A.N. Not sure where this chapter is gonna go; I just write things the way they come. But all the Cullens will be present, including Edward. And there may or may not be some romantic moments between Bella and Jasper (there probably will be; I hate writing chapters without some romance) .

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews :) I appreciate them all. So please continue reviewing. An hey, KeeperoftheCovenant, thanks for being so interested in my story :) I really appreciate.

Chapter 9 : The Cullens

Bella's POV

Jasper let me down onto the long driveway concrete and we walked up the steps which led to the Cullen home. I remembered the first time I came here, with Edward; I had been so afraid that these people wouldn't like me. My fears were suddenly climbing back up to a climax. I doubted their acceptance of my new relationship with Jasper; was it a relationship? Well, I wanted it to be.

"What are you afraid of sweet pea?" Jasper whispered.
"What if they don't like us? What if they don't accept us Jazz? I don't want them to leave, and I don't want to let you go."
"Nothin' will separate us darlin'," he told me. His wonderful Southern accent and warm, loving voice sent pleasant shivers down my spine and caused butterflies to erupt deep inside of me.
"I love you," I mumbled.
"I love you too," he told me, "God this is happening fast, but I'm surer than ever about these feelings."
"Kiss me," I replied.
"Of course sweetie," he told me. He bent down and placed a soft and gentle kiss on my lips which filled me with courage. Well, he was probably projecting some courage to me as well.

I felt more confident now. I was so lucky that I was with an empath. We walked into the Cullen home. Rosalie and Emmett were on the couch watching TV with Emmett's arm around Rosalie's shoulder. Carlisle was reading a book about Geology while Esme was looking through an interior design catalogue. Alice was helping her out. Edward was nowhere to be seen.

Esme was the first one to look up when we entered.
"Hey Bella dear," she told me. She was soon at my side and she hugged me and I returned her hug. I didn't want to let her go. I was so afraid that this would be the last hug I would share with Esme.
I felt tears welling up in my eyes.
"What's wrong?" she asked me as she pulled away and saw my eyes, "Did you and Edward fight? He just stormed in and went up to his room and Alice told us not to bother him yet."
"There's something I need to tell all of you," I mumbled.
"Of course Bella, tell us," Carlisle suddenly said. He smiled softly at me as did Esme. Rosalie looked away from the TV with an expressionless face and Emmett grinned at me, oblivious to the tension. I love the guy; he always lightens up the mood. Alice just beamed at me and encouraged me to carry on.
"I think Edward should be here for this," I told them, "He is after all part of the story."
I guess he had heard me or any one of their thoughts, as we soon heard his bedroom door open and click close and then he walked down the stairs at a human pace. He was broken and I felt guilty about it. Jasper sent me waves of confidence but I still felt horrible for bringing Edward to this state.

Edward sat down in an armchair. "You may start," Edward said softly.
"Edward…" I said, "I'm sorry."
"It was my fault," he replied, "Don't be."
"What's going on sweetheart?" Esme asked.

She rejoined Alice around the table and everyone looked at me.
"Edward and I had some problems," I started before Edward cut in.
"I know what she's going to do," Edward said, "She's going to blame herself, so I'm going to tell you all the truth. You may hate me for it but it's the truth."
"They would never hate you Edward," I said, "They're your family. They love you the way I love you."
"Because that's the way you love me now," he replied suddenly looking more broken than before, "so… after I came back from Volterra and we all moved back to Forks, I started being a bit protective of Bella, which is fine. But then my protectiveness became possessiveness. I made her choose beween Jacob and me and forced her not to see him. I refused to allow her alone in a room with Jasper…or any of you. I'm sorry; I was afraid for her safety. She fought with me, telling me that you guys would never hurt her. She told me that all of you loved her more than me, even you Rose. And…I was so mad; I wanted to frighten her but it was becoming worse and worse and at some point I was going to kill her and Jasper came to stop me from doing it."

"Son," Carlisle said, "why?"
"I don't know," Edward told him, "I really don't. I hate myself for doing it now, but Bella was right. I have changed; I'm not the same person I was before I left her on her eighteenth birthday. I'm different now and it's an irreversible change. It is not her fault. She tried to stay with me, but she was too scared."
"So I broke up with him," I said slowly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen; it just did."
"I'm in love with Bella," Jasper suddenly said.
"Son! Alice!" Carlisle gasped.
Alice giggled, "Don't worry Carlisle. There's something you all should know. What we hid from all of you took great effort. We had to work hard for five years to block out Edward from any thoughts of the situation because we didn't want anyone to know. We didn't want any tension in the family. Jasper and I have been divorced for the last five years. We're still the best of friends, and I want this to happen for both of them. I'm fine with it."
"Divorced? Why didn't you tell us?" Esme asked, looking a bit hurt.
"We didn't want to cause any tension or any of you thinking that we are just trying to keep up appearances. We really are happy; we just don't love each other in that way anymore, and we haven't for at least six to seven years."
"Yeah," Jasper replied, "Alice is like my sister now."
"And I'm in love with him too," I added slowly.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

Jasper's POV

I could feel the tension becoming released from the room. Now that everything was out in the open, they were trying to take it all in. It was a lot to take in during just one conversation. I could feel that Rosalie was still tense but I could feel that her anger was not towards Bella but towards Edward. I knew that she was at breaking point so I tried to send her waves of calm and serenity but she seemed to be trying to ignore them.
"Edward," she suddenly said, "I'm so disappointed in you."
"Stop it," I told her, "he's sorry about it. Let him get over it."
"Look," she told me, "I've been through what Bella's been through ok? I mean, it's the same isn't it? He asked her to marry him and then he almost killed her…we have to talk." She looked at Bella.
Bella nodded. I could tell she was afraid of Rosalie.
"I'm just trying to start afresh," Rose said, "I promise Bella. I'm with you on this one."
"But this isn't a fight," Bella said, "Edward and I are still going to try to be friends. It will take some time for him to warm up to the idea, but I'll give him all the time he wants. If things go the way I want them to go, we still have a lot of time for that to happen."
"I'm going to visit with the Denali clan for a while. Don't worry; it's not permanent. It's just until I get used to this."
"That's up to you son," Carlisle said, "But don't stay away for too long. We'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too, but I need some time to think."

"What do you think Carlisle?" I asked, "about us." I motioned towards Bella.
"I'm gutted for Edward, but he brought this about himself. I'm sorry son," Carlisle said to Edward before turning back to me, "As for you; I'm happy for you. This has happened very fast."
"Jasper has liked her ever since he saw her first," Alice said, "That's why he was cautious around her. He wasn't afraid of physically hurting her. But he wanted to stay away. He didn't want to get in Edward's way."
"Yeah," I added, "that's true."
"And Bella was too in love with me to notice," Edward said, "She has always been a loyal person. Carlisle, they fell in love almost immediately."
"It was like a spark," I added, "like electricity. I've never felt this way before. I'm sorry Alice."
"Don't worry about it," she replied as she beamed at me, "I know."

"You're the greatest best friend in the world," Bella said as Alice jumped over and hugged her.
"Of course I am," Alice said, "that's why you're going shopping with me tomorrow. Because you love me so much."
Bella sighed in defeat and said, "OK. I'll go with you."
Then she looked around the room and opened her mouth. I knew what she was going to say. I wanted to stop her but she deserved the right to speak her mind, "I know you guys probably don't want me anymore. But I just want you to know, that you will still feel like my family even if you leave me behind. I don't want you to leave, so if you're not fine with this, I'll stay away. I don't want to leave Jasper and I don't want to keep him away from you. He loves you and you love him and I love you guys all too much. I'm sorry if I've caused any pain or disappointment. Ever since I came into your lives, everything has just summed up to trouble. I've done nothing but brought you grief and pain and trouble with Victoria and the Volturi and everything else."
"Speaking of which," I said, "Victoria's gone. She had newborns with her. Edward and Jacob and I took care of them and I killed her."
"What?" Carlisle asked, "you should have asked for help."
"Don't worry Carlisle," Alice said, "I knew they would win." She beamed at him.
"And as for you Bella," Carlisle said, "I think all of us agree that you're one of us now. We won't let you go, and you haven't brought us trouble; you've brought us life and excitement. Things have never been so alive here. With you and Alice together in the same house, everything is more enjoyable. Esme and I love you like a daughter, Emmett and Alice love you like a sister, Edward will come around, won't you son?" Edward nodded and Carlisle continued, "Jasper loves you romantically now, and Rose?"
"You have always been my sister Bella," she said surprising me. I could feel Bella warming up and I knew she had happy tears in her eyes. I took her hand in mine and squeezed it.

Rosalie stood up and walked towards Bella and she hugged her.
"I'm sorry about the way I acted towards you before. I just wanted you to have a better future than I had Bella. You reminded me so much of myself. We'll talk about this later."
I could feel disbelief coming from Bella, and I knew it was probably due to the fact that Rosalie had told her she reminded her of herself. Bella had a very wrong conception of herself. She thought of herself as common or plain but I knew better than that. She was the most beautiful girl in the whole universe, inside and out, with a big and limitless heart and a beautiful unblemished soul.

Bella's POV

When Rosalie told me that I reminded her of herself, I wanted to rewind so that I could listen to her saying it again. I couldn't believe it; what had she meant? Rosalie was so beautiful and glorious and perfect and I was so common and plain and flawed. What the hell had Edward and Jasper seen in me? They were vampires; the most beautiful creatures in the world. And Jasper had been with Alice. How could I ever compare to her? How could he not see the difference? How could he not see the discrepancy between her beautiful pixie face and my common human face?

"Everything's ok Bella," Esme said, "Why don't you and Jasper go upstairs to have a more private conversation about all that has transpired?"
"Ok," I said, "that would be good."
Jasper kept my hand in his and led me upstairs at a human pace. We went through the door which led o his study.

"Do you like it here?" he asked me. I looked around myself. It was beautiful. There were shelves, one on top of the other, all lined with pristine books. It was all made of maple wood. There was also a desk at one of the walls which held a computer, a fireplace at another wall with a rug, a couch and a comfortable-looking armchair at the other wall, and a picture on an end table which seemed to be dedicated to the picture. I walked over to the end table and picked up the frame. The picture was torn at the edges and it was black and white, almost brownish. In it, there was a couple and a child. The man was very tall and quite well-built. He had a warm smile, very much like Jasper's and a slightly crooked nose. His eyes seemed to be dark and his hair was dark and short and combed back. He wore old-fashioned farmer's clothes. The woman was slightly shorter and was clearly his wife as he had his arm wound around her waist lovingly. She had light-coloured curls which went down to her shoulders, a beautiful smile and petite nose and her eyes seemed to be bluish, or somewhere around that shade as they were very light. She was extremely beautiful and wore clothes in a similar fashion to her husband's. I knew they were married due to the plain wedding band on her left ring finger. Her left hand and his right hand were on the little boy's shoulders; a hand on each. The boy was already quite tall and he seemed to be about eight years old. He had blonde curls which went down to his chin, light-coloured eyes like his mother's, a warm smile very much like Jasper's and a petite nose. His face was bright and happy. He was wearing clothes of a similar fashion and was barefooted. He was beautiful. I felt a pair of cold arms wrapping themselves around my waist as he rested his chin on my left shoulder.

"You like it darlin'?" he asked.
I nodded.
"Nobody's ever seen that picture; not even Alice cos nobody's ever been here except for you. When Maria changed me, she found that picture in my breast pocket and decided to let me keep it. I've kept it ever since. It's the only thing I have left from my human life. That man is Jeremy Whitlock and he's my father. He used to be everything to me. I loved him dearly. This was the reason I went to war; to make him proud. He never expected much; he loved me. I was their only son and I died, leaving them alone. Her name is Marylou Whitlock and she's my mother. I used to be the apple of her eye. That child is myself."
"You were always beautiful," I told him, "I guess it wasn't the change that caused it."
"You still liked Edward better than me in the beginning," he told me, "that must mean that he's way more special."
"Jazz," I told him as I turned around to face him, "in my eyes you were taken. From the very first moment I saw you, Jessica introduced you as Alice's boyfriend. I would never take away someone else's love, especially after Alice became my best friend. So I didn't regard you in that way. And Edward is beautiful, but honey … not as beautiful as you."

He wrapped his arms around my waist again, lowering them to my hips and I suddenly desired more of him. I lifted myself onto my toes and he bent down to kiss me. The moment our lips touched, the same uncontrollable passionate haze began. My hands became tangled in his beautiful golden hair and he pulled me closer to him, tightening his grip around me without crushing me. We kissed for a long time until I needed to stop breathing out of my nose and to start breathing through my mouth.
"Darlin'…as much as I'd like to stay here and bruise your lips as well as do more nasty stuff to you," he teased, making me giggle, "I think it would be safer if I got you home before Charlie wakes up."
"Yeah you're right," I told him as we walked out of the room and started making our way down the stairs. We said goodbye to the rest of the family and then we walked outside.
"Hold on tight Bella," he told me as he scooped me up into his arms.
"I trust you Jasper."
"By the way, have I mentioned that I love you?" he added before speeding off towards my home and a sleeping unsuspecting Charlie.

A.N. Ok, I hope you like this chapter. It was just so that you could get a glimpse of what the Cullens think. In the next chapter, there will be the talk with Rosalie (although I won't go into much detail so as not to bore you), the date with Jasper and Edward's departure for the time-being. Oh, and what will Charlie have to say? Don't worry you'll find out soon enough.

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