"Why are we doing this again?" Maya asked frustrated as they made their way through the trees.
"Because Edward asked that I be there to help with this plan" Jasper told her for the fourth time with an eyeroll.
"Yeah ... I get that part. But why am I here?"
"Because a good mate would never force their partner to spend time alone with those three and their constant childish fighting."
Maya groaned at that. "Fair enough. But now we both have to suffer."
"Yes, well, lets just make this as quick as we can" Jasper told her as they exited the trees to see Edward and Jacob already arguing.
Maya groaned internally at the sight. This was going to be an annoying conversation.
"Whatever. Just tell me the plan." Jacob demanded as Maya and Jasper came to a stop near them.
"This field will give us an advantage in battle. We need to lure the newborns here with Bella's scent, but it needs to end here" Jasper explained, speaking up before Edward could. The last thing he wanted was Edward riling up the wolf and making this whole thing take longer than it needed to.
"Edward and I will be going to a campsite. But even if he carries me, they'll still pick up on our scents" Bella cut in.
"Your stench however is revolting" Edward jumped in with.
Maya let out a dramatic whimper and buried her face in Jasper's chest. Oh, how she wished she could be anywhere else at the moment instead of being stuck here dealing with this ridiculous little love triangle.
Jasper squeezed her side in comfort, wishing for the exact same thing as her.
"Dude you really don't want to start comparing stinks" Jacob shot back.
"What he means is that your scent will mask mine if you carry me" Bella interceded.
"Done" Jacob agreed instantly.
"This is not a good idea" Edward looked to Jasper for support, who let out a sigh.
"Edward, they won't want to get anywhere near his odor" Jasper told him, tired of his childishness. Either he was willing to do whatever it took to keep Bella safe, even if it meant dealing with Jacob, or he wasn't.
Not that this plan of theirs would be doing much to keep Bella safe. If Jasper's guess was right the only thing this plan would do is lure Victoria into a direct confrontation. From everything he had learned and seen about her he knew she wouldn't be on that battlefield. Instead she would use the battle as nothing more than a distraction and the newborns as cannon fodder to hold the rest of the family off while she hunted down Bella. Meaning that when Victoria tracked them down during the battle it would be up to Edward to deal with Victoria for the family. Which Jasper considered fair given that the woman was only doing all this in the first place because of the decisions Edward made. So Jasper kept his mouth closed and his thoughts carefully blank as he allowed Edward to believe he was protecting his girlfriend and not allowing Jasper to use her as bait.
"Okay lets just try it" Bella walked over to Jacob and put her arms around him as he picked up.
"Eau de wolf coming up" Jacob joked.
"Run" Edward growled, not liking seeing Bella in his arms.
Jacob turned and took off into the woods. "I will give him a few minutes head start then go see if I can catch her scent" Jasper said.
"Fine" Edward bit out.
The three waited in a tense silence. Edward was too angry to want to talk with them and Jasper and Maya had no wish to engage him in conversation when he was in this sort of mood.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Maya, Jasper finally broke the silence.
"Alright they've had enough time. I'll head out to see if I can pick up Bella's scent" Jasper told them, glancing down at his watch.
"I'll join you" Maya volunteered quickly. She was desperate to get away from the awkward silence that would no doubt resume once Jasper left.
"Actually, stay. I need to have a word with you" Edward told her.
They both looked at him in confusion before turning to face each other. Jasper sent her a questioning look but she just shrugged and waved him off. She may be annoyed at him for ordering her around but she was curious enough about what Edward could want from her to not argue it just this once.
The two watched Jasper head off into the trees, Edward wanting to wait until he was further away and less likely to hear before starting their conversation.
When he deemed them alone enough, he turned to face her with a glare. "You need to stop being so mean to Bella."
"Say what now?" Maya was genuinely confused. Sure she didn't go out of her way to be friendly to Bella, but she also didn't purposefully try to be mean to her.
"Bella told me about all the mean things you have been saying about her and how you have even tried to physically attack her. I'm warning you now; if you don't stop, I will stop you."
Maya stood there silently for a moment, trying to understand where he was coming from. Yes, she had stopped putting up with Bella's shit and now insulted Bella whenever Bella was being insulting, but she never started it. In fact, she tended to ignore Bella's existence whenever possible. And as for her supposedly physically attacking Bella, the most she had done was grab her wrist or give her a shove whenever Bella had tried to slap or hit her. With a sigh Maya realized that Bella was probably telling half-truths again and embellishing her stories as well.
"Look Edward, I'm not doing it to be mean. I don't even throw the first insult, just respond in kind when Bella is being rude. I told her a few weeks ago that I wouldn't take her shit anymore and I meant it, but I'm not just randomly attacking her. And as for the physical attacks, again, only doing that when she comes at me. Even then the most I do is give her a shove or block her attack. If Bella wants it to stop all she has to do is stop doing it herself."
"You're lying. Bella told me she has never done anything to provoke you" Edward growled.
"And you believed her?" Maya asked, disbelief clear in her voice.
"Yes, because Bella's not the kind of person to do something like that. You however are."
Maya just stood there in shock. She had heard the phrase "love is blind" before, but she had never considered that it could make a person this oblivious to the truth of their partner before.
Letting out a sigh, she realized that there was nothing she could do that would make him see the truth. He had decided that Bella was innocent and Maya was guilty and nothing she could say would change that.
"Look, believe me or not. I don't care. But if Bella keeps insulting me or Jasper or our relationship, I will not just lay down and take it" she told him tiredly, not wanting to argue with him when she knew it would be pointless.
Edward growled at her response and was about to continue arguing with her when Jasper appeared out of the trees again.
"All I picked up was wolf stench" he told them, making his way over to Maya's side.
Edward bit back another growl and gave them a curt nod, turning to head off into the woods to find Bella without saying a word to either of them.
"Well that was fun" Maya said sarcastically.
Jasper gave a snort and turned them around to begin heading back. "Oh, I'm sure it was. How that boy can be so blind to her faults though is a mystery. It's like he doesn't know her at all and instead has some weird idea in his head of what he thinks she is and ignores any sign or action that doesn't fit with that image."
"So you did hear our conversation then."
"Yes. Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not particularly. Instead, why don't you tell me why Emmet was all pouty when I saw him this morning?"
Jasper laughed at the memory and launched into the tale of how Emmet had gotten kicked out of Rosalie's bed after one of his pranks went wrong and ended with her having a bucket of motor oil dumped on her.
By the time the two returned home, they were both laughing, troubles with Edward and Bella temporarily forgotten.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The night before Bella and Edward were going to camp out on the mountain Edward invited Bella over for dinner. Everyone knew that he was going to ask Bella to marry him (again) and had left to go hunting in order to give them privacy.
Maya had also joined them stating that there was no way she would ever voluntarily be alone with those two while they had a "movie romance" moment. Normally she had no issues with couples expressing their love or PDA, but those two were just cringe in her opinion. For some reason they always went with over-the-top declarations or confessions, the type you see in those cheesy romance movies. Which again, is not bad every once in a while, but these two seemed determine to add one of those scenes into their every conversation! Like there has to be a limit of how many times you can tell someone that you would die for them or without them!
Which is why Maya was now out in the woods as the sun went down with Lucky. She had found a nice clearing near where the family typically hunted and was now playing with Lucky in cat form. At first she had merely curled up with a game on her phone, but the sight of Lucky running around and exploring had piqued her interest.
Now her phone was on the ground along with her clothes, as two black kittens of the same size played. They wrestled with each other, pouncing, batting with their paws or nibbling on the other. Every once in while something would distract one or both of them and they would pause to explore or chase after it before resuming their game.
The two spent hours playing like that, but eventually they both grew tired and curled up to sleep. And the sight Cullens returned to find was of two black kittens asleep, nestled against each other in amongst the roots of a tree.
The girls all cooed at the sight and snapped a few pictures before Jasper managed to pull the kittens out. Neither of them woke as Jasper lifted them up and handed Lucky off to Alice's waiting arms. Instead they merely snuggled deeper into the arms holding them.
"How do you do that?" Emmet asked, genuinely confused.
"Do what?" Jasper was careful to keep his voice down so he didn't wake Maya up.
"Tell them apart" Emmet clarified.
Jasper rolled his eyes. "The same way you would be able to tell them apart if one was Rose."
"Plus," he added, unable to stop himself from teasing his brother, "I happen to be an excellent vampire who knows how to use my senses properly."
Emmet glared at that, still upset that Jasper had won their hunting contest.
"Alright you two no fighting" Esme cut in, trying to head off the fight they could all see coming.
"Yes" Carlisle agreed. "Jasper, I believe Bella and Edward should be done by now. Why don't you take Maya home? I'm sure she would prefer sleeping on an actual bed."
Jasper nodded his agreement and quickly sped home, being careful to not jostle Maya as he did.
When they got back to his room, he laid her out on the bed gently. However, as he pulled back, he saw her eyes peak open and she slowly shifted back to her human form. "You're back quicker than I expected" she muttered.
"You do realize its practically dawn, right?" He asked with a smirk.
She stuck her tongue out at him in response. "You know, just for that reminder I won't ask you to cuddle with me."
He laughed at that and slid into bed next her, pulling her close as he did. "Ah Darlin' you know you never have to ask me for that."
"I know" she murmured, already almost asleep again, "and I love you for it."
Jasper smiled down at her as she drifted off the rest of the way and pressed a kiss to her head. "I love you too Darlin'."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next afternoon Bella and Edward headed off up the mountain, leaving the rest of the family with very little to do. They already knew where the battle would be and had their plan all laid out, which meant that all they had to do was show up and follow it tomorrow.
Originally they had all been spread out around the living room doing there own thing and being completely silent. But eventually it had become too much for Maya and Emmet. They had convinced their family to join them in a Mario Cart family tournament through a series of bribes, begging, and in Rose's case some expertly executed puppy dog eyes.
Despite some family member's initial reservations about playing, they all had fun, laughing and chatting as they raced. In the end, Alice managed to claim victory by bribing Rose and Maya to sabotage their respective mates. Both girls had, in the last minute of the race, grabbed the boys to bring them into some very heated kisses, causing them both to crash.
Emmet had had a dramatic breakdown, wailing about how he had been betrayed by his own wife. While Jasper had merely laughed and told him that at least he had gotten a kiss out of her cheating instead of Alice using her visions to win like she usually did. Which had shut him up.
From there they moved onto poker, which was interesting to say the least. Emmet and Esme had no poker face, making them ridiculously easy to read. But Carlisle's was pretty good. Maya suspected it came form all his years as a doctor where he had to keep his cool in front of patients. Rosalie also had a decent poker face, but she had a few tells that were pretty easy to pick up on if you were looking. Especially if her hand was garbage. The real challenges came in the form of Jasper and Alice. Jasper used his ability to read people's emotions and Alice used her visions to cheat.
In the end, Maya had resorted to the strategy of playing without playing. Meaning she wouldn't make any real decisions until the very last minute in order to muddle Alice's visions. Instead, she would fill her head with thoughts of Jasper and her in the bedroom to mislead Jasper's gift and hopefully distract him.
It worked pretty good for a while, with her winning a decent number of rounds, but eventually she grew too distracted to focus on the game. As the evening wore on, she noticed Jasper got quieter. Maya would also often catch him staring at her with an odd look, but did not question him about it.
She knew that this upcoming battle was stressing him out more than the others. He had confessed to her earlier that he felt it was his job to ensure that everyone made it out okay and she had done her best to reassure him that it wouldn't be his fault if someone got hurt. But she also knew her words hadn't helped as much as she wished. She desperately wanted to help him, but didn't know how.
A short while later Maya put down her cards, having once again lost and headed off to bed. While the vampires may not need to rest, she did. She headed up the stairs and into Jasper's room, flopping down on his bed with a groan.
However as she heard the door close, she sat back up to see that Jasper had followed her and now had a look of determination on his face.
"Is this the part where you tell me what's been bothering you all night?"
Jasper sighed and raked a hand through his hair before moving to cross the room. She met him half-way and he pulled her into his arms. "I know there's no point in trying to talk you out of fighting tomorrow, so I won't even try -"
"And I absolutely love you for that" Maya cut in.
"- But," Jasper carried on determinedly, "I will ask that you stay close to me, alright?"
Maya shot him a grin. "I think I can manage that, Cowboy. You are getting on in years after all. Probably slowed down some yeah? Stamina fading? I hear that's pretty common for a man of your age."
"I'm being serious Maya" Jasper said with a sigh.
Maya allowed the grin to fall from her face, growing serious as he said that. He rarely ever used her name, always calling her "Darlin'" or in Major's case "Doll".
"I want you to stay near me," he continued, "that way I can keep an eye on you and watch your back."
"Alright. I promise, I will do what I can to stay close to you."
"Good. I don't think I would survive losing you" he confessed and he gently brought his forehead down to meet hers.
"Well there's a coincidence, I don't think I would survive losing you either" Maya murmured softly, tilting her head back so their lips could meet.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, allowing their lips to dance gently across each other's.
Abruptly though, Jasper pulled back and looked down at her with a scowl. "Did you call me old?"
Maya let out a snort at that, wondering just how distracted he had been if he was only now registering that. "And if I did?"
"Well then Little Lady, I guess I'm just going to have to prove that I am just as capable as always. After all, I can't have you thinking that my stamina has faded in any way" he said with a smirk.
With that he sped both of them over to the bed,striping them of clothes as he did. When they hit the bed, Maya landing on her back with Jasper on top, he proceeded to demonstrate just how much stamina he had. Refusing to stop until she, between moans and gasps of pleasure, admitted that he was indeed still young where it counted.