Disclaimer: Edward = Stephenie Meyer's. Jasper = Mine. Not really, but I can dream, can't I?

A/N: Had an interesting question in a review - is the Maria in the movie my mental Maria? Ironically, she is EXACTLY my mental Maria, even though I wrote the last chapter before I saw Eclipse. Another interesting question - how much longer do I plan on torturing Jazz? Not much longer. Keep in mind I wrote this story because I felt like I owed it to Jazz... That being said, plan on biting your knuckles, or maybe grabbing some tissues for this one...

Edward's POV

Bella released Jasper without a second thought and ran to hug Emmett, who picked her up and hugged her until she squealed. Jasper started violently shaking the moment Bella released him.

"Bella," I whispered, but she was distracted by Adrian, who was currently spinning her above his head, his thoughts filled with joy that she was alive and well.

Jasper's thoughts, however, were steadily deteriorating, flashes from his past in the south, flashes of Alice, of Bella, of Heidi mingled with flashes that I could only assume had happened on his trip tore at his sanity. He wrapped his arms around himself, vibrating. I grabbed his forearms and tried to shake him a little to snap him out of it, but he only got worse until it would have appeared to the outside observer that he was having a seizure.

"Bella?" I said a little louder. Her head whipped around to look at us.

"Oh my God!" She ran back to us and without a conscious thought, Jasper's arms extended to get me to release him. He grabbed Bella by the wrists and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her tightly and nuzzling into her neck, inhaling deeply.

"Bella...Bella...Bella..." Jasper chanted, his body slowly stopping its shuddering and his mind all but shut down into what must have felt like peaceful oblivion to him. It was certainly how it felt to me when his mind ceased attacking us both.

"Wow, he's worse than we thought," Emmett muttered.

"Huh?" I had no clue what he was talking about.

"Come on, let's go for a walk and we'll fill you in on what we know. Hopefully by the time we get back, Bella will be able to calm him down enough to tell us the rest."

I got Bella's attention and shifted my line of sight from her to the couch and back to let her know my intention. When she nodded, I put my hand in between Jasper's shoulder blades and gently pushed, while Bella took a step backwards. As soon as she did, Jasper stepped forward to close the distance between them, as if he couldn't bear an ounce of space. We repeated the process until we had led him to the couch and sat him down. He immediately tugged Bella sideways into his lap, alternately running his nose along her jaw and kissing her neck. Not one single coherent thought ran through his mind. He was functioning purely on instinct. Panicked, Bella looked up at me, not having a clue what to do.

I bent down and kissed her forehead. "I'm going to go with Emmett and Adrian for a bit, see if I can figure out what the hell is going on. Will you be alright here with Jasper?"

"Bella..." he begged, squeezing her tighter, as if some part of his subconscious could hear us and was afraid she'd leave, and returned to kissing and suckling her neck.

"Yes..." she replied, hesitantly wrapping her arms around him like a mother would. I knew what she was afraid of. I was afraid, too. How far would Jasper push in this state, how much would he need, and was it more than Bella or I was willing to give? For my part, I didn't have those answers. I wasn't sure how to feel about the intimate sight before me, especially considering the fractured state Jasper was in.

"Do what you can to help him. It seems you're the only one who can," I replied noncommittally, and Bella nodded, only slightly mollified that I wasn't blaming her, or him for that matter, for what he was doing.

"Come on." Adrian tugged at the hem of my sleeve. "We really need to talk."

I kissed Bella's forehead again, put my hand on Jasper's shoulder, wishing I could do something more to help him other than offer up my wife as his security blanket, and followed Emmett and Adrian out the door without another word.

Luckily, a friend of Rafael's was at the gate, and he allowed us to leave the compound without much trouble. Once we were well out of hearing range and sure we weren't going to be followed, we sat down on a couple of boulders in the forest. "Not that I'm not glad to see you both, but what the hell?"

"Heidi," Emmett replied. "She thinks Jasper is in trouble. It seems she was more right than she realized."

"What would make Heidi think he was in trouble?"

"Dude, it was bad. Jasper told Carlisle he needed a sacrifice, someone to offer up as a target to the Romanians to prove he was truly on their side. Demetri insisted on being the one to do it, and Gianna refused to let him do it alone. They were just supposed to stage a scene so Jasper could be all James Bond and shit and leave, but something went wrong. We could smell the smoke inside the castle. Heidi ran out, fighting Carlisle and me tooth and nail when we tried to stop her. She's got some wicked nails, lemme tell ya. She came back not half an hour later, crazed, saying that Gianna and Demetri were dead, and that she thought Jasper did it. She said there was a beautiful Mexican woman there with him, hanging all over him, and that they instructed her to tell the Volturi that The Resistance was coming for them."

"Maria." The pieces quickly started falling into place, and the full magnitude of what must have happened weighed on my heart. Maria forced Jasper into a corner. He'd had no choice but to kill Gianna and Demetri, then run Heidi off before she joined them in the flames. It at least partially explained he was so broken when we found him. What it didn't explain was why his eyes were red as rubies.

"Anyway, Carlisle called an emergency meeting and it was decided that the situation was too dangerous for the three of you to continue on your own. There was no way in hell we were missing out on any more of the action. Hell, even Rose and Alice agreed we should be the ones to go. So here we are." Adrian shrugged as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"How's Heidi?" I was almost afraid to ask. It couldn't have been easy for her.

"She's not sure what to think of what she saw. I think her gut tells her not to take what she saw at face value, and she's afraid for him. She knows he wouldn't have killed Gianna and Demetri if he'd had another choice, and they knew what they were signing up for, but still... As for meeting Maria, she grilled Alice for hours trying to find out what their history was. Unfortunately, Alice wasn't able to offer her much that would comfort her or convince her that it was all just for show. Fact is there was a time when Maria had her claws in Jasper pretty deep and even Alice is afraid what will happen if she gets too close again."

"It's different this time. Bella's here." I cringed even as I heard myself say it, and tried to force out the pictures my imagination was creating in my mind as to what was going on in that apartment right then. Deep down, though, I knew in that it didn't matter, not really. I loved them both and nothing was ever going to change that fact. If the only place Jasper could find the comfort he needed to return to us was in Bella's arms, then so be it. I pledged to myself to handle the situation as delicately as possible, with love and understanding. And possibly some boulder smashing when they weren't looking.

"Even that might not be enough to make the difference. Jasper is one of the most badass vamps I have ever met. I never thought I'd see him the way he is now." Adrian was visibly shaken. He loved Jasper like a brother, looked up to him in a lot of ways. To watch Jasper basically have a nervous breakdown upset him greatly.

"Dude, you sure Bella's alright alone with him right now?" Unbidden images of Jasper forcing himself on Bella crossed Emmett's mind. He quickly dismissed them and began blocking me. "Sorry, bro, you don't need to see that shit, my imagination's jacked, but seriously, you think she's safe with him?"

"I really can't see Jasper ever hurting her, even like this. Can you?"

"No, I suppose not," Emmett agreed.

"Besides, Hells Bells can handle herself," Adrian piped in. "And if anyone can snap him out of it, it's her." I nodded, not really knowing what to say. We discussed briefly about how we would account for their sudden arrival, then walked slowly out of the forest as I strove to process it all. I could not see a clear path before us any longer, and it frightened me.

Rafael was waiting for us when we got back to the compound. "Edward," he called as soon as he saw us. "Thank goodness you're back. Vladimir and Stefan want to see you, Jasper and Bella right away." His thoughts didn't show them to be angry in their request, small blessings, I supposed, but revealed that Maria was there with them. I thanked him and introduced him to my brothers. He welcomed them warmly, then offered to give them a tour of the compound while we were in our meeting, which they enthusiastically agreed to. I headed back to the apartment to retrieve Jasper and Bella, having no idea what I'd find once I got there.

It was both better and worse than I expected. I could tell before I opened the door that his mind was still numb, but at peace. I could still hear him repeating her name like a chant, and she was repeatedly whispering back, telling him it would be alright, that she was there, and begging him to come back to her.

When I stepped inside, I saw that they had switched positions so that Bella was lying on her back on the couch, with Jasper curled up on top of her. Her arms were still wrapped around him protectively. The top couple buttons of her blouse were unbuttoned, and he was nuzzling his cheek between her breasts back and forth in a way that kind of reminded me of a cat trying to get comfortable so it could lie down. I half expected him to start purring, if not for the complete lack of sexual thoughts. At least her bra was still in place. The one hand that was visible was under her shirt, lightly holding onto her ribcage. I could only assume the other arm was wrapped around her, probably under her shirt as well, splayed across her back. Bella was running her fingers up and down his spine, and although her voice revealed no sign of it, her face clearly showed how torn she was. Her eyes widened when she saw me, frightened of my reaction.

I shook my head no to her, trying to put her mind at ease. I sat down cross legged on the floor near Jasper's head.

"Jasper? Can you hear me? I know what happened. It's not your fault. You had to do it. You did the right thing."

Jasper started shaking his head, small but jerky movements. "Gianna... Demetri... Heidi... Maria... and they made me drink... I couldn't save them... any of them..." Bella resumed cooing at him and I tried again.

"No one blames you, Jasper. Heidi knows you couldn't help it." Jasper's head stopped moving and he opened his eyes just a sliver, although it didn't seem as though he was focused on any one thing.

"She knows?" he whispered disbelievingly.

"Yes, she does. She's worried about you. She sent Emmett and Adrian here to help you. But right now I need you to snap out of it, Jasper. Can you do that for me? We need to see Vladimir and Stefan. You, me and Bella. Right now. Can you do that?"

"Bella?" He sounded relieved she would be there with him, but then switched a moment later, squeezing his eyes shut and resuming rubbing his cheek on Bella's chest, pressing hard enough that she sunk into the couch a little. "No...must keep Bella safe...must keep everyone safe..."

"Then come with me," Bella said a little louder, scratching her nails on his scalp. "Come with us, and we will all keep each other safe. I promise."

It was a few long moments with no outward movement, but I could tell from his thoughts that he was struggling to pull himself together. Finally, he became aware of his surroundings, slowly lifting his head to look at Bella, as if just waking up. A moment later, he looked down at her cleavage that had served as his pillow moments before, then turned to me, terrified and guilty, and jumped off of her and across the room. Unfortunately, the moment he did, the shaking resumed. Bella stood and took him by the hand and he settled down just a bit.

"Let's get this over with. Bella, get ready to do some serious enchanting." I had absolutely no idea how we were going to pull this off with Jasper in this condition. I was no closer to figuring it out when we walked through the doors of their version of a throne room.

Vladimir and Stefan were by far the creepiest twins I had ever seen. They made Alec and Jane look like the Wrigley Doublemint Gum girls. Greasy hair, sunken cheeks, glowing eyes that were a different shade of red than I'd ever seen, murky almost. And the sick smile on their faces at our appearance made me pause for a moment before recouping and continuing to walk before them, bowing slightly as I had been instructed to by the guard outside.

"We have something..." Stefan began.

"...to show you," Vlad finished.

Maria strode into the room from a side door with a young man behind her, pushing a large television on a cart. Her smile faded for a moment as she looked at us, or more specifically, Jasper, who was still shaking and holding onto Bella's hand for dear life, rubbing his thumb against her knuckles compulsively. If I didn't know any better, I would have sworn she was genuinely concerned for him. It was gone as quickly as it came, however, and she smiled sweetly at us before nodding to the young man, who hit a button on the remote in his hand and the television came to life.

On the screen was an aerial view of Bella dropping her books as Jasper rushed her. A few moments later and we were all watching me tear Francesco into little pieces. I smirked at that in satisfaction. Once we moved off screen, it switched to a different view to show us disposing of his body in the incinerator.

Surveillance video? But how? We had never seen a camera, never heard mention of them. Jasper was working security detail, surely he would have gotten wind of them. But apparently not, and now our fate rested in the hands of three of the most evil vampires ever created.

A/N: I'm so glad to have Emmett and Adrian there, aren't you? Now all we need is Carlisle. The NCB dessert of the day? Naked Emmett Bananas Foster!