Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all.

Rated M for a reason.

Chpt 2 Elephants And Meetings

BPOV

Following her eyes I find Jasper an' Pete leaning against the front of the truck, arms folded across their chests wearin' expressions of anger an' amusement respectively.

"Oops." Char mutters, releasing me an' starting towards them.

I trail after her.

"Ah my little cherub." Pete smirks, takin' Char's hand an' twirlin' her around like a dancer. "Did you get anythin' for me?"

"Lubricant." She replies, rubbin' herself up against him.

"Perfect." He says, wagglin' his eyebrows suggestively.

I stop a few feet in front of Jasper and look up at him through my eyelashes.

"Don't bother darlin'." He says. "You know you're in big trouble."

"Its only Wal-Mart Jasper . . . ." I begin, feelin' a little insulted.

"It's not that I don't trust you Bella." He growls. "It's dangerous for you to be out on your own."

I raise my eyebrow at him. Dangerous, to me, really?

"Alright, alright." He holds up his hands. "I know you can take care of yourself but you could have accidently done somethin' to expose us."

I raise my eyebrow again.

"Fuck." He groans. "Okay. I just worry about you that's all. I don't like bein' away from you, if anythin' were to happen to you . . . ." He shakes his head. "Damn it woman if you'd just obey me once in a while . . . ."

"Maybe I would if you fuckin' married me!" I snap, clampin' my hand over my mouth too late, because there he is, the invisible elephant in our relationship. Big ole invisible elephant.

"Char baby." Pete murmurs backin' away. "I think we'll run home don't you? It's nice out tonight."

Jasper turns and watches them leave, an' I anxiously scan his profile for any clue to what's goin' to happen next.

"I didn't think you wanted to get married, you were always so dead set against the institution." He says quietly, his eyes boring' into mine. "And you never said yes."

"You didn't exactly ask me properly." I huff feelin' incredibly immature.

"I love you Bella. You're my mate. What makes you think I wouldn't want you to be my wife?"

"Maybe the fact you didn't ask me." I mutter under my breath.

"Why didn't you tell me what you were thinkin'?" He asks softly.

"I felt stupid. So much had happened it felt childish to mention it. I know you love me and I love you so it shouldn't really be that important." I shrug. I can't explain it. I know it's totally irrational but ever since he sort of proposed to me before the fight I have been waitin' for him to mention it again an' he hasn't. Not once. An' stupidly I can't help feelin' a bit rejected. And it is stupid because Jasper uses his gift everyday to let me feel how much he loves me an' wants me and he's my mate, its not like I need a piece of paper to prove he'll stay with me.

Steppin' forwards he pulls me into his arms. "We need to work on our verbal communication skills darlin'." He mutters. "I'm sorry if I hurt you. I never meant to. I'm only a man, we don't understand all this relationship stuff."

I sniff against his chest.

Suddenly he drops onto one knee, takin' both my hands in his.

"Bella Swan." He says seriously. "Would you like me, Jasper Whitlock, to ask you to marry me?"

"Yes please." I giggle.

"Excellent." He says gettin' to his feet again. "I will get back to you on that at a suitable moment in the near future."

I roll my eyes.

"Don't be like that." He drawls, wrappin' his arms around me. "I'm only goin' to ask you once an' I sure as hell ain't gonna do it in a parkin' lot. However, there is somethin' I'd like to do to you in this parkin' lot."

I scream as he suddenly lifts me in his arms an' deposits me in the bed of the truck.

"What are you goin' to do to me in a Wal-Mart parking lot?" I ask suspiciously.

Smirkin' he spreads my legs apart kneelin' between them an' unbuttoning' his jeans.

Oh.

An hour later we pull up the house to find Pete an' Char loungin' on the porch.

"Family meetin'?" He asks hopefully as we draw near.

"Shower first, meetin' afterwards." Jasper mutters, tuggin' me along urgently by the hand.

I smile helplessly an' wink at Pete as we whisk past.

Dawn is breakin' by the time we are all gathered in the livin' room to Pete's satisfaction. Jasper holdin' me on his lap and runnin' his hand slowly up an' down my leg under my new red sundress.

Pete eyes his hand sternly for a moment an' then clears his throat.

I don't need to turn around to know Jasper is rollin' his eyes.

"There are three items on our Agenda." He begins. "Item one, the death of one Major J Whitlock. Item two, what to do about our cock suckin' little Spanish friend an' item three, where we're movin' to next."

"Lets start with you, shall we J? Jenks has already dissolved and re-distributed Jasper Whitlock's assets amongst our other aliases so really all we need to do is pick which one you wanna go with."

"How many have you got?" I ask curiously.

He shrugs. "A few, one hundred sixty odd years worth. You might as well help me choose under the circumstances."

Pete hands me a few sheets of A4 paper an' I scan through the names quickly. Thaddeus Bruckmiester, nope, not marryin' him. Or Billy Bob Campion. Custer? No. Gerry Masen? Fuck no.

I give up, handin' the paper to Jasper with a helpless shrug.

"Well I guess we don't have to decide now." Pete huffs. "But we can't refer to him as Jasper, we need to get in the habit of callin' him somethin' else."

"Well for now why don't I try an' start callin' him J and then we can pick one of the names that fits later." Despite this bein' part of my plan I am very reluctant to think of my mate as anythin' but Jasper Whitlock, I am proud of who he is.

"Okay." Pete nods, satisfied. "We need to think about who we tell that he's gone, other than Jenks who knows what's happenin' anyway."

"The Cullens for one." Jasper says, reluctantly lettin' go of my leg to reach for the laptop. "Now's probably as good a time any to find out what Carlisle's after."

We wait patiently for him to scan through the mails at vampire speed.

"He wants to hire us to look for Alice an' Edward."

"Oh come on!" Pete snorts. "What does he think we are the fuckin' vampire A-Team?"

"Well he can't hire you." Char laughs. "You're dead."

"He'll know someone's opened the mail now though." Jasper frowns. "The three of you will have to go see him, an' soon before he tries to find us. We can't afford for them to know I'm alive especially if we still believe Rutilio took Alice an' Edward."

"Are they still in New Hampshire?" I ask.

He nods, smilin' a little. "Good thing we know you're safe to go out in public now isn't it?"

"Speakin' of dead men walkin' what are we gonna do about Rutilio?" Pete asks, eyes hard. He wants his head on a plate as badly as I do.

"Nothin'." Jasper offers, tiltin' his chin slightly as he drops the laptop back down an' resumes strokin' my leg.

"You're just gonna let him get away with everythin' he did J?" Pete challenges.

"Pete, I don't see what good it will do to go after him." Jasper shrugs.

"We still have Caius to consider." I point out. "If The Major's grief deranged newborn mate doesn't show up at some point lookin' for revenge the whole thing might not be that convincing."

"No." Jasper growls, his hand tightenin' on my leg. We all know the real reason he's reluctant to go after Rutilio is his fear for our safety. We got lucky last time an' we certainly aren't in a position to up against The Volturi.

"Jasper. J." I take his hand off my leg, its distractin' me, an' entwine my fingers with his. "If nothin' else we need to find out how much Rutilio has told Caius an' others. If Caius knows Jasper Whitlock was The Major then we won't be that hard to find if he's so inclined."

Jasper sighs heavily. "Alright. Lets at least get Jenks to find out where Rutilio is, then we'll talk about it some more."

Pete immediately snags the laptop an' sends a mail to Jenks.

"Maybe we should consider all goin' with new identities an lettin' the Whitlocks fade away into obscurity." Char suggests.

We all wince.

"I know, I know." She adds hurriedly. "That really blows but perhaps the best way to bury The Major once an' for all is if the Whitlocks go with him."

"Fake all our deaths?" Pete asks with a Machiavellian glint in his eye.

"No, doofus." Char rolls her eyes. "Just stop bein' us. Pick up an' start again someplace else an' stop usin' the name. There aren't actually that many vampires who know what we look like. Think about it, it's really only Rutilio an' his merry bunch of assholes an' the Cullens that would recognise any of us. Maybe a half a dozen more besides an' not all of them know J let alone Bella. Hell, some of 'em aren't even on this continent."

"What about you J?" Pete asks.

"Same as you other than the Denalis but they rarely leave their place in Alaska an' even if we run into 'em they don't know me as a Whitock."

"They'll know you're dead through the Cullens though." Char reasons.

"Aren't we in danger of over thinkin' it?" I query. "Change our names an' start again. You guys have always been cautious an' secretive anyway. We just need to carry on bein' careful."

"She's right." Jasper says, releasin' my fingers an' going back to trailin' his hand over my leg.

"Well then its time to pick a new family name." Pete decides.

After an hour or so we've each picked a favourite from the list so Pete writes 'em out on slips of paper an' then folds 'em up and stirs 'em in his hat.

"You pick J, you're head of the coven." He swirls the hat enticingly under Jasper's nose.

Grumblin' Jasper chases it round for a second before snatchin' it out of Pete's hand an' dramatically pickin' a slip.

Smilin' he shows it to me. Well I guess I can marry into that.

"You could change your name to Eric." I suggest innocently 'an he growls at me.

"Hey!" Pete objects. "Share."

Jasper hands him the slip an' he laughs before handin' it to Char.

"We can work with that. I guess we are mostly blondes anyway. Sug you'll have to wear a wig." She says, laugin' too.

The laptop pings quietly an' Pete snatches it up.

"Well that was quick." He muses, deep in thought. "Jenks says Rutilio Asturias is currently livin' in New York with his new wife."

"Suspiciously quick." I comment.

Three sets of eyes swivel to me.

"Sorry." I fidget under their scrutiny. "I know you all know him better than me but he was the only one who knew we were here."

More vampire starin'.

Char takes pity on me attemptin' to change the subject. "New York! I fuckin' love New York."

Pete shudders back to life. "I have a tinglin' feelin' in my BFF." He says. "We need to move, winter's comin' an' we should go to New York. We can see Carlisle on the way."

"I don't know Pete." I stammer, tryin' hard to cover my interest. "I'm not sure I'm ready to live in a city."

"You'll be fine sweet thing, we'll get a place in the burbs. No worries."

To my surprise Jasper capitulates easily. "Alright." He casts a glance at me. "But let's find our own place instead of usin' Jenks. Char, can you hack in an' transfer money to our new aliases without him bein' able to trace it?"

"No problem." She smirks. Yep, the centrefold is that good.

Jasper kisses me briefly on the cheek an' deposits me on the couch, risin' with Char an' headin' into the kitchen to discuss the technical details.

Pete an' I stare at each other in silence for a while.

"Ultionis est mei." Pete says quietly, locking eyes with me.

"Nostra erit ultionis." I respond.

And we smile. Coldly.