Movement and noises grew steadily in my senses. Voices were in a distant room, arguing and bickering but they were too soft to make out. My head was still swimming in sludge, but I forced my eyes open.

Immediately I closed them to block out the bright lights above me.

"Oh, sorry, my Bella." I felt a soft breeze and then again, a moment later. I could tell that the light had been turned off as the light behind my eyelids dimmed. "There now, you can open your eyes."

This time when I opened them, they didn't hurt and I could see Edward there, sitting on the bed. The bed he purchased simply for me. I groaned as I sat up.

"Easy now Bella. Lay still, you don't need to hurt yourself. Do not worry, whatever he did to you, he cannot hurt you now. I am here."

I scrunched up my eyes and forehead, confused as to what he was talking about. I did a light shake of my head and sat up anyways, hand flying to my forehead and eyes as the room threatened to spin out again.

"What happened?" I croaked out. Coughing, I cleared my throat and tried again. "What happened?" This time clearer.

"Wait, I told you to stay laying down. You can get hurt. I don't know what specifically happened, Jasper is being exceptionally good at blocking me with vile, filthy memories." He shuddered and it all started to come back to me.

I raised my right eyebrow at him and sat back, pulling away from his arms. "Excuse me. They are not vile or filthy memories. He survived a horrific ordeal that lasted decades. Without help. Without knowing there were other ways to live. How dare you accuse him! Jasper is a survivor and stronger than you will ever know or understand."

I was not sure what had come over me. It was just that when he was dissing Jasper's vampiric upbringing, I just couldn't take it. There was no way that he, who was not turned until nearly 50 years later and no where near the Southern Wars, could possibly understand what it was like to live through that. I barely understood it, but I accepted that it was likely the most dreadful thing to have to endure as an empath.

The fact that Jasper could be so kind and caring now, that he wanted to help me out, calm me, and prevent me from hyperventilating. Realistically, he would have known that once I passed out, I would breathe normally again. But no – he tried to help. This 'vile, terrifying' creature that Edward viewed Jasper as was so off base and so wrong. It riled me up.

"Bella, you do not know what he as really done. Remember, I can read his mind, I have seen him pull up those memories. Seen it as if I was there." He shuddered again. I just pushed at him.

My human strength could not push him away. He was a solid vampiric stone, and I was a weak human.

"Now, let me go talk to Jasper so I can figure out what happened." I started to get to my feet, but Edward put his hands on my shoulders and forced me back onto the bed.

"No, you need rest. You have been out for twelve hours. I came home from hunting and found Jasper carrying you in his arms in the back door from the deck. You looked lifeless and you were so white. I could barely hear your heart. I feared he drained you. Do not worry, he will not be left alone with you again. It just is not safe."

I scoffed back. "Right, like the man could possibly hurt me if he hasn't done so already." I rolled my eyes.

Edward pursed his lips together. "But he has. He lunged at you on your birthday. He was going to kill you. Drain you."

Blowing out a puff of air I rolled my eyes again. "Well, actually no. He was fighting every vampire's desire in that room to drain me. Including yours. If he had truly tried to drain me, with his training, his experience in the war – which you have indicated you have seen in his mind – do you really think that any of you would have been able to stop him?" I quirked my eyebrows at him and then when he said nothing but kept his mouth closed, I sighed and continued. "Fine, you won't let me get up, correct?"

He nodded. "You need your rest."

"Fine then." I lifted my head back, aiming my mouth towards the ceiling and spoke in a volume just less than yelling, knowing he could hear me anyways, but I was making my intentions clear. "Jasper! Can you come here please. Edward won't let me up, but I want to know what happened."

There was something that flashed across Edward's eyes when I lowered my head again. It was reined in before I could decipher it, but chills raced up my spine and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

A few second later, there was a knock on the door. "Jasper, you can come in." I answered.

"Don't you dare! This is MY room, and I have not given you permission." Edward snarled over my words.

Scoffing again, I shook my head. "Get a hold of yourself. He is just coming to explain. He was the only one here, as you mentioned. He is therefore, the only one who knows what happened." I turned back towards the door and repeated my welcome. He opened the door but did not enter, probably trying to find a happy medium that both Edward and I could live with.

"Jasper, what happened? I remember we were talking and then I had trouble breathing. You tried to help. But from there, I can't remember."

He lowered his gaze some but then lifted his head again, his dominance too powerful to feel contrite or embarrassment or whatever the reason was that he had lowered his gaze in the first place. He held Edward's gaze, Edward growling in response, before Jasper focused on me.

"You are correct. You learned some things that . . . overwhelmed you. You tired to manage it yourself, but you were hyperventilating. I offered my help, but I misjudged how much you needed. I sent you too much lethargy and you went unconscious. I caught you before you fell and brought you inside. It was at that moment that Eddie-boy here," Edward glared and growled at the nickname he abhorred, "came in and thought I was trying to kill you."

I nodded my head and shrugged my shoulders. "Okay, so Edward misunderstood. Okay, thank you. And thank you for helping. I do appreciate it, even if I got an extra nap out of it."

"Wait! He almost killed you. He knocked you out for half a day and you thank him?"

I turned my focus back to Edward. "Yes. Yes, I did and do thank him. He was honest with me. Now that he explained, I remember what we were talking about. Jasper is honest. None of the rest of you seem to be. Well, maybe except Rosalie." I waved that off with my right hand before continuing. "When were you planning to tell me that Victoria was back in the area. When were you going to tell me that the Volturi were coming? They are expecting to see a vampire Bella the next time they see me, and Victoria wants to see me dead. Don't you think that this is information I needed to know?"

He turned and hissed at Jasper who was still standing in the doorway. "I told you no one was to tell her. Until the problem was taken care of and no longer a threat. We did not need to worry her needlessly. We are dealing with the Seattle issue this weekend."

He cocked an eyebrow back at Edward. "Seriously, it is her life. She needs to know." With that, he turned and left. A few seconds later I could hear one of the house doors open and close.