Jasper had made a point to avoid Renesmee since the moment she was born, unlike the others he wasn't as infatuated with her, but that's not the reason he avoided her.
He did so because she was small and half human, hence, he didn't want to do something he would regret.
No one knew how much of a vampire she had in her, how resistant or frail she might be.
Thus, avoiding her was the answer.
But all he managed to avoid her for was a week.
He was sitting on the couch with a book at hand when Bella made her apparition, she came to stand before him, a wide awake Renesmee in her arms.
He stared at the kid for a moment, the kid staring right back at him, her emotions were a bubble of curiosity and plain happiness.
That one was quite surprising, another reason to avoid her was because he hadn't wanted to scare her, human children couldn't see his scars and his face alone was enough to make them burst into tears.
Renesmee was half vampire, what if she had the exact same range of eyesight as a vampire? His scars would absolutely terrify her.
But she wasn't scared, no sign of impending meltdown over the sight of his face.
Odd.
Maybe her eyesight was human then, shame, a vampire's eyesight was truly amazing, kids would definitely have a field day seeing the world through a vampire's eyes, all the colors and details…
Still.
He gave Bella a questioning look, she was oozing such intense determination, and he wasn't quite sure what to expect from that, Alice hadn't warned him against possible encounters he should be worried about.
Bella and him weren't even that close, he never interacted much with her as a human, much less after he tried to kill her, and as a vampire… well, her newborn behavior while subdued was still there, and he's never felt comfortable around newborns.
The South had made him learn through harsh methods that newborn vampires should never be trusted, but Bella had turned out to be much more civil than he ever thought possible, her control was such it made him feel ashamed of himself at times.
Because how the hell could she, a newborn, have so much control over her bloodlust than him?
Still.
The point stood, he wasn't much close to her, nor to Edward, and he avoided Renesmee, so what had brought this odd situation on? What did she want? Alice wasn't here, Bella knew that much, she had gone out to the preserve to harass Leah into going with her to the mall.
It still amazed him at times how Alice had managed to befriend a wolf, one who had hated their guts not even two weeks ago.
And Esme was outside, in the garden, Carlisle was upstairs in his studio, Rosalie was in the garage, and Emmett was in his room putting together some new Lego set he had gotten, so why was she here?
Then Bella spoke.
-Hold her.- That petition alone made his thoughts come to an abrupt halt.
Hold her?
He could hear Renesmee's heartbeat, her blood rushing through her veins, and still, her scent was nothing but as tempting as a pleasing perfume.
She was a week old, and she already looked like she was one year old in human standards.
-You want me to hold her?- He ended up asking, not sure he had heard right, he surely heard wrong, Bella couldn't seriously be asking him, him, to hold a half human, human.
-Yes, you can't avoid her forever, you know?- Bella said, there wasn't accusation in her voice, but something about her voice…
What did she aim to get from this? How could she trust him to hold her very part human daughter?
-I don't think that's-
-Hold her.- Bella cut off, and before he could have a chance at escaping, Bella was depositing the toddler on his lap.
The second he felt the small weight, the contact alone, he felt all his muscles lock, throat closing as a little spark of panic hit his chest.
What was this woman doing?
Renesmee's little fingers curled into fists as she grasped the front of his shirt, giggling as if this was the most hilarious thing ever, as if Jasper wasn't a second away from having a nervous breakdown over having her so close.
He looked up at Bella, mortified, and why lie? Terrified over what was happening right now, why would she do this? What if he hurt her? He would never forgive himself if he hurt her, a child. A child who was on top of it all his niece, his brother's daughter, everyone fought for her, her sole existence was a miracle.
How could Bella entrust her to him? The worst possible choice to leave a child with? Moreover a human?
-Trust me, I know what I'm doing.- Those were Bella's wise words, the genuine honesty in her words almost felt comforting.
Almost.
And then Bella left him.
She.
Left him.
He was being trusted with something so small, half human. Frail . He couldn't even bring himself to touch her let alone move . Because what if he hurt her? No one knew how frail she was, everyone here seemed to be an expert on how to hold frail babies.
But Jasper's never had to be gentle with something like this, vampires were much more resistant than humans, and he took down animals to feed.
And he was never gentle with the humans he had come into contact with.
So how the hell was he suppose to deal with a toddler? If he hurt her she might not even heal as quick as a vampire, what if he made her bleed on accident and couldn't control himself? What if bruised her skin?
Why did Bella have to put him in this situation?
He left the book on the couch, making a point to move as slow as possible so as to not move much in general, not wanting to risk hurting the child, Renesmee followed the movement with an intense stare.
Once he put the book down he kept his arms as far from her as possible while also making sure to keep them close to her in case she were to topple back.
Renesmee took it to tug at his shirt, fiddle with the buttons, tug at his shirt again, pull on the vest, she even shrieked in delight for God knows what, bounced on her little legs as she stood up on his lap, using his chest for support.
She was the oddest thing ever and he felt both fascinated and weirded out by her. She looked harmless the same as she looked weak. Frail .
At some point he found himself reaching out to poke her cheek, feeling too curious on how her skin might feel.
Her skin was warm .
Warmer than he had expected, and unlike a vampire's her skin wasn't marble-like, it was soft, enough for the slightest touch to squish it.
She curled her little fingers around his finger, squeezing it tight, much more strength than a regular child he noticed, she shook her hand without releasing his finger, giggling to herself, her grip tightening on his finger even more.
Not weak then.
She had such a deep brown hair though, somewhat as rich as a vampire's and at the same time no, brown eyes, pink cheeks. She looked so human.
And she felt so frail God, it made him feel tense.
The scent of her blood though... She had blood coursing through her veins, a pumping heart...
That meant she was stronger than the general vampire, or could be, newborn vampires were stronger because of the blood in their tissues, once that blood disappeared their strength somewhat declined.
But Renesmee was half human, the blood would never leave her tissues, and he wondered if she would be the strongest in the house once she grew, or would she have the same strength as a regular vampire?
Her little hand reached out to touch his cheek, catching him off guard.
Rosalie sits before the chimney. Smiling and humming softly at her. Love and adoration clear in her face.
Jasper blinked and the images were gone at the same time the little hand left his face. Right. He had heard about her gift.
And it wasn't the first time he had been faced with a gift like this. There had been a newborn with a similar gift in one of María's little armies; Carlos.
But instead of his memories what he could show were the memories of those he had touched, he could project other people's memories to whoever else he touched. He had been a great asset.
Hadn't lived long though, because while his gift had been useful he had been a terrible fighter, and of course he got himself killed.
He poked Renesmee's cheek once again and smirked as that got him a smack on the chest. Her emotions were a strange thing, curious was what she felt the most, that's most of what he could ever feel from her since the moment she was born.
She was curious about it all, people, objects, smells, anything and everything.
He wondered…
While hesitant, he dared to reach out for her, careful, hoping to not mess it up, he picked her up, willing himself to be as gentle and careful as he would when picking up flowers.
He held her up in the air for a moment, watching her reaction, she looked at him before shrieking in delight, kicking her legs in the air and oozing such intense glee it managed to make a smile break out of him.
This wasn't so bad.
He brought her closer to his face and stared into her brown eyes, if he focused hard enough he could swear he could make out golden freckles.
Her little fingers reached out for him, burying themselves into his hair, for a moment, that's all she did, and he could feel her little fingers clenching and unclenching in his hair.
And then she tugged.
Hard.
He bit back the reflexive growl and instead took advantage of when she unclenched her fingers to pull her away. She pouted at that, making grabby motions towards his hair.
-Don't give me that look little lady, how would you like it if I pulled your hair?- He found himself saying before she could so much as start whining about losing her little entertainment.
His answer was a face he could have sworn he had seen Edward do when someone told him he was acting like an idiot.
-I kinda feel bad for you, I think you inherited your father's horrible face.- He told, giving her a pitiful look just because.
She giggled at that.
-You're happy 'bout that?
She mumbled some nonsense at that and he decided to plop her back down on his lap, as careful and gentle as if he were dealing with grenade.
She went for one of the buttons of his vest, fiddling with them for a moment before growing bored and looking up at him, staring.
He stared back.
She then stood up on his lap once again, reaching out for his face, for a moment he thought she would try to go for his hair again, but she didn't.
In fact, she did the most unexpected thing possible, she touched a particularly ravenous scar on his jaw, this before starting to scratch on it, almost as if attempting to remove it.
He caught her hand at the third scratch.
-Please don't do that.- He requested, his scars for the most part didn't bother him, but sometimes several few would itch, a lot , though more than an itch it was a sting.
At times, scratching them or fabric rubbing against them was enough to trigger that uncomfortable sensation, he hated that feeling.
Renesmee tried to go for them with her other hand, but he didn't let her, catching that hand too.
-Don't do that.- He told, giving her a narrowed look, Renesmee glared at him, making a face at him and sticking her tongue out at him, a trait he knew she had picked up from Emmett.
Emmett taught her the most random of things, honestly.
Still.
As the bigger person, he stuck his tongue out at her just the same.
For some reason, that seemed to be enough to make her crack a smile.
Didn't deter her from keeping on sticking her tongue out at him though, and he did the same, refusing to give in, as someone who was the older brother of seven little devils Jasper's never been much good at ignoring a child's hilarious antics.
If a kid stuck their tongue out at him, he did the same, if a kid made a funny face at him, so did he, sometimes it went wrong, like that time a little boy thought funny to hiss at him, God knows why.
Jasper had responded the same way, and of course the kid had run away crying, he guessed it looked and sounded much more harmless when a human child was the one hissing.
A vampire that could actually hiss? Not so much.
The sudden burst of amusement in the air made him snap to attention, turning to see Esme at the door, her emotions bubbling with amusement, endearment and a hint of surprise, an amused smirk on her face.
Well, there went his reputation as someone serious and very much mature.
End Notes: I did, in fact, take this from one of the chapters of my other fics, sue me