The house was quiet with that of everyone being out in the mountains and forest.
This time Esme had been the one left behind to watch over Jasper. Both to make sure he wouldn't sneak out and also in case something came up.
Esme was sitting in the living room with a book at hand in failed hopes of distracting herself from this whole mess. But how was she suppose to distract herself from the fact that her son's life was at stake?
She never expected that she would have to deal with the kind of frustration that made her chest tight ever again. But here she was. Dealing with it. With the fact that she was, once again, losing a son and that she could do nothing about it but watch it happen.
Her sweet soldier.
She craved for nothing more but to be out there looking for those vaewolves. But she also knew that she needed to be here for Jasper. He couldn't be left alone were he to do something reckless.
After what happened at the forest Carlisle had seen wise that Jasper wouldn't go out again. If he was weak enough to be harmed so easily he could also be weak enough to get sick, and the last thing they needed was for him to get sick.
The sudden shuffling from upstairs caught her attention which was soon followed by the familiar whispers of Jasper's footsteps as he left his room.
Soon he made his apparition with disheveled hair and the face of someone who just woke up. And despite all she couldn't help but smile at the endearing sight.
-You feeling alright?- She couldn't help but ask as she watched him climb down the stairs. Rather than answer he approached her and without saying a single word he sat at her side and leaned against her.
The gesture surprised Esme considering he avoided contact like the plague half of the time, still, she drapped her arm around his shoulder before repeating the same question.
-Sweetheart, are you alright?
Jasper didn't answer, all he did was shift enough to end up dropping his head down on Esme's lap, curling on the couch and saying nothing. Leaving Esme to figure out what was happening.
He still looked a bit too pale for comfort due the blood loss but at least the black co-web had disappeared from his face.
She dared to rest her hand on his head and when he didn't react she began carding her fingers through his hair. He sighed before closing his eyes so she kept doing it. She had never had him so close before, Jasper had always been one to keep his distance, she could count in one hand the amount of times he had let her hug him, and during all those hugs he had been nothing but stiff.
But she guessed that his aversion to contact was nothing but the product of spending so many years in such violent atmosphere as that of the South, even more so under the hand of such cruel woman.
She still couldn't help but wonder if Maria had turned him on purpose. He did said once that she turned him because she was hoping to exploit his skills and knowledge in battle. A soldier could be quite useful as a vampire.
But how had she not sensed that something was amiss with his scent? Blood? Even if he hadn't transformed he had been 19, there was no way that his scent had been completely human at that point, had she intended for this to happen?
Had that been the reason she exposed him to so much violence? All these scars... even for a southern vampire it was unnatural the amount of scars that branded his skin. Had Maria tried to trigger this during all the time she had him under her hand?
But again. He was no normal vampire either. Carlisle had told her...
The Major...
Jasper had confessed that he was him. Though if one took into consideration Jasper's personality Esme had the feeling that there was more to it.
He looked so peaceful right now though. She wanted this moment to last forever. She didn't want to lose him, she wasn't strong enough to bear the loss of another child, much less when that would mean that she would also lose a daughter.
Alice may not die physically but she would certainly become a shell of her former self, no vampire could survive the loss of their soulmate.
She still remembers when she first saw them. Alice hadn't wasted a second to pounce on Carlisle. Her happiness and excitement had been contagious and Esme remembers thinking that she has never seen a vampire witch such energetic demeanor like the little pixie's.
Jasper on the other hand had stood back and watched the whole ordeal with a tense posture. Almost as if waiting for the slightest sign of danger for him to lash out. And as frightening as he had looked Esme hadn't be able to keep herself from thinking that he looked the slightest hopeful behind that dangerous mask.
She remembers how he would hiss at the slightest of things. Sit at the porch and watch her work but proceed to walk off if she so much as acknowledged his presence.
Who would have said that that near feral boy would one day end up sleeping on her lap? Seeking her comfort...
And it pained her to know that she could lose him. She bent over and placed a kiss on his temple. She wished she could have had more time with him. Get to see him finally accept that he belonged here as much as anyone else, that he didn't had to hide from anyone here, that he was loved.
Because even if he didn't realize it he was an important part of this family, one that they would all suffer the loss of.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward had never had a close relationship with Jasper. He headbutted with him as much as he did with Rosalie and while both of them had attempted some semblance of peace for Alice's sake that little peace had collapsed when because of him Alice fell into the Volturi's radar.
Jasper hadn't forgiven him for that. In fact. He had lashed against him the second Edward had stepped out of the car and it had taken Emmett and Alice to get him to calm down.
Their relationship became quite strained after that and a bit awkward if Edward was being honest with himself. But even if their relationship wasn't the greatest he knew that deep down at the end of the day they were still brothers.
He knew that Jasper was the one who got the papers for Renesmee's new life were things to go wrong. He was the one who made sure she would be able to start a new life without troubles. Regardless of how he had felt about Bella and him he had still gone and made sure their daughter would be safe.
Same daughter Edward had thought Jasper couldn't care less about. It was no secret that he avoided Renesmee like the plague. Had done so since the moment she was born. And still he was so patient and kind towards her. It wasn't until he saw Renesmee hugging Jasper that he had understood something.
It wasn't that Jasper didn't like Renesmee.
He was worried that he would hurt her.
Jasper despite the scars and his past had never been cruel nor gone out of line. He did had his slips and occasional moods but he had never been bad. Even if Edward still had his reservations about him he knew that Jasper would never harm an innocent on purpose.
That didn't meant Jasper thought the same. He liked to sell himself short and Edward knew that he hadn't helped much on that either. When he first arrived Edward hadn't been the friendliest of people towards him. But those scars and the fact that Jasper liked to hide his thoughts from him hadn't helped either. How was he suppose to trust someone who looked like that and hid things from them?
He had learnt to drop it though. Jasper's past wasn't the greatest and it would make sense that he wouldn't want others to see his memories.
Still, even if their relationship wasn't that good Edward didn't felt like seeing him die. He was still his brother and regardless of their mishaps he could never wish death upon his own family, much less on someone Alice loved so much.
If Jasper died Alice would be devastated. He didn't think she would be able to recover from something like that.
But that pack was turning out to be quite impossible to find. What if it was just that? Rumors? What then? Would all of this had been for nothing? Filling everyone with worthless hope just for the hit to be twice as hard when the time came?
But what if the pack was found? What if Jasper did survive the change? What would a vampire-werewolf hybrid be like and what would they do about it? Werewolves were mindless beasts unlike shapeshifters, no matter how subdued or civilised they may be as humans once the full moon rose they would slaughter everything and everyone in their wake.
Would Jasper become that? Would Carlisle be willing to let a werewolf in their family?
That didn't matter right now anyways.
He would think about that when Jasper was no longer at death's doors.
~~~~~~~~~~
Emmett... wasn't in the greatest of spirits. Hadn't been so in a while. The idea that he could lose his partner in crime didn't settle well with him nor it did the fact that he had to watch how his brother deteriorated with each passing day and he could do nothing about it.
Having to watch his family so upset, it was no long ago that they managed to gain some semblance of peace after the whole ordeal with the Volturi, and now they were back to feeling like death was once again looming over them.
And he hated that he could do nothing but attempt to track down a pack that may not even exist, he tried to be positive, God knows he did, but with each failure he grew more and more frustrated, the idea that these rumors may be just that, rumors, made him feel like breaking something.
Because this shouldn't be happening. All of them tried to be positive and fake a semblance of calm but Emmett wasn't stupid.
He knew Esme would go into the forest to cry for hours, he knew Carlisle would attempt and fail at comforting her.
He also knew that the reason Rosalie had grown so much easier to anger was product of her own frustration.
He also knew that Bella felt like she was to blame for this. That if the Volturi hadn't come for them the pack wouldn't have grown. Hence. Jasper wouldn't have been exposed to neither the packs nor the Volturi.
And he knew that regardless of it all Edward also felt responsible for it.
He also knew that Alice hunted less than she should.
People could think Emmett an idiot but he took pride on his abilities to read people and the ambient in general. He was more observant than what people realized.
It was also because of that that he was more than aware that Paul kept Sam updated on the progress of their search. But since no moves had been made he liked to act dumb. Edward would have warned Carlisle if the wolves were planning something.
Still.
This was one of the reasons why he had made sure that none of the wolves would be the ones watching over Jasper. With how weak he was he would be no match for a wolf. It would be so easy for them to take him.
And Emmett would be damned if he was to let one of those dogs touch his brother.
~~~~~~~~~~
Bella didn't know Jasper that well considering he had liked to avoid her as a human and now... well... he didn't seem to be that big on spending that much time with people in general that weren't Alice.
Still.
She knew him enough to know that the last thing she wanted was for him to die. While Jacob said that the triggers weren't specific she couldn't help but feel responsible for all this mess.
The Volturi came because of her. And because more vampires began showing up more people from the Quiloute's were triggered into transforming.
He had been fine. He was turned in 1863 for God's sake and it wasn't until now that it all began.
Alice was her best friend. She was the sister she never knew she wanted.
And her husband would die because Bella couldn't protect her daughter better. If she had chased after Irina none of this would have happened. She should have known something was off the second Irina decided to run off rather than greet them. She should have known that vampire children wouldn't be well seen. It was a matter of logic that a vampire child would attract more attention than an older one.
But now it was too late.
Jasper had been the one to ensure Renesmee would be able to start a new life were things to go wrong. He was part of the reason that fight never broke out. He saved her daughter.
And what had been his reward? Death.
Alice and Jasper saved them. Maybe that's why Bella felt so obsessed with finding this pack, it was her turn to save them, because yes, Edward had told her.
Told her the truth of what a death of a mate meant for a vampire. That hollow feeling she had felt when he left. That feeling of the world having crumbled down. The nightmares. The numbness. The overwhelming weight upon her very soul.
It would be twice as worse for a vampire whose lost their soulmate.
If Jasper died it would destroy Alice. She would never recover from that. Would become nothing but a shell of her former self.
The idea of Alice becoming what Bella had become when Edward left sent a feeling of utter refusal in her. She couldn't allow that to happen. Not to Alice. Alice was meant to be an overflowing ball of absolute joy, she was meant to smile and harass people into joining her into endless shopping trips, she was meant to get excited over the simplest of things and just be happy.
She wasn't meant to know such hollowness. Such pain. Bella didn't want her to know what that suffocating feeling was.
Much like Jasper didn't deserve to die. He was such a good and kind person, he didn't deserve such ending.
He didn't.