CARLISLE POV
I sat in the cafeteria after my shift, to where I could see both entrances. I checked my watch every 2 minutes. Maybe he decided not to come after all. Why had I been such an idiot and reacted so harshly? I started feeling embarrassed by my earlier behavior, and stupid for not even asking his name. If he didn't show, I would not go home, I would scour the city looking for him. Just as I was starting to give up hope, I smelled him coming, before I saw him, and the excitement started to build. He walked in, looking just as beautiful as I remembered. I stood so he could see where I was sitting. Yes, I was nervous, he's a vampire for Christ sake, of course, he can see me, with his perfect vampire vision. Once he reached my table, I stuck out my hand again. I wanted to feel his warmth course through my body again, and I was not disappointed.
"I'm so sorry, in my rush to get back to the hospital, I forgot to ask your name," I said as he sat down in a chair across the table from me.
"My name is Jasper, Jasper Whitlock." I stiffened at the name. But it couldn't be. He was so young, so handsome. This beautiful man could not be the evil legend I'd heard of.
"Figures, you've heard of me. Look, Carlisle, I don't know what exactly Alice told you. I've never seen that pixie before in my life. I wandered into that diner just by happenstance. I…" I stopped him by holding up my hand. I then looked around to see who was watching. I then slid my hand across the table. He slid his hand across as well, so only our fingertips were touching.
"Yes, Major. I've heard the legends of the infamous God of War. I know about the Southern Vampire Wars, long before you were even born. Even before your Mistress started taking over territories. You see, I spent some time in Volterra and I am good friends with Aro, Caius, and Marcus. However, you are nothing like I imagined an evil warlord to be." I smiled at my last statement.
"Well, Carlisle, I'm not sure what you've heard, but I can imagine. I can tell you pretty much everything you've heard is true. But I don't live like that anymore. And I never wish to go back to that." He told me.
"So what Alice saw is true, you are looking for a new way to live?" I asked him
"To tell you the truth, I didn't know what I was looking for until I wandered into that diner to escape the rain, and a little pixie like waitress told me I'd kept her waiting long enough." He told me with a chuckle.
"Carlisle, you are somewhat of a legend yourself, that I didn't think was true. A vampire, a doctor to humans, who never drink human blood and feeds on the blood of animals. A nomad I met during my travels told me of you, and I thought he was lying." He told me.
"Who told you of me? I asked very curiously at this point.
"This fu…" I quirked an eyebrow at his use of language. "…this Yankee who was turned during the Revolutionary War,"
"Do you mean Garrett?" I asked him. I then threw my head back in laughter. "Well, I can only guess why you'd think him a liar. I met Garrett when I was a doctor on the battlefields in Yorktown.
We sat talking for hours, he tells me about his time in the Confederate Army but stopped when he got to him running into Maria. I told him of my father and his crusades against evil. How I took over my father's work and came across a den of real vampires in the sewers of London. We were now holding hands underneath the table, as a group of colleagues entered the cafeteria.
"Dr. Cullen, what are you still doing here? Is this one of your adopted sons?" Dr. Greene was a nosy bastard. He was worse at gossip than the female nurses.
"No, I ran into an old friend and we were catching up. Jasper this is one of my Colleagues Dr. Adam Greene, this is a friend of mine from college, Jasper." Jasper just nodded at the introduction.
"So, Jasper, shall we be going then, you sure you don't want to bunk with us, we've got plenty of room, I'm sure you don't want to be alone in a hotel room," I said as I looked pointedly at Jasper.
"Yes, I think that would be fine. I can catch up with the others in my group tomorrow" he said as we both rose from the table.
"Dr. Greene, I think I will take a personal day tomorrow, I'd like to do some more catching up with Jasper here before he has to leave town. Maybe I can talk him into sticking around." I said as I placed a hand on Jaspers shoulder and giving it a loving squeeze. To anyone else, it looked like a friendly gesture, but I knew the meaning behind it.
"Very well, Dr. Cullen, I guess I'll see you next week then, as this is your weekend rotation off." Dr. Greene stated.
"Oh, so It is, then I guess I will see you on Monday, Have a good weekend. I held out my hand to shake is before exiting the cafeteria, with my hand still firmly on Jasper's shoulder.
"Jasper, won't you please come and meet the rest of my family, I'd really like you to stay with us. Let me help you. I can tell you, I really don't know how to do this. I mean, I have feelings for you, that I don't know where they are coming from. But I'd like to explore them. However, I don't want to be out to my colleagues as a homosexual." I told him feeling ashamed.
"Have you ever been with another man, Carlisle?" Jasper asked me.
"Yes, I have. I don't know how much you know about the Volturi, but I spent many years with them for a reason, I was a lover to one of the rulers. I left for many reasons. None of which had to do with sharing a bed with one of them. I felt freer there because I didn't have to hide who I was. I didn't like how they thought of humans as cattle, nor how they chose to acquire gifted vampires. I wanted to come to the new world to study medicine. But there I was free to love whomever. I didn't realize when I came here that Americans were so closed minded."
"We will come around one day. Look how long it took for us to end slavery." He told me. I gave him a curious look at that statement
"Jasper didn't you fight on the side to keep slavery." He threw his head back and laughed.
"Carlisle, my family was poor, we couldn't afford to own slaves. Yes, I fought on for the Confederacy, but not for the reason many may think. I fought for, what I saw, as the right to have a choice. I didn't understand about the fight for slavery until much later. I was only 16 at the time, and dumb. Now that I look back, if I'd know truly what I was fighting for, I may have chosen a different side. I also thought I would get to see the frontier and the country, except I never made it out of Texas. You just wait, Carlisle, there will come a time, where we will be free to walk hand in hand, without anyone batting an eye." As we got in my car, I reached out my hand across the seat for his. He placed his hand firmly in mine, and I brought his hand to my lips and brushed them against his knuckles. He gave me a warm smile.
"Love, when that day comes, I will remind you that you said so," I told him.
He then looked at our joined hands and slid across the seat. As I looked into his crimson eyes, I felt like I was home. I leaned toward him, as he leaned toward me. When our lips finally met, it felt like fireworks going off behind my eyes. I pulled him closer, he fisted my hair as I licked his lips asking for permission to deepen the kiss. Once my tongue entered his mouth, our tongues fought for dominance. Once he straddled my lap, I relinquished all dominance and melted into him. He then began to grind his hips into mine. I had to break the kiss before we were beyond the point of no return.
"I need you, Jasper." I whispered to him once he released my mouth and started to place open-mouthed kisses on my neck, "But baby, I need to get you home…" I said as I now grabbed his hips, to grind him harder into me. He placed his hand on either side of my face and kissed me two more times chastely on the lips before climbing off and sitting back on the passenger side of the car. I adjusted myself in my pants before driving us home to meet my family.
That night, we made love properly, for the first time, and claimed each other as mates. I spent the rest of the evening laying with my head on his chest, his arms wrapped around me, as I kissed and ran my fingers over the many scars on his chest. I wished I could take them all away. Why couldn't I have met him 100 years ago, and he not have been caused all that pain. I love this man, with my very existence and would give my last undead breath, that he never feel pain again.