"The measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone."

-Thane Krios, Mass Effect 2

I was acutely concerned at how fast my heart was racing; the second I'd locked eyes with Jasper it'd started beating double time and I was starting to feel more than a little unsteady. Sadie, no doubt sensing my discomfort, nudged my hand with her nose and I tangled my fingers into her fur on reflex seeking to soothe, but I wasn't sure if my goal was for her or myself.

The wind picked up, blowing my loose hair around me and causing me to shiver. October in Washington was chilly at best and downright uncomfortable once the sun went down, and I was standing outside without so much as a jacket or shoes so I could stare down two vampires, one of which had changed the course of my life so abruptly.

As I gazed into his burgundy eyes, I wondered why he was here. For revenge, perhaps, like poor Victoria had been? He'd fallen off the vegetarian bandwagon, but there was no telling how long ago, and the Cullen's wouldn't tolerate a human-drinker in their midst if it was an active choice rather than an unfortunate accident.

And Jasper, I remembered, was rather accident prone. Not unlike how I used to be before I'd finally grown past the awkwardness that was part and parcel with being a teenager. I wondered if that made us kindred spirits.

Naturally, I blinked first. Doing so seemed to break whatever spell that had fallen over he and I. Jasper shook his head as if to clear it before straightening to his full height. He was taller than Edward and broader too, with stronger shoulders, but nowhere near the bulwark I remembered Emmett to be. He was built more like a swimmer, for power rather than speed. Something about him was familiar and I tilted my head as I considered him. And then it clicked.

He looked nothing like Liam, but the way they stood, the way they carried themselves was identical. Liam had never lost that stern military bearing even now, years after he'd been honorably discharged and I didn't know Jasper's story, but I didn't think I'd be surprised to hear he had a similar background. I glanced over his shoulder at where Peter waited, and almost smiled when I noted he held himself the same way.

On the other hand, Peter and Jasper resembled each other close enough that I wondered if there was a blood relation at one point, before the venom had eradicated it. Where Peter was white-blond, Jasper was honey gold, but they both had the usual sharp vampire sharp features and deathly pallor.

I blinked again and this time Jasper was much, much closer than he'd been a second ago, within touching distance even. Sadie snarled at his sudden proximity.

"Nein, Sadie," I said sharply, glancing up at the waiting vampire before looking back down at her. "Sitz."

She didn't stop her snarling even as her butt immediately hit the ground. It was better than the alternative and I thanked every lucky star I had that I was blessed with such a good girl.

"I didn't know you spoke German, Isabella." All vampires had lovely voices but Jasper's gentle baritone with it's honey thick Texas drawl was downright unfair. Having not been exposed to vampires for so long, the lure was potent. At least, I thought that's why I was so affected. I didn't remember Edward having this kind of pull over me.

"I don't," I replied as I petted Sadie's head, "Only a handful of phrases for her commands."

He nodded then and looked down at her, but made no move to touch her. His red eyes slid from her to the gun in my hand; his brow crept upwards as he looked pointedly at it then back to me, as if wondering just what the hell I thought I was doing.

Flicking the safety back on, I shoved it in the waistband of my sleep pants, sending another mental apology to Charlie for my blatant disregard for all the gun safety he'd drilled into me. "I wasn't actually going to shoot you," I groused.

"Kinda defeats the purpose of havin' a gun then, if you don't plan on usin' it."

I rolled my eyes. "I said I wasn't going to shoot you, not that I wasn't going to use it. People around here are bound to notice a gunshot. Pop one off, someone calls the cops, that's more attention than Victoria needs and I can live another day." Or rather, that'd been the plan. I leaned around him to look at the pale jumbled pile of vampire just a few ways away, grimacing when I saw her head staring back at me. "At least, that was the idea until you two showed up." I extended my hand, palm up and held out the lighter to him.

He was careful not to touch me as he plucked it from my hand and in a blink was back to kneeling at the Victoria Jenga pile. She went up like Marilyn Manson at a Baptist revival, putting of thick incense like smoke as she burned.

"Sadie, hier." I turned on my heel to head back inside, the smell making me nauseous. Sadie slunk inside and headed for her seldom used bed in the living room and sat down, her eyes fixed on the door behind me. I released the door, and knew I'd been followed when I didn't hear it slam shut. Instead, it latched with a soft snick.

"By all means, please make yourselves at home," I said dryly as I took a seat on my beat up lay-z-boy I'd crammed in the living room, pointedly setting the gun down on the table next to me.

"Don't mind if we do, sugar," Peter winked at me and with a hand planted on the back of my couch, vaulted over it to sit neatly on the right side, crossing his left leg over his right and settling in like he owned the place, all without losing that roguish grin I'm sure he thought was charming. Which it was, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

Jasper followed more sedately and without the acrobatics, instead sitting down like a normal person and leaned his elbow on the arm to prop his chin on his fist, his face blank of all emotion.

I pulled my feet up under me to sit tailor style, leaning my elbows on my knees to place my chin in my hands as I stared them both down. "So, which of you wants to explain how I've been mostly vampire free for five years, only to have three suddenly show up uninvited in the middle of the night?"

Peter's smile turned decidedly sharp as he said, "When you put it like that, it sounds like ya don't want us here, sugar."

"Because I don't," I said flatly. "I've got work in," I glanced at the clock on the stove, "less than seven hours and if I'm going to be wrangling heavy machinery, I need every bit of it I can get." Which was a lost cause anyway, because even if they were to disappear right this second, there was no way I was going to be able to sleep. The shop was getting a late start and Jake was just going to have to deal with it; it wasn't like there were any appointments on the books anyway. "So if you've got something to say Jasper Hale, say it now because now's the only chance you're going to get before I boot both of you out my door."

Jasper arched a brow as he slanted a look I couldn't decipher toward Peter, who in turn offered a one-shouldered shrug and minute shake of his head. A whole conversation seemed to pass between them before Jasper looked back at me. "It's Whitlock, not Hale. I broke off from the Cullen's two years ago."

I stabbed a finger at Peter, "But he's also Whitlock."

Jasper nodded. "It's my name, my family's name from when I was human. He doesn't remember his, so I gave him mine."

Peter nodded in agreement and leaned back into the couch, stretching him arm across the back behind Jasper's head.

"So, you're his sire then?"

"Technically, but he's my brother first."

Vampire relationships were as complicated as human ones, it seemed. "Did you meet before or after you left the Cullens?"

For a moment Jasper looked a little uncomfortable before schooling his features back to their original blank slate. "Before. Long before. But that's a story for another day, darlin', if you don't mind." I glanced at Peter to see if he'd cave but he just tipped his head back to study the ceiling.

"Alright, fine. At least explain why you're here."

"That's the biggest question of all isn't it? Why are any of us here?" Peter asked innocently.

"I mean, why are you here in my space."

A strange lethargy weighed down my limbs and I felt myself slump forward a little as all the irritation seemed to rush out of me like the tide. I fought my suddenly heavy eyelids to pin Jasper with a withering glare. I'd forgotten he was an empath. "Knock it off," I ground out.

Almost immediately, the lethargy was gone as quickly as my irritation, leaving behind an uneasy state of peace. "Just tryin' to make this easier, darlin'."

"Messing with my emotional state isn't going to get you in my good books, Jasper," I snapped. "I'm being perfectly civil given the circumstances, but if you do it again, that's going to change."

He inclined his head in acknowledgement. "As for why we're here, it's because we've been lookin' for you."

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I stared at both for a long moment, long enough that Peter finally looked away from the ceiling and back at me. "Why?"

"After Edward demanded we leave Forks after you broke up with him - "

"He said what?!"

I was never more thankful for having limited neighbors as my voice climbed an octave. Both vampires winced, no doubt their exceptional hearing feeling more than a little assaulted by the volume, but I was far to incensed to give a damn.

Jasper frowned, clearly confused by my outburst, and said slowly, "He told us that you broke up with him and insisted we get outta your life."

I felt a muscle in my jaw jump as I clenched my teeth together and held my head in my hands. I'd worked so hard to get past this – a revelation like this wasn't supposed to hit me this hard, not after all the work I'd put in. But here I was on the verge of hyperventilating anyway.

I heard the rustle of fabric and Sadie's sudden snarl as cold hands gently took hold of mine, pulling them away from my hair. I was suddenly aware of the pain in my scalp from where I'd been tugging. "Let me help ya, darlin'," Jasper murmured, his voice honey sweet and oh so soft, "I won't put ya under, just enough so we can talk about this. Is that alright, Isabella?"

Words failed me and so instead I nodded. At once I felt a creeping warmth bloom from my chest and out toward my limbs, slinking through my veins and sinking bone deep until I was engulfed in a sweet lassitude, with the exception of my mind which remained blissfully clear.

"How's that feel?" He asked quietly, kindly, and I wanted to be angry at him for treating me so carefully.

"Better," I muttered, and a frighteningly large part of me mourned the loss of his cool touch as he pulled back to return to his seat on the couch.

"Now then," Jasper said, still quiet, still kind, but a little more businesslike, "Why don't you tell us your side of the story."

I shrugged. "Not much to tell. That afternoon, he took me on a walk that in the woods behind my house and broke up with me. We'd gone far enough in that I couldn't find my way out after he left me there. Sam from the rez found me later that night and brought me home."

A sudden snarl caused me to jerk up, my heart thumping double time in my chest as I looked wide-eyed at Peter. Onyx had overtaken his ruby irises and he was just barely being restrained by the arm Jasper had thrown across his chest.

"I'll fuckin' kill him," he swore loudly, struggling against Jasper's iron grip. "That bastard used her and dumped her like trash - "

"Calm the fuck down," Jasper snapped, his own eyes dark with rage, but that was the only outward sign of his emotional state. "Get a fuckin' grip before I make you."

Peter hissed and Jasper made good on his threat; it was like being hit by a tsunami as I was suddenly drowning in the same lethargy from before but this time much more potent. For one panicked moment I thought my heart would stop with how heavy my body felt. Before I could call out to Jasper, the wave receded and I was left gasping in my chair, two fingers pressed against the pulse point in my neck as I tried to confirm my heart was still beating.

Peter had stopped struggling and was glaring daggers at Jasper, who, in turn, glared right back. "Let me up," he muttered, and Jasper waiting half a second before backing off, before returning to me.

"Sorry about that. Humans are more sensitive to my gift, unlike this idiot." He reached over and popped Peter in the back of the head when he growled.

"I thought I was dying," I gasped out, sinking back into my chair, and reached out to pet Sadie's head to confirm she was alright.

"You weren't," he assured me, but immediately followed it up with, "but you could have, and for that you have my apologies. If it helps, my gift doesn't well with animals; your girl there likely didn't feel much of that if any."

That little tidbit did make me feel better and I took a few moments to collect myself. When I felt calmer, I looked right at Peter to ask, "I've never met you in my life before the other day. Why are you so invested in what Edward did to me?"

I'd never seen a vampire look sheepish before and it was surprisingly charming on the roguish man. He rubbed the back of his neck as he answered, "That's another long story sugar, but I promise I'll – we'll – tell you when the time's right."

My patience was getting thinner by the minute but instead I said, "I'll hold you to that."

Jasper readjusted his position so that he was leaning forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped under his chin to look at me fully. "I owe you an apology. We wouldn't have had to leave if I'd been able to keep it together. It's not an excuse, but when you cut your finger…" he trailed off for a moment, his eyes becoming slightly hazy as he seemed to lose himself momentarily in the memory, "I was in control even when he knocked you into that glass table. But then I went from feelin' just my thirst to five more on top of my own." He closed his eyes as if he couldn't bear to look at me, his jaw tightening for a moment before he could continue. "I need you to know, I wasn't goin' to attack you. I was gunnin' for Edward because his thirst was the worst. You don't have to believe me, but I swear darlin', I was tryin' to protect you."

His face was so open and earnest that I couldn't find it in myself to not believe him. It'd been something I'd toyed with before, among other things. Jasper had been doing so well with me just being around him, and I'd been assured he hunted before I showed up at the house every time. It didn't make sense for him to just completely lose his cool over a papercut. He'd been fine up until Edward shoved me into the table and even I remembered how it looked to be on the wrong end of six angry vampires. Carlisle, naturally, being the only exception.

"I believe you, Jasper," I said and meant it. He studied me for a long moment, clearly reading my emotions. Whatever he found satisfied him because he relaxed, even though his expression remained somewhat incredulous.

"You really do," he murmured, as if he couldn't quite believe it himself.

I found myself glad he'd come, not only for dispatching Victoria, but for giving the closure I hadn't realized I still needed. But even so, I wasn't sure I was ready to let them back into my life, no matter how interested I was in the explanations they'd promised me. For all that Jasper said he'd left the Cullen's, that didn't mean he wasn't in contact with them, and the last thing I needed was more vampires with boundary issues to show up on my doorstep. Again.

"I can feel you closin' off. What's eatin' you?"

I shoved a hand through my hair, feeling emotionally wrung out as I tried to put my thoughts together. "Look, this is… maybe not nice, but it's appreciated. Thanks for Victoria and for explaining, but I don't know if anything more is a good idea."

Peter looked positively crestfallen, and boy, did that make me feel like shit. "What do you mean?"

"No offense, but the last time I let vampires in my life, they ran roughshod and let me in broken, literally and figuratively. I've worked really hard to carve out a life for myself, and I don't want to lose all the ground I've gained."

Peter opened his mouth to say something, probably to protest, but Jasper laid a hand on his knee, quelling him. "I understand. What the Cullen's – what we – did to you, it's not something anyone deserves. You deserve to live a good life, without vampires darkenin' your doorstep again." He took a deep breath. "But I'm gonna ask you to reconsider, if only for Peter and I. We… there's a lot we need to tell you, and I'd like you to at least make an informed decision before you send us off."

Maybe it was because I was overtired, or maybe because I was lonely, or maybe it was because I was desperate to recapture the wonder I'd felt when I ran with vampires because I found myself nodding even before he finished his speech. "I'll hear you out," I replied, and was cut off by a huge yawn. "But not tonight. We can talk tomorrow. I'll call Jake and let him know he's on his own for the day. He owes me that at least."

Peter looked somewhat pacified but only just. Before I could say anything else, the phone in the kitchen rang and I suddenly remembered my switched off cell in my pocket. "Oh, shit."

"What's wrong?" Jasper's brow was furrowed as he looked back at the ringing phone. "Do you know who's calling?"

"I forgot to let my boyfriend know I'm still alive." I went to stand up to answer the phone only to be pinned in place by the equally night-black stares of two very pissed off vampires.

"Your what?!"

A/N: Please drop a line on your way out, I'd love to hear how I did. Concrit is always welcome.