Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I do, however, own my OCs, this storyline, and a soccer mom-mobile with way too many miles on it.

A/N: We are well on our way to the second outtake, which looks like it will be "Welcome to Manhood" from Bella's POV! There is only one chapter left (plus the epilogues, alternate ending, and outtakes). I'm sad. Help cheer me up -- come hang out at the Secret Twilight Garden with me. Friday I will be reviewing "Peonies" by sillybella for Finished Fic Friday. Appropriate, no?

Mad love to readingtime, jilburfm, and changedbyEdward, who all helped me get this chapter where I wanted it.

Jasper's POV

The three days of her transformation were the worst in my life. Trying to absorb her pain, trying to soothe her, all the while dealing with her out of control emotions and my own internal agony. I didn't know they were married when I kissed her. Would that have stopped me? I wasn't sure. If I was being honest, the answer was no, probably not. If I hadn't kissed her, would things have turned out differently? No, I came to the conclusion they wouldn't have. Jane was already attacking Edward when I took Bella from his arms. I just didn't realize it at the time.

I didn't regret what I did to save her. If the situation was reversed, I would have wanted Edward to save Bella, even if it meant sacrificing me to do so. I do regret that the last thing he heard, ironically, was me calling Bella my wife. That had to have pierced his heart like a dagger. It would have me.

My mind kept slipping into strategy mode as I continued wiping Bella down with a cold cloth, erasing the last vestiges of human fluids from her body as she sweat them out of her pores. Edward had been kidnapped, and it appeared as though Felix and Heidi had as well. Heidi. I felt certain it was my friendship with her that did us in. I got too close to her, let her see inside my broken heart, forgot that what she saw, so would Aro eventually. Now I've endangered the one person besides Bella that I quite possibly could not live without, not to mention her best friend and my brother.

That's assuming they were still alive at all. From what I knew of the Volturi, there might not be anyone left to save. As soon as Bella woke up and hunted, I would have to call Carlisle. He had more direct knowledge of them and would be best able to determine whether a rescue effort was an exercise in futility bound to get us all killed or not.

Bella's heart rate started to slow. I listened to it, like a music box that was dying down and in need of rewinding. She had always wanted to be changed. Just not right now. And possibly not by me. But I hoped she would understand. I would tell her everything, as much as it pained me to, and then together with our family we would do whatever she wanted to do. She was becoming even more beautiful with every minute that the venom worked its magic. I felt the love I had for her being amplified in ways that had nothing to do with the involuntary reaction I had to her newly enhanced, scantily clad body. It was something that I couldn't really understand, but I had no desire to fight it.

Finally, the music box stopped.

No heartbeat.

No emotions.

No movement.

I started to panic. It was taking much too long. I grabbed Bella by the shoulders, sitting her up as I shook her. "Bella! Bella, sweetheart please wake up! You're scaring me, darlin'…" I sobbed as her head hung loosely back, her jaw slack.

I laid her back down and laid my head on her stomach, holding her unresponsive hand while my body shook with unshed tears. Then…I felt it.

Confusion.

Disorientation.

Irritation.

I opened my eyes to see Bella's crimson irises looking down at me.

"Jasper, could you kindly get off me now?" Bella asked, her tone sharp, softened only by her poor attempt at a smile. I sat up but kept holding her hand, resisting the urge to place tiny happy kisses all over her face.

"Bella," I sighed in relief. Bella sat up, turning her body sideways so she was sitting next to me, her legs dangling off the side of the bed as she looked around, getting accustomed to her newfound eyesight and the strange surroundings.

Her mind, now running at vampire speed, seemed to be processing everything, her emotions changing in rapid succession. Her head suddenly whipped to the side, looking at the door. "Edward!" she said, jumping up. She suddenly realized her current state of undress, looking down at her vampire body, then looking at me, sitting on the bed in my boxers.

"Why?"

I stood up and gave her the t-shirt I was wearing when we arrived before sitting back down on the edge of the bed. "You were clawing at your clothes during the burn. I took them off so I could keep you cool." Bella nodded in understanding and took the shirt, pulling it over her head with inhuman speed.

"Thank you. But I knew that part. What I meant was…why did you change me?"

"Bella…how much do you remember?"

She looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, her head tilted and her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to connect the dots in her mind. Eventually, her emotions gave her away. She remembered everything. She walked up to me, bent down and kissed my cheek. I missed the heat a little, but her lips still felt warm and soft and right pressed against my skin.

"That was for saving me." I put my hand over the spot her lips had just abandoned and smiled up at her, basking in the forgiveness and love she was bathing me in. Then before I knew what hit me, she punched me on the other side of my face, hard, causing my head to fly to the other side.

"And that was for kissing me at the airport…and changing me without waking me up first, and all the other liberties you took while I was incapacitated." I rubbed my jaw in shock while she smirked at me, her arms crossed across her chest. I guess I deserved that. Her anger dissipated and was replaced with fierce determination.

"Now that that's out of the way, how do we get Edward back?"

"I don't know yet, Bella. First you need to hunt, and then we should call Carlisle and Alice. She tried to call me when I was on the way to the airport. I thought she wanted to give me a hard time about stealing her Porsche so I ignored her call. I'm guessing I was way off base," I said with a nervous chuckle.

"Call Carlisle first."

"No, Bella, you need to hunt. You can feel the burn in your throat, darlin', I can sense it."

"Call. Carlisle. Now." Her eyes glowed with impatience and anger.

Realizing I needed to pick my battles, I went to grab my phone out of my jeans pocket. Bella's rings fell out and I picked them up, placing them in my palm to show her.

"I suppose congratulations are in order. I took these off so they didn't get crushed with your developing strength. Let me hang them on your necklace with your pendant for now, alright?" Bella nodded and turned her back to me, lifting her hair so I could reach the clasp. I opened it, slid the rings on, and closed it again as quickly as possible. I looked at the charm hanging on the clasp and it finally sunk in. I hadn't lost Bella. She was never really mine to lose. It wouldn't keep me from loving her. In fact, I was certain at this moment that I loved her more than ever. But it would keep me from hurting her ever again.

Bella dropped her hair and turned around to face me. "Thank you, Jasper. We don't really have time to discuss this the way I'd like to right now, but you need to know I never intended to hurt you." Her emotions reflected the sincerity of her words.

"I believe that, Bella, I do. I never meant to hurt you, either. Sometimes I wish we could turn back time and start over."

"Jasper, If I had woken up like Alice…if I didn't remember anything, would you have told me the truth?"

I took Bella's hands in my own and pulled her reluctantly to me. "Yes, Bella, I think I would have. You can't blame me for entertaining the idea of whisking you off to some remote island and keeping you all to myself, though, can you?" I leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

"No, I suppose not. For what it's worth, Jasper, I'm sorry you found out the way that you did."

"I know. It's said and done. Check out the closets, see if you can find a pair of pants that fit while I call Carlisle."

He answered on the first ring. "How is she?" Ah…he must be with Alice.

"She just woke up. She's dealing with everything remarkably well so far. I take it you're with Alice?"

"Yes, when she saw the vision of you at the airport and was unable to reach you, she went to Siohban's and changed Adrian. I am in the process of tying the loose strings in her husband's tragic death."

"Her husband?"

"Yes, Adrian and Edward surprised the girls with a double wedding. They didn't know anything about it until half an hour before the ceremony was about to begin." I don't know why, but that made me feel incrementally better. I had assumed Bella had known before she left and just hid it from me. I felt guilty for not having more faith in her than that.

"Are they alive?" I asked. Carlisle knew who I meant.

"Yes, for now. There are a few ways this can go, according to Alice. Adrian is a typical crazed newborn and Alice has her hands full trying to keep him from wiping out the entire village right now, so we can't count on them for help. I've already contacted Emmett. He and Rosalie were in Milan, so that helps. Rose is going to fly here to help Alice move Adrian somewhere more remote. At the moment, being around other human drinkers is not helping his fragile resolve to abstain. Emmett will meet you, Bella, and me at the airport. Has she fed yet?"

"No. She insisted I call you first."

Carlisle laughed in spite of himself. "Sounds like our Bella. Make sure she feeds before you get her on a plane. Arrange for a private jet. I'll see you soon."

"Alright, Carlisle. Thank you."

"Oh, and Jasper?"

"Yes?"

"I'm proud of you." I beamed at the compliment. I was about to ask him what for, but he'd already hung up.

Bella was standing in the doorway listening in, wearing a pair of grey sweatpants with my t-shirt. It reminded me of the days she dressed for bed like that back at Charlie's house. I couldn't help but smile.

"My guess would be he's proud of you for saving me, for changing me without killing me, for doing the right thing, and for helping me rescue my husband," she stated simply. "Now let's get going. We don't have time to sit around singing Kumbaya right now."

"You need to hunt first, Bella. Carlisle agrees with me. Killing the pilots in mid-flight won't help us get there any faster."

Bella sighed in defeat, and I motioned towards the door to allow her to go first. We stepped outside and the first thing I smelled was cows in a pasture on the other side of the cornfield. Bella crinkled her nose and put her hand in front of her mouth.

"What's that smell?"

"Breakfast," I said, taking her hand and racing through the cornfield. I could feel her exhilaration at running. It was the same thrill she got from riding the motorcycle.

When we got to the pasture, though, it changed. She was shaking her head, refusing to do what needed to be done.

"Just let instinct take over, sweetheart. It'll be okay. It should come natural to you." Bella closed her eyes, making a gagging sound before targeting one of the older cows in the herd. She bit its neck cleanly, taking one long draw from its vein before releasing it, dropping onto her knees and retching, spitting out the blood into a puddle in the grass. The cow was now in pain, making horrible noises and alerting the rest of the herd, and if we weren't careful, the farmer too. I quickly drained the cow, dragging it into the woods just beyond the field and burying it quickly before returning to Bella, scooping her up off the ground and running into the woods.

"I can't keep it down, Jasper. It smells horrid and tastes rancid."

I ran until I smelled a herd of deer. Perhaps this would be better for her. The blood would be more pure. Perhaps they had injected the cows with growth hormones or something that disagreed with Bella's newborn palette.

Bella turned her nose up again, shaking her head and holding her stomach.

"I can't, Jasper. Just the smell of their blood is making me sick." I grabbed one of the deer and held it to her. It bucked and kicked and pointlessly struggled against me.

"Isabella. Drink."

"No."

Without giving her time to react, I broke the deer's neck and let it fall to the ground, tackling Bella to the ground, pinning her arms beneath me as I straddled her chest, holding her head facing me with my knees, intent on force feeding her if I had to.

"Jasper, have you lost your mind? Let me up!"

I tried not to think about her firm breasts pushing up against my thighs as she squirmed, or the close proximity of her mouth to my sex. I think Bella noticed my momentary distraction, though, because she used that moment to push me off of her with all her might and I went flying, landing in a heap against a massive tree stump several yards away.

She took a couple of deep breaths and then stood. She looked down at me, quite pleased with her newborn strength, and smirked as she held out of her hand to get me to stand as well.

"Let's go. We've got to get to the airport. Every minute wasted is another minute the Volturi can use to hurt them. I told you I wasn't that thirsty. We'll deal with this later." I eyed her suspiciously. "One of the things I've always loved about you was that you allowed me to make my own decisions. Don't stop now, please? I trust you to keep me safe, and to keep the people around me safe." She gave me a soft smile, but her eyes and her emotions let it be known she meant business. She would not be deterred this time.

"Okay." We headed back for the farmhouse and were almost there when I smelled them. There were humans inside, most probably the owners. By now they must have realized they'd had intruders. Damn. I was hoping to be able to at least leave some money to cover the damages if I didn't have time to fix the door myself before we left. I would have to anonymously send them some money somehow. I didn't have time to worry about that now, though. We needed to leave and Bella was feeling nauseous again. We gave the building a wide berth and then I had her wait by the road while I ran back and retrieved the hidden Porsche.

Once we were in the car, Bella calmed down. She called and made all the arrangements for the jet and had it waiting on the tarmac when we arrived. Her reaction to the few humans we encountered, including the pilot, was the same as before. If it were possible for a vampire to be green around the gills, she would have been. I held her hand, needing the direct contact to help her keep her nerves in check.

As the plane took off and headed for Italy, I wondered if these were my last moments with Bella. What awaited us on the other side of the ocean? If we managed to escape unscathed, I hoped that Bella and I could at least remain friends. I loved her far too much not to be close to her, no matter how many times we have each hurt the other. Would we be able to save Edward, Heidi and Felix? I was so worried for all of them. Would any of us ever be safe again? And what if we were too late? What would happen then?

A/N: The NCBs are taking the Cullendales Male Revue to Glasgow, Russia!