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Special thanks to Gredelina1, Augustmoon and Mary-Alice-Brandon-Cullen for pre-reading this. This was beta'd by Maxipoo1024 from Sparkly Red Pen.

Chapter Nineteen — Homeward Bound

Jasper POV

Isabella was a master of distraction, and fool that I was, I allowed it.

I was still in a daze at the steps our relationship had taken. I could reach out and touch her at any moment, and she never refused me. When she looked at me, her gaze was no longer clouded with concern or confusion; it was full of something warm and inviting. I told myself it was love, but as she still hadn't said the words, I could not be sure. What I could be sure of was my own feelings, and they were powerful. I loved her, though love did not feel like a strong enough word. Every thought I had was of her; everything else was secondary. She was my life.

The unconcealed fury I saw in her following Jane's attack was unrivaled by anything I had seen thus far. I was fairly angry myself. The pain Jane created was akin to the burn of the change, and to use it in revenge for being beaten was, just as Isabella said, cowardly and cruel―most of all cruel. I would have liked to speak with Marcus in private following the bout, but master manipulator that she was, Isabella ensured I was distracted until the moment of my departure.

She still had things to attend to in the castle, so she saw me to the airport and watched as the Volturi's private jet sped me away from her.

All through the journey to the airport, I maintained a stream of incentives for allowing me to fight alongside her, all to no avail. Her decision was made. In my less truculent moments, I saw the logic of her words, but whenever they came, I pushed them away. I didn't want logic; I wanted to protect.

She had been distracted by my safety when we were fighting, as I had been distracted by hers. It was a surreal experience for me as I had never fought alongside anyone I cared about before. The last time I had fought in anything other than a friendly bout with Edward or Emmett was in the wars, and even then, the newborns fighting alongside me were no more than cannon fodder.

The thought of waiting at home while she went out to fight was abhorrent, though I had no solution. The last time I went against her wishes thinking I knew better, I almost trapped Edward and Alice into Aro's service. I had to put aside my own wants and needs and allow her to make the decision. She was the one with the greatest experience of us all; something that I was still not used to. I had always been the warrior among the family; I had been the one everyone looked to for guidance. Now, there was someone with even greater knowledge, and it was going to take a while to make the adjustment.

I used the length of the flight to prepare myself for what I would face at home. Edward and Alice were sure to be angry with me. They had every right. Worse than their anger would be Carlisle and Esme's hurt. I had effectively tried to leave their coven, and I had not spoken a word to them about it. At the time, I had been thinking only of Isabella. In retrospect, I should have at least offered them the comfort of a phone call. The only people I was not worried about facing were Emmett and Rosalie. Emmett would be amused by my actions, and Rosalie would just be annoyed at the disruption to her life it would have caused. I could live with Emmett's amusement, and I could ignore Rosalie's annoyance.

There was an unexpected reception party waiting for me as the plane touched down in the small Port Angeles airport. Edward was standing on the tarmac glaring at me as I stepped off the plane.

"Nice ride," he said sardonically. "I guess being in the guard has its benefits."

"I've not joined the guard," I said. "Isabella refused me."

"Well that's nice for you. I'm glad one of you has some sense."

His anger was building, but I did not attempt to calm him; his anger was justified and I deserved the recriminations he was preparing for me.

"I am sorry, Edward." I forced all the sincerity into my tone I could muster. "I truly did not intend for you and Alice to become embroiled in my actions."

"Of course you didn't," he scoffed. "You didn't think of any of us when you made your dash for servitude. Not Esme, who cried for days as her family was being torn apart. Not Carlisle, who blamed himself for not creating a home you would wish to stay in. Not me, who had to hear the anguish in their thoughts, and certainly not Alice, who was devastated at the thought of you leaving us, and then worse when she had a vision on you with red eyes."

I knew the family would have been upset, but I did not expect Carlisle and Esme's reactions to be so extreme. I loved them, and could feel their love for me, but I had always felt somewhat separate from the family unit. I was apparently wrong.

Edward's fists clenched at his sides. I knew that the presence of humans was the only thing stopping him fighting me here.

"I am sorry," I said again. "I should have thought of you before I made the journey. In my defense, I thought I was doing it for Isabella."

He nodded curtly. "I know. I just wish you would have thought of us, too."

He started in the direction of the parking lot in silence. I followed and climbed into the passenger seat of the Volvo. He started the car and sped out of the lot and onto the road.

The drive back to Forks passed in silence, though as time passed so did Edward's anger. He was still upset with me, but for the most part it had been relegated to quiet grudging rather than outright rage. I was pleased with the change; I knew I was about to face a maelstrom of emotion from the family and his emotions would be a more pleasant climate to immerse myself in.

He pulled the Volvo to a halt in the garage and climbed from the car. I remained seated a moment longer, girding myself for what was about to come.

I felt a wave of amusement and looked up to see Edward leaning in through the open car door.

"They're going to be upset, but you've got sixty years of good behavior on your side. Let them get it out of their system and all will be well."

I smiled in spite of myself and climbed from the car.

The garage was set apart from the house so a had a short reprieve before facing the family, or so I thought. A small figure darted from the house and to our side. It was Alice. I expected her to greet Edward with the usual effusive embrace they usually shared—even after being apart a few minutes. Instead, she rushed to me and threw her arms around my neck. She embraced me for a moment and then released me. A steely glint came into her eyes, and then she raised a hand and struck me across the jaw. The sound of contact echoed against the house and eerie silence followed.

"I have been wanting to do that for days," she said with satisfaction. "It wasn't nearly as satisfying as I hoped."

"My apologies," I said sardonically, rubbing my jaw.

"You should apologize, you ass," she said irritably.

"And I do," I raised my eyes to Esme, Carlisle, Emmett, and Rose, who were making their way to us. "To all of you. I never meant to make you worry, and I never intended to put Alice and Edward at risk."

Esme hurried forward and embraced me. "We are just happy to have you home, dear."

"Are you home?" Carlisle asked. "I understand you offered your services to Aro."

I hung my head in mingled shame and embarrassment. Now I looked back on it, my choice to go to Volterra was mortifyingly foolish.

"I offered, and he accepted," I said quietly. "Isabella, on the other hand, refused."

Emmett snorted. "That's because she's awesome. Seriously, Jasper, what were you thinking? Did you honestly expect her to let you sign up with the fang brigade? Even I'm not that stupid."

Carlisle was amused by Emmett's words but made a supreme effort to hide his smile as he spoke to me.

"I admit I am glad to hear you will not be leaving us for Aro's service, but what will you and Isabella do now?"

"I don't know." I sighed heavily. "There is no possibility of my joining her there. She has made that clear, and in all honesty, it was not a good place for me to be."

"She can live with us here," Esme said happily. She was thrilled at the prospect of having a new family member. So thrilled she seemed to forget that this was Isabella we were talking about. Even without the fact that our quiet existence could not hope to satisfy her thirst for action, she would never be able to live here as a part of our family. It was not who she was as a person. She was made for drama and excitement, not high school and hunting trips.

Also the first time she spoke to Carlisle, our father and patriarch, she called him a boy.

Edward heard my thought and laughed.

"Yeah, I can't see that working out Esme," he said. "Isabella is not really made for the quiet life."

"Then what will they do?" she asked.

"For now, we are going to stay as we are," I said heavily. "Isabella will maintain her role in Volterra, and I shall live here. Once my latest pass through high school is complete, we can readdress the question. If she can get away from the city, I would like to travel with her a while."

"You're going to leave us?" Esme asked, clapping a hand to her chest.

I loved Esme, I truly did, but her gift for loving wholeheartedly sometimes lent itself to these dramatic displays which embarrassed me.

"Not permanently. As I said, I would like to travel with her. I like to think we can split our time between both of our homes and our travels in an arrangement that will satisfy us all." Most especially, Isabella.

Though I did not voice my thoughts, Edward, naturally, heard it anyway. He nodded discreetly. He understood the pull of mating and the desire to make your mate happy. It was what had led me to Volterra in the first place.

Alice was toeing the ground bad-temperedly, creating a deep divot. I knew I should speak with her alone; my choice to travel with Isabella would affect her more than any of the family.

"I have not hunted for a while," I lied—I had hunted only days ago with Isabella.

"Would anyone like to join me for a short hunt? Alice?"

She raised her eyes slowly and looked me. Edward gave her hand a brief squeeze in response to a thought, and she nodded.

"Okay."

We ran through the garden and into the depths of the forest. The game in the area surrounding our house consisted mainly of deer and other small woodland creatures, but since feeding was not the real purpose of this trip, we did not travel far.

Coming to a halt at the far boundary of our land, we scaled a tree and sat on opposing branches.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

She opened her mouth once, twice, before speaking, and then her words came out in a rush. "I don't want you to go away. We have been together sixty years, I don't want to be apart. It's not fair."

Her final statement was a little childish. She realized it and lowered her eyes, embarrassed.

"I don't particularly want to be apart from any of you," I said, "but there is no other solution. Isabella and I have to be together and she could never be happy living here with us."

"She could try," she said obstinately. "It hardly seems fair that you have to give up everything to be with her. What has she given up for you?"

I didn't like Alice's tone or the way she was speaking about Isabella. It was that irritation that made me speak a little harsher than I would have otherwise.

"She has given up far more than you can imagine, Alice. Because of my actions and your arrival in Volterra, she has been forced to give up the anonymity and freedoms she had retained for over a millennia."

Alice looked at me blankly. I explained the shift in power that had occurred and Isabella's new role as a leader in the coven.

"Your mate is a ruler?" she gasped.

"Isabella is, yes." I did not like her being referred to as my mate, despite the fact I had been waiting for months to use the title myself; it seemed too formal a name for what we shared.

"Wow."

"Indeed. So you see, Isabella has already given up more than I ever wanted for her. I do not wish for her to sacrifice more. Besides, it is not forever and not yet. I still have two years of schooling left to get through."

"You know Carlisle would…" Her nose crinkled in disgust. "Jasper, what on earth is that smell?"

A foul reek reached us. It was a combination of wet dog and rotting garbage. The olfactory equivalent of a slap in the face. My instincts were on alert immediately as the sound of pounding footfalls reached us.

"Up!" I shouted. "Get higher."

In nimble movements Alice scaled the tree and perched at the very top. I rose a little higher, but kept myself angled ready for attack. Whatever was coming it was fast and large.

I braced myself and waited.

Thanks for reading. If you would like a teaser of the next chapter let me know in a review or a PM.

Simaril x