"Carlisle?" Esme called from the living room when she heard the front door of the house open. She knew for sure that it was her husband after she had perceived the sounds of his car coming up the driveway and then his soft footsteps on the asphalt. He had just arrived home from work, being lucky enough to have quickly found a job at the local hospital, and now it was time for him to get briefed about what he had been fortunate enough to have missed at home this afternoom.

The blonde vampire shut the door behind him and hurried over to the living room where the voice of his beloved wife had come from. She sounded so very exhausted that he hoped he could help her with whatever had put her in such a condition. Just as soon as he appeared in the doorway, Esme added, "Your son."

Carlisle was stunned that the first thing his wife said to him as soon as he came home wasn't a sweet, "I missed you" or "I love you", and he didn't even get a kiss... no, this time she was just telling him that one of their sons had managed to do something that upset her.

He let his gaze roam the room to find out what had fallen victim to one of their son's carelessness or maybe even a full-blown temper tantrum, but he couldn't find anything.

The couch his wife was sitting on was still in one piece, the TV looked fine, the walls were undamaged. Not even the carpet was stained or ripped or burnt and there weren't any funny odours in the air.

Hm.

"I'm not talking about the living room," she remarked when she noticed that he was looking around the room in search of the alleged damage, but could find none.

Yes, she obviously wasn't talking about the living room or the foyer as they still looked like they had this morning when he had left the house, and so he asked with a small frown on his forehead, "Kitchen?"

"No."

Seeing that the damage might be somewhere else or it was just something completely different, Carlisle heaved a sigh before he followed his gut feeling and went with the person that usually played tricks on others in this family. "All right, love, what did Emmett do?"

In his head he was already going through all the options of what the boy might have done this time... too bad that the possibilities were endless when it came to him. Edward was easier, he almost always just broke something out of anger or threw tantrums. Jasper was very well behaved, maybe it was more because he was still reserved around them. The times he had actually been comfortable enough to forget the rules and just do what he felt like where when Emmett had gotten yet another one of his brilliant ideas and had managed to pull his brother down with him.

"Emmett?" she asked and blinked at him like she hadn't expected to hear the boy's name concerning this matter. "Emmett didn't do anything. Well, he wanted to help and did a really good job, but to be honest he scared me more than he calmed me."

Carlisle tilted his head to the side and just blinked at her. Emmett didn't do anything, but he scared her? Did he yell at his mother or threaten her? No, that couldn't be. "Shall I... reward him? ... or lock him in his room?"

"Carlisle."

"Perhaps give him a hiding?" he guessed.

"Carlisle," she warned with narrowed eyes, "don't you dare."

He held his hands up in a placating manner and took a step back, not wishing to upset his wife further when he didn't even know what had upset her in the first place and why he was standing here playing guessing games.

She looked at him a moment longer, before she let out a sigh and focussed on her folded hands in her lap.

"I sent him and the girls to go watch a movie," she informed him, but immediately the look on her face changed again and her head snapped back up. "Can you imagine that he didn't want to go?"

Emmett didn't want to go watch a movie? That didn't sound like him. "Is he... sick?"

Esme huffed. "Don't ridicule me - or him for that matter. He said he didn't want to go out as long as I would stay home."

Scratching the back of his head, he tried to figure out why his wife thought that Emmett's behaviour was so weird. Their son just wanted to spend some more time with his mother, that wasn't reason for concern and so Carlisle admittedly failed to see the problem here. "Why didn't you go with them?" he asked hesitantly.

"Carlisle!" She gasped. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Ye-No! I'm trying!" he stammered pitifully, feeling utterly confused and clueless. He had half a mind to go back to the hospital and work another shift until all the problems at home would resolve themselves... but that would be unfair to his beloved Esme.

She shook her head in disbelief.

"Please, love, you are confusing me. We're talking about Em, but it's not about him, is it?" he queried, then walked over to the couch and sat down next to her. "Tell me what's going on. What happened?"

When a long drawn-out groan left her lips, he put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest, then gave her a loving kiss on her temple. "That bad?"

"You have no idea... how come you are never home when the boys decide to be at each other's throat?"

"How come the boys only ever decide to be at each other's throat when I am not home? Maybe it's not a coincidence, darling," he chuckled. "And I have been home quite a few times already when they got some less than great ideas and ended up destroying half the house."

She hung her head and sighed.

His wife's day had been a lot rougher than his, seeing that he only had to stitch up a few cuts and put an arm in a cast while she had been surrounded by five teenage vampires that never tired but got bored easily – and boredom was bad because it meant chaos and bickering and teasing - and sometimes even destruction.

"What's the damage?" he queried and ran his hand up and down her upper arm so she would relax some more and feel less stressed. He was home now, and he would take care of it.

"A broken door."

He took in a long breath before he nodded his head, glad that it was nothing too dramatic this time. "We had worse, Esme, that's easily fixable. Who's the culprit?"

She leaned back a little and looked at him, and he got the impression that her eyes turned sad at that moment. That could only mean one person – the one Esme babied the most and always wanted to find excuses for whenever he misbehaved. Their first-born who was also her youngest.

"Edward?" he asked, then sighed and started to unbutton the cuff of his right sleeve. "I'll take care of it."

"No!" she exclaimed and stilled his hand with hers.

"No?" he asked and blinked at her, wondering what would be today's excuse for Edward breaking things because he didn't have his temper under control. 'He didn't mean it', maybe? Or 'It just happened'?

"Well, yes... but no."

Raking his hand through his hair after he let go of his cuff, he heaved a sigh as the conversation wasn't getting any less confusing for him. "Love, I don't mean to criticise you, but I have the feeling that you skipped a hunt or two. Is that so?"

She tzked and playfully glowered at him before her lips formed into a smirk. "What kind of a role model would I be if I neglected my hunting needs?" she asked and took his hand in hers.

When he just looked at her expectantly as he was still waiting for an answer concerning the broken door, she sighed. "It's Jasper... and Edward."

"They fought?"

She had a sorrowful expression on her face when she set to explaining what had taken place in their first-born son's room on this day. "No, but they were about to. Well, Jasper was. He had trapped Edward in a corner of his room and it looked like he was about to charge. There was so much anger in the air, Carlisle, and the way he growled at Emmett when he tried to get him to leave Edward alone..."

His breath caught in his throat until he managed to process the information given despite the heavy confusion it brought. "That is so unlike him," he muttered while still busy trying to figure out what could have possibly happened that his reserved son would lose it like that.

"Yes, he must have kicked down Edward's door, that's how furious he was. I'm glad we made it there in time. I don't want to imagine-"

"-then don't, love," he quickly interrupted her, being roughly pulled from his musings. "Don't do this to yourself. You defused the situation, I assume? With Emmett's help? You stepped in before it could have gotten out of hand. Tell me, love, how are the boys?"

"Unharmed," she admitted despite the worry and shock that apparently still seemed to shake her.

"That's what matters."

Seeing her nod relieved Carlisle, as it always pained him when his loving wife was upset and worried too much about the ifs and buts. Both boys were fine, no one got hurt, and so she shouldn't torture herself with questions about what could have happened had she arrived a second too late.

His words must have managed to take the lingering fear away, because she spoke again, this time about a different matter. "Oh, and I had to give Edward a swift warning about his record player," she told him and suddenly sounded slightly annoyed again.

"I've told him several times already not to turn it too loud. When will the boy-"

"It wasn't about the volume, Carlisle," she quickly interrupted him. "I have the feeling that the music had something to do with Jasper's sudden aggression problem, and just a few minutes after our empath was about to attack him, he turns it on again and tells me that he just wanted to give Jasper something to listen to. Of all the nerve! I had half a mind to put him over my knee, Carlisle. Right then and there, no matter that his siblings were still home and would have heard. I wouldn't have cared." She was still shocked about his behaviour and that she had almost tanned his hide for it. Usually she wasn't the disciplinarian in the house, well, only on rare occasions, but she did dish out a couple of swats in warning to reel her kids back in before Daddy would come back home. If they ignored her, then they could be sure that he would take care of their misbehaviour.

"Then why didn't you?" he queried and leaned back, looking at her wide-eyed. "If he provokes his brother to that extent that he wants to attack him, and then does it again just a moment after it might have escalated and gotten both of them hurt, then he has clearly not understood how his behaviour affected his brother or that teasing like that is not tolerated in this family."

"No, Carlisle. I still don't know what exactly had happened between the two and what else had set Jasper off like that... the boy won't tell me, and I refuse to dish out punishments as long as I don't know the truth."

Nodding his head, he crossed his legs and let his folded hands rest on his upraised knee. "That's true, you are right."

"And I refuse to ask Edward what's going round in Jasper's head."

"Of course," he agreed, "that wouldn't be right." Everyone's mind should stay private, and Edward knew that. The boy really needed to concentrate to be able to ignore everyone's thoughts and make sure he wouldn't be forced to hear them all the time - but when some thoughts came through despite his attempts to block them, then he should keep them to himself and not share them with others. Especially now when he and Jasper were so at odds at the moment – it would only serve to make the problem worse instead of taking care of it.

Covering his folded hands with one of her own, Esme looked her husband in the eye and quietly pleaded, "Please talk to him and see what you can do, Carlisle. Maybe he just doesn't feel comfortable talking to me about what upset him so. Maybe he just needs his father."

For a second his heart swelled at what she had just said - it would be wonderful to see Jasper comfortable enough around him that he would talk to him about his worries or his problems, and being able to help him with some fatherly advice would strengthen their bond. But the happenings of the day and the fact that something was heavily plaguing his son saddened him. "It has to be something major, otherwise I cannot begin to understand why in the world he would try to attack his own brother like that."

And then Esme felt the urge to add something important before she would let her mate go look for her son. "Don't be too strict." The children knew that attacking each other would not be tolerated, and Jasper had despite this rule acted aggressively towards Edward. While neither of them thought that Edward was innocent in this matter, Jasper still had let his anger get the best of him, destroyed something in the house and then almost attacked and physically hurt his brother. It hadn't come to that, but it might have. And while she figured that Carlisle and Jasper would just talk for now, she still wanted to remind her husband to be understanding and patient. Jasper might still be upset and so it would be better to approach him slowly and not pressure him or chide him too much. As soon as he would be feeling better, they could still talk to him about his punishment.

"I'll only be as strict as I need to be, Esme, you know that."

Nodding, she leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. "I'm just worried about him. You know how he had been the last times he slipped. It got worse every time... he withdrew himself and suffered, not just physically because of the craving for human blood. This time he didn't feed and it should be different, don't you think?" she queried and glanced sideways at Carlisle.

"Love, we don't know how he's feeling at the moment. I do assume that the incidents are still bothering him, but as long as he doesn't feel like talking to us about it, we cannot help him. Maybe this time it isn't easier for him to deal with it just because he didn't feed. Maybe it's even harder."

"He always keeps his emotions bottled up."

"Yes," he replied.

"Do you think that's the reason for his violent outburst?" she asked.

Leaning against the cushioned back of the couch, Carlisle rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It might be a factor. It's difficult to tell, it also could be something completely different."

She exhaled a long breath, then leaned her head against her mate's shoulder. "So what do we do now?"

"I will go upstairs and talk to Jasper, while you could go into the forest with Edward."

She sat up straight again and turned her head to look at him with wide eyes. "You really want us leave the house now?"

"I think privacy is a good start," he replied softly, patting his palm against his wife's knee.

He knew that being alone couldn't hurt when you wanted to have a private conversation with someone, but he also knew that Esme felt uncomfortable leaving one of her babies when it wasn't well. While she was aware that Jasper wasn't really alone as he was with him, she was still a mom with very strong motherly feelings and couldn't just switch them off.

"Besides," Carlisle added, "maybe afterwards you can spend some time with Jasper while I have a private discussion with Edward in my study."

Esme looked indecisive, like she wasn't sure what to think about that. Just half an hour ago she would have done exactly what Carlisle was planning on doing to make sure Edward understood, but now that Carlisle was finally home, she felt the need to protect her babies again. "I'm sure that won't be necessary. Well, I would really like to take a stroll through the forest with Jasper, but I don't think you need to take any action tonight concerning the boys. Talk to them, and then we'll sit down with them and see to it that they apologise to each other and make up. That might already do the trick."

He chuckled. "We both don't know what exactly the boys had done to conjure such an unpleasant outcome that had to be defused by you and Emmett. But if I find out that Edward provoked Jasper and purposely tried to drive him over the edge, then he'll be in trouble. You agree with me that we cannot have our children treat each other that way, don't you?"

"Yes," she replied softly.

He placed his arm around her shoulders again and gave her a kiss on the lips when she turned her head to face his. "It'll be all right. Don't you worry so much, darling."

They shared another kiss before Carlisle withdrew his arm from her shoulders and got up from the couch. He would have preferred to stay by his wife's side and spend more time with her, but he also couldn't sit here in comfort when his children weren't well and there was even the slightest chance that he could help them. Yes, it was also very likely that he was going to dole out some punishments soon, but even then, his children probably just wanted to get it over with instead of having to wait in nervous anticipation.

He walked up the stairs with heavy feet, suddenly feeling somewhat exhausted himself now. The constant bickering between his children was draining him. Usually it's Edward and Rose, and now that they were leaving each other alone for a change, it's Edward and Jasper, it seemed... even though a fight sounded less like bickering and more like straight aggressive behaviour that he would not tolerate in his house and among his children.

Once he reached the second floor, he looked down the hallway and could see light streaming into the hallway from Edward's room... He really didn't have a door anymore. But Carlisle decided against taking a look at it and letting it taint his judgement, and so he headed for the closed door next to it and just listened for a moment.

Nothing.

Jasper wasn't throwing things around, he wasn't hissing or growling or breathing heavily.

That relieved Carlisle, because having a talk with his children when they were still moody or angry was more than just tiring. A talk was always more successful when everyone was calm and had time to reflect on what had happened and what might have happened, or what they could have done differently to prevent a situation like that from happening. In this case it would be about making his sons see that they should be civil to each other instead of trying to get a rise out of the other one.

At least that's what seemed to be one of the problems here.

Carlisle raised his hand, then curled his fingers into a loose fist and rapped his knuckles against the dark wood of Jasper and Alice's door.

"Jasper? Come with me, please," he said to let is son know that it was him and not someone else he might not want to see at the moment. Well, maybe he also didn't want to see him, but - too bad - he was here now and wanted to get to the bottom of this to make sure they could go back to having peace in the house instead of flared tempers and broken inventory.

He could hear movement on the other side and then, after just a few seconds, the door was being opened and Jasper stood there, glancing at him before bowing his head.

Carlisle exhaled heavily. "Come," he said and as soon as Jasper had opened the door further, he placed and arm around the boy's shoulders and led him down the hallway and into his study.

Jasper seemed to tense under his arm, but nevertheless Carlisle kept it where it was. The boy seemed to expect to be in deep trouble, and while that may be, Carlisle still needed his son to know that it wasn't the end of the world. Before he would take any actions concerning his behaviour, he wanted to find out what had gotten his boy so riled up like that and what he could to do help him avoid it from happening again. He was sure it was nothing they couldn't take care of and sort out. And maybe, just maybe, all the boy needed was someone who would listen to him and give him a good hug.

They entered the room that looked too much like a principal's office for Jasper's liking and even brought the same nervousness and anticipation. He had tried going to school with the others before, but the little experiment had ended in a room just like this one. All the teenage hormones and the drama had impacted him more than he would have ever admitted, and it got so bad that he eventually threw his chair through the classroom, yelled at his English teacher and the class and then stormed from the room, slamming the door on his way out. To make sure the principal wouldn't just paddle him and send him back to class, Jasper insulted the man until he decided to give Carlisle a call about his wayward son. At home they figured that it was for the best if he would stay home for another while before he would feel up to it to try and play a sixteen year old student again.

Carlisle's study never really changed much.

He kept the same dark mahogany furniture wherever they moved, and apart from the seize of the room, it always looked the same. The desk and the leather couch took up most of the space and high book shelves filled with vast numbers of books and magazines lined the walls. While this room was a great place for studying and reading, it was a horrible place for talking.

Carlisle motioned at one of the chairs in front of his mahogany desk while he shut the door to grant them some privacy. He heard Esme talking to Edward, and it wouldn't take long until they'd leave the house to grant them the necessary privacy for their impending talk.

Giving a curt nod, Jasper showed that he had understood and headed for the chair, but when Carlisle turned around and wanted to take his own seat behind the desk, he saw his son just standing next to it with his head bowed.

"I meant for you to take a seat, not just stand there, Jasper," he clarified and made his way to his leather chair in which he immediately sat down.

But Jasper did not move.

"Jasper-"

Without looking up at him, Jasper said, "This won't be necessary."

Carlisle raised an eyebrow at him. "That's for me to decide. Sit down, I'd like to talk to you."

The sounds of the front door being opened and closed again sounded up to them, and Jasper hesitated for a moment before he cleared his throat and spoke.

"You have been informed about my misconduct, I assume, so talking won't be necessary, sir," he uttered, louder now, but still kept his head bent so as to avoid any eye contact with his coven leader.

"It would be easier to have a talk while sitting, so please stop assuming and start doing as you are told, son. Now sit."

Jasper had half a mind to stand his ground and continue to refuse to take a seat. It was an internal battle between following this direct order and the wish to skip the talk and just submit to his punishment so they could both get it over with.

Talking really was just a waste of time - they weren't friends and they weren't equals, so there was no need in trying to create a comfortable atmosphere, and there was absolutely no need to pretend that talking would clear anything up. He had messed up, he was under Carlisle's command and he would get his just punishment for Rosalie's suffering and for trying to attack another coven member.

That's what it would come down to, so why prolong something they both knew would happen one way or the other?

"Yes, sir," he replied curtly, pulled the chair out and sat down before he added quietly, "but it will be nothing but a waste of time."

Carlisle took in a sharp breath when he heard the insolent remark his boy had muttered. Jasper wasn't one who always needed to have the last word or was deliberately disobedient. Despite his annoyance over Jasper's behaviour in his study, Carlisle decided that a warning look directed at him would be enough to settle the matter. The boy didn't look up, but Carlisle could see him shift in his seat.

Taking his eyes off his boy, he sighed. They needed to head onto the discussion of the happenings of this day, and what had been the reason for the boys dispute that had clearly gotten out of hand.

"Jasper," Carlisle said and folded his hands on the smooth surface of the dark mahogany desk, "I think we have something to discuss."

"I disagree," the boy retorted, because he really did not think talking was necessary! Rosalie had suffered because of him - there was nothing to discuss, the facts were clear. And now he had kicked Edward's door in and would have attacked him, which was deliberate ignorance of the rules. Again, clear facts. He had messed up big time, and he was going to pay for that.

"Jasper, do you need another moment to collect your thoughts?" Carlisle asked as he was slowly starting to feel a little concerned about his son's unnecessary remarks. If he felt stressed or still hadn't calmed down enough to have a civil conversation, then he should have some more time to himself.

"No, sir."

Carlisle looked at him a moment longer, trying to see if Jasper was indeed up to a talk or if he should just send him back to his room regardless of what he had said. Another while spent in his own room might be beneficial, but making him wait like that probably wasn't. "Are you sure?"

"As sure as you are about the necessity of talking."

"Keep your insolence to yourself boy, it won't do you any good," Carlisle warned and narrowed his eyes at the blonde vampire sitting in front of him. While he knew and understood that Jasper was probably just nervous and therefore answering him in that way, he still wouldn't tolerate it. All he wanted was to help his son, get him to talk about how he was feeling since the move and then together figure out what they needed to change so it would be easier for him to deal with everything - however, Jasper was stubborn. But Carlisle was willing to meet him halfway if that would make it easier for Jasper to tell him about this afternoon.

Fine, have it your way then, boy... let's keep the talking to a minimum.

"What made you break Edward's door, storm into his room and then corner him?" he queried, deciding to cut right to the chase of the matter.

Jasper raised his head, looking Carlisle straight in the eye for the first time since he had come home.

"I didn't just corner him," he corrected, "I was about to attack him and hurt him, but we got interrupted."

Despite feeling like sucking in a sharp breath and staring at his son in shock, Carlisle kept his facial expression neutral and his voice calm when he asked, "And why would you want to attack him?"

Jasper's jaw started to clench up and his eyes darkened slightly. "He's an easy victim."

And that was chapter 12! Might look like a weird stopping point, but Jasper isn't doing what I want him to do. At least I got him to sit down, that was hard work let me tell ya...

Ok guys, next chapter will be Trophy Hunting again. Still need to take care of that little critter problem, because Edward decided to sulk instead of being a good boy and help his *favourite* sister, haha! What an idiot...

Thanks for reading and reviewing and see you soon!