A/N: there's going to be some time jumping this chapter. I'm trying not to drag this out too much, just enough. I will mark the time jumps as best I can but if you find yourselves confused on them let me know in a review or PM and next chapter I'll elaborate on the time frame. Sorry this is so late, my husband and I spent over four hours at a car dealership trying to trade in one car for another because our engine crapped out. Adulting is hard. Lol.

Chapter Seventeen

Jasper

Well today is my birthday and I was gifted with the delightful present of Bella first thing this morning. We made love a couple times and then took a shower in the first bathroom, the only one with a shower head in the wall so we could stand and shower. Then we went for a drive to Snoqualmie Falls until it was time to head to the house for the party Esme has planned.

With as clumsy as she is you would think that Bella wouldn't have enjoyed our hike to the falls, but we took it slow and when we reached our destination the view was worth it. At 269 feet the falls plummeted into a beautiful blue pool on the Snoqualmie River, set between the towns of Snoqualmie and Fall City. The sound of the rushing water made it nearly impossible to hear anyone speaking unless they yelled, but as a vampire I could hear Bella's gasp of delight just fine. It also helped that I could feel her awe and excitement.

She ate lunch on the beach at the base of the falls and then I took us into the woods off the path and ran at vampire speed back to my motorcycle, her leathers arrived last week and now she insists on taking my bike every chance we get. We had four hours to get back before seven when the party would start, but as we all have a tendency to drive faster than the speed limits, I got us back with time to spare- giving us both a chance to change into something more... Party centric.

Too bad though. The sight of her in that black leather jacket, black leather fingerless gloves, the biker boots I bought her and the black helmet with a pink butterfly motif- which she squealed in delight over- and the pair of skin tight jeans she had on was enough to give me a raging hard on. So one quickie later and we were ten minutes late to my own party. I got a scolding from Esme but could feel her understanding and happiness over her words.

The house was decorated with colorful streamers and balloons and there was a table with wrapped gifts and another with some nibbles for Bella, which included a cake none of us would eat, but Rose and I would be expected to blow out the candles that lined the outer rim. I scanned the room to check the positions of the others. Peter and Charlotte were sitting on one of the sofas, Garrett and Kate at the other end. The others were in various places around the room, but it was Edward I was looking for.

He was standing at one of the doors leading out onto the veranda, which had its doors wide open to let in the cooling summer air. Tanya was at his side, clearly trying to claim her territory. Esme kept eyeing her with a frown and I wondered if something had happened before we got here.

I pulled Bella to one of the chairs where I sat and pulled her onto my lap. Once we were all in the room Esme began to hand out our gifts. I let Rose open her's first and she got the usual: jewelry, clothes and car supplies. She loved to tinker on all the family vehicles, she was our mechanic and she was fantastic at it. As I opened my gifts I saw the same things that I usually got: books, CDs, guitar music. But when I opened the last gift, I was startled.

Staring back at me from the tissue paper was a framed family tree, but my parent's names weren't at the top- my sister's was. It was full of so many names. She had had five children and each one of them had children and so on and so forth. For the 142, now 143, years since I was changed her family was beginning and growing. And if the death date under her name was true, she had lived to the ripe old age of 83. If I could, I would have tears steaming down my face. I had family, a lot of family, out there in the world.

"Charlotte helped me with the research, but it was my idea to find what happened to her. I hope you don't mind cowboy, but I thought you'd want to know what happened to her. It's a happy story isn't it? According to what we found out, she made it out of Atlanta before the burning in 1864. She was 17 then, but you would know that of course. A year later she was welcoming their first son into the world as her husband rebuilt their home.

"They lived and loved in Atlanta until they both died of old age, surrounded by their family. Most still live in Atlanta, but a few have moved elsewhere. I have all the information if you ever want to find them. But I'll leave that up to you. At least now you know what's happened to her." I'm so overcome with emotion that I begin to project it and the room becomes completely silent as they begin to feel my awe.

I have to clear my throat a few times before I can speak and even then it's stuttered. "Thank.. Thank you darlin'. And thank you Charlotte, for.. For helping her with this. This has to be the greatest gift anyone has ever given me, except of course for my finding you Bella. Thank you so much." I take her face gently between my hands and kiss her. I can feel her cheeks blush beneath my hands but I don't care. I put everything I'm feeling behind the kiss and leave her breathless when it's over.

"Well now that that's over, care to stop fucking projecting there Major before you send everyone in this room into a damn frenzy? We can feel the sexual tension rolling off you in waves."

This of course makes Bella blush from the base of her neck to the tips of her ears and I have to growl at Peter for embarrassing her more than I did. "Shut up Peter!"

"Sorry, sorry. Forgive me for stating the fucking obvious." Then he turns to Bella. "You'll have to get used to it girl if you're going to be a vampire, we don't really hold back and when you're living in a house full of vamps like this it's kinda hard to keep what you're doing a secret unless you sound proof your room. Just a friendly warning."

Bella's eyes grow wide with that knowledge. I haven't told her this yet, there wasn't a need to. "Thanks Peter."

"You're welcome, though I don't appreciate the sarcasm."

"You should be used to it by now do you not think Peter? After all you use it often enough."

"Shut up Garrett."

"What? I am merely stating the blatant truth, just as you did a moment ago," Garrett says, causing us all to laugh.

After this it's blowing out candles, feeding Bella and then the day is over and we all go our separate ways.

Edward

That was torture! It took all my phenomenal will power not to launch myself at Bella and give myself away. Her blood was so enticing; and so strong, even with the doors open and the fresh air coming in. I managed it though, but now I feel the need to get closer to her. To watch her. This is going to get harder from here on in I think. I can't help myself and follow them home, watching as Jasper kisses her and removes her clothes. All I can see are silhouettes but it's enough to tell me what they're going to do.

The sounds that follow confirm my thoughts and I find myself becoming aroused. Leaving them, I go and find Tanya. She didn't leave my side the entire night, which was annoying, but now I have need of her to relieve myself. Peter was right about the whole sexual tension thing. I'm sure everyone in the house, except Alice and of course Tanya, has gone off to be alone somewhere. However I'm proven wrong when I enter the house. I move closer to the kitchen where Esme is putting the food away while berating Tanya.

"Tanya dear. I don't know what is going on with you, but green is an ugly color. Why you feel the need to be jealous of Bella is beyond me. She's in love with Jasper and she won't ever want Edward and frankly dear, if Edward were your mate you wouldn't need to be jealous because you would know he only wants you.

"I don't know what's going on between you two, but if you can't be more cordial to Bella than I feel you might need to leave. We love you, but Bella is family. As Carlisle's descendant, she's blood. And she will come before you everytime. So please act like the lady I know you to be and stop letting the green eyed monster dictate your feelings."

"I'm sorry Esme, it's just he's always so focused on her and I wish he would act that way with me. What is it about her that attracts Edward so?"

"I haven't noticed him paying any more attention to her than anyone else so I'm not sure what you're seeing. In fact, he seems to avoid her which is strange to me..." It's time I interrupt. It wouldn't do for Esme to figure me out.

"Hello ladies," I say as I strut into the room. "What are you discussing?"

"Nothing Edward darling. Just how well the party went."

Well isn't Esme quite the little liar. "Oh, ok then. Well I'm going to go hunting. Tanya, would you care to join me?" The tone of my voice brooks no argument and she nods and follows me out the door as Esme wishes us goodluck. I take her as far from the house and anywhere near the others as I can and rip her clothes from her body and gorge myself. Coming inside her again and again until I no longer feel the sexual tension from earlier. All I feel now is the thirst for Bella's blood yet again.

Perhaps it's time to head to Seattle for my bi-weekly human blood intake. Yes, that's just what I'll do. So giving my excuses I head that way after getting Tanya back to the house. Hunting out a particularly juicy morsel I gorge myself, this time on blood, and dump the body off the docks where no one will find him before heading back to the house to shower and change. It wouldn't do, after all, for someone to smell even the smallest drop of human blood on me. No matter how careful I may be.

Bella

The next evening after I get home from my shift I find Eleazar talking to Jasper in the living room, which I expected to be packed with boxes as he officially moved in today- but as usual vampire speed helped him and how I wish sometimes I had it so I didn't have to go at a human pace all the time. It amused me how many times I got asked, by my coworkers and some of the people at the diner, if we were really ready for that, but I just smiled and told them yes and soon it was all over town that Bella Swan and Jasper Hale were now living together.

When they see me enter they welcome me and Eleazar gets to the reason he's here. "I wanted to talk to the two of you before saying anything to the others. I didn't think you'd appreciate me revealing what I know without your permission. I don't know if Jasper has told you of my gift Bella?"

"Yes he has."

"Good, well then I can simply get on with it. When I first met you on the beach that night in July I saw your gift immediately. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to talk to you, but Jasper can tell you when we come down from Denali one of the first orders of business is shopping and Carmen shops like a pro. Anyhow. When I met you, as I said, I saw your gift immediately. You're a shield. I'm not sure if you're aware that Edward can't hear your thoughts?

"I overheard him talking to Tanya about it and then he asked me a couple weeks ago if I saw you having a gift and he had to tell me why he was asking then. I told him I wasn't sure because I didn't want to let anyone else know before I spoke to you. I must warn you, if you're able to keep him out of your mind subconsciously now, you will be very powerful when you become a vampire. I am not sure if I believe Alice about the brothers not taking gifts anymore, I mean I haven't been called upon in several years, but that doesn't always mean anything.

"But even if she's right about them, they have numerous enemies that might think to utilize you against them. And if they can get you, they'll get Jasper here too. And for anyone looking for power, that is a mighty temptation. A powerful shield mated to the greatest warrior in our world? They'll salivate over the idea. If I were you, I'd keep this to yourselves."

"Well I thank you for telling us Eleazar; and for keeping it to yourself until speaking to us. I think Jazz will agree with me when I say we would like to keep it between us, at least until we're ready to tell anyone else."

"Of course. Edward doesn't read my mind that often and I've gotten exceptionally good at keeping him out, especially since my occasional work for the brothers is to remain a secret and I can't have him roving around my mind discovering said secrets. So I assure you it's safe with me and from him. Now, I'll leave you two to whatever your plans for the remainder of the day were. We will probably be leaving this evening, well a few of us anyway. I think Kate and Tanya will be staying a little longer. It was a pleasure to meet you Bella and since we will probably miss it, I wish you a happy eighteenth birthday on behalf of my family. Feel free to visit us whenever you wish."

"Thank you Eleazar; and it was a pleasure meeting you too. Tell the others goodbye for us and that it was nice meeting everyone. Perhaps we'll visit sometime after the new year."

"We would like that. Until then." And he walked out the door and was gone.

"Well that was interesting. I wonder why Alice didn't warn us."

"She did. Well me at least. He just made the decision to show this morning and as you were at work, I chose not to disturb you. Peter said the day was uneventful when he called me a few minutes before Eleazar showed up."

"Yeah, just a few hikers coming in for supplies."

"I'm glad. How about we make you some dinner and just relax with a movie?"

"I think I'd like that Jazz."

Edward

I'm sure Jasper knows I've been watching Bella. Ever since the party two weeks ago I've kept an eye on her, and technically him since he moved in the day after his and Rosalie's birthday party, from a distance. From the forest around their new home and as she's at work. That was when I realized something interesting, Peter, Jasper or Charlotte have been following her to and from work. Now I wonder why they've been doing that? Surely it can't be because of Tanya. Bella handled her rather well from the sounds of Tanya's bitching. So why?

I can't hear anything to tell me in their thoughts, but that could be that they're blocking me because they know I've been watching her. Which leads to the question, do they know what she means to me? That I'm a danger to her? And if so why haven't they outed me? The mystery just keeps getting bigger and bigger and more and more intriguing. Surely one of them will slip in their thoughts and I'll discover the truth. Sometimes I even stand in the tree line and listen to them having sex.

The fact he's having sex with my prey still makes me angry. I've never been sexually attracted to the human women I've killed but listening to my brother make love to his mate, hearing her responses, makes my dick hard everytime and I'm thinking I'll sample the wares before tasting her blood. I've been fucking Tanya nearly everytime I get back. It's always rough and fast and she's lucky if I ever give her her own releases since it's always about mine more.

Another week passes, it's now the twenty sixth of August. School is right around the corner. As a matter of fact it's a few days over a week away; and I'm yet again asking the question, why hasn't he chased me off yet? Why hasn't he told Carlisle and the others of what I've been doing? None of it makes sense really but who am I to complain, it just means I can remain close to the delicious honey scent of my singer. Mmmmmm I can't wait. Soon Bella. Soon. Then I fade back into the trees yet again and head back home to take Tanya off somewhere and give myself release.

Jasper

This being Friday Bella is usually at work, now that Newton's has switched to it's fall hours- being opened Tuesday through Saturday now. I know she's also asked for some vacation time in September since her birthday is coming then, but Ted Newton readily agreed to give her the whole month off since the slow season truly starts then. Then the grocery store gave her the same amount of time off too, which goes to show two things about Forks. Word gets around fast; and they're all pretty laid back about everything.

So hopefully we can leave all this nonsense behind us for a bit. I'm not telling anyone where we're going, but I'm sure Alice has seen. I plan to take her on a road trip down the coast until we get to California where I'll veer off and head to Arizona. It's time she visited her parents graves. The last time she saw them was when she buried them.

I talked to Esme a week ago and asked her about how soon was too soon to propose and she told me if I loved Bella that much then no time was too soon. I was going to do it on her birthday but that seems too cliche to me. The ring I bought online has alr eady been picked up from the store in Seattle. While I got it she, and all the females in the family, went shopping to buy some fall outfits. Rose and Alice talked Bella into a full wardrobe- since she's never dealt with northern falls and winters, so I had all day.

I also spent the last three days sneaking off while she was at work, Char and Peter watching over her, while I set up everything by the lake Em showed me a while back. I haven't taken her there yet but I know she'll love it. We'll spend the night out there as the weather promises to be perfect. It's not too far from the house, maybe twenty minutes as the vampire runs. I know she's been curious as to what I've been doing but she'll just have to wait. I've made sure to be home every day before she gets off so I can spend our nights together.

I'm pulled from my musings just as I'm putting the final touches to her meal. Turning to look I watch as she comes out in a plum satin and lace nightie set that sets me on fire. She's so damn beautiful and all I want is to make love to her. It wasn't easy to stop myself either, when she sat down at the breakfast bar that hemline rode up so high I could see she didn't have any panties on. But she needs to eat so I somehow manage to keep my hands to myself, barely. When she's done I put the dishes in the newly installed dishwasher and pick her up and carry her to the bedroom where I spend the rest of the night worshipping her body the way it deserves.

I need to take both our minds off the creeper standing outside watching us. I want to kill him. I can always feel his arousal and Alice warned us what his plans will be for her if he ever gets ahold of her. I wish I could just kill him, but even I know the value of a good strategy and the need to leave a lesser player alive to get the bigger one. That's how we often defeated a coven leader during my time with Maria. We let a lone newborn lead us back to their encampment and took the whole thing out. That's what Edward will be. The rat that leads us to the cheese, so unfortunately I can't kill him, yet.

I swear before all is said and done though, that he will be in pieces and burned into pile of ash for the things he's been doing recently. Not only is he after my mate, but he's hurting Tanya in the process. She doesn't show it, but I can feel her anger and pain. I can feel the love she has for him and the disappointment she feels that he doesn't return it. I don't know which side she'll land on when it comes down to it though.

She loathes the brothers for the death of her mother, but if Edward does join the enemy- will she wish to do so too? Or will his ill treatment of her make her into a woman scorned and have her turning him in as a traitor? Those are questions we won't know until Edward makes more decisions. I just wish this whole thing was over already. So I can have a life with my mate that isn't fraught with danger and mayhem. I want to turn her so we can spend the rest of our lives together.

Looking at her laying in this bed with her hair fanned out around her as she sleeps, I can't help but imagine her like me. Her skin is already pale so I don't have to picture that, much. Her hair is long and lustrous and will be even more so afterwards. Her eyes will be red at first but in about three months they'll be the same golden color as my own. She will be exquisite. Not that she isn't already. My beautiful Bella.