A/N: Another long wait for this one, sorry guys! Jasper is a stubborn little devil, but Carlisle can be even more so. Thanks to my beta Thesoundandthefury, for making this readable!

Carlisle

I was trying hard not to let my nerves get the best of me, especially in front of the rest of my family, but it was proving to be an impossible task. My stomach was churning nervously, my palms clammy. Today was the day that Jasper was expected to appear in court, and the tension in the house was rising with each passing minute.

Esme was scrubbing the breakfast dishes, a task that she had already completed twice. She had already wiped down every surface in the kitchen, as well as cut up a salad for dinner. She was muttering to herself, but shot me an evil look when I asked if I could help her. Duly noted.

Jasper was supposed to be changing into the suit we had bought last week, but I wouldn't have been surprised if he was up there fashioning his bed sheets into a rope he could use to throw out the window and shimmy down the side of the house to escape. When I went up there, however, it was quiet, and the door was firmly closed. I laid a hand against the wood, unsure if I should knock and remind him of the time, or respect his silent request for privacy.

The coward in me wanted to summon Alice up to speak to him, knowing that he would never refuse her entrance, but I forced those thoughts back. I was the adult here, and Jasper was depending on me to hold myself together. I tapped firmly. "Jasper, can I come in?"

Footsteps shuffled across the carpet, and he slid the door open. He was dressed, except for his tie, which he held in one shaky hand. "I can't tie it."

I put my hands on his upper arms and tugged him gently to stand in front of me. "It's an acquired skill. Now hold still." I looped the tie around his neck, but before I could even cross the ends, he brought up a hand to lightly graze my wrist. His touch was as light as a butterfly's, the pads of his fingers barely making contact. Even so, I could feel the pulse pounding beneath his skin.

I stopped, sure I had scared or offended him in some way, but he didn't say anything. He just watched me with those strange, knowing eyes. I was afraid to break the spell we had fallen under. Instead, I slowly finished with his tie, barely aware of what I was doing. Jasper didn't speak, didn't move his hand, barely seemed to breathe. When I was finished, his hand dropped and I took a step back, out of his personal space. "How are you holding up?"

One eyebrow quirked, telling me what a stupid question I had just asked. But when he spoke, his tone was neutral. "I'll survive."

Of course he would survive. I just wanted a little more for him than mere survival. "I wish I could do this for you." It was the only thing I had to offer him, pitiful as it was.

"I know." He looked at me again, his face inscrutable. "And if bullfrogs had wings, they wouldn't smack their asses on the ground." For a second he paused, and I thought that was all he was going to say. But then our eyes met again. "Thanks, though."

There was nothing left for me to do here, yet I sensed that Jasper wanted me to stay with him, that the soft touch had been an unspoken request. "Do you have any last-minute questions?"

"No." He started out of the room, closing the bedroom door behind him. "I know what to do."

I was sure that he did. In fact, we had all gone over the entire procedure with him so many times that Emmett swore he heard Jasper mumbling parts of it in his sleep. The only thing we hadn't gone over was his testimony itself. I wanted it to be as natural as possible, not coached or rehearsed-sounding. All I could do was gently remind him to tell the truth, no matter how horrible. It was just easier for him to deal with now. Of course, I didn't even like thinking about how hard it would be up on the stand, when he was face-to-face with his tormenter.

If this had been a movie, I'm sure this would have been the point where he and I had a beautiful heart-to-heart talk before going downstairs, my arm slung over his shoulder, so we could face this together. Since this was real life, we went single file, me leading and Jasper, who disliked having anyone behind him on the stairs, trailing in silence. I wanted to say something comforting and appropriate, but Jasper would see through all of that, so I kept my mouth shut.

Fortunately, Alice was waiting at the foot of the stairs, and she never had a problem talking. "You look great, Jasper. Are you ready to go? Traffic's going to be bad, so we need to leave some extra time to get there early. Emmett wanted to tell you good luck, and don't get too worked up. Edward says be calm and Rose said to go kick some ass."

He gave a soft laugh, the first I had heard from him in days. "I won't, I will, and I will." He didn't seem totally sure about any of it.

"Oh, before I forget, this is for you. You're probably going to be bored out of your mind waiting, so I though you could at least have some music to listen to." She held out the iPod she had received for Christmas. It was a bright, almost neon pink, and it looked ridiculously small in Jasper's hand. "There's all kinds of music on there, so you should be able to find something that you like."

This time his smile was natural enough that it showed the small dimple on one cheek. "Thanks."

Since she seemed to have things under control, I walked out to warm up the car. Some instinct told me to enjoy this last minute, because I was going to need this small measure of peace in order to get through the rest of the day. I placed my hands flat against the wheel and prayed hard for the strength to get through this. That God could, just this once, keep a special eye out for my foster son.

Esme, Jasper and Alice shuffled out of the house, each seemingly lost in their own thoughts. Both Alice and Esme seemed worried, their dark eyes darting around and their mouths pressed into thin lines. I had never seen them look so much like biological mother and daughter as they did right now.

Jasper, on the other hand, was a blank slate, no emotion showing anywhere. He didn't return my brief smile, just crawled into the back seat and sat in stony silence. Alice climbed in next, and gently manipulated his tense body until his head was resting on her shoulder. She spoke, but it was so soft that I could barely hear her. Still, it seemed like they were doing all right, so I left them alone.

They were certainly an interesting pair. I had been extremely worried when Alice had told me that Jasper asked her out, for both of their sakes. Alice would be ashamed to bring up the past, and it would probably never occur to Jasper to ask. He could easily frighten or devastate her without meaning to.

But it was more than that. Jasper was all over the place, mentally and emotionally. Most of the time he was like an adult, sometimes seeming even older than Esme and me. Experience and far too much responsibility had aged him. Other times, though, he could be quite impulsive and immature. He was a champion when it came to surviving, but he had no idea how to act like a normal teenager. Suddenly had had more freedom then he had ever had before, and he was determined to test his limits.

It wasn't that he did anything to be spiteful, or deliberately cruel. No, it was the sort of behavior I had experienced when Edward was thirteen or fourteen, testing and figuring out new ways to relate to your parents. His was a sort of passive resistance, mostly consisting of a mild refusal, or 'accidentally' forgetting to do something. It was nice to have a break from the melodrama that had accompanied both girls, the shrieking tantrums and wails of I hate you and Nobody loves me, but Jasper had other ways of expressing his displeasure.

He had an eerie way of fixing his eyes on yours when he spoke and refusing to look away. Even I felt a little uncomfortable under that icy gaze. That was the point, of course, to see if he could intimidate us into giving him his way. For the first time just recently, I had grounded him, restricting him to the house and denying him access to the television and Xbox. A mocking had shown in his eyes then, a silent question of That all you got, Carlisle?

I hadn't risen to the challenge. The rules had been set down clearly, and so had the consequences for breaking them. It was Jasper's choice to follow the rules or not follow the rules, but I wasn't going to back down on his punishment.

I sounded harsh, but it was exactly what he needed. All of Jasper's life, the rules had been changing, inconsistently applied, or just plain absent. The punishments for breaking them were arbitrary and far too severe. I needed to make it clear, through my actions as well as my words, that things would always be consistent here, and that once his punishment was over, it would be truly over, and not brought up again.

I was willing to be gentle, though. Jasper was definitely testing, but he was also undergoing the most stressful period of his life. I had to be both understanding and fair, and sometimes I didn't feel like I was doing a very good job of being either.

"What?" Alice's voice was a little louder than it had been. "Okay, hang on a minute. Dad, pull over! Jasper says he's going to throw up."

A quick glance in the rearview mirror confirmed that Jasper was deathly white and sweating bullets. "Ok, I'm stopping. Try to hang in there."

Esme rummaged frantically through the dash, looking for something to try and contain the mess. I grabbed an empty McDonald's coffee cup out of the cup holder and shoved it into Alice's outstretched hand. "Jasper? Take a few deep breaths and try to cough. It will bring your blood pressure up a bit. Spit in the cup, all right? A lot of times swallowing is what actually triggers you to throw up."

Alice managed to deftly juggle Jasper, the cup, and a handful of the napkins Esme had given her, as well as get the car window rolled down. "It's okay, it's okay. Deep breaths." Her voice was background noise as I struggled to get us pulled into a gas station. Behind me Jasper coughed twice and gagged miserably, but I couldn't quite tell if the gagging was productive or not.

I finally pulled in and parked. When I looked into the backseat, it was quiet. Jasper had his head back against the seat, his eyes squeezed shut. He didn't look like he was in any immediate distress, at least not at the moment. "Feeling any better?"

When his eyes opened, the desolate expression in them made me want to cry. "I think so."

I killed the engine. "Did you get sick?"

His eyes drifted shut again. "Jus' spit." He straightened up in the seat, suddenly looking much better. "I'm okay now."

"Come on in, anyway. We'll get you a Sprite or something to settle your stomach." I looked meaningfully at Esme, hoping that she would get the message that I wanted her to handle the drinks.

I waited outside the car by the backseat until he forced himself up and out. I looked away from him, but gently held out a hand, just in case.

Even though I had offered, I was still surprised when his clammy hand slipped into mine and held on tight. He allowed me to hold him all the way into the men's room, where he released a soft breath and leaned back against the wall. Just as I had expected, he was putting on a brave front for Alice and Esme.

I wet a paper towel in the sink and used it to wipe the sweat off his face and neck. The fact that he passively allowed me to do so spoke volumes about his state of mind. I wanted to say the right thing, but this was one of those cases where there was no right thing to say.

"Is your stomach better?" He nodded weakly. "Are you ready to go out there, or do you want another couple of minutes?" I tried to keep him focused on the immediate future, instead of what was going to happen at the courthouse.

"Now's fine. I think I just got nervous, and the longer I wait, the worse it's going to end up being."

It was undoubtedly the truth, so I nodded and stepped back. "Okay, then, let's go."

He didn't take my hand again, but he did hang quite close until we reached the car, where Alice and Esme were waiting. Alice passed him the soda, which he sipped gratefully. "Thanks."

"No problem." She reached out again, and he snuggled gratefully back against her shoulder. He almost appeared to be asleep, except for the fact that he would occasionally take another sip of his drink.

We split when we made it to the courtroom. As a minor, Jasper was entitled to have a parent or guardian stay with him until he was called upon to testify, and he had been quite emphatic about wanting Esme. I had been a little put out about that at first, until Rosalie had unintentionally revealed the reason for his preference. He had confessed to her that he didn't want Esme to hear what they were going to say about him, and what had gone on in that house, which she would if she were seated in the courtroom. His desire to protect her brought a lump to my throat.

I gave his back a final pat. "We'll be right there when it's your time to be called up, all right?"

He was looking a little green again. "Okay." Esme slipped an arm around his shoulders and led him away. Alice and I stood there watching them go. Esme glanced back at me, but Jasper didn't turn. His shoulders were back and his head up. He was going into this with all the dignity he could muster.

They turned a corner, and now it was just Alice and me. I wasn't surprised when her small hand found mine, like Jasper's had just a short while before. Her grip was strong and sure, unlike Jasper's tentative yet desperate grasp. "He can do it."

I would have given anything to have her confidence. "I hope so."

I had testified in court before, in a few cases involving the hospital, but I had never actually sat in the gallery. The judge's podium and witness stand looked more intimidating from here than they did when you were in them. We chose seats in the front, sitting as close to the witness box as possible so that Jasper would be sure to see us.

We still had quite a bit of time before the trial started, so I excused myself to use the restroom. The closest one was being cleaned, so I found myself wandering around until I found one in a deserted hallway. I was about to push open the door when a hand came down on my shoulder. "Sir, you aren't allowed to be back here. Can I see some ID?"

I turned and realized that I was in the hallway used to allow prisoners to go to the bathroom. The guards, one male and one female, flanked a Hispanic woman in an orange jumpsuit. Flushing red, I fumbled for my wallet, finally finding my hospital ID. "I'm so sorry."

The female guard took it. "Dr. Carlisle Cullen?"

The woman in the jumpsuit burst out laughing. "Dr. Cullen? Oh, this is fantastic!" We all looked at her surprise. She managed to catch her breath long enough to say, "So you're the bleeding heart they stuck that kid of mine with!"

Sudden recognition made my gut clench. I had been so worried about what would happen when Jasper saw Maria again that I had never considered what might happen when I saw her. Cold fury rose up, making my vision swim. Not only had this woman tortured my child, beat and burned him and made him wake up at night screaming in terror, but she was actually standing there laughing about it. I gave her my coldest stare, unwilling to let her see she had riled me. "That's confidential information. How did you get it?"

When she smiled at me, I was struck by how beautiful it made her. I had been wanting to imagine her as a hideous crone, someone whose outside was as foul as her heart. But she was young and very pretty. The sort of woman who might have warranted a second look if I had seen her in my OR or out at a restaurant. Her dark eyes met mine defiantly. "There's very little that happens here that I don't know about. I've been keeping track of Jasper, for everyone's sake. "

Common sense told me to just walk away, to not engage her in conversation of any type, but I couldn't help myself. "I really don't think that Jasper's welfare is any of your concern. He's being cared for, and that's all you need to know." As much as I wanted to lunge at her, to make her hurt more then she had ever made him, I forced myself to be still. Anything I did would only damage the case and make things harder for Jasper.

She nodded sagely. "I hope your care involves a lot of close supervision and keeping him away from anything sharp. He's dangerous, you know."

I was familiar with the 'blame the victim' mentality, but it still rankled me that she could stand there and say this with a straight face. "I've seen no evidence of that. Jasper is so sweet and eager to please that I've hardly had to discipline him at all."

She raised an eyebrow at my smug tone. "Really? Did the head of Social Services tell you that he pulled a knife on me?"

There had been no mention of that, if it were in fact true. I tried to school my features, but I could tell that she knew she had scored a direct hit.

"Huh, I guess not. Don't worry, they didn't tell me jack shit about him being dangerous, either." She smirked at me, and for the first time, I saw the monster in her eyes. "I know you don't believe me, but you will. Trust me, you will."

The guards, who had been as transfixed by the scene as I was, abruptly stepped in. "That's enough. Dr. Cullen, there's a restroom two hallways over for public use. Ms. Teresa, if you need to use the restroom yourself, this is going to be your only chance."

My thoughts were troubled as I used the bathroom and walked back down the hall. Could she be telling the truth about Jasper? I was a pretty good judge of when I was being lied to and everything indicated that she was telling the truth. It certainly wouldn't be the first time that I had been given a child without full disclosure of violent or antisocial tendencies.

I forced my brain back to the task at hand. Whether Jasper had actually pulled a knife on her or not, it didn't matter right now. What mattered was that I had promised to be there in the courtroom, and I couldn't break that promise.

Alice was quiet when I made it back, with none of her usual exuberance. Instead she just quietly took my hand. I stroked her hair. "What's wrong, baby?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to be here."

After the fit she had thrown to be allowed to come along, I couldn't believe she was changing her mind now. "Why not?"

Her eyes filled with tears. "Jasper isn't going to be the only one up there. The doctors are going to be, and his brothers and sisters, and maybe even . . . her. I don't want to know what she did to him."

I had been so busy considering Jasper's feelings, and trying to get him ready for this, that I had never considered how Alice might be feeling. She was so sensitive, especially when it came to someone she loved. Especially when that someone was Jasper. Maybe she just wasn't ready for this. It was a lot to ask even of an adult, much less a seventeen-year-old girl. "Do you want me to get your mother and have her take you home? I can sit with Jasper."

She bit her lip. "But I promised him I would be here."

"I'm sure he'll understand."

She looked down, kicking at the floor. "No. I don't want to be here, but he needs me to be. If I want to be with him, I have to get used to this and put his needs above mine, at least part of the time. I can do it, Dad, even if I don't feel like it."

My doubts vanished. She was sensitive, yes, and at least some of what she heard today was going to break her heart, but she was nowhere near as fragile as I had been assuming. Somewhere along the line, my little girl had grown up, and I couldn't help but feel a little sad about that. Once this last group of kids were gone, that would be it until it was time for grandchildren.

Belatedly, I realized that everyone was standing as the judge took her place. I stood as well, my nerves suddenly singing. This was it. No trial was ever a guarantee, and Jasper could do his very best and still lose. I couldn't even begin to imagine what that would do to him, mentally and emotionally.

Alice squeezed my hand as the charges were read. Felony child abuse, neglect, and attempted murder in the second degree.

We all sat and Alice whispered in my ear. "What does second degree mean?"

"It means she didn't plan out hurting him. She just snapped in a split second. First degree would be if she had thought logically about trying to hurt him, then decided to do it."

"Oh."

Jasper was eight or nine names down the witness list, and wasn't expected to appear until well after lunch. The first witness for the prosecution, and maybe the most damaging, was a familiar face. Peter, Jasper's former foster brother and the one who had made the 911 call. He sat stiffly as he was sworn in, his eyes scared but determined. I noticed that he carefully avoided looking over at the defense table.

The prosecutor walked him gently through the day, starting with an argument over a toy. Peter looked at his hands as he spoke. "It was one of those little games, you know, the kind you plug right into the TV? Joey and Sam wanted to set it up right away, but Aiden was watching Bob the Builder and he started screaming as soon as they touched the remote."

The prosecutor interrupted gently. "Where was Jasper at this point?"

"The basement. He was still sleeping. It was really only about seven in the morning."

I didn't pick up on what he had just said, but Alice did. "He had to sleep in the basement?" Her voice was horrified.

My brain tried to play devil's advocate, reminding me that some basements were completely finished, more like a dorm room than the creepy cellar we were all imagining. That a seventeen-year-old boy might appreciate that sort of privacy from a half-dozen foster siblings. Something inside told me that that probably wasn't the case here, though. Banishment to a dark cinderblock room seemed more in line with what I had heard so far.

Peter continued on with his story. "So, Jasper finally came upstairs, 'cause Aiden was shrieking like a fire siren, and he was going to break it up. He was holding Aiden when Maria came downstairs." He stopped for a second, his voice choking off.

The lawyer stepped in again. "By Maria, you mean Maria Teresa, correct?" At Peter's faint reply in the affirmative, he continued. "Can you point to her now?"

Peter took a deep breath, pointing without hesitation at the defendants table. "Her, in the middle."

"Let the record show that he indicated the defendant. Okay, Peter, what happened when Maria came in?"

He hunched even smaller in the chair. "She was mad. At all of us, I think, but mostly at Jasper. It was his job to keep the little kids from bothering her, and he let them wake her up. She just slapped his face the first time and kind of shoved him back a few steps."

"What did Jasper do when she did that?"

"Gave Aiden to me and kind of signed for me to get the other kids out. He didn't even really look at her, which made her even madder. He just looked down at the floor. Maria didn't say anything to him either, which was how I knew it was going to be bad. His lip was bleeding a little; I saw it drip when I closed the door." He stopped and had to be prompted to continue.

"What happened then?"

"I don't know. I took the kids back to their rooms, and told them to stay there. Charlotte, my oldest sister, was supposed to help keep them there. Maria was screaming, but I couldn't really understand what she was saying because the doors were closed. Then it got really quiet for a few minutes, so I knew that it was over. When I heard someone on the stairs, I was hoping that it was Jasper, but it was her. She didn't look mad at all. She never does after she gets on Jasper for something. She just looked at me and calmly said, 'Go deal with your brother, I'm going out.' I was scared, but I was kinda glad too, because I didn't want her to be in the house if Jasper wasn't all right."

"So, you went back downstairs, and what did you see?"

"Uh, Jasper was just lying there. He wasn't crying or moaning or moving even a little bit. He was facing away from me, and I thought he might be dead, but then I could hear him breathing, so I knew that he wasn't. So I did what I always did: I kind of dragged him over to the couch and put him on it so he would be more comfortable. Then I waited for him to wake up."

The prosecutor barely needed to nudge him now. Peter was getting caught up in the story, his fears seeming to lessen.

"Did he wake up?"

"No. Usually, if she knocked him out, he woke up after a few minutes, but this time he didn't move a t all. I checked, and he wasn't bleeding anywhere but his lip, but you could see where he was getting these big bruises on his face and his arm and he had a big lump on the side of his head, right here." He pointed to his own temple, the absolute worst place to be struck. The bone there was very thin, and in Jasper's case, had broken. The shards of bone being driven back into his brain were probably what had caused his brain damage and epilepsy.

"I didn't know if I should call 911 or not, so I thought I should just wait for Maria to come home and tell me what to do. I shouldn't have done that. I should have called an ambulance when he didn't wake up after a few minutes."

This time he stopped and didn't start again. Tears dripped down his face, and we all held our breath, waiting to see if he would be able to continue or not. After a minute and a drink of water, he accepted a tissue from the judge and wiped at his face. "So, I stayed there with Major . . . um, that's what I call Jasper sometimes. And he started shaking. Not really bad, just kind of shivering like he was cold, only it was his whole body. I put a blanket on him, but it didn't stop. Then it was getting worse and worse. Suddenly he really started jerking around, like a convulsion fit. I thought that I was supposed to put something between his teeth to keep him from swallowing his tongue, but I didn't have anything. Then he started turning all blue, and I thought he was really going to die. So I called 911 and an ambulance came and took him away. The social worker picked us all up right after and put us in different homes. No one would even tell me if Major was alive or not."

The prosecutor held up a hand. "I'm going to play the 911 tape now."

There was a moment of static, and a panicky voice filled the room. "I need an ambulance! My brother is dying!"

The responding voice was cool and professional. "I have you as being on 659 Vine Avenue, is that correct?" At his confirmation, she went on. "What is the emergency with your brother?"

"My mom . . . I mean, he hit his head. He's shaking and he won't wake up."

"Do you know what he got hit with? Did he hit his head on the floor, or did he hit something else? It's very important to know what caused the injury, so we know how best to treat it."

"Um . . . he might have bumped it against the poker for the fireplace. He's got a big bump on the side of his head." His attempt to cover up what had happened was pathetic, but he was still trying.

"So he may have been hit with a metal poker. What's your brother's name, sweetheart?"

"Jasper."

The prosecutor stopped the tape. "It goes on for another few minutes, until the ambulance arrives, but the salient points have been heard. Now, Peter, had you seen Maria strike Jasper before?"

"Yeah. Usually she'd just hit him across the face. Sometimes she'd hit him with something. She said he was too big for her to hit with her fist."

"How often?"

"I . . . I don't know. Whenever he messed up, I guess. He was supposed to keep the little kids quiet because she said that their crying made her want to kill someone. So usually, if she hit him, it was because of the crying."

I didn't want to hear any more. Didn't want to know about pokers and fists and all the things that she had done to try and break his spirit. But the prosecutor kept talking, oblivious to my mental pleading. "Did you ever see her do anything to hurt Jasper besides just hitting him?"

"Yeah. Hitting him was for when she was just mad and she didn't have time to plan things. If she had enough time to think, she had another system."

"Which was . . . ?"

"She didn't smoke, but she kept a pack of cigarettes on the table in the hallway. Sometimes she would burn us with them. How many burns depended on what you did. That was for all of us, even the little kids. Uh, sometimes she would hit Jasper or me with the cord for the vacuum. Just us, though, because she was afraid that she would hurt one of the little kids if she did that." He was crying steadily now, tears streaming down his face. Alice, too, was crying, her sobs choked off as she tried to keep quiet.

There really wasn't much for the defense to say to him. The attorney did manage to get him to admit that he hadn't actually seen Marie hit Jasper with anything except her hand, much less a poker. He had been on a different floor when the beating had occurred. Other than that, he was unshakable. I knew his abject misery was going to resonate with the jurors. Even now, he was obviously devastated at his betrayal of his former foster mother.

A few minor witnesses came and went, and then it was the doctor who had treated Jasper in the ER. He listed the injuries, starting with his head injury, and working though the dozens of old scars. I had read his report, so nothing the man said came as a surprise. I turned my attention to Alice, doing my best to comfort her. She jerked slightly with each injury listed, as if he could feel it in her own body. The doctor confirmed that Jasper's injuries were consistent with being struck with a poker, and that, more specifically, they matched a poker recovered from the floor of the house.

On cross-examination, he did say that Jasper's injuries could have possibly come from another object, but refused to move on his position that Jasper's injuries could only be the result of being struck, and could not have been caused by him falling to the floor and hitting his head.

There was a pause before the next witness, and my heart began to pound. It was Jasper, I just knew it. Was he all right? Had he frozen in the hallway? Even though he had Esme with him, he might need both of us. I was about to get up when he finally came through the doors. His voice was very quiet when he was sworn in, but it was steady. His eyes scanned back and forth across the room, seeking desperately for Alice and me. She stood up halfway and he visibly relaxed when he noticed her.

The prosecutor had been warned about Jasper's nervous nature, and proceeded more gently than he had with previous witnesses. He asked a few easy questions, establishing Jasper's full name and age, then solicited a few facts about his life now. Once he had Jasper sufficiently relaxed, he started on life at Maria's house. He had to tread carefully here, and he knew it. Jasper didn't remember the last beating, the one that had put him in the hospital, and, without that, I wasn't sure he would be able to say anything with Maria sitting right in front of him.

"Can you tell me what happened on the day you got hurt?" The man knew that this was the weak point of Jasper's testimony, and he wanted to get it out of the way quickly.

"I don't know. I just remember waking up in the hospital. I don't remember what actually happened." To my horror, he looked shyly over at Maria and tried to smile. He was going to lie; I could already feel it. Alice could, too, because she poked me. "Dad! Don't let him do that!"

I tried to catch the attorney's eye, but had no success. He was still pushing Jasper. "What was that like, in the hospital?"

"I was scared." Even with the microphone on, it was hard to hear him speak. "They had a tube down my throat because I couldn't breathe when they brought me in, but I started choking on it. One of the nurses got me to calm down, but I couldn't talk and no one would tell me what happened. I thought maybe I had been hit by a car, because I hurt so much."

"It didn't occur to you that Maria might have injured you?"

"No." At this point it was pretty clear to me when Jasper was trying to lie. He always looked down at his hands, as if he thought they might trip him up by telling a completely different story.

"Why not?"

This was it. I could almost see the lie forming on his lips. "Don't do it, Jasper, please don't do it." Alice's voice was so low that I could barely hear her myself, but I would swear all my life long that Jasper looked at her when she said it. His eyes met hers for a split second before he looked away and back at the attorney.

"She never hurt me bad enough to go to the hospital before."

He had done it. For the first time that I knew of, he had admitted that Maria had abused him. Alice and I gave simultaneous sighs of relief. The rest of the testimony would still be hard on him, but he had jumped that first hurdle and seen that his world hadn't exploded.

"But she had hit you?"

"Yes."

"With her hand, or with an object of some sort?" His tone was gentle and understanding; almost as if Jasper's reply wasn't what we had all been waiting so desperately for.

"Her hand. Sometimes something that she picked up. Sometimes me and Peter got it with the orange vacuum cord, but just us, not the little kids. One time she threw a plate at me." His words were rough, fading at the end.

"Anything else?"

Jasper's eyes fluttered closed in a slow motion flinch. "Sometimes with the poker."

Ever so gently, the last question was asked. "How many times with the poker?"

"Ten or fifteen. Maybe eight or nine hits each time."

"Thank you, Jasper. You've been very brave and did a great job. Now, I need you to stay on the stand for a few more questions."

I tried not to look at the defense lawyer, I really did. She was just doing her job to make sure the trial was fair to both Maria and Jasper. But why should the trial be fair for Maria, when she had been so unfair to a defenseless child?

"Hi, Jasper. I just have a few quick questions for you, then we're done."

He just looked at her, no expression on his face. Perhaps sensing that she wasn't going to get a response, she moved on. "How long did you live with Ms. Teresa?"

"Almost five years. Four and a half, I guess."

She nodded, almost as if they were friends. "And you're telling me that she treated you abusively during those four and a half years?"

He looked down, finally having to admit the truth to both himself and the court. "Yes."

"Why didn't you tell anyone that things were so bad?"

Any sympathy I might have had for her and her position vanished. Jasper was the victim here, not the one on trial. Why he hadn't asked for help didn't matter, any more than it mattered why he had been in foster care to begin with. What mattered was that Maria had hit him in the side of the head with a poker, and almost killed him by doing so. Everything else was just muddying the waters.

Jasper picked at the cuff of his jacket. "Because I loved her."

The courtroom fell silent, as if his words had been a shot. I glanced from juror to juror, hoping that just one of them had once been in a dysfunctional relationship, forced to live on the thin hope that things would get better.

Apparently sensing that she had gone too far, the woman changed tactics. "All right. Now you told the prosecuting attorney that you don't remember that day at all, is that correct?"

"Yes." His voice was suspicious now.

"If you don't remember what happened, how can you be sure that Maria is the one who assaulted you?"

Jasper didn't flinch. "I didn't say that she was the one who did it. I told the police that I had no idea who did it. The police were the ones who said that she was the one who hurt me." His eyes were hard, making him look far older then he actually was.

She tried gallantly to save the cross examination, thought it was clear to all of us that Jasper had outmatched her. "But to be perfectly clear, you still don't know who attacked you?"

"No."

"No further questions. Thank you for your time."

He didn't respond to her, just gave her that level, too-adult stare. It was an impressive show, but I could see the strain. Jasper was tired, and scared, and feeling pretty poorly about himself right now. He needed the adults in his life to step in and take the responsibilities away from him again. He stood, moving with exaggerated care, and left through one of the side doors. I was glad to see Esme waiting on the other side, and even gladder to see her gather him into her arms in the split second before the door closed.

I met the prosecutor's eye and nodded at him. He complied by calling a recess so Alice and I could escape and take Jasper home. Neither one of us wanted to stay and hear any more of this. Our hearts had been broken more than enough for one day. Jasper's part in the trial was over. He was performed admirably, but now it was out of our hands.

Alice had her phone out as we moved through the crowd, her small fingers dancing over the keys. "They're waiting at the car. Mom doesn't want Jasper to be hassled."

It was a good idea. Jasper was intolerant of strangers in his face on a good day, and I could only imagine what he would be like today. Due to his age at the time of the assault, he had never been publicly identified, so this was the first time anyone from the media was getting a good look at him. It was smart of Esme to take him away from all that.

As we approached, I could see Esme talking to Jasper, who was huddled pitifully in the backseat, his head down. He tried to pull away from Alice when she reached for him, but she wouldn't let him. "Come here, you dumb cootie."

He complied, nestling against her and sighing heavily. In that sigh, I heard all of the strain it was taking for him to just keep himself together. I touched his knee. "I'm very proud of you, Jasper. You did a good job and didn't let the lawyers push you around."

His hollow eyes bored into mine. He didn't think he had done a good job, I could tell. In his eyes, he was an accomplice to betrayal, forced into it by Esme and me. He was wrong, of course, and I'm sure that deep down he knew it, but right now he needed someone to take the blame for what had happened, and he wasn't quite ready for Maria to do it yet.

Alice kept up a steady prattle as we drove home, her hand never ceasing the steady stroking of Jasper's back. He tipped his head towards her, but he never really looked up from his hands, which were folded in his lap. Sitting there, he seemed to not only be mentally absent, but physically gone as well, as if I might look up and see his spirit floating somewhere around the roof of the car.

He was almost totally shut down, and the best thing for him would be a long rest, followed by a few days of relaxation. But Maria's words kept playing in my head, an infinite, taunting loop. He's dangerous, he's dangerous, he's dangerous. Did they tell you he pulled a knife on me? He's dangerous, pulled a knife on me, he's dangerous, he's dangerous. You'll believe me, he's dangerous.

I was still at war with myself when we made it home. Esme had turned the slow cooker on this morning, and dinner was simmering away. She had made Swiss steak, which she perceived to be Jasper's favorite. Alice drifted upstairs to grab her schoolwork, which we had gotten in advance. I heard her tell Jasper to meet her in ten minutes so they could do their work together. It was her little way of bringing him up to speed on his schoolwork without wounding his fragile self esteem.

If I was going to do this, it had to be right now. There was no time to debate it with Esme, whom I thought would probably strongly disagree with what I was about to do.

"Jasper, may I see you upstairs for a minute?"

He just looked at me, his eyes apprehensive. Something in my face was setting off warning bells, but he really had no choice, and he knew it. "I guess."

"Good. Why don't you change your clothes and meet me in my office?"

"Uh, okay." He was looking nervously from side to side, no doubt hoping that Alice would come out and save him.

Once I was in my office, I took a calming breath. Regardless of what Jasper said, it wouldn't affect his place here, or the love I was starting to feel for him, but I had to know the truth.

He tapped the door a few minutes later, then crept in nervously. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes." I decided that the best way to handle this was to come right out with it. "Jasper, before the trial started today, I ran into your former foster mother. She told me something that worried me, and I wanted to know if it was true. I didn't want to make a judgment without hearing your side of the story."

His brows drew together as he mentally went over the list of everything he could have possibly done wrong. He wasn't about to speak, though, and risk revealing something I didn't already know. "Okay. What did she say?"

"She told me that you threatened her with a knife. That sounds very out of character for you, Jasper. Did you actually do that?"

He didn't speak, but his eyes dropping away from mine was all the confirmation that I needed. My gut tightened. He had actually done it, and I had naïvely accepted a dangerous child into my home. But the thought of a knife-wielding manic didn't fit with the Jasper I knew, so I found myself repeating the question. "Jasper? Did you pull a knife on her?" My tone betrayed the depth of my shock.

His tongue darted out to lick at his lips, his usual nervous habit. He drew in a breath and held it for a count of ten, just like Felix had taught him. When he lifted up his eyes, they were totally dry and focused on me.

"Yes."