A/N: Sending all of you my heartfelt gratitude for reading:)

Cobbled Together Families

A few hours later, Jasper was reading a book with his mate curled around him, her head on his chest and her arm slung across his stomach. They were meeting Charlie at six to go fishing, so when Alice had offered her bed for Leah to get some sleep beforehand, she had gratefully accepted.

Alice, Peter, and Charlotte had taken over Jasper's study, and they were pouring over maps and making plans. They were heading out the next morning to do some scouting across the border in Canada and they were trying to pinpoint the areas most conducive to hiding a gaggle of newborns. Carlisle had joined them for a while and offered his suggestions to add to the list.

Jasper had been keeping a close eye on Peter's emotions, because he was getting more and more frustrated that he didn't have any knowledge that would help them.

"I know I have to bring two specific shirts but I don't know how to keep you safe," he'd grumbled to Jasper before throwing himself in the chair at Jasper's desk.

Jasper was gently running his fingers through Leah's hair when he felt Edward's familiar emotions approaching the house, and he looked at the clock to see it was just after two in the morning. He didn't know if Carlisle and Esme had lifted the restriction that he had to be home by eleven or if he was just late, but neither were angry when he walked in the door. More than anything, they were feeling sympathy for him, and Jasper wondered what had transpired in the clearing after most of them had left.

When Edward paused outside Alice's door, Jasper quietly told him he could come in, though he tucked the sheet back around his mate first. She was a restless sleeper who ran warm and she'd kicked the quilt off her.

Edward came in and sat in the armchair in front of the windows with a quiet sigh.

"You okay?" Jasper whispered. There had been an awful lot of tension between the two of them recently, but Jasper couldn't help but feel for the kid.

Edward opened his mouth to answer but then closed it again. "I don't know," he said after a minute, grateful that Jasper patiently waited for him to pull his thoughts together.

"It's okay to tell her she's hurting you," Jasper told him, knowing that was probably the thing Edward was struggling with the most. It was certainly no secret in the house that he'd always shied away from having difficult conversations with Bella.

Edward took another minute to work up the courage to voice his biggest fear. He knew Jasper was already aware of what it was, but that didn't make saying it out loud any easier. "What if I tell her and she walks away? Chooses someone else?" he eventually asked, his voice barely audible, even to Jasper's ears.

Jasper immediately shook his head. "She doesn't love him, Edward. I know why you have doubts, I'd have them too if I was in your shoes, but whatever it looks like from the outside, she's not in love with him," he assured him. When Edward looked at him skeptically, Jasper let him feel his sincerity. "I may not like you all that much lately but you know I would never lie to you. And I certainly wouldn't lie to you about something as important as this."

Edward couldn't deny that. Even if he couldn't hear in Jasper's thoughts that he was being truthful, after living with him for seventy years he knew Jasper never lied. In fact, Edward thought he was sometimes a little too truthful. "Maybe he's the better choice," he whispered, his face twisted in agony.

Jasper's eyebrows shot up. "A better choice than her mate?"

"You don't know what she was like after we left," Edward explained, staring out the window. "She completely fell apart. Barely speaking, barely functioning. He's the one who held her together."

Jasper felt nothing but sympathy for his brother in that moment. "I'm assuming you saw all this through Jacob's mind?" he asked, and Edward nodded. "Well, first I'd maybe encourage you to consider the messenger. Jacob has a strong motivation to only show you the very worst things. He's a child who is using the only tool he has to hurt you," he said gently. "And I don't want to sound like a judgmental dick, but from what I've heard, I'd also maybe point out that Bella's reaction was a little… extreme."

Edward lowered his eyes and his shame was practically visible in the air around him.

"What's all that about?" Jasper asked, vaguely gesturing in Edward's direction. When he didn't answer, Jasper frowned. "What did you do?"

Just as Edward reluctantly opened his mouth, Alice came flying in the door like a silent and tiny angel made purely of wrath. "Why do you always have to be such an asshole?" she hissed, hands on her hips as she glared at Edward.

Jasper looked between the two of them a few times, waiting for one of them to explain. "What's happening?" he asked when neither did.

Alice crossed her arms and huffed a few times, staring at Edward expectantly. "Too ashamed to admit it?" she asked when he stayed quiet.

"It was the only way I could think of that she'd let me go!" Edward defended himself.

Jasper gave both of them a dirty look when Leah stirred for a moment before settling back down. "Either talk quietly or get out."

Edward briefly debated taking the 'get out' option, but he thought he just might have the best shot at getting out of this without losing any body parts if he was in the same room as Jasper and Leah. The metallic screeching sound of twisted and torn vampire flesh was loud enough to wake her up and Edward was almost certain Jasper would stop Alice for that reason, even if he didn't stop her for Edward's sake.

He took a deep breath and looked at Jasper, doing his best to ignore Alice and her death glare. "I didn't think she'd believe anything else. I knew if she tried to fight for me, I wouldn't have been able to leave her."

Jasper waited for him to go on, but he didn't. "You do realize you haven't actually explained anything, right?" he asked with an amused smile. Which immediately fell away when Edward relayed exactly how he'd broken up with Bella back in September. "You can't be serious. You told a human teenager that you didn't want her anymore?" he asked incredulously. "A human teenager with an inferiority complex? A human teenager who was more than a little obsessed with you?"

Edward dropped his eyes in shame and nodded.

"Jesus fucking christ," Jasper muttered, scrubbing a hand over his face. "You're a hundred and nineteen years old, Edward. You've spent the last century snooping in minds far wiser than yours. Why don't you ever bother applying the information you snatch out of everyone's heads? I've spent virtually no time with humans outside of school until recently and even I know you shouldn't do shit like that," he said with a deep and heavy sigh. "Peter was right, y'all are a perfect match," he added under his breath. "You're both as stupid as each other."

Edward scowled at him a little but wisely kept his mouth shut. Not only did he not want to make matters worse for himself, but he couldn't honestly argue that Jasper was wrong. Edward didn't think either he or Bella were stupid in a general sense, but they had definitely both been acting with very little thought of anyone else, not even each other.

"I'm assuming you already told her you were lying?" Alice asked.

Edward nodded. "Yes."

"Oh good, so you do know how to be honest with her. I was starting to believe it was truly beyond you," she said with a heavy eye-roll, making Jasper smile. Seeing that Edward looked more ashamed than defensive, she softened a little and went and sat on the arm of the chair and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Just talk to her, Edward. She loves you enough to forgive you for that, so I can't imagine there's anything you could say that would make her change her mind about you."

Edward started to answer her, but then stopped and looked back towards the bed with a small smile.

Jasper gently ran his hand through Leah's hair. "Is she talking to you silently?" he asked, knowing she'd been half-aware of the conversation going on around her.

"Yes. She's too tired to work up the energy to speak out loud, but she's reminding me what she said about being upset with you if she was hurting you but you just kept quiet and tolerated it," he explained, then rolled his eyes a little. "She thinks Bella is self-absorbed enough that it probably hasn't occurred to her that she's hurting me."

Jasper smiled and nodded his agreement. "I think we both know she's not wrong. Bella seems to see nothing but you, but she thinks mostly of herself. You look at the other couples you know, from Carlisle and Esme to Peter and Charlotte, and you wonder why their relationships are so much easier than yours. But successful, happy relationships are only that way because of the effort people put into them."

"And you and Bella seem to choose the hard way every time," Alice added. "What happened tonight when you took her home?" she asked curiously. She hadn't seen anything, but she wasn't sure if that was because she'd been busy doing other things or if there hadn't been anything to see.

"Jacob was there waiting for her," he answered with a scowl.

"As a wolf?" Jasper asked sharply.

Edward shook his head. "No. He'd driven there. I don't know if he skipped out on his patrol early or if his shift had already ended, but his car was there."

Leah huffed in annoyance. "Why do I have to be the only girl?" she whined as she sat up, blearily rubbing her eyes. "It's no fair, Alice gets to have Rosalie and Esme, but I'm stuck being the sole voice of reason in a pack of teenage boys."

"I think Esme would probably tell you that she's the sole voice of reason in the coven, even with the benefit of having me and Rose around," Alice laughed. "Actually, Rose would probably say the same about herself."

Leah smiled tiredly. "Did you get my… never mind," she yawned as she saw her phone charging on the nightstand. Knowing how early she had to wake up and wanting her to be able to get some sleep, her sweetheart of a brother had offered to go grab her phone and all their fishing gear from their house and Alice had waited for him at the treaty line so he wouldn't have to run all the way to the Cullen's. She checked her messages and found a text from Jared.

Just a heads up, Jake's gone AWOL and I think it's safe to assume he's at the Swan's. He's human. I'll stay wolf to make sure he doesn't phase back.

Leah flopped back on the bed and rubbed her eyes again. "He was human," she assured Jasper. "Jared stayed a wolf to make sure he didn't phase in your territory."

Jasper nodded and pulled her closer so he could get some more snuggling in and tucked the quilt back around her. "What happened?" he asked Edward once Leah was comfortably settled.

Edward scowled again. "He was talking to Charlie when we got there, then once they were alone, he did his usual routine of insulting me, insulting our family, telling Bella it wasn't safe to be around us. Questioning her about Peter and Charlotte. Pretending he was there because he needed to make sure she was safe."

"What did he say about Peter and Charlotte?" Jasper asked, not sure if he was more exasperated with the kid or pissed off.

"Pretty much what you'd expect," Edward answered, rolling his eyes. "Warning there would be lethal consequences if they hunt around here. Telling Bella red-eyed vampires are demons and demanding she stay away from them."

Leah huffed in annoyance again. "What is with both of you making demands of her like that? Why the hell do either of you think you have the right to control everything she does?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. "You hate each other, but from everything I've seen, you and Jacob are exactly alike in how you treat her. It's no wonder she's all stalkery obsessed with both of you. You're basically the same person, just different species."

Edward glared at her. "I'm nothing like that child," he snapped.

"Okay," Leah scoffed. "Sure you're not."

Jasper figured he should cut in there. Edward may have been outwardly protesting, but there was a sliver of uncertainty in him, and he didn't particularly want him to get so reflexively defensive that he lashed out at Leah. "So did you get any time alone with Bella before you came home?" he asked Edward. "Did y'all do any talking?"

Edward shook his head. "Not much. She was really quiet, then she asked for some time on her own. Said she had a lot of thinking to do," he answered, filled with nothing but fear and uncertainty.

"Try not to worry too much about that," Jasper told him with a sympathetic smile. "I know you automatically think the worst, but I'd bet every dollar I have that she's questioning herself, not you."

Edward looked at him for a moment. "Is that just a guess, or is that from her emotions before all of you left?"

Jasper debated how to answer that. He didn't really want to share too much about the girl, but he also didn't want his brother to dive head first into an angst fest and assume she was on the verge of ending their relationship. "Both," he eventually answered, but left it there. If he gave Edward a peek into his thoughts and he heard more than Jasper was saying out loud… well, only he and Edward had to know.

Edward smiled and gave him a nod of thanks. "Are you excited for fishing?" he asked, wanting to change the subject. Just for a little while, he didn't want to think about all the problems in his relationship.

"Fishing specifically? Not so much," Jasper laughed quietly, gently rubbing Leah's back as she drifted off to sleep again. "But I'm looking forward to spending a few hours with Charlie and Leah. Can you see if I'm going to catch anything?" he asked Alice.

"With Leah there, I can't really see anything," she shrugged.

"Can't you do the thing where you decide to ask me when I get home? Like you did when you decided to wait for me at the treaty line and check the time I showed up?"

Alice smiled, grateful they were coming up with ways to see around her blind spots. Her eyes unfocused as she searched the future, then she blinked her way back to the present with a laugh. "Nope, no fish for you. Leah and Charlie are both successful though."

Jasper felt her amusement, then Edward's, and he looked at them a little suspiciously. "What?"

Alice just laughed and mimed zipping her lips shut.

"I'm not going to do something stupid like break Leah's dad's fishing rod, am I?"

"No, the fishing rod is fine," Alice assured him, but left it there. Jasper didn't push, knowing Alice wouldn't say anything more than she wanted to. He also knew she would warn him if there was anything to worry about, so he was fine with letting her keep whatever was making her laugh a secret.

"Are we done now?" he asked them. "I'd really like to do as much cuddling as I can cram in and y'all are ruining the mood."

Alice and Edward both laughed and left the room, Edward closing the door quietly behind him. Jasper settled back down and pulled Leah just a little bit closer, then closed his eyes and let his mind drift as he soaked up a few quiet hours with his mate.

When Leah blearily opened her eyes at half past five, she was greeted with her smiling imprint holding out a steaming mug of coffee and she nearly cried with relief. "Careful. Keep doing stuff like this and you're gonna make it too easy for me to fall in love with you," she warned in a voice still husky from sleep. She was the very opposite of a morning person but spending time with Charlie was worth the sacrifice.

Jasper's smile only grew. "Then I'm happy to tell you there's a full thermos waiting for you downstairs."

"You're an angel," Leah laughed as she kissed him good morning. But only after taking three big gulps that scalded the roof of her mouth. She had priorities, thank you very much.

After a few more gulps she felt steady enough to get up, and she smiled when she saw some clothes folded at the foot of the bed. The building the Cullen's had built on their property and the clothes Alice and Rosalie had stocked it with had come in handy the night before when Leah needed something to change into, and one of the vamps must have brought in another change of clothes for her some time during the night.

Dressed and sufficiently awake, Leah followed Jasper downstairs to the kitchen, where Esme was wrapping something up that smelled delicious. If she wasn't mistaken, it smelled an awful lot like the breakfast sandwiches that Sue made, which were a favorite of Leah, Seth, and Paul. Esme had grilled her the night before about her favorite things, but she hadn't thought anything of it.

"Good morning," Esme greeted her with a smile, putting four wrapped bundles into a small bag.

"Morning. How'd you manage this?" Leah asked curiously. They'd gotten back to the Cullen's late enough that the store in town would've been closed. When Esme explained she'd found a twenty-hour grocery store in Port Angeles so she could have breakfast waiting for her, Leah was touched that she'd go through the effort for her, so she walked over and gave her a hug. "Thank you."

Esme explained there were two sandwiches for her and two for Charlie as she tucked a huge thermos of coffee into the bag. "And these are for both of you as well," she said, handing Leah two to-go mugs. "There should be enough in the thermos for a couple refills."

"You're all angels," Leah smiled.

Edward walked into the room and tossed Jasper the sweatshirt he'd been wearing the day Leah had met him, the one he'd taken off to give her something to cover up with when she'd accidentally phased. "Alice told me to give you this. It's chilly out and apparently Charlie will be worried about you being warm enough," he told him. Leah thought Jasper looked at Edward a little suspiciously, but he took it anyway and pulled it on.

They set off in Jasper's truck a few minutes later and Jasper immediately took her hand so Leah could feel his happiness. She was honestly a little surprised by just how happy he was to be going fishing with her and Charlie.

"When did Alice, Peter, and Charlotte leave?" she asked, knowing they'd been gone by the time she'd woken up.

"Around three," he answered.

Leah nodded, pushing aside the little bit of worry she was feeling. They were all more than capable of keeping themselves safe, and feeling that Jasper wasn't overly worried about them helped. "Will they be gone long?"

"No," Jasper shook his head. "They should be back by this evening. All three of them will want to be there when we meet with the pack."

Leah just nodded again. None of them were particularly optimistic that they'd find anything right away. Canada was awfully huge, even when you were limiting your focus to only the areas north of Washington.

As Jasper pulled up to the Swan's house and they saw Charlie waiting for them outside, they both pushed aside all thoughts of Victoria and newborns. There would be plenty of time to worry later.

Leah hopped out and handed Charlie one of the coffee mugs. "I come bearing gifts."

"You made me coffee?" he asked with a surprised smile. Most of the time when the two of them went fishing, Leah was about eighty-five percent asleep for the first hour or two.

Leah almost took credit for it but then figured that would be rude. "No, Esme did. She also may or may not have made us both some breakfast."

Charlie just nodded, grateful for the kindness and purposefully ignoring the fact that Leah had obviously spent the night with her boyfriend.

He and Jasper made quick work of hooking his small fishing boat to the trailer on Jasper's truck, both of them laughing at Leah bossily shouting instructions from the porch steps while scarfing down the first of her breakfast sandwiches. Charlie silently marveled at how much food the girl could pack away and idly wondered where it all went.

Less than an hour later, they were out on the water.

Jasper found the quiet and the gentle sway of the boat surprisingly calming. They were far enough from La Push that the only emotions he had to contend with were Leah's and Charlie's, both of whom were feeling mostly positive emotions, although there was a little more worry in Charlie than the other times Jasper had been in his presence. He didn't know the man enough to say definitively what was bothering him, but the worry was mixed with a kind of protectiveness that made Jasper think it was probably about either Bella or Leah.

Charlie took a sip of his coffee and then sighed in contentment. "Your mom makes a damn good cup of coffee."

"I'm not sure that's a reflection of any innate skill," Jasper said with a smile. "When I met Leah and found out she considered coffee to be the most important food group, Esme went out and bought one of those coffee machines that does all the work for you. You just pop a little cup in, press a few buttons, and voila. A perfect cup of coffee every time."

Charlie just shrugged and smiled. "It's still delicious. Please thank her for me."

Leah tipped her head a little and looked at him closely. "What's wrong?" she asked. Jasper may have felt his worry with his gift, but Leah knew Charlie well enough that she could see it in his eyes.

"You're too observant for your own good, kid," Charlie laughed. When Leah just waited for him to go on, he let out a quiet sigh. "I'm worried about Bella, but…" he hesitated for a moment, looking at Jasper.

"But it has to do with her relationship and you don't know if you should talk about it in front of me because Edward's my brother?" Jasper asked him, and Charlie nodded. "Don't let my presence keep you from talking. I love my brother but that doesn't mean I'm blind to his faults, either in himself or in his relationship with Bella."

Charlie gave him a grateful smile, but before he could say anything, there was a sharp tug on his line. Jasper silently watched as the two of them worked together to haul in a fish that was massive to Jasper's untrained eye - had he ever actually seen a fish in real life? - and smiling at their emotions.

Once the fish was in the cooler Charlie had brought along, Jasper expected him to go back to the subject of his daughter, but he didn't. When Leah asked him about it, he shrugged and said he'd rather just enjoy their morning together.

The three of them spent the next couple hours alternating between sitting in a comfortable silence and chatting quietly. It seemed to Jasper that fishing was an escape from the stresses of Charlie's day to day life and his responsibility as Police Chief, so he was happy to keep the conversation light.

"What's it like living with such a big family?" Charlie asked him curiously at one point.

"Loud," Jasper answered immediately. "When you live with four siblings who have big personalities, good or bad, it can get really loud."

Leah laughed and told Charlie about some of Emmett's most ridiculous exploits, making sure to scrub them of any vampiness.

"I should probably warn you that he's angling to get an invite to watch sports with you," Jasper added with a smile. "He's very put out that Alice and I have gotten to come over twice without him."

"Well, feel free to bring him along next time," Charlie laughed. "It sounds like he'd be fun to have around."

Leah scoffed, but she was smiling. "Fun? Knowing Emmett, he'll get too exuberant and break your house. The dude is huge and way too strong for his own good."

Jasper pretended to glare at her and jabbed an elbow in her side. "Don't be rude."

"I'm not! It's true and you know it!" she exclaimed, then tried to punch him in retaliation. Unfortunately for Leah, who was used to putting all her strength behind her fist when it came to her vamp imprint, Jasper ducked out of the way and Leah's momentum propelled her straight over the side of the boat.

Jasper jumped to his feet to look in the water for her, but Charlie just rolled his eyes like that was nothing more than he expected. "Don't worry, son. It's not the first time and I highly doubt it'll be the last time."

And lord, Jasper's answering smile was huge. The man Leah considered an uncle calling him 'son' wasn't a thing he'd ever thought about wanting, but it completely filled him with joy.

Leah's head popped out of the water and she swiped her tangled hair out of her face while spitting out a mouthful of sea water. "Don't just stand there, asshole. Quit smiling and help me."

Jasper laughed and reached a hand down to yank his mate back into the boat. When Leah scowled down at her wet clothes, Jasper laughed again and pulled off the hoodie Alice had told Edward to give him before he left the house. "Good thing Alice was worried about me not being warm enough," he said, shooting her a wink as he handed her the sweatshirt.

Leah rolled her eyes, fighting a laugh. "She couldn't have just warned you I was going to fall in?" she snarked, too quietly for Charlie to hear. "Alright, quit laughing, both of you. And maybe turn around or close your eyes."

Charlie and Jasper both made a show of dramatically covering their eyes so Leah could peel her wet clothes off and pull on the sweatshirt. She sat back down and looked herself over. Not too bad, she thought, tugging the sweatshirt over her knees. "Alright, I'm decent. But I hate you both, just in case you were wondering."

Charlie laughed and uncovered his eyes. Life with Leah as a surrogate daughter was certainly never boring. Having such a small family himself, he'd been a little bit wistful when he asked Jasper what it was like living with a large family. But as he listened to Jasper talk about their 'cobbled together' family, as he called it, Charlie realized he'd cobbled together a family of his own over the years.

Watching Jasper kiss Leah's forehead and whisper that he was sorry for laughing at her, Charlie knew that his cobbled together family had just grown by one.

It was during the drive back to Forks to take Charlie home that the happiness and contentment Jasper had been feeling all day came to a sudden, stuttering stop and he was overcome with an ice-cold dread that filled him to the core.

Driving through town, he couldn't help but notice that Charlie grew quieter the closer to home he got. Gone was the smiling, lighthearted man of only thirty minutes before. He seemed to be debating whether or not to say something to them, and Jasper assumed it had to do with Bella and whatever worries he'd been having earlier in the day. So Jasper was surprised when he quietly asked them both to please stay away from Seattle.

"Why?" Leah asked curiously, then saw his eyes were locked on a house they were passing. "Who lives there?"

"No one now," Charlie answered, shaking his head. "But until recently a family named Biers lived there. Their son disappeared a year ago and there haven't been any leads in the case. They decided they couldn't stay in a house with so many memories."

Leah and Jasper waited for him to say more, not sure how that related to him wanting them to steer clear of Seattle. "What does that have to do with Seattle?" Leah asked when he didn't go on.

"It's where their son was living," Charlie answered after a moment. "He went out with some friends one night, left the bar on his own, and he hasn't been heard from or seen since," he told them. He looked like he was going to say something else, but then decided to stay quiet.

Jasper looked at him, trying to keep his face clear of emotion. "What aren't you saying?"

Charlie gave him a little smile. "You two are a good match. You're too observant for your own good, just like Leah is."

"And you're too used to sidestepping questions," Leah said with a pointed look. "What aren't you saying?"

Charlie only hesitated for a moment. "I've been helping Seattle PD with the case because of the connection to Forks. They've kept it out of the news because they don't want to cause a mass panic, but there have been a number of disappearances and suspicious murders up there recently."

Jasper and Leah exchanged a worried look. "What kind of suspicious?" she asked.

Charlie again hesitated. "Gruesome," he eventually said quietly. "I can't say more than that, but please just promise me you won't go up there. I've been wanting to ask Bella to keep her distance, but since she hasn't mentioned any plans to go there, I've kept quiet. The cases aren't public for a reason."

Jasper and Leah both nodded a little absently, their minds racing.

"I'm sorry," Charlie sighed. "I didn't mean to scare you. None of the murders are close to Forks, and there's no indication so far that Riley Biers is one of the victims. It's just for my own peace of mind that you don't go up there until things calm down."

Leah reached for his hand. "You don't have to worry about us," she reassured him. She didn't want to outright lie to him and say she wouldn't go to Seattle, because if her suspicions weren't entirely unfounded, she thought a trip up there was probably in their near future.

Charlie looked at Jasper for his reassurance, which honestly just made Jasper like the man even more. It was a little wild to him that anyone outside of his family and Leah genuinely cared about his safety. "Leah's right, you don't need to worry about us," he told him.

Charlie just nodded. He didn't fail to notice that neither of them actually promised not to go to Seattle, but he kept quiet about it. Despite what his daughter seemed to think about him, he wasn't stupid or blind. He was, however, respectful of people's right to privacy so he kept his thoughts to himself.

Jasper drove the rest of the way to the Swan's in silence, his mind already strategizing about how their plans needed to shift. Unlike Leah, he didn't have even a sliver of doubt that their circumstances had just dramatically changed. Victoria and her gaggle of newborns were a hell of a lot closer than they imagined.