A/N: I've really loved reading your feedback, especially those of you who aren't fans of this pairing but who are reading anyway. And welcome to any new readers:)
Family Meeting
"That went even better than I'd hoped it would," Jasper said as he and Alice drove away from the Swan's.
Leah had been planning on coming back to the Cullen house with them, but Charlie had the following day off and he managed to guilt Leah into going fishing with him bright and early when Bella refused. Not that there was actually much guilting involved. He just asked her with that sweetly hopeful look on his face and she'd immediately caved like the softie she was underneath that thin outer shell of bitterness.
"It did, and we get to do it again," Alice answered with a smile. When they were saying goodbye and thanking Charlie for inviting them, he had told them they were welcome back any time they liked. He thought Alice just might be the good luck charm the Mariners needed.
Jasper felt the jolt in Alice's emotions that signaled she was being pulled into a vision. "Carlisle is calling a family meeting," she said a few moments later.
"Bad news?" he asked, but all she did was smile brightly and mime zipping her lips shut, making Jasper laugh.
When they walked in the house, they found Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett waiting for them in the living room.
Esme greeted them with a warm smile. "How'd it go?"
"It was actually a lot of fun," Jasper answered as they sat down. "Leah met us there with some of those legendary cookies her mom bakes."
"And the pizza?" Emmett asked with a grin.
"Absolutely disgusting," Jasper laughed. "About a thousand times worse than animal blood. Then double that when it comes to bringing it back up."
"But it was totally worth it," Alice said. "Charlie had a smile on his face all afternoon. And we even got Bella to join us for a little while."
"Really?" Esme asked in surprise. "That must have made Charlie happy."
"It did," Jasper nodded. "Edward wasn't so thrilled about the whole thing but Charlie was. It seems like such a small thing, having his daughter watch two innings of a ball game with him, but he was over the moon. And even though Bella doesn't like sports, she had fun too."
"That's wonderful," Carlisle smiled. "I've asked Edward to come home so we can have a brief family meeting. I spoke to Billy Black this morning and I want us all to be on the same page."
Alice nodded. "Charlie said he'd planned to watch the game at the Black's but Billy had something come up. I'd wondered if it had anything to do with you calling him."
"I don't think it did," Carlisle said, but left it there. Jasper was definitely curious, but he wasn't worried. Carlisle was feeling a hesitant kind of hope.
Edward arrived home a few moments later and walked inside with a scowl. "I don't appreciate you interfering in Bella's relationship with Charlie," he snapped as he sat down.
"We didn't go there to interfere with Bella and Charlie," Alice snapped back.
"Right," Edward scoffed. "You think Bella treats her dad poorly so you decided to spend time with him since she doesn't. That sounds like interfering to me and it needs to stop."
"Watch yourself, Edward," Carlisle said in a firm voice. "Your attitude lately has been extremely disappointing. I'm getting tired of having to remind you to treat people respectfully, and I'll caution you against attempting to dictate the way anyone in this coven spends their time."
"Bella's my mate," Edward protested. "Therefore it is my decision."
All the siblings rolled their eyes at that. They were completely sick of the fact that Edward used the same stupid argument about everything related to Bella.
"Edward, have you ever, in the past eighty-five years, seen me try to restrict who Rose spends time with or what she does with her time?" Emmett asked in exasperation.
"And is Bella's happiness not at all important to you?" Jasper asked quietly. "She's your mate but you don't seem to be as concerned about her happiness as much as you are her safety. Bella had fun this afternoon, Edward. I know you heard that in my thoughts. You also heard that she knew you didn't approve of her watching the end of the game with us. But she enjoyed the time spent with her dad. Does that mean nothing to you?"
Edward gritted his teeth and stayed silent. Bella's safety would always come first. Being around any of the wolves was dangerous and Edward would do whatever he had to in order to minimize her time around them, even if it meant Bella missed out on time with her father.
Jasper shook his head with a sigh. He was pretty sure he could tolerate just about anything if it made Leah happy, a sentiment shared by the two mated pairs in the house.
Emmett had zero interest in cars except for how fast they could go, but he often spent time in the garage with Rosalie and listened to everything she was doing and helped out any time she asked. Rosalie didn't particularly like video games, but her husband did, so she played every single time he shot her that dimpled grin and asked her to play with him. Was Esme interested in every medical breakthrough the way Carlisle was? Did Carlisle enjoy gardening as much as his wife? No to both, but that didn't stop either of them from sharing in the other's hobbies and interests because their mate's happiness was just as important as their own.
Bella admittedly didn't seem to have many hobbies or interests, but Jasper highly doubted Edward would happily share in them with her if she did and they weren't things he enjoyed doing. Jasper didn't understand Bella's attachment to Jacob Black, but he couldn't deny that the two of them were friends. Edward didn't care about that, or that trying to control whether or not Bella spent time with him upset her. Bella's happiness didn't seem to factor into Edward's attitude or behavior at all.
"I didn't ask for this meeting so we could argue about Jasper or Alice spending time with someone his mate is close to," Carlisle said. "Leah has a strong bond with Charlie Swan and Jasper is well within his rights to cultivate a friendship with him that is completely separate from Bella. What–"
Before Carlisle could say anything beyond that, he was cut off by Edward. "This is dangerous."
Carlisle sighed. "Edward, please don't interrupt me."
"I'm sorry, but it needs to be said. This whole situation is dangerous."
"How so?" Jasper asked calmly, knowing perfectly well that it was Seth, Paul, and Leah's ability to come into their home and their territory that Edward objected to. This was the first family meeting that Edward had been present for since the day Jasper met Leah.
"The wolves are our natural enemies, how could it not be dangerous?" Edward snapped.
"As far as I'm aware, the only time you've spent around the wolves was the day in the clearing. Did you see something that I missed? Something that makes you feel that they're a threat to us?" Esme asked.
Rosalie rolled her eyes. "He's just jealous of Bella's weird friendship with Jacob Black and pissed because we didn't give her a pass for having a temper tantrum and slapping a stranger."
Edward bared his teeth at her, making Emmett let out a low growl in warning. "She was justified," Edward protested.
Esme was not having that at all. "She was justified in using violence against two strangers? Was it self-defense?" she asked pointedly, knowing it wasn't.
"It was hardly violence," Edward answered, rolling his eyes like they were all overreacting. "All she did was push Sam a little bit and slap Paul when he laughed at her."
Carlisle frowned at that. "Edward, being laughed at is hardly a justifiable cause to use violence. I'm shocked I even have to point that out to you."
"We're not here to talk about Bella," Edward snapped. "We're here to talk about the danger Jasper's mate brings to our family."
Jasper glared at him. "What danger exactly?" he asked. "Exposing yourself to a human was dangerous. Traveling to Italy and giving Aro Volturi proof that our family had broken the law was dangerous. How exactly is Leah Clearwater a danger to this family?"
"She's a wolf," Edward snapped.
"Don't sit there and act like Leah has done something wrong just because you have issues with Bella's relationship with Jacob," Rosalie snapped back.
"The two of you wanted to kill Bella after the van incident, but now you're perfectly fine with outsiders knowing about us?" Edward sneered.
Now he was just grasping at straws and everyone gave him slightly incredulous looks at that. "Uh, I hate to point out the obvious here, Edward, but Leah knew about us before meeting Jasper," Emmett said with an amused smile.
"She's also not human," Alice pointed out. "Volturi law doesn't apply to her the same way it applied to Bella."
"She's right, Edward," Carlisle nodded. "Leah is a part of the supernatural world. The concerns the family had when you exposed yourself to Bella are not relevant in this situation."
"Even if Volturi law doesn't apply, that doesn't mean—"
Jasper held up a hand to cut Edward off. "My relationship with Leah is not up for debate," he said firmly. "Exposure laws don't apply, and she already knows our secret. What you object to is her ability to come into our home, but you made the decision to not join the family when we discussed it. The exception to the treaty line has already been made."
"Then rescind it," Edward snapped.
"You're not the coven leader here, Edward, so I'd caution you to watch yourself," Carlisle said sternly. "Leah is Jasper's mate, she will have the same freedom to come and go as any other mated pair in this family."
"She doesn't like Bella, I don't want her exposed to that," Edward argued.
"Well then it's a real shame Bella doesn't have her own house for the two of you to spend time in if you don't want her precious feelings hurt," Rosalie sneered.
"We decided this a family, Edward, and you chose to not participate in that discussion. Leah is Jasper's mate, and as such, she is welcome in this home at any time," Esme said. "Her access to Jasper is not to be restricted by anyone, for any reason."
"But–"
Esme held her hand up. "That's enough, Edward. It's not up for debate."
Rosalie glared at the telepath. "When you started bringing Bella over, did Jasper ever object?" she asked angrily. "He feels all of our thirst and this was the one place he could let his guard down and relax. Bella's your singer, Edward, which means he feels your level of thirst when you're around her. Yet instead of protesting and asking you to go to Bella's house instead of bringing her here, he started spending more time away from the house. He didn't make demands, he didn't argue, he didn't even ask politely, he just accepted that your mate had every right to be here, even if it was dangerous. Why the hell do you think you have the right to tell him his mate shouldn't be allowed in our home?"
"Dangerous?" Edward scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. Bella doesn't have the ability to inflict physical harm on any of us the way Leah does."
There was a moment of incredulous silence at that statement. "But we have the ability to inflict physical harm on her, Edward," Emmett said. "Every single time Bella walks in that door she is at risk."
"Yes, I'm aware. Jasper made that perfectly clear in September," Edward growled, glaring at the empath.
Jasper just gritted his teeth and shoved aside his anger. It wasn't news to him that Edward still blamed him for the debacle that was Bella's birthday party. Instead he focused on the emotions of the rest of the family, none of whom blamed him.
"That is enough," Carlisle said sternly. "Edward, this is your very last warning. You will treat every member of this family with respect or there will be consequences for you. If you continue to act like a petulant child, you will be treated as such. We have discussed Bella's party on more than one occasion. I understand that you don't want to acknowledge that your bloodlust affected you the way it did, but that doesn't make it any less true. Jasper felt the thirst of every single one of us."
"And do you honestly believe any of us could have kept him from getting to Bella if he was really determined?" Alice pointed out. "Yes, he was lost to his thirst - our thirst - but he wasn't so lost that he fought with everything he had. One of the very first things he learned after he was changed was how to get out of a restraining hold. You think he couldn't have easily gotten out of Emmett's hold? And since you have a tendency to downplay his fighting prowess because you can't handle the blow to your ego that you have yet to beat him while sparring or wrestling, all he had to do was use his gift. He could've dropped us all with enough lethargy that he could have walked up to Bella with no obstacles in his path. So if he really wanted to get to Bella, he would have," she snapped.
Before Edward could open his mouth again, Carlisle held his hand up. "We are not here to rehash the past, nor are we here to discuss Leah's freedom to come to our home. We're here to discuss my conversation with Billy Black and how we are moving forward from here," he said firmly.
Edward crossed his arms and scowled, but everyone else nodded their agreement.
"Thank you," Carlisle nodded. "Chief Black was not surprised to hear from me. He was, in fact, planning to call me to discuss this situation. The first thing I did was explain the nature of mates and how similar it is to my understanding of wolves and their imprints. He shared that he and the elders had been forced to rethink their beliefs about imprinting, as they had thought it had to do with the wolf 'choosing' the best partner to ensure the strongest wolves for the next generation."
"Seriously?" Emmett asked in surprise. "Nothing to do with love or soulmates, just to make the best babies?"
"Essentially, yes," Carlisle nodded. "That's not to say that love is absent, because it's not. Imprinting creates an intense bond between the wolf and the imprint, and a deep and true love is a natural byproduct of that bond. But because the concept of mates in our world is rooted in the finding of a soulmate, they're now wondering if imprinting is the same."
Jasper gave an incredulous little laugh. "So... what? Either they've misinterpreted the purpose of imprinting for generations or Leah and I are capable of making some kind of hybrid babies that'll become kick ass wolves?"
"Considering you're technically dead, I highly doubt you have little swimmers down there," Alice said with an amused smile as she gestured in the general direction of Jasper's lap.
Almost everyone laughed at that, though Edward just scowled a little deeper, like sex and sperm were not appropriate conversation topics.
"I'm inclined to believe that they've misinterpreted the purpose, as are Billy and the other elders," Carlisle chuckled. "But regardless of why Leah imprinted, it is undeniable that the bond between vampires and their mates, and wolves and their imprints, are remarkably similar. It is because of those similarities that we are having to rethink certain aspects of the treaty."
"How so?" Rosalie asked warily.
"Well, we've already made a start just by allowing the exceptions we previously decided on. By allowing Leah, Seth, and Paul to come into our territory we showed the elders that, to us, Jasper and Leah's bond is more important than invisible lines that were drawn eighty-four years ago. In 1936, the only consideration was our safety, along with the safety of the Quileutes. Today, we need to balance all of our safety and Leah and Jasper's relationship."
"If our safety truly mattered to you, there wouldn't be any exceptions," Edward protested.
"Edward," Esme said in exasperation. "Carlisle has already been balancing the safety of this coven and a relationship with one of our members and their mate. In case your memory has failed you, Jasper and Rosalie's objections after you exposed yourself to Bella were because what you did put us on the wrong side of Volturi law. They didn't object to Bella as a person, but to the threat she embodied. An exception was made that day."
Edward scowled but didn't argue. He knew Esme was right - if they'd followed the laws of their world, Bella would have been changed or killed directly after he'd saved her from Tyler's van in a decidedly non-human manner.
"Billy shared something else with me today," Carlisle continued. "I spoke to him before the elders met, so I'm unsure what the outcome was, but Sue Clearwater was planning to ask the council to allow Jasper to cross the treaty line."
Jasper's eyes went wide with shock. "What?"
Carlisle smiled at him. "She would like the council to consider allowing you to come to her house. She feels that she should have the right to invite her daughter's imprint to her home if she chooses. I'll be honest, I'm not sure the council will grant her that request. As the acting Alpha, Sam Uley is a member of the council, and Billy expected him to refuse. Even Billy was unsure how he would vote. Allowing a vampire onto their land would be disregarding hundreds of years of precedent. It was some seven-hundred years ago that the Quileute tribe had their first shapeshifter."
"That's…" Jasper trailed off, completely blown away by the fact that his mate's mother supported their relationship to such an extent that she actually wanted him to be allowed to cross the treaty line.
"The elders still may not be comfortable with that at this point, but they are supportive of you and Leah being together," Carlisle said. "Sam was forbidden from using an Alpha command to keep you and Leah apart, and when he threatened to give an official command to keep Paul and Seth from crossing into our territory, he was forbidden from doing that as well."
"Did you tell him that Leah, Seth, and Paul are the only wolves we're currently prepared to allow on our land?" Jasper asked.
"I did," Carlisle nodded. "And I made clear that the rest of the treaty is intact. The other wolves are not permitted in our territory, and an attack by any of the wolves will be a breach of the treaty and we will defend ourselves however we see fit. I wanted there to be no confusion."
Jasper nodded, pleased that he'd stressed that. He didn't want any of the other members of the pack to cross the treaty line and use the excuse that they didn't know who was allowed and who wasn't.
It was less that he was worried about a wolf attacking one of them, and more that he didn't want them to know anything about their day to day lives - no spying, no eavesdropping, no learning their schedules or movements. The telepathic link between the pack when they were in wolf form meant that the others would learn some things from Leah's thoughts, but he wanted to limit that information as best he could.
"Now, there's one final–"
Edward cut Carlisle off. "Absolutely not," he growled.
"That is enough, Edward!" Esme shouted, making the others startle a little. "I have had just about enough of this attitude of yours and your continued disrespect of members of this family. So you have two options. Either you sit quietly or you leave. The choice is yours."
"I will remind you again that you are not the leader of this coven, Edward," Carlisle sighed, completely fed up with the telepath. "You don't make unilateral decisions for this family. Is your voice heard? Of course. You make sure of that. Is your opinion taken into account? Yes, just like the opinion of everyone sitting in this room. But your opinion does not hold more weight than any of your siblings, and you need to stop expecting it to."
"But–"
"Go wait in your room, Edward," Esme interrupted, both her voice and her eyes as hard as steel. "Carlisle already warned you that if you continued to act like a petulant child, you would be treated like a petulant child. So go upstairs and wait for one of us to come speak to you. Do not leave this house through your window. You have been given more than enough warnings, including that there would be consequences for your continued disrespect. You are about to face those consequences."
Edward gaped at her, completely outraged.
"Now, Edward," Esme snapped when he didn't move.
Edward's four siblings sat completely still and silent. In any other situation, Edward being sent to his room might have been a source of amusement and jokes, but none of them were amused. Esme might get annoyed or irritated now and then, but it was incredibly rare for her get truly angry. It spoke volumes about just how bad Edward's behavior had been since returning from Italy.
Knowing he'd already pushed her too far, Edward glared at the floor rather than at Esme the way he wanted to. He got up and walked out of the room filled with enough indignation and fury that Jasper had to clench his jaw against it. He took a deep breath and pulled up all the love, respect, and admiration he felt for Esme and slowly started letting her feel it. He didn't manipulate her emotions, he just let her feel his.
She took a deep breath of her own and smiled at him. "Thank you."
Carlisle tucked his wife a little closer against his side and waited until they heard Edward close his bedroom door before speaking.
"Alright. First, thank you all for keeping as calm as you have tonight. Particularly you, Jasper, considering Edward's protests all center around your mate," he said. "Now, the final thing Billy and I discussed is the situation with Victoria. He and I simply shared information, no decisions have been made yet. It's something for us to discuss as a family, and then to discuss with Leah, Seth, and Paul."
"You want them to include our territory in their patrols?" Jasper guessed.
"That, and I'm wondering about the benefit of us patrolling our territory together," Carlisle explained. "The Swan house and the police station are in our territory, and putting aside Victoria's interest in Bella for a moment, Leah considers Charlie Swan her family. As does Seth. I feel it's fair to allow them to patrol around both locations. As you saw, Edward is going to attempt to argue against this. My hope is that if the wolves are patrolling with one of us, Edward's objections will be more easily countered."
Everyone was quiet as they thought it through for a minute.
"It definitely has some strategic advantages for us," Jasper eventually said. "Our territory is pretty large, including not just the town of Forks, but all that land to the north and east of us."
"What about giving Leah, Seth, and Paul the freedom to patrol the uninhabited areas farther outside of town on their own, but making it a joint effort in and around Forks," Rosalie suggested. "Three of us have somewhat limited time - Alice and Edward with school and you at the hospital, Carlisle - so the wolves could be a huge help in making sure we're not letting anything or anyone slip through the cracks."
Alice nodded her agreement. "And adding the caveat that any patrolling in or around town needs to be done together, Edward can't argue that the presence of the shifters in their wolf form is too dangerous to even consider. They'll have one of us with them."
"That's all in line with what I was thinking," Carlisle nodded.
"I know this isn't ultimately my decision to make, but I'd strongly caution you to not ask Edward to be part of the joint patrolling," Jasper said. "His hostility to the wolves is on par with Sam and Jacob's hostility to us. I don't necessarily think he'd be physically aggressive with them, but there is virtually no chance he'll be willing to treat them respectfully, or even civilly."
Carlisle sighed. "That's also in line with my thinking."
Emmett shook his head in a combination of confusion and frustration. "With Victoria trying to get to Bella, you'd think Edward would do whatever he had to in order to keep her safe, even working with the wolves."
Jasper rolled his eyes a little. "I'm pretty sure Edward thinks he can keep Bella safe all on his own."
"What about Jacob?" Alice asked.
"You think he's going to want to patrol Forks because of Bella?" Carlisle clarified.
Alice nodded, and Jasper sighed in exasperation at Edward's emotions. Even after being thrown out of the room, he still had to be a pain in the ass.
"While the town is technically in our territory, Forks has always been treated as neutral ground in regards to the humans of the tribe. They've never been restricted from coming here," Carlisle answered. "Even now, with the knowledge that Jacob is one of the wolves, we haven't attempted to restrict his access to Bella's house. At least not while human. Given his feelings towards our family, I'm not entirely sure I'm comfortable making an exception for him to patrol Forks as a wolf, but I'd like to know your opinions on it."
"He seemed controlled enough when we were all in the clearing," Esme said after a moment. "I don't personally have a problem with him patrolling near Bella's house as a wolf, but I'd be significantly more at ease if it was only when he was accompanied by one of us."
Rosalie gave a hesitant nod. "I agree with that, but I don't think he should be given a free pass to come and go on our land as he pleases."
"If we grant him an exception, the area he's permitted as a wolf should be specifically delineated," Jasper added. "And that should be shared with the elders, along with Leah, Seth, and Paul, so that there's absolutely no confusion."
"Alright," Carlisle nodded. "It isn't a pressing concern at the moment, but I'll pull out my map of the two territories tonight and we can decide exactly what that area should be. That way we're prepared if and when Jacob broaches the subject. So, we're all on the same page?" he asked one more time, and everyone nodded their agreement.
Jasper's phone buzzed with a text and he pulled it out of his pocket to see it was from Leah.
Seth is giving me puppy dog eyes to arrange some training tomorrow after school. Which is highly annoying because he knows I have no defense against that shit.
Jasper smiled as he texted back.
Softie.
"Any of y'all feel like doing some training with Leah and Seth tomorrow?" Jasper asked. "Probably not until mid-afternoon when Seth gets out of school."
"Hell yeah," Emmett nodded with a dimpled grin.
"Sure," Rosalie agreed. "Seth is really sweet and from the little time I've spent with her, I like Leah. Since you're my favorite brother, I wouldn't mind getting to know your mate better."
Feeling Edward's annoyance at that statement, Jasper laughed. "Rose, he's already down, no need to kick him."
Rosalie just gave him a casual shrug. "I don't know what you mean," she said, trying to sound innocent, which made everyone smile. Rose's fake innocence somehow managed to come off as more conniving than when she was being outright conniving.
Jasper's phone buzzed again and he laughed at Leah's text.
I'm not at all ashamed to admit that I'm a softie when it comes to my little brother. You've met him, can you blame me? The kid's adorable as hell.
"So Rose and Em are in, what about you, Ali?" Jasper asked.
"If it's after school gets out, absolutely," she nodded.
"How about you?" Jasper asked Esme, already knowing Carlisle had a shift at the hospital.
She shook her head with a smile. "Not tomorrow. I'm going to have to stick close to the house this week."
Jasper glanced at the ceiling when Edward practically exploded in shock and fury, then looked back to Esme. "Please be vigilant. I don't know what you're thinking that set him off, but he's furious."
Esme nodded sharply. "I'm sure he is," she said, but left it at that.
When Carlisle sent Jasper his curiosity, Jasper let him feel the extent of Edward's anger. Carlisle's eyes darkened and he nodded his understanding.
After they decided on a location within their territory to train so the other wolves couldn't cause trouble, Jasper shot Leah another text with the time and place. Having no further issues to discuss, the family meeting came to a close.
