Jasper was practically wearing a trench in the ground with his pacing. He'd been outside the walls of Volterra for nearly two hours and he was climbing out of his skin.
By the time the Porsche had come to a skidding stop as close as they could get, the Volturi kings had denied Edward's request. Being the overly-dramatic dick that he is, Edward had eventually decided that his next best move would be to take his shirt off in the town square at high noon. In the Italian sun. In the middle of a festival.
When Jasper's phone rang he had it up to his ear in half a second, not even looking at the display. "Ali?"
"Sorry, Jasper, just me."
"Jacob? What the hell are you doing awake? Isn't it like…" Jasper did some quick math. "Five in the morning there?"
Jacob snorted. "You seriously think I could sleep right now?"
"Yeah, no, sorry. My mind's not workin' properly."
"Any news?" Jacob asked.
"No, not yet, but—" Jasper was interrupted by another call coming in. "Hold on, Jacob," he rushed out in a quick breath before pulling the phone away from his ear to check the display. Seeing her name on the screen, Jasper nearly dropped his phone in his urgency to click over. "Alice!"
"We're okay," she reassured him quickly. "We're fine, we're all fine, but they're making us wait until dark to leave," she explained, sounding more exhausted than he'd ever heard her.
"And Bella?" he asked, worry practically eating him inside out. There was a rustling over the line and a second later he heard just about the best thing he could ever remember hearing.
"Jas?"
"Hey sweetheart," he said softly, the relief of the moment making his knees weak. "You alright?"
"Yeah," Bella answered. "Tired and wishing I could get out of here, but yeah, I'm okay."
"Did they hurt you?" he asked once their words sunk in and he realized Bella and Alice were inside the castle.
"No. Alice and I were fine. Peter wasn't wrong about Edward, though."
Jasper barked a laugh as he heard his telepathic 'brother' let out a low growl.
"Oh shut up, Edward," Alice snapped in the background, and Jasper could practically hear her gritting her teeth.
"As long as you and Ali are alive and well, that's all I care about at the moment," Jasper said with a smile.
"Me too," Bella agreed. "Alice says we'll be here about five more hours, but honestly, we're safe. Can you maybe let Jake know? Oh wait, it's probably—"
"He's actually on my other line. I was speaking to him before you called."
"He's awake?" she asked in surprise.
"I thought the same thing," Jasper laughed. "He seemed to be questioning my sanity that I thought he would be getting any sleep until he knew you were okay."
Bella went to answer him but was stopped in her tracks by a long yawn escaping her.
"Why don't you try to close your eyes for a bit. Even if you can't sleep, just rest."
"Yeah, okay. Maybe you can knock me out on the plane again. Sprinting uphill is not my thing. I'm exhausted."
"I bet. Go and—"
Jasper was interrupted by another rustling on the line before he heard Alice let out a frustrated sigh and Bella spoke away from the phone.
"Back off, Edward. I'm perfectly happy right where I am."
"Move, Edward," Alice grumbled.
When Edward growled lowly again, Jasper snapped back so Edward could hear him. "Quit fuckin' growling at them, asshole."
Bella gave a tired laugh. "Okay, I'm hanging up now. We'll see you soon. Love you, and tell Jake I love him too."
Jasper's grin practically split his face. "Love you, Bella. Love you, Ali. I'll be waiting for y'all at the car."
"Bye, Jas."
Jasper clicked back over to an impatiently waiting Jacob. "Sorry. They're okay."
Jasper could practically feel the relief in Jacob's exhale clear across the ocean. "Really? You talked to her?"
"Yeah, I talked to both her and Alice. They're fine, they're just waiting for sunset before making their way back here."
"Waiting? Does that mean…?"
"Yes, they were calling from the castle. But Jacob, I promise you they're safe. No one touched either of them."
"Yeah, okay," Jacob sighed. "Can you maybe have Bells call me before you get on the plane?"
"Of course," Jasper agreed easily. "We've got about five hours 'til sundown here so maybe try to catch some sleep before then."
"Yeah, I think I will," he mumbled through a yawn. "Talk to you in a bit."
"Yep. Bye Jacob."
Jasper let himself just sit for a few minutes, trying to rid himself of the last tendrils of worry inside him. He knew Bella and Alice were safe but he wouldn't be able to fully relax until he set eyes on them himself.
Eventually, he pulled his phone back out and started the process of calling their loved ones to let them know vampires and human were all fine and they'd be headed home soon.
Bella was practically stumbling over her own feet when she came into view, but she was walking on her own, hanging on tight to Alice's hand. Edward was a step behind the two, eyes locked on the back of Bella's head.
Damn, Jasper had really loved having some mental freedom over the last seven or so months. He sighed. Back to blocking tactics.
When Bella glanced up and saw him standing there, a tired smile crossed her face. "Jasper," she sighed.
Even without the benefit of his gift, the relief was clear in her voice. It only took Jasper a few long strides to eat up the distance between them.
"Hey," he whispered as he pulled Bella in for a hug, reaching out to tuck Alice against his side too. Both girls held onto him for a minute and Jasper surrounded them in his own relief that they were safe.
A loud sigh had them pulling away from each other. Jasper didn't even spare a glance for Edward before leading the girls to the car.
While he would have preferred sitting in back with Bella, he would've had to practically fold himself in half to fit in the tiny back seat. Alice slid in first and then she and Jasper guided Bella - who was quickly losing the battle to stay awake - in beside her. Once they were settled, Jasper climbed behind the wheel.
When Edward made no move to join them, Jasper glanced up to see him staring at the back window, jealousy practically radiating off the boy. Jasper just rolled his eyes and waited.
"Get in the car, Edward," Alice eventually sighed.
The drive back to Pisa was about twice as long as their race to Volterra and easily four times more awkward. Bella drifted off to sleep almost immediately and the vampires in the car stayed silent.
They'd had to wake Bella up to make her way through the airport, and when they finally reached their gate she collapsed on the closest seat with a quiet groan. Jasper sat beside her and pulled out his phone to call Jacob, handing it to Bella when it started ringing. As she put it to her ear, she leaned against Jasper's side.
"Jasper?" Jacob's sleep-rough voice answered.
"Hey Jake," Bella greeted him through a yawn.
Jasper didn't miss the sneer on the telepath's face when he realized who Bella was talking to.
"Bells, you're okay? Still have all that yummy blood inside you?"
A sharp crack of laughter escaped Jasper as Alice giggled.
"Yes, Jake," Bella laughed. "Still human. No one even tried to take a taste. Don't let Alice's size fool you. She wasn't going to let anyone lay a hand on me."
"Oh, I remember. She can be a frightening little monster," Jacob agreed.
"Hey!" Alice protested, fighting back a smile as she sat on Bella's other side.
Jasper felt Edward's confusion and frustration as he sat down across from them but he honest to god could not be bothered to deal with the boy. Instead he let Alice feel all his love and pride that she'd kept both herself and Bella safe. She reached across and squeezed his hand with a smile.
Jacob's warm laugh drifted to them through the phone. "Kidding. You alright, Tink?"
"Yep. We're all fine and we'll be back in Seattle in about nineteen hours. We have a bit of a wait here and then a short layover in New York. The rest of the family is going to meet us at SeaTac but Rosalie is going to offer to come pick you up if you want to be there when we land," Alice told him.
Jasper felt the surprise from both Bella and Edward - Edward's mixed in with a fair amount of disgust and disbelief while Bella's was mingled with gratitude and joy.
"Uh, thank her for me but I think I'll pass."
Bella smiled. "Hey, after you get some sleep would you… Oh shit! I need to call my dad!"
"I already spoke to him," Jasper quickly reassured her, seeing out of the corner of his eye when Edward's head snapped up to glare at him. "I told him you'd fallen asleep but that I'd have you call him when you woke up."
Bella practically sagged in relief that she hadn't let her dad down.
Before Jacob had taken her the airport, the two of them had talked to Charlie and told him a very basic version of the truth: Alice found out that Edward wasn't in a great mental space and was worried he'd take his own life. She knew he was in Italy and thought maybe between her and Bella they could convince him to come home.
It was close enough to the truth that Bella hadn't lied, she'd just left the supernatural element out it.
Charlie Swan had been… confused. Hadn't he and Bella broken up more than six months before? Had Edward even tried to contact her in all that time?
But being the kind man he was, he had agreed on the condition that either Jacob or Jasper accompany them. He didn't think that Alice would put her in harm's way intentionally, but he'd feel better having one of the boys with her.
Bella internally rolled her eyes a little that she'd be safer with a 'boy' but had to concede that if you didn't know Alice was a virtually indestructible vampire, she did look awfully tiny.
So Bella had simply assured him that Jasper would be with them. Jacob would drive her to SeaTac for her flight to New York, and Alice and Jasper would already be at JFK so they'd meet her at her gate.
After asking her to please check in with him regularly, he'd given her his blessing. He'd hugged her for a beat or five longer than usual, though. Pulling back, he'd kissed her forehead and told her he loved her.
"Oh, and maybe see if you can find one of those 'My daughter went to Italy and all I got was this damn t-shirt' shirts."
Bella smiled. "That's it? Just a tacky tourist shirt?"
Charlie Swan shrugged. "The gelato would melt before you could get it back here."
All three of them had been laughing as Bella and Jacob drove away.
"Oh hey, did you look at any of the shops on the way to the gate? My eyes weren't open wide enough to actually see anything," Bella asked her vampires.
"Wanna find him that shirt?" Jasper laughed, Jacob and Alice joining in.
"The man never asks for anything!" Bella huffed. "Even if I have to order it online and have it mailed to the house, I'm getting him the stupid t-shirt."
"We still have a little time to kill, I'm sure we can find him something," Jasper assured her.
"I'm gonna go crash, Bells," Jacob laughed. "Go find your dad a tacky gift and I'll see you when you get home."
"Alright. See you soon, Jake. Love you."
"Bye Jacob!" Alice and Jasper chorused together.
Just before Jacob hung up, they heard him chuckle "weirdos" under his breath.
In the end, the airport gift shop didn't sell the shirt her dad wanted so she chose a keychain in the shape of Italy with 'Charles' written in calligraphy and a beer glass with the Leaning Tower of Pisa etched on it. When they walked by a little gelato shop on the way back to the gate, she smiled and had Alice take a picture of it with her phone. Bella would have her print it out and she'd stick it in a frame once they were back home.
Bella's seat on the plane was next to Jasper, with Alice and Edward across the aisle. While Bella could practically feel her former boyfriend's gaze drilling a hole in the side of her head, she was too exhausted to deal with him just yet.
Giving Jasper a slightly pleading look, he'd nodded and began gently nudging her to sleep with his gift.
Being the hero who saved the day was exhausting for a human. Bella would think about whatever was to come after she got some much needed rest.
A/N: So my best friend thinks he's hilarious and made me a new profile photo thingie from my Chapter Twelve author's note. (He also had to change it for me because I certainly don't know how.) He's pretty much the best friend a gal could ask for so I'm inclined to leave it there for him to laugh at. At least he'll have something to smile at even when my story annoys him:)
Thank you all so much for taking the time to read and review!
Take care, M. x