Chapter Twenty Two

In my opinion, this could have gone a lot better but it didn't. Sorry!

Disclaimer – I don't own Twilight but I do own Alessandria and anything unrecognisable.

I didn't care that Jasper was my true mate or that he apparently had self esteem issues – I was mad and I was going to let him know about it. I said goodbye to the Denali Coven before practically dragging Jasper out of there by his ear. Oh, I was pissed. When I had gotten home from the airport and I went hunting with Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and Sylvester, I thought I deserved an award for not asking questions. I waited until I had drained several animals to get me back in the swing of things (which wasn't too hard considering how disgusted I was with myself for drinking innocent humans) and I also waited for everyone else to finish before I finally asked for an explanation. Needless to say, they were hesitant. It took ten minutes for Alice to formulate a sentence and Rosalie and I were told in bitty pieces from our three accomplices that Jasper had disappeared after seven months of our absence and hadn't returned since. Alice informed me that he had relocated to Denali where they had family and I decided to wait a bit, booking a flight for the next day and then I spent the rest of my time reuniting with my family. I hunted once more before I left then got on the plane, ready to confront my love.

"You're Sandy, right?" someone I assumed to be Tanya by the strawberry blonde hair on her head. I nodded and a wide, welcoming smile appeared on her face as she stuck out her hand. "I'm Tanya," she replied and I shook her hand, smiling right back at her. I liked her already.

"Where is he?" I asked bluntly and she sighed morosely, gesturing me inside. I could hear Jasper talking and Alice replying on the other end of the phone and grinned, knowing she would be driving him mad. Tanya led me deeper into the charming house and I finally reached the living room where Jasper was pacing and on the phone. He froze and turned towards me. When he had finished apologising and kissing me, I pulled back and told him we needed to talk. He was in trouble.

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"I HONESTLY can't believe you! In retrospect, I think that it was rather naive and stupid of me to think that you'd wait for me for two years. I mean, I would do it for you but that doesn't mean you'd do it for me! And I might have been able to understand if you didn't insist you'd never leave me. I get it – I left first. I know. I do know that but I CAME BACK! And what really hurts the most is that you didn't think I would. You came here under the impression that I would choose the Volturi over my family, over YOU and that is like setting me on fire. I love you, Jasper and I thought you loved me too. Maybe loving someone and trusting them isn't the same thing. Maybe they are. I don't know." I sighed as I finished my rant. We had flown home with me in enraged silence and Jasper in awkward tension and I had dragged him to a beautiful little lake I'd found in the middle of the woods on my hunt. Storm clouds were gathering over head and I felt like they were mimicking my very angry mood. I didn't care though. The Heavens could rain down their fury on Jasper all they wanted – as long as I got to do it first. Jasper stood in front of me looking highly apologetic. I moved backwards a step as he took one towards me. I would not let him get to me yet.

"It wasn't a lack of faith in you . . ." I gave a derisive laugh. "It was lack of faith in me." I didn't bother making my confusion known, he would explain himself anyway. "I didn't believe I was good enough to return to." Yeah, right, ok – what complete bullshit. I shook my head at him.

"Jasper, you are many things but self deprecating is not one of them – even when it comes to self control nowadays. Or did that change along with your personality?" I snapped and he pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. He was getting aggravated. Good, maybe he'd know how I felt. Oh wait.

"I know you're upset." Oh, really? It didn't take being an empath to know I was steaming. "And I am sorry about that. But you have to understand that I didn't leave because of you." I growled, finally looking into his topaz eyes. It took vast amounts of self control not to crack and throw myself into his arms right then and there.

"But that's what it LOOKED like! You didn't explain yourself, you upped and left. And then, you didn't come back! I came off that plane looking for you and you weren't there. Everyone else was there but you couldn't be. You LEFT me when you . . . promised . . . not to." I was sobbing dryly by the end of it, my insecurities right out in the open for the world to see. But I refused to back down. I would not crouch on the floor and let him comfort me. Jasper looked like he was in physical pain and I tried to keep my guilt at bay so he wouldn't think he was winning. "I remember when you told me I would never be a part of your family. You came to me afterwards to apologise and promised to never leave me because I was afraid to be alone. But you did leave. For two years I suffered without you – without your arms, your gift and your kisses. I thought it would be hard but it was awful. So I wrote it all down. Something tells me that you, through my meddlesome sister, already know about these." I pulled out the thick wad of letters from my bag and handed them over to him. "Read those and then think about how I felt when I came back to find you gone." And I ran out of the clearing, knowing that he knew to stay where he was or suffer deeply. When I got back to the house, I sat down silently and picked up a Wii remote and wheel, ready to be trashed at Mario Kart once more.

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Jasper POV

I read through letter after letter in her careful, elegant script. It wasn't calligraphy like Edward's; it was softer and more hesitant. Each letter was different – some sad, some angry, some mildly happy but most were miserable. Every one ended with 'I love you and, as always, I miss you. I'll think of you to keep me calm. Sandy x x'. I got intense detail about the goings on in her daily routine, various angry swearwords in Italian and constant complaints about Demetri. Those were what hurt the most. She had fought off his every advance and insisted that I was at home, waiting for her to come back. I had made a dreadful mistake in leaving but I couldn't take it back - it was done and the only thing I could do was pray for forgiveness. As I reached the end of the final letter, I let out a sigh of frustration. How would she ever forgive me? Why would she ever forgive me? We were true mates but we could resist if we really wanted to, not that I did. But Sandy might and that's what worried me. I stood up with the pile in my hands and began running towards the house, intent on making things right. I couldn't let her slip away, not again. No.

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After slapping me and setting a nearby shrub on fire as a warning, Sandy stormed back into the house clutching the letters. I heard her stomp up the stairs and cautiously entered the house. When it became clear that she wouldn't be coming back down, I relaxed and collapsed on the nearest surface – the end of the couch. Rosalie was giving me an exasperated look, Emmett was pretending not to laugh as he watched Gnomeo and Juliet (again), Sylvester looked thoughtful as he eyed me with his head tilted to the side and Esme was bustling about, anxiously glancing at the ceiling every two minutes.

"Did you honestly think it was a good idea?" Rose asked scathingly and I glared at her.

"It seemed like the right thing to do at the time."

"Would it have killed you to come back when we came home?" she asked, adding a hiss for dramatic effect. It worked.

"It would have killed me to come back and find that only you came home." She snarled this time.

"You wouldn't have because we both came back! Sandy loves this family and came back for them partly but the majority of her came back for YOU. You are a prick, Jasper Hale and you don't deserve her forgiveness. I do not care if you thought it was a good idea or it had nothing to do with her. What she saw when she came off that plane was you gone and not trusting her to come back. Think about it THAT way." Didn't she know I was already thinking of it that way? The Denali Coven (mainly Kate and Tanya) made me initially think like that and then Sandy herself slapped it into me (literally).

"I know how it looked Rosalie. But my problem is getting Sandy to see it how it really was." Rosalie's face softened and I wondered why.

"You love her, right?"

"Yes," I sighed, thinking about where this was going.

"And she very obviously loves you."

"It's not looking good at this point!" Emmett called over the voice of a pink flamingo on screen. I rolled my eyes but knew he was right.

"Then talk to her. You both just need to sit down calmly and you need to talk it all through. No interruptions, no threats, no anger. It will just be you two and a calm exploration of what was going through your thick head when you decided to vanish." And Rose skipped upstairs to inform Sandy. This was insane and it wouldn't work.

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Sandy POV

"I forgive you." I don't know what made me say it but I suppose it has something to do with the fact that I couldn't handle being angry anymore and I was just tired of fighting. Jasper was home and we could be together but I was wasting it by trying to believe I had chased him away. I glanced up from my fingernails to see a stunned and relieved looking Jasper. He slipped cautiously over to the bed to sit next to me and wrap his arm around me.

"That was quick," he commented and I shrugged.

"I didn't want to see sense before – I was angry and afraid so I couldn't register that you really wouldn't be that much of an arsehole. I love you, Jasper," I whispered and Jasper swiftly moved me so that I was straddling his lap. If it was possible for me to blush, I would have. Deeply.

"I love you too, Alessandria," he replied and he leaned in and kissed me. I immediately kissed back and moaned at finally getting to tangle tongues with him again. He whipped me around so I was lying on my thick duvet and he hovered over me with a sexy smirk. His lips lowered to me neck and I felt high on ecstasy, moaning to prove it. This was the reunion I had in mind.

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I lay snuggled up in Jasper's arms, my naked form pressed against his and ran my fingers along his toned and scarred chest. His fingers stroked my hair just the way I had missed and craved for two years.

"Sandy?" he asked quietly and I moved my eyes up to his. He looked hesitant yet firm.

"What is it, Jasper?" I asked back and he smiled.

"Will you marry me?"

See you in two days! Love Bianca :) x