desiderium- Jasper Hale

Pt 21: mother dearest?

WARNING: mentions of sexual assault.

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"You're not taking this seriously!" Katie yells as I pace in front of her. Halting at her words, I turn to look at her. 

"No, you're wrong. I'm not taking YOU seriously!" I exclaim. "You fly all this way having not told me you're coming, nor that you are PREGNANT, and then expect that I'll happily take your baby, no questions asked."

"I need you to," She tells me with a whimper.

"Why don't you adopt him out?" I ask her, as she looks up at me.

"I never said it was a boy," She says. 

"Whatever- I just know it's going to be," I say with a roll of my eyes. "Answer my question!"

"I don't want some random to take this kid. I'll never know if they'll treat it right," She responds. 

"And you think that me, a 19-year-old, will be able to look after a kid the way it deserves?" I press.

"No, not on your own- but you have a community around you that would do absolutely anything for you," She tells me making me pause in my place. I think of Jasper and myself, selfishly I wonder if this may be the only opportunity we have to have a family. "Other than you, I have no one!"

Slowly, I stop pacing before moving to sit next to her on the bed. 

"I'll think about it," I say, making her smile gratefully, "On two conditions."

"Anything!" Katie swears. 

"You talk to Dr Cullen- he can come here and it doesn't have to be official- AND you talk to Rosalie about what happened to you," I tell her, holding out my pinky finger. 

"Swears," She tells me, wrapping her pinky around mine.

"Carlisle, thank you so much for coming!" I tell him as he walks through my door. "I'm sorry it's so late."

"Of course," He tells me. "Your room?" 

With a nod, he walks up the stairs towards my bedroom where Katie is sat waiting for him. 

"Soph?" Rosalie asks as she stands outside the door. 

"Oh, Rose," I exclaim. "I didn't realise you were here."

"Alice said you needed me," She replies, concerned. 

"Alice is right," I tell her. "I was going to call you in the morning so you didn't have to come so late in the night," I say as Rose winces. "It's not me, I swear. You don't have to look so sad."

"Right," Rose whispers before looking up at me. "So what's wrong?"

"My friend Katie? The one from England," I remind her as she nods her head in understanding. "She's upstairs with Carlisle. She's pregnant and was kicked out of home... Rose, she was date raped," I tell her as her eyes widen and anger seems to fill them. 

"How is she?" She asks me, looking up towards my room to see if she can hear anything. 

"Not good," I tell her honestly. "She's asking me to take the baby," I say making Rose look at me in surprise. 

"I know," I say, taking a deep breath. "Worse come to worse, of course, I will. I'm just worried about her mental health going forward. It's not going to be an easy journey."

"Not at all," Rose says. "Do you mind if I go up?"

"Not at all," I say with a small smile. "I'll make some tea for her."