Fanfic--The Proper Way to Treat a Lady
Title: The Proper Way to Treat a Lady
Author: SirenPrincess
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Hints at the type of thing in Rosalie’s past
Genre: Angst, Drama, Friendship Fic
Characters and Pairing: Jasper and Rosalie friendship, pairings are still Jasper/Alice and Emmett/Rosalie
Spoilers: Eclipse
Word Count: 2,125
Summary: Having an aggressive, overprotective brother isn’t always a bad thing.
Disclaimer: This work is based on characters and situations created and owned by Stephenie Meyer, various publishers and film makers including but not
limited to Little, Brown Books and Summit Entertainment. No money is
being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author’s Note: After reading Beautiful, one of my readers (I-like-chickens on ff.net) requested a story where Jasper and Rosalie actually share a relationship. I don’t do fluff, so this is what came to mind. It’s the start of Jasper and Rosalie beginning to understand each other a little better and actually form a bond. It is also my response to the Twilight20 prompt Rage.
Special thanks to Pinkowitch, both for your beta work and for the interesting discussions. Only you could have me researching sexual mores during the Civil War.
~~~~~~~~Jasper~~~~~~~~
Desire. Lust. Greed. I groaned. I had become accustomed to the almost constant state of arousal that all teenage boys seemed to exist in. Attending high school meant that I was constantly drowning in their emotions. This was different, though. Someone was feeling so lascivious that he was all but overcome with his carnal desires. The last thing I needed while fighting my own ravenous cravings was to be overwhelmed with someone else’s erotic desires. Thank God the torturous day was almost over.
I instinctively searched for the thread of Alice’s emotions. I often used her to center myself. When I started to lose control, her emotions were the one thing that could help me hold myself together. Unfortunately, she was quite some distance away. Carlisle had insisted that Rosalie and I pose as twins. Our disguise was more believable if we incorporated people’s assumptions into it. No one ever believed that Alice and I were the same age, so we were separated. Our class schedules were completely different. I was already in the parking lot since my class had dismissed early. Rosalie was up ahead of me somewhere, probably already at the car. The rest of our siblings were still in class, though, and Alice was too distant for me to really feel her over the chaotic swirling of the rest of the school.
The lewd emotions were only getting worse. Even without being able to read thoughts it was obvious to me what was happening. Some boy had lost his mind to his libido. I could feel his emotions become even more obscene as he coveted some girl that was extremely annoyed with him. He wanted her and did not seem to care at all about her thoughts on the matter.
Anger. Rage. Fury. The power of those emotions made my head spin. Humans, no matter how upset, never felt that strongly. Beings of my own kind were the only ones capable of experiencing anything with that much intensity. Even vampire emotions were rarely this potent. As I struggled to separate myself from the onslaught, I realized who the source had to be: Rosalie.
I knew what I would see before I found her with my eyes. She was at the car. Three boys surrounded her. One of them had his hand on her hip. I was right about the boy losing his mind to his sexual urges. Only true insanity would be enough to overcome the natural aversion humans had to us. The look on Rosalie’s face was enough to scare a person to death. Even so, I could still hear his demeaning calls. “Come on, baby, don’t be like that. We just want to get to know you a little better.” The greed and desire in his emotions had not faltered in the slightest. Did he honestly intend to try to force himself on Rosalie?
“Don’t. Touch. Me!” she growled between her clenched teeth. This was not good. No, it was not good at all. Rosalie wasn’t just upset or annoyed. She had lost her mind to the rage. It was so overwhelming, it was almost impossible for me to think clearly as it flooded me. I had no idea why she was reacting the way she was. The teen’s behavior was inappropriate, but surely she could put him in his place. Yet, I didn’t need Alice’s foresight to know that this was going to end badly. Both of them had lost everything rational in their heads. They were consumed by the emotions. Rosalie was so furious she was going to rip the boy to shreds right in front of several dozen witnesses.
I had to stop it, but what could I do? I could easily protect her. I would have thoroughly enjoyed snapping the pervert’s neck, but I couldn’t do that for the exact same reason Rosalie couldn’t properly defend herself. There were too many witnesses. I tried to pull into myself and think logically. What would a human do if confronted with this situation? Mimicking humans was not something I was good at. I had enough difficulty pretending to be human in everyday situations. Could I really pull off trying to fight like a human? I tried to recall how humans fought. They didn’t rip each other apart, limb by limb. My own memories were useless; I couldn’t remember fighting when you weren’t trying to kill your opponent. I’d seen other teens scuffle before, although I hadn’t been paying much attention. I’d been too concerned about getting away before blood became involved. Yelling, they often started with yelling. Then there was shoving and punching.
I was at her side seconds later. My mind was racing, but my body had reacted faster. “Get your hands off of my sister!” I ordered. The mantra of “like a human, like a human, like a human” ran through my head over and over again as I acted. I shoved him with the tiniest, gentlest tap I could manage. He still went flying a good six feet before falling to the pavement. His friends were shocked, but I couldn’t let them see my own surprise at the force of my weak push. I had to make it seem like I’d hit him with all of my strength if this was going to come off as at all believable.
Besides, I had bigger concerns. The rage controlling Rosalie had not abated. I had enough experience to recognize when a vampire was going to act on her feelings regardless of reason or consequence. I couldn’t let her do that. I had to calm her down. That was something within my power to do, but Rosalie had strictly forbidden me from ever affecting her. Manipulating her emotions was completely off limits. I had always respected that boundary, but I couldn’t this time. If she killed him, we would have to massacre half of the school to keep our secret. No one wanted that. I wished that I could apologize to her for doing what I must as I toned down her anger. I was careful not make her feel anything she wouldn’t have wanted to; I just brought her fury down to a more controllable level.
“No need to overreact, man. We weren’t bothering her. We were all just having a little bit of fun,” the moron tried to explain. Was he actually getting up to confront me about this? He should have been intimidated by me, enough to instinctively run away at the mere sight of me. He wasn’t, and he didn’t. My tossing him like a rag doll had done nothing to deter him. Neither his brain nor his gut was controlling his body anymore. I’d have liked to have given him a healthy dose of fear, but I couldn’t while I was still calming Rosalie. The two emotions were too divergent to try to create at the same time.
“I believe I heard her say ‘no,’” I growled. Rosalie’s anger was affecting me more than I’d realized. Although I’d taken the edge off of her, she was still emoting strongly. I was soaking it all in as I tried to sedate her. Aggression was taking control of me. I had to remind myself why I couldn’t just rip his offending arm off. The Volturi would intercede if we left any witnesses. I didn’t want to feel the pain and terror of slaughtering so many.
“Well, she did, but . . . we thought, well, you know how girls . . .”
I could not let him finish that sentence. There was no way that I could stop Rosalie from erupting if he said what I knew he would. Her rage was boiling over already despite my efforts. I couldn’t punch him. I’d break half of the bones in his face, no matter how gentle I tried to be. There was only one option, but that meant abandoning my efforts on Rosalie. It was the only choice. She was already beyond my ability to control. I switched my concentration to the lead boy. I flooded him with fear until nothing but sheer terror coursed through him. His eyes were wild with panic. He was about to run, but my own anger didn’t want to let him off that easy.
“Apologize to the lady,” I demanded. I’d lost all pretense of pretending to be her brother. My mind was elsewhere, in another time.
“Sorry,” the boy gasped between sobs. He was trembling and about ready to wet himself. I wanted more. I wanted to rip his limbs off; I wanted to decapitate him.
Relief. Safe. Loved. The emotions confused me until I remembered that they were not likely my own. I turned to Rosalie and found her staring gratefully at Emmett. He was running to her as quickly as our human charade would allow. I was certain that he knew exactly what was going on. Edward would have heard the whole thing; Alice would have seen it. They were right behind him.
“If you ever come anywhere near me again, you are dead,” Rosalie hissed. It probably seemed more meaningful to the humans with Edward, Emmett, and me beside her. The three of us together were the definition of terrifying, but we all knew that Rosalie was the real threat in this case.
They took off at a run without daring to look back at us. I watched them, itching to pursue them and rip them apart, until Alice snaked her arm around my waist. It was always her emotions that reigned my inner demon back in.
Emmett had his arm around Rosalie. “Are you okay?” he asked with genuine concern. Physically she was fine, but I could feel the emotional pain she was in. She felt the way I did when tortured by old memories. I stared at her in confusion as Emmett kissed her forehead.
Guilt overwhelmed me. I probably hadn’t handled that as well as I should have. “Rosalie, I’m truly sorry. I didn’t want to affect your emotions at all. I never wanted to . . . violate your boundaries, but . . .” What could I say to explain this? “Killing him would have exposed us. I know how much you hate moving on. The amount of death we would have had to deal out to control this would have had us running for a very long time.” I didn’t regret my choice. I wouldn’t put Alice through a life like that, but I was ashamed of the methods I’d had to use to accomplish my goal. I didn’t want to force my power on my allies.
“Thank you,” Rosalie sighed. Her words took me by surprise, but I knew she meant it. She felt relieved. She was grateful to me for the help.
I shrugged, unsure of what to say. I’d done what I had to.
“That . . . the way you reacted to them. That wasn’t just about preventing exposure, though, was it? The way you talked . . . That was about something more, wasn’t it?” she asked.
I nodded. I had no tolerance for men that disrespected women. The army might have tolerated it, but I did not. “I will never let a man treat a lady in that manner,” I said aloud.
I shouldn’t have asked the next question, but I had to know. “Your reaction wasn’t about those boys either, was it?”
She wasn’t angry at me for the question. She shook her head and then buried it in Emmett’s shoulder.
Perhaps I wasn’t the only one in the family with past horrors and shames. And maybe, just maybe, Rosalie and I could get along after all.
********
Comments are greatly appreciated. Oh, and if you haven't read "Beautiful", you might like that as well. All of my Twilight fics are linked here.
Author: SirenPrincess
Rating: Teen
Warnings: Hints at the type of thing in Rosalie’s past
Genre: Angst, Drama, Friendship Fic
Characters and Pairing: Jasper and Rosalie friendship, pairings are still Jasper/Alice and Emmett/Rosalie
Spoilers: Eclipse
Word Count: 2,125
Summary: Having an aggressive, overprotective brother isn’t always a bad thing.
Disclaimer: This work is based on characters and situations created and owned by Stephenie Meyer, various publishers and film makers including but not
limited to Little, Brown Books and Summit Entertainment. No money is
being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author’s Note: After reading Beautiful, one of my readers (I-like-chickens on ff.net) requested a story where Jasper and Rosalie actually share a relationship. I don’t do fluff, so this is what came to mind. It’s the start of Jasper and Rosalie beginning to understand each other a little better and actually form a bond. It is also my response to the Twilight20 prompt Rage.
Special thanks to Pinkowitch, both for your beta work and for the interesting discussions. Only you could have me researching sexual mores during the Civil War.
~~~~~~~~Jasper~~~~~~~~
Desire. Lust. Greed. I groaned. I had become accustomed to the almost constant state of arousal that all teenage boys seemed to exist in. Attending high school meant that I was constantly drowning in their emotions. This was different, though. Someone was feeling so lascivious that he was all but overcome with his carnal desires. The last thing I needed while fighting my own ravenous cravings was to be overwhelmed with someone else’s erotic desires. Thank God the torturous day was almost over.
I instinctively searched for the thread of Alice’s emotions. I often used her to center myself. When I started to lose control, her emotions were the one thing that could help me hold myself together. Unfortunately, she was quite some distance away. Carlisle had insisted that Rosalie and I pose as twins. Our disguise was more believable if we incorporated people’s assumptions into it. No one ever believed that Alice and I were the same age, so we were separated. Our class schedules were completely different. I was already in the parking lot since my class had dismissed early. Rosalie was up ahead of me somewhere, probably already at the car. The rest of our siblings were still in class, though, and Alice was too distant for me to really feel her over the chaotic swirling of the rest of the school.
The lewd emotions were only getting worse. Even without being able to read thoughts it was obvious to me what was happening. Some boy had lost his mind to his libido. I could feel his emotions become even more obscene as he coveted some girl that was extremely annoyed with him. He wanted her and did not seem to care at all about her thoughts on the matter.
Anger. Rage. Fury. The power of those emotions made my head spin. Humans, no matter how upset, never felt that strongly. Beings of my own kind were the only ones capable of experiencing anything with that much intensity. Even vampire emotions were rarely this potent. As I struggled to separate myself from the onslaught, I realized who the source had to be: Rosalie.
I knew what I would see before I found her with my eyes. She was at the car. Three boys surrounded her. One of them had his hand on her hip. I was right about the boy losing his mind to his sexual urges. Only true insanity would be enough to overcome the natural aversion humans had to us. The look on Rosalie’s face was enough to scare a person to death. Even so, I could still hear his demeaning calls. “Come on, baby, don’t be like that. We just want to get to know you a little better.” The greed and desire in his emotions had not faltered in the slightest. Did he honestly intend to try to force himself on Rosalie?
“Don’t. Touch. Me!” she growled between her clenched teeth. This was not good. No, it was not good at all. Rosalie wasn’t just upset or annoyed. She had lost her mind to the rage. It was so overwhelming, it was almost impossible for me to think clearly as it flooded me. I had no idea why she was reacting the way she was. The teen’s behavior was inappropriate, but surely she could put him in his place. Yet, I didn’t need Alice’s foresight to know that this was going to end badly. Both of them had lost everything rational in their heads. They were consumed by the emotions. Rosalie was so furious she was going to rip the boy to shreds right in front of several dozen witnesses.
I had to stop it, but what could I do? I could easily protect her. I would have thoroughly enjoyed snapping the pervert’s neck, but I couldn’t do that for the exact same reason Rosalie couldn’t properly defend herself. There were too many witnesses. I tried to pull into myself and think logically. What would a human do if confronted with this situation? Mimicking humans was not something I was good at. I had enough difficulty pretending to be human in everyday situations. Could I really pull off trying to fight like a human? I tried to recall how humans fought. They didn’t rip each other apart, limb by limb. My own memories were useless; I couldn’t remember fighting when you weren’t trying to kill your opponent. I’d seen other teens scuffle before, although I hadn’t been paying much attention. I’d been too concerned about getting away before blood became involved. Yelling, they often started with yelling. Then there was shoving and punching.
I was at her side seconds later. My mind was racing, but my body had reacted faster. “Get your hands off of my sister!” I ordered. The mantra of “like a human, like a human, like a human” ran through my head over and over again as I acted. I shoved him with the tiniest, gentlest tap I could manage. He still went flying a good six feet before falling to the pavement. His friends were shocked, but I couldn’t let them see my own surprise at the force of my weak push. I had to make it seem like I’d hit him with all of my strength if this was going to come off as at all believable.
Besides, I had bigger concerns. The rage controlling Rosalie had not abated. I had enough experience to recognize when a vampire was going to act on her feelings regardless of reason or consequence. I couldn’t let her do that. I had to calm her down. That was something within my power to do, but Rosalie had strictly forbidden me from ever affecting her. Manipulating her emotions was completely off limits. I had always respected that boundary, but I couldn’t this time. If she killed him, we would have to massacre half of the school to keep our secret. No one wanted that. I wished that I could apologize to her for doing what I must as I toned down her anger. I was careful not make her feel anything she wouldn’t have wanted to; I just brought her fury down to a more controllable level.
“No need to overreact, man. We weren’t bothering her. We were all just having a little bit of fun,” the moron tried to explain. Was he actually getting up to confront me about this? He should have been intimidated by me, enough to instinctively run away at the mere sight of me. He wasn’t, and he didn’t. My tossing him like a rag doll had done nothing to deter him. Neither his brain nor his gut was controlling his body anymore. I’d have liked to have given him a healthy dose of fear, but I couldn’t while I was still calming Rosalie. The two emotions were too divergent to try to create at the same time.
“I believe I heard her say ‘no,’” I growled. Rosalie’s anger was affecting me more than I’d realized. Although I’d taken the edge off of her, she was still emoting strongly. I was soaking it all in as I tried to sedate her. Aggression was taking control of me. I had to remind myself why I couldn’t just rip his offending arm off. The Volturi would intercede if we left any witnesses. I didn’t want to feel the pain and terror of slaughtering so many.
“Well, she did, but . . . we thought, well, you know how girls . . .”
I could not let him finish that sentence. There was no way that I could stop Rosalie from erupting if he said what I knew he would. Her rage was boiling over already despite my efforts. I couldn’t punch him. I’d break half of the bones in his face, no matter how gentle I tried to be. There was only one option, but that meant abandoning my efforts on Rosalie. It was the only choice. She was already beyond my ability to control. I switched my concentration to the lead boy. I flooded him with fear until nothing but sheer terror coursed through him. His eyes were wild with panic. He was about to run, but my own anger didn’t want to let him off that easy.
“Apologize to the lady,” I demanded. I’d lost all pretense of pretending to be her brother. My mind was elsewhere, in another time.
“Sorry,” the boy gasped between sobs. He was trembling and about ready to wet himself. I wanted more. I wanted to rip his limbs off; I wanted to decapitate him.
Relief. Safe. Loved. The emotions confused me until I remembered that they were not likely my own. I turned to Rosalie and found her staring gratefully at Emmett. He was running to her as quickly as our human charade would allow. I was certain that he knew exactly what was going on. Edward would have heard the whole thing; Alice would have seen it. They were right behind him.
“If you ever come anywhere near me again, you are dead,” Rosalie hissed. It probably seemed more meaningful to the humans with Edward, Emmett, and me beside her. The three of us together were the definition of terrifying, but we all knew that Rosalie was the real threat in this case.
They took off at a run without daring to look back at us. I watched them, itching to pursue them and rip them apart, until Alice snaked her arm around my waist. It was always her emotions that reigned my inner demon back in.
Emmett had his arm around Rosalie. “Are you okay?” he asked with genuine concern. Physically she was fine, but I could feel the emotional pain she was in. She felt the way I did when tortured by old memories. I stared at her in confusion as Emmett kissed her forehead.
Guilt overwhelmed me. I probably hadn’t handled that as well as I should have. “Rosalie, I’m truly sorry. I didn’t want to affect your emotions at all. I never wanted to . . . violate your boundaries, but . . .” What could I say to explain this? “Killing him would have exposed us. I know how much you hate moving on. The amount of death we would have had to deal out to control this would have had us running for a very long time.” I didn’t regret my choice. I wouldn’t put Alice through a life like that, but I was ashamed of the methods I’d had to use to accomplish my goal. I didn’t want to force my power on my allies.
“Thank you,” Rosalie sighed. Her words took me by surprise, but I knew she meant it. She felt relieved. She was grateful to me for the help.
I shrugged, unsure of what to say. I’d done what I had to.
“That . . . the way you reacted to them. That wasn’t just about preventing exposure, though, was it? The way you talked . . . That was about something more, wasn’t it?” she asked.
I nodded. I had no tolerance for men that disrespected women. The army might have tolerated it, but I did not. “I will never let a man treat a lady in that manner,” I said aloud.
I shouldn’t have asked the next question, but I had to know. “Your reaction wasn’t about those boys either, was it?”
She wasn’t angry at me for the question. She shook her head and then buried it in Emmett’s shoulder.
Perhaps I wasn’t the only one in the family with past horrors and shames. And maybe, just maybe, Rosalie and I could get along after all.
********
Comments are greatly appreciated. Oh, and if you haven't read "Beautiful", you might like that as well. All of my Twilight fics are linked here.