A family.

baby's breath

| sharp as glass and twice as bright |

.

.

There's that incident when he's five.

Jason can remember it clearly and, if he closes his eyes and concentrates; it's almost like he can re-live it all, the image of it burned in his mind, vivid and vibrant just like a movie playing on a silver screen.

It's true that he spends a lot of time with Uncle Peter and Auntie Victoria and Auntie Charlotte, but it's one of those days were his mother absolutely wants to create memories – she has her phases, they come and go – and drags both him and his father to town when the sun finally sets down and the humid Texan air becomes a tad cooler.

Now, Jason doesn't go out much. It's not that he's bound to his house, it's that his house is so interesting he doesn't really feel the need to ever leave it.

But he's a five-year-old that looks like he's already ten and he can't say that he isn't a tad excited to walk around colourful streets with his mom and dad, just like a normal kid would...

(and Jason doesn't want to be normal, he doesn't want to pretend to be normal and no one in his family wants that – if Auntie Vic teaches him one thing it's that you should be proud of being a vampire, even if it's only half. It means you have power, more power than any creature on this earth and if people can't understand, then you push them down and threaten them and make them understand).

His father has a deadly clasp on his hand and his mother's eyes are a bit guarded, but Jason's eyes light up when he notices that it's a festival, a very real and proper one, with booths that offer candy apples and caramel popcorn and there's even some where you can play games and win stuffed animals and Jason's gets a bit caught up, a bit feverish and he may not have powers like the rest of his family, but he does possess an inhuman amount of will and intelligence, so of course he gets lost.

But not really, it's more like his mother promises to buy him some candy, just as he begs his father to buy him an ice cream cone and even if they make him promise not to move from his spot, he does anyways, because he's clever and a little too good at manipulating everyone around him and if they have a complaint, they should take it up with Uncle Peter because Jason will smile innocently and say that the man taught him all he knows.

The point is, they lose track of him for a second, plenty of time for Jason to push past a few people and stumble into a man that's odd and a little bizarre and that man, that creepy lecherous man, offers Jason a lollipop if he follows him all the way to that dark alley by that bar over there and the five-year-old really wants that lollipop so he decides that sure, why not, he can go with the weird man and his candy into that weird lane for a second.

By the time Jasper and Bella find him, it takes them less than two minutes and Jason is a little impressed and a little pissed that they found him so easily, Jason has that lollipop in his mouth and looks at both his parents with wide, deep blue eyes tainted with specs of red and his head tilted to the side.

"Oh, dear." Jason's hands are red and sticky and it isn't from the treat he's happily sucking on. His mother blinks at him, obviously a little miffed about him slipping away without notifying her first and his father bends down to his level, inspecting his shirt.

"That will stain." Jasper says, matter-of-factly, taking in the huge red blotch on the previously pristine baby blue shirt. Jason pouts and continues to suck on the candy, not even sparing a glance to the man who now lays head first into the dirt.

There's a pulse for a second, a pained moan and then his mother is pushing past both of them, uses momentum to raise her leg up and then rams it down, successfully bashing the man's skull in. Jason actually forgets to breath for a moment.

"Woah, that was so cool, mom." And the woman snorts, wiping the heel of her sandal in the warm, dusty ground. "Can you teach me that?" Because he's impressed, because at that moment he realizes that his Aunts and Uncle may be awesome and all, but his mom is a freaking badass that should have her own reality show on that TV channel Peter always tunes in to.

"Your father taught me that move. Ask him." Jason turns his wide eyes on his father who ruffles his brown hair and, now that he's sure his son isn't hurt, finally assesses what actually happened.

"Dad, can you teach me that? Pretty, pretty please." He stands up distractedly, nods his head even if Jason knows he'll have to remind him later, and quirks an eyebrow at his mother.

"Yeah, yeah." She answers, dusting imaginary dirt off her shoulders. "I'll find a shovel." And with that, his mother disappears in a quick flash and Jason stands there, eying his father like a kid would a superhero and Jasper snorts in his son's direction.

"You spend way too much time with your uncle, little man." But he doesn't even look mad. Actually, that grin on his face is the exact opposite of mad and his father trails a thumb over the corner of his lips, wipes away some blood mixed with sugar.

There's a picture somewhere around their house, of all three of them.

Bella is holding salty-sweet caramel popcorn and Jasper flashes a candied apple and Jason snuggles up a large teddy bear in front of chest that sort of hides the huge stain on his shirt and they are smiling, happy and carefree as if he didn't just watch his mother dig a hole and his father shove a body in there while he's perched on his shoulder, his stomach rumbling with the promise of more treats.

Honestly, it's the best family outing ever (even if his father's right and the blood stains his shirt, so they have to throw it out) and that's also when Jason learns a very valuable lesson –

He may have a few crazed relatives in his house that love and protect him, but his parents are honestly scary when he's in danger and he very much so pities the fool who would try and lay a finger on him (they better have a nuclear weapon of some sort because his mother can a dig a hole like no other and his father will literally tear you into little pieces to make sure you fit in said hole and that you stay there).

.

.

"You are thinking about something pleasant." Jason's attention snaps back to the golden eyed vampire, who offers a smile in his direction and, for a second, the teen thinks he screwed up. "I can tell because you're smiling, not because I can see it." He adds as an afterthought and Jason doesn't heave out a sigh of relief, merely answers the smile back.

"Sometimes, I picture what my life would have been if I'd known my mother and father." He says, because it's only half a lie and that's better than a full-blown lie, Uncle Peter taught him that. "I can picture it so clearly, it's almost like it happened."

Edward nods his head, like he has a clue and maybe he does because there's that melancholic look on his face, but Jason can't really feel any pity for the man who abandoned his mother in the woods and almost killed her in the process.

"That girl, the one I was telling you about, the one who figured it out before you." The thirteen-year-old nods his head and let's his eyes trail on the other customers of the coffee shop for a moment, before they fall back on the vampire. "Sometimes, I wonder what would've happened, if I'd stayed and continued my relationship with her."

Jason is curious and he tilts his head to the side.

"Why didn't you, stay with her, I mean?" Because he's heard that part of the story from both his parents' point of view and a few choice expletives from Auntie Victoria, but he finally has the other party in front of him and he might as well assuage his curiosity while serving as bait.

"At the time, I thought I was protecting her." Jason wants to snort – doesn't. "She was just so acceptant of what I was and ready to throw her life away because me and I didn't want to change her and have her regret her decision in four or five years." That really doesn't sound like the woman he knows, but Jason's aware that the transition changes you, that his mother is the vampire one, not the human one.

"And then, after much consideration, I think I just realized I didn't actually want to tie myself down to her. She was my singer, not my mate and I would have changed her, but I probably would have lost interest and found my real mate and she would've found hers and every sacrifice wouldn't have mattered in the end."

Jason tilts his head to the side.

"That sounds a bit selfish, doesn't it?" Jason wants to nods but, he controls himself and tries to go for an innocent, sad smiles, the kind that is wishful, understanding. It must work, because Edward offers a smile in his direction.

"If you think you did what was best for her, I'm sure that was the right decision." Because if Edward had never left, if his father had never come to comfort his mother that night, Jason would never have been born. He feels pretty freaking great alive and doesn't want to think about other alternative where it just doesn't happen.

"I wish my family had been as understanding as you." The vampire says with a low chuckle. "Our family lost a member that night, we don't really know where he went and my sister blamed me for a while because she sort-of considered him her best friend." If given three chance, Jason's pretty sure he could guess who that family member is on the first try. "But she got over it and we moved on, because that's what vampires do."

"That's sound pretty… lonely." He almost says messed up because that sounds like very screwed up attitude to have towards life. Take Victoria for instance, she put her pain and hurt and revenge off for fourteen years, just so she could be there for him, just like she'd been there for his mother when she was alone and pregnant and scared and the redhead could have left her for dead.

You don't just claim someone as family and then abandon them because some asshole tries to kill you – that's just not how it works (and Jason understands then, why her mother had been so against him ever meeting the Cullens or becoming attached to them. He's pretty sure that without Edward, they'd be a little less fucked up, but that doesn't change the fact that what happened, happened and you can't just accept one opinion because a family means more than one person and you have to agree with the majority, no matter how much you actually hate it).

"Life as a vampire isn't glamorous." At Jason's quirked eyebrow, Edward smiles like he's imparting very important wisdom on the kid, so he should listen carefully. "I mean, you see the fancy cars and the nice clothes and sure, immortality glosses over less enjoyable parts, but being a vampire means you're lonely and that everything around you will constantly change and, when you don't have someone to spend eternity with, it's pretty unbearable."

"But it doesn't have to be." He doesn't mean to come onto the man, but Jason doesn't believe that becoming a vampire is that bad. Heck, his family is what most people would consider dysfunction and yeah, he'd probably end up on Dr. Phil or in a loony bin if anyone ever found out, but they work.

When Victoria's upset, and isolates herself, his mom is the one who'll pull her out of it and dangle a corpse in front of her so she can play and it works. His mother sometimes has that for away look on her face and she mumbles about his grandparents and Jason knows that it's guilt, but then she'll run a hand through his hair and whispers about how proud she is of him and how happy her father makes her and it's like it never happened.

There's time when Charlotte will whimper because of those bad memories of the war and Peter will have to rock her for a while until she calms down. When his uncle becomes angry and irritated, he'll grab Jasper and they'll both disappear for a few days and when they come back they smell like blood, a lot of blood, and Jason merely offers them wet towels and they both smile and play board games with him.

And his father, when it hits, when it truly hits, he'll eye those scars on every inch of his body and become cold and distant and his mother is eventually fed up and drags him away for hours on end until he comes back out with a smile because that's what they do.

Everyone has issues and sure, there's times when they want to run away, run away from themselves and anyone who could prevent them from taking that step off the edge and each and every time they come back because they all anchor each other, they help each other, they protect and love each other and Jason is very aware of just how lucky he is to have all of them.

"Doesn't it?" Edward asks and for someone who's given up on the world and accepted the fact that he'll be forever alone, the vampire looks hopeful, charismatic, inviting and Jason can certainly understand why others have fallen before his mother.

"No, it really doesn't." And Jason states it like it's a fact and obviously, Edward is pleased and intrigued and there's a smile on his face because the thirteen-year-old keeps thinking about that food cart he passed on the way here and, truth be told, he's pretty starved right now even if he's been fed bullshit for the last half-hour.

"Come on." Edward says, suddenly standing up and offering a hand to him. Jason looks at it with a raised eyebrow before rolling his eyes and accepting it, gathering his now empty cup of peppermint hot chocolate. "There's a place I'd like to take you, if you'll let me." And his eyes, his eyes look focused and decided and Jason is reminded of that lecherous man who'd offered him candy all those years ago.

There's a moment of hesitation because the vampire could very well be leading him to his premature death and Jason isn't sure if he can take him on – he'd try, but he'd probably fail – and Edward smiles then, rubbing soothing circles into the back of his hand like he's done this countless of times before.

"I won't hurt you, I swear. You can leave whenever you want." Jason finally shrugs his shoulders and lets the man pull him into the busy streets of New York, cold air hitting his cheeks.

Jason doesn't want to sound like a little kid, but he really wants his mommy (and his daddy and Uncle Peter and Auntie Char and he hopes Auntie Victoria is following them very closely).

.

.

He's been played. Edward Cullen played him and Jason fell for it like a stupid fish that gets tangled up in a hook. He distinctly remembers telling the vampire he doesn't want to meet his family just yet and here they are, five Cullens gathered in front of him with Edward behind him and Jason's breath itches with panic.

"Uh…" And there's a woman with brown hair who shoots him a concerned look, like he's about to faint and one of the man, the blonde one, takes a step forward which makes Jason take a step backward and collide in Edward's chest.

"You're not going to end up as someone's dinner, Jason." The mind reader says, grabbing onto his shoulders to steady him. "Look, we all have the same eyes." Just because they drink animal blood doesn't mean they can't dismember him or mutilate him and that would hurt very, very bad and Jason doesn't want to hurt.

"Carlisle?" And the blonde man retreats to his original position, the one next to the pretty brunette woman. Jason can control his emotions, but he's a kid and he's a little stressed and being trusted head first into a house full of vampires, so he'll appreciate if you give him a break, thank you very much.

"You ambushed me." He scowls at Edward when his brain finally stop screaming 'stranger danger' over and over again. The vampire looks at him sheepishly, but he doesn't regret it, not one bit.

"Maybe you should sit down, dear. It's Jason, right?" He nods mutely as the woman take a gentle step forward and, this time, there's nowhere else to retreat to since Edward is still gripping his body in place. "Why don't you sit down and I'll make you some tea or anything else you want, just breath, okay?" She's soothing, that woman is very soothing and maybe that's her special power because he takes a deep breath and suddenly feels the floor under his feet.

"Okay." He finally concedes and when she takes another step forward, he doesn't move away. Edward releases him and the woman guides him through the town house and gently nudges him down on a sofa.

It's pretty comfy and he finds that maybe they won't actually kill him and dump his body somewhere no one will ever be able to trace back, like in the bottom of the Atlantic.

"We won't. You watch too much TV." If Edward could get out of his head, that would be lovely. "And, really, the Atlantic? I'd just set your body on fire, save me the trouble…" Both the brunette woman and the blond man send very stern glares in Edward's general direction and Jason glares, but agrees that the man has a point.

"Well, that was some display." And there's a brute of a man, six feet tall and probably as wide and squared who barks out a laugh. "Honestly, Edward always brings the funniest people home." A blonde woman hits him over the head with the back of her hand and he whines and it really looks like it hurt.

"You have very pretty eyes." A pixie with black hair says with curious eyes, as if she's trying to find something in him. Obviously, she can't find it and lets out a sigh before curtsying and who exactly curtsies? "I'm Alice." He nods, not really understanding what the dynamic is. With his family, he understands, but with them it's like they are all over the place trying to peek at the half-human, half-vampire child like an animal in a zoo. Maybe it's because they don't drink human blood.

"It's, um, nice to meet you." He manages to say, because he's been raised to be polite and just because he's just had a severe panic attack doesn't mean he should forget his manners.

"This is Esme." Edward points to the gentle brunette woman who offers him a smile. "And this is Carlisle." He claps the man on the back and the man offers Jason a genuine smile. "There's Rosalie." She looks gorgeous, but cold and lethal. "That big brute over there is Emmett." Said big brute raises two fingers in the air in a mock salute. "Alice, you've just met." She's still searching his face because she wants to find something and Jason doesn't know what it is and it sort of freaks him out.

"I can see the future." She says like she's talking about the weather, the kind that announces it will be cloudy with a chance of meatballs – real normal stuff. "Well, usually. I can't read yours. It's almost like…" She trails off, eyes unfocused. "Well, a shield is blocking it." And Jason's head bobs, suddenly very interested.

"Alice, let the poor kid breath. He just got here." Esme says gently, but Jason can't help but wonder. He knows he doesn't have a shield, he knows because each and every one of his family member had tested him for specials powers when he was younger and didn't find anything.

So, the only logical explanation is that his mother is near enough to put up her own shield and that also means that she's close enough and probably screaming at Victoria because she's reckless and that means that his father isn't too far away either and, knowing Uncle Peter, he wouldn't let an opportunity like that just slip away and Auntie Char needs to keep him in check –

Jason smiles.

"I'll have that cup of tea now." He says, finally relaxing. He can't take on six vampires all at once, but, you know, he won't have to. Even if it means he'll be grounded until his thirties and his mother is probably pissed right now, he's glad she's near.

Because that's what a true family does (and one day, they'll take over the world, he just hopes Uncle Peter leaves the candy vendors alone).

a/n: So, this is done. I know this has been a long time coming and I love so much the fact that people enjoy Jason because he's a delight to write. Truth be told, I don't have a clever excuse as to why this took so long, just that my Jasper/Bella muse comes and goes as she pleases, this time it took a couple of month's vacation. But I hope you enjoyed this chapter and this tiny little flashback into what happened during Jason's childhood. I know Jasper and Bella don't really get much alone time, but they will, I'm just trying to set the mood and they are a little busy right now. So, thanks for reading, drop a review to let me know what you think and I hope you enjoyed. See you next time ~