JPOV

I froze. I couldn't help it I was suddenly overwhelmed with such need and it was coming from Bella. I quickly recovered and almost moaned in pleasure at how good it felt to finally have her lips on mine. I gently nudged her lower lip with my tongue and almost immediately I was granted access. I placed a hand behind her neck and the other on her waist as she gently placed her arms over my shoulders. As the kiss deepened she crawled forward and sat in my lap and I could of sworn I was in heaven. The girl of my dreams wanted me and I would not let her get away. After what felt like mere seconds Bella began to pull away and I reluctantly let her. She gave me a shy smile and I beamed down at her.

"Guess that was some song, huh?" She giggled and playfully swatted my arm and I tempted fate by giving her a soft kiss on the nose. When I pulled back she was smiling.

"So what does this mean?" I shrugged and pulled her to me, wrapping my arms around her and leaned back against the headboard.

"You know I'd give anything to be with you, Bella, but it's your choice. This can be whatever you want it to be" I prayed to any god out there that she wouldn't leave me now. I don't think I would of kept living if she had left me then. But no, she didn't leave me, she instead gave a quick kiss to my neck and pulled away from me.

"I want to try this out with you...I want us to be together. But if things don't work out..."

"I'll do whatever is in my power to make this work, Bella" I cursed myself at how eager I sounded like a bloody school kid with a crush. Bella either didn't notice or didn't care and shook her head with a smile.

"Jasper please. If this doesn't work out – if one of us is unhappy – then we have to talk it through okay?" It clicked then why she was being persistent with the subject. I tried to pull her back to me but she stood and I followed.

"Bella I'm nothing like him I won't ever hurt you" She wrapped her arms around her stomach and looked to the floor.

"That's what he said too" I didn't want to go down that road. I put a finger under her chin and forced her to look at me and in that moment she looked so vulnerable...I wouldn't let that asshole get away with what he did to her.

"Bella I will never, ever, hurt you alright? You can't let Edward control you like this even now he's ruling your life"

"I'm trying" I knew that. I knew just being here with me that she was trying to move on from him but she needed to try harder.

"Baby steps? We can start by bringing Renesme home?" Bella bristled at the idea and shook her head.

"I don't want her around Tanya" Her eyes burned at the mention of her name and I soothingly rubbed her arms to try and calm her down.

"Hey it's okay none of us would ever let Tanya hurt Renesme. Maybe with the little one home things can start to feel normal again...maybe things will move on" She seemed to think the idea over and slowly began to nod.

"We can go and get her I suppose...Jasper I just don't want her to ask all the questions I know she's going to ask" I felt her misery and sent a wave of calm over her.

"We'll pass that bridge when we get to it, for now how about we go and bring your daughter home?" Bella seemed to brighten at the thought of having Renesme home again and, taking her hand, I lead her out of the bedroom and out of the house to get the little angel.

EPOV

We had returned home from hunting and everyone seemed happy and sated. Tanya clung to my arm as we chatted amongst ourselves and I gave a polite smile whenever she would look at me. The past few days having Tanya home with my family had been great but the tension was still there and I feared it would never go away whilst Bella and Tanya lived under the same roof. I had tried to think of ways to lessen the hatred between them but thought of none and my mind swam back to the other night when I had practically begged Bella to forgive me. I had hoped she would of said yes but Jasper had ruined the moment. I could see it in her eyes she was going to come back to me. I swallowed the anger at the thought that Bella could of forgiven me if it wasn't for his interruption. Tanya was great but it was becoming quite clear that she wasn't the type to be settling down yet and I could never have a family with her like I did Bella. A small clearing of the throat brought me from my thoughts and I looked down to see Tanya waiting for a response. I hadn't been listening of course so I searched her thoughts and almost rolled my eyes at the question she had asked me.

"I haven't thought about it that much do we really need this conversation now?" I knew I sounded more irritated than I was but did she honestly believe that moving in together was top priority now? With the Volturi on our heels? She roughly pulled her arms from mine and stuffed them into her coat's pockets.

"I understand that things aren't exactly perfect right now, Edward, but you need to start thinking more about us and less about them" She didn't need to voice who she was speaking of and I felt the anger start to bubble away again. Before I could respond she had scurried off in front of me to her sister and had made a show of turning her back to me. I let out a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"wondering where it all went wrong?" Emmett clapped me on the shoulder and I immediately shrugged his hand off. If there was one thing I didn't need right now it was Emmett making jokes about my situation.

"I don't know what you're talking about" He raised his hands and walked away clearly hearing the dismissal in my tone. As we got closer to the house we heard the soft sound of a guitar being played and after a few seconds we were all watching as Bella fumbled with the instrument. She held it close to her and concentrated hard as she strummed a few strings before letting out a frustrated sigh and wiggling her fingers. I couldn't help but smile at the sight and I looked around to see the same look on my family's face. She hadn't heard us return and no-one seemed to want to tell her – only watch as she tried to play a tune.

"Shall we help your mom out over there?" The southern drawl drew our attention as Jasper strode through the room, oblivious to us as well, with Renesme on his shoulders. She placed a hand on his neck and I could see her showing him that she wanted him to help Bella. Jasper helped Renesme to the ground and she sat in a chair while Jasper sat next to Bella.

"You're doing good! You just need to hold it like this..." He positioned himself slightly behind Bella and showed her how to hold it and took her hands in his. I felt something nag at me inside my head at the way they were sitting, so intimate, but ignored it.

"I can't believe you both talked me into this" Bella sounded mortified but Jasper rolled his eyes.

"You're doing great for a beginner you just need to move your fingers a bit faster..." We watched as he helped Bella play a tune and listened in surprise as Jasper began to sing softly.

"When I look into your eyes it's like watching a night sky or a beautiful sunrise...for there's so much they hold...just like them old stars I see that you've come so far...to be right where you are...how old is your soul?" I slipped into his mind and found him thinking of a scene where Bella was kissing him and I quickly retreated. How long had he been thinking of my Bella like this? These thoughts had to stop. I was about to make my presence known when to my utter shock Bella began to sing as well.

"Well I won't give up on us, even if the skies get rough – I'm giving you all my love...I'm still looking up..." I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time run through me as the emotion in her voice confirmed that she too felt something for Jasper. They began to sing together and I felt myself begin to lose control.

"And when your needing your space to do some navigating I'll be here patiently waiting to see what you find...cause even the stars they burn some even fall to the earth we got a lot to learn god knows were worth it" Bella rested her head back against Jasper and I felt enough was enough. I walked forward into the room and the little bubble they had been lost in was shattered. They both turned their heads but gave no sign of guilt or embarrassment at being caught. The others slowly followed after me.

"Oh that was lovely!" Esme congratulated Bella and Jasper on their duet and they shyly thanked her. I glared down at the pair and tried to reign in my anger as best I could.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jasper looked down at Bella and raised an eyebrow in question. Bella bit her lip and nodded.

"Alice and I have decided that were no longer as compatible as we once thought...we decided to remain friends but she believed she needed some time to process things" Bella continued.

"Me and Jasper have grown close and...well...were just seeing how things go" I growled low and balled my hands into fists.

"The hell you are!" I took a step towards them and at once Bella had rushed to Renesme, who I had forgotten was in the room. I looked on and saw with a sick feeling in my stomach that Bella had Tanya by the throat once more. No-one was breaking them apart this time and I searched everyone's minds for what had happened. Images swam before me and I saw Tanya standing beside Renesme, she had taken her hand and tried to pull her away, Renesme didn't want to move, Tanya pulled harder, Renesme letting out a panicked "mom". Both Jasper and I rushed to their sides and tried to break them apart.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing touching my daughter" Bella was beyond aggressive; this was a mother protecting her daughter. Tanya snarled back in Bella's face and tried to claw her way free of her grip.

"I was removing her from danger! You saw how Edward was!" I tried to help Jasper pull Bella away but she was having none of it.

"Jasper please don't touch me I don't want to hurt you" She gave me no warning but we both backed away knowing how much damage she could do.

"You think that gives you the right to touch my daughter? You don't touch her, ever, without her permission do you understand me?" Tanya stared Bella down.

"Do you understand me?" Tanya made a choking sound and tried to nod.

"I understand" Immediately Bella let Tanya go and I rushed to her side making sure she was ok. She hadn't hurt Renesme and Bella had overreacted. I looked over my shoulder and saw both her and Jasper making sure Renesme was alright. Someone let out a low whistle and we all whipped our heads around to see an unknown vampire leaning against the window.

"Trouble in paradise, Carlisle?" Carlisle's face broke out into a smile and he joined the newcomer.

"We've seen better days" He placed a hand on the man's shoulder and turned to address the family.

"Everyone this is Garrett. He has come to help us" And that was the beginning of it all. Slowly more vampires trickled into our home over the coming days and Bella and Tanya were keeping apart from each other. Renesme was introduced to every new face and she won them all over in the end. It was killing me to watch Bella and Jasper grow closer, what the hell did they think they were doing? But we all became preoccupied with the growing number of mouths to feed and the increasing pairs of red eyes watching our daughter from the shadows.