Heart of Stone | Jasper Hale

38

A new day had begun, and Emmett was surprised when Aimee and Jasper walked through the door hand in hand.

He looked up from his newspaper and smirked, "Thought you'd never come back."

The couple laughed, then Aimee threw a pillow in Emmett's direction, which bounced off his head.

"I told Jasper I didn't want to see your disturbing face, but he told me we had to come back." Aimee joked, sticking her tongue out at Emmett.

He just chuckled and went back to his newspaper, while Jasper smiled and they both settled on the sofa.

"Bella and Edward back yet?" Jasper asked, but they all knew what the answer would be. Rosalie then walked in with Renesmee, a bright smile on her face.

"How is she?" Aimee asked with a smile, and then she held the baby for a few minutes, playing with her and laughing. Jasper watched with bittersweet joy.

Once Aimee handed the baby to Rose once more, she looked over at Carlisle.

"Hey, Carlisle. I was wondering if you'd found out anything about my invisibility power?" She asked, since he decided to research more into it.

The blonde vampire smiled at her and put down his book, just as Aimee sat down beside him.

"I've discovered that no known vampire has the power of invisibility, so there was not much research to do. But what I know is that Aro is going to want your power, badly now that Alec seems to have taken an interest in you." Carlisle explained, and Aimee nodded seriously.

Jasper tensed at the last sentence, he had seen what Alec was like after the battle with the new borns.

"He won't touch her." Jasper said gravely, walking towards the pair and sitting down beside Aimee, needing to be close to her.

"Tensions are high, they now know Bella has been turned, and Aro also has his eye on her. We need to be careful." Carlisle finished, his golden eyes serious.

Jasper and Aimee nodded, and as Aimee was about to say something, Edward and Bella finally walked through the door.

"I'm shocked." Aimee whispered to Jasper, and he smirked.

"Done already?" Emmett teased as the couple walked into the room, and Bella stared at him stonily.

"Where's Renesmee?" She asked, her red eyes bright.

"Blondie stole her." Jacob said, chewing on a sandwich.

Aimee's head turned to him, "When the hell did you get here?" She asked, she didn't even realise he was here.

Jacob shrugged and everyone laughed, but the laughter ended when the phone began ringing. Everyone was silent as they stared at Bella.

"Is that Charlie?" Bella asked, stepping forward.

"He's been calling twice a day." Edward answered.

"Eventually we'll have to tell him you didn't make it." Carlisle added, his face somber. Leaving Charlie behind would pain Bella.

Bella frowned, and reached for the phone.

"He needs to mourn, Bella." Aimee said, watching as Bella nodded.

"Okay, we'll do it tomorrow." She said before returning to Edward's side.

"I'm gonna miss this place." Emmett spoke, standing up and folding his newspaper.

"We'll come back, we always do." Carlisle smiled, he loved this house and this place.

Aimee was sad to leave, this is where she found Jasper and family, she didn't want to leave it behind. But she knew they'd have to eventually, as people in the town would get suspicious if none of them aged.

"Wait. No one said anything about leaving." Jacob complained, his brows furrowed.

"Once people believe Bella is dead, we can't risk anyone seeing her." Carlisle explained.

"So you just disappear?" Jacob asked, his chest rising and falling more rapidly.

"Jacob, we have no other choice. The risk isn't worth it." Aimee said, Jasper nodded and squeezed her hand.

The werewolf shook his head, and walked out of the room, soon the vampires heard the loud thud of paws on mud. He had left.

"That went well." Aimee breathed out a sigh, "He's definitely going to tell Charlie."

*

"And what did I tell you?" Aimee grinned, looking at Jacob.

"I didn't have a choice. You were leaving, what did you expect me to do?" Jacob tried to explain, but was failing.

"You don't realise the danger you've put him in. The Volturi will kill anyone who knows about us." Bella said anxiously.

"I didn't tell him about you. Just me. I only said you were different." Jacob answered.

"And that we have a niece who we adopted." Edward said sarcastically, and Aimee laughed.

"What do you expect him to do when Renesmee grows about ten times faster than she should, how will you explain that?" Aimee asked, and Jacob held out his hands like he was trying to find the answer.

"Jake, he's not gonna let that go." Bella added.

"Did you even consider the physical pain you'll put Bella through. It'll be like sticking a white hot branding iron down her throat." Edward argued, his eyes filled with anger.

"That's assuming she can control her thirst." Jasper added.

"Charlie's been through hell, you'll be a lot happier with him in your life." Jacob told Bella, who nibbled at her lip.

"Don't try and pretend you're doing this for anyone but yourself." Edward said coldly, and Aimee nodded.

"I'm sorry you feel that way. He's gonna be here in ten minutes." Jacob stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels.

"What?" Bella asked, her teeth bared.

*
"This will irritate your eyes at first." Alice said gently, putting brown contacts in Bella's eyes.

"The main thing is not to move too fast."

"Try taking a seat. Crossing your legs."

Bella then stood up and sped to a chair, sitting back so hard that it knocked into the wall.

Aimee winced, "Perhaps try slow down the pace just a tad."

"And blink at least three times a minute," Alice added, and Bella's eyelids fluttered. "Good."

"Hold your breath, it'll help with the thirst." Jasper recommended, and Aimee nodded.

"And don't forget to move your shoulders, so it looks like you're breathing." Edward said.

"And don't sit so straight, humans don't do that." Rosalie told her, and Bella slouched down.

"Why is being human so hard." Aimee whispered, and everyone laughed, which eased the tension.

"Okay, move around, blink, slouch." Bella stood up, ringing her hands in anxiety.

Aimee walked up to her and squeezed her shoulders, "It'll be fine, don't stress about it." She said with a smile, but then a car stopped outside.

Bella looked at Aimee, "Kill me."

"I'm afraid you're already dead." Aimee replied with a laugh, giving her another smile before walking off with Jasper.