DISClaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer. I make no profit from this.

I also don't own Russell Howard, but he's a legendary comedian, and I love him. I make no profit from the use of his name

Hope you enjoy this.

-x-

A movement in the trees behind her startled both of us, and a person stepped down to the rock beside her.

Jasper put his arm around her consolingly, and I felt sick. He was taking her away from me. I sighed, my stomach churning, and took a step forward.

-x-

Jasper's POV

I sat down beside her, put my arm around her and smiled. She didn't move and I sat with her in silence for a minute, watching the sunset, ignoring the fact that every vampire in the vicinity was sparkling as if they were made of sequins.

I had to break the silence eventually. It was too heavy in my head, the weight of her emotions.

"What's up?" She sighed and I felt the morbidity wash over me. "What is it?"

"Nothing." I tightened my grip around her shoulders and she offered me a half smile, it disappeared as soon as she looked away. The sadness hit me again.

"Mackenzie-" There was a few seconds of silence. She looked away and sighed.

"Don't." A pause, "Listen… this morning, I heard something that…" she paused, "Sue is it?" I nodded, "Something that Sue said, about me being the third girl Seth had imprintedon in the past six months." Her face went bright pink and she closed her eyes.

"That can't be true… it must just have been a line, Max, a wolf can't imprint on-" I stopped myself when I saw her face and felt the simultaneous sickness that washed over me. "Oh." I looked away, "Right." She stood up and started to walk down the beach.

"Exactly." She whispered it but I could hear it easily. I strode down the beach after her and put my arm around her shoulders, this time not caring about how Seth felt, the jealousy emanating from behind us was almost solid. I fought it and rubbed her shoulder consolingly.

"Is it weird to say that… it's him that should feel bad, not you?" I said after a couple of seconds. She stared up at me, frowning slightly. "He shouldn't have lied in the first place… about-"

"He lied to me?"

"OK, you've got the wrong end of the stick-"

"Did he, or didn't he lie to me-"

"He didn't lie. Max. God, if you knew the feeling coming from him right now, you'd know he wasn't lying."

"Why?" She sounded curious, rather than anything else.

"There is a pretty solid wall of hurt and jealousy coming off the poor dog-boy-" she shoved me, a smile lighting her face. She winced as the smile faded and I felt the pain across my own face.

"And that's affecting you?"

"Kind of. It's easier to suppress it when I'm the subject-"

"So… when you were in the cave with me…" She looked at me, her eyes dark, some kind of fear within them, "You knew it was all…"

"Yeah." I smiled at her, she put her arms around me, "But you do have a freaky mix of emotions and moods in your head. You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah. I think scared-but-happy-but-lonely-but-hurt-but…" She let out a breath and looked at me, "Slightly-attracted-to-the-vampire-because-he's-just-saved-my-life, does kind of qualify as a screwed up set of emotions."

"So that's why I was so attracted to myself!" I laughed and she shook her head.

"It's all of you-"

"What is?"

"You're all so fantastic. I mean there's that freaky stuff Edward can do… and then there's you and your emotions… and the fact you saved my life…" She paused and looked at the sand, "It's hard not to be drawn to that…" Another pause, "but we're going off topic."

"We are?" I couldn't resist the question. She looked up at me, blushed red and looked back at the sand.

"We are." She confirmed. "All the way through that…" She paused and gestured to the cliff. "I was thinking what life would be like if I had gone somewhere else-"

"A damn sight less eventful?"

"Very much so." She shook her head again. "Stop it."

"What?"

"You're making me feel relaxed." Was it possible I could do it unconsciously? It certainly wasn't impossible. I would have to ask Carlisle later.

"Am I?"

"Well my mind's relaxed, but everything else is pretty wound up." She took a deep breath and looked up at me again. "I was thinking that there would have been so much less trouble around."

"What?"

"I've caused everyone a load of utter shitness." She said, though there was a half-smile in her voice.

"Yeah, right."

"Hmm…" she paused, "Now, let's look at this logically. Who was found on the motorway, slightly hypothermic, and then imprinted on by one of the youngest-"

"And bravest." She shot me a dirty look and continued.

"-And bravest wolves in the pack?"

"You."

"Who… who," She closed her eyes, "Who ran off with one of Jake's bikes and crashed and disturbed your afternoon?"

"You." A small pause.

"A-and who went cliff diving, must have hit their head and disappeared, thus nearly ensuring the death of another pack member, pulled everyone off of what they were doing and caused a ridiculous rescue mission to happen?"

"You." She smiled.

"Do you see now, why I have a slight issue with causing trouble?" I laughed softly and she sent me another dirty look. "What's so funny?"

"I've never heard someone use thus in a sentence."

"You're a genuine comedian, Jasper, almost as funny as…" She stopped and looked around, "As funny as Russell Howard."

"Who?"

"Don't worry."

"I won't." She smiled and looked up, "Where are we?" I looked up and realised we had wandered into the forest. It was dark in here, the trees had formed a huge canopy, but the sunset had made it even darker. I took a seat of a fallen tree and she sat on the ground opposite me.

"You know…" She took a breath and sighed.

"What?"

"I love him." I smiled at her, "No, I'm serious. He's… perfection personified."

"Nobody's perfect, Max."

"There are eight people who are perfect in the world, and that's your family. I mean he's my perfection personified. He's everything I want." She looked at me and smiled again. I felt a wave of hunger wash over me, and was slightly confused. I couldn't be hungry.

"You're starving, aren't you?"

"Yeah…" She said after a few seconds, "I am kind of hungry." She said softly, looking away. "Can we go back?"

"Course." I watched her stand up and she shook on her feet. Before I knew it, I had thrown her onto my back and told her to close her eyes. Eight seconds later, we were on the beach.

"That's really weird." She said softly as she slid off me and started down the shore. "Very cool, but really weird."

"Jealousy's gone. Just concern now." My emotions were confirmed as Seth was walking towards us, his eyes blazing but his expression hurt.

"You alright?" He asked Max softly.

"Yeah." She went to give him a kiss on the cheek, but he looked away. It was subtle enough to be coincidental, but sort of blatantly obvious. "Seth?"

"Max." He smiled, but there was no expression, none of the intensity in his voice that had been there a couple of hours ago. "I'm just gonna get the bike. Bring it down to where the guy's truck is." She nodded. "You stay here."

Max's POV

You stay here?

"Seth?" I repeated it, because I was at a loss for every other word in the dictionary. He looked at me without the usual smile, without the usual happiness that Seth seemed to be made of. There was no sun shining out of him like there had been this morning.

"I won't be long. There's some food with the guys. Go get some before it's all gone."

He was only five minutes, but something was wrong. He sat down, silent, his face with a slight tinge of red in his cheeks, and a small frown on his face. The seat beside me was free - Jasper had deliberately sat as far away from me, to try to cool Seth off, but it seemed that Seth was having none of it.

He sat on the sand beside Jared and Kim, didn't take any of the food that was offered to him, though I could tell by the small looks of desire that crossed his face as he looked at the plates that he was starving.

I went and sat down beside him, so he couldn't escape even if he wanted to. Jared looked at me, an obvious question in his eyes.

Privacy? I let him know with a small nod. Cool. He took Kim's hand and they wandered further down the beach, out of earshot of us.

"Seth…" I looked at him. He was determinedly keeping his eyes on the horizon, watching the sun set behind the clouds. I closed my eyes and waited for it to end. It dropped below the horizon quickly and I sighed. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Hmm." He nodded.

"Listen… Seth, Jasper and I…" I offered him a smile. "You know there's nothing going on between us, don't you?" He didn't move. Maybe I had just affirmed the idea in his head, I don't know, but he took a long look at me and shook his head very slowly, very deliberately.

"Right." He nodded and rose to his feet, going to walk along the shoreline. I assumed I was invited, and followed him slowly. He was swinging his arms, so I took his hand and laced our fingers together.

"What's the problem?"

"You reek." He said softly. "Like bloodsucker." I had never heard him use that phrase before, it sounded so harsh coming from his lips.

I felt a little bit sick.

"What do you want me to do?" I said softly.

"I don't know." His voice was hollow, each word hit me like a brick, and I released his hand and walked away.

I don't remember passing Jared and Kim, but I heard their voices shouting after me, telling me to stop walking, to come back,

"Please, Max," But I ignored it. I didn't know where I was going, I didn't realise it until I was halfway there.

I chewed my fingernail absent-mindedly as I stared into the darkness. The ground beneath my bare feet was soft, I half-wondered where my shoes were, but remembered that I had taken them off at the top of the cliff. They were around here somewhere.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged them, feeling suddenly cold on the inside. No sunrise-in-the-stomach now.

The tears began before I could stop them, burning into my cut, burning into the blood on my cheek. I shouldn't have been here. I should have stayed home. Then I wouldn't have torn a friendship apart, I wouldn't have torn a family, a pack. I swallowed and felt the lump of emotion in my throat.

Seth didn't care anymore. I had died to him when I had jumped over the edge. The pain in my chest was incredible; I questioned how a person could lose their soul mate. Was it because of our decisions? Was it because of something outside of us? Of Quil letting go of me, because he definitely hadn't meant for me to go off the cliff, he had meant to hold onto me, they were trying to scare me.

I closed my eyes and waited in the silence. A voice on the beach said something, I could hear it from here, and I heard another voice counter it.

My name was said a couple of times, then a short, sharp burst of yelling, an argument. I laughed hollowly on the inside and looked down on the scene. Jasper… at least I think it was him, was squaring up to Seth, he had his hands behind his head, frustration in Seth's movements making him frustrated too.

I closed my eyes, put my head onto my knees and hugged them tight, afraid to watch them, afraid to see what was going to happen.

-x-

A/N: Please review and let me know how I did... :P

Yay for Jasper's part in this... I love him so...To everyone that's said... "But I thought it was a SETH story... don't break them up..." I like a little drama, and life's not perfect. Lol hhaaa... it's gonna get better. I promise.

I'm really glad you all like it... so i'd appreciate more feedback...

And i'm really, really happy that you keep reading :)

Please Review!!!

Love you guys

xxx