Author's Note: This is late. But really, what else can be expected from me? I'm the master of late posts.

To be honest, this didn't go up until now because I didn't want to write this. It wasn't like, 'oh, we're near the end and I'm going to miss it' or anything. It was just general not wanting to write it. I'm not feeling much drive here, guys. I'm going to try, though, promise.

This chapter is dedicated to all my reviewers. This chapter wouldn't be done if you didn't want it.

Super special thanks to my reviewers: Katara97, AnEmotionalVampire, LordXeenTheGreat, crazyhypervampiregurl, Eminnis, Jilly-Bean-Bug, Wishes and Words and Etcetera, the little sax that could, Nissa-Cullen (x2), JRocksAnime, Twixter, heal my bleeding heart, the sweet smelling one, adricullenhale, chrisemmit and becca.

Chapter Music: Annie Taylor, The Lives of Famous Men

Chapter Ten: Exhausted

Jasper knew he probably shouldn't have been so surprised at her speed since he had learnt to fight in the same place she did, but he was. Quite unpleasantly so.

Bella flung herself at him and he just barely managed to whip himself out of her clutches. His mind was racing, trying to find ways to subdue her and get her outside without using his empathy against her, all the while in the back of his mind a rather nasty voice was reminding him that if he and Bella destroyed Alice's room, they would double team him.

So he did the only thing he could think to do, and in a very unsouthernly way, he turned his back to Bella and ran. He hoped she would follow him, making minimal mess in her haste to rip him limb from limb, but he wasn't surprised to hear crashing follow him as Bella probably knocked over everything she could reach. Esme's foresight to remove all the antiques now seemed very sensible.

He could feel Alice's worry as he raced down the steps, Rosalie's smugness, and Emmett's shock. Esme was concerned, and Edward...well, Edward was resolved.

He thought he knew what he had to do.

Jasper ran faster, pushing himself to get out of the house and into the clearing before Bella could gain on him, hoping to keep their conflict private.

Luckily, she wasn't a new born anymore, she was thirsty, and he had a head start.

Jasper threw the sliding glass door open, knowing Esme would disapprove if he ran through it. Taking a fraction of a second to make sure it stayed open so Bella wouldn't shatter it, he kept running, not stopping until he reached the clearing a couple miles out of the house.

Try and attack her and you'll have to get through me, brother, Jasper warned Edward silently as he heard Bella approach. Jasper wasn't scared, and he hoped Edward realized that. Bella was irrational and angry, just like he had been in his months after leaving Maria. Of course it would be worse because she didn't leave on her own accord, and of course it would be worse because she found out he had been manipulating her.

Why didn't the others see that this was perfectly rational?

He didn't have any longer to ponder that, because Bella slammed into his back, propelling them both forward. His chest smashed into and obliterated a two hundred year old oak, which slowed their momentum enough for him to hit the floor and Bella to straddle his back, pressing his face into the dirt.

"Bella, listen to me. You have to calm down." He tried to tell her calmly, but she grabbed one of his arms, pulling it back to the point of snapping off clean.

"Why? If I don't, you gonna make me?" She growled, giving his arm a twist. Firings of pain shot from his shoulder joint and he resisted the urge to cry out. They would hear it back at the house, and would most likely feel the need to come running to his rescue.

"Bella, I'm sorry, I didn't want to do that, but you didn't give me any choice. You were angry and irrational, and I needed to push you past that so you could see what we're offering you." He said through gritted teeth and he felt her toy with his fingers. Alice sometimes did something similar, but he knew that what she was doing was far from idle fiddling. Bella was telling him she would dismember his entire arm, if she needed to.

"It's your fault I'm like this." She said softly, her voice a razor's edge tucked in silk.

"Bella..I wish I could deny that, but you're right, it is partially my fault." He felt her grip tighten on his pinkie finger. "I never asked Maria to up to visit. I never had any attention of going back, or of ever speaking to her again. I'm assuming she came up because my replacement before you died, and she wanted me back. I'm assuming she was somewhere around your house and you proved too much to resist and she bit you. I'm assuming she didn't finish you off because she realized you could be her second-in-command."

He paused, turning his head so he could see Bella from the corner of his eye. She still had his arm and finger in an iron grip, but her eyes had taken a faraway look, something that wasn't due to his emotional meddling.

"If I could have rescued you right then and there, I would have, but I couldn't. I know better than anyone else, probably anywhere, what you went though, so I apologize. I'm sorry we couldn't save you, I'm sorry you had to grow there, and I'm sorry it took us so long to finally meet."

Her grip loosened on his finger slightly. He could hear his family back at the house, scrambling. Rosalie was egging Edward on, demanding he go out and do what he had planned to do int he first place, but Edward held his ground.

"Why did you mess with my head?" Bella asked, again speaking softly.

He sighed, "You were going through the five stages of grief, and the stage you were at, anger, wouldn't let me talk to you, to show you life moves on after Maria. Because it does, Bella. You can live with us, we can help you move on and re-gain your life."

There was an eerie moment of calm as the weight of what he had said settled over them, and finally, Bella's weight came off him as she stood, letting him up. He got up slowly, not wanting to show that he was a threat.

Part one, plant the seed: complete.

She looked up at him, her face twisted into desperation. "Why did she pick me? Why me?" She asked. She was grasping for straws, trying to find purchase on this new, slippery slope.

"I can't give you that answer, Bella. We may never know."

"It's because of you," she said slowly, causing Jasper to sigh, they were going around in circles.

"We won't ever know, Bella. The answer died with Maria."

"I blame you."

"I know, but it's not my fault, and we both know that."

She wanted to attack him again. He could see it in the way her shoulders tensed when she looked at him, but he could see the strain showing. She was exhausted, physically and mentally, and being without supplement for so long - her eyes were almost ink black at this point - was causing her to become lethargic. This could work for him.

"I'm not finished with this." She warned.

"I know, but you need food now. Come back to the house with me, Emmett will go get you something and bring it back. You aren't strong enough to hunt anymore."

She nodded, the exhaustion finally setting in.

Jasper wrapped his arm around her shoulders and steered her back to the house. Emmett had already left to hunt for her, looking for something big and close he could bring back still warm.

Rosalie was also missing when they returned to the house, although that was to be expected, he supposed. She was still as against this as she was when Bella was first bitten.

Esme was the first in his family to step forward to help Bella, taking her from Jasper to help her down on the couch. Alice hovered by the stairs, torn between worry and anger, while Edward was up in his room, mulling over the new developments while keeping tabs on his family's opinions.

Jasper could feel himself sag slightly, and Alice was at his side in an instant, her arm wrapping around his waist and her head resting on his arm.

"I was worried." She sighed softly.

"I'm sorry."

"Please don't make me worry like that again."

"I won't. Promise."

Author's Note: A million thanks again to my reviewers. Last chapter, I got sixteen. That's the most for this story so far, so thank you! I'm so thrilled :D

So please, keep it up! Reviews are keeping this fic alive!

Thanks for reading,

-Maggie