A/N Thanks to my friend OoJasper'sAngeloO for her beta work, and to jascat for giving me the idea and pre-reading. Without them this story wouldn't be worth reading. Alright, a lot of stuff going on in this chapter. I had so much fun writing this. Enjoy.

I don't own Twilight or any of the characters.

Bella's POV

The next few days were busy. At school I talked mainly to Edward. I was trying to get him to tell me who his mate was. I figured that I could at least find out if the girl was even attracted to him. I could also maybe get to know her and then tell him what the best way to approach her would be. He had told me that he had seen me talking to her. Unfortunately I had talked to several girls here so I still had no clue.

When I got out of school on Wednesday I got a text from Jasper telling me to hurry up and meet him in our usual spot. This was what we did everyday after I got out, but that day was special. I was meeting his friends and to say he was excited would have been an understatement.

He had explained what happened when he had told them about meeting me. They had been shocked to find out that a human girl had helped him after he had fought the other vampires. Somehow though I knew he wasn't telling me the whole story. Then again I wasn't telling him everything either. I was strongly attracted to him.

He has never tried to kiss me, but I'm hoping that he will soon. I find that it's not so much that I want to be around him, but that I need to be in his presence. I have had dreams almost every single night since I have met him and in every one of those dreams he is kissing me except for the other night.

That night he was doing a hell of a lot more than kissing me. We were both swimming and then he carried me out of the water, laid me down and then we were both very naked. I swear I could still feel his hands on my body when I woke up. Sadly though I was very much alone and that made my heart hurt. I needed Jasper more than I needed food or air to survive. Somehow I had fallen in love with him and I needed to figure out a way to tell him.

When we finally got to his cabin they were already there. Of course they went to school so I recognized them right away. I was introduced to them and then got a shock when I got picked up and spun around. I just had to remind him that I am human, "Can't breathe Emmett."

I heard a growl that I knew was coming from Jasper. Emmett quickly put me down and then apologized to both Jasper and I. Rosalie came and gave me a quick hug. She whispered in my ear that we would be talking later. I wasn't sure that it was meant to be a threat or not, but Jasper came over to me and put his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to his body. I really wanted us to be alone right now. Then I remembered that he could feel what I was feeling and sure enough he was smirking at me when I looked up at him.

We spent the evening talking and getting to know each other. I found both of them to be very nice although I also knew that Rosalie had a nickname among the teenagers at school, "Ice Queen". I knew and understood why she needed to not be liked, she couldn't allow anyone to get close to her out of the need to stay hidden, but there was a sadness that I could see clearly in her eyes. The only time it wasn't there was when she looked at Emmett.

The love that was there whenever she looked at him made my heart flutter. It also made me sad. I wanted so badly to have Jasper look at me that way, but I'm just a simple human and he could never feel that way for me. I was brought out of my thoughts by Jasper's angry sounding voice, "Stop that! You're feeling sadness and inferior. Do not think for one second that you are inferior. I won't allow that. You mean too much to me for me to allow you to feel like you're less than anyone else here. You're so fuckin' special darlin' and I don't ever want you to feel anything other than happiness when around me. Please, I need you to understand that you belong here, with us."

When he looked into my eyes I saw the pain there for what I was feeling and agreed to try not to feel that way. After that he and Emmett got into an argument over human versus bear blood, which was better and which was more fun. Emmett decided that Jasper absolutely must be shown that bear was indeed more fun. They left shortly after that telling both of us girls that they wouldn't be gone long.

Rosalie wasted no time in telling me that her mate cared about Jasper and that he was a very special vampire and that she had grown to love and trust him. If I hurt him in any way I would have to face the consequences, the consequences being her. I asked her why she thought I might hurt her friend and how could I hurt him since we were just friends.

Her words both shocked me and sent a thrill through my body, "Bella its obvious. He likes you and not as a friend either. Anyone with eyes can see that he does just by watching the way he looks at you. Its like he's lived in darkness for so long and you are his light. You have seen the horror of what he is, what we are and still you want to be a part of his life. You and you alone hold the key to his very tortured heart. His sire was a total bitch and she never loved him or even let him have a chance to know what it is like to finally find it. I know that you have seen his scars. He told us that you never flinched, that you only felt sadness that he had been hurt so many times. Yet you also felt anger that he had been treated that way. So please give him a chance to know what love feels like. I hate that you are human, but we can't help who we fall in love with, but if you don't or can't be that for him then please walk away now. Don't hurt him by hanging around and then telling him you don't want him. I can promise you that if you do hurt him I'll be your worst nightmare."

"I don't want to leave him. I don't think that I could walk away even if I tried. The only thing that I want to do is to show him that he is worthy of love, but how can I compete against the beauty of female vampires? There's no way he could ever see me as a girlfriend or lover. I'm just a simple human girl who just happened to stumble on him in his time of need. I'm sure that one day he'll find his true mate and when he does I'll let him go because he deserves to be with someone special and I can tell you right now its not me."

Rosalie was cut off from responding by a growl. The boys were back and Jasper was angry, apparently at me. He was next to me in the next second, "Darlin', what did I tell you about putting yourself down or feelin' inferior? It hurts me to hear you talk like that. Please don't do it again."

I know I was blushing and was able to mumble out a "sorry". Then he was at my side and pulled me into his arms again before saying, "Please, you need to understand that I have never found anyone, human or vampire, that felt as much concern towards me as you have shown me. All I want is for you to be happy and safe. So stop puttin' yourself down and feelin' inferior." He ended by kissing me on the cheek.

When Rose spoke up I was again shocked, "Jasper, I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Bella. You hurt her and I'll be gunning for you. I'll be your worst nightmare. Now I may not burn your ass, but you can be assured that it may take awhile for you to find all of your body parts. Understood? Oh and don't take my threats lightly, remember I have Emmett who will help me."

Emmett piped up,"Damn right I'll help her. I like her Jasper, can we keep her? Now that the threats are all done, can we please get to know our little sister?" making everyone laugh.

We talked a while longer with both of them telling me about how they became vampires. I felt so bad for Rosalie when I heard her story and it made me like her even more. She has been through hell and back and still she was sane. I'm not sure I would have been able to overcome that kind of horror.

I also now understood Emmett a little better since he was the one who had talked Jasper into hunting a bear. They had been successful in their hunt and as Emmett put it, "He had shown Jasper just how its done and that it was more fun that hunting humans."

Jasper on the other hand said that bear blood just didn't have the sweetness of human, but that he was willing to try some of the other animals and see if he could stop feeding off of humans. He hated that in order to survive he had to kill. For some reason his killing didn't bother me because it was people that didn't deserve to live that he took.

We talked a little longer, well they talked and I listened. They were discussing Maria and the need to have more protection for me. That meant becoming friends with the rest of the family. Jasper actually said that maybe he should just leave in order for me to be safe. That started a whole new round of emotions for me, the main ones being anger and pain.

It hurt so bad that he didn't want to stay around me so I got up to leave. Of course using his vampire speed he was in front of me before I could even get to the door. He grabbed me in a hug and then told me, "I wish you would have let me finish. I was tryin' to say that maybe I should just leave to make sure you're safe, but I can't leave you. I won't leave, even though I know that Maria will eventually show up. That's why Peter said it was so important for you to become a part of the Cullen family. To make sure you have protection for when she does show up."

He kissed the top of my head and then walked me back to the couch. I needed to leave soon to get back home. My dad would be wanting dinner and fortunately I had already done the cooking so I would only have to warm it up. The thought of leaving alone was causing my chest to start hurting. I felt so alone, even though I was surrounded by friends.

We spent the next few minutes talking about how to go about getting me into the family without causing suspicions. It was finally decided to have Rosalie pretend to not like me. That way it would seem more real. I already had Edward as a friend and Alice had already "seen" that I would be a friend to her. They couldn't know anything about Jasper though.

Emmett and Rosalie both were able to keep Edward from reading their minds, but they wanted to make sure that it would appear that we hadn't met and that they weren't in reality watching out for me. Since I had told Jasper of Edward having a human mate, but hadn't approached her yet, he didn't seem to be bothered about me being friends with him.

Finally they had to go hunting before going back home and so they left. Just as they were about to go out the door Rosalie turned around and with a smile said, "By the way Bella, family calls me Rose."

Jasper took me back to the truck and then drove me to my house. He held my hand the whole way, but we were both quiet. I had a feeling that he was worried about what the family would make of me, but I was worried about him leaving me. I was scared that I would wake up and he would make good on his threat and leave. That he would be gone and once again I would be alone. That thought terrified me more than anything. I knew that I had been stupid and fallen in love with this very dangerous and yet very tortured man/vampire.

He felt the sadness and spoke up, "Darlin' I know you don't want to go home, but you need to take care of your human needs and family. I can promise you that I will be close by. If you need anything just call my name and I'll be there. Would you like me to help you sleep tonight?"

I told him that I would probably need him to. It was the first night that I slept without any dreams which made me sad. My dreams made me feel so much closer to him and I think that they are the closest I'll ever get to him and that makes me so sad, but he deserves someone who is like him, special and a vampire.

I decided that to take my mind off of Jasper during the day that I was going to watch Edward and see if I could get any clues as to who his mate is. I also decided to pay close attention to who I talked to during school and see if there was someone that I thought might be the girl. I only came up with two, there was a third but I decided that if he said it was her that I was going to try and beat some sense into him.

That one was Lauren Mallory. The other two were Jessica Stanley and Angela Webber. I had a couple of other girls that I talked to and one that I was fast becoming friends with. Her name was Lillian and she was the black sheep if you will of the whole school. She was the one that received more bad pranks because of her very strict upbringing. She was extremely religious and was treated badly by everyone for it. I had actually started sitting with her sometimes at lunch. She was such a sweet girl.

But it was Angela that I knew just had to be the one. Her father was a preacher. She was perfect for Edward, at least I think so. Unfortunately Edward never gave me any clues as to who it was. Before I knew it the days had flown by and now I was waiting for Edward to pick me up and take me to his house.

He was a perfect gentleman. I knew that Jasper was close by and so I knew that no matter what I was safe, even if I was going into a house full of vampires. If only I had known that there was a very real danger I wouldn't have gone, but Peter who had called me a few times told me that I needed to get close to the family and protect Jasper from someone in the family.

Jasper would be there for the first hour and then he had to go and pick up Peter and his mate Char from the airport. They were finally coming to help Jasper. I would meet them after I went back home. Dad was at Billy's tonight and would be spending the weekend fishing again. So they would come over once Edward was gone. I couldn't wait. If only I had known the danger that lurked in the family I would have run before meeting them. . .

A/N Please tell me what you think. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and added this story to their favorites and alerts. Love you guys.