A/N: No, your eyes are not deceiving you. This is the third chapter I've posted in under a month. That's gotta be some kind of record, right?

All your reviews for the last chapter were the best birthday presents ever! (Although my friends buying me table and chairs for my courtyard comes in a very close second).

I apologise in advance for yet ANOTHER cliffie. I normally don't write cliffies, so I don't know what's happened to me!

As usual, thanks go out to Project Team Beta and to Stephenie Meyer who doesn't seem to mind too much when we mess around with the characters she created.

I had run half a mile before logic kicked in and I turned back. I needed a car. My plan wasn't fully formed, but all I knew was that I needed to get Bella out of Forks. If I wanted to take her anywhere, I couldn't just carry her. Well, I could, but she wouldn't appreciate it.

Once I was home again, I forced myself to stop for a second. It was somewhat worrying that my natural battle instinct didn't seem to be kicking in. I had expected, from experience, that a threat to Bella would cause the monster inside to rampage. But I was strangely calm and coherent. Could fear for Bella's safety be rendering my incomparable innate fighting ability useless?

I made a mental calculation as I hesitated on the front porch, and worked out that, at the speed Edward could run, we had between eighty minutes and two hours. The variable would be whether he stayed on land and went around Puget Sound or cut across Vancouver Island and swam the strait. I gave myself a few seconds to finalize a plan for keeping Bella safe before zipping around the house to collect the items I'd need.

I took Carlisle's Mercedes and was back on the road toward Bella within ninety seconds. The soft leather interior and tinted windows registered in my mind, reassuring me taking a car was the correct decision.

As I sped toward Forks, my mind began to wander. Only minutes ago I had been in heaven. I had kissed Bella. More than once. I could still feel the ghost of her lips against mine. My life could not have been more perfect. Now her life was in danger. I pressed on the gas slightly harder and glanced at my phone, hitting speed dial for Bella. She didn't answer, even after trying four times.

Just as I was nearing the city limits, lights started flashing behind me. Chief Swan had caught me speeding. Of course it had to be him.

I smacked the steering wheel hard enough to crack it. "Fuck!"

I quickly went through my options. I could pull over and get a ticket, which would take a couple of minutes, or I could go faster and try to lose him. With how close I was to my destination, it was unlikely. And I really didn't want Bella's father to follow me to the house. I didn't want to think about what would happen if he was there when Edward arrived. Not to mention how hard it would be to convince Bella to run from her pursuer if her father was there to argue with her.

The decision was easy when I thought about it rationally. I pulled over onto the gravel shoulder, stones flying as I skidded to a halt.

I rolled the window down, quickly checking there weren't any streams of sun left in the evening light, and tapped my foot impatiently on the floor. "Come on, Chief," I muttered as I watched through the rearview mirror at him messing around with something in the squad car. "This is only your daughter's life on the line here."

He didn't seem in a hurry to get this transaction over with, and I seriously considered changing my mind and speeding away. He sauntered up to the window as if he had all the time in the world. His gun-belt made a solid clicking noise as he walked, and his leather boots squeaked a bit as they flexed.

"Doctor Cullen, do you know…." He cut himself off when he looked through the window. "You're not Doctor Cullen."

"No, sir."

"You one of his kids?"

"Yes, sir. Jasper Hale. I'm incredibly sorry for driving too fast. I'll never do it again." Regardless of how desperate I was to get to Bella quickly, I wasn't about to anger him by being impolite. This was really not how I had wanted to meet Bella's father. I could just hope that it wouldn't affect his opinion of me in the long run.

He looked at me suspiciously. "Huh." The spark of recognition that flitted through him at my name made me wonder whether Bella had mentioned me.

Without waiting for him to ask, I handed over my licence and the registration. While he was in the squad car writing out the ticket, I tried Bella's phone again. "Pick up, pick up, pick up. Come on, sweetheart, please pick up."

Panic ran through me as I wondered why she wasn't answering her phone. What if Edward is already there? I did the math again in my head to reassure myself that we still had time.

My phone chirped with a text from Alice: 'You have time if everything stays on this track. Edward is thinking about taking the long way. We're on our way back to keep him from doing anything stupid once you've got Bella away. Might lose cell phone reception for a while.'

"Here you go, son. Don't let me catch you speeding again." Chief Swan passed me the seventy dollar ticket.

"No, sir."

He nodded to me and watched as I drove away. I made sure to keep exactly to thirty miles per hour all the way to Bella's house.

"Bella! Bella! Bella!" I banged my fist on the front door desperately. She was here. I could hear her heartbeat upstairs. It stuttered when she heard the door. I considered breaking in without waiting for her to let me in. One minute won't make a difference, I told myself.

"I'm coming!" she yelled, and I could hear her uneven footsteps plodding down the stairs.

The second she opened the door, I took her in my arms. She panicked for a second until she realized it was me. "Jasper?" She was only wearing a fluffy white towel, and her hair was wet from the shower. I could guess that was why she hadn't answered the phone.

"Sweetheart, I need you to trust me."

"I do. But why are you here?"

I grabbed her hand and led her up the stairs. "I promise I will tell you everything you want to know about me. But right now, we need to leave."

"Leave? Where are we going?"

"We just have to get as far away from here as possible. Pack a bag and get dressed."

Fear ran through her. "What's happened, Jasper?"

I went to her closet and grabbed a suitcase. When I answered her, my voice was high. "My brother, Edward, who freaked out on your first day at school? He's coming to get you."

I refused to look at her, wary of her modesty, but I could hear her pulling her jeans up. "To get me?"

"To kill you."

I could hear that she had stopped moving. "K—kill me?" Her voice was wavering.

I couldn't stand to hear her so upset. Who cared that she was only half-dressed? She needed me. I was instantly in front of her, cradling her face in my hands. I kept my eyes on her face, but I could see that she was standing there in her jeans and a pink bra. "Sweetheart, I won't let anybody hurt you. I promise. But we need to hurry."

She looked up at me with tears welling up in her eyes. "But what about my dad? I can't leave him."

"It's not forever. As soon as it's safe, we'll come back."

"I can't leave him in danger."

I kissed her nose. "He won't be in danger. My family will look after him."

"I—I—I'm…"

She was terrified. I didn't need to be an empath to know that. "I know, baby." I eased her fear and made her feel just enough desperation to make her move quickly. "I'll explain everything once you're safe."

She nodded, sniffling, before reaching for a t-shirt and pulling it over her head.

"Passport?" I asked.

"Don't have one," she muttered as she grabbed her shower caddy off her dresser and threw it into the suitcase.

I mentally changed our plans again so as to not include going through Canada. "Okay. Why don't you go downstairs and write a note to your dad saying you've gone to visit your mom or something. I'll finish up here."

She nodded distractedly and ran down the stairs. I heard her trip on the last step, but she seemed to catch herself before hitting the floor. I looked at the clock on my cell phone. It had been an hour since Alice had called me. We needed to leave pretty quickly. Even if Edward was going the long way around the Sounds, he'd be approaching Seattle by now. If he was going across the Strait, he'd be almost to Port Angeles.

At the last second, I grabbed a few novels from her bookshelf and threw them in the suitcase. Hanging off her bedpost was the green purse she had brought on our date earlier in the day. After quickly checking that her wallet was enclosed inside, I picked up both the purse and the suitcase, ran down the stairs and put them in the car.

Bella was just finishing off the very short note when I made it back to the kitchen. "We need to go, sweetheart," I said softly, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"Okay." She was sobbing quietly as she looked around the house. "Are you sure my dad will be okay?"

"I'm sure." I read over her note before giving the pen back to her. "At the bottom add my cell number in case he needs to contact you." I dictated the number while she wrote.

She sniffled again as she put the pen down, and I picked her up, cradling her to my chest, quickly trying to calm her. With all the turmoil, I could almost ignore the feeling that was evoked by her being so close to me. Almost, but not quite.

After locking the front door, I helped her into the passenger seat and took off. There was no further message from Alice, which panicked me. I hated the thought of her getting an important vision and having no cell reception. I desperately wanted to speed, but knowing that Chief Swan was out patrolling kept me to the limit. Once we were out of his jurisdiction, I would be able to floor it.

Bella sat quietly, her knees curled up to her chest, just sniffling every so often. I periodically took the edge off her fear.

I reached over to hold her hand. "You'll be okay, sweetheart. I promise. I would die before I let anything happen to you."

She nodded mutely. I couldn't help myself. I sent her a little bit of hope. Maybe it would help her be okay with what was going on.

There weren't many cars on the road. Not many people drove to Seattle at six in the evening, and the truckers were mostly done for the day, so the 101 was pretty deserted. We had just passed Bogachiel when I saw a flash of white out the window going in the opposite direction.

Edward.

As soon as I did it, I cursed myself for thinking his name. It would have gotten his attention even if he was half-crazed. I looked into the rearview mirror and there he was. Just inside the treeline, he had stopped and turned. He looked at us and, recognizing the car, started chasing. I floored the gas, but even with how fast the Mercedes could go, it wouldn't be long before he caught us.

"He's out there," I whispered to Bella. Her hand tightened on mine and fear ripped through her. He was gaining on us fast, and I knew that if we just kept driving, he'd smash through the window to get to Bella. I needed to fight him off before it came to that. "No matter what you see, I need you to stay in the car with the doors and windows shut. Promise me that?" Maybe if her scent was sealed within the vehicle it would calm him down some.

"I promise." Her voice wavered.

I looked at her as I pulled onto the shoulder. "I love you," I whispered.

She looked at me with wide eyes. I didn't expect her to say it back, especially in these circumstances, but I needed to say it to her before going into battle.

I was out the door and facing a snarling Edward before she could register I was gone. I had never felt much fear going into battle with Maria. I had been like a robot back then. I could face whole armies single-handedly without batting an eye. But now there was so much at stake. I was living again. I was caring about my life again. So much could go wrong, and I was the most terrified I had been in my whole existence. It was almost debilitating. Keeping Bella safe was my only priority.

"Mine!" he snarled, lunging toward the car.

The best way to counter an out-of-control vampire was to use smarts. I could do that. And hopefully I wouldn't need to go completely feral in the process. That would just scare Bella, who I knew was watching my every move. Edward was running entirely on instinct, so he would be acting like a newborn, unable to use advanced fighting techniques. His target was stationary, so the lines he ran would be easy to predict.

Darting to the left, I cut him off, dropping him to the ground. He growled and jumped back on his feet.

"You can't have her, Edward. I won't let you. And you know I'm a better fighter than you."

He roared and lunged at me. He managed to get his teeth into my arm before I slammed him back into the ground.

Damn, that hurts!

I held him down for a few seconds as he thrashed. "She's a person, not food. And if you can't see that, I'm going to have to kill you."

He might not be stronger than me or a better fighter than me, but he had speed and his mind-reading to his advantage. He managed to get out of my grip. Twisting, I grabbed his closest arm and used my momentum to make a quick bite and tear it right off.

He howled in pain as I threw it as far away as I could, not giving him the opportunity to reattach it.

The second I took to throw it, however, was a mistake. He was running, just out of my reach, toward the car. Toward Bella. I could feel Bella's terror as she scrambled backward across the seat, but she would never be fast enough to evade him.

Protect Bella. She's so scared.

With a roar I launched myself at him, latching on to his leg and pulling with all my might. I heard the screeching sound of it separating from his body just as another sound I really didn't want to hear shattered my very soul: the sound of the car window smashing.

He had made it into the car.