolled her eyes and looked back at her book, "Suck it up Bells."

Charlie looked between us, "You don't have to leave Silvers, we'd be more than happy to have you staying here."

"Thanks Papa Swan but I'll be fine, I'll even come to visit with pizza in tow."

That seemed to pacify Charlie as he went back to watching TV, I plopped myself down on the sofa next to Shanna.

Seriously Bells stop worrying. I'm not leaving because I feel like an intruder. I'm not going to sick into abandonment because I'm moving back to my house. And it's not going to get weird between you and Charlie because I'm not here. Chill out, it'll be fine. Everything will feel practically the same. Something interesting might even happen.

-I know, I know, I've just gotten used to you being here. What's gonna happen?

You'll find out.

I rolled my eyes at her predictable response.

I went upstairs and grabbed one the books that Jasper lent me. The cover had a picture of a medallion on it.

I went back downstairs and got to reading.

The book was incredible, I only got a couple pages in before I knew I loved it. It was a science-fiction novel, set in an alternate dystopian version of Earth. When I had gotten about a quarter of the way through the book, Shanna shuffled around and stood up.

"I'm going to head off home now, thanks for letting me stay for this long."

I stood with her, "I should be thanking you."

"Yeah, we really appreciate it Silvers. Give us a call if you need anything, and be careful on the way back."

She nodded, "Of course."

She picked up her back and I stood by the door as she left, got into her car and drove off, I waved as she left.

I closed the door, and let out a deep breath, the house felt a lot emptier without her here.

Charlie let out a small whistle as he looked at his watch, "It's getting pretty late Bells, you should probably head off to bed. You've got school tomorrow."

"You're right, I'll shower first. Goodnight Dad."

"Night Bells."

I didn't sleep very well for the first few hours, but I expected that, it was weird to get used to Shanna not being there. But at around one in the morning I drifted off and stayed asleep.

In the morning I followed the usual routine whilst Charlie was still sleeping, and drove off to school.

I saw Shanna's car when I got there and parked next to it, Shanna was still sitting in the car, I assume listening to music.

I tapped on the window and she opened the door, music pouring out as she did, confirming my assumption.

She pulled out her key, turning the engine off and stopping the music.

"Morning Bells."

"Morning, ready for classes?" I asked.

"Sure."

She locked the doors and we headed towards the building.

"So when are you gonna give me a ride in the sweet new car?" I asked with a grin.

Shanna laughed.

The rest of the day passed as normal, we slept and talked in classes, still getting our work done quickly, we had a fun lunch with Jaspers family, and then we walked each other to our cars and said good bye, it was just like she said, it felt practically the same.

The next few days, me and Charlie hung out by eating dinner together and then watching some TV, afterwards I would go up to my room to read more of the books Jasper gave to me. By the end of the week I had finished 4 of them, and loved them.

I met Jasper outside my last class on Friday and he gave me a smug smile when I told him.

"I can't believe you finished that many so quickly. I guess this means I get to drive you home from school starting Monday?"

I gave my own smug smile, "I'm a fast reader. And you would be driving me but then how would I get my truck back?"

He just smiled, "I guess I'll be driving you to and from school then."

My mouth fell open, "You tricked me!" I went to give him a friendly slap on the arm which he side-stepped.

"Nope, I'm just being a gentleman. You're a woman of your word so you'll agree, right?"

I sighed, knowing I couldn't win this one, though I was secretly happy that I couldn't win.

"Fine, okay, I'll keep my word."

He chuckled and put his arm around my shoulders as he walked me to my car.

"Do you want to go out tomorrow? There's a little field I sometimes like to go to, we could take some food, do a picnic type thing and hang out?"

I smiled, "Definitely, it sounds fun."

He smiled again, and kissed me on the forehead, "See you tomorrow, I'll come and pick you up at around 12 o'clock."

"Okay see you then."

I jumped into my car and took a few seconds to slow my heart down. Something about Jasper just made my body malfunction, I loved it.

I have no idea how he managed to get into every single cell of my body, but I knew in that instant that I never wanted to be without him.