A/N: Trigger Warning: This chapter discusses abortion.

Next chapter is finished, I just have to do final edits. If I can get it up tomorrow I will, but if not, it'll be up on Tuesday for sure.Thanks for reading:)

Preparing for the Unknown

Jasper came to a stop at the edge of his mate's yard and silently cursed to himself. Looking at his watch, he cursed again. He hadn't realized how much time had passed since he and Alice said goodbye to Leah and Sue at Charlie's and it was after three in the morning.

All three Clearwaters were sound asleep.

He briefly debated using the key that was 'hidden' on top of the doorframe of the back door to let himself in the house, but he decided against it. Instead, he sat down with a tired sigh, leaned back on a tree trunk, and closed his eyes.

He'd found over the course of his long life that grief was an extremely heavy emotion. When he used his gift to incapacitate someone, the way he had with Alec and Jane after the fight with the newborns, he almost always included grief in that cocktail. Grief seeped into your bones and weighed you down. It made your very cells ache. It stole the air right from your lungs and made it difficult to breathe. It made even the smallest movements feel like you were wading through concrete. In Jasper's experience, it was one of the most debilitating emotions.

It was secretly one of the reasons he had as much respect for Rosalie and Esme as he did. For as happy as those women were, for as much joy as they managed to find in this existence, and for as much healing as they'd done since being changed, they still held more grief inside them than anyone should have to carry.

Their grief ebbed and flowed and it was slightly different, as Rosalie was grieving the loss of possibilities while Esme was grieving the loss of a very real baby, but it still manifested itself similarly. And the news that Bella might be pregnant, or more importantly, the news that Bella might have been impregnated by a vampire, had kicked up all that grief in both of them.

So yeah. Maybe he'd just soak in a few minutes of quiet with only the light, tranquil emotions from his sleeping mate and her family.

And honestly? Not only did he want to selfishly take advantage of the peace while he had it, but a little bit of time on his own probably wasn't a terrible thing. His head was spinning at a pace that was dizzying even for him. Not only did he need to try and wrap his own mind around what was happening, but he needed to figure out how to explain to his mate that the impossible had somehow just become possible. And he needed to do it in a way that didn't make the rest of the pack come howling at their door, demanding answers they didn't have.

Because he knew exactly where their minds were going to go. Straight from 'baby' to 'newborn'.

Jasper didn't know exactly what was growing inside Bella, but he was pretty confident it wasn't going to be an infant-sized newborn vampire who was going to go on an uncontrolled killing spree the second it was born. After all, it was getting half of its DNA from its very human mother. He didn't think there was any way that Bella's human body could support a child who only had venom in its veins. The fetus… baby, was half-human.

Jasper's bigger concern was how Bella's body would cope with the rate it would need to change to accommodate the baby, given how quickly it was growing. Putting aside for a moment the worry about what characteristics the baby would inherit from its father, even a typical human baby growing at that rate would undoubtedly strain the mother's body.

He made a mental note to look into what foods were good for pregnant women. If Bella wanted to continue with the pregnancy, and it sounded like she did, she was going to have to keep her strength up.

That thought made something else occur to him. With a vampire contributing half of the baby's genetic material, would it need blood in addition to human food? How the hell was that going to work when Bella turned green at just the mention of the word? Maybe they could start her on some rare steak and see how she did with that.

"Jasper? Are you alright?"

Jasper looked up in surprise to see Sue standing at the back door. It said a lot about the empath's state of mind that he hadn't registered her waking up and hadn't heard her until she called his name.

"Yeah, I'm good," he reassured her as he got to his feet and walked up the back steps. "I came to see Leah but I didn't realize it was the middle of the night. I figured I'd just hang here and soak up the peace until she woke up. What are you doing up this early?" he asked. The sky hadn't even begun to lighten yet.

Sue held the back door open and motioned for him to come inside with her. "One of the nurses at the clinic quit unexpectedly," she explained quietly as she started making a pot of coffee. "We were already short-staffed, and even though we're nowhere near as busy as the hospital in Forks, we're still being strained. Everyone's working more hours until we can hire someone to replace him."

"You know you can always call Carlisle if y'all are in a bind and need an extra pair of hands," he reminded her. "Rosalie too, actually," he added after a second. With the dramatic curveball life had just thrown them, Rose might like having somewhere to escape to every now and then. Somewhere she was helping people and making a difference. "She's not actually licensed, but she's graduated from med school twice."

"Has she?" Sue asked in surprise. Making an exception to the treaty line for the purpose of the tribe's protection during the fight with Victoria's newborns was one thing. She wasn't sure the council would make another exception, especially for one of the Cullens to help out in a medical setting. She knew Carlisle had performed countless surgeries without incident, but she didn't know how Rosalie would do around fresh blood. Nevertheless, she thanked him for the offer and said she'd keep it in mind.

Jasper just smiled. "If it helps, Rosalie's control is right up there with Carlisle's. She's never even tasted human blood."

Sue turned and looked at him in even more surprise than the news that his sister had gone to medical school. "Never? Not even when she was a new vampire?"

"Nope, not even then," Jasper shook his head. "My twin is stubborn as all get out," he added with a laugh. "She was determined to never drink from a human, so she's stuck to the animal diet all this time. Not even a single slip," he told her, all puffed up with pride.

"How about the rest of your family?" Sue asked, curiously fascinated by the turn the conversation had taken.

"You really want to know?" he asked her. He didn't want his mate's mother to think less of any of his family members just because they'd tasted human blood a time or two.

Sue just nodded and gave him her best reassuring smile. "You know I've come to be fond of Peter and Charlotte," she reminded him. "The council has learned so much since you met Leah, and we've come to realize that red eyes alone don't indicate if a vampire is a friend or foe."

There were moments when Jasper was blown away by the people fate had put in his path, and this was one of those moments. The way the entire council, but Sue in particular, had accepted Leah imprinting on him and then gone about quietly supporting the two of them would never not make gratitude well up inside of him. The fact that Sue looked beyond what color Peter and Charlotte's eyes were only amplified that gratitude. "Thank you," he said quietly.

Sue didn't need an explanation, she just smiled and nodded and stopped to give him a hug on her way the refrigerator. "Now quit avoiding the question. Give me the gossip."

Jasper shook his head with a laugh. "I don't know that they'd want me to share those kind of details. I can tell you that there haven't been any accidents in many, many decades. And I won't give you specifics, but I will tell you that Esme and Emmett's combined body count is under five."

"Impressive," Sue nodded. "And Edward?" she asked, not missing that he wasn't mentioned.

Jasper just laughed and mimed zipping his lips shut. Then he reconsidered, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. "Edward hasn't unintentionally slipped from this diet since his newborn days. His control hasn't faltered since then."

Sue tipped her head as she tried to interpret what that meant, then she shook her head and focused on buttering her toast instead. Probably better not to dwell on that. "What time do you need to leave for the airport?" she asked instead.

The question was enough to remind Jasper that he needed to get his ass in gear. As much as he didn't want to wake Leah up, he didn't have unlimited time. There were still some things the family needed to talk about and get organized before Edward and Bella's plane landed.

"That's actually why I came by," he answered a little hesitantly, knowing he couldn't tell Sue anything yet. "Something's come up that I'm not going to be able to leave today."

Sue turned to look at him, a good amount of worry entering her emotional palette. Alice, Jasper, and Leah had been so excited about the trip to Brazil. As unsure as they were about what they would find, they were still eager for an adventure. "Are you alright? Has something happened?"

"I'm fine," he reassured her. "But I am going to be rude and go wake your daughter up," he added with a laugh. "I need to let her know the trip is temporarily on hold."

Sue just looked at him for a few long moments before nodding. "Go on up. And Jasper, if you ever need anything, all you have to do is ask."

Rather than heading for the stairs, Jasper went and hugged the woman who'd let him into her heart so easily. "Thank you."

Sue smiled when she felt the fullness in her chest that let her know Leah's imprint was sharing his gratitude. "You're very welcome. Now go on, go give our girl the bad news."

"You're hilarious, Whitlock. Now lay down and help me get back to sleep," Leah grumbled as she snuggled back down under her duvet.

Yeah, in hindsight, Jasper thought it was probably a mistake to open with "You want the good news or the bad news?"

Leah had chosen the bad news first, and when Jasper told her Edward and Bella were cutting the honeymoon short because Bella thought she was pregnant, Leah had huffed and smacked him in the face with her pillow.

Jasper smiled and stretched himself out beside her. "I'm not joking, Leah," he said quietly, letting her feel his sincerity to convince her that he was telling the truth.

Leah's eyes snapped open in the dark room and she stared at her imprint for a solid ten seconds before she could form any words. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Jasper shook his head. "I promise I'm not. Bella started throwing up a couple hours after Edward finally got around to banging her, and he said there's a small but noticeable baby bump," he explained. Then he paused and mentally replayed the phone call between Edward and Carlisle. "Now that I think about it, I don't know if it's 'noticeable' in terms of human eyes or vamp eyes."

Leah rubbed her bleary wolf eyes. "I haven't even had any coffee yet," she whined. "You can't expect me to process this level of holy shit when I'm not caffeinated."

"Fair," Jasper laughed, hauling himself to his feet. "Your mom had an early start so there's some already made."

"Wait," Leah whispered before he could leave the room. "What's the good news?"

Jasper laughed quietly as he turned back to her. "Peter and Charlotte are still in town."

Leah rolled her eyes with a tired laugh and threw her pillow at him. Although, honestly, it was good news. Not only had she come to love the two of them, but maybe Peter being right in the thick of things would encourage fate to give him as much knowledge as possible. Because Leah didn't know much, especially with no caffeine in her system, but she did know there were some rough fucking waters ahead of them.

Jasper and Leah were silent for nearly the entire run back to the Cullen's house an hour later. Leah had been caught up on just about everything there was to be caught up on, so she was in her human form, not wanting to risk another member of the pack snooping around in her head before she was ready.

"So look," Leah said, breaking the silence. "I know we're both ignoring the glaringly obvious, but…"

When she trailed off a little nervously, Jasper gently squeezed her hand in reassurance. "But can we put it on the back burner for now?" he finished for her.

Leah nodded. "I know this has the potential to change things for us, but right now… I can't even begin to start wrapping my head around the possibility of actually having little Jasper babies running around and still keep my focus where it needs to be. Bella has to be the priority right now. You and I aren't going anywhere, and birth control has been working just fine for us so far."

Jasper pulled her to a stop and wrapped his arms around her. "We still have no idea what this pregnancy is going to look like, or what the baby is going to be, or how Bella's body will hold up under the strain. Do I want to talk about the possibility of having children with you? Yes, absolutely. But I think one of the considerations we're going to have to factor in is if a pregnancy is even safe for you," he said quietly. "So I agree. We need to get through this, get Bella through this, get as much information as possible, and then we can talk about what our future looks like."

Leah let herself just soak up a hug from her imprint for a minute, relieved that they were on the same page. "I love you," she whispered, turning her head to press a kiss on the underside of his jaw.

"I love you, too. But listen, I'll tell you right now that if we find out half-vamp pregnancies aren't survivable for the mothers, I'd much rather have you by side for eternity," Jasper added, not wanting to prematurely dash Leah's hopes, but also wanting her to know that he'd prefer her to not get pregnant if they knew it was going to kill her.

Leah laughed and pulled away from him, but she didn't drop his hand, she just tugged on it to get him to start running again. "Don't worry, I'm not selfless enough or so desperate to pass my genes on that I'd rather a hypothetical child of mine be in the world than be able to stay with you."

Jasper breathed an internal sigh of relief. He'd be lying if he said the idea of him and Leah having children of their own wasn't appealing, but it wasn't so appealing that he'd want it if it meant losing her forever.

"Do you have any working theories yet on how this is possible?" Leah asked a minute later. "I mean, I know you make venom, but…" she trailed off with a shrug.

Jasper laughed and shook his head. "No fucking clue. I've been a vampire for over a century and a half and the supernatural world still surprises me. I'm not sure any of us will ever know all there is out there, or why it's even out there at all."

"What do you think about Peter's theory?" she asked him. That was one thing that Jasper hadn't really expanded on.

"About what's keeping Alice blind in Brazil?" he clarified, and Leah nodded. "Honestly? At this point I think just about anything's possible. I don't think we can afford to rule out anything right now."

Leah agreed with him. They were facing a complete unknown that none of them had ever imagined. They needed to go into this assuming anything and everything was possible.

By the time they arrived at the house, everyone was back and gathered in the living room. After taking a moment to hug both Rosalie and Esme, Leah plopped herself down on the couch beside Jasper. He and Rose were busy having what Leah could only describe as a non-hostile staring contest, so she just took his hand and kept quiet. She'd known there was more to his conversation with Rose than he'd told her about, but she suspected that was more about respecting Rose's privacy than it was about keeping things from her.

Rosalie eventually nodded at her twin and looked at Carlisle. "Can I start?" she asked, and Carlisle nodded. "Bella called me earlier," she told him, ignoring the surprise from some of those in the room as she continued. "If my understanding of the timing is right, she called shortly after Edward's conversation with you. Did he say anything about what his plan was, aside from flying home?" she asked carefully. Rose was almost sure that Edward hadn't asked Carlisle about terminating the pregnancy, because Jasper had been surprised when she'd told him about it in the hospital parking lot. Still, it never hurt to get confirmation.

"There wasn't much to plan," Carlisle answered. He couldn't deny being surprised Bella had called Rose of all people, although it answered his earlier question about how she'd known what was happening when she showed up at the hospital to talk to Jasper. But more importantly, she seemed to be looking for a specific piece of information without asking him about it outright. "He'd already begun to pack their things and planned to head back to the airport as soon as he'd finished. The only other thing he asked was if I'd ever heard of a human becoming pregnant in this way, and then we briefly discussed the outward signs of Bella's pregnancy."

Rosalie nodded, glad to know Carlisle hadn't given the telepath any indication that he might be on board with his plan to force Bella into having an unwanted abortion.

"Why did Bella call you?" Esme asked her.

Rose debated just how much to say, but then Emmett gave her hand a gentle squeeze and she knew it was his way of reminding her of the conversation they'd had when they'd been alone. Emmett was confident the rest of the family would be on the same page as the two of them and Jasper, so he thought she should tell them everything.

"Bella was asking for protection," Rosalie explained. "For both herself and the baby, although the baby was her bigger priority. While he was packing, Edward told her, and I'm quoting here - 'We'll take care of this and you'll be fine.' When she asked what he meant by taking care of it, he told her that Carlisle would 'get that thing out' before it could hurt her. She's afraid the rest of us, the rest of you, will back him up. From the way Edward phrased it, Bella already thinks Carlisle has the same intention as Edward."

Esme immediately turned to her husband with a very displeased expression. "Did you tell him that?"

"No, of course not," Carlisle shook his head. "And even if he'd brought it up, I never would have had a conversation about that without Bella being an active participant," he assured not only his mate, but everyone in the room. "Edward, as I'm sure you can understand, is very concerned. We obviously don't know anything about the fetus, don't know if it will be more like Edward or like Bella, but the rate of growth alone already suggests that this won't be anything like a typical human pregnancy. While I won't support any plan to force Bella to terminate the pregnancy, I can understand why that's his gut instinct."

Many of those in the room looked at him a little skeptically. They were pretty sure 'forced abortion' wouldn't be the first place their minds went if they were in Edward's shoes.

Carlisle smiled a little at their reaction. "I didn't say I agreed with him, but I think we all know Edward's first instinct is to protect Bella, regardless of whether she wants or needs that protection. Edward believes he is a monster, so I have no doubt that his first instinct is to assume the fetus is a monster like him."

"Can I cut in real quick?" Jasper asked, not wanting to be rude, but feeling like they all needed to get on the same page about at least one thing. "Look, I get that we don't know yet what Bella's body is baking, but the finer details don't matter on one particular point. This isn't a 'fetus' or a 'thing' to Bella. It's a baby. Given that she's the baby's mother, that's what we need to refer to it as. And honestly? Fuck Edward. If the girl is scared enough to call Rosalie? I don't care what worst-case scenario his mind is stuck on, if your mate finds out your supernatural sperm accidentally knocked her up, you support her. Offer her some comfort and reassurance. You don't tell her that you'll have her new father-in-law cut it out of her."

"But what if she can't survive this?" Alice asked quietly.

It was Rosalie who answered. "Given how she already feels about the baby, if it ever comes down to that, I think she'll want us to save the baby's life, not hers."

"So then what happens to Edward?" Bree asked. "You guys told me what he did with the Volturi when he thought she'd died in the spring. Will he try to kill himself again?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment. There wasn't a single being in that room who hadn't already thought of that possibility.

"I mean, if the baby survives but Bella doesn't, wouldn't he want to stick around?" Leah asked, not really expecting an answer. "You know, to raise the child he helped create?"

Jasper shook his head. "Edward doesn't see it as a child. Just going off what he said to Bella, he sees it as the 'thing' that could kill his mate."

"So then that's the first hurdle," Emmett said. "Get Edward to see that the baby is… well, a baby. Whether it's more human or more vamp, it's still a baby."

"Do you think it might be like an immortal child?" Alice asked Carlisle. Immortal children were full vampires who'd been changed as children, and they were strictly forbidden by the Volturi. Anyone who created one was automatically put to death, along with the child and anyone else who was aware of its existence. It was the reason Tanya, Kate, and Irina's sire had been executed. Fortunately, Sasha had kept the child a secret, so the three of them were spared.

Carlisle thought on it a moment before answering. "It's one of the first things I thought of after Edward's call, but I'm not so sure that's what we're looking at. Bella's body wouldn't be able to support a fetus, a baby, if the child was a pure vampire. She doesn't have the ability to produce venom. So I'm inclined to think, and I'll just stress that I obviously won't know anything until I have a chance to examine her, but I'm inclined to think it will be some kind of hybrid based on the mechanics of human pregnancies. Because Bella has blood running through her veins, and she'll essentially be nourishing the baby through her blood via the placenta, I have to assume the baby will have blood in its veins as well, not venom."

Jasper nodded his agreement. "I thought the same thing earlier. Which then led me to a couple other thoughts. One being, if the baby is getting half of its genetic material from a vampire, will it need blood to grow. To survive."

"If that's the case, you might need to work some emotional voodoo on her," Emmett told him with a grin. "Take away her revulsion and send her a boatload of desire and hunger. Maybe some euphoria. I highly doubt mom fainting every day is good for the baby."

"Can we circle back for a second?" Charlotte cut in. She and Peter had been quiet up to that point. "Rosalie said Bella's afraid y'all are going to be on Edward's side and try to force her to terminate the pregnancy. Can we get a vote on that or something? 'Cause I'll protect the human, but I'd really like to know ahead of time if I need to protect her from one of you."

Esme immediately shook her head. "I feel confident saying none of us are going to force Bella to do anything," she reassured her, and all the Cullens and Leah nodded their agreement. "What happens from here should be a decision jointly made by Bella and Edward, but if they can't get on the same page, if Edward can't get on the same page, then we will follow Bella's lead. This is her body, which means it's ultimately her choice what happens to it."

"She's right," Carlisle said, looking at everyone in the room. "I won't tolerate anyone attempting to sway her to do what Edward apparently wants. If Bella decides she wants to terminate the pregnancy, then we'll discuss it. But not before then."

Everyone just nodded their agreement again, because of course they wouldn't try to do that. From what Rosalie said, the baby already mattered to Bella. And because Bella mattered to everyone in that room, that meant the baby mattered to them as well. Which didn't mean they weren't scared, because of course they were. And most of them were scared to a ridiculous degree. But they weren't the ones who mattered in this particular situation. All they could do was try to support the newly pregnant human to the best of their abilities.

Speaking of… "Do any of y'all know what foods are good for pregnant women?" Jasper asked. "If the baby keeps growing this quickly, her body's going to be under a hell of a strain. We need to make sure she eats the right foods to keep her strength up."

Leah whipped out her phone. "That's an easy enough internet search."

Carlisle hesitated a moment before addressing one of his many concerns. "Leah, do you have any insight into how you expect the pack and the elders to react to this… unexpected news?"

Aside from the possibility of having little Jasper babies running around, that's what Leah had spent the most time thinking about on the run over. She honestly hadn't gotten very far because they didn't actually know anything yet. "I'm not sure. Probably not all that well initially," she told him honestly. "But until you examine Bella, I don't have any intention of telling anyone anything," she admitted, feeling conflicted about keeping something this big from the other wolves, even temporarily, but knowing it was probably the smartest move. "I want to have as much information as possible before I open that door."

Carlisle nodded with a sigh. They were in a holding pattern until Bella and Edward arrived home. He looked at his watch and realized he needed to get moving. "Rosalie, could I ask for your help with something?"

"Getting things from the hospital?" she asked as she stood up, having already anticipated the request.

He nodded. "I've got a mental list of everything I think I'll need, but you might have more suggestions that haven't occurred to me."

Rosalie easily agreed and started doing some brainstorming.

"While we take care of this, can one of you get Edward's room ready?" Carlisle asked the others. "Given the current situation, I think it's best for Bella to be here, rather than at the cottage. I'd like for it to be as comfortable as possible for her. Maybe you can bring over some of her books?"

The group split up then - Rose and Carlisle to go to the hospital, Esme and Bree to set up the bedroom, Peter and Charlotte to… well, they didn't say and Jasper was trying really hard not to worry about whatever it was Peter was keeping from him. The rest of them - Jasper, Leah, Alice, and Emmett - piled into Emmett's Jeep and headed to the store to stock up on all the things the internet told them were pregnant lady essentials.

"Here," Peter said as he walked into the kitchen with Charlotte and tossed a small cooler to an unsuspecting Jasper. "Y'all are gonna need this."

"Jesus," Jasper grumbled, just barely managing to catch the cooler before it hit the floor while juggling the armful of groceries he was in the middle of putting away. "What is it?"

Charlotte and Peter exchanged a quick look before Peter answered. "Blood. Human. And before you ask, I don't know. I don't know if it's something the human's gonna need, or the baby, or one of you."

Jasper looked at him in surprise. "Where'd you get it?"

"Don't you worry about that," Peter laughed. When Jasper scowled and opened his mouth to demand more information, he just rolled his eyes. "Not directly from the source, asshole. And nowhere around here."

Jasper opened the cooler and saw there were about twenty bags of human blood from a blood donation center near Portland.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Leah asked Peter worriedly as she joined them in the kitchen, eyeing Jasper for a moment to see if he looked at all tempted by having his natural food source right in his face like that. "You know the veggies are always a little bit thirsty," she added, having learned the effect human versus animal blood had on her imprint and his family. "I just don't want you to be uncomfortable," she quickly reassured Jasper when she saw a quick flash of hurt in his eyes that she might doubt him.

Jasper smiled and shook his head. "While I appreciate the concern, I'm not sure any vamp would be all that tempted by this, unless they were starving," he said, holding up one of the bags. "It's cold and congealed and probably tastes like plastic and chemicals."

Charlotte nodded her agreement. "He's right. It's not very appetizing."

"Want me to put it in the fridge in the garage?" Leah offered, taking them at their word but thinking it was still probably best to put it out of sight. She was trying very hard not to think about what they might need it for. There were too many possibilities floating around in her head and none of them were good.

Jasper just nodded his thanks and went back to putting away the groceries.

"So listen," Peter said a little hesitantly, leaning on the counter and crossing his arms. "This isn't from any specific information, but I think once Bella gets home, any of y'all who think you can safely change her without draining her should stick pretty close to her side. This has the potential to go south in about eighty-seven different ways, and if it ever comes down to a split-second decision to save her life in the only way possible… well, someone who can do it should always be nearby."

Jasper stopped and looked at him for a long moment and then sighed. "Peter, I don't think I can on this diet. Back then it was fine for the most part, although I think we both know my success rate was never perfect. But now? On this diet?" he shook his head. "I'm not so sure. Especially if Edward is anywhere in the vicinity. I think the bleed-off from his thirst would be too much."

"Maybe that's what the human blood's for," Charlotte suggested. "So you're well-fed enough that you can do it."

Jasper shook his head again. "If anyone aside from Carlisle does it, it should be Edward. That's who Bella wants it to be," he said firmly. He said the words, but he wasn't the only one in that room who wasn't at all confident that Edward would be able to bite his singer with the intention of changing her and not end up draining her by accident.

Which reminded him… Looking at the clock on the oven, he saw he had just over an hour before he, Rosalie, Esme, and Carlisle needed to leave for the airport. The others were going to wait at the house so Bella wasn't greeted by the entire family she was already afraid were against her as soon as she got off the plane.

"I'm meeting Rose to go for a quick hunt before we leave. If Bella really does need protection from Edward, neither of us want to have to leave once she's here," he explained. Alice and Emmett had already left to hunt after the grocery store.

Leah dashed back inside to catch a quick hug and kiss before he took off. Normally she would go with him, but she needed to stay human for at least a few more hours. She walked him outside, with Peter and Charlotte trailing behind them.

As they watched him run off, all three of them exchanged a worried look. They didn't know exactly what was coming, but they knew it probably wasn't going to be pleasant, and they were all worried about the empath who would be stuck right in the middle of it.