Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I claim any rights to Twilight or the universe therein.

A/N: You guys are awesome. Mad props to my crazy fantastic reviewers. Still looking for a beta, been doing okay with out one (I think), but I am nervous about my fact-i-ness. Any takers?

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Chapter 9: Moon Print

Jasper:

She's magnificent. Running behind her as we hunted; it was fantastic. I had never seen a newborn more infatuated with the world than Bella. She leapt through the trees, laughing the whole way. She brushed her fingertips over leaves and bark and I could feel her wonder and pleasure at the sensations they evoked.

All too soon, Bella latched onto a scent. She stopped for a moment and looked around, smelling out the direction the trail had taken. She looked at me for guidance.

"This way?" She inclined her head to the northwest. I smiled and nodded; I didn't have the heart to tell her…

Bella hadn't learned what specific animal's blood smelled like. She pounced through the woods, her speed increasing as she neared her target, until she turned a corner and almost tripped over it—

A stray dog.

"Seriously?" She looked at me, "You weren't going to tell me I was chasing a dog?"

I was a little embarrassed that she had called me out. "It's just… you were doing so well."

Bella walked over to the matted, dirty animal and gathered it in her arms.

"Henry," she sighed as she read his name tag. "His name is Henry." She looked up at me and her eyes were huge and pleading. "Can we make sure he gets home? Please?"

I took the dog from her arms and rolled my eyes. "Fine. Stay here." Bella made a show of planting each foot to the ground, stamping and digging them into the soft earth. I ran with the dog until I reached a residential area. The dog was squirming and trembling; his instincts recognized me as a threat. Why had I agreed to this?

I would do anything for Bella, I realized.

It shocked me. When had I grown so attached? When had she become irreplaceable to me? It wasn't sound, I told myself. It reminded me of Peter and Charlotte, acquaintances from my life before the Cullens. Back when I had been surrounded by newborns of a…different kind, I had constantly had to end the ones who, as we said, hadn't worked out.

What would I do if Bella slipped?

I would take her to Alaska, I thought, or Greenland or Russia. Someplace isolated from humans. I would take her there and I would teach her how to control herself. I would be there to keep her company as she made the transition from newborn to full-fledged vampire. I would be there when her eyes turned gold and her newborn strength waned.

I had to walk more carefully in the residential section of town, so I slowed and searched lampposts with 'missing' signs. I probably passed a dozen flyers of Henry complete with color pictures—I was so caught in my own thoughts.

It wasn't too long ago I had told Alice of the possible necessity of putting Bella down should she not adapt to the vegetarian lifestyle. I knew now that I could never do that. I would isolate myself from the world as long as she needed me to, but I could never put out her unique light.

I finally recognized Henry on a large, neon green poster. I set Henry down, threaded his leash around the pole, pulled out my cell phone and called the number on the bottom of the page.

"Hello?" a young girl answered the phone.

"Hi, is this Henry's home?"

The girl screeched. "Yes, yes, yes! Did you find him?"

I told her which intersection I was standing at. "He's tied to one of the telephone poles."

"Wait!" She cried, "Don't you want the reward?"

"No. I'm just glad you answered the phone. Henry's missed you a great deal."

I hung up and swiftly walked toward the woods, maintaining human speed in case someone happened to be looking out of his window. As soon as I hit the forest, I sprinted to where Bella was waiting for me. When I reached the spot, I was confused for a moment. There were Bella's footprints, etched into the floor of the forest. But where was…?

The smell of human blood hit me and I leapt into action. My nightmare was becoming reality. I had to stop her before she attacked someone. I knew I wouldn't hurt her, and I certainly knew I wasn't going to let anyone else hurt her, but Bella wouldn't be able to live with herself if she had harmed a human.

I saw a flash of mahogany and white: I was gaining on her. I could feel the stress burn in my muscles as I tried to close the dozen or so yards between us. Bella was powered by newborn strength, and I was struggling to gain on her. About a hundred yards ahead I saw the bright yellow raincoat of the unfortunate human who had stumbled into the wrong part of the woods.

Sheer will power pushed me forward and gave me the extra drive as I sprang through the air at Bella. My teeth sank into the hollow of her heel and I bit down and snapped my head around, throwing her to the ground. I turned and caged her in with my body, my teeth bared inches from her face as I expected to fight a blood-crazed new born for control.

Instead I faced a panicked and wide-eyed Bella, her hands clenched and twitching against the pain that the searing venom was creating. Large tears rolled down her face and soaked into the dirt of the forest floor.

Oh my god.

What had I done?

I reached toward her and she visibly flinched. My hands stilled, but continued on their path to her. "I'm sorry." I murmured.

I picked her up and clutched her to me as I ran to the house.

I was met by the overwhelming concern of the family who had returned from the funeral.

"What happened?"

"Is she okay?"

"What were you doing?"

"What happened?"

I brushed past them all and dashed up to my room where I laid Bella on the bed. Had I not been so disgusted with myself, I would have found some irony in the fact that Bella always seemed to end up here, in my room and in my bed.

Before I shut the door, I hissed out a warning to my family:

"You will maintain your distance."

Bella was trembling on the bed, her eyes marking my every move.

I was disgusted with myself. Bella was a brand new vampire; the pain of her transformation had to be in the constant forefront of her mind. And I had bit her.

I should have reached out and grabbed her, tackled her. But I hadn't thought. I had just reacted as I would have back in Texas with Maria. I had bit her, scarring her flawless pale flesh forever. I knew exactly how painful those scars could be, long after the foreign venom had been burned from you system.

I sat down next to Bella and steeled myself to say something. To throw my guts on the floor and beg for her mercy. It was the least I could do. I needed her forgiveness.

I didn't expect Bella to throw her arms around my neck as she sobbed into my chest, but it gave me hope. If she could hug me now, perhaps she could forgive me someday?

"Jasper…" Her eyes made contact with mine, and the pain I saw there destroyed me. I braced myself for whatever would come next.

"Thank you." She said. She buried her nose in the crook of my neck and I heard her breathing pick up.

"Jasper…" her eyes brimmed with fresh tears. "I am so, so sorry! Jasper, please, please forgive me! I didn't mean to and then the smell and next thing I knew I was running and I promised to stay—"

"Bella." I finally regained enough presence to end her ridiculous nonsense. I thumbed the tears from her eyes and gently stroked her cheeks and forehead. "I'm sorry, Bella. What you did was the natural reaction of a newborn vampire. I shouldn't have left you unattended, I shouldn't have been so complacent, and I sure as hell shouldn't have bit you, Bella. When I think of what you must be feeling—"

This time Bella cut me off. "I'm fine." She twisted in my arms and I realized I had been stroking the bare skin of her back above the neckline of her dress. I quickly pulled my hands into my lap where they tingled like I had slept on them funny.

"Things could have gone horribly, horribly wrong if you hadn't been there to stop me, by whatever means necessary. And look!" She folded her foot into her lap and brushed her fingers over half-healed half-moon. "I don't even think it will leave a mark!" She chirped.

Her light-hearted comment hit me in my soul. "Yes, it will." She looked over at my somber tone. I sighed and scooted away from her on the bed. She stopped me by grabbing my wrist. Her eyes held a question.

I lightly removed her hand and peeled off my long-sleeved green t-shirt. Bella gaped as she took in the endless criss-crossing of crescent scars that covered my entire torso. I quickly grabbed her hand; I couldn't lose her over this.

"Bella—" my voice shook. I didn't know where to begin. I felt Bella's free hand trace over my bicep. She looked up from my chest and at my face.

"You are so beautiful." I read the honesty in her face and the room suddenly felt a million times lighter.

"Bella, I had a very different life before I came to the Cullens." I absentmindedly rubbed at my left shoulder and I told her the story it had taken me years to reveal to my immortal family. I told her about my maker, Maria, and her incessant obsession with dominating Texas. I told her how I used my powers to control newborn vampires until they outgrew their purpose and then I told her how I destroyed them without mercy for decades. I told her about Peter and Charlotte and how they escaped. I told her how I left Texas and I told her about Alice in the diner and how I had lived up until the moment Bella opened her eyes to the vampire world. For hours, I poured out my history as Bella sat, unmoving. When I had finally finished, I slumped exhausted and waited for Bella's condemnation and repulsion at my life. I felt her soft hand brush mine away from my shoulder and trace the scar I had been rubbing throughout my story.

"What's special about this scar?" she asked.

"It was my first." I said.

Then I looked at Bella for the first time since finishing talking. Her eyes were full of sympathy, and acceptance, and…love? It swirled around me like a physical presence and I closed my eyes against the onslaught of emotions it triggered. I felt so safe and accepted and, well... loved.

My eyes flew open as Bella pressed her lips to the scar. I felt a hot tear slide from her chin onto my skin.

"I thought you were beautiful." Bella said. "I was wrong."

"You are stunning." I didn't know how to respond. I bent down and grasped Bella's tiny foot in my hands. I gently kissed the new and quickly silvering scar on the hollow of her heel. Bella's foot was jerked from my hands as she knelt and slammed into me, wrapping her arms around me.

"You are amazing," she murmured against my bare chest. The vibrations sank deeply into me.

"Ditto." I said, and I could feel her smile against my skin.

She abruptly pulled away. "Now, we need to go downstairs. You need to apologize for being so snippy with your family and I need to explain why, every time they come home, I'm passed out or some other kind of unresponsive." She dragged me off of the bed and squealed. "Plus, I'm kind of really curious about my funeral!" She took my hand and led me out the door.

The hand Bella wasn't holding rubbed circles on my shoulder where, impossibly, I could still feel the warmth and pressure of Bella's kiss.

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A/N: You wanted a kiss, conehito? You got one… kind of :P. Since people seemed fairly split on the funeral issue, I think I'm gonna stick to Jasp&Bella POV for now, and perhaps write a companion one-shot in someone else's POV for those who want it. I don't think I want to put it in the main story because its gonna be fairly doom n' gloom (it IS a funeral, after all.)

A Limerick:

There once was a writer of fic

Who had an insatiable tick.

The reviews that came in

Always gave her a grin,

So she picked up her notepad and Bic.

:D