Previously…

As I kept singing the next verse, I kept getting angrier with each line. How could Jasper do this? Why did he feel the need to drink? Why didn't he talk to someone? What was going on with him? And how long had been this going on? I also felt scared. How were we going to help him? Edward and I knew a lot about being in rehab, but our reasons were different. I went for depression and cutting; he went in for anger issues, and now Jasper for drinking. Our family was a walking stigma of problems. But the good thing was that Edward and I overcame our problems with the help of our family, fans and ourselves. We still had our issues, but we were still doing the best we could.

And that's when I realized I couldn't get angry enough to not help my brother-in-law. I just wanted the nice, sweet, funny, talented guy back.

~oOo~

March 2023

Jasper finally woke up, and Alice was thrilled for him to be alive.

As he began his physical therapy, we all had a talk with him about his problem, and he felt ashamed for Alice's sake. They talked about what had happened the night of the accident, and it seemed like they would be okay. Edward and I gave him advice on rehab and overcoming his demons.

Carlisle signed him up for a year-long stay in a rehab center a state away. The space would give him some time to think, time to breathe, time to be himself again.

Before he left, I showed him the B.o.B cover at his and Alice's house, and he looked like I had slapped him in the face with my voice. Which in a way, I had.

"You have every right to be mad at me," Jasper sighed, a weight bearing on his shoulders.

"I was so angry at you," I started. Like, I still don't know why you did it. Why you would drink to the point of addiction? I'd never thought you of all people would want to do that. And what was even worse, Alice felt so helpless. She didn't even know what was going on. She thought you were cheating on her." A lump formed in my throat and tears filled my eyes.

"I'd never do that. I just," he rubbed his face and sighed, "I didn't know what to do. We fought over stupid stuff, and I thought that a few drinks would take the pain away—"

"It never does. It never takes it away. And the more you feed into it, the more you see the damage it does, to everyone around you, and it's too late. But it's never too late to overcome it."

He sighed deeply again and laid his head on my shoulder. "How did you do it? I mean, Edward went to rehab too, but you went through something horrible and now look at you."

I wrapped my arm around his shoulder, running my fingers through his soft, blonde curls. "I did it for me. Yeah, there was my family and my fans, but I knew that I didn't want to feel miserable over something that wasn't my fault. It was his fault, and I had to forgive both him and myself for what had happened. It wasn't easy, but I knew that in order for me to get better, I had to forgive."

"How can I forgive myself knowing all the crap I caused?"

"You think about what would happen if you didn't."

~oOo~

Detective Bryan came over to ask Jasper a few questions about the hit-and-run. Jasper explained that as soon as he'd left his and Alice's house the night of the fight, he had been too drunk to see the guy's car coming from around the corner. When he finally did, it was too late. Alice described the other car and where it went after it hit Jasper. The detective advised Jasper to keep a journal or records of his injuries to help the case.

A few months later, detectives and lawyers linked our descriptions of that night to a 1987 BMW M6 with a guy's license plate. They contacted the guy, 34-year-old Larry Tate, who denied having seen Jasper out that night. They'd showed him photos of Jasper's injuries as well as the blood on the street, and he finally admitted the crime. He claimed he didn't see Jasper running out and hit him. He was too ashamed, so he fled the scene.

We went to trial, and Larry had gotten sent to jail for five years for the hit-and-run and Jasper's injuries caused by the accident.

And of course, the media picked on all of us during those last few months, causing all these lies and "reports" of Edward and I splitting up for our families, which was not true. Since our last cover of "John Doe," we haven't been focusing on much music. Our main target had been keeping our family together and happy again. Our fans knew us enough not to believe any information other than the message we'd put on our website. Our experience with the hit-and-run gave me time to write more on my own, though. I hoped that after everything slowed down, things would get back to a place of contentment.