A/N There will be words that are spelled completely wrong and some of them not really recognizable. I saying this so I don't get reviews saying I need a beta or at the very least a spell checker. The words are messed up on purpose and at the end of the chapter I'll have a few translations.

Chapter Four: Protecting the Little Ones

I heard Jasper descending the stairs before I actually saw him, I was sitting on the couch between Esme and Rosalie while being told everything that had happened since I had left. Alice and Jasper had mutually parted ways and while Alice left to go with a man named Chris; Jasper had decided to stay with the coven that had become his family. They had moved twice, once to Maine and the other to Alaska.

I was still puzzled over the way Jasper was able to hold Caleb so easily. Every time I had tried to hug him, or even put a single hand on him he'd run away blood pouring from his nose and mouth. It was a mothers worst nightmare to know that her very touch caused her child pain and that she was completely helpless to stop said pain. Perhaps it was the fact that Jasper was an empathic and so was Caleb. Whatever it was I was glad for it if not a little jealous of the contact he could have with my son.

His presence made the small hairs on the back of my neck stand up as the nerve endings in my whole body began to tingle. I shook myself slightly as he came into view. His hair fell gently into his eyes and there was a peace but a curiosity that burned in them. From the corner of my eye I saw Aiden tense as he stared at Jasper whom he saw as more of a threat then anyone else. Why that was I wasn't sure but I knew I would have to watch him, Aiden had a notorious temper and could easily make someone's life hell. I also knew that if he did cause trouble for any of the Cullen's the others would follow for they looked up to their older brother and to them his thoughts and actions were law. I sometimes wondered who they would listen to if it ever became between him and me.

"He's asleep right now. A little weak to much blood loss but Carlisle you can check him out if you want to. But you'll have to be careful or we'll have a repeat performance."

"The poor boy, has he ever bled that much before?" Esme asked me with worried eyes. I looked at her my worry and relief warring against each other plain for all of them to see.

"No, never." My voice broke and inwardly I cursed at that show of weakness.

"He's ok, I promise. He'll be fine." I looked over at Jasper who was smiling softly a look of utter seriousness shining from his eyes. I nodded believing his words both because of the way he had said them and the peaceful sound of Caleb's deep sleep.

Minutes passed as we all stared at one another in silence, each one of us more unwilling to break it. And then the silence was broken by the sound of small feet padding down the stairs, slowly, cautiously. Turning I waited holding a breath I didn't need as every step brought the rest of my children closer to meeting the Cullen's. I wasn't sure how I should feel about that except that it made me feel uneasy and yet hopeful.

A part of me hoped and dreamed that my family would take to my old family as quickly as I had. I had never known if they would ever meet and yet if on down the road that day cam, I had hoped. I never thought that day would come but come it had and now that I was here another part of me was coming up with scenarios that were less then pleasant.

Akira was the first one to reach the bottom of the steps and that was no surprise, she was the second in command when it came to leading her siblings. Her nose was held loftily in the air and as she stared past me and at the Cullen's I felt her sizing them up. Mild contempt and disdain filled her features until her eyes landed on Rosalie. Without hesitation she made her way over to the blonde beauty an air of superiority hanging around her. Stopping a little less then a foot in front of Rosalie she simply stared at her. No emotion crossing her face just a hardness. Then a small smiled turned the corners of her mouth upward as she held out her hand to Rosalie. Rosalie looked at the offered hand before taking it gently into her own.

"My name is Akira. Its nice to meet you."

"I'm Rosalie and it's a pleasure." I let out the breath I had been holding as Rosalie smiled at my oldest little girl.

I saw Aaron step forward a mischievous smile on his face. Without even the slightest of pause he walked over to Emmett. They didn't say a word to each other merely grinned and I felt myself let out another sigh. I should have known that the pranksters would be able to sniff each other out.

Jayden walked over to Carlisle and Esme with a small smile on her face. She stopped about half a foot in front of them. She held out her hand to Carlisle first.

"Hi, I'm Jayden." Carlisle took her small hand into his much larger one and smiled softly back at her.

"Hello Jayden, My name is Carlisle, this is my wife Esme." Esme smiled at the girl with an ease that only a mother could have.

I sighed as Jayden, Aaron, and Akira were brought into conversation with each of their chosen Cullen's. I heard the thump, thump, thump, thump, and thump before I saw it. Looking I saw my youngest holding her head slightly as she laid in a heap on the floor.

"I'm otay, I'm otay." Her childlike voice was unable to pronounce C's or K's or her 'R's. Makayla stood up unsteadily and looked around at the Cullen's with wide eyes as they stared at her with small smiles. She made a beeline for me but tripped over her own feet and fell again hitting Jasper's leg.

"Owwie." Was all she whispered as she gingerly rubbed her head and looked up. Upon seeing the leg her eyes got even bigger as the continued up until they met Jasper's face. Giving a little squeak she scrambled to her feet only to trip again but was saved from more bruises by Jasper.

"You ok?" His voice was low and kind. I could actually see the gentleness pouring from him as he helped steady her on her feet.

"Yeah, that happens a lot." Jasper's soft smile would have made my heart stop beating if it had still been working.

"You should be more careful." He told her a playful reproach in his voice. Makayla blushed and giggled.

"I am taweful. It's the floows fault." I felt a smile tug at my lips remembering the times when I had used that same excuse growing up.

"That's funny I remember you mother saying the exact same thing!" Emmett called out before laughing. His laughter booming out causing Makayla to jump and scoot closer to Jasper. Who merely opened his arms wider to wrap around her small frame.

"Its ok. Emmett won't hurt you he's just really loud." Jasper assured her as he rubbed small soothing circles on her back. She relaxed completely while nodding, her bottom lip still pouched out in a pout.

"You mean lite Aawon?" Her voice was so innocent and the small chuckles of the Cullen's seemed to confuse her more.

"Well, I'm not sure is Aaron loud a lot?" Jasper asked looking up for a brief second to send a brief smile and a wink my way. Makayla nodded quickly her eyes wide as she pulled back to look at Jasper.

"Weally loud. He put fiwe twatews in a pile of pots and pans and let 'em go off while we wewe asleep. Mommy got weally mad but she saw Atiwa yelling at him weally, weally loud and she stawted laughing." By the end of her story her hands were flailing about to emphasize her points. Jasper kept his face straight as he listened and from the way his eyes took in her every movement I could tell he was actually listening.

That surprised me not many took the time to listen to a seemingly five year old to tell a story and those that did rarely took any extra time trying to figure out what she had said. Though it seemed today was a day of surprises that centered around Jasper Whitlock and my kids. It wasn't bad surprises though and therefore I wouldn't complain but it did leave me with much to ponder on.

"Well, that wasn't nice was it." Jasper asked a grin adorning his lips. Makayla shook her head no.

"But it was funny." She whispered as if she were passing some secret that no else could her. Aaron was smiling as Emmett looked at him with a hint of respect in his eyes. I inwardly groaned a the look knowing the trouble that could be caused from having those two together in one house. It would be like putting Dynamite and a lit match in the same space. Only instead of blowing themselves up along with everyone else it would only be everyone else.

"Mommy, why is Taleb sleeping?" Her voice was little as she slipped through Jaspers arms and walked over to me avoiding everyone of the other Cullen's as if they were the plague bent on only infecting her.

He had a hard time today baby." I told her softly brushing her brown haired locks out of her face and behind her ear.

"Did they huwt him?" She looked back at the Cullen's who were all staring at us including my other kids.

"Oh, no baby, they didn't hurt him." I said trying to reassure her against the guilt in my stomach.

"Mom, stop lying to her. She may be the youngest but she's not dumb and she deserves to know the truth." I glared at my son trying to communicate to him that now was not the time.

"Don't you dare say I was lying to her. They didn't hurt him." My voice was calm but deathly low .

"To hell they did and so did we. They might not have meant to just as we didn't but they did and we did. No reason to sugar coat that fact." I sighed arguments like this weren't rare. And as time went on they had gotten more and more frequent and I was at a loss as to how to stop them.

"Watch your mouth before I have to wash it out. I didn't want to scare her, there's no reason for her to be upset not when its already over." I struggled to keep my voice from rising having long forgotten that the Cullen's were there.

"You didn't want to scare her? She's a lot tougher then you give her credit for and a lot smarter too. What you didn't want her crying over spilt milk? Just because its already spilled doesn't mean there still isn't a mess or that it won't be spilled again. You can't hide her away from everything forever. In fact you've hid her from very little despite you best efforts." He stopped yelling as soon as I opened my mouth.

"Yeah because you tell her everything. She's a little girl. She doesn't need to know the dirty details of the problems everyone faces in this family." I was not yelling back at him no longer remembering that he was my son.

"She's a little girl? Yeah well so is Akira and Jayden. Caleb, Aaron are little boys to Mom but they get to know the dirty details. Why because they have to live with it? Aaron has to deal with the fact that if he slips in his control he could kill everyone of us by amplifying the slightest noise.

"Jayden has to deal with being teased at school because she is so much smarter then everyone else in her class including most of her teachers.

"Akira has to deal with the fact that everyone in town along with her classmates call her every name under the sun that would have Satan himself cringing.

"Aaron who gets so afraid for his brothers and sisters that he does everything in his power to make them laugh or to stop thinking about their problems.

"Caleb who can't even be a part of this family because our very feelings could kill him; has to deal with the fact that he knows nothing about his family and they know absolutely nothing about him. Caleb who has deeper relationships with horses, trees and rocks then his own mother. Caleb who tries so hard to protect his mother from his feelings.

"And Makayla who has to deal with being made fun of because she talks differently. Who is the only one who knows anything about Caleb because she's the only one able to block off her emotions enough to talk to him, to help him while he bleeds and holds him when he cries. Makayla who gives Jayden encouragement when she's having problems figuring something out,. Makayla who listens to Akira's problems and Jayden's problems, and Aaron's problems, and on occasion yours too. Who else do you think called me the day that you went into your two week trance after a neighbor asked where our father was. Who do you think helped finish and create the paintings that were sold that helped keep everyone here warm.? Makayla, mom that's who.

"So don't you dare say she's a little girl who needs to be spared the details because if she needs to be spared them so do the rest of them because their just as young. No one can be protected in this house mom no matter how much we might wish we could protect one another. So stop trying to skate around the truth on telling everything to her. She's big girl she can handle herself." By the time he was done we were standing within inches of each other.

A cough broke us apart and it was at that instant that I remembered that we had company. I looked to see Aiden looked unsurprised and I realized he had never forgotten that they hadn't been alone.

"Should we go? We'll come back at another time." Carlisle asked cautiously.

"Stay, please." I whispered at the same time as Aiden said.

"Go." I raised an eyebrow at him and he just shrugged his eyes defiant.

Looking around I noticed that from Caleb's room their was no longer any noise of breath and Makayla was no longer within the house or within a mile of the house and nor was Caleb.

"Where are they?" I asked frantically.

"He took her to calm her down." Aiden sighed as he began to walk to the front door.

"Well, go find them its not safe for them out there." I told him worry clouding my logic of that statement.

"You never tell me to find Caleb when its midnight and storming outside. You never say its to dangerous then. Caleb will bring Makayla home safe when she feels like coming home. And I won't drag her back here a moment before." His voice was calm and cold.

"Then stay here because we have company." I told him through gritted teeth wondering when everything had gone so wrong. When I had lost Aiden's respect as a mother and when he had come to know more about my on children then I did.

"Their you damn past you deal with them." Before I could reply the door had slammed shut effectively putting an end to any conversation. I watched as one by one my kids stood up said goodbyes to the Cullen they had been talking to and left out the door their oldest brother had just slammed. They had chosen who they were standing behind in this fight and despite the fact that, that choice never changed the pain of it never lessened.

I looked up to see the Cullen's were staring at me in shock except for Jasper who had a sad grim expression on his. If I had been human I would have been blushing crimson red so much was my embarrassment and shame.

"I'm sorry about that." My words were greeted with silence and not for the first itme in my life did I wish for the ability to cry.

****************

"I--I h--ha-hate it w-when t-th-they fi-fight l-lite that." Makayla's voice was broken up into disjointed pieces as sobs wracked her body. Caleb simply sat there holding her rocking back and forth. He pushed away the pain as her emotions washed over him again causing more blood to run down his nose.

"I know. I know. So do I. But Aiden's right you might be pint sized but you can't be protected from what you already know so much of." Caleb told her softly as the trees around then swayed gently from side to side. To Makayla it sounded like whispers, like leaves blowing in a breeze, like trees creaking in the wind. To Caleb it was voices all signing the same song. He began to sing it out loud in human so as to calm his still crying sister.

"Sister, daughter, here us call...let
Your pain fall away as our leaves
do in the fall. they've lost their way
They are out in the wind. They don't mean
The hurtful things they say. Rest your head
Go to bed tomorrow starts another day.
Sister daughter, here us call…"

Makayla had long gotten used to the song for it was the same as it always was when she got upset due to Aiden and their mother's fighting. And by the time the song had ended Makayla was sleeping peacefully her cheeks still glistening with two tear trails.

Caleb sat back against an old Oak before closing his eyes. He had stood vigil over his sister and in turn the trees, and the animals would stand vigil over him. They would allow him to sleep without fear fore they would warn him if danger was near.

A/N So here's the fourth chapter and to everyone who reads my other stories or reads my NEWS on my bio already knows this but to those that don't….my apologies for this being so late. I had this chapter completed and was going to post it when I got home from school but when I tried to turn on my computer it had fried.

TRANSLATIONS:::::

Twatews= Crackers

Fiwe= Fire

Atiwa=Akira

Taleb=Caleb

Wewe=were

Aawon= Aaron

Otay= Okay

So hope you like this chapter as this time you get to see more of the family problems.

Please review!!!!