It's beautiful and, really, it's the only word that can describe this.

Baby's Breath

| I waited so long, for something sweet like this |

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Bella feels a shiver of something like unpleasantness run up and down her spine. Seated on the couch of this tiny little apartment, she leans into Jasper and presses a hand to cover her mouth.

"I think the Christmas decoration is staring at me." She whisper, mouth pressed to his ear.

He sends her a look and then his eyes trail towards the Christmas tree.

"That's because it is, darlin'." He answers, amused.

At the top of the Christmas tree, the one Peter chopped off with his bare hands and struggled to push into the building alone without breaking anything, there is Edward's head, held with a stick that's been stabbed through his skull, wide eyes staring at them both.

"This is a bit weird." She continues to whisper, enjoying the way Jasper's eyes fill with mirth at her antics (it's been a weird couple of days).

Bella doesn't know what she expects Victoria to do when her revenge falls into her lap, but she knows it isn't this. She expected the vixen to take Edward somewhere remote and play with his for days and then return to them with the smell of ash on her skin.

Instead, it turns into some family affair, Jason helping in any way he can. He burns Edward with red hot pokers with an wicked grin on his face –

It's his way of dealing with post-traumatic stress and Bella won't stop if it means her son will forget about the last couple of days when he had to play house with the Cullens.

"We're a bit weird." Bella snorts at his word because this family is a lot more than a bit. "You know what they say; a family that hunts together sticks together."

"Do they really say that?" Edward's eyes are fixated on her as she speaks.

"Even if they don't, they really should." Jasper nods his head as if he's imparting wise words to her and she reaches up to tousle his hair, soft and cold when she touches it.

He smiles at the touch and allows her to continue her ministrations, even bends into her touch. She purrs at him, ready to lean in even more and claim his lips, but the sudden flash of movement and clearing of one's throat stops her.

"Are you being gross while I'm standing right here?" Jason makes a face. Bella knows he's been there for at least a second and, judging by the way Jasper doesn't pull away, he's known too.

"It's never too late to provide you with mental scars." Victoria appears, voice calm and wicked, hair pulled up in a high ponytail, curls spilling and cascading past her shoulders. "You can tell your shrink all about it."

"Is that part of my Christmas gift?" Jason deadpans, still staring at the scene with mild disgust on his face. "Because I've had enough mental scars to last me a lifetime, thanks to you, Auntie Vic."

"Are you still mad about that?" The redhead raises an eyebrow as if she doesn't believe it.

"I think we're all still mad about that." Charlotte then, stepping towards them with a relaxed look about her. "Who could have predicted that your pray would want to kiss Jason?"

"I could have…" Peter follows shortly after her. "But I really didn't want to think about that."

Bella sighs and moves away from Jasper, who holds onto a whine at the loss of her touch. She promises to make it up to him with a look and lets herself fall back into the couch without much grace.

"Now that we're all here…" She starts out, waits for every eye in the room to be focused on her. "Can we talk about the tasteless Christmas tree decoration and what we're going to do about it."

"I don't see anything wrong with it." Jason starts out with a childish smile that doesn't match the dark twinkle in his eyes.

"I second that." Victoria offers, high-fiving him. "A star is so passé, the impaled heads of our enemies should become a tradition."

"Besides…" Charlotte starts out, obviously not displeased with what the vixen just said. "I think the stick will make the whole thing easier to carry."

"Easier to carry?" Bella starts out, feeling something like dread inside of her unused lungs. Charlotte shakes her head almost to say 'don't ask', but Bella wants to ask, needs to ask.

Peter sends her a very wide grin.

"So, about the plan." Bella let's her head fall backwards and has the distinct feeling that maybe her need to know just landed her in a very, very weird situation. She looks up at Edward's head atop the Christmas tree and wishes she could burn it.

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Jason moves past the masses of people that clutter the streets of New York.

It's the day after Christmas and people gather in lines in front of stores, bright red panels indicating sales and percentages off of merchandise.

He moves slowly, shuffling the large cardboard box in his hands that is practically as big as him and tries not to crash into some unsuspecting human.

Truth is, even if it's bothersome, the knowledge that he's the only one who can walk into enemy territory pleases him. He likes the thought that he is irreplaceable, that his family needs him.

If it means he has to be almost molested by his mother's ex-boyfriends, than that's just a very small price to pay for his own satisfaction (images of Edward leaning to him make him shiver even if he doesn't feel the cold and his hold tightens on the box, like a sweet promise that he'll burn it).

He misses his quiet life in Texas just as much as he doesn't. He likes the chaos and the destruction, can't wait to witness his family in the heat of battle, his mother's shield at its full potential and his father with his teeth barred and the promise of a reckoning.

He's heard tales from Uncle Peter about his father, tales of smoke and destruction and the sweet lull of war, but his father is always so composed and overprotective that he finds it hard to believe.

But now, now he'll have front row seats to it all and, even if he's not allowed to actually partake, he'd lie if he said he wasn't looking forward to it.

He makes a sharp turn left on a shiny avenue, filled with stores with French names that he can't really pronounce. Shop windows are lined with silver and red, displaying clothes for very specific events – tuxedos and evening dresses, high heels and leather shined to perfection.

He allows himself to stop for a second, admires the way the snow sticks to pieces of metal and makes the whole thing a lot more festive. He manages to get a glimpse of the inside, people flocking to the sales associates.

He smiles and digs his fingers into the box, shuffling it on his left and then starts back on his merry way as he takes another turn right and then left again.

It takes him another ten minutes to reach the row of penthouses. He takes his time, admires the pretty buildings that were built before he was born. There are lush and expensive and nothing he ever wants (his house is nice, and big and in the middle of the desert and, again, he wonders why vampires who crave control would put themselves in the middle of a city with an overwhelming amount of temptation).

He walks up to the doorstep with a slight bounce in his steps and let's himself to smile one last time as he rings the doorbell.

His face turns sad as Mrs. Cullen answers the door and she smiles at him, until she notices his grim face and the box in his hands.

"Jason, what a lovely surprise." And she seems to mean it, her voice soft and calm. "But if you're here for Edward, I'm afraid he isn't home…"

"Mrs. Cullen…" He starts out with a pained moan. "I think something happened to Edward, something bad."

"What makes you say that?" She's properly concerned. He knows he looks pitiful as he says it, knows because he can feel the sadness roll off of him.

"He was supposed to call me today and he didn't and then, I found… I found…" He shudders and hands her the box.

Her scream if properly horrified when she opens it and he thinks that if she were human, she would pass out. The scream is enough to assemble the entirety of the Cullen clan to the doorstep and their stare of horror paints a vividly pretty picture.

Uncle Peter said it would be enough to start a war and, well, Jason has no trouble believe it.

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"No." Bella states calmly, arms wrapped around her torso. She has an eyebrow raised, daring anyone here to defy her. "Stop using Jason as your scapegoat."

Next to her, Jasper nods.

"He's the only one who can do it." Peter says, ready to fight for this. Bella doesn't miss the smug look on her son's face at being told he's special. "The Cullens won't see him coming."

"He's right, you know." Victoria continues, stance matching Bella's. "Anyone here would arouse suspicion and we want them as unprepared as possible. It's easier to enter a fight you'll know you'll win."

"I really don't mind…" Jason quirks up even if no one is paying attention.

"I said no." Bella continues on, staring holes into Victoria. She loves the vixen, loves her like a sister, but her son shouldn't be exposed and vulnerable, especially not when it comes to the Cullens. "It's too dangerous. What if it backfires? What if something bad happens?"

"But it won't." Peter almost whines, throwing his head back in annoyance. "I know it won't and I'm never wrong. We've come so far, this is the last step."

"For now." Bella deadpans, because she's fully aware that this is merely the first step into madness, that the rest will be even more dangerous and filled with chaos and she doesn't mind, just not when her son is involved.

"The Cullens would never attack a child, especially not one that isn't a vampire. You know that, there too proper and moral." Unlike us, Victoria doesn't say, but she doesn't need to.

Jasper pushes a hand on her shoulder. It's cold, but still comforting. Bella chances a look at her son who blinks up at the scene in wonder, as if the first time he's seen his family in an open fight about him. It's not the first, not by a long shot, but it's the first one he witnesses.

Bella knows she can't protect him forever. She knows one day he'll want independence and if she pushes too much, it will only have the opposite effect and he'll pull away and want to leave.

But he's only thirteen and thirteen years for her is nothing. It seems like just yesterday she held him in her arms and cradled his sleeping form into her arms, silently promising that she would kill anyone who would try to touch him.

Maybe Victoria is right, maybe she does have abandonment issues (that doesn't mean she's ready to admit out loud, that she's ready to deal with them right here and now).

"I'll go with you." Bella relents. Jason beams at her, obviously pleased and while she still doesn't think it's the best idea, it's the only compromise she can offer. With her shield, they won't even know she's there.

Peter opens his mouth as if to protest, but the look she sends him is enough to silence whatever was about to come out of his mouth. Victoria sends her a thumbs up, unaffected by the mood and Jasper's hold tightens on her, protective and soothing.

"I suppose you have an actual game plan?" Bella says and doesn't conceal her distain. She thinks about her quiet little life in Texas, of warm summer nights and family pictures.

Peter's grin almost makes her regret her decision – almost.

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Jason can't keep the bounce in his legs. Seated far, far away from the scene, but not quite far enough that he would miss it, he watches with rapt attention, his mouth opened in awe.

It's beautiful and, really, it's the only word that can describe this.

He delivers the box to the Cullens and, just like his Uncle Peter predicted, they move. They tell him not to worry, that they'll take care of it (inside the box, there is Edward's arm, not his head, no, it's still very much at the top of their Christmas tree, and a note that tells them that if they want the rest, they'll have to come and get it).

They're too confident and as they leave him there, in the hall of their penthouse, Jason's smirk is so wide he's glad no one is there to see it. It makes his cheeks hurt and his eyes shine dark.

His mother picks him up a second later, delivers him to the top of a building where he'll be safe. She tells him to stay put and never to interfere and that if he does, he'll be grounded for at least a year (Jason would complain, but his mother already seems pissed and she's scary when she's pissed, especially since she's not one to show much emotion to begin with).

It's everything Jason hoped it would be. They've picked somewhere with not too many people, somewhere with trees even in the middle of the busy city. It sucks that he can't hear them from where he is and their figures are a tad distorted, but he can recognize his family and the special red shade of Auntie Vic's hair.

Victoria moves fast, just like a blur. She kicks and punches and then rips heads, let's them fall on the ground and then moves to the next. She's the one who picks up Emmett, his stature the largest and decapitates him with so much ease it's almost boring.

Peter takes on the patriarch of the Cullens. Jason's sure his uncle is smiling and exchanging pleasantries with him as he breaks his arm off and uses it to strangle him.

Charlotte is efficient. She doesn't have powers, but she has experience. She manages to remove Rosalie's head by pulling hard at her hair and it's comical the way she throws on the ground afterwards.

His father has Alice by the throat one second and it's almost sweet the way his hand pierces her chest and punches a hole through it. Jason remembers they'd been friends and it makes his shudder that his father can be sweet and deadly at the same time.

Esme Cullen is the last. His mother waits and waits and waits, to the point where Jason thinks she won't kill the matriarch of the Cullen family. Her shield is invisible and she protects everyone from the incoming blows until she doesn't have to and only body parts remain on the floor.

He knows his mother says something to the woman, he doesn't know what because he can't hear, but there's something like understanding that flashes between the two and a second later, the woman's body doesn't have a head anymore, headless lower body sinking into the snow.

In his awe, Jason claps (he would like more, his lust for chaos only a tad appeased and he wonders what it would be like to part of an actual fight, to stand next to them all and feel the sweet lull of battle coursing through his veins).

He doesn't wait for his mother to pick him up, makes his way down the building and then runs all the way. When he makes it there, Peter and Victoria are hitting each other with broken arms and Charlotte is rolling her eyes.

"I told you to stay put." His mother chastises, shirt stained with venom.

"I waited until it was over." He offers sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with his left hand.

"It's fine. He can see them burn." His father says, war face still painted on.

Jason doesn't have to be told twice. He helps his father start a fire and throws the detached body parts Uncle Pete and Auntie Vic hand him into it.

Jason feels the warmth of the fire on his skin and smiles to himself. There's mirth in the air and he thinks Auntie Vic has never seemed so happy and carefree. Even his mother seems more relaxed.

"So…" He asks loudly, everyone's attention on him. "What's next?"

"We should take a holiday." Victoria says cheerfully.

"Aren't we already on one?" His mother asks next to the vixen with a roll of her eyes.

"I think holidays have less murder, usually." Auntie Char deadpans.

Uncle Peter clears his throat.

"Actually…" Jason beams as he trails off. "There's somewhere we need to go."

His father raises an eyebrow.

"I'm afraid the holiday will have to wait." Peter shakes his head.

"Spit it out." Aunt Victoria says.

"We need to go to Forks." Jason blinks and, when he chances a look at his mother, her face is now completely closed off.

Forks, Forks, Forks, isn't that where his parents met?

Judging by the way his father and Auntie Vic are staring at his mother, Jason knows he isn't that far off.

a/n : I have crawled out of my metaphorical cave. It's been almost a year and I have no excuse besides, well, lack of inspiration. I'm sorry for the wait and for the cliffhanger and what the hell does Peter want in Forks anyways? I'd say I'd update soon, but that would probably be a lie. If anyone still remember this story and have stuck with me for the last six years, thank you, thank you so much. Reviews and support are what keep me coming back and I mean it, you guys are awesome. I'll stop ranting now, thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought.