Previously: Please let Bella tell me soon. I pleaded hopelessly before finally drifting off to sleep.

JPOV:

Two weeks. It's been two weeks since we've been in Europe and I've enjoyed it a lot. Being with Bella has been amazing and I'm extremely happy that Esme and Carlisle sent us on this trip.

Emmett had told Rosalie how he felt and they went on their first date, both returning with giant smiles on their face. Since then, they've both been inseparable and I'm really happy for both of them.

Even Edward finally admitted to liking Alice, but he hasn't said anything to her yet. I'm sure he will eventually, but I think he wants to test out their friendship first and get to know her better.

Honestly, the only thing that could have made this trip better would be if Bella finally told me what was going on. Since that first night we had gone out for dinner, there had been an unexplainable twist in our relationship.

Where we had previously been carefree, we were now always worried and tense. We used to be nonchalant about everything, but now I clung onto every word she was saying as if that would be a clue to her life. The biggest thing that got to me was all the limits and rules that were placed on our friendship.

I had fallen asleep on her bed with her countless times before and I had gotten so used to the peace she brought me. However, the other night when we were watching a movie I had fallen asleep on Bella's bed and she woke me up at midnight and kicked me out with a pained look on her face.

She would never let me sleep in her room at night, but if I fell asleep during the middle of the day she would sit there and play with my hair. There was just something new between us that I didn't like and I knew it had to change.

The fact that I hadn't told her I had started smoking again certainly didn't help anything. I just hope that I find out sometime soon before I die of curiosity.

I was startled out of my thoughts by a small hand tugging on my hand softly. I turned to look at Bella, who was sitting right next to me, and she looked back at me with a questioning look.

I smiled lightly before shaking my head to show her it wasn't important. I knew she didn't believe me but she accepted my response and she turned back to the conversation with a hurt look on her face.

"Well what do you guys want for lunch?" Alice asked, looking at all of us.

"Uh, as long as it's good food I don't mind anything." Emmett said unsurprisingly.

"How about some sandwiches? They're simple enough." Edward stated factually.

"I'll make them." Bella offered and all of us listed off our preferences.

She got up and walked to the kitchen and Emmett turned on the TV and started flicking through the channels before finally giving up.

"Stupid TV!" He muttered angrily. "What do you guys want to do?"

"Uhm," Edward started right before he was interrupted by Bella.

"Hey guys, I was going to light a candle so the whole hotel room doesn't smell like sandwiches. Do any of you have matches or something?"

"Jas has a lighter." Em said, using his head to point in my direction.

With his simple sentence, the fury that made its way onto Bella's face was absolutely terrifying.

Shit.

Well I guess she's going to find out about me smoking sooner than I originally thought. I looked at her apologetically but the glare she gave me told me to shut up and just go get the damn lighter.

I heaved myself off the couch and walked to my room, dragging my feet as I walked. I rummaged through my suitcase until I found the pocket with my cigarettes and my lighter.

Silently, I grabbed my lighter and made my way back into the living room. I surveyed the room and noticed that Bella was nowhere in sight.

I looked at Edward confusedly and he pointed to the kitchen silently. I sighed and made my way resignedly to my very likely death, probably looking like a sullen child about to get yelled at.

"Here you go B." I said quietly as I handed her the lighter.

She turned to look at me and fixed me with what was quite possibly the scariest glare I've ever seen in my life. "Apparently I'm not the only one that has a story to share, am I?"

"Bella, I'm really sorry…" I said as I started explaining myself.

"It's fine Jazz, I should have known I wasn't enough to stop you from smoking. But I guess that's not important right now." As Bella spoke, the anger was stripped from her face and I saw all the hurt she was trying to hide at the fact that I was smoking again.

I tilted her head up so she was looking straight at me. "Bella, you're always enough. It's just; well it's a long story. I think we need to talk and get everything in the open."

She sighed resignedly. "I guess it's finally time for that talk huh?"

I nodded and when she acknowledged me I quietly left the kitchen so she would be able to make our lunches.

When I walked back to the living room I noticed that Alice and Rose had mysteriously disappeared so I turned to Emmett and Edward to ask them what happened. However before I could say a single thing, Emmett started talking.

"What was that all about?" He asked, sounding incredibly impatient.

"What was what about?" I asked cautiously, not wanting to have to explain.

Edward and Emmett both fixed me with an exasperated look before Edward elaborated. "When Em said you had a lighter Bella gave you what has got to be the scariest glare I've ever seen in my life. And then when you went to the kitchen, you looked like a little kid that was about to get punished."

I decided faking dumb was my best option so I went with it. "I have no clue what you're talking about." I said as I fixed my eyes on the blank TV screen.

"Jasper, you can play dumb but we know you know what we're talking about. Why don't you just cut the crap and tell us?"

Emmett nodded his head vigorously in agreement and I sighed deeply. "It's a really long story guys and I don't want to dwell on it right now. It's really not that big of a deal."

Both of them stared at me, as if they were looking for something on my face. Whatever it was they were looking for, it seemed like they found it considering they both nodded in agreement.

"Kay great. Now where are Rose and Alice?" I asked looking around the room confused.

"They went to go unpack some of their stuff." Emmett said nonchalantly.

"Ohhh." I said just as the girls walked back into the room. Not a moment later, Bella walked out of the kitchen with all our sandwiches piled on a plate.

She put each of our sandwiches on a separate plate and called for us to come get them. When we walked up she handed us each the plate with our sandwich on it.

"Jasper." She said coldly as she handed me my sandwich.

I took the plate from her with a quiet thanks and walked back over to my spot on the couch. When everyone had their sandwiches, I was relieved to see that Bella sat back down next to me. I noticed that she wasn't sitting pressed against me like she was before, but that was to be expected.

"Bella, this is amazing!" Emmett yelled excitedly as he practically inhaled his sandwich.

"Thanks Em." She said, laughing at his enthusiasm.

"It's really good B." I said, nudging her in the shoulder.

"Thank you." She said curtly and her tone didn't escape Edward and Emmett's hearing. They both turned to me and raised their eyebrows but I shook my head; I deserved that.

When all of us finished eating everyone complimented Bella while Alice and Rose offered to clean everything up.

The four of us sat quietly in the living room and I slung my arm over Bella's shoulder hesitantly. She stiffened at first before relaxing into my arms. I knew she was still mad, but I was glad she wasn't completely pushing me away.

By the time Alice and Rose were back, Emmett was literally bouncing up and down in his seat.

"What is it Em?" Rose asked as she walked over to sit next to him.

"Let's go to the pool!" He exclaimed excitedly.

I shrugged my shoulders in response, but immediately turned to Bella with concern when I felt her stiffen.

"N-no uhm, you guys go. I think I'll stay here." She stuttered out nervously causing me to worry.

Alice and Rose looked at her with concern before Rose spoke up. "We'll stay here too. You guys go have fun."

"Guys, you can go too. I'll be fine by myself."

Before Alice and Rose could say anything, I stepped in. "I'll stay here with B, we have something we need to do. You guys go have fun at the pool."

The girls hesitantly nodded their agreement and they only agreed to leave after Bella smiled at them encouragingly. All of them finally left the hotel room, swimming gear in tow.

When they all left Bella turned to look at me, no doubt seeing how curious I was. However, before I could say anything Bella held up her hand to show me that she wanted to talk first.

"J, why do you have a lighter? When you were in Phoenix we threw it away and you promised you would never smoke again. You said that you were done smoking and you would stop, for me. Have you already forgotten that?" She said, her voice a heartbreaking mixture of anger and pain.

"Bella, I tried I really tried. When I was with you, the pain was bearable and I didn't have to smoke. But when I left, it was as if the pain came back full force. I needed it. I'm sorry." I had my head hung in shame and I heard her sigh sorrowfully. I knew she felt bad about what I went through in college and when I felt her rub soothing circles in my back, I knew I was forgiven.

I really wanted to ask her what was going on with her, but I couldn't seem to work up the nerve. Finally, after 5 minutes of pondering I asked her the question I had been thinking about since the first day here. "B, why did you scream that day when we were coming back from the carnival? And then, the other time when you were sleeping why did you shoot out of my hug disgustedly when you woke up?"

She composed herself as it seemed like she was preparing herself to tell me what she was about to. I saw that this was going to be hard for her, but my curiousness and concern for her got in the way of telling her she could stop.

Finally, she seemed ready to start her story.

"Jasper, I think it would be better for me to… show you what happened and then explain it to you. Is that alright?"

I nodded my consent as she started again. I watched in confusion as she took off her shirt and jeans. She was left standing in front of me in nothing but her bra and underwear. Suddenly I was consumed with complete anger and confusion when I saw deep red scars all over her. There were angry marks all over her usually healthy looking pale skin.

I scrambled to my feet and got closer to her. "Bella, what happened to you? Why do you have scars all over you? Did something bad happen? Did -"
She cut off my incessant rambling by placing her finger over my lips. I watched with unbelieving, confused eyes as she once again took a deep breath.

"J, relax. I promised you answers and I promise you I'll answer all your questions. I just need you to be patient." She was looking at me so sadly, that I would have agreed to just about anything she was saying.

I quickly agreed to what she was saying, now more concerned than ever about whatever horrible thing had happened to my Bella.

"Jasper, you remember James right?" I growled quietly in response to her question. He was alright I suppose, but he was always following Bella around asking her out. I have no clue why, but he always pissed me off.

She chuckled at my reaction before once again becoming serious. "Well, after you left he kept bugging me to go out with him. In the beginning I kept saying no and one day he came to me and asked why I wouldn't go out with him. I told him that I didn't like players and that I didn't trust him. He said he would change and he did; eventually we became really good friends. Later, he asked me out again and this time I said yes. We went out for a while, and it was great. He made me smile and laugh and we always had fun. But after a while, for some unknown reason everything changed."

I looked at her confusedly. I was happy that James had been able to make her happy. However, the story didn't seem like a pleasant one anymore.

This time as she started talking she refused to make any eye contact with me.

"He wasn't happy anymore and he blamed me for it; he wouldn't talk to me but if he wanted to kiss me he would. I didn't like how our relationship was going, so I went to break up with him. After that, he got furious. He started abusing me as a way to outlet his anger."

By now I was furious, but I sat quietly as I saw Bella take in a deep breath and start talking again.

"I was scared and I didn't know how to make it stop. One day, not thinking clearly, I told him that if he kept hurting me I would call the cops. He slapped me across the face and I fell down and broke my nose. He told me that if I told anyone, he would hurt Rose and Ali too. Eventually, James hit me at the wrong time and Charlie and Alice walked in on him hitting me. Charlie arrested him and finally the day of his trial came. He owned up to everything and asked to speak with me to apologize. The judge consented and let him talk to me, with three police officers for my safety. He apologized for everything and he got a 10 year sentence. Eventually, Seth and I started talking and I told him everything. Our friendship progressed and we started dating, however James still haunted me. Finally, Sierra had enough of my nightmares and we decided to move to Forks to get a fresh start."

She looked at me and I knew my reaction shocked her. My fists were clenched in anger, but my eyes were red from me trying not to cry. I can't believe my Bella had suffered so much. I had promised to protect her from anything bad and I had failed.

She walked over and sat down next to me quietly; I looked at her and noticed that she had her own tears streaming out of her beautiful eyes. I comforted her and did everything I could to hear her beautiful, musical laugh. I finally succeeded and when I had enough time to wrap my head around what happened I was furious.

"Bella, I can't believe what that sorry excuse for a human did that to you. I'm going to hunt him down and kill him. How dare he hurt you? Who the hell does he think he is?" I fumed rather loudly. Bella placed a calming hand on my chest, but to no avail.

"J, it's okay. I'm fine, no harm done." She tried to reason, but this only made me madder.

"No harm done!" I roared. "Bella he hurt you! Of course there was harm done!" I muttered a string of profanities under my breath until I eventually calmed down.

"Jasper, promise me you won't hurt him."

"Bella, you screamed in pain when you tried to lift your hand and he forced you to leave Phoenix. He hurt you both emotionally and physically."

She nodded, "But Jasper, I'm fine now. Please. Promise me you'll let it go."

I finally looked at her and saw that she was in no mental state to be arguing right now or to be constantly thinking about James. I agreed if only to ensure that she would be okay. I loved her, and if anyone thought they could hurt her and get away with it they had another thing coming.

She seemed happy that I finally agreed with her. "Oh and Jas," She started before trailing off.

She took a deep breath before seemingly deciding not to tell me. I had a feeling that her decision had to do with the fact that there were tears welling up in my eyes, blurring my vision.

She shook her head. "Never mind, it's not important."

I'm sure I looked furious and sad at the same time. "Bella if it comes to you, everything is important."

She smiled slightly at me. "J, it's nothing. I promise I'll tell you later." Right as I was about to protest, she added the one thing that I could never go against. "Please, I can't handle anything more right now."

"I'm sorry B; I didn't mean to push you." I said, ashamed of myself.

"Jasper, look at me!" She demanded. I was purposefully staring at the ground so she couldn't see the emotions on my face.

"J, stop it right now!" She yelled causing me to literally flinch back. I knew I shouldn't have pried; stupid, stupid Jasper.

"Jasper…" She said in such an exasperated tone that made me tilt my face up just the smallest bit, clearly revealing confusion and curiosity. I'm sure I looked like a little kid.

"I understand Bella, it was my fault. I'm sorry." I said softly, now looking straight at her.

"J, that's not what I meant." Now my head was tilted to the side in outright confusion. "I meant stop being so sorry. This isn't your fault!"

"B, it was entirely my fault!"

"Jasper, no it wasn't and if you ever say it is again I will personally make sure you regret it."

I was scared, but my concern for her was definitely stronger. "Bella…"

"Jasper Hale Whitlock Cullen, it is most definitely not your fault. Do you understand me?" She said, nearly yelling.

I sighed but grudgingly agreed. I could feel that I was about to have a breakdown so I decided to change the subject. "Bell, can I ask you something?"

Now it was her turn to look confused. "Sure J, anything."

"Can you go put your clothes on? If I keep looking at the scars I have no clue what I'll do but I know you won't be happy with whatever it is. I already have half a mind to fly to the Forks Central Jail and kill James." I growled the end of my sentence out of pure hatred for James.

She shot me a warning look, telling me not to do anything stupid. Right before she disappeared into the bathroom I called out her name.

"Yea Jazz?"

"Is… is that why you wouldn't let me sleep in your room?" I asked with my head hung, just in case that wasn't why.

I heard her run back to me and I felt her wrap her arms around my waist. "Yea J, I have nightmares. I didn't want you to hear them until you knew the story. I didn't know it bothered you that much. You can sleep in my room again from now."

"Really?" I asked, trying not to sound too excited but failing miserably.

"Yep." She said as she turned to walk back out the room.

The minute she walked out the room, I dropped onto the couch and my head fell into my hands and I could feel the tears pouring out of my eyes.

I certainly wasn't an extremely emotional person; I'd only ever cried twice in my life before this. One time was when I fell and broke my arm as a kid, and the other time wasn't really important right now.

So it half surprised me that I was crying now, but half of me knew that I loved Bella way too much not to be affected by what that idiotic excuse for a person had done to her. I can't believe that he had the nerve to hurt her.

All of a sudden, I felt a warm hand on my back and my head shot up of its own accord. When Bella got a good look at my face, she looked shocked.

I'm sure there was red rimming my eyes, and that my eyes were filled with pain. A steady torrent of tears was running down my face and my posture was slumped forward in misery. My hair was sticking up in every direction from me constantly running my hands through them.

As soon as I saw that it was her, I immediately tried to wipe away my tears and pretend I wasn't crying but it wouldn't work. Every time I wiped away a tear, a new one would slide down my face.

Finally I sighed semi-angrily and half accepted that this was going to take a little while to stop. However, I refused to let Bella see me like this; I looked everywhere except for her face. Finally, it seemed like Bella had enough; she grabbed my chin with just enough force to turn my head in her direction.

I felt broken and I was trying really hard to stay strong for her. I didn't want her to know how badly this affected me. She shouldn't have to suffer anymore because of me.

"Why Bella? Why you?" My grief-filled voice cut through the room and she didn't seem to have an answer to my question.

She settled for just rubbing circles into my back, trying to calm me down. After about 1 minute, I started thinking about what had happened and I was so angry at myself for letting it happen.

I got up angrily and started muttering so quietly that it was probably unintelligible to Bella. "Jasper, I'm sure the ground appreciates the death glare you're currently giving it but would you care to inform me about why exactly you're glaring at the ground like your life depends on it?"

I rolled my eyes at her heavy sarcasm before turning to face her. "Well this is all clearly my fault and since I can't glare at myself I'm glaring at the floor."

Now, she looked angry. "Jas how is any of this even remotely close to being your fault?"

"If I had stayed with you like I had promised he clearly wouldn't have done anything. If I had been there I could have prevented this!" By now I was back to glaring at the floor and pacing angrily.

"Jasper, you better listen to me right now. None of this is your fault. Do you understand? There is absolutely nothing you could have done to prevent a single minute of this!"

I looked at her ready to argue but we were interrupted by a knock on the door signaling that the four of them were back. I'm pretty sure they would have burst in here by now, but all of them had forgotten their keys.

"This conversation isn't over. Fine, for now I'll pretend it wasn't my fault and whenever you're ready for it I want to know what you're hiding."

She nodded quickly. "Ok fine. Go wash your face or something, anyone can tell that you were crying and I don't want them to ask why."

I went off into the bathroom and I heard her open the door. I splashed cold water onto my face and when I was finally satisfied that my face looked normal, I walked back out.

When I got out, Bella looked at me intently; probably to see if there were any traces of tears left on my face.

"Well, we're going to go change back into actual clothes so we're not dripping water all over your hotel room." Edward stated.

"Okay I'll come with you." I said. As we were leaving I turned and shot Bella a regretful look. Even though I didn't want to leave her, I couldn't stand to be in this room any longer.

As we walked to our room Emmett finally broke the silence. "So did you guys talk?"

"Yes."

"And…?" He prodded.

"And nothing Emmett." I said curtly, not wanting to rehash everything and give away Bella's secret.

I walked into the room half glad that I knew Bella's secret and half wishing that I was still as oblivious as I was yesterday.

A/N: Questions, comments, concerns, want to make me feel better? (: Please R&R!

Estimated Posting Date: 3/12