A/n: Thanks for the reviews. I realized that a couple of chapters ago there were several that I didn't respond to, I'm terribly sorry for that. I've been a little distracted. Please keep in mind though that if you don't log into your account when you review that I can't respond to it. A couple of you have made some very interesting observations and asked questions that I can't answer in my A/n without tipping everyone else off.

You may have noticed that there is no Chapter 13, my numbers were different from those on FanFiction and it's been driving me up a wall. So, I'm skipping 13.

This is also a short chapter due to the fact that it needs to line up with "The TA".

Here are a couple of things that I can address:

Esme – I'm not writing her off completely but the only reason that she was able to be of assistance in Eclipse and Breaking Dawn was that Jasper trained her to fight. That being said, she was fighting newborns who possessed no skill. This is totally different. There is NO TIME to show her even the basics. Having said that, I will take certain requests into consideration as the story shapes itself.

The wolves – I'm not sure if I'll use them again in a fight. Rachel and Quil are both badly injured and if you remember when Jake was injured in Eclipse it took a couple of days for the bones to knit back together properly. They may or may not show up; don't hold your breath.

Jasper drinking human blood – You'll get a glimpse of what happens in this chapter but only what Alice sees. Other than that, you're blind like Edward because I'm not shifting POV's within the stories without a very compelling reason. The full scene is in Chapter 14 of "The TA".

Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight, I don't.

No music - sorry

Waiting for news was nerve wracking. There was nothing to keep my mind off of what must have been happening in the building that held my gaze. Jasper had gone down and called to Ari. The petite female brought him into one of the buildings before closing the door and sealing his fate. I paced a path through the sparse brush underfoot.

Jasper can handle himself. Alice reassured me. I nodded.

Emmett busied himself on his cell phone playing a game and thinking about strategy while Rosalie mulled over thoughts about the dress that she and Alice had been designing before Alice's gift interrupted them. Carlisle was considering how Esme must have been getting along with the wolves and debated as to whether or not to call her. She would not like the plan. Esme was gentle but should would express her disapproval and Carlisle had enough doubts of his own without calling her. Alice focused on the future as a way to get clues. Jasper was a convenient if painful choice as our spy because she was more attuned to his future than Bella's and would be able to see things faster and clearer. She trusted him, but having said that, she absolutely hated that he was in danger.

No! Alice stopped playing with a blade of grass and her eyes glazed over:

"So, you've come back to us?" Adrianna stood in front of Jasper and smirked.

"Yes." Jasper smiled at the female.

"You don't actually expect us to believe that you've left your coven so easily?" Ari walked around him and tousled his blonde hair. "You'll have to prove it General."

"How would you like me to do that?" The smile on his face was chilling.

"Well, you'll have to drink from a human of course." Adrianna laughed.

"Do you happen to have a spare human laying around or are we going hunting this evening?" He quipped.

"I think that we can supply one." Ari glanced at Adrianna and hopped joyfully. She was going to get what she wanted.

Alice's vision shifted further into the future:

They were in the office.

Jasper beckoned to Bella and she walked forward woodenly. Each step she took seemed to be orchestrated by a puppeteer. Her eyes were wide and fearful and her breathing came in shallow bursts. She was being compelled to move. She stopped just shy of touching Jasper.

Jasper leaned down and pulled her head back barring his teeth. Bella's body went limp as he dropped his head to her neck. She let out a tiny gasp and the vision went black.

Alice and I both screamed. She searched frantically to find the outcome. A crucial decision had not been made yet and Bella's life hung in the balance. I reassured myself that Jasper could be trusted; that he would never hurt Bella but a doubt lingered at the back of my mind. Bella wasn't the only one at stake. This situation was bigger than just her. Would Jasper sacrifice Bella for the greater good? He might. He would make it easy for her, but he might do it. I sobbed at the thought of my brother betraying me in such a manner. He would have to dispose of me if he killed her.

"What's going on?" Emmett stood in front of me blocking the path to the warehouse. I hadn't realized that I was moving in that direction.

"It's Jasper and Bella-" I could barely force myself to speak. "He's going to..."

"Edward." Carlisle was behind me. "You can trust him."

"His teeth are going to be on her throat!" I yelled.

"You don't honestly think that Jasper would drink from Bella do you?" Emmett was appalled by the thought. He was offended even further by the fact that I would think it.

"I saw it!" I argued. "Jasper's teeth on Bella's throat!"

Alice sobbed as she continued her frantic search. She refused to believe what she had seen. He would never do that to her or to me. There had to be a logical explanation that didn't involve her husband killing her best friend, and she wouldn't stop until she found it.

"Do you think that he's changing her?" Rosalie asked from her perch in one of the trees. If he thinks that she's badly injured he might do that, right?

"Not to doubt Jasper or anything but I don't think that he has the self control for that." Emmett crossed his arms and continued to bar my path.

Great Emmett, way to make things better. "Have a little faith. His control has improved; he didn't attack her earlier when she was bleeding did he?" Rosalie scowled. Four years ago he went after her for a paper cut.

"It's apples and oranges Rosalie." I sighed. "You don't understand. Having your teeth in someone's neck is vastly different from resisting the smell of blood."

You've got that right. Emmett agreed with me mentally but would never voice it to Rose. I gave him a slight smile. Emmett would most certainly know about that.

"Sorry, I don't have an experience with that." Rosalie shot back at the two of us. Some of us didn't feel the need to go on a rebellious killing spree.

"Rose." I warned

Don't go acting all noble because they were all killers. You still drank from them.

I rounded on her.

So, are you going to attack me now? She raised an eyebrow.

"Let's not start pretending like you're an innocent Rosalie Hale." I approached her tree. "You may not have drunk from those men but you're still an assassin."

"Children, stop baiting each other. The situation is tense enough without the two of you complicating matters." Carlisle scolded Rosalie and me. I felt like a child but Rosalie took offense to the term. However, she stopped baiting me. "Behave yourselves or I will call your mother."

Alice stood up and began to pace. She wasn't accustomed to not seeing what was going on. The crucial decision hadn't been made yet. Her mind sat open and blank as she willed a vision to come. After a few more minutes of waiting in silence I made another move towards the building. Emmett stopped me in my tracks.

You can't go down there. He held my shoulders.

"I'm going to stop him." I growled.

"No, you're not." He planted himself firmly and prepared to fight me if necessary.

"What if this is the decision we're waiting on?" I raised an eyebrow at Emmett.

"It's not." Alice groaned and we watched as one of the males knocked Bella into a wall hard enough to send her through it.

"Fine, I won't go." I gritted my teeth and the vision of her going through the wall disappeared.

Alice's mind came alive with flashes of the dingy office. They flickered as if someone was in the process of making a decision.

Here it comes. She was relieved.

Emmett opened his mouth and I held my hand up. All of my attention was focused on Alice. She let out a shaky breath as soon as the image started.

Jasper lay on the floor; Bella sat hunched over in the floor a few feet away with her hand covering her neck. She still wore the over-sized suit. Bella's eyes were wide in either pain or shock. I couldn't tell which. She gasped for air and shook in fear or pain. She looked so tiny, like a child.

The image was both reassuring and frustrating. Jasper was not going to drain Bella but whether or not he had bitten her was still a mystery. Alice shook her head and tried to focus again. She was proud of Jasper but desperately need to see Bella's fate.

There are just too many decisions! Alice growled and continued to stalk back and forth.

"Bella's alive but we can't tell if Jasper broke the skin or not." I filled the rest of the family in. "She has her hand over her throat but we can't tell if she's in pain or just shocked. We're waiting for her to move."

All three of them let out an unnecessary breath.

"Adrianna is going to stop him but she doesn't know at what point she's going to do it yet." Alice was disappointed. "It's either that or Jasper will have difficulty pulling away."

"You can't blame him for that." Emmett commented. Don't look at me like that Edward. "Bella's scent is very strong. I can't imagine resisting her blood with my teeth right at her throat."

"Please stop elaborating Emmett!" I yelled. "Trust me when I say that I understand exactly how hard it would be to have your teeth at her neck and not drink from her. Remember, I have had my mouth on her neck before. I have tasted her blood. I understand and appreciate what Jasper is going through more than anyone else does." I pulled my hands harshly through my hair. "I can't even express how grateful I am to him for being able to pull away. I just need to know that she's alright. I am loosing myself in this!"

"We are doing everything we can son." Carlisle sat me down on the ground. You have to be patient. If she can be saved then we will save her. "You need to hold your temper because it impairs your ability to make logical decisions. Remember, this happened when you first met Bella and then again on her eighteenth birthday. In both instances you made terrible rash decisions that kept you away from her and did more harm than good."

"I'm sorry." My apology was to everyone. "I'm just not rational where she's concerned."

"We've noticed." Alice smiled and suppressed a chuckled. I deserved that. "In case you haven't realized it, Jasper is the same way about me. Of course, I'm a lot less trouble than Bella."

"Yes, but you're high maintenance in your own way." I scoffed and she tossed a pine cone at my head. It was easily dodged.

"Yeah, well 'high maintenance' over here is keeping tabs on your girlfriend. So, watch it." Alice sat with her knees pulled up to her chest and rocked slightly.

"She' your best friend and your husband is in there with her in case you've forgotten. I doubt that you're going to stop watching." I rolled my eyes at the pixie.

"We're getting closer to the vision. Hopefully I'll get something soon." She sighed.

I'm glad that you've allowed yourself to relax just a hair. Torturing yourself and the rest of us won't get her back any sooner. Rosalie climbed down from the tree and took a seat next to Alice. Right now, we just have to trust Jasper and wait. Everything hinges on him.

I nodded to Rosalie.

Emmett found another stick in the forest and began methodically removing the bark. The only thing to do was wait. Everyone's thoughts drifted around. Carlisle was the first to start remembering things about Bella. The x-ray of her skull on the day they met popped into his mind. I noticed him fighting a smile looking at all of the damage that her poor head had endured over a lifetime of clumsiness. Alice thought about dressing Bella up for the prom and many other times that she forced her to sit still long enough to apply make up and dress her in designer clothes. Emmett's memories of Bella were all ones that I wanted to avoid. Like everyone other than Rosalie, he was impressed with her the second they met. It just happened that they met at the ill-fated baseball game that initiated the encounter with James. Another was her eighteenth birthday when she thanked him without raising her voice even though he was outside. She was always a perfect fit for me and our family in his mind. Even when being chased by James she stood up to me and insisted on doing things with a plan. That was what Emmett liked most. I disliked the instances that he brought up but the sentiment brought a small smile to my face. Rosalie thought about any time Bella successfully stood up to me. For some reason that brought her a great amount of joy.

I remembered every kiss and every look. My life before Bella was dull, the year that I willingly left her was torture, and the three years that I thought she was dead were sheer emptiness. Knowing that she was hurting and just at the bottom of the hill presented a harder challenge than any of those. Jasper was down there but I selfishly wanted it to be me. I wanted to swoop in and whisk her away from danger but my brother was down there doing it for me.

Alice sat up straight and we all stopped to look at her.

Jasper would be dangerously close to inacting Alice's vision in a matter of seconds.