A/N: I should probably throw a "I don't own Twilight" in here at some point :P Though, I'm you already knew that.

~.~

"I'm sorry for worrying about you so much. It's a little uncharacteristic of me to have such strong feelings of concern. I hope I didn't overstep any boundaries." Jasper broke the silence after the waitress seated them. They got a small table away from the other patrons. It was perfect for the night; they could finally talk about important things.

"No," Hensley quickly reassured him, "I mean, your family is not usually so easily damaged. And you did kinda watch me get hit by a van."

"Still, I should be more careful with your wishes. We've only known each other a week."

Hensley shrugged, "No complaints here." She watched a small smile play at Jasper's lips at her comfort. He was relieved to hear her say that. Though he knew she felt something for him, he wasn't quite sure yet that it was the same something he felt for her.

"You're very fast." Jasper said conversationally. Something told Hensley he wasn't used to speaking to those he didn't already know or he was dancing around a topic he actually wanted to discuss.

"I'm Carlisle's kid. Of course, I'm fast."

"I'd never heard of a vampire hybrid before. I wasn't quite sure what to expect of you. When Carlisle had told us about the…"

Hensley watched his face as he spoke about the night Carlisle told his family about the proposal to create her, taking the time to really study him. He was handsome, sculpted in God-like fashion just like the rest of his family, something she'd obviously noticed before. But what caught her eye that she hadn't noticed before was how different Jasper was; covered in what appeared to be tiny burns from a distance. Upon closer inspection the marked looked more like…bites. Hensley suddenly wondered if he had been with other women before and an odd surge of jealousy when through her. A picture of a completely made-up woman appeared in Hensley's mind, smirking at Hensley while she leaned over Jasper, biting his arms and hands and neck and-

"What are you thinking about?" He asked, picking up on her hefty change of emotion. Jasper didn't think anything he said would elicit jealousy, and such a crushing amount of it at that, unless she wished she were human like Rosalie.

The waitress came back to take their drink order. After requesting their two waters, Hensley was hoping that Jasper would 'forget' about her emotions. When he nodded for her to answer him when the lady left, Hensley realized she wouldn't get that lucky.

She turned a light shade of pink and shook her head of the mental picture, bringing Jasper fully into focus again, "It's nothing. Sorry. Um, no, that's totally fair. I mean, as far as we know I'm the first one of my kind too and-"

"Do you wish you were human instead?"

The question threw her off, though she supposed it was a fair ask. "No. I feel human enough as I am. Besides, it's nice to be useful, like this week."

"Do you wish to be vampire?"

Hensley thought for a moment, "No. Honestly. drinking blood is odd to me. It's so normal to me for you guys to do it, but thinking about me doing it weirds me out. Besides, it's nice to fit in a little. To feel warm. I'm pretty happy I got the best of both."

"What made you jealous?" He pressed further. Curiosity was getting the best of him and none of her answers made sense for jealousy.

Part of her wanted to curl up and die in a hole…a very large part. She bit her bottom lip, refusing to meet his eye. She couldn't think of a lie fast enough and felt forced to tell him the truth. "Okay, this is going to sound weird. Please don't hate me."

"Darlin' I could never hate you." He sounded very sincere, trying to catch her eye to convey it more effectively. He didn't know what she had been thinking though. What if he thought her to be some kind of overly jealous- "What were you thinking?"

Hensley sighed, voice low, "I was observing the marks on your skin."

"You were jealous of them?" Jasper's voice now had a bitter edge to it, eyes far away while he raised his shoulders to try and cover a few more of them. Great, now he definitely hated her.

Noting the sharp change in his demeanor, she hesitated. "No…. I was potentially jealous of how you got them. Did you have a kinky ex-lover?"

Jasper scoffed hard, "I wish that was how I got these."

"How did you get them?" She whispered. It was clear Jasper was upset by the real reason for his scars, but she couldn't help but feel relieved that they weren't given to him by another woman. He refocused his eyes on her face to frown at her and she felt the need to apologize, "Sorry. I know relief probably isn't a good reaction right now. I just feel-"

"Protective." Jasper finished for her. It wasn't a guess. Hensley felt a little stupid for explaining her emotions to him. He felt them. He knew what they were. "You don't have to feel that way. I'm sorry, I know I came across as harsh." He sighed, "It's not because of your emotions. You should know, I feel the same way about you."

Hensley couldn't help but smile. She was glad he felt the same way. Not that she needed protecting, but it was nice he cared about her too. Of course, he had told her that earlier, not in so many words. The little confirmation that his earlier statement meant what she thought it had was nice though.

Jasper held out his right hand for her to take, which she didn't hesitate to do. He smiled back at her, thinking about the oddness of the last couple days. Before her, he couldn't remember the last time he made someone so…exultant with his presence. Well, maybe except for when he went back for Cooper, but Jasper was 99.9% sure that Alice was the cause of Cooper's emotions at that moment.

The waitress, Tiffany, brought back their waters and asked about food. Food. Hensley completely forgot about food. She quickly flipped through the menu, finding the first thing that sounded like something she would like and ordered that. Jasper ordered the same thing, giving Hensley a small smirk she didn't quite understand. Unless he was smirking because he didn't normally eat?

"Anyway," He answered her earlier question, "If you don't mind, I'd rather wait to talk about how I actually got them. It's...not a pleasant story."

Hensley nodded, "That's okay. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course. I will answer as honestly as I am allowed to by law."

Jasper wondered what that meant, questioning if it was joke or not. H decided to let it go, assuming the latter for simplicity, "Why are you so nervous around that man at the hospital?"

She wasn't exactly sure how she didn't see that one coming. Her emotions must have been insane. Hensley fiddled with the hem of her shirt while she thought of how to explain the complex situation that was her military branch.

Jasper, however, took her hesitation as regret of her earlier words, "You don't have to answer it you don't feel comfortable."

"No," She said quickly, "I'm fine. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to put this. That guy, Rooney, is from my section of the military. He's like the head honcho; has control over everyone and everything. He's definitely nice enough – way nicer than most people under him – but he gets final say in all decisions. If he were to ever feel like I wasn't safe here, like I was at risk of being exposed, he can pull me out with a single phone call."

"What do you mean? Pull you out?"

"He could make me move again. Relocate me to another base."

Jasper nodded slowly; eyes glued to hers. Hensley was trying hard to read his expression but wasn't very successful. If she showcased her emotions on her sleeve, Jasper's were usually tucked far away in his pocket.

She continued after a few moments, when she realized he wasn't going to say anything more, "Anyway, I just got here, and I've never been able to spend more than an hour with Carlisle at a time. I'd like to stay as long as possible. Maybe learn something about my dad and his family of sorts." And you, she wanted to add.

"They wouldn't let you see him? More than the hour, anyway?"

Hensley wanted to laugh. A bitterness of her own creeped into her chest and she tried to force it back down. She only had a few months left. And there was no point getting overly angry about things she couldn't go back and change. "No. They don't know that you guys are here. They don't know I saw Carlisle yesterday. They don't know about this." She gestured between them.

"And if they did know?"

At that, Hensley did laugh. "I can't know for sure, but I would guess I'd be relocated before I finished saying Carlisle's name."

"And they won't let you see us because...?"

She said the first thing that came to mind, "Love makes you stupid."

Jasper just nodded.

Hensley didn't want to think about the Agency anymore that night. She could deal with the repercussions of her actions later. Speaking of repercussions, "How's the whole thing with Bella?"

He didn't answer her right away and she wondered if he was still thinking about the very limited information she had told him. She squeezed his hand, trying to pull him out of whatever it was. She was ok. He was ok. They were ok. That was the important part.

Jasper squeezed back, "Sorry. I'm not…you really think they'd take you away?"

She didn't want to think of it.

She had been moved so many times in the year, even without having met Jasper and Carlisle. And not even anywhere close together. For God's sake she had come from Tennessee. Before that, Montana, and before that, Vermont. The likelihood that they transferred her anyway, for whatever stupid reason they came up with, like it rained too much or something ridiculous, was far too high.

And she didn't want to. She didn't want to leave Carlisle. She didn't want to tell Jasper goodbye. She didn't want to leave him for the next few months until she turned eighteen. She couldn't do it.

"Hey." Jasper rubbed the back of her hand. "It's alright, Darlin'. We'll come up with something if it happens. Don't cry."

Crying…God had she been? Jasper was blurry. And when she blinked, wetness did roll down her cheeks. It felt so familiar, like she had just been training hard. Aside from the burning in her eyes, apparently crying just felt like sweating...only from the eyes.

Hensley pulled her hand from Jasper's, using the edge of her sleeve to wipe the streaks away, "Sorry. I feel stupid. I mean, I've only known you a week, but I just feel-"

"Like you've known me forever?"

Hensley lowered her sleeve, "Yeah. Which is weird because-"

"We haven't gotten to talk that much, and yet you're the one I feel most comfortable with. Have you felt the pain? In your chest?"

She exhaled what little breath she had left in her lungs. "In the evening on Tuesday…"

Jasper contemplated this. He'd never heard of vampires sharing pain before. Especially not with their mates. Sometimes one could have a hunch that something was amiss, but never physical pain.

Hensley wasn't sure what to think about that, other than chalking it up to her ever growing list of things that couldn't be explained about her. "This might be a stupid question, given what we already know, but at lunch on Monday-"

"I don't know what that was. But it sure was something."

Yeah. Yeah it was.

The rest of dinner felt far more relaxed. Hensley ate her ravioli while Jasper pretended to pick at his. As soon as she finished one, he'd flip one of his onto her plate.

"Stop it." She giggled at his antics, trying to defend herself from the incoming pasta attack.

"It's all going home with you anyway, Darlin'. Best stop trying to fight it."

They were both content to avoid thinking about Hensley having to leave. Instead, they talked about something equally nerve-wracking, but more pressing.

"I take it your family wasn't super appreciative of Edward showing off his super speed?"

He laughed dryly, "You could say that."

"Well, if it makes you guys feel better, I'm not exactly looking forward to this conversation with Bella either. She didn't interrogate me too much, but I also haven't had any alone time with her either."

"She's very adamant that you and Edward were nowhere near her. She argued with him a bit before she left the hospital."

Hensley sighed and tried not to sink down in her seat. Super. The last thing she needed was Bella telling everyone how impressively fast Hensley was. That wasn't a recipe for being relocated. "Great…."

Jasper squeezed her hand, trying to comfort her. "It'll be fine. Alice has seen that she won't say anything."

"What?"

Jasper pressed his lips together, briefly closing his eyes, "Screw it. Alice, Cooper's girlfriend. She can see the future. My 'extra gift' is feeling and manipulating emotions and hers is seeing the future through visions."

"Wait, wait, wait. Manipulate emotions?"

Jasper paused, mentally kicking himself. That was not how he should've brought that up. His first instinct was to apologize, but he didn't make it that far. "That's gotta be super useful." Hensley's eyes drifted off, thinking of all the ways one could manipulate emotions to achieve feats, "You can change anyone's emotions? Just anyone you see?"

"I can. But I promise I haven't changed yours and I don't-"

"That's what you're worried about?"

Jasper was at a complete loss for thoughts. "That's not what you're worried about?"

"Trust me. A little emotion changing is the least of my worries. I think that's awesome! And Alice seeing the future, that's insane! What other kinds of things has she seen before? Me kicking Emmett's ass?"

Jasper let out a half-ass chuckle, still not believing the turn the conversation took. He flipped another ravioli on her plate to try and buy some time to gather his thoughts, "Well, I guess I didn't realize he needed to be put back in line. I can help with that."

Something told Hensley that Jasper absolutely would make good on that promise if she so desired. Figuring she inconvenienced enough people with her lies, she shook her head, "No, not quite. He's getting close though. I'll let you know when he crosses over into fighting territory. Anyway, you wanna see what my extra gift is?"

This piqued jasper's interest. He rose a brow, "Extra gift? One you can show me?"

Sure can. Hensley pushed her thoughts onto him.

Jasper caught on fast, looking down at their connected hands. "That is impressive, Darlin'."

"You can do the same to me. You just have to open your mind."

He struggled with that concept for a few moments, overthinking it probably. Most did until they got the hang of it. Red still struggled and had to be reminded to let it go. Once Jasper got it though, it came very naturally.

"Silent conversations." Hensley smiled proudly. "Also," She pushed pictures of flowers on the table into his vision. "pretty pictures."

Jasper waved a hand through the flowers Hensley forced him to see, shaking his head when he confirmed that they really were a figment of his mind. "You are damn impressive, Darlin'."

Hensley shrugged, removing the flowers so he could see properly again. "It's useful for work and fun for those who get to know about it. The little kids at the agency love it."

"They have children?"

She nodded, giving him a slight glare when another ravioli was replaced, "Gotta keep the gears turning, right?"

"With child labor?"

"They don't start work until they're fifteen. But they're definitely utilized before then."

His eyes danced up to the ceiling as he thought about something. She was very curious to know what the something was, but without him pushing his thoughts back she had no way to tell. Too bad she couldn't actually read minds. That would be a fun gift.

"Edward can do that." Jasper responded to the thoughts she unknowingly pushed on him. Great, now he knew she wanted to blatantly invade his privacy. He chuckled, "Nothing I haven't thought myself."

"I owe Edward some kind of apology. Does he like fruit? What can I put in a gift basket?"

He laughed, actually laughed at her words, a rich baritone that made her heart flutter. "We all owe Edward an apology, Darlin'. He's used to it."