The phone rang twice before Jasper snatched it from the bedside table. His amber eyes took in the caller ID – Carlisle. He ran his hands through his tussled hair before the phone rang again.

"What?" He growled, flicking the phone open to answer it.

"Alice called again." Carlisle's soothing tone travelled down the phone.

"Again?" He snapped.

"Yes, son." Carlisle confirmed. "She asked for you…"

Jasper glared at the phone in his hands like it was a time-bomb. He wanted to be left alone, that was his plan. That's why he was staying in a cheap, rented motel room – to be in solitude.

"Does she know where I am?" Jasper asked, pulling on his ragged jeans and stood up intending to make a quick getaway.

"Well, yes, I suspect she does…" Carlisle laughed softly. "Let's be fair, not a lot of information escapes her. But Jasper, don't worry about it. She just wants to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, dad." Jasper said coldly. "I'm perfectly fine… life has never been better."

"Jasper?" Carlisle questioned.

"What?" Jasper responded, pulling his tight cream leather jacket on, before shoving his feet roughly in a pair of sneakers. The epitome of fashion, hardly – he had thrown on anything he could find, and hadn't adventured out to buy anything new to wear.

"Why did you leave us?" Carlisle asked softly.

"Do you mean, why did I leave Bella?" Jasper laughed.

"No, son. I mean why did you leave the family?" Carlisle tried to make his voice smile, but Jasper could read the pain in it.

"Well…" He paused, trying to turn his feelings into words. "I just… didn't want to make you all hurt more than you had too… I trashed Bella's piano, even if she did say she hated it, it still doesn't make it right…"

"Jasper, please come home." Carlisle pleaded. "Just come home and talk to us…"

"Whatever." Jasper groaned, snapping the phone shut. He carefully folded the sheets on the bed – he had always wanted to repay anyone's hospitality in any way he could. He peeled off a handful of $20 notes from the small pile in his pocket and slid them under the pillow, way more than enough to pay for his nights stay.

The morning sun hadn't risen yet, so he had more than enough time to reach the outskirts of town at a reasonable speed.

--

"Bella, would you like to hunt?" Rosalie offered, sticking her head around the bedroom door.

"No thanks." Bella said shortly.

"Oh come on…" Rosalie laughed. "It'll be a laugh; we'll catch some bear with Emmett. He always plays with his food…"

"Rose. I said no." Bella snapped.

She hadn't hunted in days; the burn in her throat didn't really rise as one of her priorities. It was always there, a constant ache in the back of her mind, but she couldn't stop thinking about other things.

"Bella, you need to hunt. Your eyes are black." Rosalie said, moving to sit on the side of her bed. "Have you even left the bed in days?"

Rosalie knew the answer anyway, no-one had heard her move an inch – she had stayed perfectly still for 3 days now. Since Jasper had left.

"So what?" Bella groaned.

"Your skin will go all weird if you stay still too long – and you don't want that do you?" Rosalie smiled, trying to get Bella to at least smile.

To her surprise, Bella did smile, if only for a brief second.

"You smiled!" Rosalie laughed gleefully.

"Yeah… I guess I did." Bella said slowly.

She sat up slightly in the bed, taking in her still messy surroundings. Esme had tried to tidy up the room at some point in the past few days, but in the end had given up when Bella refused to respond to anything she had said.

Rosalie looked around at the mess too, the clothes all around the room and the CD's lying in disdain on the floor. Jasper's scent coated the bed. The room had been torn apart even more the night he had left her.

"You miss Jasper right?" Rosalie asked

"Yeah. He made me feel better." Bella tried to laugh it off.

"I know he did, I know." Rosalie said.

"I'm not in love with him…" Bella groaned, reading the implied comment in Rosalie's tone.

"Did you not sleep with him?" Rosalie asked, confused. No-one had been there that night; the whole family had left Jasper alone in the house with Bella, hoping that they could comfort each other.

"Technically, we can't ever sleep together." Bella laughed.

"Not funny, Bella." Rosalie groaned. "Did you have sex? Did you make love? Did you do it?"

"No. We never." Bella muttered.

"It wouldn't have been cheating…" Rosalie reasoned.

"I know that! But he's not mine to love, Rose." Bella started to get worked up. "I can't love him; we're just there for each other. Nothing more."

"Okay, Bella." Rosalie said calmly. "But you could both help each other…"

"Love is the last thing on our minds." Bella said.

"What did happen that night then?" Rosalie asked.

"I stroked his hair, while he cried…" Bella said. "Then, he told me he was leaving… He told me Alice had called him…"

"Is that why you trashed the room?" Rosalie questioned.

"No." Bella responded. "I just didn't want Edward to be here, I loved him once you know."

"He loved you." Rose said, touching her hand to her adopted sister's arm.

"But he loved Alice too." Bella snapped.

"People can love more than one person." Rosalie smiled sourly. "Ask Emmett about that sometime, if he tells you about anyone, you have to tell me so I can slap him!"

--

"Alice. Please talk to me – I need to know!" Bella shouted desperately into her cell phone. "I want to know…"

There was still silence at one end of the phone-line, but Bella knew Alice was there, that she was listening consumed with silent sobs.

"You had sex with my husband, Alice… for 5 years… How could you do that!? How could you be so completely stupid!?"

"I saw Jasper with you. It made me mad." Alice's voice burst out.

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ME THEN!" Bella screamed.