21 | SLEEPING BEAUTY |

➖

IT WAS TOO BRIGHT.

Rory felt the sun shine upon her tanned, golden skin. She was wearing something loose and thin, a white gauze-like dress—clothing she hadn't worn in a long time since moving to Forks.

She couldn't remember the last time she felt so light. So free of worry and anxiety. Her heart felt full and her soul sang in the heat of the paradise she found herself in. She felt no pain, in fact her body felt a little numb.

She was lying on soft grass, basking in the warmth of the rising sun. Her head rested in someone's lap as the person brushed his long flawless hands through her long locks of black, shiny waves.

Rory opened her eyes to an angel.

"Where are we?" she asked Jasper, her eyes confused by their surroundings. They were sitting underneath a large oak tree in the middle of the forests of Forks. Vivid greens filled her peripheral and a bright, cloudless sky of blue hung over her.

This isn't real, she realized. Forks could never be this dry and sunny for so long. Also, Jasper wasn't sparkling as he should have been in such direct sun rays.

Jasper smiled sadly at her. "I'm so sorry, sweetheart."

Rory frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It was never supposed to be this way."

Then it all dawned on her. The baseball game. Driving to Phoenix. James phone call. The ballet studio. Pain. Darkness.

Then light.

Despite knowing what had led her to this moment, Rory felt happy in the arms of her Jasper. He seemed upset, no doubt feeling unnecessarily guilty for what happened to her regardless to the fact she had an inkling of what her fate lied in the second she agreed to go to the ballet studio with Bella.

"I think we both know that's a lie. I would have sacrificed my life for Bella the same as I would have for you or anyone I know. I came from a broken place, Jasper, a dark abyss without any hope for the future or life itself. Then, I met you. I finally learned what love is. And this town, Forks, became my home. My true family."

"You are my home, my family, my heart." He traced over her features, burning them into his brain though they had already been since they met months ago.

Rory smiled sadly and moved her hand over where his heart once beat. "And I'll be yours forever there."

"I never imagined forever would be so short," Jasper whispered, his face twisted in pain. The mask he once used to shield his feelings was long discarded.

Rory raised her hand to cup his cold, sculpted cheek. "Our forever is this moment." And she could accept it. She was never destined to become an immortal like the Cullens.

Jasper had seen so many years yet he had learned so much from this beautiful, kind, human girl in such little time. His time with Rory was a blink of an eye in the life of an immortal, but it had been the most precious months of his existence. It was all worth it to have loved her within a season than to not have loved her at all. But it all still hurt so much, her fate, his tragedy.

"I love you more than anything in this world and beyond."

"And I'll love you for longer than forever."

He bent over to lay a chaste kiss on her forehead, where his marble lips met her skin, a pulsing, lively heat spread throughout her body.

Rory smiled warmly as she caressed Jasper's smooth cheek. "Then again, true love's kiss always break the curse."

➖

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

The first thing Rory was aware of when she broke through the surface of consciousness that had been drowning her was the loud, obnoxious beeping of the hospital monitor.

"Sleeping beauty awakes," a smooth, deep voice drawled happily.

"Jasper?"

Her eyes shot open to the side of her bed where Jasper sat diligently, where he had been eagerly waiting for her to grace him with her warm, hazel gaze.

Their eyes met like magnets, helplessly drawn to each other and lighting up with life.

"Hi, sweetheart."

Jasper grinned beautifully and leaned over to kiss her properly, a deep hello that warmed every part of Rory, ensuring that she was truly alive, not dead as she believed. Jasper bent back to allow her to breath and for her heart to slow back down. He was as elegant as ever, leaning forward as he held her hand that was attached to the IV.

On the other hand, her left arm was in a bulky, white cast.

Great. Just in time for prom, she thought inappropriately. She should be more concerned with the fact that she was even awake.

Her throat felt like sandpaper and she swallowed hard before speaking. "I'm-I'm alive? How?" She was entirely too confused by the situation she awoke too, shocked yet deliriously happy to be alive.

She had sincerely thought she had died at the ballet studio; there had been so much blood and so much pain, others have died for less.

Jasper's face dropped. He stared at the hand he held in his. "You barely made it. After we killed James, you passed out from the concussion you got from him throwing you across the room into the mirror. Carlisle had to stitch you up before we could bring you and Bella here."

"And Bella?" She was slightly apprehensive of the answer. Last she remembered, Bella was becoming James's snack. From what she remembered about what Jasper told her about vampire bites, Bella had to be a vampire now or dead. She sincerely hoped it wasn't the latter or Rory's failed attempt to sacrifice herself would have been in ultimate vain.

"She's in the next room. Edward managed to remove the venom and stop it from turning her," Jasper admitted with a small shrug while Rory smiled in relief that her best friend didn't have crimson eyes or was lying in a casket. "Charlie's here...and so is your mother. She's getting some coffee."

"How long has it been?"

The nerdier part of Rory prayed it hadn't been six months or something because that meant she would have missed all her exams and all her hard work would have gone to waste. The more dominant, grateful part of Rory hoped her coma didn't make her miss too much of life to live.

"You've been asleep for two days."

She let out a sigh of relief despite Jasper's confused expression. She shrugged. "I didn't miss my final."

The couple's gaze met and they burst into laughter, easing the tension that had surrounded her state of condition.

He spent the next few minutes filling her in what happened and what they had told the public. Apparently car accidents were attracted to Rory. Some part of her twinged in pain at the remembrance of what happened in her last, real car accident, but she was also very lucky.

"You haven't eaten in that time, haven't you?" Rory observed his pitch black eyes. She wondered how he could still be in the hospital; the place was filled with blood and temptation at every inch.

"I've been here with you," he offered as an explanation. It was easy to distract himself from his burning throat when the girl he loved laid nearly dead in the white hospital bed. He had more concerns than being fed.

Rory rolled her eyes. "Well, Carlisle better bring you a coyote carcass or something because you won't be finding any deer here."

Jasper chuckled and brought her hand to his mouth. "I try to be romantic and you're reprimanding me for not eating like Esme." He kissed her hand. "Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll do whatever you want. Just don't pull a gone girl on me again."

Rory snorted. "You definitely did not watch that movie." She shook her head and grinned at him, squeezing his hand tightly. "And all I want to do is to go home."

Jasper grinned, his dimples deepened as he bent over to kiss her once more. They smiled into the kiss. Rory wished the moment would never end, but knew it would. However, she would accept being with Jasper Hale forever.

"Aurora!"

Jasper leaned back as Stella entered the hospital room with coffee in one hand and disbelief in her eyes.

Rory smiled nervously at her mother. "Hi, mama..."

➖

The seventeen year old girl smoothed over the wrinkles of her expensive gown once more, brushing off the crumbs of the cookie she had just stuffed in her mouth (all done with her one unharmed arm as the other hung uselessly in a cast). She stepped back from the mirror she had been making her last adjustments and smiled.

Four months ago, in that very room, albeit much emptier, this was a girl who had lost all will of living. This was a girl who had no hope for the future or expectations of happiness. She had been broken.

That girl was almost unrecognizable now.

Rory couldn't believe how incredibly great her life was, how everything had changed. She had moved on from her past, accepted the broken parts of her and mended it with the help of Forks and it's wonderful people. She had never expected to be so happy and so in love with life and with Jasper Whitlock Hale.

Meeting Jasper changed everything, as cliché as it was. He was her everything.

"You look so gorgeous, mija," Stella cooed as Rory entered the foyer. Rory's mother snapped as many pictures as possible of her daughter.

"Looking good, Rory," the man beside Stella nodded. Billy Black grinned at her, tipping his hat. "Jacob, take a picture of Stella and Rory, will you?"

Jacob set his bag of chips down on the kitchen table and nodded.

Rory wrapped her working arm around her mother happily partaking in the joyful atmosphere.

DING DONG

"I'll get that!" Rory shouted before anyone else could. She opened the door, immediately smiling brighter if possible, as Jasper Hale stepped inside.

He looked as handsome as ever in his dark

green tux that matched her dress. The color brought out the gold hue of his features.

"Hello."

"Hi."

They stared at each other for a long moment, reveling in the happiness they felt just by seeing each other.

CLINK

Jasper and Rory blinked at the flash of white as Stella took a photo of the couple. They laughed as she continued taking more. Beside her, Billy barely hid his contempt at the sight of Jasper Hale. He kept his expression neutral as the photoshoot continued, not intent on explaining his extreme abhorrence for the boyfriend of the daughter of the woman he was seeing.

"Look at the time!" Stella gasped after badgering Rory and Jasper for a few more pictures.

"Okay, yeah, we should leave now," Rory chuckled. She glanced at her prom date with a happy smile. "Shall we?" She offered her cast to him as he rolled his eyes.

"We shall," Jasper indulged, except wrapping his arm around her waist instead. He looked at the other inhabitants of the room.

"I'll bring her home before midnight."

"Good." Stella grinned at the couple as they walked out of the house towards the blue Jaguar parked in the driveway. "Be safe! Have fun! But not too much, remember what we discussed, mija!"

➖

Forks prom was just like any other high school dance except everyone wore formal clothing. It undeniably fun as Rory took turns swirling in the arms of her closest friends or jumping up and down to the beat.

Jasper smirked as the music slowed. He turned to look down at Rory, offering his hand. "Can I have this dance?"

Rory shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess you can."

Despite the crowded room full of dancing teenagers, Rory and Jasper only had eyes for each other.

"I don't think I've told you enough of how beautiful you are," Jasper said into her ear. "Green is a lovely color on you, sweetheart. Though, you are beyond beautiful in anything. Or nothing at all." He smirked as she laughed.

"Actually, I would have preferred crimson," Rory grinned as they slowly swayed in the corner of the dance floor. "I think it's more me than any other color."

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