Chapter 5: Alberta, 1950

He had never seen her so happy before in their entire history. Her eyes sparkled, her smile could have lit the entire room, her laughter reminded him of much happier days as a little boy playing outside.

Jasper was watching her work on a new dress design with Rosalie one overcast winter's day, the two young women laughing together in the living room as he kept guard nearby. He was attempting to mask his 'overprotectiveness', as Alice so quaintly put it, with a book, half-heartedly reading in between glances at his beautiful wife – it was starting to irritate a few of their new family members (namely Rosalie), his constant presence around Alice.

Could he help it? Could he help that he loved her, loved her more than his own life? Could he help that it unnerved him, living in such close quarters with so many of their kind? Could he help that her happiness soothed his troubled mind?

And he couldn't shake that feeling of being watched. It sent another chill down his spine just thinking about it, and he shivered involuntarily. It was probably just Edward monitoring him again. Now that was very unsettling, always having somebody in his head, watching him to make sure that he wouldn't make another bloody mistake.

Alice's voice jolted him out of his mind's wandering. "Jasper, are you all right?" she asked softly, sitting up slowly. Her concern started to leak through, golden eyes watching him anxiously. God, he needed her closer. He needed to touch her flawless skin, trace the outlines of her face…

She must've sensed his anxiety, because she was in the middle of getting to her feet when Carlisle arrived in the doorway, looking straight at Jasper. "Hello, Carlisle," she greeted warily.

"Jasper, can I speak with you?" he asked quietly.

"Of course, Carlisle," Jasper replied with a frown, getting to his feet. "What about?"

"In my office, please, Jasper," Carlisle said, casting a brief glance at the two young women looking worriedly at each other. Uncertainly, Alice tucked herself into his arm, lacing her fingers through his.

"Jasper, what's happening?" she asked softly, even as Carlisle was saying,

"Alice, there's no need for you to come. In fact," he added, "I would prefer if you didn't."

Alice opened her mouth to protest, when Jasper cut her off swiftly with a gentle kiss. "I'll be back very soon, Alice," he murmured. "There's nothing wrong, I promise."

Reluctantly, Alice untangled herself and sat back down on the couch, giving him a wounded, betrayed look before she closed her eyes and her face was set into the petulant expression of 'Fine. I'm just going to spy on you, then.'

Rosalie was frowning suspiciously in their direction as Carlisle closed the office door, revealing the other Cullens waiting inside. Not like it would stop Alice or Rosalie from listening if they wanted to, but it gave them the message that this was a private conversation.

"What is it, Carlisle?" Jasper asked, unconsciously tensing as he felt the emotions coming from his new coven – no, family, he reminded himself – members.

"Please don't do that, Jasper," Carlisle said warningly when Jasper began to try to relax them. "I do not enjoy being toyed with."

There was a subtle double meaning to that phrase, Jasper realized as he stopped. "I'm afraid I don't understand," he told Carlisle, watching as Carlisle sank down into the chair behind his desk.

"You assured me when you first arrived that you had ceased all association with the Mexicans," Carlisle said simply and quietly, eyes fixed on Jasper's face. "You swore that you had had no contact with them in years."

"Yes, that's right," Jasper confirmed warily.

"Then could you explain why there's a couple dozen Mexicans camped out around the area?" Emmett asked. "We had a lovely chat with one of them. Pretty little girl by name of–"

"Little girl?" Carlisle asked sharply, his attention turning from Jasper for the first time since they had started this conversation.

"Not a child," Edward corrected him quietly. "Early to mid-teens. Very small stature, though. She's probably about the age of Renata or Chelsea. She says her name is Maria."

"Her name isn't Maria," Jasper replied simply. "She's too young to be Maria. That is more likely Marisol."

"All debates about names aside, Jasper?" Carlisle said.

Jasper sighed. "I didn't lie to you, Carlisle. I haven't had contact with the Mexicans since I left in 1945." Pausing, he winced as the sudden realization of what was happening hit him. It had finally happened – Maria was going after him. "I have no intentions of ever going back to that. Maria, on the other hand, might not be quite so willing to let me go."

"Are you telling me this is going to turn into a fight?" Carlisle asked.

"I'm afraid that's a very strong possibility," Jasper murmured, taking a deep breath as he tried to figure out a plan. One that didn't involve anybody dying. Especially Alice. He had to get Alice out of the area. It would be so much safer if Maria didn't know about her. But how could he get Alice away from here without arousing her suspicion?

What if Alice had already seen what terrified him most – him being unable to resist Maria? Him returning to Mexico, returning to Maria and leaving her behind despite the pain and the panic that enveloped him at the mere thought?

What if Maria already knew about Alice? What if she already knew that the key to his cooperation was his lovely, perfect wife – the secret to his devotion and loyalty? Would she try to hold Alice hostage to try to assure his return? Would she destroy Alice to eliminate the threat? What if she went to Alice – horrors of horrors! – and told her of all the terrible things he'd done while with Maria? Things that he had sworn to himself never to tell Alice?

What if Alice found out the truth about the man he'd been? What if she couldn't take the reality and she –

"Are you seriously this much of a worrier on a regular basis?" Edward asked incredulously as Jasper got to his feet quickly and went to leave the office.

"Jasper?" Carlisle called.

Jasper turned around, the anxiety continuing to well up inside. A sensation he likened to nausea swept over him, and he forced back the slight moan of distress. "I'm going to see if I can resolve this peacefully," he replied quietly, before he opened the door and Alice flew at him.

"What is going on?" she demanded frantically, grabbing his arm. She was overflowing with a restless, panicky energy, and it made Jasper tense even more as she repeated, "Jasper, what is going on?"

"Come with me, Alice," he said softly, pulling her along with him as they went swiftly to their bedroom.

"Jasper –" Alice began to ask a third time, when he sat her down on the bed. "Jasper, I don't like what I'm seeing. Why are you leaving me? You promised…" Her voice broke and her hands tightened around his.

And as she looked at him with such heartbroken confusion, he knew. He knew that he couldn't leave her here and go with Maria to keep her safe. She would come with him, or he would die keeping her away from Maria.

Alice's face went blank for a moment and Jasper seized the opportunity to lay her on the bed, pulling her into his arms securely as he buried his face into her neck. "Jasper, I don't understand…" she whispered, her fingers beginning to comb through his hair gently. "Who is she?"

"That's Maria, Lissy," he murmured against her skin, kissing her throat lightly. "The one who turned me…" The one who had commanded his heart, soul and loyalty for almost ninety years – and the one person in this world who terrified him.

Because he knew what she could do to force his hand.

"Why is she here?" Alice asked, still stroking his hair lightly. "Jasper, you're trembling," she said in surprise. "Why are you so scared?"

He couldn't tell her. He couldn't tell her the truth about what was happening.

Sighing, Alice nestled herself in closer, tucking her head beneath his chin as she murmured, "Just promise that you'll come back to me."

"I will always come back to you," he whispered into her ear, before he kissed her hungrily. "Every day of forever."

*~*~*

And with Alice's comforting scent still on him, Carlisle and Edward following behind him, Emmett and Rosalie arguing heatedly in the rear, Jasper walked into the forest to meet Maria for the first time in five years. Alice had reluctantly agreed to stay behind at the house with Esme, despite her best attempts to sway him.

If his heart beat, it would've been pounding.

"Are you okay, Jasper?" Carlisle asked quietly, looking over at him.

"I'll be better when this is over, and Maria is two borders away from Alice," Jasper replied grimly. "And stay out of my head, I'm stressed enough as it is," he added tersely to Edward, who was eyeing him warily.

"¿Quien es Alicia?" a teenage boy's voice asked from behind Jasper.

Jasper stopped and whirled around. Standing there among the Cullens was a young man who looked maybe just a little younger than Jasper, dressed in dusty, torn jeans and an old shirt that looked as though it had once been white. "Diego."

"Si," the boy replied with a grin. "Thought you might've forgotten who I was," he continued in Spanish. "Or am I not your favourite anymore, Gaspar?" he asked with slight trepidation. "Maria says that –"

"Diego, enough," came a light laugh, dark in its elegant cheer. "Jasper is going to think you're nothing more than a child!" And then from the shadows, she emerged.

At first glance, she seemed genuinely pleased to have found him. But decades at Maria's side had taught him to trust what went beyond her face. To the coldness behind her perfectly formed smile, the malice in her glittering eyes, the smug confidence in her voice. She thought she had him – she was sure that this wouldn't go so far as to fight. She thought that he would come crawling back to her.

No. She didn't know about Alice. She couldn't. She wouldn't be so confident if she knew how hard it was going to be to separate him from his wife. Unless she already had a plan in place…

He felt the rush of surprised recognition from both Carlisle and Maria at once, then the flash of horror from his creator, and it hit him like a speeding train – he knew how he was going to get out of this. He knew how to get Maria out of there, and peacefully.

Well, relatively peacefully. She was going to pitch a world class fit when she realized how much he was turning on her…

"I suggest that you leave, Maria, right now," Jasper said calmly, quietly as he carefully directed shots of threatening intimidation in her direction. He wouldn't speak it aloud (since he didn't know if any of the Cullens spoke Spanish and would thus understand) and he wouldn't think of the specific details (because then Edward would know, and Edward clung to the rules a little too closely for his liking). But Maria would know what he meant.

She was still shooting cautious glances in Carlisle's direction, sizing up the opposition as she glanced around at the other Cullens. Trying to decide if she'd brought enough with her to even risk a battle with five mature vampires, not knowing how much Jasper had already told them.

"Now, Maria," Jasper repeated, upping the intensity. "I mean it."

She looked at him, scrutinizing his expression. "You wouldn't," she said, somewhat confidently. "You're just as guilty as I am. You're not going to advocate your own execution."

"All I have to do," Jasper replied evenly, "is tell him that it was your idea. I found out by accident. You were the one who made a war tactic out of it. Automatically, that makes you guilty and me innocent." He kept the smirk off his face as he felt Maria's confidence waver with every passing second. "But I could be convinced to keep that under wraps."

She watched him a moment longer. "No. I know why you're doing this." Pausing, Maria turned her attention to her immaculate nails. "And I know what has to be done to stop it."

He felt Edward's tenseness rocket through the roof.

"We ran into Peter and that mate of his," she continued. "He told me everything I needed to know. Not willingly, of course, but it's amazing what people will give up when you have their mate at the mercy of a half-dozen newborns twice her size."

She met his gaze just then, and he realized it just as Edward took off for the house again. "So?" she asked quietly. "What'll your answer be, Jasper? You have two options. You might even be able to convince me to let you take her with us. I can be reasonable when the circumstances call for it."

"I can also be irrational about certain things, Maria," Jasper replied tersely. "No."

She sighed dramatically. "Very well. You leave me no choice. I didn't really want to destroy your little clairvoyant, Jasper – she's quite the find. What was her name again – Alicia? We'd have the whole of the South again in no time with her on our side…" She paused.

And again with the 'we' and 'our'. As if she hadn't been planning on killing him, as if she could ever hope to regain even the tiniest corner of his heart. As if he would ever willingly take Alice into the grimy, bloody, ugly world of the vampire wars, knowing as well as he did that even with her visions on their side, he would be constantly guarding her from attack. The stress alone would probably kill him.

"No, Maria."

And with that final answer, all hell broke loose.

*~*~*

"Diego!" Maria shrieked authoritatively as she fought valiantly against Jasper's iron grip, the faintest hint of her internal panic audible in her voice.

Diego seemed frozen, caught between Maria and Jasper – between his superior and his creator. Right about now, Jasper was very glad that he'd treated Diego much better than he had any of the other newborns. Diego wouldn't want to attack him – he'd done neither him nor Marisol any harm. Even on Maria's unmistakable orders, the young Mexican was wavering.

Finally, Diego looked at him, uncertainty and fear clear in his eyes and his emotions. "No," he said, almost inaudible, as he backed away.

"Go," Jasper said in a low voice, still pinning Maria tightly against the tree. "Take Marisol and go."

"Gracias," Diego murmured as he flew past them.

"Traitor," Maria hissed at both of them. "Let me go, Jasper!" Jasper merely tightened his grip, to the point that he knew if he tightened any more, he would snap the bones in her arms. And she knew it as well as he did – she'd watched him do it to others many times. "Jasper!"

Carlisle was still hovering at the edge of the battlefield, uncertainty permeating his immediate area. Doubtlessly, he wasn't sure whether he should intervene or not. Edward had gone into a furious fight with the other vampires accompanying Maria, closely followed by Emmett and Rosalie. He was hissing instructions to both of them on the way to dispose of those that they'd already killed.

"Please…" Maria said finally, softly. "Your coven's already decimated my army. I only sent Marisol after your Alicia. I swear."

"And if I let you go?" Jasper asked roughly, aware that the rest of the Cullens had turned their attention to him. "How do I know you won't come back, try again?"

Maria looked at him. "You have the ransom. I'll go back to Monterrey. I'll leave you and your Alicia alone. Lo juro con mi vida, Jasper…" (A/N: SO probably didn't translate that right… She's saying 'I swear on my life'.)

"Jasper," Alice's soft voice came from beside him, a light hand on his arm. "Let her go."

Maria's eyes flicked away from him to focus on Alice for a moment, and the intense rage that escaped her made Jasper instinctively tighten his grip to avoid any possible harm to Alice.

There was a sickening splintering sound from beneath his hand and Maria let out a cry of pain, Alice exclaiming, "Jasper!"

He released his creator at Alice's rebuke, edging his wife further from Maria's grasp as the young Mexican got to her feet, cradling her wounded arm gingerly. "Go, Maria. Right now. And kindly stay on your side of the Mason-Dixon line from now on."

Maria was breathing hard, clearly still in extreme pain as she hissed through clenched teeth, "You had better hope that the Volturi never catch me."

"Why would I care if the Volturi catch you?" Jasper asked cautiously, still directing Alice further and further away.

"Because if I'm going down, I'm sure as hell taking you with me," Maria spat out before she disappeared. He could hear her shrieking curses at him in a mixture of Spanish and her native dialect for miles.

There was silence in the clearing for a moment, before Rosalie spoke.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call that 'peaceful'…"

"That was fun," Emmett agreed with a grin, brushing back a stray lock of her hair. "Let's never do it again."

Despite themselves, everybody burst out laughing. Everybody, that was, except Jasper. Because he knew that Maria was right. One day, the Volturi would catch her at her dangerous exploits –

And he would be going down with her.