So, this is a really short chapter - to repair the damage done in the last one.

Chapter 25.

Bella was feeling restless; she couldn't believe so much had changed in the last few hours. It seemed like such a long time since she'd be lying in his Jasper's as the sunshine filtered into their room and yet the time had gone by so quickly as well. The gulf between her and Jasper was widening with each minute she was apart from him and the pain throughout her body was building as well.

Rosalie and Emmett were lying on their bed and she could feel them both staring at her. They'd tried to get her to talk to them when they first got back to the room but words were failing her; every time she tried to phrase a sentence she couldn't. Her mouth was dry and for the first time since she was re-born her throat wasn't burning. She sighed and rested her head on her arms as she hugged her knees.

An hour ago their mum and dad had come to the room and had hugged her for a long time; trying to reassure her that Jasper would make the right decision. She wished she could believe them; she didn't though; she knew in her heart he'd already made his choice and it wasn't going to be one she was going to like. She was going to end up going away with James and who knew what he'd do to her once he had his hands on her.

There was a soft tap on the door and her head lifted; staring hard at the wooden surface. Rosalie and Emmett both sat up on the bed and looked at her, "It's him." Rosalie whispered. Bella nodded; she knew it couldn't be anyone else. "Do you want us to leave you alone?"

Bella glanced in their direction and saw the worry on their faces. "Would you mind?"

"If it's what you want. We could go hunting again; but if you need us, just call and we'll be back here for you, Bells." Emmett said.

"Thanks." She said simply.

Her brother and sister walked to the door and opened it; finding Jasper standing there; his body wrought with worry. "Don't fuck this up, Jasper. She's deserves better than that." Rosalie said to him softly; kissing his cheek.

"And don't get up to any sexcapades in our room; if you want to do that, you have your own room." Emmett said; receiving a smack on the back of his head from his better half as reward.

They were gone and it left Jasper and Bella staring at each other. "Come in, Jazz." She whispered.

He walked through the doorway but didn't come any further into the room. "I'm sorry." He said; breaking the silence between them.

The look on his face was enough for her to forgive him; nevermind the self-loathing she could feel emanating from where he stood. "It's okay. I know this has been difficult for you too."

"I'm making it more difficult than it needs to be."

Bella looked at him quickly but he was looking at the ground. "What are you thinking?" she whispered.

"That I might have just ruined the best thing that ever happened to me." He murmured; still refusing to look at her.

She could've sworn her heart fluttered as he spoke but she knew that was ridiculous. "You haven't ruined anything." She promised him.

"How can we go back from here? I've made a mess of everything and I wish I could take it back."

She got to her feet and moved to stand in front of him, "Don't be silly. I love you Jasper and I know you love me so there's nothing to take back."

"You mean that?" he asked; he was looking at her now and she could hear the hope in his voice.

"Let's go back to our room. I want to hold you in my arms; I want you to make love to me and make me feel like the center of your universe; like you are for me." He pushed away from the wall and swept her into his arms and kissed her fiercely. "Let's go." She said; smiling against his lips, "Emmett will be furious if we do anything here and don't even get me started on what Rosalie would do."

He lifted her feet off the floor and walked back out into the corridor; kissing her again; her arms wrapped around his neck. They were back in the room and he kicked the door shut before the kiss ended. "I do love you, Bella… I hope I haven't given you cause to believe otherwise."

"I know you love me; I said that earlier, didn't I?"

"You did." He moved them both over to their bed and then they were lying on it; facing each other. His hand reached up and brushed her hair back from her face. "I'm going to do the trials." He whispered. "I don't even really know why I thought I wouldn't. Like I told Aro yesterday; there's no choice; the thought of losing you makes me want to end it all. I just had a moment of self-doubt."

"Don't say that, baby. I don't want you to die. I want you and me to be together forever. I want eternity with you, Jasper. You and no one else."

"Can we just forget the last few hours ever happened?"

"I think we should learn from it; we'll never forget but we can move on from it." Jasper stared at her as she stopped speaking and she wondered if she should've told him a lie; even though he would've been able to sense it.

"Don't doubt yourself, darlin'; you're right, too many things were said for us to be able to forget it; especially with our minds. You're right though; we can learn from this and we just need to be able to talk to each other and trust each other. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about my worries earlier. I was fine with everything they said until I asked them about whether the bond would work or not; I wasn't ready to hear their answer. I'd never thought it might not work; once I'd agreed to do this with you and allowed myself to fall in love with you, it never occurred to me there'd be a possibility of it not working. I thought that once we got through the trials and the bond was in place that would be it; we'd be safe from James."

"I thought the same thing."

"It seems every time we think things are sorted, another hurdle appears. It's like there's something trying to stop us being together."

"I don't think it's like that. I've thought about it in the last few hours; maybe we should just see this as us having to work really hard for something we both want and it'll just make it something special; that we can appreciate once we've gone through it."

"You always look at everything from the positive side of things; it's so refreshing after all my years as a vampire."

She smiled at him, "I had some difficult times during my life as a human and I learned to look at things with a silver lining; I think we've all learnt the hard way life can be too short to do otherwise."

He mulled over what she'd said and then flashed a brilliant smile to her; dazzling her slightly. "I love you so much."

She smiled at him and then kissed him softly. "Make love to me, baby." She whispered against his lips.

"It would be an honor." He said; his hands moving to peel her clothing from her body. Her hands joined in doing the same for him. Quickly they were both again naked and Bella reached down and took his semi-hard cock in the palm of her hand. They stared into each other's eyes as her hand moved up and down his length; soon bringing it to stand at full attention and pressing against Bella's stomach. She still held him as his hands gripped her hips and moved her slightly higher on the bed; only releasing her hold as he slid into her. As soon as he was seated deep inside her they both stopped moving; their emotions swirling round the room; cushioning their bodies and increasing the intensity of what they were both experiencing.

"What are you waiting for, baby?" she whispered.

"Nothing," he said; a small smile on his face as he shifted his hips against hers. Both of them moaned softly as he brushed against her g-spot and she tightened on him minutely. "God, so good." He said. His hands shifted to cup her ass and he pulled her against him. His hips moved again; a quick in and out and he felt her love as he thrust back into her. She was sending him pulse after pulse of lust and love and Jasper was more than aware he was doing the same to her. Their lovemaking was intense; more than it had been in all the time they'd been together; it just seemed to get better each time they did it. Jasper couldn't believe the way he felt when he was buried deep inside her; it was as if they were one person; he felt connected to her in every way. The connection even seemed to remain for some time after they were done; and it was only when he was apart from her that he felt it begin to fade; he wanted to have that connection with her always and hopefully over the next week or so he'd be able to make it more permanent.

He was drawn back to Bella as her hands wound around his neck and into his hair; pulling his mouth back to hers. She was moving in tandem with him now and each movement from either of them only pushed them closer to the edge. They were both teetering on the precipice but it was as if they were both reluctant for them to get to that point; scared it might end the way they were feeling.

Bella was concentrating on the feel of his cock buried deep within her; it was a feeling she loved and she knew he was the perfect mate for her; it was as if he was made for her; he was a perfect fit. They complemented each other so well and it was only because of these intense emotions between them that they had the infrequent flare ups like just a few hours earlier. She couldn't imagine being with anyone else; even being with Edward wouldn't have been like this.

Her body arched against his as she gave into how she was feeling and she cried out his name as she fell; his voice joining hers in a split second. As it faded they remained wrapped around each other; staring at each other and sharing soft kisses. The next few hours followed a similar pattern as they both strived to maintain their connection with each other and fortify their relationship against the hardship they were about to endure.

TBC

A/N: I did say it was very short. Please review. Next chapter tomorrow - the first task... :-)