"Well," Jasper speaks up, glancing at Summer who'd just woken up a few seconds prior . "You're quite the charmer early in this fine morning," he greets, and Summer lazily glances towards him before rolling her eyes. Turning towards the alarm clock, she sighs. It was around 7 in the morning.
Jasper woke her up by tapping on the tiny window in the room, and she'd pushed it open only because it was Jasper, because she'd known if it was somebody else, the answer was no. Not if she would talk to anyone else though.
Jasper sits beside her on the bed, and glances around the room. He had never actually been in the room this early before, and now that he was in the small room, he felt a surge of cockiness considering the fact that he was in the room at 7 in the morning.
"You know," he mumbles as he glances towards the huge mirror sitting across from the bed, "I can imagine myself making you watch me eat your- " he laughs at the blush that immediately hit Summers face, the deep wind chime sound causing her to heat up some more. A part of her wanted to allow him to finish the sentence, but, a part of her didn't. Jasper was a very sexual person.
"Jasper Hale, you are a tease," she lazily responds, and sits up, pushing her back towards the headboard of the bed so that she faced him. She was in her pajamas, which consisted of only a shirt and panties, and after sitting up, the scars on her thighs were on display. Quickly, noticing, she moved to grab the tiny blanket she was laying under previously.
Jasper grabs her hands.
"Don't," he murmurs.
Confused, Summer kept a firm grip on the blanket, not dropping it like Jasper asked, however, keeping it just in case. Nobody could stare at them too long , they made people uncomfortable. Everyone but Charlie of course, who'd only seen them whenever she wore short shorts inside the house.
He was one of the few people who'd seen the real her.
Jasper moves for his jacket, unzipping it, tossing swiftly onto the carpeted floor. Next was his teeshirt, which causes Summer to widen her eyes, the sleepiness leaving her completely.
"Jasper, I don't have spare cash to just throw on you because you want to strip," she jokes, still confused at Jasper who'd looked a little distraught after removing the first shirt.
"Hey, you don't have to," Summer speaks, and yawns, covering her mouth. "I don't know what it is, but I know that you don't have to," she drops the hold on her blanket, and gently placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
Jasper sighs, and gives a reassuring smile before pulling off his long sleeved shirt.
Jasper was covered in many crescent scars, some seeming to overlap themselves leaving a ton of purple-black bruises on his skin. They decorated his muscular chest , and went down his arms, the skin sparkling under the direct luminous light. Summer allows her breath to hitch in her throat before reaching for the remote that she had to dim the overhead light, allowing the fairy lights to turn on immediately.
Jasper was a disco ball when he wanted to be.
Pushing up from her spot on her bed, she reaches over and hugs Jasper. It wasn't sympathy because she didn't want sympathy for her scars, and you put out what you want in return, however, that hug was to let him know that she was there for him. She'd wanted somebody to be there for her whenever she was down, but she never got that direct Hugh from anybody but Charlie.
Just as Christina Yang is to Meredith Grey, Charlie Swan was her person. And judging from the looks of it, Jasper needed a person.
"Come here," she murmurs, and takes Jaspers arms, and pulls him in front of the mirror. She pulls her sleep shirt off, leaving her in a faded grey sports bra, and the panties. She didn't care much about her body, so she didn't care about his gaze on her. Faded scars decorated her stomach.
"I know that it's not much to ask," she starts, glancing at her reflection in the mirror. "Do you mind telling me how those happened?" She sits down on the floor in front of the mirror, motioning for him to sit beside her.
"I joined the Confederate Army when I was 17 years old," he starts, sitting down besides her. "I was the youngest major in the Texas Calvary," his country accent thick, causing Summer to shiver a bit in slight awe.
"I hadn't really seen battle until I met a certain immortal. Maria. 'What's your name soldier' she'd asked me when I'd moved over in a spot in Galveston to help her. 'Major Jasper Whitlock ma'am' I respond," Jasper is cut off by a huge gasp from Summer.
"Whitlock?" She asks, her mouth open with her eyebrows drawn upward towards her hairline. Shocked made her look adorable. "All this time I've been calling you Jasper Hale and your last name is Whitlock?" She pushes him, and playing along, Jasper falls to the floor.
"Hale is Rosalie's surname, it worked the best because we were both blonde and because of history," he explained the best way that he could and then sat up from his spot. "History?" Summer asks now interested in this story.
"Do you want one story or another?" Jasper stubbornly jokes with an eyebrow raised. "Now shuga I cant do both if you keep interrupting," he reprimanded and Summer jokingly zipped her mouth shut and threw away the key. He chuckles.
"She smiled at me. I haven't the faintest idea why I didn't run then, but she was so beautiful," he explains, turning to glance towards the mirror. His gold specks could make out Summer from his peripheral, staring intently. She was listening.
" 'I hope you survive,' she'd told me. 'You may be of grave use to me.' And then she walked up to me, grabbed my face as if she was gonna kiss me, and bit my neck," He points to the spot on his neck, not having to look in the mirror to do so. Summer is on to her hands knees in an instant, crawling over to Jasper.
"Ouu I wanna see," she speaks excitedly, before clearing her throat, the tips of her ears turning red as she reigns it in. She remembered the seriousness of the conversation. "I would like to see that, please, Major," she corrects herself, her voice deeper, more innocent like. Jasper shook off the shudder that went through his mind at the way that Summer easily said his title, and allowed her to run her fingers over the mark.
"Maria was breeding an army," he continues, as Summer ran her fingers over the bite mark again . "They were very common in the South."
"Maria wanted them all. She was smart, careful, and she had me. My ability to control emotions served her well," Jasper admits.
"Wait your what?" Summer draws her hand back from Jaspers neck immediately, much to his dismay,and raises an eyebrow as she slowly crosses her arms. "Major Jasper Hale Whitlock Cullen whoever the fuck you are," she waves her hands in exasperation as she could barely contain her excitement.
"You can control emotions?" She all but squeals, and then corrects herself once more, clearing her throat. "Please continue the story." Jasper laughs at her, nothing in harshness, but something in complete awe. She wanted to know so much that she could barely keep her excitement to herself. If only she applied that to tutoring sessions. He had to literally bribe her to do her work.
"I was her second in command. I trained her newborns. Such an endless occupation, she never let them live beyond their first year. It was my job to dispose of them," Jasper glances down at his hands for a second, and then peeks up at Summer who'd looked as if she was going to burst any second.
So it was probably best for him to finish the story before she'd passed out.
"I could feel everything they felt. I thought what Maria and I had was love. She pulled the weight. I didn't know there was another way. Until I found Alice. She'd seen me coming of course."
He finishes, and turns to Summer who'd turned red in her face. "I'm done now," he finishes, and Summer let's put a huge sigh. "You have not idea how hard it is to be quiet," she shakes her head.
"So, you were a cowboy Texas Ranger like Rawhide right?" Summer says her first question, smiling as she'd gotten a memory of her and her Uncle Charlie sitting on the couch of their old home watching the show on a box television, the rabbit ears of the old satellite going every which way as it streamed their favorite show.
"Basically," Jasper admits, and Summer mentally does a victory screech. She wanted to go to Texas to meet a cowboy one day, and now, she's in Forks talking to one.
She thinks to the story again "Emotions?" She finally whispers, smiling a little. "I'm an empath. I can manipulate, and change the emotions around me. Alice is a seer. Edward can read thoughts," Summer frowns a little at Edwards name. He'd made her feel as though she hadn't belonged, and that was something that she struggled with.
"And the bites came from the baby vampires," Summer mumbles, as she absentmindedly ran her hand over Jaspers muscular build.
"Well," she snaps out of it, motioning to the scars that decorated her body. It was nothing that she was proud of, however, she did it. It was her work, and it was her skin. It might not have been the right thing to do that time, but she'd been to a different rehabilitation facility psych ward while she was living with Renee. She was clean.
"I struggle with the feeling of belonging," she admits, shrugging her shoulders a little. "My story isn't as detailed as yours because my life was an accident. My mom had me when she was about 17 years old, and she had absolutely no idea what to do with a child." Summer sits on her heels.
"She gave me up. Renee tried her hardest. She was amazing. But she never not said that she'd wanted me, in fact, she always said that she never knew why mom-" Summer clears her throat at the simple word. "Autumn," she corrects. "She never knew why Autumn didn't give me over to Uncle Charlie because he was the only one that wanted me." Jasper intakes a sharp unneeded breath out of habit and to mask the growl that was threatening to slip out.
"The one thing I can say that I got from all of this is this," Summer whispers intently, allowing herself to be submerged in her powers. She takes Jaspers stone cold hand in hers and opened her cosmos to him. He was in outer space with her. "This is my mind. This is the cosmos. Whatever I think, I can do, as long as I pray to the Moon Goddess herself every night to thank her for having pity on me," Summer explains, as she began to walk around the stars.
Glancing closer to one of the stars, Jasper could see a memory. Summer being spoon fed by her Uncle Charlie, the tuffs of her black hair in tiny bows as Charlie began making laser gun noises to make her smile and open her mouth. As soon as she did, he successfully placed the spoon full of food in there.
He glances at another. Summer sitting on the couch with a fluffy boa on her neck next to Charlie, who was dressed the exact same way. Fluffy and flowered. They both looked beyond tired. "See," Charlie's voice was the same gruffness as it was during that period of time as it was now. "There's nothing wrong with getting your Flo visit," he awkwardly speaks, and wrings his fingers together.
"Look, I know I'm not your mom, and I'm sorry she wasn't here to help you with this Bug, cause I know the last thing you need is your Uncle teaching you about this stuff, but tell me that was NOT the best Flo party ever?" He pokes a finger into her side causing Summer to burst out into a fit of laughter.
"I love you Bug," he whispers, bringing her closer. "I love you too Uncle," she replies. And then the door flings open. Her mother was high, preteen Summer had recognized the look, and Charlie immediately stands. He pushes a bag of chips, chocolate, and ice cream into an oversized bowl. "Go on upstairs Bug, I'll be up in a few." Summer reluctantly turns back to Uncle Charlie before taking the bowl.
She slowly walks by her mother and was hit with a disgusting oder causing her to let out a gag so loud that it seemingly woke her mother out of the drug induced standing sleep, and grab her by her throat, allowing the bowl to fall out of her hands.
She began to fight back, screaming- no crying for her mother to let her go. Charlie yelling as well, running over to his out of control sister, tried to pry her hands off of Summers throat. Finally, Autumn gave up, and pushed Summer away, causing the girl to fall on the floor as she choked and coughed, the air finally returning in her body.
"You should have never been born. NEVER!" She screams, sobbing into Charlie's arms. Summer stands holding back the tears, and runs up the staircase.
Jasper turns from the star to glance at Summer who'd been sitting in a chair out of nothing. "There's one more I want you to see," she speaks up, not looking in his direction.
He looks into the star. It had seemed to be from another point of view- this person not being Summer at all because Summer was lying in a sheets soaked of her own blood, the quantity, and scent being so strong that Jasper could smell the blood from outside of the memory. She'd looked as if she'd went through a cheese grater covered in cuts that decorated her thighs and stomach. "You're a child of the moon," the voice spoke.
It was a woman, with long flowing dark blue hair. She'd glanced at the mirror, allowing Jasper to take a gander at her. The Moon Goddess was beautiful. Her skin was a deep ebony, with brighter , glowing yellow and white freckles contrasting on her skin, resembling stars. Her curls flowed constantly, and thoroughly although there was no wind, and she was draped in a specific blue sheet that concealed her breast, and lower region. A huge moon was on her thigh that poked out from her skirt.
"You may not understand now, but, I take the souls of the unwanted and give them something gorgeous in my garden of magic," she walks over to Summer, her bare feet hitting the carpet gently, as she seemed only to walk on the balls of her feet. "And you are definitely unwanted," she jokes, tsking, and floats overtop of Summers body, crossing her legs in the chair that she'd made from her own cosmos so that she could access the situation in more depth.
"I won't allow you to die just yet," The Moon Goddess declares as she stretches over top of Summer who'd been watching intently, although Jasper knew she'd probably thought she was hallucinating due to the loss of blood. "You remind me so much of me that you get a piece of my cosmos." She finally declares, and gently pokes Summers nose.
"There's so much more that I have for you, but you have to promise to not give up yet. They might not want you, but I want you. Your other brothers and sisters, The children of Night, they want you. And most importantly I want you." She declares, and dangles over Summers face again, the curls of her very big afro gently brushing over Summers nose as she leans in for a kiss to her forehead.
The kiss was gentle, and Summers body seemed to relax from it. "I'll keep in touch, Love," she finishes, and then vanishes.
Jasper shudders as he exists the memory, and suddenly he's sitting next to Summer back in front of the mirror.
"I don't have a story like yours, Major Jasper Whitlock, with a very happy ending because I'm still in the process of looking for it," Summer stands, turning to look at the scars on her undergarment clad body. "But, I have a lot of good memories. And I have the Charlie and the cosmos."
"And you have me." Jasper finishes, and stands beside her, taking her hand in his, interlacing their fingers. "You have me Summer. I'm not going anywhere," he promises, a silent whisper that made tears well up into the black haired girls eyes.
With their fingers interlaced, signifying a skin to skin contact, Jasper could feel her emotions better. They were very timid, she was scared. Using his own powers, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze in order to pluck the fear out of her heart. He would never leave her, or abandon her. He loved her.
Summer glances down at their hands as the fear suddenly seemed to vanish away from her heart, and she softly smiles. It was Jasper, she was quite sure of it. Slowly, she glances up at Jasper, and his eyes met hers.
He glances at her lips, and she glances her his, as she began to move in, adrenaline driving her. She had her own Texas Cowboy.
There's a tap at her door, and suddenly Jasper is gone. "Hey Bug, are you up?" Charlie calls from outside of the door. Quickly, Summer reaches to pull on the shirt that she'd took off earlier.
"Yes," she slides the shirt on, just as the door cracks open a bit. "I heard some noise, and I know that you're usually sleeping in," he admits. "So I wanted to check it out." He notices as Summer began to shuffle backwards towards her bed.
She'd spotted Jaspers shirt that's why.
"You wearing that today?" Charlie asks in confusion. He'd never seen the shirt whenever it was his turn to wash clothes. "Um, yes," Summer lies swiftly, as she walks to her clothes in the drawer.
"Okay," Charlie drags out.
"Well there's Rawhide reruns on downstairs, and some Captain Crunch. Bella already left with her boyfriend, so it's just me and you for today," he finishes, and smiles at the softer smile that he receives.
"I'll be on my way down." Summer agrees.
"Also, shut the window," Charlie says motioning to the window which was wide open. "You don't want to flash the neighbors." He jokes, causing Summer to laugh.
"Thank you for raising me," she sobers quickly, as she gripped on to the pair of jeans in her hands. "I would do it all over again." He finishes.