Bella's smile spread across her entire face, as wide as a Cheshire cat's and matching the man's laying beside her. The kiss had broken down barriers between them, taking all the angst and hurt from both of them and turning it into a single action. Her hand had wound itself in his tight sandy locks, and his hand had placed itself tenderly against her hip.

"Well, I think…" Bella began but stopped when Jasper's hand moved from her hip and pressed softly against her lips to shush her.

"Enjoy the moment." Jasper said calmly.

"You're leaving again aren't you?" Bella said quietly, pushing his hand away firmly with the hand she originally had curled into his hair. Her eyes left his and her smile faltered.

"What makes you think that?" He asked, propping himself up on his elbow, so that he could see her face better now that she'd turned slightly.

"You always leave me." She laughed quietly.

The embarrassment radiated from her and flooded into Jasper's system. He ducked his head, like his normal sign of him withdrawing emotionally. The muscles in his chest tightened seven-fold and he struggled not to gasp for the unnecessary air around him.

"I'm sorry. I'm not leaving." He said after an eternity.

"Thank you." Bella said simply.

"Why is it a good thing I'm not leaving? I cause so much trouble for this family, all of the time… I'm a burden, the weak link…" Jasper said desperately, ducking his head again.

Bella noticed this time and shifted her body again to face him properly. Her golden toffee eyes staring into his slightly blackened ones. Esme had been forcing him to drink warm animal blood out of a plastic mug, as he'd refused to leave the house to hunt since he had returned.

"Erm…" Bella started.

"There isn't a reason. I'm so useless…" Jasper butted in but Bella quietened him by using the same gesture as he had, pressing her index finger against his lips. After a second she knew what she wanted to say.

"Because… Jasper Hale, I think I love you…" Bella smiled weakly.

"I… I… yeah, I love you too." Jasper admitted.

"I'll admit it, Jasper; I've learnt to love you." She explained. "Edward preoccupied me too much to ever let me spend time with you… or the rest of the family. But you are the one I should have…"

"I've always loved you." Jasper said simply. "But I was in denial."

"So I'm worth denial, eh?" Bella laughed, rolling onto her back to let Jasper have a private moment without her watching every flick of his eyes, every move his mouth made to create a sound.

"Oh… I didn't mean it like that…" He gasped, mistaking her movement for a sign of feeling rejected.

"You're meant to be the empath!" Bella groaned again, wondering how he could misread the playful emotions flooding from her every pore.

"Oh." He laughed, sensing her emotions properly.

"So…" Bella said after he had fallen silent for too long to be bearable.

"So…" Jasper copied her.

"What do we do?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Jasper questioned. "We could go out to hunt if you want… or I could take you shopping, actually I hate shopping, what am I on about?"

"I didn't mean that, silly." Bella giggled, pulling Jasper's free hand onto her hip again. "I meant like, where do we go now? What's our relationship status?"

Jasper thought for a moment. Bella became entranced by the way his hand traced and stroked the skin that was between her jeans and her vest top. He was dazzling her without even having to look, without having to care – something she could get used to.

"I think we should take it slowly…" He said softly.

"Okay. Why?" Bella couldn't help wanting to know why he was apprehensive about having a relationship. It seemed logical to her, it wasn't payback for what Alice and Edward had done, it was love. The past didn't matter anymore; she just wanted him.

"It's still in my head, Bella. All this stuff, all the hurt and all the anger. I don't want to bring it onto you." He said cautiously.

"If you don't feel ready for a relationship, we can wait." Bella tried to comfort him.

"I don't want to wait!" Jasper said playfully.

"We don't even need to date…" Bella continued trying to comfort him.

"You're the woman. You're meant to be all up for the dating and the holding hands and the telling the parents…" Jasper laughed.

"I'm not the typical woman. Let's be fair." She giggled.

"Bella…" Jasper said slowly.

"What is it, Jasper?" Bella said, still not looking at him, but now holding his hand in hers. Her other hand had found his face, and was slowly stroking down the side of his cheek.

"Can I kiss you again?" He smiled.

"Darlin' there is no need to ask." Bella imitated the southern drawl that she sometimes heard him use when she used to catch him talking to himself when he thought he was alone in the house.

In one swift movement, he was on top of her. His weight supported on his arms that were placed either side of Bella's shoulders. His lips crashing tragically against hers, this time they were fighting back as her hands locked around his waist. They battled with their lips until finally Bella allowed Jasper's tongue to dip into her mouth as she playfully closed her lips around it.

His eyes were barely open as the lust balled into him, making the kiss turn into a fiery make-out session. Bella pulled him down on top of her, so that Jasper could put his hands under her head and control the kiss. Eventually, the kiss turned into a series of small chaste pecks.

"Jasper!" Carlisle's voice shouted up the stairs. "Hunt now!"

Jasper rolled off of Bella carefully, before moving one of his hands onto his groin, the other one still under her head.

"Erm… you go downstairs first?" He asked Bella, chuckling.

"Yeah, I think that's best." Bella nodded smiling, realising what Jasper was meaning.

"Thank you…" He said as she climbed gracefully from the bed and made towards the door, smoothing her hair under her hands as she went.

"Bella." Jasper said quietly as she reached the door. "I love you so much…"

"I love you too." She grinned.

A/N – Thank you all for reading once again. There is a poll on my profile page about song choices for Jasper's serenade – alternatively, leave a note in a review or message me if there's a particular song you like. I'll check them all out for definite and whichever one I choose will mean that the winner gets a dedication!

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