A/N: As always, thanks for reading:)

Fun and Games

Jasper was trying to teach Leah to play chess the next afternoon - which had so far been an entirely futile exercise - when Alice stomped in the door with a face like thunder. She dramatically threw her bag on the floor and then dramatically threw herself on the couch.

Jasper looked at her with an amused smile. "Rough day? Schoolyard bullies?"

Alice tried to keep scowling, she really did, but a little smile broke through. The kids who typically did the bullying at Forks High gave her a wide berth after one particularly snotty senior had been rude to Alice and called her some not so nice names the year the Cullens arrived in Washington. It wouldn't have been a big deal, but she made the mistake of doing it in front of Jasper. Even though she had a boyfriend, the girl had a crush on Jasper and she was annoyed that he appeared to spend all his time with Alice. Jasper had politely told her that she, too, could have had his attention if only she wasn't such a raging bitch all the time. Then he might have casually informed her that if she was looking for her boyfriend, to maybe check the janitor's closet in the science building.

"Funnily enough, if you're looking for your best friend, you'll find her in the janitor's closet in the science building also," he'd added.

When the girl spun on her heel and started stomping away, Alice fired a parting shot.

"Careful opening the door," she called after her. "Actually, maybe knock first. Spare everyone an awkward moment."

Unfortunately for everyone who had the misfortune of being in the hallway of the science building at the time, she decided to just yank the door open, and her boyfriend and best friend tumbled out, knocking her to the floor. Rosalie had just walked out of her biology class in time to see it. She rolled her eyes as she stepped around the three teenagers - two of them mostly naked - in a tangled pile of limbs in the middle of the hall. "Stupid humans," she muttered under her breath.

It was honestly probably the most fun five minutes Jasper had spent at Forks High.

Alice laughed when she saw the smile on Jasper's face, though Leah looked a little confused. "Still think it was the best five minutes of high school?" she asked him.

"Yes," Jasper laughed. "Teenagers can be mean as hell, and I may be an immortal vampire who's walked the planet for a hundred and seventy-six years, but occasionally it's nice to just let go and let myself meet them at their level. Besides, it was worth it for more than the laugh. No one's bothered you since, have they?"

Alice smiled and shook her head. "Nope."

Leah looked between her imprint and his best friend for a moment. "Did you beat up a human teenager?" she asked Jasper suspiciously.

"No," he laughed, then shrugged casually. "Alice and I just channeled our inner mean girls for a few minutes."

Rosalie strode into the living room and glared at her siblings. "And as a result, I had to catch an eyeful of too much human nakedness."

Leah looked at her in surprise, then curiosity. "That's definitely a story I'm gonna want to hear, but first, why the distinction of 'human' nakedness. Is it really that different from vamp nakedness? Because unless I'm missing something that I'm really hoping I'm not, you all have the same parts, right?" she asked.

"The venom burns away all of our imperfections when we're changed, so vampire nakedness looks a hell of a lot more pleasant than human nakedness," Rosalie answered as she dropped onto the couch beside Alice and slung an arm around her shoulder. "So. Why the long face?"

Alice sighed in annoyance. "I should have stayed home until his majesty was ready to go back to school. Edward apparently texted Bella that he was leaving for a last minute hunting trip so he wouldn't see her until tomorrow, I'm assuming because he didn't want her to see him while his face was still a little too messy for his ego to handle," she said with a scowl, ignoring Edward's low growl from upstairs. "He hasn't answered any of her calls or texts since, so I was blasted with questions all day about why he left without calling or coming to say goodbye to her and is he really hunting or is he mad at her and did she do something wrong and is he really okay and on and on."

Leah rolled her eyes and looked at Jasper. "Didn't you just have a conversation with him about the importance of open and honest communication with his mate?"

"I did," Jasper nodded and shrugged, but then shot to his feet and flashed over to stand in front of Alice just as Edward came flying into the room with his eyes locked on the pixie.

"What did you–"

"Back up, asshole," Jasper growled at him. "One more step and your next set of injuries won't be temporary."

Edward immediately stopped in his tracks but didn't stop glaring at Alice. "What did you tell her? Why are you hiding your thoughts?" he snapped.

Alice stood up and shot him her own glare, though hers was way more fierce than Edward's. Leah was honestly a little impressed. "My thoughts aren't yours for the taking. You don't have the right to hear what I'm thinking just because you have the ability to," she snapped back.

"What–"

Alice cut him off before he could harangue her more. "I didn't tell her anything. As much as I think it's wrong to lie to her, it's not my place to tell her that's what you're doing. You might think you're entitled to stick your nose in other people's business and see nothing wrong with spilling their secrets, but some of us have better manners than that," she growled.

Edward scowled at her and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Jasper cut him off.

"Would you please just shut your fucking mouth?" he sighed, then grabbed Edward's arm and pushed him into the armchair opposite the couch. He stood over him with his arms crossed, looking both pissed and exasperated. "Didn't I tell you the other night that you needed to open your eyes a little more and your mouth a little less? But here you are, yet again causing conflict in this house. Are you ever going to learn from your very frequent mistakes?"

"You–"

"It's not your turn to talk," Jasper snapped, then clamped his hand on the telepath's shoulder when he tried to stand up. "We've all had to tolerate your constant bitching and complaining, so now you're gonna sit there like a grown fucking adult for a change and just listen. You have done nothing recently but cause problems, both inside this house and out. Has none of what's happened over the last few weeks made any impact whatsoever? You've been grounded, you've had your hand temporarily removed, your face broken, and your dick stomped. You've learned that Victoria is probably creating an army because you were convinced she wasn't a threat, and now we have Maria to deal with on top of everything else. What more is it gonna take for you to pull your shit together and grow up?"

Edward crossed his arms defensively and scowled a little deeper.

"As far as I can see, your face and teeth are healed, so why the hell are you ignoring your mate's calls?" Jasper continued. "She has a right to know what's happening. You think she makes stupid, impulsive, reckless decisions but how do you expect her to ever grow the hell up if you continually keep her in the dark and treat her like a child?" he asked, then tightened his grip on Edward's shoulder. "That was a rhetorical question, so close that mouth. Now, you have created a shitstorm for this family and the pack to deal with, and I have been this fucking close to burning you where you stand on more than one occasion. This new you, this argumentative and aggressive asshole you've become since meeting Bella, isn't anyone I trust near the women in this family. You're no better than any other abuser when you storm up to Alice with that kind of rage. You killed Charles Evenson for what he did, so why do you expect us to constantly make allowances for your behavior?"

Leah looked at him in surprise. Esme had told Leah her history the night before so she knew Charles Evenson was the husband who abused her while she was still human, but she hadn't known Edward later killed him for it.

"I'm not–"

"Emotional and verbal abuse is still abuse," Alice snapped, cutting Edward off.

Edward looked at her in outrage. "You're the one who–"

"You deserved it," Alice snarled. "You're pissed because I won't let you hear my thoughts, I'm pissed because you tried to attack Jasper and you've put this entire family at risk over and over again. The situations are not the same. You told Bella that you and I are the closest in the family - actually, your exact words were that we're freaks among freaks who need to stick together, which is a real sweet way to refer to the person in the family you're supposedly closest to. And that may be true on your side, but Jasper will always come first for me. I will always defend him and we all know I'm a better fighter than you. You won't win."

Jasper turned to Alice with a frown. "He called you a freak?" he asked, and Alice nodded with a little shrug. She honestly wasn't really all that bothered by it, but Jasper was. He turned back to Edward and stomped on his foot. "Quit being a dick to her," he snapped.

"Charles didn't start with physical abuse, Edward," Rosalie quietly reminded him. "He started by slowly trying to control her and constantly belittling her, making her question her every move. Her every thought."

Esme calmly walked into the room then. "He treated me like his property, Edward. His rage only leaked out a little bit at a time in the beginning and didn't translate into violence until he was sure I was firmly under his thumb."

"Sound familiar?" Alice asked him with a pointed look.

Edward's scowl fell away and he looked at his family members with a whole lot of uncertainty and hesitation.

Jasper cocked his head to the side a little and just looked at the telepath for a few moments. "Is this really a surprise to you? I find it a little hard to believe that you haven't heard a single thought from any of us over the past year that we see your behavior as borderline abusive."

"Or did you hear it and then immediately dismiss it because you don't agree with us?" Rosalie asked. "Way back in the beginning, we were all pretty outspoken that you sneaking into Bella's room when she wasn't aware of it was wrong."

"Carlisle spoke to you about it but you chose not to listen," Esme added.

Edward just sat, still and silent. The family had told him sneaking into Bella's room was wrong, and Carlisle had talked to him about what was appropriate behavior and what was not. But Edward had ignored all of them, thinking he knew better.

"Edward," Alice said, her voice much more gentle than it had been. "Imagine it another way. If you found out that a stranger was breaking into our house and spying on Rosalie, Esme, or me, how would you react? I may not think too much of your choices lately, but I can't imagine you'd be okay with that."

Edward opened his mouth to protest but then immediately snapped it shut. He couldn't deny that he would've been outraged if that happened. "But Bella didn't mind," he answered, his voice only slightly defensive. "She thought it was romantic that I wanted to be near her and get adjusted to her scent."

Jasper rolled his eyes. "You and Bella both have an extremely limited and slightly twisted view on what love and romance really entail. There isn't a single thing that's romantic about breaking into a teenage girl's bedroom. That's stalking, not romance."

Leah spoke up for the first time. She knew this wasn't really her business, but she felt it was important to point out one other thing besides the creepiness factor that the Cullens were focusing on. "It was also dangerous. And even though I don't like you, I'm honestly not saying this to be a bitch. But I know about singers and how they make you guys a little bit crazy," she said, then shook her head when Edward glanced at Jasper. "Jasper didn't tell me, Emmett did. He told me what it was like when he came across both of his singers, and how quickly he drained them. They were dead in his arms before he even made a decision to move. He said it was like his brain just completely shut down and didn't start working again until they were dead. So you going to Bella's alone every night, as probably the greatest threat to that particular human than exists on this planet, was really, really dangerous."

"We can't go back and change the past, but we can strive to do better in the future," Esme said. "I'll be completely honest with you, Edward, you're displaying a lot of behaviors that I see as a red flag. But there's nothing that says you have to continue on this path. All of us have a chance every single day to change and grow, to make better choices. Healthier choices. For you, Bella, and this family."

Edward frowned a little. "But vampires can't change. We're frozen as we are."

"Bullshit," Leah scoffed. "If you need an example of a vamp changing and growing, for the better, look no further than the man who's currently towering over you. You can't sit there and honestly tell me that the Jasper who led Maria's army is the same Jasper standing in front of you," she said with a heavy eye-roll. Seeing her imprint's brilliant smile, she scoffed again. "Please, like you don't already know you're a different man than you were."

Jasper shrugged but kept on smiling at her. "That may be true, but it doesn't hurt to hear you say it."

"I'd maybe also point out that you already have changed, Edward," Alice added. "A year and a half ago, I thought you were a little morose and angsty, but I didn't find you intolerable. You and I have spent a hell of a lot of time together over the last seventy years and had a good time while doing it. But over the last year, you've changed. Unlike Jasper, though, you haven't changed for the better. You've always been quick to anger and quick to use our thoughts against us to try and win an argument, but your temper never made me worry about the safety of anyone in this family, and I certainly never contemplated using violence against you myself. But since you met Bella? I honestly don't like the person you've become most days."

Jasper cut in when felt the first stirrings of doubt and shame in the telepath. "No one is looking for a complete overhaul of your personality. Fixing this doesn't have to be hard. You want all of us to treat you more respectfully, so maybe try treating us with a little respect also. Treat your mate the way you'd want to be treated. You feel like you have a right to her every thought, but you're not willing to share your own with her. Talk to her. It's not difficult."

"When she asks you a question or shares a worry with you, don't tell her she's being ridiculous," Alice added with another pointed look. "She's already insecure, and all that does is make her question herself."

Leah hesitated for a moment before adding her two cents. She didn't like Edward, but she thought Bella's behavior was unfair to him. "And maybe have an honest conversation with her about Jake. I was in the clearing that day and it wasn't hard to see that you were hurt by her behavior. Having an imprint now and being the mate of a vamp, I see way more clearly that mates are everything in your world. I don't think it's unreasonable for you to tell her how she's making you feel. If my behavior was hurting Jasper, I'd honestly be a little pissed if he just kept quiet and tolerated it. I know I'm not a vamp, but I do know that's not how mates should work."

Edward just looked at her for a moment a little skeptically, but he could hear in her thoughts that she was being honest with him. She didn't like him, but she also didn't think Edward was the only one responsible for his relationship with Bella being difficult. He looked at the rest of the family to see they were nodding their agreement. All of their thoughts were similar to Leah's. If he and Bella were ever going to have a healthy relationship like the other mated pairs in the family, they were both going to need to make some changes in how they treated each other.

He needed to do some thinking and preferred to do it in private, so he looked up at Jasper, who was still standing over him. "Can I get up now?" he asked, his tone a little dry.

"Yes," Jasper laughed and stepped back. "But I want to add one more thing. We've obviously got some difficult times ahead of us, and the only way we're going to get through it is together. Any turmoil inside this family - and I include Leah and Bella in that - and any doubts about whether we can count on each other, only lessens our chances of coming out the other side unscathed. I don't want to have to worry about Maria, Victoria, a newborn army, and whether or not I can trust you."

Edward just nodded and then slowly made his way up to his room, his mind racing, and quietly closed the door behind him.

"Think it'll stick?" Rosalie asked Jasper, who just shrugged.

"I don't know. He definitely listened with a mostly open mind, but given all of our past experience, we all know that doesn't necessarily mean he'll actually take our advice," he answered. He hesitated a moment before bringing up another of his concerns. "I have to tell y'all, I'm worried about Bella. I'm not trying to be an asshole, and I'll preface this by saying she's an eighteen-year old human, so I understand that she hasn't seen much of the world. But from what I can tell, she's just like Edward in the fact that she tends to not think of other people when contemplating a particular course of action. She doesn't think through her decisions and doesn't see, or doesn't want to acknowledge, the possible repercussions. Phoenix is only one example of that. I don't want to have to worry about her doing something impulsive or reckless that puts the rest of us at risk."

Leah shot her imprint a little glare. "I take offense to that, Whitlock. I'm only nineteen, and I know I may not be completely human, but I'm nothing like Bella, thank you very much. Being an eighteen-year old human doesn't excuse her for being impulsive and reckless, not to mention selfish and immature. Seth's only fifteen and he's none of those things," she said, then laughed a little. "Okay, maybe he's impulsive sometimes, but never in a way that hurts someone else or causes trouble for anyone."

"True," Jasper smiled. "And I agree, I was just trying not to be overly rude."

Leah's nose scrunched up a little bit. "Why? She's awful. Be as rude as you want."

"She's not awful," Jasper laughed. "I don't understand why she does some of the stuff she does, and I don't particularly like that she's hurting a kid I've considered my brother for seventy years or a man you've consider family your whole life, but–"

"And Jake," Leah cut in. "He may be an idiot and an ass who's deluded enough to think she's going to choose him one of these days, but that doesn't negate the fact that she's hurting him. And he tried to cut ties with her, but lemme tell you, Edward isn't the only stalker around here. I told you she called the Black's house every thirty minutes for a full day when Jake wasn't taking her calls, right? Well she also parked in his driveway and moodily stared at the house," she said with a scowl. "She claims he's her best friend, but when he tried to put up boundaries, she just barreled right through them without giving a second thought to the fact that she's hurting him. All she cared about was that he wasn't around to shower her in attention. So yes, she actually is awful."

There were a few moment of heavy silence in the room and then Rosalie's sarcastic drawl broke it. "So she's prone to temper tantrums, sees nothing wrong with committing violence against strangers, and she dabbles in stalking? I'm thrilled she'll be joining the family permanently," she said, rolling her eyes.

Alice laughed and hopped to her feet, yanking her sister up with her. "Come on, I think we all need a little break from the drama. Let's go play."

Leah gave the pixie a little bit of a weird look. "Play? You sound like a five-year old human."

Alice just laughed, completely unbothered by being insulted a little bit, and grabbed her hand. "Our vamp version of playing is way more fun. I think you wolves will like it, too, so quit bitching and come with."

Leah smiled and let Alice lead her out the back door, Rosalie and Jasper following behind them.

"Wait for me!" Emmett shouted as he bounded around the side of the house with Carlisle. "I wanna play toooooo!"

Carlisle looked at the back door and called for his wife, who walked outside with an indulgent smile. "I suppose you want to go also?" she asked him.

"Of course. The 'kids' aren't the only ones who deserve to have a little fun."

Esme let out a dramatic sigh. "Then I suppose you'll just have to carry me," she said, then leaped off the porch into her mate's arms.

Carlisle caught her with a laugh and shifted her so she was on his back. "My pleasure."

Leah smiled and shook her head. "You're all ridiculous. Fortunately for you, I like you all enough to overlook that ridiculousness," she teased. She glanced at the house and hesitated for a second. The Cullens had already claimed her as family, and even though she didn't particularly like Edward, even though she didn't think she and Jasper would always live with the family, she was kind of stuck with the telepath. Like that weird relative no one was too fond of but everyone included and was polite to because that's what you did with family. So she rolled her eyes and pushed up on her toes to whisper quietly in Jasper's ear. "If we want him to quit being a dick all the time, maybe we should extend an olive branch."

The other siblings looked just as thrilled by the idea of Edward joining them as Leah did, but they grudgingly agreed she wasn't wrong. And neither was Jasper. He'd said earlier that they had the best shot of getting through the approaching trouble unscathed if they did it together. And since Edward had a harder time than most admitting he was wrong and apologizing, they could do better and at least agree to the olive branch, even if they didn't want to be the ones to actually extend it.

Jasper nodded and let out a piercing whistle. "Come on, Edward. Shift your ass and get out here before we leave without you."

Inside his room, Edward hesitated for only a moment. Before Bella arrived in Forks and turned his life upside down, he'd spent plenty of time running around the forest with his family. He might think their games were a little pointless and stupid, but he did join in sometimes. Besides, he recognized an olive branch when he saw one, so he pushed aside all of his worries and jumped out his bedroom window and landed beside Emmett with a heavy thud.

Emmett slung an arm around his shoulders and gave him a dimpled grin. "Excellent choice. Letting loose and having a little fun is just what you need to remove that stick from your–"

"Emmett!" Esme cut him off with a laugh.

Leah laughed and shook her head again. Completely ridiculous.

"Wanna go wolf or stay human?" Jasper asked Leah. She thought on it a second and then chose human. That way she had the power of speech. It took a minute, along with some grumbling and whining from a few vamps, but Jasper got them all to agree to run at about three-quarters their top speed so Leah had at least a fighting chance at keeping up. He wasn't going to make it too easy on her, though, which is why he made it three-quarters instead of half. "You get no special treatment just because you had the good fortune to imprint on me," he told her with a dead serious expression. "You've gotta learn to pull your own weight in this motley crew of ours, and coddling you will do you no favors."

Fortunately he had lightning fast reflexes, so when she tried to punch him, he ducked out of the way and took off running, his bright laughter trailing behind him. Leah laughed and sprinted to catch up with him, and was exceedingly pleased with herself that she launching herself at him at just the right moment to tackle him.

They rolled across the ground, both of them laughing like lunatics, and that laughter only got louder when Alice came running up and dove right on top of them. They became a messy tangle of limbs as they skidded across the forest floor, churning up dirt and leaves as they tumbled across the uneven ground.

Jasper looked at Alice and let out a playful growl as they came to a stop. She was no fool, so she jumped up and ran straight to Edward. "Quick!" she shouted, and he wasted no time slinging her onto his back, then took off like a shot. "Ha!" Alice laughed. Even running at three-quarter speed, Edward was still the fastest.

When Carlisle dove for the telepath's legs, Alice did an impressive mid-air flip and landed on her feet, but before she could take more than two steps, she was hit from the side by a too-warm body and tumbled to the ground again. "Stupid wolves making me blind," she grumbled through a mouthful of leaves.

As Leah ran through the mountains with her imprint and his family, playing a game that was a weird combination of tag and wrestling, she felt more light-hearted than she had in over a year and she had to admit that Alice was right. A break from the drama was exactly what she needed, and the vamp version of playing was way more fun than any playground games Leah had played as a child. And watching Carlisle - who was nearly four centuries old - laughing while doing a little bit of ass kicking was a good reminder that we're never too old to let loose and have a little fun.

A few hours later, a tired but happy Leah was catching a ride on Jasper's back as he walked at a human pace towards the treaty line. When she started to doze off a little and her grip loosened, he carefully scootched her around to his front so he could carry her without the fear of her sliding off his back. Leah tightened her hold on him and rested her head on his shoulder, then smiled sleepily when she heard his quiet, rumbling purr. The soothing sound lulled her to sleep in a matter of minutes.

Jasper smiled that his mate was so content, and reveled in the fact that she found enough comfort in him that she was perfectly happy to sleep in his arms. Honestly, if he had his way, he'd just carry her everywhere all the time. When she was in his arms, he knew she was safe and happy, which is all he ever wanted for her.

He smiled again when he saw Seth walking towards them. Feeling his slight worry, Jasper immediately reassured him that Leah was perfectly fine. "She's just tired," he whispered. "She ran an awful lot of miles as a human."

Seth nodded and asked what they'd been up to as he fell into step beside them, then laughed when Jasper described the Cullen's version of fun and games. "Maybe I can tag along next time."

"You're always welcome, Seth. That's true whether we're running around the forest or being boring as hell at home. You're Leah's family, so for better or worse, you're my family now too."

"Uh, excuse me," Seth huffed. "It's definitely not 'worse' that you get me as a surprise family member."

Jasper shook his head and laughed quietly. "I meant it the other way around. For better or worse, you're stuck with me."

Seth looked at his sister wrapped around her imprint as she snuck a nap in and smiled softly. "That's not worse either."

They walked in a comfortable silence towards the Clearwater's house, Jasper only pausing for a moment before stepping across the treaty line. In the back of his mind, he wondered how long it would take for that not to feel a little weird, like he was doing something he shouldn't be doing.

Seth seemed to understand and smiled at him. "We're all just happy to see her smiling again. With only a couple obvious exceptions, the pack just wants my sister to be happy. And it's not hard to see she's happy now. Some of the wolves may still be a little uncertain about the vamp thing, but no one can deny that you make Leah happier than she's ever been. They aren't going to let an invisible line get in the way of that."

Rather than answering with words, Jasper let Seth feel all of his considerable gratitude. He'd joked earlier that Leah was the one who had the good fortune to imprint on him, but Jasper knew it was really him that was so fortunate. He'd not only found his mate in a woman he was thrilled to be tied to for the rest of eternity, but he'd gained Seth and Sue in the bargain. And Paul and Charlie, too.

Peter's words from the previous night came back to him and Jasper knew he was right. Fate had done him a solid. He was a vampire who'd live a life of endless violence for nearly eight decades, yet here he was, happier than he'd ever imagined possible and surrounded by people who loved and accepted him. They may have a few too many threats hanging over their heads than he was strictly comfortable with that they needed to start dealing with, but life had also never been sweeter, and he made a vow that he'd never, ever take these gifts for granted.