Disclaimer: The Twilight Series came from the remarkable mind of Stephenie Meyer, I just borrow her characters and manipulate them like a puppet master forcing them to do my will. Ha,ha,ha! Sorry…I'm running off too little sleep and am a wee bit punchy!

Author's note: I'm warning you now; this isn't the girl's night out chapter that I promised. I had an inspiration and had to go with it. Originally this info was going to be introduced during girl's night, but I think it works better this way. I'm already seven chapters into writing girl's night so I can guarantee you now that it WILL be the next chapter. Hope you enjoy! BTW...I think FF is on crack...that or my computer is. It wouldn't let me bring up the main page or even to connect to story links in my email without a server unavailible error, but it let me use a review reply link to log in and respond to a review and then let me in. LOL...craziness.

6. Puppet Master J

Jasper POV

Twelve days ago…twelve days ago the most beautiful creature I had ever encountered sauntered into Andy's hospital room with Bella and a couple of other girls. Bella quickly introduced them as her fellow interns, better known as the Femmes.

First I noticed the tall thin girl with the dishwater blonde hair and nice eyes. She was pretty and I immediately got the impression that she was the most openly sought after girl in the group. She wasn't really my type though. She had a typical model appearance; I preferred to pursue the more unique ladies.

Next to the model look-a-like stood a sweet looking girl about Bella's height with shoulder length brown hair and striking blue eyes hiding behind a pair of dark rimmed glasses. She was pretty, with an hourglass shaped figure, she had some really nice curves in all the right places, but my immediate impression is that she had an extremely low self-image. I suspected she had hot sister syndrome. Typically when a pretty girl doesn't see it, it's because she's been surrounded by someone who is considered more attractive according to the basic stereotypical standards of beauty which leaves the more unique sister to be ignored in the shadow of the one that stood out in the brainwashed minds of the male masses.

In the few seconds after meeting them I made the split second decision that I was going to flirt with the brunette and ignore the blonde giving the brunette a confidence boost and bringing the blonde down a notch or two, but that was before the third girl's face popped out from behind the blonde and I felt my eyes grow wide and for a few seconds. I literally forgot to blink.

During Bella's introductions I learned that the blonde's name was Sabrina, the brunette was Krista, and the beauty that caught my undivided attention was Alice…Alice Brandon…Dr. Alice Brandon. Her name alone made tingles run up my spine. She bounced in front of the other two and I saw that she was adorable and energetic and quite tiny, standing less than five feet tall with black hair that lay flat atop her head and then flipped out in the back in a controlled chaos of perfectly gelled spikes. She had the most incredible eyes I had ever seen, they were this vivid blue almost violet color and her smile was so bright and beautiful that it made the whole room glow.

I sat there in shock, unable to speak, looking like a totally dumb-ass fuck 'cause I just stared. Finally numbly I reached a hand out to grasp hers when she offered a greeting. When our hands touched my heart began to pound in my chest. I grasped her hand harder and just sat there holding it until she made some comment about needing her hand back as she laughed – a beautiful, tinkling laugh.

I finally found my voice after a few seconds and introduced myself causing her to laugh again since Bella evidently had just done that for me. I had not even heard her. I was making a total fool of myself, but at the same time, as long as I was near her I didn't seem to mind.

After the femmes left I sat staring out the window in shock. In all of my twenty-seven years I had never had an experience like that before. I had never been so completely or immediately enamored that I couldn't compose a rational sentence. I was always the smoothest motherfucker in the group. Next to Edward, I was the most hit on guy in the squad and I had the smooth moves to close the deal after I reeled them in too. I was a player and I was happy being such, and then in the matter of a few minutes Alice Brandon changed everything.

I sat there feeling shell shocked when I realized that I had never believed in love at first sight or soul mates. No, I called it all total bullshit made up for the desperately ugly to feel like they might actually have a shot at getting laid someday. I never believed it until it walked in here on short little legs with spiky black hair and violet eyes and hit me over the head like a bag of bricks.

As the days dragged on Andy slowly started showing more and more improvement, I still found myself hanging out in his room every spare minute I could manage in hopes that Alice would drop in to say hi…and to my great joy she did, every single day. After that first day I had sat down and made myself a fucking mental manuscript of things I could say to her, hoping to keep myself from sounding like a mute asshole. It was strained and awkward, but at least I carried on a brief conversation before she ducked out of the room.

The next day she caught me off guard with a dirty joke and I found myself laughing and loosening up thinking that maybe I didn't have to act a certain way around her like I thought. She seemed to think a little more on my wavelength than I had initially anticipated, but that assumption was based solely on her appearance.

The third day we talked the whole time she visited and Andy sat there smirking and rolling his eyes. He commented afterward that she obviously hadn't been there to see him because she had only spoken two words to him the whole time she had been there… "Hi" and "Andy."

The fourth day I asked her if she had time to go get some coffee later in the day and she agreed, but said she'd prefer a good single malt whiskey. If I hadn't already been halfway in love with her, I would have certainly been at this. I took Alice across the street to our favorite place to swill liquor and introduced her to Mama D. She fit right in with Mama D; the three of us sat talking for quite a while. Eventually Mama excused herself, shooting me a thumbs-up behind Alice's back, going bus some tables.

Alice and I moved from the bar to a small booth in the back and sat talking for the next six hours as the bar began to buzz around us. For the first time in the seven years I had been coming to Dooley's, I hadn't noticed a single chick to walk in through the door. All I saw was Alice.

Unfortunately there was one common topic that kept coming up between us during those six hours of heaven in a tiny booth in the back of Dooley's. Edward and Bella. Alice and Bella had become very good friends, well, as good of a friend as Bella managed to make with girls. Bella's comfort zone was with us guys, and we liked having her around, but it had become painfully obvious for quite some time that she needed some female influences in her life again.

Alice was very concerned about Bella, none of us had missed how strangely Edward and Bella were acting around one another, and after the third day Andy finally broke down and told us all about their motherfucking kiss. Avoidance was Edward Masen's middle name. The asswipe would never deal with anything unless he was forced to, and worse yet, Edward's M.O. was to go hide up another chick's skirt, letting the chips fall where they may. That's a successful strategy when you're dealing with a barfly that can't take a hint, but pulling that shit with Bella was going to lead to fucking Armageddon and I knew it. It was all just a matter of time.

By the time we left Dooley's that night Alice and I had exchanged cell phone numbers and made plans to get together again after she got off the next night. And we did. It was amazing actually. I had spent so many years running away from getting involved with a woman thinking that it was too much drama. But with Alice it was easy, it was comfortable, and I found that not only did I not get tired of her, but I missed her when we were at work.

But the most amazing part of all…it's been twelve days and we still haven't fucked…and I'm okay with that. Well it's not that I don't WANT to. God knows I want to ride her three ways from Sunday and make her scream my name all night long, but at the same time I don't want to risk fucking everything up, so I've been patiently sitting back, awaiting for her cue to take things to the next level. Okay so I hint…a lot…but I keep it at that, and I can sense that she appreciates it and she's getting closer every day to caving…or at least I hope.

So all of this leads to yesterday…the day that Bella stalked out of the hospital looking almost as destroyed as she did the day I first met her at her parent's funeral. And then Edward Fucking Masen stands there admitting to us that not only did he avoid Bella by hiding in another chick's skirt, but he did it with the skanky blonde nurse. The one with a high voice and squeaky giggle who had been making goo goo eyes at every one of us ever since Andy landed in this place. As if that wasn't enough, the motherfucker had decided that she was going to be his first fucking relationship ever…and then thinks that it's going to EASE Bella's pain by admitting that he kissed her then avoided her in another chick's skirts, but that it wasn't even a one night stand thing. He went from kissing the girl that he's cluelessly in love with to forcing a relationship with some random skank instead of finally getting involved with the one woman in his life worth his love and adoration. Total fucking clueless asshole!!!

We sent him off with encouragements to give her time then apologize and try to make things right with her, but we all knew that it was quite possible that he fucked things up for good. Bella was the most kind, caring, and forgiving woman to ever walk the face of this earth. Hell she had to be with us around, but Edward…Edward tested her capacity for forgiveness more times than the rest of us combined. We all worried that this may just be the straw that would break the camel's back.

After he left I called Alice and asked her to meet me at Dooley's. I knew that the Femmes all had the next day off, so I asked her to stay past closing with me because I had a bit of a plan. Edward might be a fucking loser and deserve whatever hell he was going through, but Bella didn't. She needed a self-esteem boost and Edward needed a kick in the ass and I had an idea that might accomplish both at the same time. After Mama D locked up for the night, Alice and I helped her clean up. We explained our idea and Mama D jumped at the chance to be part of it.

BPOV

After calling Alice and Rose, I made my way back to the apartment with a spring in my step. I was excited to have a night out with the girls. To be honest, I didn't remember the last time I actually did anything with a group of girls. I think the last time wasn't really a group of girls, but was in high school when Edward's Aunt Esme took me clothes shopping to help me find a dress for prom. Wow, had it really been that long? I shook my head at the pathetic state of my life. I knew that it was definitely past time to get out there again.

As soon as I got home I changed out of my professional attire and into a pair of faded relaxed fit jeans with a tear in the knee and frayed ankles, a black tank top and Emmett's old baseball jersey from high school over it. I always loved going out wearing nice comfortable clothes. It felt kind of sexy wearing a guy's shirt; it would be more so if it weren't my brother's but nobody else really knew who it belonged to. I collapsed on the couch with a beer waiting around rather impatiently for the evening to commence as Emmett came and then left again, promising to see me later before disappearing into the evening.

I looked at the clock at 6:45 and groaned at how much longer I was going to have to waste time and flipped on the TV moments before there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find Alice and Jasper smiling at me from the hallway. They both looked me from head to toe as a look of disgust mixed with horror graced Alice's face while a knowing smirk flitted across Jasper's.

"Oh Jazzy, I am so glad you suggested this. You are right; this girl does not know how to dress for a proper girl's night!" Alice blurted over her shoulder while pushing past me into the apartment, a garment bag slung over her shoulder. Jasper followed carrying a heavy looking duffel bag that he dropped on the couch with a loud thud.

"Okay ladies, this is where I leave you," he drawled with a wink in my direction before he sidled over to Alice placing an adorable kiss on her lips and hugging her around the waist sweetly whispering in her ear. This time it was my turn to have a knowing little smirk.

He looked up, meeting my eyes and sighed before shrugging, obviously admitting defeat to the forces of love. Then he left me alone with the overly hyper pixie that began dragging me to my bathroom. She sat me on the toilet where she spent the next hour slathering me with makeup and tugging on my hair before forcing me into a short dress and a pair of four inch high heels.

I stood staring at my reflection in the mirror and gulped in surprise that the person looking back was me. I had gotten so out of touch with my feminine side over the years that I had pretty much forgotten what I looked like all dressed up and in makeup. I used to make myself up all of the time when Mom and Dad were alive, but when they died and I moved to Chicago, I just didn't have the ambition or the encouragement to try. The only time in all the years since that I actually wore makeup was for my high school prom when Esme came over. She helped me pin my hair into a French twist and applied my makeup.

I stepped back and spun around so I could see what I looked like from all angles. I had to admit, the pixie was good. The heels that had the potential to be death traps had very thick straps and squared heels that gave me lots of surface area to distribute my weight and the dress, while on the shorter side, still came just below mid thigh and was surprisingly modest. It was made of black chiffon like material with a cinched waist and accentuated my chest with thin straps that had light chiffon ruffle like cap sleeves attached. It was sexy and made my legs appear a lot longer than they really were. She had slid a silver heart necklace around my neck and left my hair down in long loose waves that hit about halfway down my back.

I hadn't even realized she was watching me in the doorway until I heard her squeal and start clapping. I looked over to see her jumping up and down in her four-inch stilettos. I was just waiting for them to snap off, but they never did. She squealed something about needing to get going or we would be late meeting the girls. She grabbed my hand, pulling me out the front door and down the street toward Dooley's.

EPOV

I felt simultaneously provoked and alienated from Bella today. After I left her apartment I went straight to Andy's room. He was asleep so I settled in the recliner by the window and waited impatiently, my thoughts zooming a million miles a minute, for him to wake up to talk. It was about an hour after I arrived that he finally woke up.

I sat with him and chit chatted while he ate lunch. I wanted to bring up the conversation and yet had no fucking clue what to say. Finally to my relief Andy decided to break the suspense for me.

"Okay fucktard, what did you do now that has you looking so completely desperate?"

I told him about everything that had happened after leaving his room that night and what I witnessed in Bella's apartment.

"Jesus, I'm going to have to start calling you Stalkward! That's some sick shit there! Dude, you are so lucky she didn't catch you or you would so be a eunuch right now!"

I ran my hands through my hair, "Fuck man, tell me something I don't know why don't ya? I have no fucking clue what to do or where to go from here. It used to be so easy with her. When did things get so fucking screwed up?"

"Oh would you stop shitting yourself? It was never easy with you two. You've been in fucking love with her ever since you first saw her at the funeral but you're too emotionally closed off to recognize it for what it is. Not only that, you've already made up your mind that she's some sort of angel and that you're the devil and if you let yourself be with her then you're going to destroy her or something. I've got to tell you though man, you hurt her a lot more by pulling away from her all the time than you would if you would just go and fucking be with her already."

"Andy, you've got it all wrong. I don't love Bella, not like that at least. I like my life. I don't want to be tied down in a relationship. Being in a relationship means that eventually, one way or another, you're going to be left alone and broken when it ends for whatever reason. It always ends, either you grow apart, someone cheats or someone dies, but no matter what, it always ends with someone left alone and shattered. Why do that when you can just fuck around and have fun?"

"Dude, you're even more fucked up that I thought you were. You can't run away from life forever Edward. Yeah, you can keep living your pathetic player existence, never letting yourself be really connected with someone in order to save yourself from the pain of loss, but in the meantime you really haven't lived either. Instead of setting yourself up for a future loss, you live your whole life that way."

He leaned forward and lowered his voice with an intense look on his face, "Listen, I know your life went to shit when your Dad died and your Mom fucking lost it and ran off leaving you with Carlisle and Esme. I know it left you with the impression that it hurts too much to love someone so you made up your mind that you wouldn't end up that way. You built those fucking stone walls that you never let anybody past, but I'm telling you dude, someday you're going to look up and find you're a fucking fifty year old playboy who is alone and has nothing to show for his life. You will end up with nobody to spend your time with because the hotties won't be jonesin' after your ass once you pass your prime. You will just be a pathetic bachelor with nothing but his booze, his cars, and maybe if you're lucky a dog."

I sat staring at him. I could hear his words and I knew they were true, but I didn't know what to do about it. I spent seventeen fucking years building my fortress to keep myself safe from the pain I watched my mother endure. She lived her whole life for my father and when she died it was like she had nothing to live for anymore…I sure as fuck wasn't enough. She couldn't take it and instead of picking herself up and trying to move on she buried herself in a bottle of Jack Daniels for two months before finally dropping me off at her sister's house without any note or explanation. She just left me with their maid and disappeared.

We didn't hear a peep out of her for three years. Then one day she suddenly showed back up on the doorstep with a new husband who looked like he would go up in a ball of flame if you put a match near him thanks to all of the alcohol in his system. It didn't take too very long to put two and two together. She had left with the entire insurance settlement which was something on the order of half a million dollars and lived high on the hog for three years before finding herself flat broke. So she came back hoping that if she regained custody of me then she would have access to my trust fund. Thankfully Carlisle and Esme had enough foresight to have filed the paperwork for parental abandonment and had become my legal guardians by then. She left without a penny to her name and I have never seen her since.

From time to time I wonder if she's still out there somewhere. It hurts to know that she's still alive somewhere and didn't even bother to find out if I was okay or how I turned out. I didn't fucking care though…not really. Carlisle and Esme were good guardians, very loving and caring. They made sure I went to the finest schools and had everything that money could buy. They were the best replacement parents a kid could hope for…and then I met my 'brothers' in college, and then later my 'sister' and I finally felt complete. As long as I had them I didn't need anything else, and love, well love was far too dangerous to ever let into my life.

"Listen Andy, I know you mean well, but seriously. You are so far off base with all of this love shit with Bella. You don't even know. She's like a sister to me. That's it."

"Yeah Edward, because everyone goes and tries to French their sister when they're upset. Totally natural response to stress." I rolled my eyes at his sarcastic remarks.

I opened my mouth to answer back when I felt a tingle roll up my spine and I looked up to see Bella standing in the doorway looking strangely at Andy and I. I immediately noticed how nice the silky plum colored blouse looked against the blush of her face for a second before the image of her dancing in the blue cotton bra and panties flooded my mind and I felt myself start to grow hard. I felt my cheeks warm at the memory and my body's instant reaction before I managed to find my voice and stutter a quick greeting before telling Andy I would see him later and running out of the door. As I brushed past her, the smooth skin of her arm met mine and I sucked in a breath that assaulted my senses; ah the strawberry scent of her shampoo and the freesia essence of the body wash I got her at Bath and Body Works last Christmas.

I felt my body react again even more strongly as I ran down the hallway and straight to the bathroom where I stood leaning against the sink and staring at my reflection in the mirror. Smooth you asshole, really smooth. You're really going to get her to talk to you and make things up to her by running away from her like a fucking pussy. What the fuck is up with my body's reactions to her too? Fuck, I wish someone would just shoot me now and put me out of my misery!

I stayed in the bathroom for twenty minutes before walking back toward Andy's room. I paused outside the door to hear that they were still talking, so I continued on to the waiting room. I tucked myself in the corner so I could watch Bella leave on the elevators without her seeing me and then I could go back to Andy's room.

I guess the lack of sleep over the past few days was catching up to me, because I woke up four hours later to find I was leaning against the wall in the waiting area.

I was shocked when I walked into Andy's hospital room to find the guys all discussing going to Dooley's. It had been over two weeks since the last time we had all gathered there, opting instead to come spend time with Andy, but Andy insisted that we needed to go unwind and I couldn't disagree. I really needed to have a nice stiff drink and try to get my mind off of this mess with Bella. After a short discussion we left promising Andy we'd drink one for him and would take him out as soon as he was up for it before walking across the street into our very crowded favorite watering hole.

Author's Note: Sorry, I know I said that the next chapter would be Femme's night out, but when I started to write it I realized that I wanted to go about a few things differently by introducing Jasper and Alice's relationship and I wanted to set the scene a bit more first, but now when I post the next chapter everyone will be at the bar and the real drama will ensue!

Thank you all so much for your hits, favorites, and reviews! I seriously have been on the amazed at the response this story has gotten. Friday it got 1,950 hits and as of Saturday morning there are 107 alerts. I'm just amazed, dumbfounded, and on the verge of either tears or a happy dance…I'm not sure which. All of your reviews and encouragement mean more than you know and they inspire me to write that much more quickly. So thank you, thank you, thank you for everything.

And also a special thank you to my beta Sihaya9 for her diligent work in editing my overly wordy verbiage and getting these chapters back to me as quickly as she can so you all can read the newest update as soon as humanly possible!