Chapter 18: Images

With a gasp, I woke from my dream. I couldn't get past the fact that these dreams, they all seemed like memories, and yet, the…thing I was in them was clearly not human. I shook these thoughts off with a roll of my shoulders, and stretched all my muscles out, almost purring like a cat.

Ghosting upstairs, I began to make breakfast. I didn't feel like cooking, so I just poured out some cereal. The others hadn't gotten up yet, as it was the weekend, and they all liked to sleep in. Except Jasper, of course. I had learned that we shared a lot of the same quirks and had a lot in common. And I couldn't deny that he was damn hot. Whoa, Izzy. Heel. What? I speak the truth.

Giving my head a shake to clear it, I proceeded to spoon cereal into my mouth. Turning around and looking out the window above my kitchen sink, I hummed quietly to myself, eating breakfast and lost in my own little world. I heard the slightest creak of my floor and turned around, knowing it was Jasper. Jasper was the only one who could successfully sneak up on me, and I was right. Jasper stood there, leaning casually against my counter. And shirtless.

My eyes widened, and I stood there like an idiot. I let my eyes travel across his chest and over the finely toned muscle there, dropping down to his delicious looking abs. I noticed that he had some scars from fighting, and I fought the urge to lick them. Scars were a definite turn on. My eyes roamed downwards, and I had to swallow and forcefully yank them back up to his face. His eyebrow was raised and a smirk played on his lips. I turned around and wiped the milk from my mouth, slightly embarrassed at being caught blatantly checking him out. With my back still turned to him, I cleared my throat and managed to speak, my voice just slightly hoarse.

"Um, Jasper? Why, uh, do you not have a shirt on?" I asked, slowly turning around again, but keeping my eyes averted, staring at the floor to his right.

"My shirts were all dirty. Why? Does it make you uncomfortable?" He teased. Well, he was obviously comfortable in his own skin.

"Of...course not." Is he tryin' to kill me? I clear my throat again. "Well, it's Forks. It's gonna get cold, you know, if you keep walkin' around without a shirt."

"I see your point. I was just waitin' 'till Emmett or Edward woke up, to borrow a shirt from one of them." Whew. As much as I loved the sight of Jasper shirtless, I wasn't sure if I could last the entire day without melting into a puddle of goo. He was that hot. And, apparently, I was that pathetic.

"Well, Emmett's bigger than you, and Edwards skinnier," I pointed out.

"True."

"Here, I think the previous owners left some clothes here. You can see if any fit you." I went over to a spare closet and gestured towards the small heap of clothes sitting inside. I had had no idea what to do with them. I was going to donate them to charity, just hadn't gotten around to it yet. He walked over and started searching for a suitable shirt. I leaned on the wall to the side of the closet, carefully averting my eyes from his shirtless back, and how his low riding jeans showed off his ass when he bent over. I mentally slapped myself. He's my best friend. I should stop drooling over him like a bitch in heat.

I turned to look at him only as he stood and pulled a t-shirt over his head. It fit him pretty well, but it was a little too tight. I could make out his muscles very clearly, but I guess it was still better than seeing him shirtless. He shook his dark blonde locks out of his eyes, and I swear it randomly went into slow motion, like in the movies. Cue the cheesy choir and sunlight shining directly on him. I shook myself. What the fuck?

He grinned at me, not knowing about the craziness going on in my head, and held his hands away from his body. "Better?"

"Ah, yeah. Um. It is. Better, I mean. You know, because of the, ah, cold, and all that." Now I started mentally cursing myself. Word vomit anyone? I never stumbled over my words like that. Well, apparently I did, when confronted by shirtless Jasper or Jasper in a tight shirt. Wow, I sound pathetic.

I stood away from the wall, and walked back towards the kitchen. Cereal. Yeah. That was safer. Or was I gonna start drooling over that too? Oh, god I certainly hope not. That would be kind of creepy.

As creepy as eye-fucking your best friend?

Oh, shut up. Now I'm hearing voices in my head, and they're making more sense than my regular thoughts. Maybe I'm goin' crazy. Maybe someone drugged my cereal.

Suuure…

Didn't I tell you to shut up? Sigh. Apparently this is what Jasper can do to me.

While I had been rambling on and on in my mind, the guy in question had poured himself a bowl of cereal and leaned next to me on the counter I was sitting on, by the sink. He seemed somewhat lost in thought as well, although aware, much as I had been, of everything going on around him. I realized that my attraction to him wasn't just because he was hot as hell, but also because of our similarities and for him as a person. And that's when I knew that I was well and truly fucked. Okay, maybe not literally, although that wouldn't be too bad, if it was by him…Get your mind out of the frikkin' gutter, Izzy.

Truth was, I was attracted to all of him. And that wasn't good. Because I couldn't afford to be distracted, ever. And he was certainly very distracting. I had to help prepare our friends for battle, with old enemies from the past. I had to make sure that they didn't come to harm in said battle, and I had to make sure that I wasn't more tied down than I already was. Because at this point, I could still walk away. It would hurt as hell, and I would probably be depressed, but if it meant keeping them safe than I could. But if I continued down this path with Jasper, I knew that I would never be able to walk away, even to keep him safe. Because I was fuckin' selfish, and I knew it.

Oh, come on, Izzy, again with the drama. Sure, it's true and all that, but I'm sure that this is only a stage, or something. It's probably all those hormones coming into play. Besides, even if you are attracted to him, and that fuckin' rope you feel pulling you to him, I doubt he feels the same way. You're friends. That's it. And don't go down the self-pity/self-doubt spiral again, because that's not gonna do anything, is it. Friends. That's not just a show.

And denial isn't just a river in Egypt.

How many times do I have to tell you to shut up? And besides, that's a line that's old as dirt. Can't you at least come up with something new?

This is gonna be a long frikkin' day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We were training again. We had been every weekend. What with them all coming in about three months from now. Shortly after interrogating U.H., Alice had had a vision confirming what he had said. She had only gotten a glimpse this time, a short clip of calendar pages being torn off and zeroing in on a certain week, and was only a little dizzy and disoriented afterwards. She shook it off pretty easily. It didn't escape my attention how Edward had seemed especially concerned even though he had gone through the same thing and had even taken a longer time to recover.

I also noticed how he was especially attentive towards her. I knew that she felt the same, because she would look at him when she though no one was watching. She would stare at him with the strangest expression. It was a mix of confusion, adoration, gratefulness, and conflict. She was grateful for someone who understood what she was going through, confused as to why she felt the way she did, adoring because she was falling for him, and conflicted for the same reason. Ever since she had opened up to us, she was acting a lot less spoiled. And they had been spending a lot more time together.

Rosalie and Emmett had been spending alone time together a lot, also. I already knew that Emmett was planning to ask her out, I just wanted to shout at him to do it already. She clearly was interested too. With all my friends pairing up together, Jasper and I had kind of been forced to spend time together, just the two of us. Because of this, we were becoming very close. He knew more about me now than anyone else. I knew him a lot too. He told me about his past and I told him about mine. We shared all the gritty details. We shared all the private moments of hope and happiness. I'd only known him for so long, but if felt like I'd known him forever.

It felt like I had known them all since forever.

And I was freaked out.

I just tried not to think about it too much.

"Alright, good form, Alice. Emmett, your feet are too wide apart. Rose, very good. Edward, no holding back." I had decided that today would be a punching bag day. I had bought a few more so that everyone could focus on punching. I'd also taught them how to wrap their own hands so that they wouldn't break anything. I usually took more charge in training them, because Jasper hadn't actually taught anyone to fight, and I had. Although that was only one person…Jacob. A dull echo of pain shot through my heart, but I ignored it. No use dwelling in the past. Jacob was the one thing I hadn't told Jasper. Well, I told him about Jacob, but just not what happened to him. Not what I had done to him.

I noticed that Edward still was holding back. He was good in theory, but his hits were too hesitant to actually do anything. I guess it just wasn't in his nature to be any sort of violent. I sighed internally. I guess I'd have to give him yet another talk. Making a mental note to do just that later, I continued inspecting them.

Alice was focused intensely, her dainty eyebrows furrowed. She was determined, I'd give her that. I think that she really realized that this could be life or death.

Rose had a lot of pent up aggression. She was almost ferocious sometimes. She was probably the best fighter out of all of them, the way she struck. You had to wonder what she was thinking of. My best guess was her dad.

Emmett was a brawler. And while that might serve him well in a bar fight, it wasn't as effective when both parties were sober. He needed to work a little more on his overall technique. He started listening to me a little more, but he was just too stubborn to fully let it sink in. I'd have to have another talk with him, and hope I finally got through his thick skull.

Overall, they were pretty competent. My plan was to make sure they could handle a fight on their own before teaching them to work together in pairs or as a group, because that's what would work the best in our situation. Jasper and I had also been working on a few techniques as a pair, because fighting in groups was rarely done in the fights. But having a whole bunch of fighters and just unleashing them doesn't work as well as having a well-trained team working together and watching each others' backs.

Or even just one more person watching out for you.

Jacob used to be that person. So was my dad. They both died. I didn't think I could handle it if another did too.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey, Jasper." We were all sitting about on the floor, lounging around and just enjoying that limp feeling you get after a good workout. Edward had just gotten a text.

"Yeah?"

"Mom wants us home tonight. In a few hours."

"Alright."

Edward decided that he would leave first, since he wanted to spend a little more family time with his mom. Rose and Alice then decided that they wanted to go home for the night too, but that Alice would go to Rose's house so that they wouldn't be alone. Emmett said that he needed to go see his Nonna.

"And then there were two," Jasper said, almost lazily. "You wanna spar again? I feel like we didn't get as good of a workout just teaching."

"Yeah."

We started sparring again, and just like the other times, we were just having fun. We were equally matched, and it was a nice change. This time it ended with Jasper putting me in a friendly chokehold. I instinctively spun around while he was crossing his arm over my neck, so that I was facing him and his arm formed a bar against the back of my neck. I could have just escaped, which we both knew, but I felt like ending it, so I just turned instead. We were both panting lightly, with the silliest smiles on our faces.

I suddenly noticed how close we were. Something changed in the air between us. It seemed charged with electricity, and the stupid grins weren't there anymore. My eyes flickered between his stormy grays and his lips. I'd never noticed that his eyes were flecked with blue and green. I'd never noticed that his lips were that sexy, for a guy. I'd never noticed that his eyes could look like turbulent oceans. Our breathing was slowing down, and he moved ever so slowly towards me, his eyes focused on my lips. They felt dry all of a sudden, and I licked them. My eyes closed slightly, and we were just about to kiss…when all of a sudden he jerked back and dropped his arm like he had been scalded. He cleared his throat, not meeting my eyes.

"Uh, I…gotta go. Se-see you later." He hurriedly got his keys and all but fled upstairs. I stood there like an idiot, waiting until I heard the front door slam shut. With a sigh, I slowly walked up the stairs, hearing his truck start up.

JPOV

I should have kissed her. I really wanted to kiss her. I should have just pushed her up against the wall and kissed the hell out of her. Why did I have to run like a scared little puppy? I slammed my hand onto the dashboard. Why didn't I just kiss her?

I was going to kiss her, until I realized what I was doing. And then I ran like a little bitch. I hit the dashboard again, and rested my forehead on the steering wheel. I should go back and kiss her. It's not too late. Making up my mind, I turned off the ignition. I ran up her driveway, focused on one thing, and one thing only. Kissing Izzy.

I made my way up to her front door, hesitating a little before knocking. I was warring with myself. What if she didn't want me to kiss her? She'd probably be mad as hell after I just ran off like that. I was just about to go back when she opened the door.

Izzy POV

I was staring out the window, a little shocked he hadn't drove off yet. What had gone wrong? He should have kissed me. I should've kissed him. I had felt like I was standing on the edge of something. The precipice, and instead of falling, I was ready to leap off of the damn thing.

I saw him hit the dashboard, twice, before seeing him turn his car off and open the car door. I held my breath as I saw him run up the gravel driveway. I saw him hesitate in front of my door, his fist raised in the air to knock on it. I saw him start to turn away. I rushed over to the door and turned the lock, throwing the door open. I was a little confused. Did he leave something here? He stared at me, probably shocked from the door opening like that.

Then he smiled breathlessly, and turned towards me fully, bringing a hand up to my cheek. He gently moved his thumb across my cheekbone, and I felt my eyelids flutter without my consent. He leaned in, and this time…he kissed me.

His lips were moving across mine, and I responded enthusiastically, my hands moving themselves until they were fisted in his deliciously soft curls. His arm wrapped across the small of my back, and I smiled into the kiss. He chuckled, his breath minty.

There weren't any fireworks like in the books. But it did feel like the entire world faded away, and there was only him. I sounded like an obsessed teenager in my mind, but I didn't care. Those thoughts were just buzzes in the background of him. Jasper. He slid his tongue into my mouth, and I bit it, softly, in a playful way. He chuckled again, the noise sending shivers down my spine, in the good way. It was rough and hoarse and all Jasper.

Our tongues danced across each other, and I knew that I had found my new favorite activity. Sorry, training, but kissing Jasper is so much better.

I felt a little high, almost giddy. I was kissing Jasper. And I giggled like a schoolgirl, but I didn't care. This was Jasper. He had always made me feel different than I had ever felt before.

All of a sudden, images started flitting across my mind, and by the sharp intake of breath, Jasper's as well. Random images, sometimes bits and pieces of conversation, they replaced each other too quickly, and I couldn't make anything out. Jasper and I were frozen, this sudden barrage of images and sounds and conversations playing out in our minds. I didn't know what to make of them. I couldn't make them stop. Just like the dreams, they seemed vivid, and real. Like memories.

As suddenly as they came, they stopped. I exhaled, not knowing I had been holding my breath until that moment. We broke apart, confused as all hell.

"What was that?" he asked, almost to himself.

"I have no idea."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Destiny~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Wait, so you kissed Jasper?" Alice squealed, hugging-no, strangling a pillow.

"Is that all you got out of it?" I asked, amused by her antics. She was just so…Alice.

"No!" Alice looked a little offended. "I just thought I should clarify. You kissed Jasper? As in, you kissed Jasper?"

"No matter how many times you say it, it's still going to be the same thing, Alice," Rose teased, poking Alice with her foot. "So you said it was kind of like the dreams? But in high speed?"

"I guess. There were just these…images. They kept on moving really fast, like someone was fast forwarding them. But some of them were like…clips of videos, you know? And I could hear some things too, like bits of conversations, and some screams. It was really weird, but they seemed like memories. I don't know. I sound crazy, don't I?" I had taken the opportunity of another one of Alice's Girls' Nights to tell them about what had happened.

"Well, not as crazy as Edward reading minds, or Alice seeing the future," Rose said, rolling her eyes at me. "Or even the dreams we were having."

I could see her point. "True. Hey, when are you and Emmett going to just make out already? The tension is incredibly thick. It's like this fog that constantly surrounds you two. He really likes you, you know."

Rose looked like she was going to blush. "Really?"

"Yeah. We can all see it, too," Alice chimed in. "Everyone but yoooouuu!" I shook my head at her hyperness. I felt really weird. I realized why. This seemed so…normal. Just three girlfriends talking about their love interests. I rolled my eyes at myself.

"Well, what about you and Eddie-boy?" Rose deflected. Now it was Alice's turn to look embarrassed.

"That obvious, huh." She shied away, using her pillow to block her face from view. "I do like him, a lot. He's just so…sweet, you know? Always the gentleman. And I feel like that's what I need, you know what I mean?"

Rose nodded, smiling. "Yeah. Emmett's like this big softy inside of that crunchy candy shell. He's just so adorable. I can't help but like him, you know? I was always this…ice queen, but he melted right through without me noticing."

"Awww, that's so cute!"Alice teased, giggling maniacally.

This time, Rose really did blush. I smiled. Normal. But those images were nudging at my brain, begging me to figure them out.