Hensley spent Sunday, after her mandatory training of course, in the agency library. She had a whole day of no Jasper, so she figured she might as well do something productive.

The agency library was generally unused unless research was being done for jobs. Not that it was busy in her building; the library was completely digital so resources could be accessed all over the country and therefore there was really no need to go in person. Hensley liked to though because she could talk to the A.I and search for resources on various topics that way instead of typing in a search bar. Seeing as the library was digital and there was millions of papers, books, magazines, editorials, and even verbal conversations in their database, it was much easier to go through Aidan (Aidan the A.I.) than to dig herself.

But Aidan was proving himself to be useless.

"Come on, Aidan. You have to have something. This place is huge." Hensley was not above begging at this point. She'd never encountered something so difficult to find before.

"You realize, Sargent Hensley, that we have not had any interaction with vampires until the introduction of your father, yes?" Aidan's voice was supposed to be bland and robotic, but Hensley swore she could hear a hint of sarcastic humor in his voice.

"Yes, I realize that you've never really met vampires before. But there has to be some sort of readings or legends about them and their relations?"

If Aidan could've sighed, Hensley swore he would've, "Sargent, I do apologize. There are no legends or readings about the topic you desire. Perhaps you would have better luck consulting the vampiric government for vampiric matters?"

"There's a vampire government?"

"Oh dear."

No, it's fine. Hensley didn't feel like an ass. Really.

She learned nothing about her and Jasper's situation, but she did get to listen to recordings of Carlisle explaining the Volturi. She supposed her day wasn't completely wasted. This stuff was important after all. It was her world too.

Consulting the Volturi, however, might not be a bad idea. Especially if they were around before Carlisle. Hensley knew nothing older than her father. Even America was younger than him.

In all honesty, she wasn't sure why not knowing about her and Jasper's situation bothered her so much. She was a complete medical anomaly. The only vampire hybrid known to Carlisle and select humans. Very few things about her could be explained with certainty.

And maybe that was why it bothered her so much. She just wanted one thing, just one, to be explainable. By having it affect Jasper as well, she'd gotten her hopes up. If it was something normal vampires experienced, then it had a much better chance of being described…right?

And, if it was something normal vampires experienced, then it would only make sense to go to the normal vampire source of knowledge. Apparently, that was the vampire government.

It made sense really. She had been quite stupid. Why would vampires talk to humans about their love lives? Sometimes she surprised herself. And not in a good way.

Hensley was excited to share her newfound genius with Jasper on Monday. Unfortunately, she had to wait until lunch to do it.

"So, I dug around the agency library this weekend. That was really insightful."

"Really?" Jasper was glad to hear that. Emmett and Cooper gave him shit all weekend about being worried about Lexi. It'd be nice to prove to them that he couldn't help it.

"Yeah. I discovered I had been looking in all the wrong places. If we want real answers, we should go check out your government library!"

The man across from her stiffened considerably, going completely rigid. His grip around her hand tightened as if they were in some sort of danger and he was preparing for a blow.

"What's wrong?" She asked quietly in case he really had heard something she hadn't.

It was a minute before Jasper answered her, voice barely audible, "We can't go to the Volturi."

"Why not?"

"On the very high chance they haven't heard of this…who knows what they'll do. They could force us to stay and be experiments, they could kill us for being anomalies. I don't even know that Carlisle told them about you. What they could do to you…."

Hensley nodded, staring at her lunch set out in front of her. So that was it then. A dead end.

She was disappointed. They were so close to having a real way to figure this out, and then they weren't. On the other hand, who cared? Her and Jasper's relationship was just…different. It didn't make it any worse than others. And it, hopefully, wasn't actually causing any harm.

"I'm sorry." Jasper muttered. He knew she was upset. He was too. But the risk was far greater than the reward.

She shrugged, stabbing a shitty, mushy carrot with more force than necessary, "It's fine. Doesn't matter anyway, right? It would've been nice to know but it doesn't change anything, yeah?"

"No, I'd probably be the same overprotective fool I am now."

"Fool? That's not at all the word I would've used." She exhaled a giggle. "Maniac maybe, but not fool."

Hensley spent a lot of time with the fool and his adoptive siblings over the course of the next few weeks. And honestly, it was so nice.

All of Jasper's siblings were very open and welcoming, all in their own way. Cooper and Emmett were often evil big brothers, teasing and picking on Hensley and Jasper whenever possible. Cooper tended to lean on Jasper, having a bit more self-preservation than to go after Hensley. Emmett was just a hammer trying to hit a nail. Rosalie was her doting big sister, the one she could go to when she had problems, needed advice, or wanted to talk. Alice was kind of like a little sister, always vying for her attention and dragging her on little adventures. One wouldn't think that adventures could be had while in school, but Alice had shown her that they definitely could. Edward was a hard one to read. He kept his distance more than the rest of them, but his care could be seen in other ways. It was Edward who was always checking in on them, being the voice of reason and ensuring that Hensley was taken care of when Emmett got rowdy, or Jasper was being protective.

She tried to maintain a 'friendly but distant' view towards Bella. Hensley wasn't trying to totally cut her off – she did sit with her human friends, which included Bella, on occasion. But Hensley also wasn't trying to give Bella any more reason or any more indication that there was something different about her.

Jasper was quite insistent when it came to the Bella situation. He wanted Hensley nowhere near it, or anything else that could potentially get her relocated (aside from himself, of course). Sitting with Bella took a bit of Hensley putting her foot down.

Apparently, Hensley was just beginning to scratch the surface of things she could do that made Jasper nervous.

Well, technically Emmett was.

"Hey, Lexi." He greeted her innocently enough, but the way he kept glancing between Cooper and Jasper made her nervous. Jasper immediately picked up on something being off as well because he addressed his brother with a "shut up, Emmett."

Hensley tried to calm him down by rubbing his arm. Incredibly effective and Jasper minorly hated it at that moment.

"When are you going to come meet our mother?"

"No." Jasper shot down Emmett's idea before Hensley even had a second to process it. Such a strong reaction shot pain through her chest. She was good enough to hang out with at school, but not good enough to meet his mother?

What if he knew his mother hated Hensley? What if she thought Hensley wasn't good enough to be a part of their family? What if she thought Hensley was an 'imposter' vampire? What if she hated Hensley because she wasn't Hensley's mother? What if she hated Hensley because Carlisle had Hensley with another woman? What if she thought Hensley wasn't good enough for Jasper? What if she thought Hensley wasn't good enough for Carlisle?

"No, Darlin', stop." Jasper rubbed his chest as the pain intensified with every second that passed, "Whatever you're thinking, that's not it."

"You don't think I'm good enough to meet your mother." She told him, earning a 'Ohh' from the peanut gallery.

Jasper shot his older brothers a glare, "I don't think it's a good idea to have you meet our mother, have your little government place find out, and have them force you to move."

"How would they find out?" Emmett asked. If there was one thing Emmett was good at, it was challenging the norm.

"I'm sure they have ways of keeping tabs on her."

"Of course, they do." Hensley confirmed, "That's why we take precautions. I meet you in Port Angeles, or some other place that is perfectly normal for me to go, and you drive me there."

"I'll do it." Emmett easily volunteered. "We can go after work tonight."

Seeing as Jasper had no arguments that wouldn't potentially hurt Lexi, he had no choice to concede and before Hensley was really ready, Emmett was driving her to his house.

"We're almost there." Emmett made conversation as they got closer. She couldn't really piece together where they were, but she knew it was out in the middle of nowhere based on how long they'd been driving. Well, more based on the speed and length of time at which Emmett drove. Hensley was fairly certain that Emmett was going to kill her if he ever slipped and crashed. "Are you nervous?"

She gave Emmett a look that required no response with it. He knew he asked a stupid question.

"She really likes you." Emmett tried to console the girl, "She's been dying to meet you since Jasper started talking to you. Carlisle is kind of excited too. I mean, he is excited because he wants to see you, I mean, you're his daughter, but he's worried. Jasper's never really been good with the whole self-control thing. And sure, you smell vampire enough that your blood doesn't really bother us if we've hunted recently, but-"

"Woah, ghostrider. This is way more new information than I expected out of you. What now? Jasper's not good with self-control?"

Emmett shrugged, "Ya know, like not drinking humans. He does pretty well, but it's hard for him. He feels emotions, so it's-" Emmett counted his siblings on his hand, "five times harder for him than for anyone else."

Hensley hadn't considered that before, though it made sense. She had thought the only dark side to Jasper's empathy was the negative emotions. She hadn't taken into account the desire that his family or even other nomadic vampires in the area felt. Was that another reason why Jasper kept their relationship strictly at school? Did he struggle controlling himself around her blood?

Whether or not those answers were yes, they pulled into a driveway completely surrounded by trees. Hidden into a few acres of land was a mansion of a home. Quite literally the biggest home Hensley had ever seen, not that it took much. It was beautiful too, of course. Lights illuminated the windows in a way that made it feel homey rather than spooky.

Emmett parked the Jeep in their large attached garage. Hensley recognized Jasper's truck and Rosalie and Edward's cars right away. Her companion had her step through into the house first, but her movement was short-lived by another vampire.

Jasper hugged her tightly, taking a long inhale of her scent. She could probably check the 'affected by her blood' question off as a no.

"Ugh, get a room." Emmett muttered, slipping past the pair to head into another part of the house.

"Jasper, you better be being decent with my daughter." Carlisle called from somewhere.

Hensley giggled, "Poor Jasper. He didn't even do anything. Emmett's just being an ass."

"Oh, sorry." Carlisle apologized. Hensley couldn't help but laugh into Jasper's chest.

"Come on, I'll show you the house."

Jasper took her hand and led her inside. The entire place was beautiful. It wasn't overly extravagant, like Hensley thought a house of that size would be. It had a simplistic charm to it, more modern beauty. She supposed that was surprising too. Carlisle was super old. Why wouldn't his house, or the stuff in his house, be?

Jasper's bedroom was one Hensley envied greatly. It was large and neat; filled with way more things than Hensley's bedroom was, despite her sharing it with three other people.

The wall ahead of them was solid windows, something Hensley was greatly jealous of. It wasn't sunny, but it let in so much natural light that she almost felt like it was sunny.

The dresser on the wall across from his bed was nicely "decorated" with some books and a framed picture of himself, Cooper, and two other guys that Hensley didn't recognize. Jasper was smiling along with one of the men Hensley didn't recognize, but Cooper and the fourth male were making stupid faces at the camera. It was a pretty priceless picture, and she could see why Jasper kept it.

Next to the dresser was a large desk, covered in open books. She wasn't sure what he had been researching, but it certainly was something.

The most impressive piece of the room was above the desk. The entire wall space had been turned into a miniature library. Hensley marveled at the sheer size of it. And to think it was just a personal collection.

"I was trying to find information on our situation. Haven't had any luck though." Jasper nodded towards the desk.

Hensley smiled at him, "Maybe we can do research research this weekend?"

"Sounds wonderful, Darlin'."

He led her back down to the living room where most of his family was. Hensley noticed that all three of the girls were missing, but didn't have a chance to ask before Jasper was wrapping his arm around her and leading her to the open couch.

"Get your hands off of her." Carlisle teased, sending the couple a wink. Hensley couldn't help but return his smile. When life felt this…right, how couldn't she? She finally had a family and real place to call home and belong.

Once they were situated, Hensley moved to put her hand on Jasper's face. She hesitated though, wondering if that was too intimate or serious or weird.

Jasper chuckled, unaware of her internal struggle, taking her hand midair.

Sorry, I was going to put my hand on your face, but I realized that might be weird.

Jasper hem and hawed. This works well.

Hensley took that to mean it would be weird. Where is the rest of your family? Rosalie and Alice and your mother?

Out hunting.

"What is happening?" Cooper breathed to his other brothers and Carlisle.

Edward was staring intently at Jasper, being the only side of the conversation Edward could actually hear, "I think they're...talking to each other?"

The sound of the patio door opening brought everyone out of their respective conversations. A beaming, caramel haired woman stepped into the living room, followed by Rosalie and Alice. Her face was frozen in a wide, slightly open-mouthed smile, almost as if she was star struck. She began smoothing out her hair and running her hands down her dress, as if she was trying to impress Hensley.

"Hi!" She greeted Hensley, her voice full of disbelief, "Kids, you didn't tell me Lexi was coming over."

Hensley stood to greet her, but not before giving the boys a little hell, "Wow. We've known since lunch and you couldn't be bothered to tell her, huh?"

Esme giggled and pulled Hensley in for an unexpected hug while the boys, especially Jasper, stood to linger closer, "It's so good to finally meet you. I've only ever seen pictures!" She pulled away and continued gushing over Hensley, stroking her cheek and pushing a loose strand of hair out of her face, "Gosh, you are gorgeous. You look so much like your father."

Esme wasn't wrong. Putting Hensley and Carlisle side by side, it was easy to tell they were related. She had her father's very blonde hair with her mother's wave to it, his more oval face, thinner lips (which she surprisingly enjoyed), and, seeing as her mother's eyes had been green, his blue eyes.

Thinking on it, Carlisle had never talked about her mother too much, probably because Hensley never really asked. It wasn't that she wasn't curious. She was always curious to know what her mother was like. But whenever she had visits with Carlisle there was always something more important or more pressing to talk about.

Of course, some of Hensley's features were uniquely her own. Her fast heartbeat and of course, a few scars. Her skin was durable, but not quite as much as her fathers and was penetrable with enough force. Also, very susceptible to burns, which is how she acquired a light red scar on the inner side of her right wrist.

In the midst of Esme's fascination, Hensley was completely unsure what to do. She'd never been so…complimented before. Of course, she was glad that Esme approved of her, but all the attention was making Hensley uneasy.

Edward. Edward help. Too many compliments.

Her hopeful savior stared at her blankly.

Edward? Can you hear me? Help me. How do I get her to say something mean now?

"How did you do that?" Edward asked, breaking Esme out of her enthralled state.

"Do what?"

Edward shook his head, "I can read her mind."

Cooper seemed surprised, clapping Edward on the back like he accomplished some great feat. "Guess you're not losing your touch after all, Eddie boy."

"It's not me. It was never me. It was her. You can…block and unblock me?"

Hensley was confused. He couldn't read her mind before? She hadn't thought she was blocking him, but maybe she was. "Apparently so. I didn't realize I was doing it until now. That's a cool discovery."

"I've never met someone else who can do that."

"Really, that's weird." Hensley would've thought that would be far more common. Didn't most people value their privacy? What if they thought of putting a mask over their thoughts or blocking everyone out?

Edward chuckled, leaning against the end of one of the sofas to see her better, "They've tried that. I think Carlisle and I went through every possible exercise after I was first changed."

The mention of it sparked Hensley's interest and she couldn't help but ask. "How were you changed?"

"By Carlisle."

"Really? Were you all changed by Carlisle?"

Emmett shot Jasper a surprised look, "You didn't tell her how you were changed?"

"I don't know how any of you were changed." Hensley was quick to jump in and defend him. "Except Edward. He was changed by Carlisle."

"Well, ain't you a good listener?" Cooper teased; his southern drawl far more prominent now that he was in the safety of his house. Hensley wondered if he toned it down at school to fit in better.

Jasper threw a pillow at him, but it was intercepted by Carlisle. "Easy, boys. I changed everyone except for Cooper, Jasper, and Alice."

Hensley turned to Jasper, "You're a special one."

He shook his head, "No, a special one is being changed by Carlisle. Trust me."

She wasn't sure what he meant by that, but she let it go. If Jasper wasn't ready to tell her then she wasn't going to pry. Maybe it was similar to how he got his scars, an unpleasant story.

No matter how he was changed, it didn't affect how she felt about him; what she knew him to be. She could go her whole life never hearing his story.

"What brings you over?" Esme tried to change the subject. Apparently talking about how vampires were changed wasn't an appropriate one. Hensley made that mental note.

While Hensley was taking a moment to think, Esme added, "Not that you ever need a reason, you are more than welcome to come by anytime. I just wasn't sure if there was something going on."

"Ya know," Cooper interjected, not really answering Esme's question, "since we're all here, we could talk about the weird shit Jasper has goin' on."

"Lexi feels it too." Jasper muttered. She wondered if Cooper and Emmett gave him hell about it often. He had mentioned they teased him during one weekend, but maybe they teased him every weekend.

"Even the fuckin' let me murder you for sayin' stuff about her, stuff?"

This was news to Hensley. Jasper tried to murder someone for saying something about her? Cooper filled her in on how he had joked that she was crazy for wanting to date Jasper, and how Jasper lost his mind.

It was a new development for her. She knew they felt each other's pain, and she knew Jasper was protective over her, but she didn't realize exactly how far that protectiveness went. Hensley had never had anyone say anything bad about Jasper, so she didn't really know if she would react the same way.

"It's not like I try!" Jasper muttered. It wasn't like he enjoyed feeling out of control. "It just…happens."

He was having a difficult time explaining. It was like explaining a color to people who've never seen it. They didn't feel what he felt. They didn't feel the snap, the complete takeover. Like someone else was controlling his body and he was shoved to the side.

Rosalie rolled her eyes, "How does it just happen?"

"He's right." Edward quickly jumped in to defend Jasper, "it's not something he thinks about. It quite literally just…happens. Like it's instinct for him. He doesn't realize he's doing it until after it's started."

Carlisle spent the rest of the night asking Lexi and Jasper questions about what they felt, when they felt it, how it went away. Anything he could think of that might give him answers. In all honesty, he had no idea what he was searching for. He'd never heard of such strong reactions or those kinds of reactions at all. He didn't feel that way with Esme. Emmett didn't feel that way with Rosalie. Cooper didn't feel that way with Alice.

Over 300 years on the Earth and he had nothing.

"We'll keep looking." Hensley told them, "Jasper and I planned on doing research this weekend."

Carlisle looked suspiciously between the two, "Is that some kind of code for something? Are you being decent with my daughter?"

"Dad." Hensley complained, shaking her head. That was a conversation they did not have to have. Hell, her and Jasper weren't even 'official' or dating or anything except two vampires, or vampire-ish, that felt pain and were protective of each other.

Jasper still agreed to research with her over the weekend, but Hensley was having doubts. Was there a point to research at all? What if they found out why they felt that way? Then what? They moved on with their lives? They graduated and went to college and moved away and forgot about each other except for the random pain connecting them? She hoped that Jasper didn't want that. She hoped that Jasper was interested in her, just like she was interested in him.

But a small part of her couldn't help but worry that she was reading everything all wrong. Sure, Jasper had said that he felt the same things she had, but what if he had just meant the pain? Or the protectiveness? Had she misread it all?

"What's wrong?" He rubbed his chest as he drove her back to her car. He hated the dejection rolling off of her. What had she found to upset her?

"Why are we doing this?"

Jasper wasn't sure how to answer the question. "What do you mean? Why are we doing what?"

"Why are we looking into this?" She asked, "I mean, aren't we just going to move on with our lives and forget all about each other?" As soon as she said the words, she knew she wouldn't be able to do that. How could she go the rest of her life never knowing if he was alright? How could she live with the pain telling her he was hurting, while she was unable to make it better? How could she never see him again?

"Alexandria," Jasper whispered, drawing her eyes back into focus. He looked like he was unable to move his chest, or even his body, completely stiff and wincing.

"I'm sorry." She reached over to place her hand on his forearm. Her chest loosened up and he visibly relaxed, almost instantly. Had she done that? She removed her hand, looking at it for anything new or special. It looked like the same hand it had always been. What the hell?

"Your smell does that too."

Hensley rose an eyebrow at him, "Are you trying to tell me something?"

He chuckled, "No, Darlin', that's not what I meant. Your scent helps take the pain and the…urge to fight everyone away."

"The urge to fight everyone?"

"Like what Cooper was explaining today. I feel it other times too, just milder. Like when there's too many people around. Or too many scents on your skin. It just…helps me relax."

She helped him feel better and ease the symptoms? Just like his hugs helped her, then. "So, you might not get rid of me after graduation?"

"God, no. Darlin', if you'll have me, I'm keeping you around the rest of my life."

"I like the sound of that."

"You know I live forever?"

"Sounds perfect."