Jasper and I walked downstairs to see what it was that Alice needed from me. Everyone was sitting around the living room once again, so I knew we were about to have another wonderful conversation.
"What do you need?" I asked Alice as I reached the room.
"We're having a family meeting about school," she told me. "And I need your help."
"What about school?" I asked, looking at Carlisle.
"I'm going to re-enroll everyone to finish their senior year," he told me.
"Sounds great," I replied. I looked around at everyone before asking, "What's the problem?"
Noah responded for the family. "We don't know if Jasper is ready."
"You better be joking," I told him as Jasper tensed up beside me.
"We're not," he responded, glancing away from me and over to Jasper. "I don't think he can handle it."
"He could handle it just fine before you left. Why would it be any different now?" I asked Noah.
"Because they saw me mess up with Bella," Jasper mumbled beside me.
I could feel how upset and embarrassed he was with this entire conversation, causing me to immediately look at him with sympathy. I reached out to grab his hand in comfort. No matter how upset I may be with him, he didn't deserve to be talked down to like this.
I turned to face everyone once again, not letting go of Jasper's hand. "You seriously still blame him for that?!"
"Emma," Rosalie said, looking over at me, "you're the only one who doesn't. No matter how much any of us care for him, you have to admit that it was his lack of control that caused all this."
"First of all," I started, "you're acting as if Jasper isn't standing right here, and you're treating him like an actual child."
"Emma, don't," Esme started saying, but I'll never know what she wanted to say because I cut her off.
"No!" I yelled while stepping closer to Jasper and partially blocking him from everyone. "This has to be said. This was not his fault!"
"Tell them what you told me on the plane." Edward's words caused everyone to look at him, but he only looked back at me. "I've been thinking about it ever since, and I think you're right."
"She is right," Alice said, sending a comforting look toward Jasper.
"What did you tell him on the plane?" Noah asked, looking at me.
I wanted to give them a complete breakdown of what happened that day. So I asked, "What is the first thing that happened when Bella cut her hand open?"
"Jasper freaked out and tried to kill her," Noah responded.
"Wrong," I told him. "You all smelled her blood and had a similar thought yourselves."
"But we didn't act on it," Rosalie told me.
"No, you didn't, but Edward almost did. Her blood was so appealing that for a moment, he actually almost did it himself. But, he stopped himself."
"And then Jasper lost control over his own thirst," Noah said.
"No, then Jasper felt how much all of you wanted to drain her blood. And then he felt Edward's overwhelming desire to kill her, and he slipped slightly."
"And tried to kill her." Noah's words were starting to aggravate me.
"But he didn't. I started to help him calm down before he did anything. Then Edward overreacted and threw Bella into glass, making her bleed more, making all of you freak out more, making Jasper lose control."
I could feel Jasper move behind me and wrap his arms around my waist as I spoke. He whispered a very quiet "Thank you" into my ear, making me tighten my arms around his. His close proximity caused me to feel all his anxiety, and I wished more than anything I could take it away. Seeing as that wasn't possible, I was just going to keep fighting everyone so he didn't have to.
"I don't understand," Noah told me.
"Jasper's an empath," Alice said, turning to face her mate. "Emma here believes he can feel our thirst just the same as every other emotion."
"It's the same as feeling hungry or happy. Jasper can feel it all," Carlisle said, realizing what I was saying.
"So everything literally was Edward's fault?" Rosalie said, looking at Edward.
Edward hung his head as Rosalie spoke. I could tell he realized this really was all his fault, and he was mad at himself for doing everything he did. "I messed up," he said, not looking at anyone. "I'm sorry, okay? Is that what you want from me? I hurt everyone, I blamed everyone, and I was wrong. And now I wish I could take it all back, but I can't." Then he looked up at me before looking at Carlisle. "So just do what you're thinking and kick me out."
"What?!" we all yelled, looking at Carlisle.
"It was a passing thought, Edward," Carlisle said, looking at him. "I wasn't being serious."
"You should be. You should kick me out. It would cause everything to go away, and everyone could move on."
"Edward, no," I said, not wanting him to do that.
His eyes met mine once again. "Why do you keep helping me? I ruined your life, and yet you saved me in Italy. I'm offering a solution, and you still think with my best interest in mind. How?"
"Because you're still my brother," I told him honestly. "And I'm going to be mad at you for a while, but eventually, it will pass."
"And what if it doesn't?" He asked me.
"It will. I know it will," I replied. "Because that's what families do. They have problems, they fight, and eventually, they make up. And you've already realized you are in the wrong, and you've apologized. That's two big steps out of the way."
"What do I do now to fix it?"
"Prove that you understand what you did was wrong, don't do something like that again, and prove that we can trust you."
"Okay," he said, nodding to acknowledge what I said. "I'll do my best to fix everything."
I nodded once to Edward. Then I felt Jasper gently tug me backward half a step, meaning he wanted to leave the room and was asking me to go with him. I leaned back into him, telling him I'd come with him.
"We're going on a walk," I told the family as I let Jasper lead me outside.