A/N: Ok, I am finally back full time. I left for the funeral and didn't get much time to be on the computer, but it was good to see that side of the family again; however, it would have been nice to stay in Hawaii a little more. XD Thank you everyone for the condolences, thoughts, and prayers. I really meant a lot to me.

Now for the story… Bella has been warned, but will she be able to follow the advice she has been given? We will see in a few chapters. Enjoy the new one and thank you again!

Chapter 6 – First Date

It felt like the day flew by and before Bella knew it, the final bell of the day was ringing telling all of the students they could leave; and she wasted no time in getting off school grounds and back home. With excitement bubbling up in her, the brunette walked through the door and found her father leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest waiting for her. She turned to look out the front door before she closed it and there was his police cruiser, which she had completely missed before seeing Charlie waiting for her, too caught up in her own thoughts, feelings, and world, "Uh, hey dad. What are you doing home?" She could have sworn he wasn't supposed to be there for another couple of hours.

Pushing himself off of the wall, Charlie gave her a small smile and shook his head, "What a father can't come home early to check on his daughter, who was sick the day before?"

Bella rolled her eyes, "He can, but there is no need. I am fine. I told you yesterday was from exhaustion and I'm all better now. In fact, if it's okay with you, someone invited me to go out tonight."

"Someone? Who?" Not that his town was full of them, but there were a couple trouble makers in town that he wanted Bella to stay away from.

"Jasper Hale… he is one of the adopted sons of Dr. Cullen. We actually met when I was ten in Arizona and he remembered me," she replied, pulling the information about Jasper's family from her memory and believing that if she hinted that JW was an old friend then he would be more willing to let her go.

Charlie looked a little surprised, "Really? I didn't know that they had ever lived in Phoenix."

"It was vacation."

"I don't know Bells. You were sick yesterday and just returned to school today…"

"Dad, we won't be out too late. We are just going to grab a bite or something and then catch up with each other."

Walking up to her, Charlie felt her forehead and then sighed, "I guess it's alright, but I want you home by nine and if you start to feel under the weather before that..."

"I will have JW bring me straight home."

"JW?"

"Well, when I met him before, that was his nickname. I guess he started going by his real name now, but he said he didn't mind if I still called him by JW since that is how we met."

Charlie nodded, "Oh. The Cullen boys for the most part are good, but isn't he a little older than you?"

"We're friends dad and he is only one grade higher than me in school… and no, he has never been held back. He is really smart and at the top of his class. Plus, he is a good guy," Bella defended leaving out a few vital pieces of information, but he didn't need to know those things.

"Fine, fine. You can go out, just be careful," he held up his hands in surrender and retreated into the living room believing it might be safer for him than to keep his little, well not so little, girl home from a date or whatever tonight turned out to. However, it was also kind of nice that Bella already had a friend here that had known her from years ago. It might make her transition a little smoother; not that he didn't believe she couldn't make new friends easily, his daughter was a likeable person, but it was never easy to uproot one's life and start over. Having someone already here, gave her a network and an anchor.

"Thanks dad!" Bella called after him as he withdrew to the other room. Now she just had to go upstairs and decide what she was going to wear. She didn't want to dress up, but she wanted to do at least something with her person before Jasper picked her up. After sending him a text message on the phone number he had given her earlier, she opened her closet in order to figure out what to wear. The brunette couldn't say why she wanted to impress since she already knew him and she knew she didn't have to dress up, but that girlie part of her surfaced just a bit and told her to change.

Jasper received Bella's text and smiled, finding himself anxiously awaiting the moment he could leave and pick her up. For now though, he needed to tell Carlisle what was going on. Walking up to the "patriarch's" office, he knocked and entered when the voice on the other side beckoned. As he closed the door behind him, he addressed the man sitting at the desk, "Carlisle, I need to talk to you."

Glancing up from the book he was reading, the eldest of the Cullen clan asked, "What is it?"

"Do you remember how we talked about how the chief's daughter was going to start going to our school?"

"I remember, but what does that have to do with you?"

"I wanted to give you a heads up, I know her."

Carlisle was perplexed. This is the first time he had heard of such a possibility, "What do you mean?"

"Seven years ago, Alice and I went on a trip to look for Maria and ended up in Phoenix."

"I remember."

"Well, a little girl got lost and I helped her find her way home. That little one was Bella, the chief's daughter."

"And?" Carlisle prodded when it seemed as if Jasper might not continue.

"Look, when she was 10 there was something about her and I had a feeling we would meet again, but I tried not to put any stock in it. Now that she is here, the connection is even stronger than ever and I don't want to pretend like I don't know her. Hell, I want to kill Edward for smelling her and for even thinking about killing her because she is his singer. When he told me what one of the other male students was thinking about her, I wanted to rip off Mike's head for thinking thoughts like that. I got jealous. I talked to her two days ago after school and it felt good to be with her, and at lunch yesterday we talked again. I couldn't lie to her. She knows the truth. I could lie to anyone, but not her. She knows to keep it a secret and I trust her."

Nodding, the older man digested the information he had just been given, "I see. What does Alice have to say about this?"

The question threw Jasper slightly off since Carlisle is one of the members of the coven that knew Jasper and Alice were not actually a couple and just close friends, "What do you mean?"

"She has visions. What does she think?"

Snickering, Jasper grinned, "That she and Bella are going to be best friends and it would be easier if Bella and I got over our awkward phase now. She has seen something, but she hasn't shared it with me yet. I had a plan to stay away from Bella and Alice was going to help me, and then Alice helped push us together. I can't walk away from her now."

Carlisle sat there for a moment and carefully considered all of the ramifications, but the fact that Alice had a hand in bringing Jasper and Bella together went a long way in convincing him that Bella was meant to be a part of their lives. Plus, Alice had mentioned the fact that Jasper had found someone special, and it turns out that the chief's daughter might be very special indeed. Giving the other man a pointed look, he finally spoke, "This is going to be a difficult road, especially adding Edward into the mix and I can only hope he decides to stay away for a while; however, I can understand your position and give my blessing. Tread lightly and carefully. I know you have problems sometimes and advise you to feed more often. If she is meant to be here, perhaps there is a reason."

"Thank you Carlisle, but you should know that I don't have the urge around her. I'm going to go now since I told her I would pick her up so that we could talk some more tonight," Jasper explained before leaving the office.

As soon as the door was closed, Carlisle's smile grew, "Well, Bella Swan, you may be a lot more than we bargained for. Quite special indeed." Jasper had been trying to fight his urges for a long time and to hear that the Texan never even felt them around the new girl, well it was amazing to say the least. The only worries the leader still had were others finding out and Edward. Bella was his first son's singer and that was dangerous.

Jasper left the house and unbeknownst to him, someone was watching him, "Where is he going?"

"He has somewhere he needs to be," Alice answered cryptically with a smile.

"Don't worry about him babe," Emmett told his mate and pulled her out towards the garage.

Brushing her hair over her shoulder, Rosalie replied haughtily, "Fine, let's go work on that jeep of yours."

Jasper had to keep reminding himself to slow down, go the speed limit, don't rush… it wasn't that he was afraid he would be caught, he knew he wouldn't be, but he didn't want to see overly anxious. However, that being said, the trip to Bella's house was a little over five minutes shorter than it should have been. Getting out of the car, he walked up to the front door and rang the bell. When a man answered the door, Jasper plastered on a smile and said, "Good evening sir. I'm Jasper Hale and I'm here to pick up Bella."

Charlie looked him up and down and finally invited him in, offering him a hand to shake. It wasn't cold, but the hand that grasped his was colder than he expected it to be, "Are you chilly son?"

"Sorry sir, but my hands tend to always be a little cold," Jasper answered. He had driven with the heater on and had used the glove inserts to make sure his hands did not feel too chilled, but standing outside waiting for someone to answer the door had taken some of the warmth away.

"I'm Charlie, the chief of police. So where are you taking my daughter?"

"I was planning on taking her to dinner and then maybe a stroll. I don't plan on having her out too late since we have school tomorrow and she was sick yesterday. I'm thinkin' maybe this weekend, I could take her fishing."

This caught Charlie's attention, "You like to fish?" He didn't want to like the kid because he didn't want to think of his daughter as being old enough to date, but there was something likeable about the teen that stood in front of him.

"Yes, sir. I have been fishing since I was a kid. I don't go as much as I used to, but I find that it is a nice way to get away every once in a while. Being in a large family now, I need a break sometimes," Jasper chuckled. He wasn't lying, but he also knew the chief was an avid fisherman and thought it might help ease some of the tension.

Nodding, Charlie wholeheartedly agreed, "I can understand, but mine isn't too much family."

"Oh, I'm sure the job you do can get to you sometimes. Fishing is a nice way of getting away from everything and back to nature."

"Are you two really talking about fishing?" Bella asked as she joined them after descending the stairs.

Charlie smiled, "There is nothing wrong with fishing."

"I agree with your dad," Jasper chuckled, grinning at the angel that had stopped before him. She had changed her clothes into a pair of jeans and nice blouse, styled her hair a little, and put on the barest hint of make-up… and although she wasn't fancy and Alice would probably want to give her a makeover, he thought she looked beautiful. Clearing his throat, he asked, "Are you ready to go?"

"Just a second, Bella come here," Charlie instructed and then dropped his voice, "I put a can of mace in your bag just in case you need to use it, but he seems like a nice boy."

"Really dad?" Bella grumbled before walking away.

Charlie called after them, "You two have fun and Jasper, I'm entrusting her into your care."

When they had gotten in the car and were on their way, Bella apologized, "Sorry about that. My dad is a little…"

Jasper brushed off her concern, "He's a father and wants to look after his little girl. It's normal and I don't blame him. I would do the same in his shoes. So, where do you want to go for dinner?"

"Can you eat?"

"In a manner of speaking," Jasper grinned.

Bella studied him for a moment before saying, "Let's just go through a drive-thru somewhere. Then we can drive and talk without anyone listening in. Isn't that what you basically said earlier?"

Chuckling, Jasper nodded, "I did. Drive-thru it is."

After Bella got her food and they set off again driving to no place in particular, she started her questions, "What do you mean you can eat in a manner of speaking?"

Jasper looked at her and smiled before answering, "Darlin', you might want to finish eating before we discuss that one. What other questions do you have?"

"How did you become a vampire? I know you said someone bit you and you woke up a few days later, but how?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure why Maria picked me, but I can only guess that she sensed something in me. I was an officer in the war and young. Both were appealing to her. When I woke up, I could feel the emotions around me and I soon noticed that I could make people feel what I felt. Maria took advantage of that and I wanted to make her happy, so I did whatever she wanted."

A pang of jealousy flowed through Bella, "Oh, what did she want you to do?"

"A lot of things that I am not exactly proud of, but we were in the middle of another war and she wanted to win; and I wanted to live." He could feel the emotions Bella was feeling and wanted to remove them, but knew it wouldn't be right; just like he knew he would not keep the truth from her if she really wanted to know.

"Were you and she…?"

"We were together for a time, but now that I look back on it all, I didn't really love her. I only thought I did at the time because it was safe and she helped me after she turned me. I was grateful to her for a time, but that is about it. I felt I owed her my loyalty for that reason."

"How did you meet Alice?"

Chuckling, Jasper answered her grateful to be off of the touchy subject, "She was waiting to ambush me in a diner."

That caught Bella off guard and she laughed, "What?"

"It's true. I walked into a diner to try to find my next meal and she was sitting there waiting for me to show up…" He went on to explain the whole meeting and how they ended up with the Cullen's.

"So, you and she were never together?"

"No. I think of her as my sister and that's it."

"Why do others assume that you two are dating?"

"I don't know. Maybe because we are so close and people just like to think we are together, but no one has actually asked us. So we don't say anything one way or the other and let people think what they want. That is going to change though."

"Why?" Dare she hope that she had something to do with the change? She wanted to be the reason, and yet, she was afraid to be at the same time.

"'Cause now things have changed and neither of us want the assumptions to continue."

It was silent for a moment before Bella asked, "I'm done eating now. Can you tell me about the eating now?"

"Do you really want to know, darlin'?"

"Yah."

Sighing, he inclined his head slightly before explaining, "Well, blood is our food source and we drink that from animals. I can follow through with the human act and eat if I need to, but I can't digest anything I eat, so it has to come back up later and it isn't exactly a pleasant sight or experience."

Grimacing, Bella shook her head, "Gross."

"I warned ya."

"You did and I still asked," she giggled and her inquisition started again. Jasper had told her earlier that he would answer any question she had, and he was true to his word. She asked and he answered, sometimes he hesitated, but he always gave her an answer of some sort and if she wanted him to expand upon his answer, he would. It felt refreshing and it was nice to really get to know him, to understand him a little more. Bella had a feeling that after tonight, nothing would ever be the same again, and she felt her heart speeding up anxious to see what the future held.

A couple of hours after he picked her up, Jasper was dropping Bella off at her house again. Walking her to the door, he gazed down at her to say goodbye and his words got stuck in his throat. He didn't want to say goodbye, even knowing he would see her the next day at school. There was a pull connecting them and a need to protect her, to ensure nothing ever happened to her, to make sure she belonged to him and him alone. The possessiveness startled him a little, but the protection instincts, he had felt those for her even when she was ten, so that was nothing new for him.

The night had to come to an end, especially since Charlie was standing just on the other side of the door spying on them. Leaning down, he brushed his lips against hers and whispered, "Good night Bella Swan."

"Good night JW," Bella returned softly and entered her house a moment later.

Smiling, Jasper got into the car. Tonight had ended, but they still had a future full of tomorrows ahead of them, as long as Edward stays away from her, and that was a concern that haunted Jasper since the moment he learned that Bella was Edward's singer. He would not lose her to his brother, he couldn't.