Hey guys…. PLLLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSEEEE review…. Dream Painter, I don't know where you went, but you are greatly missed. Don't let one person keep you from doing what you want most. It's YOUR dream remember? I don't know how to tell you to keep your chin up, but PLEASE do. For me.

Hey guys… It's Christine. Bella asked me to step in and write a bit, and I'll tell you… the cliffhanger she decided to end this on will have you ripping your hair out. Trust me. Anyway, let's give this a go shall we?

Chapter 16

Christine.

I can't tell you how thrilled I was when the sleeves of her shirts started slipping up her arms, inching closer to her shoulders. There was something about Jasper that I didn't trust, but just by looking at her face… he was healing her. Whatever he was doing, he was healing her from the "Fallen Angel" That I had found that night.

I had nightmares for weeks because of Bella laying in her own pool of blood…by choice. I took a picture in hopes that one days she'd look at it and cry, simply because of the pain she was in. I'm glad she met him. Edward had torn her to pieces. I wish I could show you my best friend before and after her father, but…. All I can do is tell you, that she used to have a smile that could warm the coldest hearts…and a heart that could outlast anything I have ever seen.

When her dad died…she still smiled. She still went about her everyday activities, but her smile would no longer melt a frozen heart…but break even the strongest one. She tried so hard to tell the world that she was alright. That she was "Okay". The worst of it is…. Is that the world believed her. Except for me, and apparently Jasper. And now…well. Bella had learned how to smile again.

Bella

It's been two months since Jasper and I met, and he's taking me to dinner. Nothing fancy, but that doesn't matter. Daddy? Can you hear me? I can't shake the feeling that something is gonna go wrong. Can you see me Daddy? Do you even know I'm praying to you? Daddy….

My phone vibrating jerked me from my quiet thoughts. I knew it was Jasper.

"Hey love, are you on your way?" Same question every day. And I always had the same answer,

"I'm on my way."

Did it hurt to die Daddy? What were those last thoughts you had? Did you think of me? Dad…..Answer me, please…..

"Baby? Are you listening?" Great…now he was worried.

"Sorry, I got distracted what did you say Jazz?"

"I just asked if Chinese was okay with you, or if you preferred something else?"

"No, that's fine…I'll be there in a few."

I rolled down my window and lit a much needed cigarette feeling the smoke travel down to the tips of my toes. My mind flashed to the moments when Jasper taught me how to really smoke…

He would take the filter off one of his cigarettes…still don't understand how he could smoke like that… but he told me that after he took a drag to kiss him and breathe in. So I did.

Damn.

I don't think he factored in the fact that we were standing up… but that really didn't matter for me after that first inhale. I had a nice pretty bruise on my ass for a good week after that. But those became our moments…when he was most tender, in a cloud of smoke.

Not that I minded. But it was shortly after that, that he literally "Took my breath away"

I'll tell you what, this boy and his kisses…..

He would pull you in for a kiss and when he finally convinced you to part your lips to allow him entrance to your mouth….he would inhale, stealing every ounce of breath out of your lungs and forcing you to breathe in through your nose all at the same time…

My favorite thing ever.

Suddenly, the road was too long. I needed to get to his house, now. I needed to see him, feel him, just to know he was there. I kept feeling like he would vanish, and I would never see him again… but I needed him. Now.

Ten effing minutes later, I was watching the garage door open ever so slowly… and there he was wearing my favorite hoodie and torn jeans. Heaven.

I didn't even bother with taking my keys out of the ignition, I just leaped out of the car and ran into his arms.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were never gonna see me again"

I laughed as he kissed my nose, "I always feel that way…"

He hugged me and climbed into the drivers side of the car… believe me. NO ONE ever drives my car but me. Well…now Jasper. But I trusted his judgment, and I knew he was a safe driver. I just had to remind him of the speed limits.

I can't remember what we were laughing about, but for weeks that's all I saw. Him turning to look at me, laughing, with the smile I would kill for…

And just past his beautiful smile, I could see the car run the stop sign.

I could see it coming for us.

I could hear me start to scream.

Forty three seconds later all I could see was a fuzzy image of Jasper slumped over against the steering wheel,

All I could hear was my ragged breathing.

I could see a pair of feet at my window, somehow much closer to the road than it should have been, and a voice called out "Is everyone okay in there?"

I wasn't listening. I just needed Jasper. Ignoring the shattering pain in my shoulder I reached out and touched Jaspers bloody cheek.

This isn't pain. This doesn't hurt. But if he isn't okay…that's gonna hurt.

"Jasper?"

No response.

"Jazz, wake up."

He didn't even appear to be breathing as the paramedics arrived. Somehow they got to me first and started to pull me out of my mangled car.

"No, Jasper… Get Jasper, make sure he's okay! Forget about me, get him!"

Why wouldn't they LISTEN? I don't matter. I never mattered. But Jasper, Jasper's everything…..

I caught a glimpse of them laying Jasper out onto another stretcher before they closed the doors on the ambulance…

Something pinched my arms as I started to slip into a dark uneven sleep…

The last thing I heard before darkness overtook me was a strangled cry that I couldn't believe was mine.

"JASPER!"