Gently // jasper hale [Completed]

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"Her mother wanted a closed casket. Couldn't bear to face her, I suppose. I couldn't go to the funeral, it was a bright, sunny day. It was very Daisy," Jasper told her quietly. "A week after she was laid to rest, her mother called me, asking me to come over and take any of her belongings I wanted because it was all getting put into storage. I took her books, as you can see, and all of the photos of us."

Truthfully, he barely remembered anything that happened for months after the hospital. Losing Daisy was like losing half of his soul. The world turned dull and mundane, the things he enjoyed no longer sparked his interest. He couldn't even step into his bedroom because it had still smelled like her.

Carlisle decided that leaving would do him some good, and he didn't even put up a fight. The town didn't hold anything but painful memories. Even her mother quit her job and left just before the Cullen's did.

He stood from the bed and walked over to his closet. He reached up and retrieved a shoebox, bringing it over to Bella and placing it on his desk.

The lid was covered in neatly painted flowers, framing elegant, white calligraphy that read:

'For my dearest Jasper,

Thank you for the little piece of your endless life you chose to share with me.

My heart will always be with you,
Your Daisy.'

He lifted the lid to reveal dozens of photographs and polaroids of Jasper and Daisy. He stepped back to allow her to shift through them at her own pace and returned to his spot on the edge of the bed. He was in turmoil again. He hadn't thought about Daisy's death for months. He was always consumed with remorse whenever he imagined her final moments.

"Thank you, for sharing her with me," Bella said softly, holding a candid picture of the couple in her hands. "She was an amazing woman."

He nodded in response and stood again, taking something from the drawer of his bedside table. He handed Bella a small, dark leather jewelry box. She opened it slowly, gasping at the sight of a silver locket and matching chain. It looked antique, with a delicate etching of a singing mockingbird on the front and worn, illegible initials on the back. She assumed it had some significance to Jasper's human life.

She carefully pried it open and was greeted by the radiant face of Daisy, captured in the small photo with Jasper next to her. The couple were staring at each other, their eyes alight with love and devotion.

He had never gotten the chance to give it to Daisy for Christmas, and it had kept it hidden away so it was one less reminder. He had only removed the wrapping paper last year. It had been his mother's; she had given it to him when he went to battle as a token, and he had managed to keep a hold of it throughout his tumultuous life.

"I'd like to give it to you, for your wedding day. Something borrowed and all the nonsense," he told her. It would be a little piece of Daisy on her special day, even though he wasn't with them.

Bella's head snapped up, her eyes wide. "You want me to wear this?"

"If you'd like to. I've told you before, Daisy would have liked you, she would have been your sister. But this is as close as she can get to you now."

She accepted gratefully and left him alone in his room. 

Bella never mentioned Daisy again. She now understood the reluctance they all had about mentioning her; it was to avoid the pain. She watched Jasper from a distance as he retreated even further in on himself. At the wedding, he had disappeared as soon as the ceremony was over, heading back into the sanctuary of his room.

She was glad she had the opportunity to wear the locket because Daisy felt like a friend to her now. She had worn it down the aisle, wrapped around her wrist as a bracelet.

When Bella and Edward returned early from their honeymoon, everyone's lives were thrown into chaos. First, the threat from the baby growing rapidly inside of her, then the Quileute wolves' anger at the birth of her child. She had died, then was reborn as the immortal beauty like she wanted. Her happiness with her husband and daughter was short lived, and now the Volturi loomed over their heads.

'C'mon Alice, you shouldn't go alone. It's not safe."

Jasper had caught Alice trying to sneak off in the dead of night, off to gather her own witnesses for their inevitable battle against the royal coven.

He was concerned for his best friend's safety, but she was adamant that she had to go alone. If anything happened to her, he didn't know how he would cope.

"I'll be fine," she insisted again. Her emotions were scattered, a mix of worry, excitement and anxiety.

"I'm coming," he told her sternly.

"Trust me," she locked eyes with him. "You need to stay here."

Of course, he trusted her, so he let her go and stayed behind. He spent a few days greeting the witnesses his family were collecting, the avoiding them when they asked about his life with the Cullens.

He had managed to gain a silent friendship with the broody nomad, Alistair. Neither spoke to each other, both sitting quietly as they hid away in the attic.

"Jasper, Peter is here," Rose called out, gaining his attention. Jasper hadn't seen his old friend for a decade or so, longer than they'd usually go before seeing each other.

He made his way out of the attic and down the stairs, eager to see his oldest friend.

a/n: i'm messing with the official timeline a little, but it doesn't really make much of a difference to the original story.