Jasper had taken Maya straight up to his room when they had gotten back. He set her gently on the counter in his bathroom and began to run a bath for her. When the tub was full, he turned back to her and helped her strip before picking her up and placing her in the tub.
"You do realize that thanks to you, I am perfectly fine and you don't have to treat me like an invalid, right Love?" Maya teased, leaning back to look at him as he moved to grab some soap.
"I know Darlin', but I like taking care of you." He ducked his head then, "and besides, even if you weren't hurt in the end, I don't think I have ever been more scared than I was in those moments where I saw the van headed for you and Bella pulled you in front of her. Taking care of you is going a long way towards helping me let go of that terror." Not to mention the rage that makes me want to rush over to your house and tear Bella apart he added silently.
"Hm, well then, by all means pamper away." She smiled lazily at him, enjoying the feeling of his hands on her body. "Although you know this would be a lot better if you were actually in the bath with me."
He smiled at her and stood up to begin shedding clothes. When he was done, she moved forward in the bath to allow him to settle in behind her, leaning back when he was done to rest against his chest. The two stayed like that for a while, Jasper running one hand along her body as the other held her close. While she moved her hands to lightly run them up and down the arm around her chest absently tracing his scars, her eyes closed to enjoy the feeling of safety she got when she was in his arms.
When the bath finally began to get cold, they got out of the tub and Jasper gave her one of his shirts to wear. He tucked her into bed then and was about to pull away when she grabbed his hand.
"Can you stay?"
"Of course, I can Darlin'. But I will have to go at one point to talk with my family about what Edward did."
"That's okay, I just want to fall asleep in your arms. They always make me feel safe and it helps me to sleep better." Jasper wanted to growl in satisfaction at her words. Through his gift he knew that she trusted him and loved to be tucked into his arms, but that didn't stop him from practically growling in satisfaction at having her admit it freely to him. To have her acknowledge that she trusted him so much.
"Don't you worry Darlin', I will hold you until you fall asleep and then when the meeting is done, I will come right back." He settled in next to her, pulling her close so her head could rest on his chest.
Not too long later she drifted off to sleep, tired from the day's events. He continued to hold her and stroke her hair until Alice came to let him know that Carlisle was home and they were all gathering to discuss what had happened. He slowly untangled himself from Maya then, careful not to wake her, before making his way down the stairs hoping that this would be a quick meeting.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jasper leaned against the wall, holding back growls of irritation as his family was seated around the table arguing. Well, mainly it was just Edward and Rosalie yelling at each other as Carlisle and Esme tried to keep the peace.
"You nearly exposed us all to the humans!" Rosalie shrieked. Holding back a flinch as her voice pierced his ears, Jasper was once again thanking Esme for ensuring that all bedrooms were soundproof. If they weren't he was sure that all the yelling would have woken Maya by now.
"What did you want me to do?! Let her die?!" Edward yelled back.
"If it meant keeping this family safe, yes!"
"Why are you only blaming me?! Jasper interfered too!" Edward was furious that he was the only one in trouble. Jasper had also moved to stop the van and yet no one seemed to care!
"Jasper was only a few feet away, a distance a normal human could cover! You were on the other side of the parking lot! Not to mention he did it to save his mate!"
"And what if Bella is my mate?!"
"She's not! She's just your bloodsinger and now she's a risk to us all! One we have to get rid of!"
"Alright everyone, let's just calm down. Yelling like this won't solve anything" Carlisle interrupted calmly.
"Carlisle! You can't honestly agree with her?! We can't just kill Bella!" Edward turned to Carlisle and stared at him in shock. He was so sure that his father would be on his side in this matter.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous Edward! Of course, we have to kill her!" Rosalie turned to Carlisle then, "I can do it. I can slip in and make it so she never wakes up again. People will just say her head injury was worse than they thought."
Edward glared at this and turned to face Jasper, "and what do you think? Do you also think we should kill Bella? Your mate's sister?"
Jasper growled, knowing exactly what Edward was trying to do. "Given that Bella has done nothing but upset and lash out at Maya since she got here, and even tried to use her as a shield when the van was coming at them, I honestly couldn't care less what happened to that human."
He had been willing to tolerate her for the sake of his mate, but now that she had actually put Maya in danger, he was quickly coming to see her as a threat. He knew that her death would upset Maya and while he wanted to avoid that, if this human proved a threat to his family or his mate, he would gladly tear her apart.
Once Edward realized that Jasper would not be helping his cause, he turned away from him and continued to argue his side with the others. Jasper just stayed propped up against the wall, annoyed by the whole topic. It was clear what would happen; if Bella continued to ask questions, then she would have to die. As horrible as it sounded, that was the law and he was not going to just accept Edward putting their family in danger to break it.
Yes, he wanted his Maya happy and he knew killing Bella would upset her, but he was not willing to risk her safety for a human. Especially since he had already seen how Bella was upsetting her and was willing to use Maya as a shield to protect herself. He also secretly thought that Maya mainly only cared for the girl because Charlie did. After all she had admitted herself that she really only cared for Bella because they shared memories of their childhood and she was only keeping the peace and putting up with Bella's attitude because of Charlie.
Eventually, the discussion came to an end, with Carlisle declaring that they would hold off and see what Bella would do before they acted. He also cautioned that in the meantime they should all stay away from her and avoid arousing her suspicions anymore than they already were, staring at Edward as he said this.
Edward, in response to this had stormed off to his room to sulk, causing Jasper to roll his eyes. Sometimes his brother really did act like teenager. You would think he would have grown and matured out of it, but apparently being a vampire meant that he was stuck in that stage forever.
The rest of the family dispersed and he returned to his room after that, pulling Maya close as he slid back into bed with her. He had thought that she was asleep, but she proved him wrong when she shifted around to face him.
"So, what did you all decide?"
He reached up to stroke her hair, "we're gonna wait and see what she does. If she leaves it alone then we won't do anything. But if she keeps asking questions and puts us at risk ..." He trailed off then, not wanting to have to tell Maya that Bella would be killed.
Maya let out a sigh, "you'll have to do something won't you? Its okay, I know the law and I know just how lucky I am that my dad has never asked questions. I can't expect that Bella would be the same." She rolled away from him and stared up at the ceiling then, "I think what upsets me the most about this is that I am not as upset as I should be. I mean she is my sister and I am supposed to love her, but really the thing that bothers me most is the idea that if anything happens it will kill dad to lose her." She turned her head to look at him then, "does that make me an awful person?"
"No," he reached over to pull her close to him again, "you don't know her. From what you told me you were never close to her and she was never very kind to you. You two might as well be strangers living in the same house. So, no it doesn't make you an awful person for not caring as deeply as you think you should about someone you barely know."
"But that's just it, I do care about her. And yet, if it came down to it, I would choose you guys over her and I feel awful for knowing that I wouldn't really hesitate. Renee always said I had to look out for her because she needed me and yet, here I am turning away from her." Maya buried her head in his side as she talked.
Jasper let out a sigh, stroking her arm as he tilted his head back to consider her words. "It's okay to be confused Darlin' and I hope you know that we would all defend you too. But you also have to remember that Bella isn't a child anymore; she is old enough to look out for herself now. Which means that you may just have to let this play out."
"Yeah, I know" Maya said sadly as she snuggled into him.
"Go to sleep Darlin', you can worry about this more tomorrow." He sent her a tiny wave of exhaustion and calmness to push her already tired body over the edge and smiled as he felt her breathing steady out as she fell asleep