JPOV

THREE YEARS AGO

Forks, Washington has got to be the rainiest place known to man. You know, if the Amazon didn't exist. It's been a year since coming to this place and we haven't had any leads as of late. Sometimes these things happen, this definitely wouldn't be the first case to have ever gone cold in terms of finding the bad guy- in this case four. I don't like it one bit though.

Bella has become a robot, going through the motions of the day- or what could be considered a day when all you can do is stay inside or close by on the perimeter. On the bright side we have an indoor swimming pool and a gym to work out in. Right now, we are swimming laps when Bella gets out, moving to the towel rack to wrap a fluffy white towel around her small frame. My eyes follow her until she's out of my sight. Going a few more laps myself, I get out to make my way to my bedroom drying off as I go. Taking a quick shower, I get dressed in a pair of sleep pants and a t-shirt when I hear a rather concerning thud from Bella's room.

"Bella?" I shout knocking on her bedroom door as it is just right across from my own bedroom. No answer. "Bella, I'm coming in!" Opening the door, I can hear the water running from her shower. I stride over. "Bella? Are you okay?" I knock. Once more, no answer. I groan, "I'm coming in Bella!"

Steam fogs up the bathroom and there is still no movement but there is a small groan which makes me jump quickly into action. Grabbing the towel she has sitting on the counter, I rip open the shower curtain to find Bella passed out on the floor of the tub.

"Bella!" I shout for her as I turn off the water and begin wrapping the towel around her body. Her eyes open momentarily before closing once more. "Come on darlin," I lift her easily up out of the tub and sit her on the sink counter. Her body finally starts reacting as I begin to dab a wet cloth on the cut on her forehead. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack at an early age?" I gently accuse when she becomes more aware of her surroundings.

She tries to scramble away from me but I have to keep my hold on her so she doesn't injure herself even further by overreacting. "Hey, hey, hey, calm down," I say softly. "You cut your head when you fell. I'll let you go if you can keep still so I can look at it," I promise her.

I can't imagine Bella is in the most comfortable position as she hasn't been in this position since her and her husband… well you know… She looks at me with pleading eyes, telling me to hurry up so I do just that. I frown when I realize she needs a few stitches.

"I'm going to put some gauze over this so you have time to get dressed but I need to stitch this up, Bella," I inform her. Reaching underneath the sink, I pull out the first aid kit and grab some gauze and tape to quickly patch up the wound enough for her to get dressed. "Are you okay to get dressed by yourself?" I question nervous she'll tell me yes but even more nervous she'll tell me no.

"I can do it," she tells me weakly.

Letting out a breath I hadn't known I was holding; I nod and step out of the bathroom to give her some privacy. A few minutes later she bashfully opens the door to allow me back in. I swallow thickly as I find her dressed in dark grey yoga shorts and a black low-cut t-shirt.

"Sit on the toilet seat for me," I direct her as I gather everything I need to properly clean her wound and stitch her up. I can't help but watch as she does what I tell her to, trying to keep my reactions under control as I set everything up after washing my hands thoroughly. "Okay, ready?"

"Are you?" she retorts with a tilt of her head. "You look like you want to vomit on me."

Oops. Well, I suppose looking like I'm going to be sick is better than me looking like I want to jump her bones… I shake my head. "Don't worry about me, darlin. Let's get you stitched up," I begin my work. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Mm… the shower must've just relaxed me a bit more than normal and I started to fall asleep I guess," she tells me softly before she gasps sharply at a rather painful part that I stitch through grabbing my shirt at my hip.

"Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth," I remind her with a short pause. "Have you been taking the medications the doctor prescribed?"

"They don't help."

"We can have him up the dosage- "

"I don't want to take anymore medications," she cuts me off. "They don't help and make me feel like shit after. Upping the dosage won't do anything."

I sigh as I tie off my stitching and look down at Bella realizing how much sleep she's lost. "Fine. But from now on, you're sleeping with me," I tell her firmly. "I don't want another repeat of this to happen." Gently prying her hand from my shirt, I clean everything up and dispose of trash before taking her hand in mine. "Come on," I say.

"Where are we going?" she questions me confused, standing up regardless.

"To my room. I'm tired," I tell her truthfully. "I could use a nap and by the looks of it you could as well."

Bella doesn't put up a fight as we walk through her bedroom, across the hall, and into my bedroom where I close and lock the door behind us. She does however stand there as I walk over to make sure my service weapon is ready to go in my bedside table drawer. Turning on the fan, I walk over to take her hand once more where I lead her over to the bed, shoving her down gently and tucking her in before laying down on my side.

As neither of us have ever been in this situation, we are both kind of unsure of what to do but eventually seeing her so tense breaks me down. Against my better judgment, through literally all of this; I scootch closer to the middle of the bed where I then slide my arm across her torso making her gasp in surprise.

"Just trust me," I whisper tiredly. "Can you do that?"

Seconds pass by before she replies with, "Okay."

I suppress a smile as I carefully drag her closer towards my body, her back pressed firmly against my chest. Even to me, her body against my own feels overwhelmingly nice and I don't know whether it's because it is from lack of female contact or from it being just Bella. I'm willing to bet the latter. She's seemed to have a constant effect on me one way or another no matter what. Bella is tense for only a little more longer before I can feel the fight beginning to leave her body to give in.

"Jasper?" she basically slurs my name out from exhaustion.

"Yes, darlin?" I murmur just as tiredly as I not so nonchalantly shove my face in her hair to deeply inhale.

"Thank you."

I smile. "Anytime. Now go to sleep."

-O- -O-

When I wake up, Bella and I are still in the same position we had been when falling asleep. I carefully untangle myself from her, trying not to disturb her as I get up from the bed to go use the restroom. When I come out, she has a look of distaste on her face, so I quickly but carefully climb back into bed and pull her back against me.

Bella mumbles incoherently in her sleep but I make out my name a couple of times making my stomach do weird things. "I'm right here, darlin," I whisper softly, making myself more comfortable when she rolls over in my arms facing me.

Letting my eyes slip close again, I feel myself drifting back to sleep once more.

BPOV

I'm absolutely mortified with myself when I wake up to find myself completely and utterly turned on by some other man who isn't my husband. Dead or not- this shouldn't happen! Surely not so soon and surely not so soon after what happened to me. As he looks so peaceful, I untangle my limbs carefully from his and get out from the bed as carefully as I can and quickly make my way out of his room stumbling as I forgot he locked the door.

I quickly make my way to my bedroom where I close the door and grab another change of clothes and starting up a bubble bath. Stripping off my shirt and now damp yoga shorts and panties, I carefully submerge myself in the growing bubbles. Closing my eyes, I groan softly and silently berate myself for what I feel. This is wrong on so many levels, I know this isn't something that should even be on my radar for a long, long time.

By the time the water is cooled off, the growing feeling hasn't gone away making me berate and curse myself even more as I take matters into my own hands. At first, I imagine it being Edward that is touching me, touching my breasts gently, tugging deliciously at my nipples. Somewhere along the way however, his face and hands morph into Jaspers and it is him that gets me the release I'm looking for. Opening my eyes, I find myself in a bigger mess than what I came into this bathroom with. I am stuck by myself alone with this man for God knows how long…

"Bella?" I hear my name being shouted. It's Jasper I realize. Suddenly there's a knock on the bathroom door making my heart jump. "Are you in there, Bella?"

"I'm fine," I lie through my teeth. "I'll be out in a few minutes."

As to prove my point, I unplug the tub to drain the water and start up the shower head to rinse off the soap from my body. I hear his footsteps retreating from the bathroom door, bringing me a rush of temporary relief. Stepping out, I dry off and get dressed in the navy-blue yoga pants and white cotton shirt with matching bra and panties underneath. Brushing out my hair carefully, I check out the stitches to find I only needed eight placed. I've had worse.

I feel like a child caught with their hand in a cookie jar when I step back out into my bedroom when I see Jasper sitting at the edge of the bed with a frown. He automatically stands up when I come walking out, reaching to grab my hand in his own. I let him; it brings me comfort. Maybe that's why I am feeling this way?

"Did you sleep well?" he asks, his voice thick with something I can't detect.

I nod, letting my body lean against his in support. "Thank you," I say muffled against his clothed chest.

Too many clothes.

Stop it! I take a step back at that thought but refused to lose all physical contact, so I keep hold of his hand. His eyes inspect me closely, looking for something I'm not sure of and he doesn't seem to know either, but he pulls me back towards him into an embrace. I gladly accept, breathing in his soothing scent deeply.

"I would like to start showing you some self-defense moves," he says lowly, almost unsure if I would be open to such things.

It couldn't hurt, honestly it would probably help with getting some piece of mind. "Okay," I reply. "But if you haven't figured out by now, I might just end up hurting myself some more."

Jasper covers up a laugh with a cough and shake of his head. "Meet me down in the basement in ten minutes, yeah?"

He's walking out of the bedroom, leaving me standing alone nervously as I think of all the things that could go wrong with his plan. It's not a bad idea, don't get me wrong, I just have two left feet and really bad aim. Going back into the bathroom, I toss my hair up into a ponytail before making my way down to the kitchen where I grab the two of us of couple bottles of water then make my way to the basement.

A/N: Your love and support are incredible! I'm absolutely enjoying this story and reading everyone's thoughts and comments good or bad. Keep them coming. Until next time!

-bellacullen166