A/N Thanks so much to all my wonderful reviewers, as well as the people who add this story to favorites or author alert. I promise I do read every review and they keep me going. Special love for my beta The Sound and the Fury. If you like this story, please go check out hers, "Hope Springs Eternal" which has a similar premise. I've been PM'd the same questions over and over, so I'll address them here:

Will we find out what Jasper was doing in that dressing room- yes, soon

Will we find out what happened with Maria and the knife- yes, but not for a while

How long will this story be- long, I can't say for sure how long, though. We are less than ¼ of the way through though.

Carlisle's POV

"I see. And what exactly were you thinking?" I didn't know why I bothered asking. The problem was that Emmett hadn't been thinking at all. The problem was always that Emmett didn't think before he acted.

"I don't know." His bulk seemed greatly diminished there in the principal's chair, no mean feat when you considered just how large Emmett was. "I didn't think it would happen so fast."

Despite all appearances to the contrary, Emmett Cullen is not stupid. He had certainly been paying enough attention in Chemistry to know that combining the chemicals just right would cause an explosion. I was sure that in his mind, it was just going to be a little poof that set off the fire alarms and earned the entire school a break from their studies. If he were particularly lucky, the fire department might come.

Emmett had always had a real affinity for firemen. They were his allies and protectors. They had been the kind men who showed up first at the scene of his parents' shootout. They were nice and hustled him and the rest of the kids out of the house, buying them some hamburgers while they waited for Social Services to come. Firemen were cool. On the other hand, policemen, like the ones who actually took statements from the kids and removed them from the home, were not to be trusted.

I ran my fingers through my hair. There was no feeling in the world like being called out of surgery because one of your kids decided to try and blow up the school. Emmett hadn't intended it that way, of course, but that was the way the principal saw it. I just prayed he wasn't going to get expelled.

Principal Ritter raised one eyebrow. "You don't know? I could have you arrested right now for bomb making!"

My son shrugged. His apparent indifference was like waving the red flag in front of the bull, and I knew I only had a few seconds to salvage this meeting. "Principal Ritter, Emmett was wrong. It was extremely immature of him to do that, but I don't think he meant to blow up a lab table. Please don't have him arrested for a little bit of teenage immaturity. I'll have the table replaced."

The man relaxed, but not by enough. "He has to be suspended for two weeks. That's school policy, and I can't change it." He glanced over at Emmett. "This is very serious, young man. This isn't being tardy, or failing to turn in your work, or dropping cans of soda off the gym roof. You are this close to throwing your life away."

I had to suppress a snort at that. Emmett would never throw his life away; that would require far too much effort on his part. He was far more likely to just let it pass him by. "Believe me, sir, he'll spend his time at home wishing that he was at school."

Emmett was watching me with no small amount of trepidation. I held up the keys to my car. "Go outside and wait for me. Do not talk to anyone, do not put the key in the ignition, and if you take off with my car, I will not hesitate to report it stolen."

His dark eyes hardened, but he took the keys without comment. I waited until he was out of earshot before turning to the man in front of me. "Is he failing again?"

Forks High School was small enough that the man could have told me the grades and life story of nearly every child in it. "Not yet. If he would just put a little effort in, he would be more than capable of doing the work. But I guess I'm not telling you anything you don't already know."

I could have written a book on it. "Thank you for not getting the police involved."

He gave me a tired smile. "I thought that I would give him a break this time. I remember doing the same thing as a senior. Plus . . ." He paused, as if he weren't sure he should continue. "I've heard that he's suddenly become a big brother again. A little bit of bad behavior is to be expected."

It hadn't occurred to me that Emmett might be reacting to Jasper coming to live with us. He was the most placid of all my kids, and had accepted Jasper as calmly as he accepted everything else. "Thank you again."

"I'll see Emmett in two weeks."

I had always liked Principal Ritter. That was probably a good thing, considering that I had spent an inordinate amount of time in his office with one child or another. He seemed to have a sixth sense about when to punish a child fully, and when they might need to be cut a little slack.

My heart was heavy as I walked across the parking lot. Emmett was waiting for me, all hunched up in the passenger seat, much like he had been hunched in the principal's chair a few minutes ago. I sat down next to him, completely unsure of what to do. Finally, I spoke, more to fill the silence than anything else. "Is there something else you want to tell me?"

"No." No trace of his happy laugh and big voice now. His voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Does Jasper have anything to do with this?" I should have considered this myself. Not every kid will tell you in words when something is wrong. With some of them, Emmett included, you had to watch for the actions.

"Like did he tell me how to blow up the lab table?" Emmett was obviously confused.

"No. I just thought that maybe this was to get my attention. I know he's been taking up a lot of my time the past few days." That was a bit of an understatement. He needed doctors appointments scheduled, and I had to find a therapist for him, and make sure he took his medicine. It was enough to drive any one person batty. Not to mention the fact that Social Services was breathing down my neck about every little thing he did. If they had been half this interested in him before, he wouldn't be going through this now.

Emmett rolled his eyes. "Not everything's about Jasper, Dad. Besides, he's like living with Casper the Fucking Ghost, only not friendly. He could disappear completely and we probably wouldn't notice for a day."

That much was true. Jasper crept around the house like a feral cat, completely silent and untrusting. Something as simple as one of us talking to him would cause him to stutter out answers as quickly as possible before fleeing the room. Loud noises? Forget about it. Edward had been trying to play cards with him yesterday when Rosalie dropped something in the kitchen. At the sound of shattering glass, Jasper had bolted back to his room, leaving his poker hand (which had been excellent) all over the living room floor. Despite some gentle coaxing, he hadn't reappeared until dinnertime.

Alice claimed we were all a bunch of wimps, and just marched in there after him, but even she couldn't get him to come out. So instead she stayed in there with him, keeping him company, I guess. Whatever she did, it worked, and he seemed remarkably composed, but he hadn't said much for the rest of the night. Not that he was a talker, not by any stretch of the imagination, but he could usually be counted on for something. Last night, his dinner conversation had consisted of "Please pass the bread" and "Thank you."

To make matters even more entertaining, he had decided that last night was the perfect time to sleepwalk around in the hallway. Now, I've always heard that God watches over sleepwalkers and drunks, and keeps them from harm, but Jasper seems to be planted firmly in God's blind spot. I don't know whether it's a result of his head injury, or if his brain convinced his body he was in another house, but he slammed into the wall, causing a bruise over his eye that was all too evident this morning. Luckily, I had heard him hit, and even more luckily, he passively allowed me to lead him back to bed.

That would be the only time in three days I had managed to get my hands on him. That was the main reason I had wanted to find someone else to be his doctor. Some of what he was going to have to go through would be painful, and I didn't want him to associate my hands with pain in any way.

"Give him a little time, Emmett; he's probably scared." I had to admit, our family could be a little overwhelming for anyone, much less someone as shy as Jasper.

"Yeah, well, you too." It might have sounded like something that a petulant teenager would say, but I took it to heart. Maybe I should back off and let Jasper set the pace.

"What am I supposed to tell Mom?" He was back to more important matters, the ones that included him. "She's going to be pissed."

Yes, she was. Esme had a very low tolerance for the sort of fooling around that led to most of Emmett's suspensions. "Well, I wouldn't tell her that the principal threatened to call the police and have you arrested."

"No shit." He sighed deeply. "I don't mean to screw up all the time." His voice was soft, nearly blanked out by the radio.

"I know you don't." I wondered if now were the best time to bring up things I had told him dozens, if not hundreds, of times before. "You just have to slow down and think a little bit before you act, that's all."

"I try to."

"I know." It was the only reason he hadn't had to move out of the house yet. There were times when Emmett drove me crazy, but for the most part, I felt like he was putting forth a pretty good effort. My therapist friends were fond of telling me that some kids just don't get it until their mid-twenties, or even a little older. I wasn't a hundred percent sure if that were true, but it gave me something to hold onto.

Esme was out when we got home, which was a stroke of luck for Emmett. I pointed to the kitchen table. "You, schoolwork, right now. You are going to be getting pretty familiar with that seat, because I expect you to be completely caught up by the time you go back to school."

He started to protest, but thought better of it. "Yes, sir." He dragged himself over to his chair and sat down, looking miserable. My every instinct screamed at me to comfort him, but I forced myself to be still. Emmett had screwed up big time, and he was going to need to face the consequences of that.

A note pinned to the fridge told me that my wife was grocery shopping, and would probably be back soon. Rosie's car was home, but she hadn't heard me pull up, so she must be in the basement. Jasper, as usual, was nowhere to be found.

I wasn't terribly concerned about that fact. The house was far enough from anything interesting that he wouldn't try to walk, and I had warned him to stay out of the woods. They were mostly overgrown, and it would be very easy to get lost in them.

A quick call to the hospital confirmed that my next surgery wasn't for an hour, so I would have time to give Rosalie an update on why her boyfriend was home in the middle of the morning.

I made no effort to be quiet as I went down the stairs, not wanting to startle her and cause her to ruin some extremely expensive and complicated thing she was doing. Music was playing, its beat echoing off the metal walls. Because of the music, I wasn't aware that Rose had company until I was almost on top of them.

Jasper was helping her maneuver a large piece of something into place. He was listening intently to her instructions, calm and happy for the first time since I had met him. I swore I might have even seen him smile. It was the cute, genuine smile I had seen in his younger pictures, the one that showed off his dimples.

I could have stood there and watched them for quite a while, the natural way that they interacted with each other, but Rosalie saw me standing there and jumped. "Dad! What are you doing home? Is something wrong?"

Meanwhile, Jasper folded into himself, his blue eyes turning cloudy. All the happiness faded from his features, and I was left with the distant mask I had gotten used to seeing over the past three days.

"Well, your boyfriend got himself suspended for two weeks. He's upstairs." I couldn't quite keep the irritation out of my voice.

They both looked at me intently, and for a minute I was thrown by how alike they looked. With their blond hair and incredibly intense eyes, they could have been a biological brother and sister. Jasper certainly seemed to have taken to Rosalie like she was a sister.

Actually, he seemed to have taken to Alice as well. The minute she entered a room, he was up and wanting to sit close to her. He didn't actually speak much to her, but I strongly suspected that that had less to do with any traumas he may have suffered and more do with the fact that he was an infatuated teenage boy.

Wait a minute. Infatuated? My stomach sank as I quickly combed through my memories. Oh, yes, he was making Emmett's attraction to Rosalie look like a schoolboy crush. This was not good.

I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. Maybe I was reading too much into things. Jasper was probably just grateful for the extra attention that Alice was showing him. After all, she was never a girl who had shown any interest in sex or dating. Jasper had admitted to Esme that he had never had a girlfriend, but that didn't preclude him having sexual experience. But, again, he was a seventeen-year-old boy, and was probably attracted to anything that he thought he might have a chance with.

Right, because every seventeen-year-old boy lit up when he saw a girl he was only interested in sleeping with. They all pulled out chairs, and opened doors, and always made sure that the girl had everything first. I was definitely going to have to discuss this with Esme.

"Dad! What did he do?" Rose's irritated voice told me that she hadn't failed to notice me spacing out on her.

I had to keep myself from smiling. What Emmett had done was certainly not funny, but it seemed that way once we got away from the school. "He blew up a lab table."

A look of disbelief crossed her features. "He blew up a lab table?" Each word was spaced out carefully, as if she were trying to make them make sense.

Jasper too, seemed interested. "One of my foster brothers did that once. He got expelled." His eyes, so happy a minute ago, were grey and worried.

I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible, not wanting to upset him. "Emmett isn't expelled, just suspended."

The worry didn't diminish. "Oh."

I wondered at his reaction, but now didn't seem like the time to ask. He was skittish enough when it was just the two of us, so I knew he wouldn't talk in front of Rose. It seemed that my very presence was what stressed him out, something that I felt terrible about. "I have to get back to the hospital now. Do the two of you need anything?"

Rose shrugged. "Nope, we're fine." Jasper shook his head, suddenly finding the floor absolutely fascinating.

I decided now was not the time to say anything, but made a mental note to arrange to do something with Jasper on my next day off, just the two of us. "Remind your mother that I won't be home for dinner, please."

"Sure, sure." She was already distracted by whatever they had been doing to that car before I showed up. Jasper watched me go, an unreadable expression on his face. He could want to speak to me, or he could be glad to be rid of me; both seemed equally possible at the moment.

I thought about Jasper and Alice the entire way back to the hospital. Every time they had interacted was drawn out of my memory bank and dissected. Had he looked at her just a little too long last night while they were choosing a movie? Was she holding his hand to comfort him, or because she wanted more? Should I be letting them be alone together? The possibilities were endless and starting to give me a headache.

Thankfully, the rest of my surgeries were fairly routine, and I was able to think about the situation I had just put myself in. It would hypocritical of me to do or say anything about it, considering Rose and Emmett . . . but on the other hand, this was Alice!

She had always seemed so much younger than the others to me. She was younger, of course, but even when she became a teenager, I couldn't help but think of her as my little girl. Rose had been a teenager when she was placed with us, as had Emmett, but I could still remember Alice standing there in her room in the institution, so small she barely reached my hip.

At the very least, I was going to have to keep an eye on them. Jasper had been nothing but sweet so far, but he was only seventeen and had no idea about her past. Alice was a people pleaser, and she might allow herself to be talked into something she wasn't ready for. This also meant I was probably going to have to have the dreaded 'talk' with Jasper. Just the thought was enough to make me shudder.

On the other hand, could I really deny them this connection, if that was what they both wanted? They both deserved some happiness, after what they had been through, and even I couldn't deny that they had already formed some sort of bond with each other. From the second Alice had held out her hand, Jasper had followed her like an abandoned puppy. I hated the thought of taking that small bit of security away from him.

"So when do we get to meet him?" Nurse Stamey drew me out of my thoughts.

"Pardon?" She had probably been speaking to me for several seconds, but I couldn't recall any of it.

She smiled. "This kid that has you all tied up in knots. When do we get to meet him?"

I could only imagine how Jasper would react to being thrown into a room filled with adults. Not only that, but adults who were intent on staring at him. "I don't know. I have to bring him in on Thursday to be looked at, but I wasn't planning on taking him around just yet. I think he's had enough of hospitals for a while."

"You have a new kid?" That was Newman, the anesthesiologist. "I thought your home was closed for kids."

I couldn't believe that the hospital rumor mill hadn't hit him yet. "It was sort of a special placement. He had a bad head injury, and needed a placement with a doctor, so they bent the rules."

I don't know why I didn't just come out with the truth. Newman was more than smart enough to put two and two together and know exactly who Jasper was.

Sure enough, he was nodding excitedly. "He the one that came out of the Teresa house?"

"That's Jasper." I prayed that no one would push me for the details.

Newman nodded again. "My sister has one of the younger kids! Aiden keeps asking about Jasper, like if he's all right and everything. Is he?"

Was he? "He's doing fine. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear any update on his little brothers." At least, I thought he would. Except for Peter and Charlotte, Jasper hadn't really mentioned any of the other kids that had been in the home. Maybe saying something would just be too painful for him.

"Well, I think my sister is going to adopt Aiden. He's the cutest little boy, but he has quite a few problems. She must have tortured those poor kids."

There wasn't much for me to say to that, because I was coming to believe that he was right. I didn't think Jasper's spirit had been entirely broken, but it was certainly bruised and torn. Whether or not he could recover was still up in the air, but I was determined to give him every opportunity.

Newman gave me a sad smile. "And yours was with her longer, right?" At my nod he shook his head. "Would it be all right if I gave my sister your number? I won't let her bother Jasper or ask any uncomfortable questions, I promise, but maybe he would like to see Aiden? Or at least talk to him? I know Aiden misses him a lot."

I was totally numb as I put the last stitch in my patient's abdomen. "Of course." This meant I would have no choice but to tell Jasper about this. I think I would have anyway; it wouldn't be fair to keep this sort of thing from someone who was practically an adult. "My secretary will be glad to give it to you. Just tell her to give me a few days to talk to Jasper first."

"Understood." He adjusted the flow of anesthetic, preparing to slowly bring the patient back to consciousness. "Thanks, man. I know it would mean a lot to her to get a few clues."

It would mean a lot to me to get them too, but I supposed all I could do was ask and hope for the best. I thought about it the entire ride home, the best way to break the news to Jasper. I couldn't lie to him, but I wished he would give me some indication about the best way to interact with him. All of our conversations so far had consisted of me probing gently while he stood stiffly and attempted to avoid eye contact. I couldn't be any more gentle with him, so maybe I should be more firm? How firm was too firm?

I was no closer to an answer when I pulled into the garage. Esme was in the kitchen, unloading the dishwasher and humming to herself. The rest of the house was quiet, except for the soft sounds of the television coming from a few rooms over. She came over to greet me with a kiss. "How was your day?"

"It was pretty routine. Have you talked to Emmett yet?" I didn't want to rat him out, but the longer he put this off, the more trouble he was going to be in.

Her lips tightened. "Oh, yes, I've talked to Emmett. He's grounded for at least the next six years, in addition to whatever else I can think up. I was so pissed at him that nothing came to mind."

That had pretty much been my reaction when I got the phone call. "We need to think of something for him to do while he's stuck at home for the next two weeks. He can't just lie around playing video games."

She gave me an evil smirk. "I already confiscated his Jeep keys, as well as the keys to Rose's cars. I'm thinking that I might need a new garden plowed for spring."

"You're evil. It's January, and the ground is completely frozen." I really liked this idea. After all, if Emmett didn't graduate, backbreaking labor would likely be the only job he could find.

"I know. Do you want to be the one to tell him, or should I? They're all in there watching a movie." She slipped her arms around my neck, kissing me again. The kids all screamed and pretended to gag whenever they saw that, but neither one of us cared. We loved each other, and we certainly weren't going to stop just because we might be embarrassing them.

"They just started the movie, so we could sneak off . . ." Her eyebrow rose seductively, and it was all I could do not to carry her off to the bedroom. But there was something else we needed to discuss.

"I know who has one of Jasper's former foster siblings." When all else failed, I could always just blurt things out.

Instantly, Esme drew away. "Where did you find that out?" Her tone was curious, and I couldn't blame her. Trying to get information about past placements could be harder than pulling teeth.

I reiterated what Newman had told me, leaving out the part where he commented on how many problems little Aiden had. She knew that Maria had abused all of the children in the home, not just Jasper, but I didn't want her to know the details. It was terrible enough to think of someone harming a teenager, much less a small child.

"We need to tell him." Luckily, Esme and I were on the same page. "But not tonight." I raised an eyebrow. "He's in there right now, having fun with the rest of the kids. Do you really want him to be upset when he's barely relaxed? Please don't make me break his heart. Not tonight."

I peeked though the doorway, taking care not to let them see me. Emmett and Rose were on the couch together, her head against his chest, and his fingers running through her hair. Edward was in one of the armchairs, intently focused on the screen. Alice sat in the other chair, with Jasper on the floor in front of her, his back against her knees. He was watching the screen, but she only had eyes for him. Every few seconds, she would lightly touch him. There was such tenderness in her eyes that I found myself looking away. As fascinated as Jasper might be by her, she was just as intrigued by him.

"Okay, we'll tell him tomorrow." I leaned into the living room and called out to them. "I'm home, but I'm exhausted and going straight to bed. I'll see some of you in the morning. Emmett, you and I are going to have a serious talk about punishment!"

I did my best to ignore Edward's mutter of, "Yeah, like you two aren't obvious. Even Emmett can think of a better excuse than that."

Needless to say, Esme and I were still awake to hear every one of them go to bed. I counted the doors closing, making sure that each child was in the proper place. At the fifth door clicking into place, I was finally able to relax and settle down to sleep.

It was about two hours later that I woke suddenly, disoriented but still on alert. Had I heard something? Was it one of the kids? I strained my ears for a repeat of the sound.

Nothing.

I laid back, debating whether to get up and check on them. I should, especially Jasper, but I was comfortable, and Esme was snuggled up to my side, exactly how I liked it.

While I was debating, the choice was taken out of my hands. Banshee-like screaming suddenly split the air, sending me out of bed without any conscious thought. Esme was still fighting free of the covers, but I didn't spare her a glance. She would be up and by my side as quickly as possible, I trusted that.

Instinct told me that it was Jasper, and I didn't hesitate to throw the door to his room open. We had been lucky so far, he had slept quietly, if not soundly, through his first three nights.

Emmett was already coming out of his room, looking scared, but I gestured him back in. I had no idea how coherent Jasper might be, and I didn't want him to feel crowded. "It's all right, Emmett, I've got this."

Jasper wasn't in his bed, but I hadn't really expected him to be. He had somehow managed to wedge himself between the bed and the wall, no doubt trying to hide from the phantoms in his dreams. I knelt on the bed and pulled his body up against mine, his back to my chest. "Hey, it's okay, it's okay."

He wasn't comforted by my touch in the slightest. Indeed, he seemed to get even worse. All of his muscles tensed up and he started struggling against me, trying desperately to get loose. I pinned his arms down to his body, but he managed to slam his head into my chest hard enough to nearly knock the wind out of me.

The seconds dragged on like hours, but I was helpless to do anything. It took all of my strength to keep a hold on Jasper, who showed no signs of tiring. Unlike nightmares, night terrors came from a deeper part of sleep. It was virtually impossible to wake someone from one, so all I could do was ride the dream out, and pray he settled afterwards. I could hear Esme herding the rest of the kids back to their rooms, but her voice sounded miles away.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the entire thing was over. Jasper's muscles went limp, and his head dropped back against my chest. The silence was so unexpected that for a minute I thought I might have gone deaf. I carefully moved him so he was lying down again, the doctor in me giving him a critical going over as I did. His pulse and breathing were both slow, more in line with someone who was deeply sleeping than someone who had been fighting for his life a few minutes ago.

Esme came into the room, her eyebrows raised. "Is he all right?"

"I think so." Jasper's skin was cold, despite its flushed appearance, but I could feel it slowly warming under my hand. His body had shocked itself, and needed to reregulate.

She brought out a damp cloth and ran it over his face, erasing the tear tracks I was just now noticing. "It's all right, baby. I'm here."

Of course, he didn't respond. By tomorrow, he wouldn't have any memory of what had happened, just a sense of exhaustion and confusion about why his muscles were so stiff. I didn't say that to Esme, though. She needed to feel like she was doing something, anything, even though we were both helpless. The only danger was in Jasper's mind, and there was nothing we could do to fix that.

I left Jasper in good hands, and went to go confront the rest of my family. All of them, even Edward, who tended to sleep like the dead, were in the hallway, watching me with varying degrees of worry. "He's fine, guys, he just had a nightmare."

Four identical snorts of disbelief told me that they weren't going to be fooled that easily. "Okay, it was a little worse than a nightmare. He is fine, though."

"Can I talk to him?" Alice's voice was even smaller than usual, her eyes almost as tormented as Esme's had been.

I did my best to let her down gently. "No, honey, let your mother handle this. You can talk to him in the morning."

Edward scrubbed at his face, looking only half awake. I could only imagine what this entire scene must have sounded like to him. Of course, he had already been through this twice, with both of his sisters, so it wasn't an entirely foreign experience to him. "Please tell me he's not going to do that every night."

Maybe. "I hope not, for his sake as well as ours."

Emmett stared into space, his dark eyes locked on the doorway and one hand on Rosalie's back. I could have sworn I saw his lips form the word 'bitch,' but he didn't speak. Rose just clung to him, probably lost in her own dark memories.

I waited a few seconds more, but no one seemed to have anything else to say. "All of you are going to school in the morning — or doing schoolwork — so you might want to get back to bed. There isn't anything you can do for Jasper right now."

They reluctantly scattered, grumbling among themselves. Both Alice and Edward wanted hugs before they went back to their rooms, something they didn't ask for often. Alice felt as small as ever, but Edward was getting bigger. He was broader across the chest and shoulders, and nearly tall enough to look me in the eye. He was nearly grown, and I took a minute to grieve for the tiny toddler we had brought home thirteen years ago. I stroked a hand down his back, marveling at the muscle where there had been nothing before. "Goodnight, you two."

The both gave me their goodnight, neither enthusiastic about going back to bed. I waited patiently, listening as Edward crept up the stairs and Alice stomped off to bed. Once I was sure we weren't about to be eavesdropped on, I reentered Jasper's room.

At some point, he had curled onto his side, his body calm and relaxed. I rechecked his pulse and breathing, noticing that both were back to normal. Esme stoked his back one last time and stood up. "I'd forgotten what it was like."

I put an arm around her shoulders as we walked back to our room. "Having second thoughts?"

She grinned, giving me that sassy smile that never backed down, no matter how great the odds. "Oh, no, I love him. The world has given him absolutely nothing, but he keeps right on fighting. How could we give up on him, when he refuses to give up on himself?"

We climbed back into bed together, limbs entwined. "Remind yourself of those words when he has us up the same way tomorrow and the rest of the week."

She smirked. "I will. And I'll also remind you of those words when he graduates school and gets married. He's going to do it, Carlisle. I'm certain."

I hoped she was right. I was also getting very attached to Jasper, despite his antisocial behavior, and I wanted to see him succeed. What made me nervous was that I wasn't sure whether or not he could succeed within this family. I forced myself to remember that he had only been here for three days, and that I had known this was going to happen beforehand.

Still, in the back of my mind, I saw a huge clock with red numbers. It counted down the days until Jasper was eighteen, and able to legally leave our home. As of right now, I had no doubt that he would, probably without hesitation. Just 109 days; that was all I had left.