My new phone was in my pocket and Bella's sweater was on me. It was a pink Welcome to LAS VEGAS hoodie she bought when she stayed in that city. She said it looked better on me than it did her. I wasn't sure about that since it was two sizes too small and didn't fit me right; the sleeves were two inches above my wrists and the bottom of the sweater exposed my lower back and stomach making it seem more like a crop top than a sweater. However, I took her compliment with a smile. Her face had lit up brighter than the blue sky.

Bella was a sight for sore eyes. She was the one I wanted to end my nights and start my days with.

Did she know how much I love her? I confessed my love to her, but I wasn't sure she fully comprehended everything I said since she was very tired.

Did she know how much her happiness meant to me, more than my own? I would literally do anything she asked of me, and to prove it, I did. It was the most difficult decision she could make; I could tell, but I stuck by her side and did little to talk her out of it because I love her.

Did she know how much I didn't want to say goodbye? It was only for the night, and yet, it felt greater. Though our departure had to be more painful for her than it was for me. There was no doubt in my mind about that.

I wanted her, and our son, to come home with me tonight. I tried, more than once, to convince her that leaving the shelter and staying at my house was the best option. But she insisted on parting ways with me and meeting up in the morning. So, after taking her to a burger shack for dinner, I dropped her off at the shelter.

The memory of us sitting on a bench in the back of the shelter with a duffle bag at her feet, a grocery bag full of baggies of breastmilk on the bench beside me, and Anthony on her lap with his big green eyes staring at me is seared into my brain. As well as every word she spoke about their daily routine as the smell of salt water lingered as tears gathered in her eyes and threatened to fall. It all lives inside my mind along with her enveloping me in a hug and kissing my lips. Tears fell down her face as she asked me something I never thought she would. I said yes because she needed me to, and immediately she made me promise to video chat her once I got home. That was a promise I wouldn't break.

There was hardly any traffic on the long stretch of road I was driving on as evening dragged on. I wasn't heading home though I really wanted to.

After leaving the shelter and not being able to hear the music coming out of the speakers it quickly became apparent I wouldn't be going home right away. That's when I started driving aimlessly around town. Driving with no particular place to go worked in my favor, so I ventured out of town. First, on the backroads, then on the long road that would eventually turn into a highway that would take me to a larger city if I didn't turn back soon.

The voice in my head that was full of images instead of words urged the car to keep going. I wasn't about to argue so I kept going. The wheels on my car kept turning and so did the ones inside my head; I kept thinking about Bella. I wondered what she was doing at that very moment. I hoped she was hanging in there because the last image I had of her was her trying not to fall apart; although she lied and said she was fine.

The further I drove, the more space between houses there were. It was a rural area, yet someone thought it was a good idea to have a motorcycle bar way out in the middle of nowhere. It sat on a road where people sped down the road at speeds greater than 65 MPH. Usually, I was guilty of going over the speed limit and weaving in and out of traffic. However, I wasn't doing that at this very minute as a motorcyclist sped past me, in a hurry to get to the bar.

Driving past the Iron Hog, I shook my head. I didn't think much about bars to begin with, especially one where rowdy motorcyclists ventured. That just seemed like trouble, if you asked me. Or maybe that was just me seeing the danger of alcohol and motorcycles because I've witnessed it all before. After all, I used to hang around those types of places looking for my next meal. However, that was another lifetime ago. Not something I cared to think about now.

Three miles away from the bar I slowed, coming up on a turn before a bridge. Around the same time my tires touched the metal bridge I caught something in the distance. About two hundred feet ahead there was a figure - a man standing on the side of the road. He stood ramrod straight, with his shoulder length honey-blond hair flowing in the breeze. He was staring at oncoming traffic like he was waiting for something, but by the expression on his face he seemed perplexed. Did he not know what he was waiting for?

On any other night, I would be able to read his mind, to know what brought him out here to stand watch like a scarecrow. I couldn't hear his thoughts tonight anymore than I could hear any of the nearby motorist's minds. My talent was of no use to me at the moment. Therefore, I was as bewildered as he appeared to be.

"Jasper?" I spoke my brother's name aloud in the form of a question.

He turned his head and locked eyes with me. His expression smoothed.

We were far apart but I knew he heard me. Without a word he raised his hand, curving his index finger, and motioning me to go to him. Flicking the blinker, I cautiously moved over the side of the road. It felt very odd to drive slowly, but it was a promise I made to Bella; that I'd obey the speed limit and laws of the road for a few days. That wasn't a promise I was about to break.

On the side of the road I stopped my car as Jasper walked at a human pace to me. I rolled down the passenger's window as he got closer.

Jasper leaned on the window frame, his eyes darting around the inside of my vehicle. "Bella's not with you?" He asked, his tone surprised.

"No." I said with a heavy breath. "She decided to stay at the shelter…again. She doesn't want to quickly leave the shelter in case things don't work out between us."

The realization of what I said, of what she had told me stung. She loved me and was giving me a second chance, but I broke her heart. I also broke her trust. I was doing my best to repair what had been broken, only, I wasn't sure if I was doing it right because she wasn't with me when I wanted her to be.

"Oh." He seemed only half surprised by that. "Alice is under the impression Bella's coming to our house tonight."

"Not tonight." My tone sounded defensive. I tried to talk her into it, but she didn't see things my way. For some reason it made me uneasy. This was not how I wanted things to go. Not how I believed things should be.

He straightened up and pulled out his phone. "Might as well text Alice and let her know Bella's not with you. This won't be easy for her."

I didn't respond as his thumbs flew across his screen. There was an odd feeling in my stomach that Alice had something planned and Jasper was a part of a distraction.

"So, why are you out here?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Alice." He replied matter-of-factly, shoving his phone in his pants pocket. He spoke her name like it explained everything, when it actually explained nothing.

Since he added nothing more I began to wonder if he meant he had been waiting for Alice. Or if Alice had instructed him to stand alone on the side of the road like a mile marker. Before I could ask, unhappy fussing came from the backseat, and in one second flat, fussing became crying because the car had stopped moving. No sooner than those thoughts came to my mind, they were replaced with ones of wanting to be held. My world shifted and only one person mattered to me.

Throwing my car in park I got out and went around to the backseat on the passenger side. I could feel my brother's eyes boring into me as I retrieved my son from his carseat, holding him protectively in my arms. Anthony screamed, letting me know this was not what he wanted. Not exactly. He wanted to be held, but not by me. He wanted Bella but she wasn't here. Nevertheless, I rocked him trying to calm him down. It had little effect. Maybe I was doing this wrong.

"Sorry," I apologized to Jasper as I rocked Anthony back and forth. "He doesn't appreciate that my car has stopped moving. He wanted a very long drive since that's what he's used to in the evening, which is why I took the scenic route to get here. Did you know people have farms in this town? There's a sheep farm, a dairy farm, a chicken farm, even a backyard farm with a cow. There's also a house with a bunch of goats in their front-yard." I rattled off all the types of farms I'd seen on my long drive to nowhere.

Jasper blinked rapidly. "No, I did not know that."

"I didn't either." I tried to calm my son down as he cried a little louder. His crying was making me nervous though I was trying not to show it. "Found out tonight when he insisted I kept driving. He's very persistent."

"Oh, I'm sure he is." Jasper slid his hands into his jean pockets.

His sentences were clipped, and to someone who didn't know him, his behavior might come off as uninterested, and even rude. Or maybe even aloof. But I knew him very well. Since 1950 he has been the end of my arm whenever separated. We are very close. Maybe that's why I understood there was more to what he wasn't saying. More to what I couldn't hear.

"You weren't expecting just the two of us," –I gestured to myself and my cranky infant– "were you?"

Jasper shook his head no. "Nor was I expecting to only feel my own emotions and a little bit of his." He tilted his head towards my son. "Not being able to read everyone's emotions around me has never happened before. It's strange."

Ah! This, I realized, was a large part of why he hadn't been saying much to begin with. It was an odd thing to be a talented vampire and not have access to your talent. More or less, it was like having to walk around blindfolded when you knew you were capable of seeing. However, I was coping with it as well as I could be. Though my brother, who just got the first taste of what it was like to not have his gift, was a little out of sorts.

"My son seems to have a gift of extracting the talents from those around him." I explained while Anthony screamed in my arms.

"I see." Jasper said slowly. "Alice told me the baby had siphoned her ability to see the future, replacing her visions with images of bottles and rubber ducks. I knew being around him would be different. Yet, I had still expected to be able to read some of your emotions, but I can't. Haven't since about five minutes before you pulled up."

"It's different, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yeah, but very refreshing." He said and I agreed.

Anthony shrieked, hitting my wrist with his little hand. He was not happy and I wasn't sure what to do. Bella had been caring for him since he was born, and he wanted her. She would know what to do, but she wasn't here.

"Anthony, this is your Uncle Jasper." I adjusted him in my arms as I introduced him to his uncle. Anthony responded the only way he could, by crying of course. Jasper didn't take it personally, in fact, he smiled.

"Hi, Anthony," Jasper said, reaching out to pinch his cheek.

Anthony's breath sputtered. He was still crying, but it was quieter. His big green eyes were on his uncle and his mind was full of curiosity.

"You look like your daddy." Jasper stated. Then he looked at me. "May I hold him?"

"Sure," I did not hesitate at this invitation. It was very welcoming. I handed Anthony over and to my surprise, that dramatically helped quiet my son.

Even though Jasper didn't have the use of his talent at the moment to magically calm my son down, he did know a thing or two about babies. He began bouncing Anthony in a soothing motion and patting his back and bottom at the same time. Anthony seemed to enjoy that and snuggled up to his uncle.

In Jasper's human life he had been the fourth oldest in a family of twelve. I'm sure he kept watch over his younger siblings before he enlisted in the war. However, back in those days, it wasn't common for a young man to care for or babysit the little ones like it was for girls. That's why I had always attributed his knowledge about caring for young humans to the time our family lived in Michigan, rather than when he was human.

In the late 1990's Esme and Carlisle decided to move our family to Michigan. I'd like to say there was a grand reason why we left New England that spring, but I can't. No one had any issues with bloodlust or killed anyone, no one was fired or kicked out of school. Yet, they moved us without any warning. Alice didn't have any visions of it, nor did I pick up any clues in our parents' thoughts beforehand. Packing up and heading to a new city was more or less on a whim. At least Jasper had later told Alice and I his hypothesis since that's what he gathered from their giddy emotions.

From 1998 to 2002, the three of us attended school in the smallest town in Michigan. The school our parents enrolled us in had three hundred students and accommodated grades pre-K through 12th; it also had the only daycare in the whole town on the campus.

Besides going to school there, we were also student workers since the school had a work program. Any student over the age of 15 could sign-up to work 30 minutes three days a week and get paid for it. Of course, my siblings and I didn't need the money, but it was something different to do; which was why the three of us filled out applications and sat through a 10 minute job interview.

We were placed in the job field on the campus that best suited us. I was put on cafeteria duty, cleaning tables, and picking up trash after the sarcastic and sassy 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Alice's job was organizing the principal's office, and as a bonus, she gave him fashion advice he highly appreciated. And Jasper found himself working inside the daycare. Out of the three of us, he enjoyed his job placement the best. I remember he once said how he couldn't wait to go into the nursery and wished he'd worked every single day instead of three days a week. He relished being around the infants much more than high school children. The babies' emotions were pure and energizing, whereas teenagers were melodramatic and draining to him.

So, it was no surprise to me when Jasper and Anthony were all smiles. Jazz spoke, goofy baby talked to my son as I stood by my running car. I was glad my brother had met us by the side of the road. He knew more about babies than I did, and I needed help. I didn't know much about being a father. Crying made me nervous as much as diaper changes did. I was fearing when he would need one of those again.

My eyes were on them as Jazz walked a little ways away from me, going over to a large tree. It was bare of leaves due to the time of year. My brother pointed to a high branch, talking in that goofy baby talk to Anthony, who was eating it up. It was silly, yet strange to witness; I couldn't look away.

Jasper had Anthony cradled into his arm. He lightly tickled Anthony's belly making him shriek with joy. The noise my son made wasn't exactly a laugh, nor was it a giggle, but it was happy. After that Jazz turned around and began walking toward me.

"Thanks for getting him in a better mood." I said to Jasper.

"You're welcome." His eyes went from Anthony to me. "It's not going to last long though. I'm feeling what he is. And well… I know what he wants and you don't have it."

"What?" I felt seven different kinds of confusion.

"By any chance," Jasper spoke very cautiously. "Is he breastfed? Because that's what he wants. Not so much the milk, but the closeness to his mother. He seems to really want the skin-to-skin contact with her soft, warm flesh."

"Oh." My eyes went wide. It was amazing what Anthony was feeling, but he was able to not think about this bit of information. Therefore, without my brother there to tell me, I would not have know.

"Yeah, he's starting to miss her." He explained in a low voice.

"I figured that was coming sooner or later." I admitted with a deep sigh, raking my hand through my hair. "I hope he'll be satisfied with hearing her voice and seeing her face on video chat tonight, because he's spending the night with me."

Jasper nodded. "How long will we be graced with his presence?"

"Nothing is set in stone, but possibly until Wednesday." I replied and quickly added, "Bella asked me to keep him for a few nights after he spit up on my shirt when we were in the movie theater. She figured him being with me would raise less suspicions if he were to spit up at our house than if he did that in the shelter. That could possibly cause some problems for her since she already has one of the staff members on her case."

Jasper raised an eyebrow as his phone alerted him he had received a text message. "Babies spit up all the time. It's not a big deal."

"True. But what goes in also comes out." Not meaning to, I spoke these words like a riddle as he got another text message. Followed by three more, and a notification for his email.

"What do you mean?" He asked, handing Anthony back to me so he could check his phone. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out.

"He's been drinking rabbits' blood today and that's what he spit up. My shirt looked like a murder scene, which was why Bella gave me her sweater and thought it was best I take him for a few days." I was shedding light on the situation, and trying not to remember how hard it was for Bella to ask me for help.

"Oh. A baby spitting up blood would definitely raise suspicion." Jasper breathed the words. Another text came in and his attention was drawn to that.

"Yeah." I agreed and peered down at Anthony. He was breathing in my scent as well as the lingering scent of his mother that was on the hoodie I wore. He pulled in one long breath before he began sucking on his hand. "Anthony, I'm going to put you in your carseat now, and we're going to go home. I'm sure your grandma will be happy to meet you. So will your grandfather when he gets home from work."

"And Auntie Alice. She's very excited." Jasper chimed in. His tone indicated he was holding back a secret.

I didn't respond, but I did look at him. His expression was neutral. If there was a secret he had, he wasn't telling me. This was different since I couldn't read his mind.

"Edward, Alice is waiting for you to get home. She's ready." He waved his phone in the air as another text came in.

There is no point in asking what Alice was ready for, I knew I wouldn't get an answer. Jasper hopped in the passenger's seat and I buckled Anthony in his car seat, making sure he was secure. I put his blue blanket on him to keep him warm. Before I shut the door I gave him his pacifier, hoping he would keep it in his mouth and not demand I keep driving when the car should come to a stop.