Hooray – the next chapter! Sorry to keep you waiting so long, but at the moment time is a luxury I don't have much of. I still enjoy the reviews, and thanks to all who read and added the story.

Twilight still doesn't belong to me.

17

Jasper's POV

I had been determined to talk to Bella after school. It was strange to Peter and Charlotte that I would give in to Carlisle's judgment about not going to school so easily, but truth be told, it was not that hard. I respect the man, and if the fiction or legend here is that the head of the coven is the family father, then be it. I have never felt better with other vampires than with this family who have given me the opportunity to exist without constant pain from killing people. Besides, Esme's feelings had become kind of a drug to me. If she felt good, it meant she was radiating love and positive energy to such an extent as to make me high.

All that however did not keep me from trying to talk to Bella after I had had more than enough time to calm down. While I waited in the woods next to her house, I thought what I would say to her, how I could explain what the connection was between us. I was so caught up in my thoughts that at first I did not notice that far too much time had passed and she was still not home. Suddenly Peter appeared at my side and pushed me toward my car. "Hey!" I exclaimed, not prepared to be manhandled by my oldest friend twice in a day.

Charlotte was sitting in the passenger seat, surprise written all over her face. "Don't ask me, he just got up and raced us over here." We both looked at Peter questioningly, when Alice came to a screeching stop in Edward's car right next to us.

"Jasper, you've got to go to Port Angeles, right now. Bella's going to be in danger!"

"That's what I wanted to say!" Peter almost looked peeved that Alice had beaten him to it.

Charlotte giggled at her husband's expression, but I almost shook him. "Where? How? When?"

"I can draw a picture for you", Alice offered. "I think it's down near the harbor, you should be able to find her from there." Her fingers were flying across the paper, and she handed me a sketch after a minute. Charlotte had already left the car and handed the keys over to me. "Go, take care of her!"

I was far too nervous to say good bye to my friends and sped away.

If I hit the brake once during the drive to Port Angeles, I don't know. I only breathed out after I had found the spot Alice had drawn, and even from afar I could feel Bella's fear and a cocktail of feelings from the thugs around her that made me growl. Obviously, I wanted her away from them as fast as possible, equally as obviously Bella did not obey. She simply is not the kind of girl who just does as she is told without knowing what's going on, and I probably would not like her if she was. What made me almost drunk was that the only feelings I got from her were fear about my wellbeing and love. When that pathetic idiot attacked me with his knife, she almost fainted, and I could feel such anger and protectiveness from her that I would almost have let him get away. In the end, I just knocked him out – Bella was more worried about me getting into trouble for hurting him than about him getting hurt – and left after I had made a quick call to Pete and Char about taking care of the gang.

Bella agreed to have dinner with me, well, she did not have much of a choice, but now that I knew how she felt about me, I did not care. Besides, I was fairly sure that she was about to pass out from the shock etc.

We found a quiet table and ordered drinks from the flirty waitress, and I made sure that she had lots of sugar to cope with the aftereffects of shock.

"What are you going to eat?" She asked me glancing across the menu with a calculating look.

"Eh, I'm not hungry, but you just go ahead."

She nodded and I saw a small smile flit across her lips. She had been really pale when she sat down, and now her color slowly started returning after her drink. I pushed mine towards her and she gulped it down as well. "I hadn't even known I was that thirsty." She said while I signaled the waitress for refills.

"So why weren't you in school today?" She asked once the waitress had taken our order.

"I had a fight with Edward, and Carlisle thought it better if we stayed home for the day."

"Aha." Eyebrows raised.

"I found out he had been stalking you, been into your room without your knowledge and lost it…"

"He had been what?" She gasped, then shook her head. "Will you get into trouble for the fight?"

I smiled. "Not anymore, and I don't think he will continue his creepy routine."

"Do you always solve conflicts with violence?" Wary.

"No, I'm… I think I could be a very peaceful guy given the right circumstances. He was getting too close to the woman I love and I could not let that happen."

She blushed furiously, and I felt overwhelming joy mixed in with the apprehension about the violence. "I see." She hid behind her hair.

The waitress brought our refills and took Bella's order. After she had gone, I took her hand. I had a need to touch her like never before, and she did not pull away.

"Your skin is… quite cold", she whispered, "and you are really fast and strong. You don't eat or drink."

I held my breath. Here it comes. I held her gaze into my eyes, knowing they had gone dark with my excitement.

"And your eyes change color", she said, still not pulling away. "Are you a vampire?"

I nodded, expecting her to pull away now, but she didn't. "And Edward knows. IS that why he is so worried about you near me?"

I blinked and shook my head slightly.

Then I could feel her intake of breath. "He is as well? They all are? But …. How ? And Dr. Cullen?"

"We don't kill people. We live off animals." I sent her a small wave of calm, hoping she would not freak out on me in the restaurant, but there was still no need.

"So the jail story…" Her eyes started shining.

"Was a cover story for why I came so late." I was just hoping she would not freak out once she knew what I had actually been doing in the past.

"Why did you arrive here so shortly before me?"

I shook my head. This girl was far too clever for her own good. I had to come clean right now. "Bella, you… mean a lot to me… When we fall in love, we do it forever, and…" I told her how I had met her and about how I had thought meeting her up here to finally come closer to her would be better, and how stupid I had felt about my darkish way about approaching her. She listened to me spellbound, shoveling her ravioli into her mouth automatically without breaking eye-contact.

"You've been waiting for three years", she looked at me when I finally shut up, her eyes full of love.

"Three years is nothing in my lifetime." How did I come to deserve her?

She got up, still holding on to my hand. "Let's get out of here."

I couldn't believe my luck, dumped a bill on the table and followed her to my car. Once we were inside, I asked. "Where to, Ma'am?"

"Forks, Washington, in a little while." She turned to me and kissed me. I had not been taken by surprise like that in more than a century, but I definitely liked it.

When she pulled away for some air after a while, I pulled her into my lap and played with her hair. "Why are you not scared?"

"I'm sure you won't hurt me. I feel nothing but love from you, and now that I know why you were so … impatient that Saturday, I feel there's nothing to fear from you. Besides, I would do anything to be with you." She hid her face against my chest, only to raise her head a minute later. "Was that you?"

"Was what me?" I was confused.

"That… purring sound, like a very content cat." She hid a giggle.

"That… eh, that might have been me. I… I've heard we do that sometimes."

"Aha, heard?"

"I don't think I've done it before." I had only heard Peter do it, and obviously Emmett and Carlisle since I had moved in.

"You have not been loved in a long time", she stated and curled against me.

I took a deep breath. "Bella, I will lose it if you keep doing that, and it's not such a good idea for the two of us ending up in jail for making out in the street."

She snickered. "No, indeed not. Ok, drive me home then, but I want to see you tomorrow, you hear that?"

"Don't worry, I will not let you out of my sight, darlin'."

On the way home we talked about sweet nothings and by the time I got her home, she was yawning, about to fall asleep in my car. I knew it was not because of boredom, but because the aftereffects of the adrenaline surge had set in. I loved watching her and was determined to make sure Edward did not get into her room again. I was not sharing that sight with the creep.

I prodded her gently. "Bella, you have to get up, I can't carry you in."

"Huh?" She jerked upright. "Oh", she got her bearings. "Good night, Jasper!" She kissed the tip of my nose gently.

I sighed. "Good night, Darlin'. See you soon!"

She staggered out and went inside, where I heard her tell her dad about the outing and the late meal which had made her tired.

Twenty minutes later she was in her room and gasped at me lounging on her bed. "How…?"

"Vampire." I smiled at her and felt a wave of lust coming my way. Oh god, this girl was going to be the death of me. "I wanted to make sure you were tucked in well."

"I see."

"I also wanted to tell you that we won't be in school tomorrow, because the weather's going to be sunny."

"Would that burn you?" She was concerned-

"No, but it would definitely out us." She pouted, and I felt sadness at not seeing me the next day.

"Look at the bright side: You will be able to follow the lessons undistracted."

She threw a cushion at me playfully. "Will I see you after school?"

I had already been thinking about that myself. "Yes, why don't you come to the house after school, to… meet the family." I wanted to make sure they knew she was mine – possessive, I know, but I couldn't help myself.

"Where do you live?"

"Ah – hm. Ok, come by here, and I'll pick you up."

"Good. Now about that tucking in…"

I could tell she was about to fall off her feet, so I simply swept her up and put her under her covers. "Sleep well, Darlin'. I'll dream about you till I see you again."

"Mmmmm." Nothing could be seen of her apart from her hair.

I left one happy vampire at last.