As luck would have it, Emmett got to work...with Lexi.

Emmett had forgotten all about the fact that there was a new girl at work with the eventful school day. He wasn't sure if it was good or bad that it was Lexi. He didn't mind Lexi and thought she could be a cool person to spend time with, but Jasper didn't seem so keen on Emmett being around her.

Hensley, still reveling in the awkwardness that was their last period at school, could definitely say that she was not as excited to work with Emmett.

"Brett, this is Lexi. Lexi, this is Brett. He's the boss man." Emmett introduced her to the manager with a grin. Leave it to Emmett to forget all about what happened or not see the big deal around it.

Still, Hensley didn't want to look like a sour puss her first day on the job, so she smiled and exchanged normal pleasantries.

Brett told Emmett what they would be doing for jobs that night and then the pair got to work. Em gave her a quick tour, introducing her to everyone who was still there and hadn't left early. Then he went about explaining how the process worked: the job tickets and what to look for and how to read them. Finally, he got her setup on their nightly project. Overall, the whole process, at least the part she'd be doing, seemed very simple.

Around 4:30 everyone in the production area left for the day and at five the salespeople went home as well, leaving her and Emmett alone in the building. Hensley was thrilled.

"I'm sorry about study hall." Emmett broke the ice once he knew no one would be coming back in because they forgot something. "Jasper thought I was smacking you around and got nervous."

Hensley wasn't sure how truthful that was. Figuring it would save her a few hours of uncomfortable silence, she agreed to go with the story anyway, "It's fine. I can see how he would've thought that."

As they continued work, they chatted about "safe" topics. Neither of them brought up Hensley's super hearing. Neither of them brought up Jasper's super quick reaction (or super emotional reaction). And neither of them talked about their species. It was peaceful.

At least until later in the night when she heard noise coming from the garage. Hensley eyed the back cautiously, wondering what could be back there banging around so late at night. Animals maybe. But that was bad for business.

"That's just Tyler. He's the dude that owns that back space connected to our building." Emmett explained upon seeing her look for the noise.

Sure enough, a man named Tyler did appear and came to say hi. Tyler was older, probably in his late 40's or early 50's, Hensley estimated, and smelled heavily of cigarettes and booze. He had a good sense of humor though, cracking jokes and helping her take jabs at Emmett, which earned her the nickname "Bruiser". Overall, Hensley decided she liked him.

As her and Emmett worked, Tyler asked her about herself, where she was from, what brought her to Forks, and what she wanted to do with her life until their shift was over. He went back to work then, which Hensley thought was ludicrous.

"He basically lives here." Emmett laughed when Hensley shared her surprise. "He's divorced, his daughter is in college, and his two sons are grown and working, so he doesn't really have much tying him down. He's a good dude though."

Hensley supposed she could agree for now.

~.~

Jasper was used to feeling slightly out of control.

Sometimes his thoughts would wander, and he would get…lost. Especially when he pushed himself with his thirst. He never acted on it; sometimes his mind was just uncooperative. But to have completely lost control, to attack Emmett mindlessly, was completely new territory. He hadn't even realized he was going after him until it was too late. That hadn't even happened back then.

Emmett did like to toe the line sometimes. He could be a little aggressive and lose awareness of his strength. But even when Emmett had been a newborn Jasper had never reacted with such intensity. Had he been cautious? Absolutely. But to have such rage over another person's actions was unfamiliar. Jasper never had any issues with his family's friendliness towards others before, as long as they were careful.

Though as much as he didn't want to admit it, this was not careful.

He had settled on the fact that his heightened cautiousness was simply due to the knowledge that this new girl was potentially dangerous. She could talk low and fast like a vampire, could hear noises as such a speed and volume as well. She was odd. Therefore, like Bella, she was a threat to their family. That's why Jasper was…protective.

When Esme cheerfully asked how their day was that afternoon, as she tended to do every day after school, Jasper wasn't at all thrown off when Rosalie informed her that their family was potentially in danger. He was caught off guard when she mentioned that he had been "weird about it."

"What do you mean?" Esme asked, now completely concerned. She looked to Edward first, always her go-to, then Alice. But neither of them was much help.

"There's a new girl at school." Edward began. "She's kind of…unusual."

Esme nodded slowly, taking in all of the information, "Oh? How so?

"She's just…got some weird abilities. She can talk pretty fast for a human." Edward seemed to struggle with how to explain Hensley and Jasper couldn't blame him. It was just…weird.

"Well, what did she say? What was she thinking?"

"She didn't say anything concerning or unusual. And I'm not sure, what she was thinking." Edward shook his head, lips pressed together in frustration, "I can't read her mind."

Jasper frowned. This was new. First Bella, now Lexi? Was something happening with Edward? Could vampires lose their gifts over time?

Cooper seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Even if the way he spoke the sentiment was far less neutral or concerned. "Maybe you're losing your touch, Eddyboy. First Bella, now this girl…." Cooper eyed up Edward with a mischievous grin. Of course, Cooper would take the opportunity to dig at his brother. Jasper shouldn't have been surprised in the slightest.

Edward's emotions quickly became frustrated, "I'm not losing my touch. I can read everyone else's mind clearly."

"Maybe because you're used to our minds. These two are from out of town. Maybe you should get out of town and see if you still got it."

"I did go out of town. I'm fine." Edward snapped. The thought of him losing his mind reading ability irritated him greatly. Jasper couldn't help but wonder if it was a source of pride for him. Though, far more logically, Edward was probably just sharing the same thoughts that Jasper and Cooper had around it and feared that he was losing his gift. Edward's narrowed eyes turned to him, "We're not talking about me. We're talking about you."

"Actually," Jasper corrected, "we were discussing Lexi and her unusual abilities."

"And how freakishly protective over her you are." Rosalie butted in, sitting on the arm of the sofa.

Jasper rose his eyebrow towards her. "I am not protective over her." He wasn't sure why she was so concerned. Didn't she also agree that the situation was odd and one they should avoid?

"Which is why you stopped Emmett from touching her?"

"Emmett can be careless and overuse his strength. She could've been hurt." Jasper lightly argued. They needed to be focusing on the real issue.

"Maybe Jazz has the hots for her." Cooper smirked, now giving his shit-eating grin to Jasper. "Though that can't be right. Clearly she ain't right in the head to want anythin' to do with you."

Before Jasper really knew what he was doing, he and Cooper were tumbling to the ground, Jasper snarling and baring his teeth at his brother. And then the reality of his position sunk into his brain. He'd done it again. But how? Why?

Two arms grabbed him around his stomach, easily lifting him off of a shocked and confused Cooper. "Come on, Jasper. What the hell?" Edward snapped at him.

Esme looked from the situation currently unfolding to the rest of her family, "Perhaps we should wait for Carlisle and Emmett to get home."

The Cullen household was no less of a mess when Emmett got home from work than when his siblings had from school.

"What's the good word?" Emmett asked when he entered the living room, just as causal as ever. As if nothing out of the ordinary occurred that day. "Hey, guess who is the new girl at work? Lexi!"

"Of course, she was." Rosalie was red hot already, for reasons Emmett couldn't quite get. "Isn't it a little weird? What, is she stalking us?"

Emmett thought that was a bit extreme. "I mean, they did say it was a high school kid yesterday. So, chances are pretty good that the new girl at school would also be the new girl at work."

Rosalie gave him a look. "You know what I mean. She's weird and she's far too interested in us."

Carlisle shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around everything. The patriarch glanced over at Emmett; eyes still unfocused like he was racking his brain. "And she wasn't a vampire?"

Emmett shrugged. "She didn't smell like one. She didn't look like one."

Carlisle shook his head, going back to staring at the floor.

"Does it matter?" Rosalie quickly interjected before Carlisle could get too far. "Between this and the whole Bella thing, we should move."

"No." Jasper spoke up. That was surprising to the family. Normally Jasper was all for avoiding danger. Normally Jasper wouldn't think twice.

Rose turned on him, naturally. Jasper was usually the one in her corner and vice versa. "Why? Give me one good reason why we're not packing up and leaving right now."

Jasper couldn't answer that. At least not out loud. He caught Edward's expression and muttered, "Shut up, Edward."

"What is going on?" Rosalie demanded of her brothers. Whichever one would give her an answer.

"I don't think we have to go." Jasper explained, "I mean, she explained some of the stuff. And she didn't say anything uncomfortable."

Rosalie cocked her head to the side, not believing what she was hearing, "You seriously believed that crap? She was obviously lying to us, and we shouldn't be sticking around waiting to find out the truth. It was dangerous enough letting her near us."

"I think she's super nice. She was cool at work." Emmett offered. Jasper nodded towards him, eyes on Rosalie. She shook her head, crossing her arms to show she was firm on this.

"I get it, Jasper." Edward tried to empathize, which was stupid considering Jasper knew exactly how Edward felt, and it wasn't even close to the same. "But this is what's best. For everyone involved."

"Okay, I'm missin' somethin'." Cooper interjected, eyes scanning each man but landing on his biological brother, "what the hell is goin' on? Why are you not wanting to leave?"

If Cooper had gotten Jasper alone it may have been easier to get the truth out of him. But with everyone staring him down, analyzing him, he couldn't find any words to say. They wouldn't understand. They wouldn't care. Edward was under strict instruction, as self-inflicted as it may be, that he was avoiding Bella, a human whom Alice had seen joining their family. As far as Jasper knew, Alice had seen nothing of this newcomer. And Jasper couldn't even really articulate why he was so interested in her. He knew what it was like to feel the desire of a singer. This wasn't it. How did one explain that the thought of leaving her, someone Jasper hadn't hardly even spoken to, made him feel like his very soul (if he had one) was being ripped from his being?

"Rosalie isn't the only one not wanting to move all the time."

Edward rolled his eyes at Jasper's response. For once though, he didn't refute the statement with facts on what he could hear in Jasper's mind.

"I know it's frustrating, especially to move so quickly." Esme actually tried to understand how he was feeling. Or maybe she was feeling the same way and it was overshadowed by everything else. "But in the new place, hopefully we can stay longer."

Jasper was no mind reader, but Emmett had to be of the same mindset because he repeated, "I think we're jumping the gun here. Nothing that bad happened today."

At least someone was on Jasper's side, even if their motives…what were Emmett's motives? He was awfully friendly toward Lexi during study hall, inviting her to be close to him? Who was to say what Emmett's intentions were? Was he friendly? Was he trying to get a date? What if that was the whole plan? Emmett convinces the family to stay, he gets to spend more time with the girl, he woos her, then they start dating and get-

He almost got to Emmett, if it hadn't been for Edward's mind-reading. Edward stood tall in front of Emmett while grabbing Jasper's shoulder. The rest of the family stood to jump in just in case things got worse. Edward's narrowed eyes bore into Jasper's, "Tell them or I will."

"Tell us what? What did I do?" Emmett asked, but Jasper wasn't inclined to answer. Jasper didn't know how to answer.

He broke himself from Edward's grasp, away from Emmett and out the back door without a word.

"Edward, tell us what's going on. That's twice he's done that." Esme looked towards her oldest son. She had every right to be concerned. Jasper was typically far more leveled headed than the other boys, aside from Edward.

Carlisle, who had been unaware of Jasper's outbursts, questioned the validity of such a statement. Rhetorically of course. Esme wouldn't ever lie about such a thing.

"I don't know how to describe it." Edward told them honestly, "He gets these thoughts in his head, and he just snaps without warning. The only reason I could keep Emmett from getting attacked was because I recognized the thought pattern from earlier."

"He decided and acted so quick both times that I couldn't even see it." Alice told them.

"Is he a danger to her?" Carlisle was always the first to worry about the humans they came in contact with.

Edward shook his head, thinking back on the thoughts Jasper had. "I don't think so. Honestly," He glanced at his family, "I think she's his mate."