A/N: Thank you for your patience:) Life is still all kinds of chaotic, so updates will continue being a little bit more spread apart. I'm still aiming for roughly every two weeks.
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Three days later, Jasper was helping Charlotte and Peter in the garden. Catalina and Paul had gone for a run, and Leah and Alice had driven into town to stock up on some food for the trip home. They were planning on leaving that night once the sun went down.
Everyone had left to give Jasper some time alone with Peter and Charlotte. They'd decided to stay in Texas for the time being, and Jasper was having a hard time saying goodbye to them. They'd come up to Forks almost six months before, and it was the longest continuous stretch of time he'd been with them since Peter had told him to head to Philadelphia in 1948.
While all three of them had loved being together, it was also the longest period of time since then that Peter and Charlotte had been in the company of so many other people. They loved Alice and the other Cullens, and they'd come to really enjoy spending time with some of the pack, but they were used to it being just the two of them and they wanted to have some time on their own.
"Have you decided about the wedding?" Jasper asked as he dumped a pile of weeds on the compost pile. They'd been invited to Edward and Bella's wedding, but as far as Jasper knew, they hadn't made a decision yet on whether or not they were going to come back to Washington for it. "For what it's worth, they both want you to be there," he added when he felt their uncertainty. "I know you don't know Bella all that well yet, but she saw how happy the Cullens were to have you around so she wants you to be included."
"They've sure done some growing up, huh?" Charlotte said with a smile. "Edward's not so insufferable now and Bella turned out to actually have a decent personality hidden away."
Jasper laughed but he agreed with her. There'd been a few signs along the way that Bella had a sense of humor locked away inside her, and some of the emotions that she kept hidden gave him a little more insight into what was beneath the surface, but she still managed to surprise him with just how much changing and growing she'd done. He genuinely enjoyed her company now.
"Did I ever tell you how touched she was that you showed up to her graduation?" he asked Charlotte.
She gave him a pleased and slightly surprised smile. "Really?"
Jasper nodded. "She spotted you and Rose clapping in the back. It meant a lot to her that you were there."
"I've never actually been to a wedding," Peter said after a moment of thought. "Or not a first wedding anyway," he added. They'd been to a couple of Rosalie and Emmett's vow renewals, but that was it. He and Charlotte spent far less time in the human world than Jasper and the Cullens did, so a human marriage was just a piece of paper to them. And a forged piece of paper at that. They'd never felt the need to have a wedding ceremony in the human world. Vampire mates were about as sacred as you could get, so they were committed to each other fully and eternally, regardless of whether or not they ever said an official 'I do' in front of witnesses.
"You don't need to make a decision now," Jasper reassured them when he felt they still weren't quite sure yet. "If you do decide to come, all we'll need to do is add a couple extra chairs, so it's not like we'll need much advance notice."
"Speaking of weddings," Charlotte said, looking at Jasper with a mischievous smile. "Any other wedding bells in our future?"
Jasper just laughed and shrugged. He'd been planning to ask Leah to marry him for months but he'd wanted to wait until their separation was behind them. He didn't have any grand plan or elaborate proposal in mind, because neither he nor Leah were really grand gesture kind of people.
Getting a little lost in his thoughts about how and when he should ask Leah to officially promise to not ever leave him, Jasper hadn't noticed Peter going inside the house, so when he silently appeared at his side, Jasper startled a little. "Jesus. Silent and deadly. I really taught you well, huh?"
"You did," Peter laughed, amused by how distracted his brother was just from thinking about marrying his girl. "Here," he said, holding his hand out. "I've been waiting for the right time to give this to you."
Jasper looked down at what Peter was holding and his eyes went wide. "How?" he breathed, completely shocked. Because sitting in Peter's palm was his mother's wedding ring. He wiped his hands on his jeans before carefully picking it up, and smiled a little sadly as the sight of it triggered brief flashes of old and faded memories. He honestly didn't remember very much of his human life before Maria ambushed him at the side of the road in 1863, but looking at the ring brought to mind fleeting images of the woman who raised him.
One in particular stuck out with how vivid it was. He was still young, his head only just high enough to see the counter where his mother was kneading dough. When she finished she took off her ring to wash her hands, then very carefully washed the ring and put it back on her finger.
Even as a boy, it was clear how much that ring meant to her. He didn't understand what pride meant at that age, but seeing her expression in his mind's eye over a century and a half later, he recognized it for what it was. The ring wasn't anything big or flashy - as a fairly poor farming family there wasn't money to buy anything ornate - but even with as simple as it was, it was one of her most-prized possessions.
Jasper looked up at Peter and asked again how he'd come to have it.
"I found it at an estate sale," he explained. "I didn't know why I needed to go there, but when I saw the ring, I knew that was what I was meant to find. I'm assuming it was your mama's?"
Jasper nodded, looking back down at the ring again. "It was. Do you think Leah would like it?" he quietly asked his oldest friends, feeling uncharacteristically unsure of himself.
Charlotte came to stand at his side with a soft smile on her face. "I think she'd love it. She's not the kind of girl who'd want a big diamond on her finger. Something simple suits her much better."
Peter nodded his agreement, but before he could say anything, Jasper felt approaching emotions and carefully tucked the ring in his pocket. "They're coming," he explained, and it was only a few seconds before they heard the truck turning onto the long track that led to the ranch.
Jasper walked over to greet the girls and Leah gave him a quick kiss before carrying the groceries into the house to pack in one of the backpacks. Jasper turned to where Alice was standing by the bed of the truck and saw that her eyes were shimmering with venom tears. He wasn't sure how she'd seen anything with Leah next to her, but her emotions let Jasper know she'd definitely seen something.
Alice gave him a slightly wobbly smile as she walked over to hug him. She didn't say anything, not wanting to risk Leah overhearing her, she just rested her forehead on his chest and silently let him feel everything inside her. More than anything, she was filled with a level of joy she'd never felt before. There was also a considerable amount of gratitude for the wolf who was humming under her breath as she got to work inside. Leah had accepted Jasper from the very beginning, and Alice had never seen him as happy as he was now.
Her considerable gratitude and appreciation extended to another person also, so after soaking up a hug from Jasper, she walked over to hug Peter. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice a little shaky from all the emotions that were welling up inside her. Peter had given Jasper so many gifts through the years - some tangible and some not - but finding Jasper's mother's ring, a long-forgotten but precious relic from his human family, was right up there with the very best gifts he'd ever given him.
Peter just smiled and wrapped her up in his arms. Alice's happiness was generally very enthusiastic and obvious to anyone around her. But he'd learned that sometimes, when she was really moved by something, she swung to the other end of the spectrum and went silent, feeling like her emotions were choking her, making it difficult for her to get any words out.
It didn't happen all that often, but that was how she was when she met Peter and Charlotte the very first time, before she and Jasper had even set out to find Carlisle Cullen. She'd seen so many visions of Jasper over the previous twenty-eight years, which meant she'd seen how much Peter and Charlotte meant to him, and what they'd risked to go back to save him. And seeing how close they'd all come to losing Jasper, that it was only Peter sneaking back into Maria's territory at the exact moment he did, keeping Jasper from walking into a fire, she didn't have words to express her gratitude.
She'd been the same way when Carlisle welcomed her and Jasper into the family and made them official members of his coven. She'd been seeing the Cullens in her mind for so long and had seen how good their lives could be if he said yes, so once it was official, the tangled-up ball of emotions stuck in her throat meant she couldn't force any words out.
"What's going on?" Leah asked worriedly when she walked out the back door. Her worry only grew when Alice lifted her head and she saw the seer had venom tears welling up in her eyes.
Alice sniffled a little and blinked away the tears that would never fall. "Saying goodbye is hard," she answered with a shrug. It wasn't a complete lie, because she genuinely was sad about leaving Peter and Charlotte. Even though she wasn't technically a Whitlock, they were still family and she loved them just as much as she loved the Cullens.
"You finished packing?" Jasper asked his mate, hoping to distract her from asking any more questions. He'd really like the ring to stay a surprise for the time being.
Leah looked at him carefully for a moment, a little bit suspicious that he was hiding something, but she eventually let it go. Jasper had always been honest with her from the very beginning of their relationship, so if there was something he wasn't telling her, there was no doubt a good reason for it. He'd tell her when he was ready, and she trusted him enough to wait.
"Yeah, everything's all packed up. Once Paul and Cat come back, we're ready to go," she told him.
Seeing the sadness in Jasper's eyes, Leah walked over to her imprint and tucked herself against his side. She knew Peter and Charlotte were still undecided about coming back to Forks for the wedding, but she really hoped they'd come. As happy and settled as Jasper was with the Cullens, part of his heart always missed his oldest friends.
Besides, Leah had come to love the other Whitlocks, so she would miss them too.
Wanting to make the most of the time they had left together but not wanting to be too sentimental just yet, the whole group got settled on the back porch while they waited for Paul and his imprint. Leah asked Peter and Charlotte to tell her stories about their travels over the years, hoping to distract them all a little from the sadness of the looming goodbyes.
Judging by how quiet Jasper was, Leah knew she wasn't completely successful, so she just held his hand a little tighter and did her best to focus only on her love for him. She didn't want him to have to feel the additional weight of her emotions when he was already struggling with the weight of his own, and no doubt those coming from Peter, Charlotte, and Alice.
Sometimes being an empath really was a curse.
For the first fifty or so miles of their return journey home, Jasper was almost completely silent and everyone assumed it was because of his sadness over leaving Peter and Charlotte. And while that was part of it, it was also because he was stuck thinking about what Peter had whispered in his ear when he hugged him goodbye.
"Even if we don't come to the wedding, it won't be too long before we see you again."
His emotions as he said it immediately put Jasper on edge. It was a difficult combination to describe, but Peter was essentially giving him a warning that something was coming but he didn't know exactly what it was or when it would happen.
Sometimes the knowledge Peter got was incredibly detailed, but other times it was nothing but a vague impression that something unpleasant was looming on the horizon. In those instances, it wasn't uncommon for him to get more detailed information along the way, so the three Whitlocks had learned a very long time ago that sometimes they just needed to be patient while also keeping their guard up. Peter couldn't force the information to come to him and there was no other way for them to prepare for the unknown.
As Jasper ran north towards home with the others, he was silently sorting through everything he knew was coming up in their near future. When Peter got knowledge that he and Charlotte needed to be at his side, it was nearly always because some kind of fight was coming. But nothing made him think anything particular dangerous was coming their way. They had Edward and Bella's wedding and Bella's impending change, but Jasper couldn't imagine how either of those things could lead to any kind of serious trouble.
Bella's early days as a newborn definitely had the potential to be a little rocky, but with everything he knew about the girl, he couldn't see her ever being a genuine threat to the rest of the family. She might get a little lost in the typical newborn bloodlust and the aggression that nearly every baby vamp dealt with, but to the point that Jasper needed Peter and Charlotte to help keep the Cullens, the pack, or the town safe? He honestly couldn't imagine any scenario where that was even a possibility.
The only other thing ahead of them was the trip to Brazil. While they'd all been fine with delaying that particular search in order to be home in time to help with the wedding preparations, they were still eager to get down there to see if there were other shapeshifters out there. Meeting Catalina had been a huge surprise and it had only bolstered their determination.
As it stood now, Jasper, Leah, and Alice had decided to fly down to South America after the wedding while the newlyweds were on the their honeymoon. It was the only time in the foreseeable future that Jasper would be able to go, because once Bella's change started, he'd be needed wherever she was. And while Leah was fast as a wolf and could keep up with the vamps for a time, unlike Jasper and Alice, she would still need to rest along the way. Because she couldn't run at her top speed for two days straight, flying was the faster option.
The most logical conclusion Jasper could come to from Peter's unspoken warning was that whatever unpleasant thing was lurking on the horizon had to do with that trip.
Knowing that whatever was coming wasn't an imminent threat, and that there was absolutely nothing he could do for the time being, Jasper did his best to push aside his worried thoughts of the future. He was back at his mate's side and he didn't want to spend the whole trip lost in his head. Not only that, but he'd missed everyone back home more than he could say, so he turned his focus back to the present moment, and on the excitement they were all feeling at finally being reunited with their family and friends after two very long months.
When the three shapeshifters and two vamps were about an hour from home, Jasper felt a boatload of very familiar emotional signatures headed their way fast. He'd called both Carlisle and Sue to give them a rough estimate of when they'd be home, so he shouldn't have been surprised that there was a welcoming committee waiting for them.
He'd only just barely gotten his backpack off and warned everyone to brace themselves when both he and Leah were slammed into and sent flying - Jasper by a sorely missed blond vamp and Leah by a sorely missed sandy brown wolf. Fortunately Leah was in her wolf form, so Seth's exuberant greeting didn't risk a misplaced claw accidentally slashing her skin.
Jasper held tight to Rosalie as they skidded across the ground, so happy to see her again that everyone nearby got a blast of his joy. When they came to a stop, neither Hale twin was in a hurry to let go of each other, so they didn't. They just stayed where they were for a few moments, holding onto each other and silently passing emotions back and forth.
But when they heard Emmett's booming laughter and Alice's giggles, they looked up in time to see Emmett throwing the seer into the air and catching her on her way back down to hug her just as tightly as Rose had hugged Jasper. Emmett was so big and Alice was so small that she practically disappeared in his arms.
When Seth untangled himself from his sister and then launched himself at Paul, Jasper felt Cat's anxiety creep up as she watched the chaotic scene. It didn't help matters that there were three more vamps, a human, and another wolf standing off to the side. Fortunately they were all mindful enough of the jaguar's uneasiness that they didn't rush in for their hugs. They were content to wait until everyone hauled themselves off the ground and brushed the dirt and leaves off them.
As soon as Paul shook himself off and trotted over to lean against his imprint's side to try and ease her nerves, Esme walked over to Jasper, moving at a slow human pace to not make the shapeshifter even more uneasy. Jasper wrapped his arms around the woman who'd loved him unconditionally for seventy years and leaned down so he could rest his forehead on her shoulder. Esme smiled and cupped the back of his head, using her emotions to tell him how much she'd missed him and how relieved and happy she was that he was home again, safe and sound.
"Bella!" Alice shouted happily as she picked up her human friend and spun her around, making Bella laugh as she held on tight. The two of them had been friends since Bella's introduction to the family, but after Italy and seeing the way Bella was hurting Edward and making him question whether or not she wanted a future with him, Alice's feelings had soured a little. Once Bella finally let go of her dependence on Jacob Black and made a real effort to stop unintentionally hurting Edward, the two had grown closer than they'd ever been. They were more like sisters now, and before they'd all left to travel south, where you saw Alice, you often saw Bella.
Edward huffed a little, pretending to be offended that Alice made a beeline for his mate instead of him, so Jasper went and hugged the telepath so he wouldn't feel left out.
"I'm glad you're home," Edward said quietly. He wasn't typically the demonstrative type, and he didn't often talk about his feelings, but he'd missed Jasper and Alice while they were gone - and he'd even admit to missing Leah - and the whole family had spent a good amount of time worrying about them while they were traveling through Mexico.
Like Rosalie, Edward knew what it cost the empath to wade back into Maria's territory. They may not have talked about it directly, but he'd caught enough in Jasper's thoughts before leaving to know how he felt. And the fact that he'd volunteered to help Maria in the battle with Gabriel's army had only increased his worry about Jasper's wellbeing. None of them had ever imagined he'd end up fighting in the Southern Wars again when they'd set out.
When Jasper stepped back from Edward, he was immediately hit from the side and found himself on the ground again. He laughed as he let Carlisle smother him in a hug, grateful to be back with the coven leader who was Maria's opposite in just about every way imaginable. With the exception of Esme, it was Jasper who knew best just how apprehensive Carlisle had been watching them leave back in June. Jasper wasn't the only one who took the safety and security of every member of his coven seriously.
Jasper was only a little surprised at the amount of relief Bella felt when he took his turn hugging her, and his surprise was only because the relief was just as equally for his sake as it was for Alice's. Sometimes he forgot how much love that particular human's heart held for all the supernatural beings in her life. Jasper didn't want to risk embarrassing her by calling attention to her emotions, so he just silently let her feel his gratitude that she cared enough about him to be that relieved at his return home.
Bella smiled as she let him go. She wasn't embarrassed by her feelings, so she just reminded him that he was going to be her brother in the very near future, so of course she was happy he was home safe.
While the Cullens had been catching up on their hugs, all of the shapeshifters had phased back to human and pulled on some clothes, so Jasper took the opportunity to dart over and catch a hug or two from Seth. He'd missed the kid just as much as he'd missed his other family. When he turned his attention to Jared and held his hand out to shake, Jared smiled and rolled his eyes and asked where his hug was.
Honestly, the whole group was so full of positive emotions that Jasper had a mile-wide smile on his face as he hugged the Quileute pack's Alpha.
Eventually, though, all the vamps turned their attention to Paul and Catalina. While Seth and Jared had already introduced themselves and welcomed her into the pack's extended family, the vamps she hadn't met yet had kept their distance to keep from making her too uncomfortable.
Cat took a deep breath and then walked over to Carlisle and held her hand out. Paul had told her all about the golden-eyed coven leader and what a good man he was, so she knew the most respectful thing she could do was introduce herself to him first.
"It's nice to meet you," she said politely in English as she shook his hand.
Leah, Paul, and Cat had traveled a good portion of the trip home in their human forms so Jasper and Alice could do some language tutoring. Paul and Leah wanted to learn more Spanish to make things a little easier on Catalina, and Catalina wanted to learn more English to make things easier for everyone else. She was also nervous about meeting so many new people, and being able to communicate directly let her feel like she had a little more control of the situation.
"You as well, Catalina," Carlisle answered in Spanish. "Congratulations on meeting your imprint. Fate has chosen well for you."
The warm smile the coven leader gave the jaguar as he greeted her helped some of her nerves dissipate. Catalina searched his face for any outward sign that he was like the warlords down south, but his eyes were just as warm as his smile. Like Alice and Jasper, the man in front of her appeared to be yet another anomaly in the vampire world. She smiled and looked back at Paul, knowing Carlisle Cullen's words were true. Fate had tied her to a wonderful man. Her imprint had a big heart and was unfailingly loyal to anyone who'd found a place in it. He also brought a lightheartedness to her life that had been missing since she'd lost her family. She'd laughed more on their trip up to Washington than she had in decades.
The fact that this coven leader saw past some of the initial thorniness her imprint tended to approach strangers with made the tangle of nerves in Catalina's chest loosen a little more. And from what she knew about vampire covens, and about the Olympic Coven specifically, she knew that the other members of Carlisle's family were sure to be more similar to him than they were to a woman like Maria.
With that thought in mind, Catalina turned her attention to the four vampires and the human standing off to the side. She appreciated the fact that they were considerate enough to give her a little space, which only confirmed that this coven was unlike any she'd encountered before. Her eyes landed on the tall vampire with long blond hair. She'd seen in Paul's thoughts how beautiful Rosalie Hale was, but she was still a little awestruck at just how beautiful she was. If beauty and grace were a vampire gift, this woman would definitely be considered gifted.
Cat knew she should probably greet the coven leader's mate next, simply out of respect, but she instead walked slowly to the woman who'd been such a good friend to her imprint. From what she'd learned of her, Rosalie and Paul were remarkably similar. Both could come off as cold and uncaring, and both were slow to trust, but once someone burrowed their way into their hearts, they loved steadfastly and unconditionally. Both would also go to any lengths necessary to protect those they loved, a trait Catalina shared. Paul had found a true friend in the blond beauty, and because Paul didn't have very many true friends, Catalina was grateful to her for that.
Rosalie watched the shapeshifter approach her, surprised that she was coming to her first rather than Esme, but her surprise didn't show on her face and her expression remained impassive. She quickly darted her eyes to Jasper and he smiled at her and nodded that yes, Rose could trust the jaguar. Then she glanced at Paul and saw that he was watching her carefully. Realizing he was wary of how she would react to his imprint, Rosalie's expression softened considerably. She'd surprised herself by how much she'd come to care about the wolf since her favorite brother had found his mate in Leah Clearwater and she was thrilled Paul had found his other half.
Hoping to put both shapeshifters a little more at ease, Rosalie held her hand out and smiled, being careful not to show too many teeth. Just as Catalina put her hand in Rose's, the shapeshifter glanced at Jasper. The two seemed to have a brief silent conversation, and then Rosalie started feeling the familiar warmth of gratitude fill her chest. She look at Jasper in surprise, and he just smiled and tipped his head slightly at Catalina, letting Rose know he was sharing what Paul's imprint was feeling.
Catalina watched Rosalie apprehensively, a little nervous that she either wouldn't understand her gratitude, or that she would have an objection to the empath using his gift that way. She internally breathed a little sigh of relief when Rosalie smiled at her, seeming to understand the source of her gratitude, and the last traces of coldness in her eyes disappeared completely. Her gratitude and appreciation grew when the blond vampire didn't respond verbally, keeping Catalina's feelings private instead.
The vamps who had yet to meet the new shapeshifter had been watching the silent exchange between the two women, quietly hoping that the most standoffish member of the coven didn't react in her typical manner when meeting a stranger. It was the human, though, who was probably the most nervous. Bella and Paul weren't what anyone could call friends, but she knew what imprints meant to the wolves and she had firsthand experience with how cold Rosalie could be when she didn't like or approve of someone. Bella knew Rosalie and Paul were close and she was afraid that Rosalie's sharp tongue could cause a rift in their friendship.
The vamps were also a little nervous at what Catalina's reaction to meeting them would be. Even with the peace treaty in place, none of the wolves - with the exception of Leah and Seth - had been all that thrilled when they'd met the various Cullens for the first time.
It only took a few moments for everyone to see that their worries were unfounded. Rosalie had been forced to take a hard look at her behavior after the phone call they'd all had after the fight for Maria's territory, when she'd angered just about everyone in Mexico. Alice had told her sister to do better and to look to Edward if she needed guidance. Vampires were capable of change, even if it was difficult, and Rose had been making a concerted effort to think before she spoke so her sharp tongue didn't cause harm to the people she cared about.
After that, the introductions went about as everyone expected. Catalina greeted Esme next and she immediately saw that her eyes were just as warm as her mate's were. Like Carlisle, she congratulated Cat on meeting her imprint. Emmett made the shapeshifter slightly apprehensive because of his size, but his dimpled grin and playful air kept him from appearing too menacing. Edward was polite and cordial, and Catalina thought his telepathy likely played a role in how he greeted her. He could hear in her thoughts that she felt no hostility towards his family.
Catalina was more curious than cautious when she shook the human's hand. Part of her didn't understand why a human would willingly choose to join a coven of vampires, but she also understood the concept of mates in the vampire world. Before meeting Alice and the three Whitlocks, she hadn't had any positive interactions with their species, so she'd never known a vampire who was mated to a human. She hadn't even known it was possible until she was told about Edward Cullen and Bella Swan.
"Where's Bree?" Alice asked Carlisle once all the introductions were finally out of the way and Catalina was back at Paul's side.
"She's waiting back at the cottage with Sue," he answered with a proud smile. Bree's control had grown in leaps and bounds over the summer and she often spent time with her both her imprint's mom and Bella now.
Bella had been very pleased and proud that she'd had a hand in helping Bree adjust to her scent by giving the newborn a sweatshirt of hers, and when she'd told Sue about it, Sue had immediately dropped off a sweater of her own for her son's imprint. Not only were all the Cullens and the pack proud of Bree, but Bree herself was proud of how far she'd come.
"Shall we go home?" Esme asked everyone, her eyes bright with happiness that everyone she cared about was together again.
Those who'd spent the summer away from Washington all nodded their agreement, eager to see Bree and Sue again.
Without waiting for any more to be said, Emmett lunged for Alice and flung her onto his back, then took off running. Jasper watched them go with a soft smile. There had definitely been some moments of levity during their time down south, but there had been far more worry, anxiety, and frustration than there had been lighthearted fun, so hearing Alice's bright laughter was a welcome sound.
Edward looked down at Bella, just as glad to hear her laughter as Jasper was to hear Alice's, and Bella did her best to leap onto his back. Once Edward shifted her a little to be sure she was secure, they followed behind Emmett and Alice. Carlisle looked at his wife with a raised eyebrow and Esme pulled him down for a kiss and then jumped on his back.
Most of the wolves and Cat opted to run towards the Cullen's house as humans, so they left at a slightly more sedate pace.
"Ready?" Rosalie asked Jasper and Leah with a smile, amused by everyone's antics.
As they started running towards Forks, Jasper urged them both to please go a little faster. When Leah slowed down a little to tease him, he huffed and pretended to be annoyed, and threw her over his shoulder. He had a whole slew of Sue's mom-hugs to catch up on. And then maybe some more of Esme's.
Jasper smiled the whole way, grateful to finally be home again.
