The difference in Peter and Charlotte was obvious on their return. Jasper didn't even need his gift to see that something had occurred to make them feel more secure and safe about the presence of the Cullens. He could only assume by the excitement and contentment coming off Bella that they had talked to her about their fears. He was curious but would wait to see if any of the parties came to talk to him about it later.
Really he had no choice, as soon as the last Cullen returned to the ranch (Emmett, covered in what could only be assumed to be a bear's fur, a massive grin on his face), Peter had commandeered them back outside, intent on starting the training as soon as possible.
"If this goes as badly as I think it will then there's a high chance you could end up fighting Alice or Edward on the battlefield. Not a problem for me and Char, but I can't imagine that sentiment is returned. As such, I want you to train in your mated pairs for now, being able to mock fight the person you care about most in this life will prepare you to seriously fight against someone you care about to a lesser extent. Bella, while you're going to get to fight Emmett later as promised, for now I'd like you to stick with Char, while me and the Major will put on a good old show for you all."
Peter noticed the two mated couples between them accepted his orders with very different reactions. Carlisle and Esme, ever the pacifists looked warily at each other, holding onto each other's hand a little tighter. There was a very big chance they could become a problem, both now and if it ever became a genuine fight. Don't get him wrong, Peter genuinely respected the levels of compassion the couple had, but it was not always productive, he was sure even they could admit that. On the other hand, Emmett and Rosalie had smirked at each other, Peter could only imagine that their physical fighting would morph into a different type of physicality once they were in private.
At first Peter, and Jasper by default, just observed the fighting, taking in each couple's strong and weak points. And there was plenty of both. For Carlisle and Esme, the weaknesses seemed to be in greater proportion than their weakness, but Peter was a believer that anyone could be a great fighter with the right training. He just hoped he had enough time to complete the training. He hated the feeling under his bones, the feeling of threat coming for him and his.
"Right good start guys, Carlisle, Esme, your potential is there, you just need to let go of your inhibitions a little more, Rosalie, your form is great, but your move patterns are two repetitive, an attacker would easily come to predict your next moves, Emmett, you can't just rely on brute force, you might face a stronger attacker or even someone so quick that brute force would put you off balance. Little Lady, I was glad to see Char's arm off again, work on your speed a little."
All members of the group nodded at him, taking the criticism and advice on board.
"Before you practise a little more, me and the Major here are gonna show y'all what I mean, hopefully you can pick up some tips and tricks you can implement yourselves."
The Cullens, Bella and Char made a circle around Jasper and Peter, while the two men dropped into a crouch opposite each other. Peter sent a smirk to Jasper, it had been too long since he had fought the Major, it was always a good way to keep himself on his toes. Jasper may not have been actively practising as Peter had all this time, but Peter would declare himself a fool before underestimating his brother, the Major's level of skill was not something someone just forgot, the man knew how to play dirty.
Surprisingly to the inexperienced, there was a good minute before any true action actually occurred, the first minute was spent in suspense, circling around in circles, sometimes feigning forwards or backwards just slightly, there was a mutual assessment going on, both men looking for any minute weakness in form or willpower. When assessment was good and over, it was Jasper who made the first move, dropping low and swiping a leg out to try and knock Peter off balance, he was back standing in the same second, Peter having dodged the kick.
The power play continued on for the next hour at least. Each fighter giving as good as they got, but neither gaining an advantage. That was until Peter got a lucky grab on Jasper's arm, tugging hard enough for it tear away from the shoulder. Peter thought that this was his advantage, but in the end it ended up being his downfall.
Jasper grabbed onto his amputated limb with a growl, stiff and cold like marble in his grip he wielded it as a club, when Peter went to charge at him, he swiped up with his own appendage, smirking just slightly at the grunt that left Peter's lips as his arm just perfectly caught Peter's balls. Jasper's smirk grew into a grin as Peter's pain filtered over to him and he dropped to his knees. Quickly as possible Jasper pushed the prone man further onto the ground, placing his lips at the man's neck in a mock bite.
With his victory Jasper stood up, smirking at a still panting Peter, he held his removed arm to the shoulder, leaving it a minute to start the fusing before removing his hand to apply some further venom from his spit to help the process along.
"Sometimes it pays to play dirty." With his lesson imparted he turned back to his brother, holding his hand out to help him up, "Good fight Captain, rematch sometime?" Peter glared back.
"You're a prick, Major." Jasper merely laughed.
Once Peter recovered, he turned to Bella and Emmett. "You guys can have your match and that will do for today, I don't want this to be all training and no play for you guys."
The combatants grinned at each other as they made their way to the middle of the circle.
"Are you ready, Bella Bear?" Emmett's grin grew as he taunted Bella, he'd always wanted to fight a newborn, but being the latest new addition at least he had been the only newborn he had encountered.
"More ready than you Emmy." Bella wasn't as confident as her words suggested, but she wouldn't allow Emmett to know that.
"Alright, enough with the teasing, time to fight." Peter quickly put an end to their games, effectively starting the match,
Their circling did not last as long as Peter and Jasper's had, neither patient enough to wait it out, nor knowledgeable enough to really know what they were looking for. It was, unsurprisingly, Emmett who made the first move, going for an obvious but heavy attack, coming at Bella with all his strength and all his speed. She danced out of the way, concentration and a grin on her face. Hoping for surprise, Emmett repeated his move, coming more to the side this time. He had to suppress a growl of frustration as Bella danced away from him again, her grin growing wider, an action that came across as mocking.
With Emmett clearly irritated Bella started her own attack, dipping low and going for Emmett's legs, he managed to jump out of the way, Bella slipped underneath, outstretching her hands to grab his legs as he came back to earth. Without being properly balanced and his larger body mass he was easily toppled over, crashing to the ground in a faceplant. Bella scrambled back to her feet while Emmett was still down, going in for the kill a quick as possible.
She was sure that if she'd taken another second it would have gone against her, but she just got the 'bite' in victory in her eyes as she held her hands out to help Emmett back up.
"I never saw that coming!" There was surprise in Emmett's voice, she was only a newborn and hadn't had any martial arts training as a human, "We have to do this again sometime!" The grin was back on his face, though Bella was sure his ego was a little bruised.
"Maybe Emmett with time you will take on my lesson about your over-reliance on your brute strength," Peter smirked over at the match loser, pride shining in his eyes for Bella's win, "But you're free for the rest of the day, I'll see you all tomorrow at the same time."
Bella watched as the Cullen's slowly dispersed, Carlisle and Esme returned to the house, likely going to discuss their feelings regarding what was to come, and to reaffirm their dedication to each other. Emmett and Rosalie had merely grinned at each other before taking off into the forest on their dismissal, Bella didn't want to think too hard about what that meant. Peter and Charlotte had also swanned off somewhere, Bella suspected Peter's willingness to give so much free time was less about consideration for the Cullen's and more to do with a desire for quality time with Char.
Her thoughts of Peter and Charlotte led to her calling after Jasper as he himself went to turn away.
"Hey, Jasper," She waited for a minute for him to turn around, "Can we go down to the river for a chat." She was fond of the spot, she had quickly come to associate it with peace on this property.
"Sure, is everything alright?" Bella sent him a grin in answer to his question.
"Well apart from the obvious, yes, everything's good." Jasper returned her smile, and together they ran to the riverbank. The run lacked conversation but was companionable, nonetheless.
Bella flopped into the grass as she reached the bank, pulling her trouser legs up and taking her shoes off to dangle her feet in the water. While for the most part they would avoid her, every now and again a particularly stupid fish would mistake her for a rock and tickle against the base of her feet bringing a smile to her face.
Jasper was curious as to why Bella wanted him to join her, but welcomed the company regardless, following beside her as she made her way to the river. It struck him quite by surprise when he realised how beautiful she looked in this moment, her face or any other feature hadn't changed since the last time he had seen her, but there was a look in her eyes as she sat on the bank, legs rocking to-and-fro in the water. He shook his head to clear the thoughts, taking a seat beside her but not quite copying her actions.
"I never really appreciated nature when I was human, I loved the sun of course, but my clumsiness made me too wary of exploring." Jasper turned his head to the side to look at her. She wasn't looking at him, her eyes were closed, head tipped back as she basked in the sunlight filtering through the surrounding trees.
"Do you regret it?" He couldn't feel any from her but her emotions had been on and off for a while now, he was sure she had even pushed away his assistance with calming beforehand, he could only assume it was an expansion of whatever had kept Edward out of her mind when she was human. It was certainly strange for him, but not unpleasant being shut off, if only temporarily, from his gift.
"Why should I? It's just who I was, and I never would have been able to appreciate as I do now with my improved senses. I'm just thankful that I did get to appreciate it eventually," Jasper couldn't say he'd ever really thought about it himself, by the time he was out of war his human life had become hazy at best, certainly no memories strong enough to contemplate on such borderline philosophical queries, "Actually Jasper, I asked you here to ask you a question."
She started off unsuredly but he could neither sense nor see any negative emotions within her.
"You can ask me anything, Darlin', I'll try my best to answer." Her eyes were no longer closed now, she had pulled her legs out of the water to face Jasper, a serious yet earnest look on her face.
"I love the Cullen's, you know I do," It was an interesting place to start, it had definitely piqued Jasper's curiosity, but he stayed silent letting Bella continue on, "And I'm sure they see it almost as a given that when this, whatever this is, is all over, that I'll come swan onto whatever city they move to next and I'll join the façade. And just a few months ago I would have loved for that, then again, just a few months ago I believed it'd be Edward, or more realistically Carlisle, that changed me. But it didn't end up like that, and while I do love them all like family, here is my home, this is my coven. Peter and Char asked if I was going to leave, and I told them exactly that."
Jasper couldn't deny he was surprised, she was right, even he had assumed she'd move on with the Cullen's when it was all done. And yet at the same time, it made sense, Jasper was sure that Bella had lost a decent amount of respect for Carlisle over this whole affair, but she not only respected both Peter and Char, she loved them equally. Her more lonesome personality would appreciate the space of the ranch equally so.
"I'm sure Esme and Emmett particularly will be disappointed, but you mentioned you had a question?" She sighed, this time her nerves filtering through to his gift.
"I want to be part of the coven in both presence and name. I asked Peter and Char, and they said they'd like that, but I'd have to ask you, because it's technically your name I'd be taking. I want to be a Whitlock, Jasper." Without thinking he reached out to wrap her in a hug.
"That's perfectly fine with me, Darlin'." How could it not be, it might be his birth name, but it was Peter and Charlotte who truly carried it. "Bella Whitlock," She gave a small grin, and even he couldn't deny how right it sounded, "I'll book an appointment with my Lawyer to get all the paperwork sorted. By the end of the week, we'll have made you an official Whitlock." Her grin grew even larger if physically possible as her arms tightened around Jasper's shoulders.
"Thank you, so much for this."
"Anytime, Darlin', anytime."
Oh lord she here with another update. I wrote this whole chapter with a sad song playing in the background.