Jasper had figured that Bella had been hurt by Edward. It was there in the way she had been acting, the way she had reacted to his presence when he had first arrived, but he'd never suspected that he had done something that cruel. It would have been one thing to break her heart by telling her that he didn't love her, but to also take away a whole family on top of that must have been horrific.

"I don't know how we never realised he was such a monster. I hope you know that we definitely do not hate you, and whilst I was distant, I still saw you as part of the family. I told you back in Phoenix that you were worth it, and I still stand by it." Once again, he bumped his shoulder against hers. The action slowly becoming a subtle sign of comfort between the two.

"Is it true? What you said about Esme and Emmett really caring too?" There was a desperate, hopeful edge to her voice, one that Jasper didn't need his gift to detect. It made him believe that it would take time for Bella to trust any of them again, despite all his words of assurance.

"Yes, the Cullen household has been a miserable place since your absence. I didn't tell them the full story of what I'd heard from Edward and Alice. I didn't want to hurt them unnecessarily so I used the guise of visiting Peter and Charlotte to see if what they suspected was true." A small, sad smile graced Bella's lips, and yet he couldn't guess what she might be feeling in this moment, nor what she might be thinking.

"Y'know, while I was obviously upset about Edward, it wasn't him that hurt the most. Realistically it wouldn't have lasted, we were too different. He wanted control, I wanted freedom, but I was too blinded in the beginning to express that. It was all of the rest of you not caring, not wanting me with you. I was so sure when he said 'we're leaving' that we included me. And then it crashed around me. It wasn't even that you considered me too dangerous or something I could internalise. It was that you saw me as game, as a toy, worthless and easy to discard." She wasn't trying to hide the pain in the voice. It was too new still, fresh in her hyperaware vampire brain. But at the same time sitting here with Jasper was lessening her pain. Not his words per se, but his presence, they reinforced his words. He had sought her out when he could have just let her be. He showed once again in a subtle way that he truly cared.

"It wasn't fair what he did to you. I can't even fathom why he would want to do it, especially with his mate right in his home. There is either something they're trying to hide, or they have a darker plan than we realised." He paused, worrying what else they could be plotting if they'd managed to pull the wool over all their eyes all this time. But it would not help to worry about it now. "I should call Esme soon. She'll want to be sure I made it here okay. I'd like to update her on the situation with you, but that's only if you're comfortable with that." He wanted to give her the choice. Edward had trampled over too many of her choices in his time with her, and woe become him if he became like him.

Bella didn't need to contemplate it. She needed to know for herself if Jasper's words were truth, if Esme really did care. I hopeful, worrisome bubble knotted in her stomach as she nodded to Jasper. While she needed to know, she was still worried that he was wrong, or misjudged the atmosphere, maybe it was only that they missed Forks? Or their emotions weren't as bad as Jasper first showed. He sent her a warm comforting smile, she could only guess her worries were written all over her face, that or her shield had dropped. It wouldn't be illogical for saying she was a newborn.

One of his hands rested over hers in comfort, his marble flesh on hers felt warm compared to the cold when she had been human, while his other hand grabbed his phone. She smiled softly when she realised that Esme was on speed dial on his phone. It was a feature she rarely used.

The blaring ring tone was jarring to her new ears and to her nerves, seeming almost ominous in the still of the river. Not that it was long that it rang, barely before the second tone had gone through the phone was picked up.

"Jasper?" Esme's voice was as she remembered it, yet more musical to her fresh ears, there was concern in her tone, almost as if she had been waiting by the phone for news.

"Hey Esme. Are you somewhere private?" The private part was obvious meant to exclude Alice and Edward rather than true privacy.

"They've flown to Paris. 'If my husband cannot be here to take me to fashion week, at least I can count on my dearest brother'" She sounded as if she was attempting mocking, but it just came out tired and mocking. "Do you want me to gather the others?"

Jasper looked to Bella, who swallowed on nervous reflex before nodding. "Yes, it's something they should all hear." Jasper and Bella could hear Esme calling Rosalie and Emmett and could only assume that Carlisle was already with her. It was only moments later that they heard the sound of a door opening and then Emmett and Rose's voice on the other line.

"We're all here now Jasper. Has something happened?" Jasper steeled himself. He wasn't quite sure how to start this conversation.

"It wasn't just about Edward and Alice's affair that I heard about in the forest. What I heard from them was terrible and I wanted to see if what they hoped was true before coming to you because I knew it would hurt you. So, I took a detour on the way to Texas." He could almost hear the questions he was sure they were thinking, but yet they stayed silent awaiting for him to go on. "Alice could no longer see Bella in her visions, and believed, hoped, that meant she was dead. So I went to Forks." He heard them gasp. "I bumped into Angela, who berated me for turning up after it was my family that had caused Bella's death. I took that as confirmation and left Forks and headed to Texas." He heard Esme let out a strangled sob, and what he could only guess was Emmett breaking something in the distance. He felt Bella's hand tighten in his in response. "Angela was mostly wrong." That gave them pause, their attention going back to Jasper though he could still hear Esme sniffling in the background. "When I got to Peter and Charlotte's they were training a newborn. That newborn was Bella." Of course, there were other bits and pieces to the story, but he'd gotten the important parts across.

"Bella is a vampire? With Peter and Charlotte? How did that come to occur?" Carlisle's questions were concise and covered most of what he had left out of his story.

"Yes, Bella is a vampire and with Peter and Charlotte. How that came to be is her story, but in short, Edward told her as many lies as he told us."

"If Peter and Charlotte are amenable to hosting us, I believe the best next step would be to meet as a family to discuss what this means for us as a group and where we go from here." Carlisle was that kind of detached formal that he adopted when relaying important information, before his voice softened at the end, ""And of course if Bella is willing to meet with us."

Jasper could still hear the tentative, wary tone that spoke of the damage that Edward had inflicted but still her response was swift, "Please, I'd like that." Jasper sent her another hand squeeze.

"I'll clear it with Pete and Char, they won't mind." And with that the call was ended after short discussion of timings.

I'm back. Uni is fun but between socialising and actually doing the stuff I need to do it doesn't leave all that much time left to write. Having said that, now that I'm used to how it rolls I should be able to better keep up with updates. Or at least attempt to