CHAPTER 17

"Ten seconds Bob," she prompts.

"Umm…" I contemplate, undecided and unable to think. "Umm…"

"Too late, they seen us and are closing in."

"Shit," I panic and duck my head, however the hell that is supposed to help.

Two shadows descend upon us from behind me, the larger frame skirting around me and kissing my sisters cheek. "Hey Babe, what are you doing here?" He eyes me before his shock is evident. "Oh, shit. How are you? Should you be out already?" He looks around, I don't know what for though, a doctor maybe. Then his gaze stills on the man creating the shadow over me, then his gaze darts to me, then back to the man, then me again. "I… umm, Babe?"

"Yeah… I know," she answers. "I say we bail," except she isn't talking to me, she's talking to her fiancé. He scoops her up in his arms and runs to his car, deposits her in the passenger seat, the gets in himself and zooms off down the road.

"Those…" I can't quite find the right word to fill the blank, but I can't believe they just left me here like this.

"Assholes," the voice behind me offers.

"Yeah," I agree. "Assholes, I just got out of hospital and she left me here without her keys."

"I'm going to sit down," he pauses to see if I protest, then closes the distance to Rose's now-vacant seat and sits.

The man that now sits before me is definitely the man I seen in the photos located in the file that is tucked away safely in my room. He does however, differ greatly from his younger shot and the bedraggled mugshot I seen. This version of the mystery man is clean but rugged, lithe but muscly and approachable but powerful. Quite unlike any man or woman I've ever seen… an entity all on his own. He is actually quite spectacular to just watch. His gaze will settle on me, consuming me, then it darts away and inspects our surrounds, then settles back on me again… all consuming. His posture, the way he carries his shoulders, his head, his knees are no doubt even parallel to his body and shoulders. But despite his obvious dominance over himself and his surrounds, he is also soft and approachable. A walking contradiction. "Do you want me to go?" He asks.

"No," I reply hastily, "I don't."

"And are you okay? Emmett told me what happened."

"Yeah, I just fainted… and the bleeding nose was just from stress."

"And are you okay?"

Heat rushes to my face, I instantly understand his double-entendre, "yes. For now." I warn, letting him know my problems aren't a one-off thing.

"I'm glad, I've been really worried and Emmett wouldn't tell me much, and I didn't hear from you except those 'stop wasting your time' letters."

Even more heat pools under the skin of my face, "yeah, if you had've listened, it would have save me all of this embarrassment."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that, the last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable."

"I'm just kidding. But yeah, I'm okay."

"So, I haven't greeted you," he says while standing up from the chair. He skirts around the small bistro table until he is standing right next to me. I stand up because looking up at him is aching my neck and he wastes no time in kissing both of my cheeks, and embracing me. Before I even think to do so, my arms circle around his waist in return, his body hard and firm beneath his shirt. "I'm pleased to finally meet you, Bella," his breath fans down the back of my neck, giving me goosebumps.

"I'm happy to finally meet you too, Jasper," I reply honestly. He releases me and re-takes his seat and I re-take mine. "You can have your file back now, I don't feel right having something so personal just sitting in my room."

He smirks, "it really isn't that big of a deal Bella, I have nothing to hide."

My legs turn to jelly the second he releases his smirk on to me, it's a good thing I'm sitting. "Well, I'd still prefer to learn about you from you, not from a file."

"Can I please take you out to dinner tonight?"

I'm shocked a little by his sudden question, I just wasn't expecting him to ask for a date at all, a casual coffee maybe, but dinner. "Err… sure… why?" I ask dumbly, not entirely sure of his motivation after the way I've treated him these past couple months.

He smirks again, "because I like you Bella, and there is nowhere else I'd rather be in the world than spending time with you."

"But… I've treated you so badly, why would you even want to?"

"I fail to see how you've treated me badly, and even if you had, -but you haven't- I would still want to spend time with you."

"I, I betrayed you, basically told you to f-off and ignored you for months," I point out.

"You called Peter because you care and if you remember rightly, you told me to 'stop wasting my time.' That wasn't a request for me to stop writing to you, that was you believing I'm wasting my time on you. It's my time and I'll do what I want with it," his smirk barely leaving his face.

"I understand that, but I am sorry I was rude to you."

"How about we stop talking about what was and start talking about what will?" He suggests, "so, will you go out on a date with me tonight to dinner?" He leans forward, waiting.

I smile, "of course, I'd really like that Jasper."

"Great, now, would you like me to walk you home?"

"Yes, that would be great."

He stands and holds out his hand for me to take, which I do, and we walk home hand-in-hand.

A/N: YEAH, I'M ALL ABOUT THE JOURNEY, NOT THE DESTINATION. SO, DID ANYONE GET THE JOHN CUSACK REFERENCES? FIRST TWO WERE CLOSE TOGETHER, 1408 IS THE CREEPY-ASS FILM HE DID, WHICH BECOME JASPERS CELL NUMBER AND HIS CELL MATE GARLAND GREEN IS THE PSYCHO PLAYED BY STEVE BUSCHEMI IN CON AIR. THE THIRD WAS A LITTLE TRICKIER, BUT IT WAS A REFERENCE TO AN EARLIER FILM OF HIS CALLED BETTER OFF DEAD, AND THE PART WHERE EMMETT SNORTS THE ICE IS THE REFERENCE EXCEPT IN THE MOVIE, IT IS SNOW HE SNORTED. OTHER SHOUT-OUTS ARE TO RICHELLE MEAD, THE CREATOR OF MY FOURTH FAVOURITE FICTIONAL CHARACTER OF ALL TIME, ADRIAN IVASHKOV, A BIT OF A SONG LYRIC, A SHOUT-OUT TO THE CARS MOVIE WITH AN APPEARANCE FROM KORI TURBOWITZ, A SHOUT OUT TO HODGE FROM MORTAL INSTRUMENTS (NOT HIS FIRST NAME) AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, A CHEECH AND CHONG QUOTE; 'TEN SECONDS BOB.'

YES… I HAVE PROBLEMS.

IF YOU TOO HAVE PROBLEMS, PLEASE SPEAK TO SOMEONE.