A/N: I think there will be one more chapter to this before we reach the end of Eclipse, and I've decided to do Breaking Dawn as a separate sequel. (Thank you for your feedback.) This has gotten so long that I think it'll be easier for me to manage that way. I also want to try to bank some chapters so after this is complete, it might be a couple weeks before I start posting. As always, thanks for reading:)
Aftermath
The Olympic Peninsula was, for the most part, uncharacteristically quiet for the next week. The pack and the vamps had been so busy preparing for Victoria and her army that there had been virtually no downtime for anyone. Once the fight was over, and they didn't need to worry about constant patrols or rigorous training or strategic meetings, everyone had a chance to take some deep breaths and the wolves could finally catch up on their sleep.
In the first few days after the debrief in the baseball clearing, while the wolves slept the hours away, most of the vamps were focused on helping Bree adjust to her new life as a Cullen.
The first order of business had been to try and help the girl take a much needed shower. The only water that had touched Bree since she'd been bitten was the river Victoria's newborns had crossed on their way to the fight, and the girl was a mess of dirty skin and matted hair.
While they'd immediately gotten to work making the cottage a livable space, the installation of a shower in the small bathroom would take a little time, so the only way they could get the girl clean right away was in the main house. Alice and Rosalie had opened all the windows and doors in an effort to air out the house and try to get rid of Bella's human scent, but stubborn traces still remained.
Esme and Charlotte had Bree practice holding her breath while she was still outside, and once she was able to consistently hold it for fifteen minutes, they'd walked her inside - Esme on one side, Charlotte on the other, and both ready to restrain the girl if she went a little crazy.
Bree initially did well and Esme started to believe they could get through it without any damage being done to her house. There was a bathroom with a shower connected to the utility room near the back door - which Esme had insisted on largely because Emmett tended to come home from hunting covered in half the forest - so that's where they were leading Bree when it all went to hell.
It all happened in the blink of an eye. Bree accidentally inhaled, Charlotte felt her muscles tighten at the same moment she let out a low growl, and Alice came flying in out of nowhere and tackled the girl to the ground. The newborn instinctively struggled against her hold and Charlotte dove in to keep the girl restrained, then they worked together to wrestle Bree back outside.
Esme watched them go and then turned to survey the damage. "Oh damn," she sighed, seeing there was a hole in the wall, a section of flooring that would need to be patched up, and a huge crack in the doorframe around the back door. Ah well, at least they had plenty of experience fixing broken houses. Thank you, Emmett.
Esme looked outside to see Alice sitting on Bree's stomach and holding her arms down while she and Charlotte talked to her quietly. The newborn was starting to calm down, so Esme left it in their hands and ran upstairs to grab a few things from her bathroom. When she walked outside, Bree was breathing hard but she was lying still with her eyes closed. Esme could practically see the shame in the air around her.
She crouched down by Bree's head and brushed her matted hair away from her forehead. "Everything's fine," she softly reassured the girl, who opened her eyes and whispered an apology. "There's no reason to apologize, sweetheart. We've had much worse damage to houses in the past and we'll have it all fixed up in no time."
Bree looked at her warily, expecting some kind of punishment for what she'd done, but Esme just reassured her again that it was nothing to worry about and no one was upset with her.
Alice hopped off Bree's stomach with a smile and Charlotte helped her to her feet. "Good idea, I'll go get her some clothes," the little pixie told Esme before quickly darting back into the house.
Esme and Charlotte led Bree down to the river behind the house, and rather than forcing the girl to wade in alone, both women stripped down to their underwear and jumped right in with her. Bree just looked at them a little wide-eyed, bewildered by the whole thing. When Esme told her to dunk her head under the water, she just went ahead and did it without asking questions.
It took about ten minutes, but eventually Esme managed to get all the tangles combed out of the girl's hair. She gently shampooed it a few times, then handed Bree some soap to wash her body. "I'll let you do this part."
"You're leaving?" Bree asked in a panic, instantly calming again when Esme softly reassured her that she and Charlotte would stay right beside her.
Alice came bounding out of the house a minute later carrying a stack of towels and some clean clothes for everyone to change into, and Esme helped the newborn towel herself dry while Alice and Charlotte turned their backs to give them some privacy.
By the time Carlisle appeared from the direction of the cottage, Bree looked like a brand new girl. Emphasis on girl. In sweatpants and a t-shirt with her clean hair falling in a long curtain down her back, Bree looked like she was barely into her teens.
After Carlisle and Esme exchanged a quick glance between themselves and then with Alice and Charlotte, they split up - Carlisle and Esme led the newborn to a shaded spot on the bank of the river to talk, and Alice and Charlotte ran off towards the cottage to help Rosalie, Emmett, and Peter.
The cottage had already been in poor condition when the Cullens had settled in Forks, with missing floorboards and crumbling walls, and because they'd had no use for it at the time, they hadn't put any work into it. It was going to take a lot of hands working together to make it habitable.
The day after Bree's river bath, Alice and Rosalie had taken a break from their construction work to go shopping so they could buy Bree some clothes that were all her own. Newborns, with the strength they still weren't accustomed to, were notoriously hard on clothes, so they'd come back with so many Target bags that Bree had looked at them with wide eyes.
"I don't need that much," she'd whispered nervously.
Rosalie just walked right past her and started putting things away. "You're going to tear your way through everything until you've got a handle on how little strength you need to use. Most of these will end up as casualties."
Alice had begun folding t-shirts and putting them in the dresser Esme and Peter had brought over from the main house. "Don't worry, we'll find a use for all the scraps. Nothing will be wasted," she reassured the skittish girl.
Emmett had taken it upon himself to build Seth the same kind of thing behind the cottage that they'd built by the main house so he could come and go as he pleased. When the girls had gone to Target, he'd asked them to pick up some clothes for the young wolf that he could stock the locker with. After learning Bree was only sixteen, and a very young sixteen at that, Emmett was pretty sure she wasn't prepared to be confronted with full wolfie nudity yet.
Peter and Charlotte's ranch in Texas had been nothing but a dilapidated pile of wood when they'd bought it, so they'd been happy to jump in and help shore up the cottage so it didn't fall down around their heads. Jasper spent nearly two full days at the Clearwater's after the fight, so as the second most experienced newborn handler, Peter had been practically glued to Bree's side anyway.
Everyone took turns including Bree in their work, using it as a way to teach the newborn how to regulate her strength. It meant the job took longer, but it gave the girl something to focus on in between hunts and helped her slowly start to feel like she was a real member of the family.
Jasper had walked to La Push with the wolves after the debrief at the baseball clearing, and while Seth had been gearing himself up to tell his mom about his imprint, they'd found Sue still sleeping. None of the elders had gotten any rest the night before, so they'd all gone to bed as soon as they got word that the army was defeated and everyone was safe.
Knowing how exhausted all the wolves were, Jasper had offered to stick around and talk to Sue once she was awake so they could get at least a few hours of sleep before working out how to handle the newest complication fate had thrown at them. Jared had hesitantly agreed on the condition that Jasper call and wake him up as soon as Sue was back in the land of the living.
Seth had gone straight up to bed but Leah had stubbornly tried to stay awake, only to fall asleep on Jasper's shoulder within twenty minutes of getting home. Charlie had taken advantage of Leah being gone to sleep in her room on an actual bed, so Jasper laid her down on the couch and tucked a blanket around her, then waited to see who'd wake up first.
Unsurprisingly, it was Charlie. Because of his job, the man was used to functioning on very little sleep. When he came downstairs rubbing his tired eyes, Jasper took the opportunity to carry Leah upstairs and get her tucked in her bed. She was so dead asleep that she didn't even stir.
Charlie had already made a cup of coffee by the time Jasper came back down, and the two of them had sat on the front porch for a little while to talk quietly so they didn't wake up the others. The only reference Charlie made to the night before was to ask if everyone was alright. He knew there were things he couldn't be told, and he didn't want to inadvertently put Jasper in an uncomfortable position by asking questions he couldn't answer.
Jasper reassured him that everyone was fine, then debated a minute before continuing. "The danger isn't just behind all of us here. Seattle is safe now as well," he told him, figuring Charlie had a right to know as he'd been working with the police in Seattle on all the disappearances and murders.
Charlie looked at him for a few long moments. "And Riley Biers?" he asked carefully.
"I'm afraid he died last year, shortly after he disappeared," Jasper answered just as carefully.
Charlie closed his eyes against the pain he felt that Riley's parents would never be reunited with their son, but he had lost hope months ago that Riley would be found safe and sound.
After Charlie said his goodbyes an hour later, Jasper called Carlisle and the two of them talked in more detail about what exactly they should tell the elders about Bree. More specifically, they discussed what allowances they were willing to make in order to get them to agree to let Bree stay with them.
"Have I made so many bad decisions over the years that you can't trust me now?" Carlisle had asked when Jasper strenuously disagreed with him on one particular point, his tone half teasing and half earnest.
Truthfully, there had been very few decisions Carlisle had made over the course of seventy years that Jasper was truly uncomfortable with, but he felt compelled to point out that there had been a number of things in the last year that Jasper disagreed with that had come back to bite them in the ass - most notably allowing Bella to continue her life as a human after Edward saved her from Tyler's out of control van in a decidedly non-human manner, and the decision to not eliminate Victoria as soon as James was dead.
Carlisle had easily admitted he'd been wrong in regard to Victoria, but he still believed keeping Bella human hadn't been a mistake. Yes, it had caused some complications, but he still felt it had been the right call at the time.
Jasper had eventually sighed long and hard and then ceded to his coven leader. He'd trusted the man for many decades and he was willing to trust him again, even if it was a little grudgingly.
He spent a peaceful few hours holding his mate while she slept before hauling himself to his feet when he heard Sue start to stir. As promised, he called Jared on his way downstairs and the Alpha groggily said he'd be over soon.
By the time Sue walked into the kitchen, Jasper had figured out how to work the coffeemaker, so after she gave him a hug hello, he handed her a steaming mug with a proud smile.
"Well done," she laughed quietly. "Is this your first time using a coffee pot?"
Jasper nodded, inordinately pleased with himself. "It is. The one at our house is the kind you just pop one of those pods into and press a button."
Sue took a sip and praised him for a job well done, even though he'd put about twice as many grounds in as she usually did so it was much too strong for her. He was so obviously proud of himself that he'd managed to use a human appliance he had no experience with that she just happily drank it without complaint.
They'd just settled on the front porch when Jared arrived, and he and Jasper gave her a detailed explanation of everything that had happened during the previous twelve hours. Sue's eyes lit up with happiness when the Alpha told her Seth had found his imprint, but she was immediately swamped with worry when she found out where he'd found her.
"So she hunts humans?" she asked, not sure how she felt about that news. She wanted to only be thrilled her son had met his other half, but she was perfectly aware of all the complications Bree's arrival could cause.
Jasper nodded. "She did up until now, but she's decided she wants to convert to our diet."
"Well, I suppose that's a good start," Sue sighed. "You're hoping she can stay with your family?"
Jasper nodded again. "There's a cottage on the far edge of our property away from town. It's my understanding that the others are working to make it habitable, and Peter and Charlotte have offered to stay there with her. She'll always have eyes on her and everyone will take turns teaching her how to hunt."
"And you have no reason to believe she still means any of us harm?" Sue asked.
"No. She actually tried to run rather than fight," he explained. "Her emotions are chaotic because of how new she still is in this life, but I didn't detect any hostility or anger from her. Her predominant emotions by far were confusion and fear."
Sue looked at him steadily for a moment. "What aren't you saying? There's something bothering you about this."
Jasper smiled a little that she noticed. He'd have to work on that poker face some more. His expression immediately turned more serious because this was where he and Carlisle weren't in alignment. "Carlisle is considering her bound by the treaty just like the rest of the coven. If she bites any human, even if she doesn't kill them, it's a breach that we'll all be held accountable for."
Sue and Jared both looked at him with wide, shocked eyes. "You're willing to risk your whole coven's safety on the control of a newborn who's only ever hunted humans?" Jared asked a little incredulously.
"It's not my decision to make," Jasper answered simply.
"And if it was?" Sue asked.
Jasper only hesitated a moment before answering. "If it was only Bree and my family who were involved, I'd ask for her to be the only one held accountable. If she harmed or killed a human, she'd be destroyed without us protesting. But the pack is involved because of Seth, which makes it more murky. I still don't want my family to be targeted if she slips, but I also can't imagine ever doing anything to harm Seth's imprint."
Sue mulled the whole situation over for a few minutes, grateful Jasper and Jared were giving her time to think, and eventually decided that she'd put her trust in fate when Leah had imprinted on a vampire, and her son deserved the same consideration. She acknowledged that there were a lot of differences between the two situations, but they got through the first, so she had to have faith they could get through the second.
Mind made up that she'd support Seth and Bree however she could, the three of them got to work planning how they would make their pitch to the other elders.
Seth had blearily stumbled his way downstairs near dinner time, and Sue wasted no time pulling him into a hug and congratulating him. When he'd quietly asked if she was upset about the whole thing, she'd held him a little tighter and reassured him that she wasn't and that everything would work out.
After he'd gotten all caught up on what had been discussed, Seth gave Jasper a look that was a little bit hesitant and a little bit hopeful.
"Go on," Jasper chuckled. "They should be at the cottage now, so just follow their scents across the river. They're already expecting you."
Seth gave him one of his beaming, dimpled smiles and promised his mom he wouldn't be gone long. Even just a few minutes with his new imprint would be worth the run.
As soon as he was out of hearing range, Sue called Billy and Old Quil to see if they had time to meet. If the other elders were going to react badly to the news, she wanted them to do it without Seth there. Hopefully they could work a little magic before he got back home and joined them.
Jasper offered to leave, not wanting to intrude on tribal business, but Sue asked him to stay as an official representative of the Cullens. She wanted him there to lay out exactly what the vamps were going to do to keep Bree from being a risk to any humans.
It turned out to be a good thing Seth wasn't around, because the other elders did initially react badly. The first words out of Old Quil's mouth were that the girl needed to leave until she had perfect control. Jasper quietly reminded him that it took a lot of time for new vampires to learn to control their thirst, which meant Seth being separated from his imprint for at least a year.
"There's no way to ensure any of us have perfect control, regardless of how old we are or how long we've been on this diet," Jasper pointed out. "Expecting a newborn to have total control within their first few years is unrealistic. What we can do is put safeguards in place for when her control is tested. You know that our coven is just as committed to keeping the humans safe as all of you are. If we truly believed it was impossible to keep her in line, we would take her somewhere completely isolated rather than asking to be allowed to keep her here."
When it looked like Billy and Old Quil were going to dig in their heels, Jared spoke up. "Would it put your minds at ease if I made sure there was a wolf with her at all times?" he asked them. "I imagine Seth will spend a lot of time with her, but I'm happy to have some of the others take turns keeping an eye on her."
Billy hesitantly agreed that might be a good idea, but Quil remained immovable. Jasper sighed and explained that Bree would be treated the same as any other Cullen. "If she breaks the treaty, we're all on the hook for it. If she bites a human, the whole family is liable."
"And you agree with that stipulation?" Billy asked in surprise.
"It's not my decision to make," Jasper answered, repeating what he'd already told Sue and Jared. "I'll just go ahead and add that if the pack or the council decides my entire family needs to be eliminated, I'll fight for them. I'm not going to just lie down and let my loved ones be killed without a fight."
"And Peter and Charlotte?" Old Quil asked, his sharp eyes locked on Jasper.
"They'll fight at my side," Jasper answered without a moment's hesitation.
While they weren't prepared to admit it out loud yet, both Billy and Quil were uncomfortable with the idea of the pack and the vamps facing off in an actual battle. Less because they were afraid the wolves would lose, although that was a concern, but because of the friendships that had sprung up between the two groups. Both men knew Leah and Seth would fight for their imprints, which meant Paul would likely stand with them. Was it worth causing a rift in the pack? Was it worth discarding the growing peace they'd all worked so hard to build?
"I need some time to think about this," Old Quil eventually said.
Billy nodded his agreement. "I'd like to speak with Carlisle myself before coming to a decision."
Knowing that was fair, Jasper just told both elders they were free to call him also if they had any additional questions. "We're not trying to do anything sneaky or go behind the council's back. I'll answer any questions you have honestly."
Jared offered to escort both men home, so Sue turned to Jasper with a teasing smile. "You mastered one human appliance so how about we see if you can master another?"
Jasper laughed and agreed and the two of them went inside to cook up a feast together for when Seth returned home and Leah woke up.
In the end, Leah didn't wake up until the wee hours of the next morning, and that was only to stumble her way to the bathroom and then climb straight back in bed with a tired groan. Jasper had just happily tucked her back against his side and smiled when she drifted back to sleep almost immediately.
He had a brief moment when he wondered if he should be concerned that she'd been sleeping for twenty-four hours, but he knew she'd been running herself ragged for weeks, so he just let himself sink back into the peaceful contentment he felt that his mate was safe and sound in the circle of his arms.
Bella had initially kept her distance from the Cullen's house after finding out there was a newborn on their property. Not because she was scared, but because she felt bad that her scent was the reason the young girl wasn't able to be in the main house with everyone else. While she knew there was probably nothing she could do to change that, she didn't want to make it any worse, so she and Edward spent their time at the Swan's.
About a week after the fight, Alice skipped down the porch steps when she heard Bella's truck chugging its way up the drive. Bella had already called to make sure Bree wasn't anywhere near the house, and Alice had assured her she was off hunting with Emmett, Rosalie, and Seth. The council had given their tentative agreement that Bree could stay with the Cullens on the condition that at least one wolf was within hearing distance of her at all times.
Bella had been doing some research on her own about ridding houses of unwanted scents, so the back of her truck was piled high with an odd assortment of boxes and bottles. Edward climbed out of the passenger side with an amused smile. He didn't really think any of Bella's ideas would work, but he found it sweet that she cared enough to try so he kept his thoughts to himself.
"You finally used his credit card!" Alice said cheerfully as she hugged her friend hello. "I'm so proud of you!"
Bella rolled her eyes but couldn't fight a smile. She hated asking for any kind of help, but she hated asking for financial help the most, so she'd shocked the hell out of Edward when she asked him if he'd take her shopping. "I'm not going to come inside, but I can help unload," she said as she walked around to clumsily jump into the bed of the truck.
Alice immediately started helping, but when Bella handed her a big bottle of white vinegar, she looked up at the human with a confused frown. "I get the fans and the air filter things, but what on earth is all this for?" she asked, seeing there were at least twenty bottles of the stuff.
Bella blushed a little, afraid her idea was stupid. "If you pour it into bowls and put them around the house, the vinegar is supposed to absorb smells. I don't know if it'll work, but it kept coming up in all my searches so I figured it was worth a shot. The baking soda is supposed to do the same thing," she added, turning a small orange box around to show Alice the label.
Alice just nodded and continued helping unload. Her thinking was similar to Edward's - she was doubtful it would work, but she wanted Bella to have her chance to help the newborn in her own way. And after having the windows and doors open for a week, Bella's human scent was mostly gone. It was really only lingering in the soft furnishings in the living room and Edward's bedroom. The Cullens may have had more money than they could ever spend, but even they couldn't justify replacing that much furniture for what would be a temporary problem.
Fortunately Bree was happy at the cottage and hadn't had any desire to come back to the main house after her first attempt. The cottage wasn't fancy or elaborate, but the fact that it was small and cozy made it more comfortable for the newborn, and Bree had begun to feel at home there.
"Excited for graduation?" Alice asked as she wrestled with a box that was twice her size.
Bella shrugged. "I'm excited to be done with school. It's the walk across the stage that worries me."
"Prepare yourself now. Emmett's going to be leading your cheering section," Alice laughed. Bella groaned and started to protest, but Alice gently reminded her that it was because he was happy for her. "He loves you and it's his imperfect way of celebrating this milestone."
Bella sighed and nodded. She knew Emmett genuinely considered her his little sister and she loved him like a brother in return. Besides, she was honestly a little touched that the Cullens all wanted to be there to support her.
"Maybe we can get you some of those foam earplugs," Alice suggested. "They might muffle how loud he is."
"Yeah, maybe," Bella laughed, then pushed the whole thing from her mind so she didn't work herself up into a ball of anxiety before she needed to. There was plenty of time for that later.
Jasper and Leah walked around the side of the house holding hands just as the last box was unloaded. "Nice timing," Edward greeted them with a playful glare.
"I just spent three hours having Esme teach me how to install recessed lighting. That's all the free labor you vamps are getting out of me today," Leah laughed, still finding herself caught off guard a little by the telepath's teasing.
Everyone had been pleasantly surprised by the change in Edward since the fight. Without having the constant worry about his human mate at the forefront of his mind - not to mention having to also worry about her worry - and with the changes he and Bella were making in how they communicated, Edward could honestly say he'd never been happier. The two of them had done a lot of talking, both between themselves and with some of the other mated pairs they were surrounded with, and they were both working to fix the things that had been broken in their relationship. If life unfolded the way they wanted it to, they were going to be together for a very, very long time and they wanted to have a solid foundation beneath them moving forward.
It honestly probably didn't hurt that Jacob Black had yet to return home. Not only did it eliminate the tension that had always been inside Edward in relation to the wolf, but without him around to constantly hurt Bella, she was a much happier girl.
Pretty much everyone looked at the couple with proud smiles these days, which made Bella blush and Edward roll his eyes. They hadn't been that bad.
Jasper snorted a laugh as he looked at his brother. "Yeah you were."
Honestly, sometimes it was eerie to Edward how Jasper could tell exactly what they were thinking just from their emotions. Some days he was a more effective telepath than Edward was.
"Have you thought about what you want to do that night?" Leah asked Bella, referring to her graduation.
Bella plopped herself down on the open tailgate and shrugged a little. "My dad and I were thinking about a cookout at our house. That way everyone can be there without worrying about the treaty line. Have you talked to Maria?" she asked Jasper. "Do you think you'll still be here?"
Jasper nodded. Maria had gotten a call from one of the vamps who was guarding her territory after he heard a neighboring coven was planning a raid. She'd asked Jasper if he would come back with her to be an extra body to fight if needed, but he'd refused. He told her he was willing to help her find Matthew, but he had no intention of being part of anyone's army ever again. She'd sulked a little and done some growling and grumbling, but ultimately she'd accepted his decision and said she'd be in touch soon. "She's on her way back down to Mexico so we have some wiggle room."
"Good," Bella smiled, glad Alice and Jasper weren't leaving immediately. Peter and Charlotte too, but that was less because she knew them all that well and more because their presence made all the Cullens happier. They'd mostly kept their distance from her, knowing it still made Edward a little nervous to have red-eyed vamps around his human mate. "How's Bree doing?"
"Really well," Jasper answered. He'd spent a lot of time with the newborn in the days since he came back from La Push and he was a little surprised to find he enjoyed her company. Even with the fluctuating newborn emotions, her baseline emotional signature was remarkably calm and gentle. It reminded him a little of Charmion, the woman he'd met while still in the south.
It didn't hurt that Bree had given Jasper blanket permission to calm her down if she ever felt out of control. When he'd first told her about his gift, her only response had been a hundred curious questions. Unlike many people, she saw it as only a good thing that there was someone who could help her when her emotions felt too chaotic to handle.
All of the Cullens spent a lot of time with Bree in those early days, but perhaps not so surprisingly, she gravitated towards Jasper, Peter, and Charlotte. While her experience was vastly different from theirs, they were still the three who understood her the best. She was still extremely skittish and scared, not quite believing that she was living a peaceful life with people who genuinely cared about her. Any time she made a move she considered wrong, she braced herself and waited for Carlisle to punish her. He didn't, of course, and he never would, but it would take her a little time to fully trust that and know she was safe now.
Jasper had told her his entire story right up front, hoping that it would help her build that trust a little faster. If he could come into the Cullen's home after nearly nine decades as a vamp - with more than seven of those decades spent in a violent coven in the south - and still be accepted by Carlisle and the rest of the coven, then so could Bree.
So all in all, in the immediate aftermath of the fight with Victoria's army, life for the supernatural residents of Forks and La Push settled into a new normal. There were a few hurdles to overcome, and there were shadows on the horizon that they were undoubtedly going to have to deal with soon - namely Maria, the Volturi, and Bella's impending change - but overall, life was pretty good.
Knowing from experience that life could drastically change on a dime, the vamps and wolves let themselves enjoy the peace while it lasted.