Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, any of the characters in Twilight, or anything related to the books and/or movies. If I did, I would be way too busy- doing dirty things with the Cullen boys- to sit down at my laptop and write this story. The scenes that I did borrow from Stephenie Meyer have been revamped to fit my story.

A/N: SparklingTopazEyes, you are right on the money. Eddie's home early!

Learning to Live Again

Chapter Twenty-Two: Welcome Home, Edward

"Bella?"

I froze as I heard my name whispered from behind me. I looked down at Jasper with shock and fear evident on my face. As if he couldn't feel it. I slowly turned my head to look over my shoulder, the world in slow motion now.

I'd never seen anyone look so wounded before, not even Jasper when he'd been reliving his past with me. Edward was standing in the doorway, wearing his usual lightly toned clothing. Edward was always pale, but he looked whiter at this moment as he was staring in shock at his brother and me.

Jasper moved my bra straps back onto my shoulders without a word. I couldn't move from my position on top of Jasper even though I knew that I should. My dark brown eyes refused to leave Edward's golden ones. I could feel a whirlpool of emotions start to gather inside me. Jasper started to lightly rub my arms, trying to diffuse the emotional outburst that was inevitably going to occur.

It didn't work. I couldn't stop my guilt, sadness, fear or nervousness from coming to the surface and exploding. I was still getting used to this. The window in our bedroom broke causing glass to shatter down the outside of the house. Some stray pieces landed on the hardwood floor.

I looked down at Jasper, apologizing with my eyes. He simply smiled softly and leaned up to place a quick kiss on my lips. "It's okay, dear. Windows can be replaced."

"Stop touching her!" Edward yelled from behind us. I whipped my head around and lost my balance, tumbling off of Jasper and landing with a thud next to our bed. Edward had always been the fastest of the family, and he reached my side before Jasper could. He roughly pulled me up from the floor and placed himself in between Jasper and me.

"Edward, wha—" I couldn't get out my sentence before Jasper had launched himself off the bed and stood face to face with Edward, both of them staring menacingly at each other.

"Leave her alone," Jasper warned his younger brother as he prepared to crouch down in a fighting stance. His eyes were black as night, offering an unspoken threat to his prey.

"You have no right to tell me what to do concerning Bella," Edward retorted with a snarl.

"Stop talking about her as if she's not even here, you two!" Alice yelled as she barged into the room. She shoved Edward to the side- putting some distance between the two of us- and stood beside me, holding my hand to offer me support. She leaned toward me and whispered into my ear. "Try to stay calm, Bella. Stay away from the fight or you'll get hurt."

Me getting hurt? You don't say. I looked up at Alice, shock still apparent on my face. I didn't know what to do. I looked back and forth between Jasper and Edward who were still staring at each other wordlessly. They had started circling the room, both of them ready to lunge.

"Bella, why are you half naked?" Rosalie asked from the doorway. She and Emmett had come to watch the fight and probably referee if they were needed.

"Well, Rose, it appears that I walked in on quite the romantic moment between my brother and my girlfriend!" Edward answered for me.

"She's not your girlfriend, Edward. You left her," Jasper explained to him, contempt dripping from his voice. I had only ever heard him so angry when I was running from James.

"And you didn't even five minutes before making a move on her!" my former bronze-haired God accused my new lover. It wasn't like that, though. He had no idea what had happened when he was gone. I couldn't just stand here and let Edward make wrongful accusations. Jasper hadn't done anything wrong.

"Stop it," I whispered. They both heard me and looked in my direction. Jasper immediately relaxed and smiled apologetically at Alice and me. Edward stayed tense but had now directed his full attention to me. "That's not how it happened, and you know that, Edward."

"I don't know anything anymore, Bella. I came home to lecture my family for not giving you peace and instead I find you in bed with my brother!" Edward's face was twisted in pain and confusion. It cut me to the core to see him like this. Because of me. But then I remembered that I had been the same because of him.

"Edward, you need to calm down and listen to us. You know that we would never intentionally hurt you. Not like you did to me last week, anyway," I stated. I held my head up high and raised my eyebrows, daring him to argue with me. I knew that it was a low blow, but I also knew that Edward would not listen to reason right now. He was too furious.

My remark had the desired affect, because Edward reeled back from me as if I had physically lashed out toward him. I took the opportunity to speak. "When you all left, I didn't know how I would be able to hold myself together. I started to shut down, but thankfully Jasper could feel that and he came back to help me. He came back to support me and to make sure that I was okay." I took a deep breath to fight off the tears that were threatening to spill.

Alice put her arm around my shoulders as Emmett handed her my discarded shirt. Before continuing, I shrugged myself into it. "I know that it's only been a week, but Jasper and I grew closer and we have this connection and neither of us expected to feel this way about each other, but it happened." I looked over at Jasper then who was staring in awe at me. I could see the love shining from his eyes and relaxed against Alice's body.

"So you're in love with my brother now, is that it?!" Edward demanded to know. "I left you here for your own good, Bella! In case you forgot, Jasper is the one who almost killed you on your birthday!"

Jasper growled and got into his fighting stance again. This was not going well. Edward turned to him with an angry smirk.

"That's right, big brother. You almost killed her, and now you're making out with her while your wife is living down the hallway." Edward ignored Alice's hiss at her mention in this conversation. "How twisted could you be?"

Jasper had had enough now and lunged for Edward, making contact and pushing him up against one of the walls of our room. Jasper held Edward up against the wall and growled at him. I could see Emmett out of the corner of my eye, ready to move in and break his brothers apart from each other.

I acted faster. I walked up to the two vampires who had special places in my heart and placed a hand on each of their arms. Edward was so focused on Jasper that my soft touch startled him and he reacted without thinking. He threw his arm up in defense and knocked me backwards.

I couldn't describe the noise that came from my mouth as I cried out, hitting the wall near the window and sliding down onto the hardwood floor. I landed in the pile of glass from the window I had broken, causing one of the pieces to cut into my leg. Not again!

I looked up at the five vampires in the room, trying to gauge which one of them would come after me first. Alice's eyes darkened for a fraction of a second before she gained control over herself and called for Carlisle and Esme. They were approaching the house from the back yard, having just returned from hunting, and were in the bedroom within a few seconds.

"Emmett, Rosalie, get them out of here. Alice, go get my supplies bag," Carlisle ordered as he approached me to look at my fresh wound. He took hold of my leg in his hands. "Can you feel any glass still inside, Bella?"

I shook my head, not worried about my leg. I caught Jasper's gaze as Rosalie shoved him out into the hallway. He wasn't reacting to my blood, but he was still tense from his fighting with his brother. He was worried about me and wanted to stay in the room. "Jasper, don't go," I begged.

That was all it took. Jasper broke away from Rosalie's grip and was at my side before I could even close my mouth from speaking. I was in his arms, cradled against his chest. Jasper could feel my pain and moved his hand to my lower back, trying to soothe the hurt where I had hit the wall. "Don't worry, baby, I'll make it all better," he whispered to me as he planted a soft kiss on my neck.

I could hear Edward's loud growl from the hallway a slight second before I heard the back door slam shut and fall off its hinges.