As the two talked, they didn't really notice the sun going down and the darkness rolling in. Suddenly, Jasper's phone rang. "Who could that be?" he wondered, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
"Jasper, are you bringing Bella home tonight? Or are you planning on staying out away from the house all night?" Esme's voice brought both Bella and Jasper back to the current moment as they realized just how late it was getting.
"Jasper, do you remember how to get back to the house? I'm afraid I wasn't exactly paying attention as we walked out here." Bella sounded just a little worried. Jasper moved quickly to comfort her.
"Was that Bella? Is she saying she's lost?" Esme's tone betrayed her worry for the youngest of her children.
"I'll make sure she gets home okay, Esme. I promise. I'll let you go now so that I can bring her back to the house. Don't worry."
"I always worry about all of you. You're my children and I will always worry about you when you aren't at home."
Esme hung up and Jasper put his phone back in his pocket. Then, he climbed to his feet and held out a hand to Bella. She took it and he helped to pull her to her feet.
"It's okay, Bella. I remember exactly how to get home. I'll get you there with no problem." He hugged her for a moment, attempting to calm her fears. "I promise. We'll be back at the house in no time. You'll see."
Taking her hand, he walked with her. "Use the gifts you now have. Your eyes can see quite well in the dark. Let them do the work. You'll be amazed at the difference between seeing things at night and seeing them during the day."
Bella looked around and, just as Jasper had promised, everything looked vastly different at night compared to during the day.
Suddenly, out of the dark, a huge figure loomed up at them. Bella simply reacted and took the arm that reached for her and threw it. "AHHHHHH!" yelled a familiar voice as the shadow flew through the air and landed against a tree.
"Oh God! Emmett? Emmett, is that you?" Bella stammered.
"Emmett, I warned you about sneaking up on a newborn. Did you listen?"
"I figured Bella would look first," Emmett whined.
Jasper rolled his eyes. "You knew we were out here. You know that newborns are not always in complete control of themselves. What part of that didn't you get the first twelve times I explained it to you?"
"Don't be mean, Jasper. We all heard Bella's scream back at the house and I decided to come out and make sure that it really was her and not someone else out here getting hurt." He looked at Bella. "Did the change really fix your voice, Bella? Say something. Anything."
"You big lout! I ought to kick your -"
"Now. Now, Bella. Watch the language please." The smile on his face as he mock scolded her brought a smile to her face too.
"Yes. The change fixed my voice. Are you happy?"
"Yee-haw!" Emmett whooped. He picked up Bella and spun her around in circles. "I'm so happy for you, sis! This is awesome news!"
"Emmett, please put her down. She's still young and I would very much like to see her stay in one piece."
Emmett set Bella back on her feet and wrapped her in a big bear hug. Bella returned it, smiling when he grunted from the force of her hug. "I guess I forgot how strong newborns were." He smiled at Jasper. "I won't forget again. Not with Bella here to remind me."
"I'm sorry I threw you, Emmett. Forgive me?" Bella asked with the puppy dog eyes in full force when he let her go.
"Awww, Bells! I could never stay mad at you. And I wasn't mad at you anyway. Jasper's right. He told me repeatedly that I shouldn't surprise you and yet I did it. I deserved what I got." He smirked. "Besides, now you can tell everyone that you got me. Rosie'll get a kick out of that story."
"Peter will get a kick out of that story. I can't wait to call him and tell him about it. He'll probably think that he needs to come up here and test her. Of course, he won't go full out unless he's instructed to. He's very good at following orders." Jasper seemed quite happy that he would have something to hold over Emmett's head for a while. Bella stepped to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, snuggling in before they started walking toward the house.
Emmett walked along with them until he got within sight of the house and then he took off on a run. They saw him arrive at the back door where Rosalie was waiting on the porch. He picked her up and spun her around before kissing her solidly.
"Rosalie hates me," Bella said sadly.
"No she doesn't. She never had the chance to tell you her story. Ask her. She'll explain why she seemed to hate you so much before you were changed. But know this, she spoke up when Edward tried to keep us from changing you as you lay dying in front of us. She told him that he had no say in the matter anymore and that he needed to step back and let me make the decision. She felt that, since you and I were so close now, it was my call whether to change you and save your life."
Bella looked at Jasper incredulously. "Really?"
He nodded. "She wanted to see you changed rather than die. She knows that you are my mate. And she knows that you make me a better person." He sighed. "She'll have to tell you her story and then you'll understand. You'll understand why she doesn't truly hate you."
"I'll ask her about that. Thank you, Jazz." Bella reached up and kissed Jasper's cheek.
"Anytime, darlin'. Anytime." He took her hand and the two of them started toward the house.
Arriving back at the house, Esme stood on the back porch. "There you two are. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to make it back here before sun up." She hugged Bella. "How do you feel, Bella?"
"I feel fine, Esme. Thank you." Esme's eyes looked like they would overflow with venom tears. She was so happy to see that Bella's voice had returned.
"Did you find enough to eat?"
"I did. Jasper made sure that I hunted enough to satisfy me. And then Emmett comes along and tries to scare me." She turned and glowered at Emmett for a moment and then turned back to Esme. "Of course, I paid it back. Grabbed the arm he had out and threw him into a tree. I also made him wince when I hugged him afterward."
Rose laughed out loud. "Someone finally got you, did they, sweetheart? I always warned you that one day your – enthusiasm would come back to bite you on the butt."
"Rosie, do you have to laugh at me about this? It's embarrassing."
"And totally your own fault," Rose crowed. She turned to Bella. "Good job. Maybe now he'll listen to me and pay a little more attention." Rose walked over and hugged Bella. Then she looked deep into her new sister's eyes. "So when do I get to start planning a wedding between you and Jasper?"
"Rosalie, we just got together. Give us some time to get to know one another." Jasper's words didn't fall on deaf ears.
"I know that, Jasper. But we don't want to wait too long to plan this thing. After all, with as beautiful as Bella is, what's to say that someone else won't come along and try to steal her away from you?"
"Anyone who knows my reputation wouldn't even try to take her from me. They would know what would happen."
"And that, my dear Major, is exactly what we want to happen," came a different voice, one Bella hadn't heard in a while. She turned around.
"Peter! Char!" she exclaimed before running at both of them and hugging each in turn. Jasper watched in amusement as she hugged both of the vampires in front of her as if it had been years since she last saw them instead of just a matter of weeks.
"It hasn't been that long, has it, Sugar?" Peter asked, his Texas drawl coming through clear as day. He was pretending that he hadn't noticed that her voice was back and Bella didn't seem to notice that he wasn't paying that point any attention. Peter noticed that part.
"Oh, Peter!" Bella cried, her eyes glistening with tears that could never fall. She had missed him when he and Char left after her divorce went through. "You don't know what happened after you left!"
"What? Did Elvis return from the dead? Or are you going to tell me that I missed some actual excitement?"
"Victoria came after me. She had my ex-husband with her and a crazed wolf. The wolf went after Jasper and Victoria was going to kill me. But Jasper won his fight and took out Victoria."
"One thing that worried me about that fight is the fact that she mentioned Maria," Jasper said. "She mentioned that Maria still talked about me. I just hope this isn't a sign that Maria is still trying to get me back in her clutches."
"Maria will never give up until you are back under her control, Major. You know that." Peter turned to Bella. "Bella, is there something you haven't told us yet?"
She looked at him, confused.
Char caught on. "I don't hear her heartbeat anymore." She looked at Bella. "When were you changed?"
"She just woke up today. We had to change her after the attack. Victoria forced her to hit her head on the wall, splitting the skin. Then, I had to use a good dose of lethargy to get the upper hand. I had started tearing her apart when Jake burst in and told me to get out. When I tried to get Bella, he threw me out a window and finished tearing Victoria apart. Then, he kicked in Carlisle's door and found Bella unconscious. I had neglected to focus the lethargy on only Victoria. Bella had gotten hit with it too. And she would have died if we hadn't changed her."
"Jasper, I know we haven't discussed this but I'm only going to say this one time. Me being changed was not your fault. I blame Victoria, Mike, that wolf, and Maria. It's their fault that I became one of you so soon."
"You don't even know Maria and yet you feel comfortable laying the blame on her shoulders?" Peter asked. He was amazed. Few were willing to risk the warlord's wrath. And Maria didn't tend to like it when people blamed her for things, even when she was completely to blame for the situation. But Bella didn't seem to care if Maria got upset over that or not. She blamed Maria and Peter could tell by her tone of voice that that was all there was to say about it.
"I don't care about her. I care about Jasper and what she did to him was beyond wrong. What she did to you and Char was beyond wrong too. And I don't care if she likes the fact that I blame her for that or not. It is her fault and that is all I have to say about it."
Peter stared at Bella for a moment then started to laugh. And not just a small chuckle either but a full blown belly laugh. He looked over at Jasper. "Major, I said it before and I'll say it again. I like this woman. She's got spirit. Lord help you if you ever piss her off."
Char wrapped an arm around Bella's shoulder and smiled at her. "Don't let him get to you. He never grew up."
"Perpetual PPS." Bella nodded as she agreed with Char. At that point everyone else standing there broke into great peals of laughter, even Carlisle. Everyone was surprised that both Carlisle and Esme were laughing so hard.
"Carlisle, do you and Esme understand what perpetual PPS is?" Bella asked.
"Perpetual Peter Pan Syndrome," Carlisle nodded with a smile. "Definitely Peter's problem."
Peter stopped laughing for a moment and then realized what Bella and Char had accused him of. Then he smiled. "I can't say you're wrong, ladies."
Bella laughed. "That's the first time I've seen someone not get offended at that comment."
"Well, that's Peter for you. Never does what's proper and expected," Jasper said, wrapping Bella in a hug.
She leaned into the hug and just enjoyed the feeling of being wrapped up in Jasper's arms. It felt like the safest place she could be.
None of them could have guessed what was coming.