Authors Note: Hi sweetest readers! I apologize so for this late litte chapter so! I'm afraid life has been a little unkind and of a struggle recently. But oh, reading your comments just makes my heart all flutter and bloom so! They truly make my day sparkle, seeing each review, follow and favorite! They mean the world to me so sweetly and I thank you with everything within my heart. I hope you enjoy this chapter so and I am sending you so much love, peace and beauty to your corner of the world. All my love, Elodie.

As the night cast its darkened rays and farewell to the day that was, Willa sat upon her bed a trembling thing. Dressed in her dainty night dress of pink tulle from another time, she couldn't seem to let the night carry her with it. She seemed stuck, trapped in the day and all that had happened there. As if the cuts on her cheek and arms somehow tied her to the events under that lighter sky.

Her small legs were pulled to her chest as her tear painted cheek rested upon her knee. Her arms wrapped around her dainty form as she clung to herself in a helpless attempt of giving her heart comfort. But no matter how she held herself, no matter the paintings she had done that lay at her feet or music she had listened to, she couldn't seem to comfort herself. Her heart was left exposed, hugged by only translucent glass as it quivered and trembled helpless and alone and afraid.

She closed her eyes to the night, closed it to the stars that she usually tumbled so easily into with hope and day dreams. She closed her eyes and mind, and opened herself only to the memory that shackled her.

The blue van.

Willa curled her toes, curled them under the soft pink tulle of her dress and squeezed her eyes a little tighter as tears slipped through and fell in rounded droplets.

She moved to stand in front of Bella at the sight, her doe eyes wide with fright as she trembled afraid and little under the impact of the incoming van. She closed her eyes, her back pressed against Bella's chest and her hand woven in her cousins. She felt each curve of Bella's fingers, felt the touch of her skin against hers and tried to hold onto it both in hand and in heart. She thought she was going to die, thought – but she didn't get to know what the ponder may be.

A solid figure collided into her, collided and pushed her straight into the nose of the van. But before she could touch it or it her, a body wrapped around hers and in a way that may only sing mystery and wonder, pulled her away by the smallest fraction. She couldn't scream as she heard the sound of metal colliding with something solid, couldn't scream or even cry as she shook on the icy ground in someone's arms. She was too afraid, too startled and flustered in shock to even open her eyes. But she did not need to open them to know who held her.

She felt his chin rest upon her hair, felt his hand cradle her head and his arm hold her close to his hard chest. With her small nose pressed against the white fabric of his jacket, she could smell his sent of cinnamon and old books, of pine and hay and the only thing which made her feel safe. Jasper held her tight – Jasper in all his impossibility, had saved her.

And if Jasper had a human heart, he knew it would be a trembling thing, knew it would rattle out of its mortal cage of bone and cartilage from what had nearly just happened. He felt afraid, afraid and maybe even more as he held onto Willa who trembled in his arms a nearly lost and dead girl. But he also felt angry, and he knew if he let go of Willa too quickly – that anger would unleash at his brother who accidently collided with Willa in an attempt to save Bella. He felt his rage boil within him, felt it fester and grow thorns as he clenched his jaw and felt his porcelain chin crack ever so slightly at the pressure.

But the warmth of Willa in his arms seemed to steady him slightly, ever so slightly as he held on to her as his tether and she curled into him as hers. For in that moment he felt as if she was the only thing he had and she with her eyes closed and her nose nestled against his jacket, felt as if he was all she had too from that door that held death and after. The cool icy ground faded away, the cool air and sounds of commotion, the smell of metal and panic – of excited hysteria…it all went away except for them. Jasper and Willa. Him and her.

Slowly, Willa looked up at him, his hand guiding her head as she titled her neck back and looked up into those honey eyes which had turned black. Blacker than night, blacker than perhaps even Death personified. She looked up at him with wide doe eyes, with eyes so brown and open that invited him to climb inside and read her fears. She had a cut upon her cheek from a piece of broken glass, cuts upon her hands and arms that lay against her chest and clung onto the fabric of his jacket.

"Are you," Willa's voice was so soft as she spoke, quieter than a whisper as she struggled past the shock and pain that held her voice. "Are you alright?" She asked him, worry seeping from her eyes and into his. He had saved her, saved her and by doing so he had left her heart exposed, her soul cupped in her trembling hand between them.

"Am I alright?" Jasper asked in bewilderment, in bewilderment at how she nearly died and yet was more worried about him than herself.

Willa nodded in his arms, her worry so genuine and soft. "You're trembling." She whispered, "Jasper," she swallowed, seeing the pain in his darkened eyes, an agony that pulled at his features as her softness seemed to hurt him, hurt the soul he believed was monstrous and violent. "Honey eyes." She said, the nickname she had for him making his blackened eyes turn burnt honey with a few blinks.

Willa raised her cut hand to his cheek, let his cheek overwhelm her little hand like it did last night. She couldn't help the worry she had for him, couldn't help but crumble as his arms trembled around her and her eyes searched him for any wound. He looked broken as he held her, as he saved her – broken as if something within him was too much to carry.

He leaned into her touch, her thumb which grazed the edge of his mouth and stroked some part of him he did not know he had, something soft – something calm. He felt calm, calm despite the anger which made him tremble – despite that beast which knocked and began to trash within him and release that Major he was and secretly is. But as he held onto the calm that seeped into him with each stroke of her fingers against him, he made sure everyone else did too. He let everyone feel indifference towards him and Willa, let their attention slip away from them as he held her on the ice and they all moved away to where Bella and Edward were.

"I have to go." Jasper told her, and Willa in understanding through the haze and dizziness nodded. They were each other's secret for reasons that held intimate and raw – and with Death chased away, she knew he was desperate to hold onto it so. Perhaps even more so than before. "But I…" Willa watched as he looked up to examine their surroundings, as her hand fell from his cheek. Everyone was crowded around Bella and Edward, his brother giving care to Bella and his family watching with paralyzed surprise. He let his gift extend to them, let his family feel the same indifference towards him and Willa as everyone else seemed to. He hated doing it, but he couldn't help it in this moment. He had to. He moved her out of the way – nothing more and nothing less in their minds. He saved Edwards mistake.

"May I call on you tonight?" He asked her, looking back down to Willa once he felt they were safe from everyone else. "I have to know you are alright." He wanted to hold her cheek like she did his, to trace the cut upon her skin and wipe away any drop of red that escaped her, but he couldn't. It was the sweetest scent he had ever smelt, her blood. A scent that did not stroke the beast within but rather protector and servant.

"Of course." Willa replied, her voice small as a silent plea hid under her words. "Please." She said in one dulcet breath before he tightened his grip and helped her to her feet. He raised his hand to brush his fingers against her cheek, to feel her – but his hand just hovered beside her cheek. He could feel his anger stir impatiently, feel it tap against his chest as if in reminder it waited to be opened and awakened in the earth's outdoor air.

"I have to go." He said once more, and Willa feeling her tether slip free felt tears blossom in her eyes. In a helpless attempt she reached out for his hand and brought it to her lips. She placed a dainty kiss on his knuckles, two tear drops landing in the grooves between them as she did so.

"Thank you." She said with all she had left within her trembling heart at the time. And Jasper, with one last look, gave her the nod of a Major and quickly took off towards his family.

Willa opened her eyes at the memory, uncurled and looked at the paintings she had done. Her fingers were dainty as they brushed the strokes of dried paint, brushed the painted features of Jasper and Edward, of black eyes and a van with a handprint.

She could feel the memory within her as if it was happening now, as if it were but a tape that seemed to play on repeat across the backs of her eyelids and the strings of her feelings. She could see the blacks of his eyes, the crack that ran down his jaw and the danger that seemed to roll of him in thunder – a man inside a man. She could see his soft curls and the feel the touch of his hands against her, see his worry and the hesitation of his hands against her. He saved her – saved her and yet he shouldn't have been able too. It was impossible, impossible and yet holding onto him then despite knowing that impossibility, it was the only thing that made her feel safe. Made her feel here.

Climbing over her bed, over dried paintings and blank parchment – Willa tiptoed to the wall that separated her and Bella's rooms. She had nearly died, her Bella. She had nearly lost one of the two last family members she had – too soon, too raw. Pressing the tips of her fingers against the wall, she wondered what Bella was thinking in her room. If she was crying or asleep, if she was lost in ponder or dreams or if her hand was resting against the other side.

Willa pressed her whole hand against the wall, pressed her ear there and let the wall hold her weight and sorrow. They should both be dead, both be and yet they weren't…

Willa wrapped her arms around herself as she watched Jasper go and her eyes found where Bella and Edward stood in-between the van and truck. She felt fear grasp her heart, felt Death tease her as reality seemed to make clear the hues of the world around. She had nearly died – Bella and her, and yet…Bella's eyes found hers through the chaos, found her's with desperation and a plea of need. She needed her, and Willa needed her too.

Moving forward like a nimble mouse, Willa slipped through the crowds, slipped small and light in-between the screams and cries until she reached her cousin and took her in her arms. Willa held her warm and true against her, her shaking fingers running through her cousin's hair as she felt and smelt and heard her alive and safe. Willa placed a kiss on her cheek, placed another and another until she pulled back and cupped Bella's face in her hands.

"Are you alright sweet girl?" She asked with a dulcet shaky breath. "Are you…" Willa's hands trembled as they moved to Bella's shoulders and then back to her face. She leaned forward and placed a kiss on Bella's nose, pulling her back into her arms as their chests pressed against one another and Willa's heart pressed in yearning to feel Bella's. Alive. She was alive.

"I'm alright." Bella whispered in her ear, holding Willa who shook in her arms.

"I think she hit her head pretty hard, she might have concussion." With Willa's eyes peeping above Bella's shoulder, she looked up into Edwards eyes as he spoke. He had saved her cousin, but in doing so he had nearly killed her. And yet she didn't care, it didn't matter. Because they were both safe. Her and Bella – him and Jasper. They were all safe.

That word seemed to consume her as she nodded her quiet response in Bella's arms, as she noted the pain and panic in Edward's eyes, the despair and struggle at some inner turmoil that turned within him. She felt his eyes go over her, felt them take in the cut on her cheek and the scraps on her hands and arms.

"You two should stay put." Edward spoke, his voice pulling Bella out of Willa's arms as she looked up at him flustered.

"You were by your car." Bella insisted, stepping in front of Willa as she shook her head in disbelief.

"No, I wasn't." Edward said with a hardened edge, his eyes looking from Bella to Willa who stood quiet behind her little cousin.

"I saw you." Bella pressed, and Willa looked at the dent in the blue van.

"Bella I was standing right next to you and pulled you out of the way." But there was still this dent there, this dent in the shape of a handprint. Willa's doe eyes fluttered up to Edwards, fluttered up and saw some plea for silence, some plea to let something go – to let this, go.

"No." Bella set her jaw.

"Please, Bella." Edward's voice softened.

"Why?" Bella persisted and Willa feeling the overwhelming beat of her heart and realisation stepped forward and rested a dainty hand on Edward's arm. He looked down at her as Willa's other hand cupped Edwards fisted hand. It was clenched tight, clenched and cold and rough. Her fingers traced his knuckles, traced the tight skin there that she knew had collided and stopped the van.

"Your cold." Willa told him, looking up into his pained eyes as he observed her and let her hold his fisted hand. Bringing his hand up, she breathed upon his skin warm air from her parted pink mouth. "You saved her." She continued, pulling a clean handkerchief out of her pocket and draped it over his fist. It was white, decorated with pink flowers and the edges a dainty lace trim. "It doesn't matter how. Just that you did." She gave him a gentle smile, let her eyes seep some reassurance into him that he too was safe. "Thank you, with every little petal of my heart."

"Willa I-" Edward began.

"Will you promise to explain everything to me later?" Bella asked, her voice stern as she looked from Willa disapprovingly to Edward annoyed.

"Fine." Edward snapped and pulled his hand away from Willa with the handkerchief still upon it. "Fine." He repeated a little more composed, and gave Willa a thankful look.

"Fine." Bella repeated angrily and pulled Willa away from Edward to stand by her. "What was that about?" She whispered to Willa, nodding towards Edward who was looking back towards where his family stood.

"Oh Bells, he saved your life sweet girl." Willa whispered back to her.

"But he stopped the van, with his hand." She gestured with her eyes towards where the imprint lay. 'He..."

"Lovely," Willa interrupted softly. "I know. I…I see it too. But he still saved your life. Let that matter more in your heart."

"He could have killed you." Bella pressed, shaking her head at the gentle nature of Willa's words. "He…"

"But he didn't. And," She brushed Bella's hair behind her ear in a soothing gesture. "Oh, daisies my lovely – it was a dizzy of an ancient is all. An accident without any harm so why bring harm where there may be none?" Willa smiled softly at her cousin, smiled soft in reassurance and silent understanding. Because she did, she did understand the bewilder all fuzzy in her cousins' eyes. The way they were saved, the hand print, speed and strength by both brothers…it seemed something spun from a fairytale. It made her dizzy, made her tremble with curiosity and mystery all in her eyes. But it wasn't her secret to unravel.

"Jasper." The sound of his name on Bella's lips made Willa's eyes startle ever so slightly. "He got to you so fast, too fast."

"I know." Willa said softly, looking over her shoulder to where Jasper and his family stood by their own car. They looked on from a distance, with expressions of disapproval to fury to pain. Jasper did not meet Willa's eyes as he stared at his brother – stared hard and frightening. Looking away, Willa took Bella's hand in hers as they heard the sound of the ambulance arrive. "Together." She said.

"Together." Bella replied.

It took six EMTs and two teachers to shift the van to bring in stretchers. Edward and Willa both refused theirs, but Bella with the possible fear of concussion was unable to do the same. Crouching down, Willa held her hand as they put the neck brace on her and lifted her to place her in the back of the ambulance. With the doors closed, Willa made to ride in the front with Edward when Charlie came – Charlie.

"Charlie?" Willa asked at the sound of someone knocking on her door. Pulling her hair over her shoulder in a nervous manner, she stepped away from the wall and went to open the door with a soft click.

He stood outside her room, his face grey and tired with those prickles of stress and anguish. He had one hand resting on the doorframe as he leaned there, as his tired eyes looked down and over her. Willa's chin wobbled at the sight of him, quivered as tears bloomed in her eyes.

"Oh Charlie." She released, and wrapped her arms around him. He hesitated at first, stood awkward and stiff before he leaned into her softness and held his sister's daughter.

"I thought I lost you kiddo." Charlie said into her hair as she held onto him. "And I…" He pulled away to look into her wide innocent eyes. Tears pooled at their rims, pooled and shimmered in the darkened light. "I don't think your mother and father are ready to see you just yet in Heaven. Not yet, okay?" Willa nibbled at her lip as she nodded, as he brushed a tear from her eye.

"I never thought," she paused as the words she wanted to speak became heavy in her throat, "I never thought I'd be afraid to die." She confessed shyly, her eyes looking down to nowhere in particular. "After my mama and papa, after losing everything and everyone…I never thought I'd be afraid of it, with all that's waiting on the other side of the cloak. But I…" her chin wobbled as she struggled to speak, as her eyes welled up once more and she wrapped her arms around her small self with the lack of Charlie's touch. "But I am." She looked up to meet his eyes. "I'm so afraid to die."

"Oh kiddo." Charlie exhaled as he watched Willa cry. He didn't know what to do in situations such as these, struggled to be – struggled to know. It pained him, that inner conflict of not knowing. To reach out or to not, to leave or to stay. "Everyone is afraid to die."

"And what they went through." She released softly through her tears. "Mama and papa, all those souls who passed so suddenly, too suddenly…I feel like I can feel it, feel their fear, feel their…I'm so afraid Charlie. Of life because of death at the end. How to live knowing how quick it may come. I, I'm so afraid for it to all go away, to be away." She didn't know if her words were coming out in sense, didn't know if Charlie understood as he stood there in front of her. But she didn't have anyone to talk to.

"Don't think that way Willa." Charlie said, coaxing her eyes from where she looked to the side up to him. "Don't be afraid to live because of death – be excited to. Make the most of it because if you don't well…you may end up like me." He ended with a small puff of laughter at his own situation. Not being able to raise his daughter, alone and in this house. But his heart was full, full with love that just didn't know how to be and come out.

Willa knew and saw that, knew him underneath his words and shook her head. "I would be very lucky to be like you." She said softly. "Brave and kind, loving and selfless. Your whole life you look after and protect others." She smiled as she held back her tears. "I'd be very lucky."

"Well…" He put both of his hands in his pockets. "I'm very luckily to have you. To be able to raise what there is left to raise in you."

"And I you, to have you, Charlie." Willa replied, her smile small and pained as she looked up at him and held his eyes tender with hers.

"Right, well…are you alright? Do you ah, do you need anything?" Charlie asked as he felt his embarrassment creep to his cheeks at Willa's confession.

"Thank you, I'll be alright." She replied quietly, her tears easing.

"Okay. Well…I'll be just down the hall if you need anything alright? And ah, tomorrow we should talk about that History trip to France you're going on in two weeks. Make sure you have anything." Willa smiled at his fatherly attempt, at the warmth which flowed from him and into her open heart.

"I'd like that." And going up on her tiptoes she gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Sweetest dreams, Charlie."

"Sweetest dreams, Willa."

Back in her room and alone, Willa made her way to her bed and picked up her paintbrush. Tucking it behind her ear she made her way to the wall by her bed where she painted the name, 'Major J Whitlock.' Her fingers traced the curls of his name as she thought what his passing may have been like, his life and how he was forgotten when just a boy. He was just a boy and Death in its cruel way stole him too early. For she didn't understand, why some people could live and others couldn't. Why some lived in tragedy and other's in ease. She didn't understand it, couldn't…

Picking the paintbrush from behind her ear, she dipped it into pink paint and began to paint flowers by his name. She wanted to paint cruelty over with beauty, paint death with hope and love. When she was finished, she looked down to her arm and painted flowers there too – using the scraps like vines which gave birth to beauty, to hope – to love. She couldn't let darkness win. Couldn't let Death win.

When she finished, when she placed her paints away but kept the brush behind her ear, a small pebble hit her window. Her heart pitter pattered at the sound as she, like a shy mouse, moved to the corner of her room away from the window. She bit her nails in nerves as she knew who waited for her there. Taking the paintbrush behind her ear, she placed it down and played with her hair, straightened the skirt of her pink night dress and took in little breaths. She felt her heart open, felt it flutter open at knowing he was there, he was here.

Gathering her shy self, she tiptoed to the window and unlatched it. Opening it, she looked down and saw Jasper standing there. His hair honey blond curls messy and dressed in all black, with his hands behind his back he looked like a solider sneaking out in the night.

"May I come up?" He asked her, his tone factual – factual and yet with a note of yearning that he did not mean to slip free.

Willa nodded, raising a finger to her lips in a hush gesture. "Just be hush, just be careful." Jasper smiled lightly at her concern as he climbed up like the tree like a human would and stopped at her windowsill. "Here." Willa reached out her hand to him. He saw it was trembling, saw it was small and decorated with paint drops. He reached for her hand, taking it delicately in his as if it were made of petals and butterflies wings. Her hand was so soft in his, and his so hard and strong in hers. She could feel the outlines of scars as she helped him inside, and whilst she was taking in those marks – he took in the flowers she painted on her cuts.

Standing in the room, Jasper slid his hand up her arm, held it gently as he looked at her art. She made them look like flower vines, had made her cuts look beautiful – look blooming, and he in that moment, could have crumbled to her feet. His thumb caressed her arm, ran over the dry paint and skin as she stayed silent. She watched his thumb move, watched and melted into his touch before her doe eyes fluttered up to his.

"This should never have happened." He whispered between them, still cradling her arm between them - thinking about what happened between him and Edward after it did happen.

"But it did." Willa spoke softly. "But that's alright." She gave him a shy smile as she looked up at him, as his eyes held her there. "Because in tragedy comes beauty, in tragedy…comes new thoughts, new hopes and dreams in working…comes you and this." She placed her other hand over the one he had on her arm, his thumb tucking her small fingers underneath his.

"I had to make sure you were alright." He spoked deeply, intimately as his senses began to heightened at the touch of her against him, of her small fingers underneath.

Willa smiled up at him softly, her peony lips parting. "I'm alright." Jasper nodded in response, nodded and stepped away at the intimacy that seemed to bloom too full for him to bear. He placed his hands behind his back as he looked away from her doe eyes and acted the gentleman. "I should g-"

"Stay." The word came out in a dulcet plea from Willa's lips. It caught her off guard but she made to move towards him. "Please." She said softly. "Please stay. I.." she looked away from him as his eyes moved back to hers and his lips parted. "I don't want you to go." Her voice was helpless and true as she spoke, as she spoke with fragile yearning. "Please."

Jasper took a step towards her, looked over her vulnerable features as she waited for his answer. "Of course." He replied like a solider. "I'll stay as long as you need." Yet those last words were not from the solider in him, they were from somewhere else, someone else inside him that quivered in the shadows to be let out and seen, let out and cared for.

"Would you, would you may be like something to eat?" Willa asked nervously, fidgeting with her hands and went to her drawers. Opening them, she pulled out her snack draw. "I have macaroons and sweets, or if your tongue all sings salty I can tiptoe down stairs and see what I may find." She peeped over her shoulder to look at where he stood with an adoring smile.

"Thank you but I, I'll be alright." Willa closed the drawer softly at his answer, taking a pink macaroon with her and biting into it. "Do you like to bake Willa?" Jasper asked, gesturing to the macaroon she ate.

"I…" she laughed slightly as she caught a crumb that fell from her mouth, her cheeks blushing in embarrasement as she raised her hand to hide her mouth as she finished chewing. "I love to bake…the fairytale of it, with flour all on your cheeks and love crafted in a form that may kiss your insides. Oh daisies, it makes my heart all flutter." As she finished eating, she strolled towards him and sat upon her bed, her hands playing with the tulle of her dress. "I love creating something that makes others happy, that brings them sweet comfort when words may fail. With food and baking, oh flowers it's like it may do that so. I don't think you ever see someone eat be upset…but rather they eat and look forward to eating because of what it brings. Energy and peace, but comfort and love too. And the more it's baked with love, maybe the more love they'll feel when they eat it." She looked up at him with timid eyes as she smiled softly, as he looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language.

"I'm afraid I have not experienced that sensation in…" He paused, since he was human. "For quite a while."

"Oh?" Willa pondered, her eyes fluttering at his answer.

"When I…when I eat." Jasper swallowed, he had to be careful. Careful because the talk of blood, that drumming... it awakened and made ache inside him. He paused as he considered this path of conversation, his hands tightening behind his back.

"When you eat what my lovely?" Willa prompted gently with curiosity all nestled in her eyes.

Jasper smiled to himself, a smile that he wasn't sure was twisted or sad. "When I eat, I…" He paused, his eyes going to the painted wall behind where Willa sat. He took in how she had painted quotes there, quotes of the book he gave her and there at the bottom was the name of that boy who passed…that name of him with flowers weaved around it. "I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt, I fear, I think strange things which I dare not confess to my own soul." He read aloud from her wall.

Willa rose from where she sat, walked towards Jasper with dainty steps. "I want you to believe…to believe in things you cannot." She spoke softly under the faint light in the room. "I'll believe anything you say," she whispered. "And I…I won't be afraid."

"No?" He asked her, struggling to believe her answer.

She smiled timidly, her hands still playing with the tulle of her skirt before running up to hold herself in front of him. "I may be a little mouse in front of many things, be shy in front of you but…" she licked her lower lips, Jasper noting her confession of how shy she was and all that lay underneath in that. "But I could never be afraid of you. For how can I…when I've seen a part of your soul."

"And what part of my soul have you seen, ma'am?" He asked her, his composure that of a perfect southern gentleman, and yet inside he shook, trembled. He was not used to being afraid, but he was of her – of what she did to him.

"I…" her fingers trembled as they grazed the sleeve of his black hoodie, her eyes fluttering down to where she saw the scars that remained there. "I see a man who's been broken, who is maybe even still. I see pain and loneliness and sorrow – but I," she tiptoed a little closer, the tips of her dainty toes brushing the tips of his shoes. "But I also see so much softness and love, so much care and sweetness. Someone searching for a home to come out of the shadows, to be understood." Willa felt a blooming heat in her cheeks, a timidness creep up on her in hues of roses as she took a step back and became a little flustered at herself and him. "I'm sorry." She confessed, wrapping her arms around herself so. "I've been such a nervous and insecure little thing since today, since before too."

"It's alright." Jasper said calmly, watching her every moment in some silent and pained yearning to feel what she felt, to sooth her as she began to tremble. "Is there anything I can do? To calm you?" It was such a strange thing for Jasper to ask, to be so human in such a ponder. But when he was with her, she made him feel just that – human. Even if it was only for a brief moment.

"May you read to me?" She asked in a small voice, her eyes an innocent plea. "May you…may you hold me?" Her chin wobbled as she asked, as she began to crumble and spill outwardly. "I'm sorry." She turned from him, wiping her eyes from the trauma that came upon the day, the thoughts conjured. "Do you…" she wiped her nose with the back of her hand as she faced away from him. "Are you afraid of death, Jasper? Afraid to live and to love? To lose somebody because you lived and loved?" She turned back towards him.

Jasper cradled her in his eyes as he took her in, as her words and fragile self-pressed against the surface of his soul to seek entry and a home. He was too hesitant to take a step towards her, too rigid and lost in self-control as his arms remained behind his back with stiff restraint. "I'm not afraid of death but," he smiled to himself, he was already dead in a way…dead from his mortality, dead from love… "But, I am afraid to lose someone I love. To love and then because of that love, to lose. I…I don't know what it's like however, love." He smiled again, smiled sadly. "If I'd be brave enough to let it touch me, if I deserve it." His fingers twitched behind him as he spoke, to loosen his hands and open himself up. "But if I am ever so blessed to love, to be loved…even if it may ruin me, I'd rather feel it. Both love and ruin, bliss and agony."

Willa stood gentle and quiet after he spoke, as she knew he let some part of himself slip into the open that was secret. She let herself soak him in, his words and tone, his eyes and hues. She swallowed timidly before she unravelled her arms from herself and picked up the copy of Dracula which Jasper had given her.

Walking towards him, she took his hand and lead him to her bed without a world. With the book now nestled in Jasper's hand, she lay down on her bed and watched as Jasper struggled with himself within. Watched as he slowly unfurled and lay down beside her, his arm around her as she rested her head on his chest and he opened the book to the page she left off from.

But before he read, he looked down at her, looked down at the girl he held in his arms and let their eyes speak in silent conversation, let their touch sing to one another and the heat of her warm his cool skin.

"Do you believe in destiny? That even the powers of time can be altered for a single purpose? That the luckiest man who walks on this earth is the one who finds… true love?" Jasper began to read, to read as he counted each of her breaths and savoured each little expression on her face and little comment she had to the story he told. He savoured the way she fell asleep in his arms, how her eyelids misted like the closing of a flower and her face softened like the tumble of a lily petal.

"Oh, the terrible struggle that I have had against sleep so often of late; the pain of the sleeplessness, or the pain of the fear of sleep, and with such unknown horror as it has for me! How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams."

He stopped reading after that, as for the first time in his immortal life he could disagree with the words written there. For the first time, he did not wish for sleep to come – did not wish for sweet dreams beneath his mind or eyes. Because here, in this moment of absolute rarity and singularity for him, he felt as if this was what it was like to dream. With Willa in his arms, with how he watched and looked over her, felt her and let her scent take over him completely – for the first time, he never wished to sleep again – never wished to close his eyes from this image.

Hi sweetest readers, I hope you like this chapter so! I would love to know your sweet thoughts and ponder upon it so! The next chapter will be all about the History trip to France which Willa and Jasper go on so. With the little time skip in the book of about one month after the van, I thought I would fill that with Willa and Jasper getting closer and deepening their bond with one another in a private through this trip so sweet! I am sending you all my deepest love and wishes, and hope with everything in my heart that you all may be so well and safe, loved and know how beautiful you truly all are. All my love, Elodie.