A/N: Thank you everyone! Over 200 reviews and counting. It makes me really excited about this story, not that I wasn't before. Thank you for the reviews, follows, and faves. Here is the next chapter, we are getting back to Peter and Charlotte. Read and review. Thanks again!
Chapter 31 – Acceptance
"Are Jasper and Bella coming in?" Charlotte asked the room in general. Jasper had come up earlier and then ran out of the room when Edward called for him. Edward was back and had been for a while, but Jasper still had not returned.
"I can go and look for them," Peter said about to stand up.
Charlotte pulled him back down onto the couch, "I don't think so. You stay put. You caused enough problems yesterday."
"It's not like I meant to cause problems," Peter retorted.
"I don't care if you meant to or not, you did and therefore you are not going in search of them," Charlotte countered. The last thing she wanted was for the girl to get freaked out again.
"I will go and check on them," Esme offered in order to stave off any more arguing. Getting up from her position on the couch, she went to the foyer and saw Jasper and Bella embracing and sharing a kiss. She cleared her throat and watched the couple break apart quickly. Smiling at them, she said, "Is everything ok?" She had heard everything that Edward had said and most of the conversation between Bella and Jasper, so she knew what happened and wanted to make sure that everything was settled.
Jasper cleared his throat and looked like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, "Yah, we will be up in a minute." Esme gave them one last look and then left them alone again. Bella was glowing red and Jasper loved the fact that she was embarrassed about getting caught kissing him. He was sure that if he could have, he would have been blushing also and so he laughed.
"Oh I am glad you think that this is just so funny Mr. Whitlock," Bella said trying to sound miffed and failing at it. She started to snicker also.
"You know it is funny. You are so red Darlin'," Jasper pointed out by running his finger along her cheeks and causing the blush to increase.
"I think I am looking forward to becoming a vampire so that I will stop blushing all of the time," Bella huffed.
Her statement caused Jasper to laugh a little harder and pull her into his arms once again, "I have to say that I am looking forward to that also, but for different reasons. I like your blushing. It is just so adorable."
"You're mocking me now?" She asked laughing.
"Yep, I sure am," Jasper smirked.
"Well if you want to mock me, go on ahead. I will just make sure someone else is watching out for me," Bella said once again trying to keep a straight face and a stern look, but the glint in her eye was giving her away. She started to walk away from her boyfriend and got five steps away from him before his arms wrapped around her and started to tickle her and the laughter ensued.
"So you were saying?" Jasper said laughing himself.
Bella couldn't catch her breath she was laughing so hard. When Jasper finally gave her a small reprieve, she said, "Time for a changing of the guards."
"Wrong answer sweetheart," he chuckled as he continued the tickle fest. He stopped after another minute, "Did you want to change you answer?" He moved her hair so that he could see her neck and kissed the side of it, sucking it for a second before licking and kissing it again.
Bella's legs turned to jelly and if Jasper had not been holding her up, she would have fallen. She gave a little moan and said, "Ok, you can stay."
"I thought so," he said kissing the back of her neck before letting her go. He made sure she was steady on her feet before he released her though.
Bella turned around and saw the smirk that was plastered on Jasper's face. He looked very smug about his victory. Leaning in and capturing his lips for a kiss, she pulled back after a minute or so breathless and said, "Just remember, I will get you back one day. Forever is a long time." She finished her threat with a wink and started to move towards the living room.
Before she could get too far, Jasper caught her hand and pulled her back slightly. He leaned down and whispered, "I am looking very much to a lifetime of torture from you." He pulled her into the living room while she laughed at his proclamation.
When they finally made it into the living room to join the others, Bella said, "Sorry we were talking and then Jasper decided to be a butthead." A loud bark of laughter made her turn her head.
Emmett was laughing at her chosen insult, "Butthead Bella? You couldn't come up with something that wasn't so grade school?"
Bella lifted an eyebrow and looked at him. "Oh I could come up with a lot of names, but I was trying to be polite," she giggled and turned to Jasper which made her lose all of her composure and she started howl with laughter.
Jasper had a look of shock on his face. On the inside he was laughing, but he was shocked. No one had ever called him a butthead before. Before long he couldn't contain himself and joined in the laughter, and then leaned in and gave Bella a small kiss on her lips.
Peter and Charlotte were surprised. In all of the years that they had known Jasper, he had never been so free and readily able to laugh at himself. He was different with Bella than he had been with Alice. Neither of them thought it was possible, but he seemed happier and more at ease with himself. They didn't know Bella, but already they liked her.
When the laughter finally died down, Bella looked at their guests and smiled, "Sorry about that."
"It is quite alright. I am amazed though, I don't think I have ever heard the major laugh so much. Have we Charlotte?" Peter said smirking at the couple.
"No, this is a whole new side of him," Charlotte said awestruck.
Jasper got serious quickly and shot a look at his two friends, "Now that Bella is here, can you tell us what you heard last night?"
"There isn't much to tell really. We were in an alley and draining a couple of bums. We could hear and smell another person close to the alley and knew it was another vampire. She was talking on a cell phone and mentioned Forks and Bella. We knew that could only be one person and with everything else you have been dealing with, we decided to handle her ourselves," Peter explained.
"Unfortunately, the phone got destroyed in the scuffle," Charlotte added.
"Thank you for your help," Bella said as she pressed herself into Jasper's side. She felt him let go of the hand he was holding and put his arm around her shoulders.
"Are you ok Darlin'?" Jasper asked concerned. He wished he could shield her from all of the bad things that had been happening, but he knew that she wouldn't like it and it could potentially cause her to be in more danger.
"I will be. I just wish they would go away. It seems like they keep popping up. We have to reach the end sooner or later, right?" Bella said looking up at her boyfriend.
Jasper leaned down and kissed her temple, "Yes, we do." Pulling her into a hug, he tried to reassure her that she would be protected and he was there for her.
Bella sighed. She knew that this was just as hard on Jasper as it was her and now it seemed that more people were being brought into this fight. Peter and Charlotte were never part of the vendetta that Victoria had against her, and now they had risked their own lives in order to dispatch one of the hatchlings the psycho vampire had created. She only hoped that Jasper's friends were not dragged further into this than they already were. Feeling a small hand on her arm, Bella turned and saw Charlotte offering her a small smile. She returned it and thanked her again for their help.
"We did what needed to be done. You are with Jasper now and as such we protect our own," Peter stated.
"He is right. We were there and to prevent her from coming here, we made sure she couldn't get to you. You are with Jasper now and therefore you are family," Charlotte added with a small smile.
Bella returned the smile and she found herself starting to relax around the couple. It had not been easy especially after what had happened the day before, but slowly and surely it was happening. They were making it easy to be around them. Peter still kept her a bit on edge, but she felt comfortable around Charlotte and Bella felt that was a huge accomplishment. "Thank you again," she murmured.
"Now Bella if you want, we could tell you stories of the major there," Peter teased sending a wink in Jasper's direction.
"Oh really, I think I might want to hear some of these stories," Bella giggled.
After sending a short glare of warning towards Peter, Jasper rolled his eyes and said, "Don't listen to him sweetheart. He doesn't have any good sense left in that brain of his and he is just spouting nonsense. Anything he tells you will be a lie."
Bella laughed, "Afraid of what they may say?"
"Not at all. I just don't want you to be caught up in the lies of a snake oil salesman," Jasper winked at her.
"I will have you know that I am no quack!" Peter said pretending to be offended.
"No, but you do spout a lot of nothing," Charlotte teased him.
The day continued on like this; a lot of teasing and some stories were exchanged, but all in good fun. Everyone laughed and had a good time. Peter even told stories that were supposedly dirt on Jasper, but Jasper countered all of those stories with the supposed truth. Then Jasper would start telling stories about Peter. On and on it went.
Jasper was listening to Peter spout another story and smiled. He felt truly happy in that moment. His best friends had accepted Bella even though she was human. They didn't question him or anything that he was doing, they just accepted it. He had told them that Bella was going to be turned, but he was afraid they would say something or do something because she was human. He should have known better because instead of being against them, Peter and Charlotte were supporting them and even helping where they could. They knew what danger that other vampire posed and as such did what they could to help not only him, but Bella because she was his. He looked down at the girl next to him and felt his heart soar. He had a wonderful girl, a supportive and loving family, and friends that accepted it all. They not have agreed with everything, but they supported him, and now he had everything he could ever want.