Margaret Allie Brandon (Jasper's Mate Story)

Chapter 7

Jasper's POV:

I had watched with growing fear of my own as her breathing had increased along with her frantically beating heart. The fear and panic was coming off her in waves, and nothing I sent her was seeming to be of any use emotionally as I waited in silence next to her in the parked car. I heard the others talking inside but I ignored them as I focused only on the beauty in front of my as she finally seemed to be calming down. A few moments more I was rewarded with her beautiful eyes meeting my own, though my own worry for her still remained.

"Are you ok now Margaret?" (Jas)

"I....I don't like c-cars." (Mag)

"I kind of figured that out. I'm sorry if I scared you, it wasn't intentional. I didn't even realize how fast I was going." (Jas)

I watched as a few tears seemed to spring to her eyes before she looked away from me and towards the house instead. I expected her to get out and was ready to follow her as soon as she did, but she just sat there wringing her hands together instead. I had decided not to ask why she flinched away from me earlier, deciding to run my theories by Carlisle instead, though I was almost certainly right.

"My dad died when I was only a couple months old and my grandmother when I was five. So all I had left was my mom, my stepfather wasn't exactly the loving type. When I was seven my mom.....she decided that she was leaving my stepfather and she put me in the car and started driving. She was going so fast, over 100 when we were hit by a semi that was merging into our lane and couldn't stop as she went to merge at the same time. The car spun and then flipped and I remember screaming and broken glass flying around and hitting me. Then I remember waking up in the hospital a week later.....and being told.......being told my mom didn't make it." (Mag)

I took a chance as she stopped speaking for a moment and took her hand in my own. She tensed for a moment but she didn't flinch or snatch her hand away. She only looked down at it for a moment before glancing at me and then away towards the woods around the house. I watched her take a deep shaky breath and I sent as much calm towards her as I could, wanting her to feel safe now.

"Sometimes I swear I can still feel the glass hitting me. I can still hear the metal crunching around me. I can still feel the car spinning and then flipping through the air. That's why I just....I don't like cars." (Mags)

I heard her voice shake at the end before she wipes away tears that had started to fall before she pulls her hand out of mine. I miss the way it fits so perfectly into my own but I let her as she then pulls off her beanie and pulls her hair back in a high pony tail. She turns to look at me without her beanie and without her hair covering half her face for the first time. I see the scars go a bit further back than I had seen before, from the start of her cheek nearest her nose to her ear and seem to go all the way down her neck and under her shirt even, but that doesn't matter to me. After all I'm covered in scars, even if she can't see them very well or at all.

"It's from the window breaking and hitting me. They go all the way down to my hip." (Mag)

I saw her watching me with an almost guarded expression and I'm reminded of how the other humans treat her because of them. I slowly reach out towards her face and see her flinch away from my hand and raise her own hands as if in defense before she freezes. I took my hand away as I sensed her fear increase and heard her heartbeat speed up. She slowly put her own hands down as she looked at me for a moment before looking down at her hands in her lap.

"I'm....sorry. I don't like....I don't like being touched." (Mag)

"It's alright, I wasn't thinking my actions through. I think that they're beautiful though Margaret, even if others may not think so, they show your strength. Thank you for telling me about your mother. You didn't owe me an explanation about why you don't like driving fast, or at all." (Jas)

"I just......I wanted to I guess. I've never told anyone else." (Mag)

"I'm honored to have been the one you told. Now let's meet the rest of the family and get that torture over with before we start with the Civil War yeah?" (Jas)

I felt my own spirit soar some as she smiled a soft smile at me and nodded, a bit of the pain that always came off her disappearing a bit. I felt her nervousness and fear grow but the pain didn't come back and I was forced to wonder if the pain she felt was all from that car crash or if there was something else that caused her near constant pain. However, as I saw that small smile on her face I found my thoughts drifting away from her pain and towards the bit of hope and relief that was coming off her.

I knew that everyone inside heard her story but I knew that none of them would comment about it to her. I had come close to threatening everyone when I knew that she was for sure coming over today. I even told Rosalie that if she made Margaret feel uncomfortable here I would dye her hair pink somehow. They find it amazing I can stand to be this close to a human and not be tempted but it's almost as if the pain she puts off makes her blood unappetizing.

Whatever it is, I only know that she makes me happy and makes me feel human when I'm around her. Even if I am the vegetarian vampire with the worst track record. I was pleasantly surprised when she didn't put her beanie back on or even let her hair back down. We don't normally have to hide here at our house and it's nice that it appears she doesn't have to hide here either. It's like she belongs here with us, and more importantly with me smiling that same smile she's wearing now.


Alice's POV:

I smiled as I saw Jasper and Margaret kiss in the vision, knowing that since she's already coming over to the house today the kiss would happen sooner than I had originally seen. When I first saw a vision of her coming into Jasper's life it was over ten years ago and I couldn't wait for it to happen. He was the only one in the family that still thought he didn't want a mate, but I know he was longing for one, even though he claimed he wasn't.

He was truly like a brother to me as he had been ever since I met him in that diner so many years ago. But sometimes he is so stubborn about things like that, it annoys me to no end. I never told him or Edward about the visions I've had about his mate. I knew that they would both only say it was too dangerous, and Jasper would argue that she deserved better or that he didn't want a mate or blah blah blah.

Now though I know for sure that he does care for her and more than a friend as it appears that they'll be kissing in the near future. I start humming yet another Korean pop song as Edward walks back in from the balcony he just jumped up to only a moment ago, rolling his eyes and smiling some.

"So, I suppose I still can't know yet?" (Ed)

"Exactly. Just wait a bit longer." (Alice)

"If I must." (Ed)

We both hear the car pull up and park in front of the house with a sudden stop, my smile growing on my face as I was ready to meet my newest friend. I skipped down the stairs and was ready to greet them both at the door but then we all heard how she was breathing. I heard Edward suck in a breath before I had a quick vision about what was to come and my heart hurt for her.

"Does she know!?!" (Rosalie)

"No, she's having a panic attack about his driving. No Carlisle, I think she's starting to calm down with Jasper." (Ed)

Carlisle nodded to Edward's answer to his unspoken question before I saw a look of worry cross Esme's face. Carlisle kissed her gently on the forehead before we and the rest of the house fall silent listening to Margaret tell her story to Jasper. It's then that we realize that Carlisle knows her as the young girl in the car wreck that he helped a few years ago. I watched as his face fell, knowing that he still feels a bit guilty at not being able to save her mother but he did all he could, that much we know for sure. Now it's Jasper's turn to save her.