A/N: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. She's a lucky gal. The rest is mine. Thanks for respecting it. :) Thanks as always to changedbyEdward for the undercover beta'ing. I think you're practically a sniper by now. ;)

Chapter 7 - Jasper's POV

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, could it get much worse? After I left Carlisle, I headed for Alice and Adrian's suite. I really needed to talk to someone, and Alice would understand better than anyone, except maybe Bella, how I was feeling, what with Maria being added to the mix. Unfortunately, Gianna was still there with them and all the other girls, too, gathering from the swarm of emotions that came buzzing around me as I approached the door. Call me a coward, but I turned around and headed the other way.

I decided to go for a walk. Leave it to me to radar in on Bella's location and gravitate towards her, even when I wasn't even thinking about her. I got to the river just in time to catch the tail end of her conversation with Carlisle. Was it wrong that my chest puffed out and a smile came to my face when I heard her say she needed me?

After hugging Bella and wishing her goodnight, he left her sitting on the boulder and walked straight towards me. He didn't say anything, just put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed a bit as he walked by.

I watched Bella for a few minutes, her pale skin shimmering in the moonlight as she expertly skipped rocks across the creek. Her emotions were much calmer than I expected, and everything had an overlay of determination and acceptance.

Acceptance.

Aro's words rang in my head. I have never accepted the fact that I lost Bella, it's true. How can I, when I have no choice but to love her for eternity? And I couldn't say I was accepting of this situation, either. Regardless of the fact that Edward is her husband, she will always be my Bella, and I couldn't stand the idea of intentionally putting her in harm's way. Not to mention the fact that they were forcing her to create her own little harem.

I approached her slowly, sitting beside her so one arm and leg touched her own. She turned to me and smiled, but it was a sad smile. Still, I could tell she felt comforted by my presence. I picked up a rock, smoothed it with my fingers until it was just right, and skipped it all the way to the other side of the stream.

"Cheater."

I chuckled and smoothed out another one before handing it to her. She skipped it across the stream and it landed just a centimeter farther away from the water's edge than mine. We continued on this way in silence, each trying to outdo the other until we had built up a pile of pebbles on the other side. When we were done, I stood and held out my hand to her, which she took. I walked her to the door of their suite, kissed her forehead and walked away.

When I got back to my room, I found Heidi waiting for me.

"I would ask where you were, but it's unnecessary. I can smell her," she said quietly. Her voice held no malice, only resignation.

"It's not like that, Heidi."

"The problem is not what it actually is, Jasper. The problem is how you want it to be." I had no response, so I just hung my head and nodded in defeat.

"I understand. But you have to try and see it from my perspective. It's not something I have any control over."

"No, it's Bella's."

"That's not true. She had no control over it, either. It happened before any of us were even aware that she possessed special abilities. She was still human, for goodness sakes."

"She's aware of them now." I didn't like the hateful tone to her voice.

"Yes, she is. And she is trying to use them to save the world."

"Jasper, let me ask you a question. If you had a choice, would you choose to be...enchanted, as Aro puts it?"

"Would I have chosen it then, or would I choose it now?"

"Either. Both."

"Honestly, I don't know. I think I would have chosen it then. I know that hurts you to hear, and I'm sorry, but it's true. If I could make it disappear now, though, would I? Yes, I believe I would, as long as I could maintain the memory of the happiness she gave me when we were together." I walked directly in front of her, taking her gently by the shoulders and making her look at me. "But Heidi, you have to understand that I love you. Just as Demetri still cares for Gianna, and Felix still loves Kelly. I. Love. You. I want us to be together."

Heidi just shook her head, but didn't move out of my grasp. "You know, sometimes I wish Bella could work her magic on me, too. Maybe then I wouldn't be so resentful of all this. Maybe then I wouldn't wish I could hate her."

I chortled darkly. "Well, if that is your wish, it is one that Bella may well be able to grant." I explained to Heidi all about my conversation with Carlisle and Aro about the new developments and theories regarding Bella's power, and was shocked to find she was intensely determined to be Bella's first female victim.

"Me. I want her to try it on me. Have her make me like Alice. Alice was so understanding when this all began, much more so than I would be, or any other rational human being in love with their spouse, from what I understand. It had to have been Bella's powers. I want that. I want to be her best friend and be able to let my hostility go and be freed of these dark and painful emotions."

"I don't know if it will work, and even if it does, it might not have the desired effect." Unbidden images of Bella and Heidi hungrily exploring each others' bodies flashed through my mind. I must have given myself away with my expression, or perhaps the fact that I had to adjust myself, but Heidi connected all the dots rather quickly.

"Jasper Whitlock. You...you are a pervert!"

I wiggled my eyebrows at her luridly. "Never denied that."

Heidi huffed at me and stood to leave, but I could see the smile she was fighting to keep hidden. "That's it, I'm outta here." I grabbed her arm as she walked past me and swung her around so her chest was flush against mine. My hands anchored myself to her hips, dipping my head to kiss her and thankful she didn't pull away. She allowed me to deepen the kiss, caress her tongue with my own. I took a deep breath and was overwhelmed, the scent of wildflowers calling to me and reminding me that she was, indeed, my singer. She broke away when my needful moan broke the spell.

"I've got to go, Jasper. If I stay, it will lead to, you know, and as wonderful as I know that would be, I'm not willing to go down that path with you again. Not now. Maybe when this is all over, and Edward has whisked her away to somewhere without a cell phone tower or internet connection." I winced at the not-so-subtle reference to mine and Bella's near constant communication over the years.

Heidi kissed me on the cheek and opened the door, turning around just before she left. "Tell Bella I'm serious. I want her to try it on me. I'm going to talk to Gianna. She's angry right now, so I don't know how she'll feel, but there's a possibility she might want to do it, too." With that, my door closed and she was gone, yet again.

When we reconvened in the war room some time later, I was pleased to see that blasted chart was gone. I looked at Edward, throwing my glance towards where the chart used to be, then looking back at him questioningly. He just shrugged, doing a lousy job of hiding how excited he was that it was gone. "Carlisle said something about us all having photographic memory anyway and took it down. Bella wanted the honors of burning it. I believe they're in the courtyard now."

"Yup," Emmett said as he walked in. "I saw them when Rosie and I came back from hunting just now. I swear, if Bella was still human, she'd be roasting marshmallows over that fire right now."

Adrian and Alice walked in behind him. "It's about damn time," Adrian interjected. "That shit was pissing me off."

"Eloquently put, my friend," Felix replied.

Heidi walked in a moment later, followed by everyone else. Well, almost everyone. Gianna was nowhere to be found.

"Gianna is going on an extended fishing trip for us," Marcus explained. "With Bella's new request that all subjects be otherwise unattached, Gianna is having to spend a lot more time screening them. Plus, I think the time away will do her good."

Carlisle and Bella were the last to enter, both smelling delightfully of smoke. Bella smiled like a little girl on Christmas morning, a bounce in her step. Edward and I laughed at her, which she apparently didn't like.

"Oh come on, you can't tell me you two didn't want to rip it to shreds, too. I just beat you to it!" she teased.

"Agreed, love," Edward said, kissing her softly and putting his arm around her. He seemed much less stressed than the day before, and for that I was glad, even if I didn't want to think about the potential reasons for his stress relief.

Carlisle filled everyone in on the Maria situation. When he was done, Heidi stood up.

"Bella, try it on me."

Bella panicked. I took a hold of her hand and she turned to me. "I'll help you. You can do this. Think about how much you love Alice, and Adrian, and Emmett. Feel it deep in your heart." Bella closed her eyes and I could feel the love, it was almost warming up inside of her. I used my powers to grab on to those feelings and strengthen them. I focused all of my attention on that feeling, that one emotion.

"Now, Bella, do it now. You want Heidi to love you like that, like Alice does. You want it. Do it." Bella opened her eyes and stared intensely at Heidi. Everyone held their breath.

Nothing.

Bella sighed, her shoulders slumping. I leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Bella, try again. Please. Do it for me." She sat up straighter, squared her shoulders and focused on Heidi once more. I sent powerful waves of love and determination at Bella. I gave her my love for her, and I gave her my love for Heidi and prayed that my less-than-platonic feelings channeling through her didn't affect what type of bond Bella created.

"Yes," Marcus hissed and a moment later Heidi smiled, and Bella smiled back.

"It worked," Heidi said, obviously pleased. "It's as though she took every positive feeling I had for her and amplified it, pushing out every negative one in the process. Fascinating." Heidi considered for a moment before speaking again. "Bella, I owe you an apology. I have blamed you for things that I had no right to blame you for. Can you please forgive me? I want very much for us to be good friends." Heidi was so sincere, it was almost creepy, like she'd turned into a Stepford wife or something. But I could tell it was genuine, real. Heidi was calmer now than she'd been before, more at peace. And Bella had accomplished her goal. She'd created a bond with a female vampire, and she had had molded the bond to what she wanted it to be.

The next few weeks passed by quickly, with Bella enchanting most of the guard, and with only one exception, had managed to keep them from falling in love with her. Edward and I, all of us really, were beyond ecstatic at this new development. When Gianna returned from her fishing expedition, she quickly volunteered, and again, it was a successful bonding. Gianna, with newfound patience, welcomed Demetri back with open arms. Heidi was still unwilling to take that step with me, but at least her animosity towards Bella had disappeared.

Edward, Bella and I had gotten increasingly more comfortable around each other. Closer. We made a powerful team during these training sessions. Carlisle would choose a volunteer from the guard, and he or she would enter with a group of vampires, the idea being to test her aim. Edward would read their minds and tip Bella off as to who to focus her attention on. She would take my hand and I would amplify her emotions. It didn't take long before we were 100% accurate. She could tune in to the subject and create a bond in less than a minute. We were seamless.

Oddly enough, Bella had a harder time with the humans that Gianna had brought back than the vampires. I would hold her hand, or stand behind her and put my hands on her shoulders, and would funnel all the love I could into her, but it wouldn't work. Carlisle had me try other emotions. Anger seemed to work, if I built her up into a fury, but Bella hated it and the results were inconsistent. It was actually Emmett who figured out the problem. Bella didn't want it to work on the humans. She didn't want to take them away from their lives, even if they were unattached. Marcus, Aro and Carlisle wanted to keep trying, but Edward and I convinced them that the enemy we were up against was vampire, not human, so it didn't matter. They reluctantly agreed and the matter was settled.

All too soon, it was decided that it was time to strike. Francesco had sent word that Maria was not at their research facility, but she had visited once or twice, and was expected to do so again sometime in the next month or two. The facility itself, he learned, moved from one location to the next every three months, and it was time to move again, this time to the heart of Siberia.

The plan was simple. Francesco would help us get in, then Edward, Bella, and I would approach the Romanians, telling them that we heard of their plan and were on their side. Bella would not enchant them at first. We needed to ensure that we knew everything there was to know, that Maria would be the last surprise we would encounter. Then, Bella would start enchanting their followers, starting at the low levels first, then their generals and commanders, and finally, when we were assured that no one would rise to take their place, Bella would enchant the Romanians.

It was a simple plan.

We should have known things are never that simple.

Hmmm...I'm in the mood...for a wrestling match with Emmett, naked, in a kiddie pool filled with chocolate syrup... What do ya think? Sound good?