A/N: So I edited the last Author's Note and changed that title because I've decided to just continue from here rather than splitting the next portion of the story into a sequel. Thanks for being patient while I worked it all out, and thank you for reading!

Moving On

Jasper and Leah were laying together, mostly naked and completely content, at the base of the tree that Jasper so often visited with Alice when the two vamps wanted some peace and quiet or a place to talk privately. He'd brought Leah there once before, back when they first met, but life had gotten more than a little crazy immediately after that and they hadn't been back since.

They were starting their trip south the following day, and wanting a little bit of time alone before they headed off to spend the next couple months surrounded by four other mythical creatures, they'd snuck away for a few hours.

With Victoria and her army firmly behind them, they'd had a little more alone time than before, but not by much. Things weren't nearly as stressful as they'd been a few weeks before, but life was still busy.

"Are you worried about leaving Bree?" Leah asked, breaking the peaceful silence.

Jasper didn't even have to think about it, he just shook his head. "No, I really think she'll be fine. And she's got your brother and the rest of the Cullens to keep an eye on her."

Bree had been adjusting well to her new diet - they'd only had to restrain her once to keep her from trying to hunt down some human blood - but she was still a typical newborn in most aspects, particularly her mood swings. She'd come to rely on Jasper's gift to keep her on a steady emotional keel, so he was often at the cottage or out hunting with her.

Because she was Seth's imprint, both Clearwater siblings also spent a lot of time with her.

It wasn't a hardship, to be honest, because both Jasper and Leah really liked the young girl. She still sometimes felt edgy if there were a lot of people around, but she was never violent or aggressive like most newborns were. Even when they'd had to restrain her, she hadn't fought back as hard as she could have.

One of the days they'd gone hunting, they'd found a bag by the front door when they got back to the cottage. Jasper immediately knew what it was and grabbed the newborn's hand, but she just looked up at him and shook her head, telling him she was fine. Bella remembered that Edward had slowly acclimatized himself to tolerate her scent, and she figured if it could work for the vamp whose singer she was, it could work for the newborn too. She'd come by while they were gone to drop off a sweatshirt of hers for Bree to use if she wanted to.

By that point, Bree already understood that Bella was Edward's mate and a member of Carlisle's coven, so she knew Bella was basically family, thus making her blood off limits. She was slowly - very slowly - becoming desensitized to the human's scent. She wasn't even close to ready to be anywhere near Bella yet, but she could already tolerate being in the same room as her sweatshirt for ten minutes.

Sue knew she couldn't meet her son's imprint just yet, but she wanted Bree to know she was part of their family as well as Carlisle's, so she and Bree had spoken on the phone numerous times. Bree had been living on the street when Victoria found her, having recently run away from an abusive home, and when Sue learned the young girl's sad history, she started using FaceTime to talk to her.

Having been on the receiving end of it many times, Jasper hadn't been at all surprised that Sue's warm smile was just as warm through a screen as it was in person.

Between Sue and Esme, Bree was being showered with all the parental love she'd been missing.

"Are you nervous at all?" Leah asked, rolling on top of him and resting her elbows on his chest so she could prop her chin in her hands and look in his eyes. She wasn't sure why. As far as she knew, Jasper had never lied to her so she didn't think he'd try to hide it if he was uneasy about what they were getting ready to do.

Jasper smiled up at her. "For which part?"

"All of it. Some of it."

"Not really," he answered after thinking about it for a moment. "I'm not bothered about being in Maria's company. I'm not looking forward to it, and I certainly wouldn't choose to do it under any other circumstances, but when Alice and I met with her it went alright. And if Matthew is being held captive by a rival army, if it does come to a fight, I'm not all that worried about that either. Not only is Maria a skilled fighter, but I'll have Alice, Peter, and Charlotte with me."

Leah gave him her best stern look. "And you'll remember newborns lead with their teeth this time?"

Jasper laughed at the reminder of being bitten back when he'd gotten between a newborn and Sam. "Yes."

"What about Brazil?" she asked, wanting to cover all possible bases.

"You mean maybe meeting other shapeshifters?"

Leah nodded. "It'll be different than with the Quileutes. We already had a treaty with the five original Cullens and we knew you guys only hunted animals. We won't have those advantages if there really is another tribe with protectors."

"I don't think any of us are planning to be there when you make contact the first time. We all just figured it would be you and Paul who approached their land."

Leah remembered what her mom had handed her before she left the house, so she reached for the backpack they'd brought her clothes in and pulled out an envelope. "Here," she laughed as she handed it to him. "She wants you to have this just in case."

Jasper looked at her curiously as he pulled out the single sheet of paper, but he quickly started laughing when he realized what he was reading. Being the sweetheart that she was, Sue Clearwater had written him a letter to vouch for him to any tribal elders they might meet in Brazil. She'd even gotten Billy and Old Quil to sign it. "She's adorable," he chucked as he carefully set the note aside.

"She wrote a second one that covers Alice, Peter, and Charlotte," Leah told him, not quite able to keep from rolling her eyes. Yes, her mom was adorable, but Leah wasn't sure a letter from strangers was going to go all that far in reassuring other tribes that these particular vamps were trustworthy.

She tipped her head to the side at that thought. The Quileute spirit wolves had originated from a betrayal from within the tribe, but they'd come into their own because two vampires had brought death and destruction to their land. But if there were other protectors out in the world, there was nothing to say any other tribe's shapeshifters had the same origin story as the Quileutes, so there was nothing to say they even knew about the existence of vampires. They could be protecting their people from other threats.

"What language do they speak in Brazil?" she asked. "Spanish?"

Jasper shook his head. "Portuguese," he answered. Leah frowned at that. She knew a little bit of Spanish from high school and she'd been hoping she could get by on that. "You're worried about being able to communicate?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I don't know Portuguese. Neither does Paul."

"Charlotte did a little research and found an app that can act as a translator," he assured her. "It literally translates your words as you speak them. We've all started learning it in our limited free time also, so Alice, Peter, Charlotte, and I can help out if we end up meeting with any of them."

Leah rolled her eyes. Knowing her imprint and his stupidly vast vamp brain, he'd be fluent in Portuguese by the time they hit Texas.

Jasper laughed and pulled his mate down so he could tuck her head under his chin and hold her a little closer. "You know I can't help it. I'll play dumb though if it makes you feel better," he offered.

"It just might," she smiled, pressing a kiss on the underside of his jaw. "I'll let you know."

Leah let herself just sink into Jasper's embrace and breathed in his comforting scent. After she and Jasper had talked about their respective scents and how they differed for them specifically, she'd asked Paul what Jasper smelled like to him. She was curious if it was just their mate-imprint thing that made Jasper different to other vamps.

Paul had just looked at her for a few long moments, weighing his words. He and Leah both hated liars so they were usually honest and direct about nearly everything - sometimes a little too honest and direct according to other people - but he also didn't want to hurt her feelings.

"That bad, huh?" Leah had laughed. Paul had just shrugged and apologized, telling her that, to his nose, Jasper smelled like every other vamp.

"You still want to go by foot?" Jasper asked, pulling Leah from her thoughts. He'd offered to drive down to Texas with her and Paul if they didn't feel like running all the way.

"I don't know about going by foot, but by paw, yes," Leah laughed. "As long as Peter and Charlotte don't mind us using their truck, we'd both rather run. It'll be nice to really stretch our legs."

"They already told you they don't mind," Jasper reminded her. And honestly, if there wasn't a vehicle for them to use at the ranch, he would've just driven his own truck down for them. No one could be sure how long Leah and Paul would be at the ranch on their own and he wanted to ensure they had a way to get into town. If nothing else, the wolves needed to eat an astonishing amount of food, and unless they wanted to hunt strictly as wolves, they'd need a way to get to the grocery store.

"Is Maria expecting you on a certain day?"

Jasper shook his head. "No, I just told her it would be about two weeks. Since we still don't know how long y'all can run without needing to sleep, it gives us a little wiggle room."

Leah just hummed in acknowledgment. "How are Peter and Charlotte doing with this?" she asked a minute later. She knew neither vamp was all that eager to spend time in the company of their old coven leader who'd ordered their deaths, but as soon as they knew Jasper and Alice were going to help Maria with her search for Matthew, they hadn't hesitated to agree to come.

"Mostly okay," Jasper answered after a moment of consideration. "Charlotte's a little more nervous than Peter is but neither of them are overly worried. And Charlotte's uneasiness is just because it was her specifically that Maria ordered me to kill. I think hearing that Maria's known for decades where the ranch is but left them in peace has helped eased some of that fear."

Peter and Charlotte weren't the only ones feeling a little nervous about their impending departure.

All of the Cullens were worried about what the next two months would hold for them. Rosalie had briefly debated coming with them, at least as far as Texas, but not only did they have a newborn in the family, but Bella had accepted Edward's proposal and she'd nervously asked Esme if she would help her with the planning. Esme had been thrilled obviously, but it meant she would be busier over the summer, so Rose was needed at home to help out with Bree.

Jasper knew that, because the newborn spent so much of her time with Peter, Charlotte, and himself, there was going to be a short adjustment period for her and no one wanted to leave it strictly to Carlisle and Emmett to be the only vamps around to keep an eye on her.

"We should probably get ourselves moving in a few minutes," Jasper said with a quiet sigh.

"No," Leah whined, not wanting their alone time to come to an end. "I'm not ready."

Jasper smiled and brushed her hair off her forehead. "We promised your mom and I refuse to be the one who puts that disappointed look on her face."

"Softie," Leah muttered under her breath. As much as she protested, she silently acknowledged he had a point. Her mom's disappointed look was a killer and Leah didn't want to be on the receiving end of it. Sue had arranged a big dinner so she and Seth could give Paul, Leah, and Jasper a 'proper send off' as she put it, and it would be rude to be late. Her mom had even invited Charlie and Jared to come join them.

She let out a heavy sigh and hauled herself to her feet, reaching her hand down to help Jasper up before grabbing the backpack they'd brought along with her clothes inside. She honestly hadn't had much use for them. When she'd phased back to human, a low growl followed by a rumbling purr had been her only warning before Jasper lunged for her and took her to the ground.

Sex was still pretty new for them, their first time together had only been after the fight with Victoria's newborns, but Leah had quickly come to learn that sex with an empath was fucking amazing. Not only did he know if she liked something or not without her having to say anything out loud, but he could make her come without even laying a hand on her.

That had been a wild night when Leah had discovered that particular talent.

Fortunately for everyone else, most of the family had taken Bree for a hunt in Northern California and Edward had spent the night at Bella's as usual. And fortunately for Jasper and Leah, Esme hadn't been angry when she saw what they'd they'd done to Jasper's study. She'd just looked around with an amused smile and a raised eyebrow and then pointedly told them they were responsible for repairing the damage. Leah wasn't sure she'd ever blushed that hard before.

Jasper buttoned his jeans and wrapped his arms around his mate from behind before she could phase back to a wolf for the run to the Clearwater's house. "What are you thinking about?" he murmured against her skin after trailing kisses from her shoulder to just behind her ear.

Leah dropped her head back and tipped it to the side to give him easier access, goosebumps raising everywhere his lips grazed. "Nothing special," she answered a little breathlessly. "Just the night in your study."

Jasper laughed and gently nipped at her jaw. "Nothing special, huh?"

"I'd say a solid eight and a half out of ten," she teased as she spun around in his arms to kiss him.

Jasper smiled against her lips. "There were walls to constrain us," he defended himself.

"Fine," Leah sighed a little dramatically. "I'll allow you a one-point handicap."

"So nine and a half?" he laughed, kissing the tip of her nose. "I'll take it."

Leah buried her head in Jasper's shoulder and gave herself a minute to just soak up the comfort she always felt when her imprint had his arms wrapped around her. "You know I love you, right?" she whispered.

Jasper smiled and held her a little bit closer. "I do."

Leah's breath caught in her throat when she felt the warmth of Jasper's love surrounding her. That was another wild thing about her partner being an empath who was blessed with pathokinesis. She was never in doubt about exactly how he felt about her. "I guess it's a good thing you love me too. Eternity would've been awkward as hell if you didn't."

Jasper laughed and gave her one last kiss before letting her go so he could pull his shirt on. As he did, he took a second to send up his gratitude to the universe for tying him to a woman who always kept life interesting.

"So you really think there are other tribal protectors out there?" Charlie asked Leah as he handed Sue a mug of tea and sat beside her.

Dinner was finished and the Clearwater's kitchen had been tidied up, and Leah, Jasper, Seth, Sue, and Charlie had decided to sit on the front porch to take advantage of the good weather for a little while before Charlie went home.

Paul and Jared had left a few minutes before. Paul, as much as he didn't want to, had gone back to his house to spend a little time with his dad before going to sleep. His father was kind of a dick and the two of them weren't at all close, but he figured he could tolerate his company for a couple hours before taking off for the summer.

Before Jared left, he hugged Leah goodbye and shook Jasper's hand, wishing them luck and reminding Leah that he expected her to keep in touch. Because she and Paul would be traveling as wolves, he knew he would still be occasionally sharing a mental space with them while they made their way to Texas, but once they were at the ranch and would be in their human forms more often, he'd asked them to please check in every few days. Just because they wouldn't be in Washington didn't mean he wasn't still their Alpha, and he still felt responsible for their safety.

"It's possible," Leah shrugged, answering Charlie's question. "You remember what Jasper told you about some of his family members having extra quirks?"

"Like Edward hearing my thoughts?"

"Exactly. Well, Alice has a little something extra also," Leah said, then looked at Jasper before saying anything more. "You want to field this one?"

Jasper nodded. "Alice can sometimes see the future. She can't see everything and sometimes the things she sees don't end up coming to pass, but more often than not, they do."

Charlie took a minute to absorb that. There was so much more to the world than he ever could have imagined - spirit animals, whatever 'other' thing Jasper and the Cullens were, telepaths, and now psychics. It was a lot to take in. "So Alice somehow saw you guys meeting other wolves?"

"Alice didn't actually see anything," Seth laughed.

Charlie looked between Seth, Leah, and Jasper a couple time, then settled on Jasper. "I don't get it."

"The wolves create a blind spot for Alice that she can't see around," Jasper explained with a smile. "When I say she can see the future, I mean that literally. She sees an actual vision play out in her mind. She was looking for something completely unrelated recently and she found something else that creates the same blind spot. We're speculating that she found another tribe that has protectors, although there's nothing to say what form they take. They could be wolves or they could be another animal."

Charlie was a little uneasy knowing Leah would be going all the way to South America without adult supervision, but he could understand why finding other people similar to her would be appealing. He and Leah hadn't talked about it in too much detail, but he knew it had been hard for her in the beginning to be the only girl

Jasper, feeling the slight shift in Charlie's emotions, internally debated before deciding it couldn't hurt to offer him some reassurance. "I know it's a little scary that Leah's going so far away, but she and Paul have a lot of tools at their disposal to protect themselves. And while they maybe don't have a ton of life experience, Alice, Peter, Charlotte, and I do. I know we look relatively young, but we've all been around a while. We'll do everything we can to keep them safe."

Before Charlie could process the age thing, it was something else that made him look at Jasper curiously. "How'd you know I was thinking about that?"

"Jasper's another one with a little something extra," Sue explained with a proud smile, as if she was the one who'd given the empath his gift.

"You can read minds too?" Charlie asked him in surprise.

Jasper shook his head. "No, that's only Edward. I'm what's called an empath. I can feel people's emotions."

"Although he's experienced enough with his gift that he really does seem like a telepath some days," Leah added, shooting her imprint a playful glare. "I can't tell you the number of times he's known exactly what I'm thinking just from my emotions."

Jasper glared right back at her. "It's not my fault I've had a lot of practice. And at least I'm polite enough not to air those thoughts in public."

"True," Leah conceded with a laugh, leaning her head on his shoulder.

Charlie smiled at their playfulness before getting back to the topic at hand. "How much practice constitutes 'a lot' of practice?" he asked Jasper.

That wasn't a question Jasper felt comfortable answering. He'd already told Charlie more than he probably should have, and he didn't want the man to know he was immortal. That would make it far easier for him to connect the dots, and for Charlie's safety, he couldn't let that happen.

Unfortunately for everyone, the youngest Clearwater still occasionally lacked a verbal filter.

"Almost two centuries," Seth laughed.

"Seth," Leah hissed, leaning over to punch his arm.

Jasper was frozen for a few seconds as he felt how rapidly Charlie's emotions were shifting. When he settled on shock and looked at Jasper wide-eyed with a little bit of fear, Jasper shook his head and held a hand up to stop him from saying anything. "Please don't. Whatever's going through your head right now, please don't say it out loud."

Sue nodded and took Charlie's hand. "He's right, Charlie," she said quietly, trying not to panic that he might know too much. Seth was mature for his age in a lot of ways, but he was still only fifteen, so sometimes he didn't think before speaking. "I don't know what conclusion you've jumped to, but I'd ask you to please keep it to yourself for everyone's safety. All you need to know is that Jasper and the rest of his family are no danger to anyone."

Charlie's mind was busy racing at the speed of light so it took him a few seconds to realize everyone on that porch was looking at him with trepidation. He took a deep breath and forcefully pushed the word 'vampire' to the back of his mind. He didn't want to be the reason they were scared, and he didn't want to be the reason Bella might ever be in danger because he knew more than he should.

He also hated seeing the shame in Seth's eyes that he'd said too much. "It's alright, son," he reassured him, reaching over to put his free hand on the boy's shoulder. "I won't say anything."

"Charlie," Leah cut in after sharing a look with Jasper. She didn't want to risk giving him even more information that he shouldn't have, but she also wanted him to be fully aware of the stakes. "The world Jasper lives in… they have their own rulers and they're governed by an entirely different set of laws than us," she explained, appealing to the cop in him. "The punishment for breaking those laws is death. Not jail time, not probation, not a fine, but an immediate execution."

Charlie's eyebrows shot up and his wide eyes darted to Jasper.

"It's true," Jasper nodded solemnly. "If we do anything that gives away our secret to humans, it is extraordinarily rare for our government to offer leniency. That's the highest law for my kind and those who break it are put to death."

"And so are the humans who learn the secret," Leah added. "So it's not just Jasper's safety at risk, it's yours as well. That's why we've tried to keep any information from you that could lead you to figure it out."

Charlie nodded his understanding. "I'll keep it to myself. You have my word," he said, looking at everyone on the porch. "But if you ask me, it's bullshit these rulers of yours hand out the death penalty like that," he muttered to Jasper under his breath. "Seems a little extreme to me."

"It is," Jasper laughed. "But it's a very effective deterrent and that's all that matters to them."

"I'm so sorry," Seth whispered, looking at his sister and her imprint.

Just like Charlie, Jasper hated seeing that look of shame in Seth's eyes so he was quick to reassure him that it wasn't the end of the world. When Seth's expression didn't change, Jasper let the kid feel his sincerity so Seth knew he wasn't upset with him.

"Speaking of the future," Charlie jumped in, wanting to just change the subject and move on. When everyone gave him weird looks, he huffed a little and reminded them they'd been talking about Alice being a psychic before they got sidetracked. "Has she seen anything about Bella's future?" he asked Jasper. He'd only been a little surprised when his daughter had told him she was engaged to Edward, he'd already anticipated that it would happen at some point, he'd just been surprised that it had happened this soon.

Jasper nodded with a smile. "She has, and it's beautiful. They'll be very happy together," he assured the man.

Well, that was something, Charlie thought. It was a lot, actually. All he wanted was for his little girl to be happy, so he was willing to keep his thoughts to himself about the road she took to get to that happiness. If Sue said Jasper and his family weren't a danger to anyone, that was enough for him, so he very purposefully ignored his newfound knowledge about what Edward Cullen might be, and what his daughter might become in order to be with him.

Jasper only stayed at the Clearwater's long enough to put Leah into a deep sleep. Paul had texted Jasper asking for the same help, and because his house was so close, Jasper was able to use his gift on him as well without venturing off the Clearwater's property. They were leaving in the morning and they'd be doing a lot of running, so both wolves wanted to try and get at least twelve hours of sleep.

After catching a few of Sue's mom-hugs and promising to check in with her while they were gone, Jasper left to go spend some time with the rest of his family. He and Alice had occasionally gone off to travel without the Cullens, mainly when they went down to Texas to see Peter and Charlotte, but they'd never been gone more than a few weeks, so this would be their longest separation from the rest of the family in seventy years.

Jasper had gotten used to the various vamps in both his families waiting for him at the treaty line, and that night it was Esme he found sitting on the ground. He wordlessly held a hand out to help her to her feet, then smiled when she kept hold of it as they started walking home. Esme had become very good at using his gift as a way for the two of them to communicate without words, so they passed emotions back and forth in silence for a few minutes.

"I know there will be a lot going on here with Bree and planning Bella's wedding, but if you need me, all you have to do is call," she eventually said quietly. "I'll come immediately. And the same holds true for Carlisle."

Jasper smiled at her. "I know, and I appreciate that. I understand that having so much up in the air is unsettling for everyone, but even without Alice seeing anything or Peter knowing anything, I genuinely believe everything will be fine."

"And I have faith in you, I truly do," she nodded. "But you know I can't help worrying. It will be the longest we're apart since I had the good fortune of finding you and Alice on our doorstep."

"Is that what you'd call it?" Jasper laughed. "Good fortune? I believe Emmett's exact words were that I was 'an edgy and suspicious motherfucker who had no clue how to let his guard down' and I'm not real sure that constitutes anyone's good fortune."

Esme smiled and waved a dismissive hand. "All families have growing pains at some point, you know that."

Jasper just gave her a soft smile and let her feel his gratitude for the way she'd accepted him. Yes, there had been a short period of adjustment when he'd first joined the family, but it hadn't taken Esme long to envelop him in her particular brand of unconditional love. He wasn't too ashamed to admit that he would miss it while he was gone. Being an empath in a coven of six other mythical creatures who felt things far more deeply than humans could occasionally be overwhelming for him, and Esme's gentle, warm emotions had always been an anchor for him when tensions were high in their home.

There were a lot of unknowns for all of them in the coming months, but one thing Jasper was never in doubt of was the strength of Esme's love or his place in the family. Regardless of what they found while they were gone, regardless of whether or not either of their searches were successful, Esme and the rest of the Cullens would be here, waiting for them to come home safe and sound.