A/N: I'm posting two chapters today, so make sure you don't skip Chapter 57! This one's kinda short but I split the two as best I could, and since there are two chapters today, I don't feel super bad about it. Only a little bad, lol.

Thank you for reading, and an extra thank you to everyone taking a few moments to leave feedback:)

Mistakes and Miracles

Once he was absolutely certain Bella was changing, Jasper turned his attention to Gianna. Paul had phased back to human and was holding Gianna's head in his lap, begging one of the vamps to change her.

"Are you—"

"Yes, Charlotte, I'm sure. Please," he sobbed. "Please don't let her fucking die. Please."

Charlotte looked at Jasper and all he could do was nod. They'd work out any kinks later when Paul's imprint wasn't at risk of bleeding out on the floor.

Charlotte nodded back and knelt down next to Paul, gently moving Gianna's hair out of the way. She quickly kissed Paul's forehead, then whispered an apology and put her mouth to the gaping wound in Gianna's neck. After a few seconds she pulled back and did her best to lick the wound closed. It wasn't a clean bite because of how the original vamp had been torn off her, but Charlotte was gentle and patient and eventually got the skin to knit back together. When she finished, she wrapped her arms around the sobbing wolf and just held Paul while he cried.

Jasper gently hushed Lilly, who was screaming in his ear. "Shh, flower, everything's alright," he whispered as he looked around. It honestly was a little bit like a scene from a horror movie.

Now that there wasn't an enraged wolf blocking her path, Esme was finally able to skirt around everyone in the crowded hallway and came to Jasper's side. "Do you want me to take her?" she asked.

Jasper nodded and went to hand Lilly to her, but Lilly's screams intensified in both volume and pitch and she clung to Jasper with an iron grip. "Okay, shh. You can stay right here, I promise, but you gotta breathe for me, Lilly," he said, trying to stay calm. "Where are the kings?" he asked above all the screaming.

Well, only two people were screaming - Lilly and Gianna - but most everyone in the family was doing at least a little crying. Bella, surprisingly, was silent. Jasper focused in on her for a moment. Yep, she was definitely changing. Bella had always been a little weird, though, so he wasn't sure why he expected any different now.

"At the other end of the hall, just out of sight," Esme answered. "With Paul phasing and Leah and Seth both shaking, the guard refused to let them come any closer."

Jasper covered his daughter's ears and let out a piercing whistle that had everyone turning to him. Even Gianna stopped screaming. "We can do some more freaking out in a minute but we've got some shit we need to deal with now. First, someone get Paul a pair of pants. I don't care who. He shouldn't have to sit here naked in what is arguably one of the worst moments of his life. Second, where's the asshole who started this shit?"

"In that room," Peter said and pointed at a doorway about halfway down the hall. "He's not intact, but he's still alive."

"Burn him. Third—"

"Jasper?" Aro interrupted as he peeked around the corner. "Should we perhaps find out what happened before making a decision about killing him?"

"Gianna was his singer," Jasper explained. "Is he one of your guards? I've never seen him before."

"No, he was just visiting. He does, however, have a mate," Aro said carefully, not wanting to upset him any more than was absolutely necessary.

Jasper growled a little in frustration as he rubbed Lilly's back. Her screams were slowly turning back into regular cries now that everyone had shut the fuck up but she was still far more upset than she had ever been. He gently bounced her as he thought through his options.

"Can we just leave him in pieces for now until the rest of this is taken care of?" Peter asked Aro.

"Of course," Aro agreed.

"Great. Okay, Bella and Gianna need to be moved. Back to the villa, I suppose," Jasper sighed. "The wolves should be allowed to get out of here, this is like their worst fears about vamps come to life. Can someone pull the SUVs around to the garage? We can't risk taking them out the front," he said as he pulled the car keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Emmett when he nodded. "Leah, do you feel up to driving one?"

Leah nodded a little shakily. "Yeah, that's fine."

Peter handed her the keys for the SUV he'd driven, and Leah took Angela's hand and followed Emmett out.

Emily ran into the hall with a pair of pants and a big ball of fabric and knelt in front of Paul. "I'm so sorry this happened," she whispered and pulled him into a hug. She held him for a few long moments and then pulled back and handed him the pants. "I'm sorry I can't give you any that don't smell like a vamp, but we don't have any humans in the castle I could steal them from. Here, Charlotte and I will hold this up so you don't have to leave her side."

Emily opened what Jasper realized was a bed sheet, and Charlotte immediately hopped up to hold one end of it. Seeing it wasn't fully covering him, Peter grabbed part of it and the three of them made a screen to cover Paul while he stood up and pulled the pants on.

Jasper just watched them and tried to soothe his still crying daughter. Figuring it was worth a shot, he shifted her slightly and cradled the back of her head to keep it tucked against his throat, then quietly started purring.

He felt the shock from the nearby vamps who weren't part of his family - though not Chelsea, she was already familiar with it - but he couldn't bring himself to care because some of that frantic edge in Lilly's cries lessened. Yes, purring was usually private, and yes, it was generally just done to soothe a mate, but it had never only been those things for Jasper. With his connection to Peter and Charlotte being what it was, purring for someone who wasn't his mate wasn't all that uncommon. And with a human wife who wasn't always comfortable with Jasper using his gift to calm her down, he'd long ago stopped giving a shit if he purred for her while sitting in the living room surrounded by their whole damn family.

So if purring for his infant daughter in the middle of a fuckin' castle was going to help her settle, he didn't give a single fuck what any of them thought of him.

Esme smiled and discreetly put her hand on his arm to send him all her pride in him. "There you go, Lilly. See? Daddy always makes it better. Good girl, just keep breathing," she whispered softly as Lilly took a shuddering deep breath that broke her heart a little.

"Alright, I'm dressed," Paul said, and Emily nodded and balled up the sheet. Paul bent down and gently picked up his quietly whimpering mate, then blinked back fresh tears. "Can someone lead me to the garage?" he asked quietly.

"Of course," Emily nodded.

Jasper's eyes snapped to his wife and he tipped his head to the side a little, though he didn't stop purring. After a second, he sent Bella what was basically a love bomb, and then huffed a laugh an instant later.

"What?" Esme whispered.

"Bella knows what's happening and is at least a little bit aware of her surroundings," Jasper explained with a smile. "She's sending me her love and reassurance."

A sharp crack of laughter escaped Peter. "She's going through the fires of hell and she's reassuring you?"

"What a completely Bella thing to do," Rosalie laughed. She was cradling Bella's head in her lap as she gently ran her fingers through her hair.

"She's grateful, Rose," Jasper whispered around a too-tight throat. "She somehow knows it was you. As soon as she heard your voice, she was flooded with gratitude and love."

"Can you feel Gianna?" Paul asked hesitantly as he kissed his imprint's forehead. "Can you tell if she's angry I made the choice I did?"

Jasper focused on her for a moment before looking at Paul with a small smile. "There's no anger in her. She's definitely scared, but that's normal. Going through the change, especially unexpectedly like this, is scary and painful. I get the impression she's trying to keep quiet so she doesn't upset you. That's my best guess about what her worry is for. It's also why she's gritting her teeth like that. I can't be sure she can hear every word you say, but just keep talking to her. Tell her everything you want her to remember. At least some of it will break through. And try to keep in mind that she was working here in the hopes of being turned eventually. I know that was before the imprint, but this was something she wanted at one point. From what I've learned about Gianna over all these months, she won't be upset about something you did to save her life. She loves you every bit as intensely as you love her."

Jasper sent Gianna the love and pride everyone was feeling for her, and smiled when he felt a little bit of relief from her.

"She's gonna be just fine. We're all gonna be just fine," Jasper said quietly. "So get your girl back to the house and we'll follow you shortly."

Paul nodded and started following Emily down the hall, but growled a little at Seth when he went to walk with them.

Seth held his hands up. "Sorry, I wasn't going to touch her."

Jasper felt Paul's tumultuous emotions and figured he should help him out. "Seth, why don't you hang back with us," he said quietly.

Seth immediately nodded and stepped away from Paul, who sent Jasper his gratitude, then followed Emily around the corner. Everyone was silent for a few moments and then Peter chuckled quietly.

"What a fuckin' clusterfuck."

Charlotte snorted a laugh. "No shit."

"We should probably get Bella home also," Jasper said, smiling when his mate again sent him her love. "I'd rather not untuck the flower's face from my neck until we're out of this hallway but I'm also not prepared to leave my wife's side," he said, then immediately reassured Bella at feeling her concern. "She's just fine, sweetheart. Almost sleeping."

"Is she really communicating with you?" Aro asked curiously, startling Jasper a little bit because he'd honestly completely forgotten their Volturi friends were around the corner.

"She is. Bella's miracle may be mermaids, but she will always be my miracle," he answered. "And with most of the wolves gone, it's probably safe enough to come out now," he added with an amused smile.

When a small blond blur headed straight for Bella, Jasper and Rosalie both growled a little. Chelsea immediately stopped in her tracks, wringing her hands together. "I apologize, that was careless. I know very well the protectiveness over a changing mate. I felt just the same when Afton was changing. Please accept my sincere apology."

"No, I'm sorry, Chelsea," Jasper apologized. "I know she's safe with you. She'll probably be happy knowing you're nearby."

Chelsea gave him a grateful smile and then slowly sat down beside Rosalie. "Well done, Rose. You were so calm. All of us were just holding our breath and biting our fingernails while you were out here saving the day! And you as well, Charlotte! I'm so impressed with both of you."

"Biting your fingernails?" Charlotte asked with a smile.

"Well, no," Chelsea laughed. "I've never actually done that but I've heard the expression and have always wanted an excuse to use it. This seemed like the perfect opportunity."

Feeling his wife's amusement, Jasper huffed another laugh. "Are you in any pain, sweetheart?" he asked incredulously, then laughed at her answering emotions. "Okay, little miss I can communicate just fine during the hell fire, no need to get all indignant. Yes, I can feel your discomfort but I can also feel your amusement at your friend. How the hell am I supposed to know what the fuck's happening inside that weird little head of yours?"

"I made her laugh?" Chelsea asked happily. "How exciting! I've never made anyone laugh while they were changing before. I've never actually tried, admittedly, but that doesn't diminish my pleasure one bit."

Caius walked around the women on the floor to get to Jasper. "I'm very sorry this happened," he said quietly, very briefly and very gently touching Lilly's cheek. "Do you know if she saw anything?"

"No, she didn't," Jasper assured him. "I hid her face just before I shouted for Peter. It was just a lot of loud noise and a lot of screaming. And, you know, that metallic screeching sound that many of us are used to is probably especially grating on her little ears."

Caius nodded his understanding, grateful she hadn't seen anything that could cause her trauma down the road.

Emmett turned the corner and went and sat beside his mate, who was still running her fingers through Bella's hair. "Car's in the garage," he said quietly.

"So Gianna was that dude's singer like Bella was to Edward?" Seth asked. When Jasper nodded, he let out a low whistle. "How the hell did he date her? That guy's face went from rabid to orgasmic in the blink of an eye. I live with all of you and I've never seen anyone move that fast."

"Edward was bound and determined to prove he was better than everyone," Rosalie scoffed. "What better way than to spend lots of quality time with your singer and not drain them?"

"Have any of you met a singer before?" Seth asked.

"I have," Emmett nodded. "Two, actually. Both were dead before I even registered what was happening. It wasn't like I caught a whiff and took a minute, or even a second, to consider if I wanted to kill a human. I smelled them and then the very next second I was aware of, they were dead in my arms."

"Being in that classroom absolutely saved Bella's life," Rosalie added. "The only reason Edward didn't immediately lunge for her neck was because there were so many witnesses. And even then, he still considered it. Thought about just killing everyone in the room just to be able to drink Bella with no one trying to interrupt him."

Seth's mouth dropped open. "He considered massacring an entire class? It's that intense? Man, if I didn't know what a complete dick he was, I might've admired the dude for not draining her. As it is, I did know what a dick he was, so instead I'll judge him for contemplating killing twenty teenagers."

Everyone laughed a little at that, and then Jasper looked around with a sigh. "I'd really like to get my wife and daughter out of this blood-stained hallway. What's up with the asshole behind door number one? You're sure he has a mate?" he asked Marcus.

"Yes, quite sure. She's in Italy with him, though obviously not in the castle currently. I understand why you want him killed, but…" Marcus trailed off, not sure what to do. The man had found his singer in just about the worst possible human at just about the worst possible time. A wolf's imprint walking beside Jasper Whitlock's human mate.

Jasper sighed long and hard. "I suppose you're trying to avoid saying I can't kill him because you don't want to piss me off? But that's really what you're thinking?"

"He didn't commit a crime," Aro very gently pointed out. "We have no grounds to execute him. I certainly can't tell you what you can or cannot do, but we cannot lawfully execute him."

Jasper looked at Peter, who shrugged. "I see both sides. He just fucked up our lives to a spectacular fuckin' extent, but he also didn't attack anyone maliciously. He crossed paths with a singer, which is very different than just casually deciding he'd like Gianna for an afternoon snack. Going by Emmett's description of what it's like, my guess is he didn't even see Bella."

"And with everything that happened because of Victoria, do we really want another female out for blood and venom because we've killed her mate?" Rosalie asked.

Jasper closed his eyes and took slow, deep breaths of Lilly's baby scent to keep himself calm. Logically, he knew they were right, but logic was a little hard to focus on when his mate was nearly killed and Gianna was nearly drained. He also had to acknowledge that this was his mistake as much as anyone else's. They'd all just talked the night before about having to keep their guard up, and what had he done? Carried Lilly himself instead of making sure his hands were free. Lagged behind to show her the miniature Christmas tree instead of walking by Bella's side.

"Fine," he sighed. "But if I ever see his face again, I make no guarantees that he'll walk away from the encounter."

Aro nodded. "We'll pass that message along."

"Here's a dumb and completely irrelevant question. How are none of y'all thirsty right now?" Charlotte asked. "Because there's a whole lotta blood layin' around."

"We knew Bella, Lilly, Angela, and Gianna would be here this afternoon, so we all fed this morning," Caius answered with a smile.

"Ah," Charlotte nodded. "That was thoughtful of you."

Jasper very slowly and carefully transferred his sleeping Lilly into Esme's arms, then went and knelt down beside his mate. "Ready to get out of here, sweetheart?" he whispered as he leaned down to kiss her forehead. Feeling Bella again sending her reassurance and love, Jasper carefully scooped her up into his arms and said a temporary goodbye to their friends.