A/N: Okay, my muse is being quite capricious lately, and her demands grow tiresome. This was supposed to be a lemony good one shot, but she decided to give it a backstory, and alas, here is Chapter One. Bitch. No lemons this chapter, but I guarantee that this will be smut-filled by...Chapter 5 at the very least. :P

Hopefully she'll give me some inspiration to get Brighter than Sunshine & Sweet Catastrophe updated this weekend. Until then, hopefully her newest creation will keep you occupied. Give it a read and let me know what you think.

For those wondering, calefaction is just a fancy word for heat, or anger/passion. Also, I know this is listed as Bella x Jasper, but they don't make a threesome category, jerks. Eventually this will be Bella x Jasper x Edward. This is Japser POV. Feel free to hit me with a PM with any questions/comments!

-X

Calefaction

Chapter 1

Memory Lane

“Bella?!” My shout sliced sharply through the still night air, startling a flock of shrieking, terrified birds into flight. An echo of my query resounded somewhere to my left, Rosalie’s beautiful voice laced with fear. Emmett’s tense baritone parroted our call a few seconds later, perhaps a mile ahead. I knew that Edward, Alice, and Carlisle were all out here as well, buried deep in the dense forest surrounding our home, in search of the girl. Esme had opted to stay back at the house, in case Bella showed up, an idea that seemed less and less likely. My family’s agitation beat at me incessantly as we pursued every trace of her scent, pale wraiths moving with ungodly speed amongst the trees, but I couldn’t blame them. More and more of the fear I felt in response to this situation was mine. Bella had disappeared several hours ago, apparently without a trace.

To vanish completely off the radar, when seven vampires with preternatural senses were looking for you, well it took a lot more skill than a single, seventeen year old mortal possessed. Of course, she could be…

“Don’t,” Edward growled a low warning as he caught wind of my thoughts. How many times had he seen our human dead in the others’ heads this evening, and by how many means? I immediately wiped the slate of my mind clean.

The idea that Bella, our sweet, clumsy, adopted little human sister might be dead was beyond our comprehension. She’d only been with us seventeen short years . To lose her now would be devastating.

As I pushed deeper into the thick foliage, periodically calling to her, as well as seeking her emotions, a feat made nearly impossible with my family in such close proximity, I got to thinking of the first time I’d seen the girl.

Isabella Marie Cullen had been born September 13, 1987. I shook my head faintly, a fond smile curling my lips. Had it really been so long ago? It felt like only yesterday.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t been born into the best of families. With typically misguided human judgment, her birth mother had deemed her a burden far too great to bear, and she’d been abandoned at the hospital in which Carlisle was working, in the small town of Sequim, about 75 miles from Forks, where we made our current home. Not surprisingly, there were very few states other than Washington that offered us the weather necessary to proceed with our relatively normal lives.

Anyway, Carlisle, being Carlisle, had offered to take the infant home until an appropriate set of foster parents could be found for her. Now let it be known that it has been years since any of us has slipped up and consumed human blood, but to bring a mortal infant into a house full of vampires, well I don’t think I need to point out the numerous flaws in Carlisle‘s decision making. I will say that we were all quite flattered that he thought so highly of us.

But Carlisle was wise beyond our comprehension. The very second Esme and Rosalie had lain eyes on the child, before anyone could even get a very good look at the writhing, squawking bundle, it was made implicit that they would tear anyone or anything that looked to be a threat to the child to pieces so small that they would never be put back together. They’d nothing to fear, however. The thing was so tiny that the smell of her blood was easily overpowered by the other abhorrent odors she was so quick to produce.

Alice, Emmett, Edward and I had been less than impressed, and more than eager for the child to be returned to human parents, the sooner, the better.

Oh, but the expression on Alice’s face when the child had urinated on her new designer blouse. Truly priceless. With her abilities, you really would’ve thought she’d seen that coming.

Edward’s quiet laughter sounded from somewhere behind me, and I smiled as he joined me in my head to view my memories.

It had become apparent, quite quickly, that Rosalie and Esme were absolutely dreading the day when the child would leave our family. Carlisle, as well, seemed saddened by the prospect. Never mind the rest of us. It had taken only a few moments of pleading by Rosalie, and some rather persuasive feminine wiles by Esme for Carlisle to agree that we would take the child in permanently. My siblings and I had been astonished. A human child raised by a house full of vampires? It was like something out of a bad movie!

But Carlisle had signed the papers the very next day, refusing to budge on the issue, no matter how much Alice and Edward had begged.

“I don’t beg,” Edward loftily informed me, and I chuckled.

I remember some definite begging on your part.

“Obviously your memory is faulty. Besides, it’s not as though you were exactly silent on the matter.”

Esme didn’t even like that table. Or those lamps. And that China was hideous. I was simply doing her a favor by disposing of them.

Edward just chuckled.

It hadn’t taken long for the two devious women to convert Emmett to their team, luring him with the child’s antics and laughter, and he grew even more protective of the girl than the other two, if such a thing were possible. Eventually Alice grew enamored of dressing the child in frills and bows, as though she’d been given her own living, breathing doll, and we lost her as well. Who’d ever have thought that Edward and I would end up in such a partnership?

“Certainly not I.”

Nor I. Do you recall what happens next? My thoughts were colored with my smile.

“As though I could forget.”

It had been perhaps five years since the adoption of our Isabella, and Edward and I were still sullen on the subject. While the rest of the family romped about noisily with the child in one of the rooms we’d been forced to convert into a type of play room, Edward and I sulked on the couch, he with his nose in a book and I flipping through the channels at a pace that would’ve definitely given my inhuman status away.

Tiny feet, clad in whatever superfluously feminine shoes Alice had managed to find, scuffled over the hardwood floors and I froze at their approach; she usually avoided her two broody brothers, or perhaps we’d been avoiding her, I couldn‘t be entirely sure. Edward must‘ve heard her as well, because he too stiffened, closing his book. Emmett’s quiet, solid footsteps sounded just behind the child’s. She had her own six foot five puppy. Or guard dog as the case may be.

I’d scooted to the edge of the couch, on the verge of fleeing, when the small, gentle fluttering of her heart assaulted my ears. I turned instinctively toward the sound, my eyes widening in surprise. Standing primly in Emmett’s long shadow was a young girl, dressed all in pink. Her frilled, rosy petticoats came to rest just above her plump little knees, and her impossibly small feet were clad in shoes that must’ve taken hours to get into, for all of the buckles, buttons and lace. Chestnut curls rested neatly against her tiny shoulders, held back by two perfect bows. Her dark eyes seemed impossibly large for her round face, and held knowledge well beyond her five years. Could a child’s eyes be wise?

The thought startled me. Had Carlisle told her about us then? We’d known the day would come, eventually, when she would have to know our secrets. Had that day arrived?

I looked to Edward frantically, but he seemed just as astonished by the child as I was. How had she grown so quickly?

What’s she thinking? I requested silently of Edward.

His tawny eyes were focused on the child’s face, and he smiled faintly, his tone holding a hint of saddened awe as he replied so quickly the girl would not be able to hear.

“She thinks we look like angels.”

If only she knew, I thought sourly.

“She knows.”

So Carlisle had told her then, and she wasn’t in hysterics as a normal child may have been. Then again, to introduce her to such ideas when her mind had not yet shielded itself to protect against such notions was undoubtedly the best course of action. After all, it was children that believed in the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and the rest of that ilk.

She had tipped her head gently to one side, and was peering at us with avid curiosity. I suddenly wished for Edward’s ability. What was she thinking about us, what did she want to say? What did I even know about her? How many words had Edward or I spoken to her?

“None.”

Never? We’ve never interacted with her? I desperately tried to think of a time when Edward or myself had done something with the child. Cooked for her, changed her, played with her, sang to her, read her mind? Something?

“No,” he replied adamantly.

She stepped into the room, a tentative smile on her rosy cheeked little face. Emmett leaned against the door jam, grinning wryly. He was obviously enjoying our discomfort.

“He is. Far too much,” Edward verified.

The child came to stand before us. It was almost unnerving, the intensity with which she was staring. To think, a vampire made uncomfortable by a five year old human child. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity.

She seemed to take my laughter as invitation, for a brilliant smile lit her entire face, and she climbed up onto the cushion next to me. Or, she attempted to. Halfway up, her foot slipped off the fabric of the couch, and she went tumbling backward. Emmett’s terror skyrocketed to a point of blinding intensity and I could only stare, drowning in his fear, as she headed straight for the delicate glass coffee table.

Luckily, Edward, unaffected by Emmett’s desperate panic, reached out, lightly plucked the flailing girl from the air, and set her safely between us. Emmett’s relief was so profound that I wondered if he might be brought to his knees by the sudden range of emotions.

Isabella’s heart was racing wildly from her near miss, but she offered Edward the most angelic smile I’d ever seen.

“Thank you very much, Edward.” Her little voice was like a crystal bell, ringing musically throughout the room.

Edward seemed taken aback. Perhaps he was surprised that she could speak? The idea irritated me for reasons I couldn‘t name. She was human, not an animal.

“I know that,” he snapped sharply, at a speed beyond human comprehension, before turning his eyes on the girl. “You’re welcome, Isabella,” he replied cordially, if a little stiffly.

She blinked those wide eyes and shook her head gently. The sweet scent of raspberries and vanilla drifted up from her bobbing curls.

“Just Bella, please,” she demanded.

Amusement washed over me from Edward, and I glanced at him in surprise.

Resolve’s weakening, huh?

He didn’t respond, and I shook my head. So our little sister was cute. She was a child, that was to be expected. It didn’t negate the fact that she had been unwillingly thrust upon us, intruding and insinuating herself into our daily lives. Because of her, ours was a family divided.

“Did you ever think, Jasper, that perhaps it is because of us that our family is divided?” he murmured swiftly.

I started at the idea, turning to stare at Edward as though his sanity had fled.

No. Came my instant, unwavering reply.

“The child has brought nothing but joy and happiness to the rest of our family, but because we refuse her, they feel guilt for enjoying her presence. We separate ourselves, avoid our own home, simply to escape her. How is this her fault?”

I mulled over his words broodingly, refusing to find truth in them. If the child had not been brought to us, then things would be as they were meant to be, as they had been. Rosalie and Emmett would be on their umpteenth honeymoon and Alice, Edward and I would be traveling the world, exploring places we’d never seen. But instead, here we all were, taking care of the brat.

Edward grimaced at my acerbic thoughts, and I frowned at him. It had not been so long ago that his musings on the child closely echoed my own.

Traitor, I thought sullenly.

“Excuse me, Jasper?”

Warm, tiny fingers curled around the cuff of my shirt, and tugged insistently. I turned a frosty look upon the child. I half expected her to recoil, but she simply smiled her sweet smile and waited for my reply.

“Yes?” My tone matched my eyes.

“Well, I was just wondering. Can you see the future, like Alice?”

I shook my head curtly, unwilling to offer more of an answer than that. How would one explain empath abilities to a five year old child? The idea was incredibly unappealing.

“Are you sure? Cause daddy told me that you and Edward had some special powers, like Alice,” she nodded solemnly.

Daddy? Did she mean…Carlisle? I would need a moment to adjust to the shock of that.

Edward smoothly picked up where I’d denied Bella answers.

“Well, Bella. Jasper and I can’t see the future, like Alice can, but I can read minds. And Jasper?” Edward paused, searching his vocabulary for words that would be understandable to a child. “Jasper can tell how you‘re feeling, and sometimes he can make you feel things.”

She nodded slowly, and I could almost see the wheels in her head spinning as she processed this influx of information.

“So, you can read my mind, even if I don’t want you to?” She asked the question as though the very idea were an affront to her delicate sensibilities.

Unable to help himself any longer, Edward’s smile broke free, though he nodded seriously.

“I see,” her little voice was a whisper. “Can you stop yourself from reading minds?”

“No, unfortunately, I cannot.”

“Have you ever read my mind before?”

He shook his head slowly and I felt a faint wave of chagrin from him.

“Why not?”

The question gave him pause. Obviously he didn‘t want to blurt out the truth, which was because he‘d despised her very presence in our lives, but she was obviously an intelligent child, so he‘d have to make the lie believable. “Well, when you were a baby, your thoughts weren’t quite as well formed as they are now, and I couldn’t read them. And now, it just didn’t seem polite to do so without permission.”

It was an excellent excuse, I had to admit, and perhaps with a child who hadn’t been raised by a house full of quick-witted vampires, it’d have worked. But judging by the concise clarity of her words and her lexicon, it was obvious that Carlisle had been teaching her personally. She bristled beside me.

“You know what else isn’t polite, Edward?” By his shocked expression, he’d plucked the answer out of her head already. I was, however, quite curious as to what she was thinking that’d warrant that particular face. “Lying. Mommy says that lying is not a good thing to do at all.” She frowned, something striking her suddenly. “Unless it’s to keep our big secret.” Our big secret. That was a nice way of putting things.

“You’re right, Bella. I’m sorry that I lied to you. I didn’t read your mind before now, because I didn’t like you.” I could sense no malicious intent behind the words, he was just being honest with her, as she’d requested.

Emmett’s low growl echoed throughout the room, and he took a menacing step forward. I glanced at him in surprise. Protective was an understatement. Bella smiled sweetly at him, shaking her head.

“It’s okay, Emmett. Sometimes the truth is not nice.” She turned back to Edward. “Well, Edward, thank you for telling me the truth. I still like you.” I sensed a faint wave of hurt emanating from her, she couldn’t understand why Edward disliked her. Just as quickly, it disappeared, and she turned to me excitedly.

“Jasper, can you teach me how to ride a horse? Alice says you used to a real live cowboy!”

A cowboy? Alice and I were going to have a talk later.

“I don’t know if you’d call me a cowboy, really,” I replied stiffly, avoiding her question.

She saw right through my evasion.

“Do you know how to ride a horse?”

I shifted uncomfortably. “Well, yes.”

She climbed up to her knees, clinging to my shirt as she brought her little face close to mine. Her breath smelled sweetly, and I didn’t doubt for a second that every single member of my family had been sneaking her candy before dinner time. She suddenly threw her warm arms around me, though they didn‘t even make it halfway, and rested her chin on my shoulder. Her chocolate eyes widened and she peered up at me pleadingly.

“Please, please, brother, teach me how to ride a horse?”

It was right then, that very moment, that I was lost. As she peered at me with such trust, such excitement, I realized why I’d felt so uncomfortable in her presence. Beneath the fleeting, fickle surface of her interchangeable emotions, one very prominent feeling lingered, never wavering.

Love.

She loved me. And Edward, and Emmett. Carlisle, Esme, Alice and Rosalie.

We were her family.

And though Edward and I had studiously avoided her for five years, we were her brothers, and she still selflessly offered us that unconditional familial love that we’d been denying her.

Edward must’ve picked up on my thoughts, as I felt an incredible wave of regret, followed swiftly by longing roll off of him. He suddenly stole the girl from me, setting her gently in his lap. She giggled, pleased by his sudden acceptance.

“What about the piano, Bella? Would you like to learn to play?”

Her eyes grew comically wide and she nodded, loosing a little squeal as she looked at Emmett. “Hear that, Em? I get to play the piano!”

“I hear that, Bells.” Emmett was smiling indulgently, and I could almost visibly see the tension caused by our previous dissention ease.

I scowled at Edward, reaching over and tugging Bella back to me, wrapping my arms lightly around her. I had to remember, she was still a human, a human child, and quite breakable at that.

“But first, you’ll learn to ride a horse,” I promised. I felt like I had a lot of time to make up for.

“Piano first,” Edward argued, obviously feeling the same as I.

“Horse.”

“Piano.”

Suddenly Emmett was across the room, scooping the girl up to hold her by her ankles in the air.

“First, wrestling!” He declared with a booming laugh.

Panic flooded me. Whether from Emmett’s actions or his words, I couldn’t decide. Bella laughed, thrashing wildly against Emmett’s hold. Dear lord, what if he dropped her. Her fragile little skull, the floor.

I jerked to my feet, ripping her out of his grasp, just as Edward stood, I assumed, to do the same.

“Emmett! Be careful!” I admonished, cradling my little sister to my chest.

Edward fussed over her, tucking her hair neatly back into place with his cool hands, straightening her clothes, while Emmett just laughed and collapsed onto the couch, grabbing the abandoned remote.

It’d been the beginning of twelve wonderful years. We’d taught her everything we could, all of us. Carlisle imparting his knowledge of science and logic, Esme her wonderful sense of compassion and love. Emmett had taught her to fight (thought with the poor girl’s inherent clumsiness it had seemed a futile lesson), and to cheat at poker. Poor Alice had tried, was still trying, to convince Bella that just because clothing was comfortable did not mean it was fashionable. Rosalie had reminded our sister everyday to appreciate her humanity. Edward had taught her of all things beautiful; music and art, books and poetry. And I…What had I brought to our relationship? I shook my head, unable to decipher any qualities in myself that I’d wish to instill in her.

Maybe I’d be able think if that incessant thudding would stop for just a second, I thought irritably.

It took perhaps a millisecond for the significance of that beating to take hold in my quick, vampire mind, and I was ripping through the woods in search of its source.

Bella, Bella, Bella. I chanted silently as I neared the faltering, labored heart.

“Here!” I roared, my shout echoing like a thunder crack through the quiet forest.

And there she was.

Pale, still as death, she was curled onto her side in the underbrush. Her breathing was shallow, gasping and labored as it forced its way in and out of her lungs.

“Bella,” I murmured brokenly, as the frantic steps of the others began to approach.

I dropped to my knees at her side, running my cool fingers over her forehead. She was burning to the touch, even more so than usual, and I jerked my hand away with a hiss.

Edward was next to arrive, and he immediately leaned down to draw her into his arms. I halted him with a mute shake of my head.

Wait for Carlisle. If it’s a neck or back injury…

He recoiled at the idea of hurting her further.

It felt like hours for the others to arrive, though I knew it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. Rosalie burst through the trees, Emmet close behind, crying sharply, “Is she…?”

“She’s alive,” I hastily advised, “But something’s wrong with her.”

Rosalie gave a short pained gasp, and stumbled toward us. She knelt at Bella’s head, leaning over the girl she’d come to think of not only as a sister, but a daughter. Her shoulders shook, and her grief fairly poured from her. I knew that if our kind was able to cry, Rose would be sobbing unabashedly right now.

Emmett shifted from foot to foot, anxious for some way to help.

Alice slid in next to Emmett, her eyes flashing wildly, blank one moment, coherent the next. I frowned and glanced at Edward for help reading her.

What’s up with Alice?

“The visions are changing. Rapidly. She can barely get a hold of them,” he murmured, slipping his hand into Bella’s.

Carlisle was suddenly at my side, kneeling beside Bella’s prone form.

“What’s wrong with her?” Emmett demanded.

“Give me a second, Emmett, and I’ll tell you,” Carlisle replied tersely. It was the closest to anger I’d ever felt him achieve with one of his children.

He ran his hands lightly over Bella, performing perfunctory examinations of the placement of her bones and organs.

“She’s really warm,” I declared, feeling rather foolish as soon as the words had left my mouth.

“Yeah, Jasper, she’s alive,” Emmett replied sarcastically.

I growled a low warning in his direction. Now was not the time.

Carlisle placed a hand lightly on one of Bella’s pale cheeks, nodding slightly.

“Actually, Jasper, I think you’re right. I can’t be certain by touch, obviously, but she may have a fever. I don’t think anything’s broken.” He reached down to take Bella in his arms, and Rosalie snarled softly. I was shocked by her bestial behavior toward Carlisle, but he just smiled gently and nodded, allowing Rosalie to gather Bella close. We stood, relieved to have found her alive, but all of us curious as to her condition and what had happened.

“We need to get her back to the house,” Carlisle declared unnecessarily. Rose was already sprinting through the trees. I glanced at Edward worriedly.

What do you suppose is wrong?

He shrugged, shaking his head, before following swiftly on Rose’s heels. The others filed after them, until I was the only one left. I cast my eyes to the ground where I’d found her, and a small glint in the grass caught my eye. I knelt slowly, running my hand carefully over the ground. I grasped a bit of metal, tugging it out of the soil. I straightened, frowning at the delicate silver bracelet dangling from my fingers, a single charm, the Cullen family crest shining gently in the moonlight.

I tucked the bauble in my pocket, sprinting after the others.

Bella would want it back when she awoke.

A/N: Yes, no, maybe? Give me a review and let me know. :)