Edward woke up early that morning, slightly surprised to find himself in Jaspers room. He suddenly remembered the night before, when he had woken to find Jasper shaking and crying against his chest. He was relieved to find Jasper sleeping soundly still, and slowly pulled his arm out from under him, slipping out of the bed.

"You're not running away are you?" Jasper called to him sleepily.

"No, just have to pee, go back to sleep." Edward assured him.

"Ok... hurry back" Jasper told him, struggling to keep his eyes open and quickly fell back to sleep.

Moments later, Edward was back in bed, waking Jasper briefly as he pressed up against his side again.

"Good... " Jasper mumbled "I'll keep you safe this time... won't let anyone hurt you..."

Several hours later, Edward and Jasper woke again to the sounds of footsteps and Jacob's drum set coming from the studio above them.

"Oi! Jasper!" Seth yelled down the stairs, "Get your ass out of bed! Emergency band practice!"

"Shut up!" Jasper yelled back "Sleeping!"

Jasper rolled over to look at Edward, who had clearly just woken up, and smiled at him.

"Sorry about that, Seth will just keep yelling till he gets a response from me."

"Don't worry about it." Edward said, pulling closer to plant a kiss on Jaspers lips.

Jasper moaned, grasping Edwards hair to pull him in closer, deepening the kiss. Just as he began moving down Edwards neck, biting and sucking his way toward Edwards chest, a loud drumming began. Jacob had began playing a fast rhythm on his drum-set, as loud as possible.

"Ugh... those bastards" Jasper groaned, reluctantly pulling away "they're just going to get more and more obnoxious until I go up there"

As if on cue, Seth joined in with his electric bass.

"Sorry, but I should go see what's up with this 'emergency band practice' before they start up the motorcycle." Jasper explained as he picked a pair of jeans and jeans and a t-shirt of the floor.

"Hey! Assholes!" Jasper yelled across the room as he came up the stairs "What the hell are you talking about with this emergency band practice?"

"He's alive!" Jacob cheered, waving his drumsticks in the air. "New song! Bella finished it last night. Well, kind of a new song. She had some brand new inspiration last night after practice for "New You". Were changing it up a little, replacing some parts with stuff we wrote a few months back. It's a new new song now. Remember those riffs and base line we were trying to turn into a song, but never really got anywhwere with? It will fit in perfect with "New You"."

"Vaguely" Jasper told him, recognizing the bass line seth had begun playing, and realizing that it probably would work. "But why now? We have a gig tonight. Shouldn't we wait and re-write another time?"

"Now, so we can play it at the gig!" Jacob explained. "It was your idea to play it tomorrow anyway, and besides, you're the one who told us Edward and Emmet were looking to sign a new band. Why wait? Show them what we can do right away! Finally get on a label!"

"It will work man, I promise, and like he said, we already have most of it written." Seth told him, just as excited as Jacob about playing a new song, in 7 hours.

"Alright" Jasper agreed, "We'll give it a try, but were not playing it tonight if were not ready. Everyone agrees."

"Deal!" Seth exclaimed, as Jake nodded in agreement, "Bella should be here any minute."

"I'll be back in 10, gotta go tell Edward plans changed." Jasper told him as he slipped back down the stairs, awaiting the inevitable whoops and cat calls from Jacob and Seth.

He ducked back into the hobbit hole to find Edward back in his running clothes, putting his shoes on.

"Hi" Edward said, looking up at him. "I heard, so I'll see you at my place later for the show."

"Sorry about that, you don't have to leave though."

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure Emmet has a long list of things for me to take care of at home. Good luck with the new song." Edward told him. He had stood up, and moved closer to Jasper, cupping his hand around the back of his neck and pulling him in for a deep kiss. Jasper shuddered at the sudden contact, and pressed is hand into Edwards lower back, pushing their hips together. Too soon, Edward pulled away, abruptly ending their groping and panting, and gently kissed Jaspers forehead.

"I have to go" Edward said, staring into Jaspers eyes. "And Jacob is right. Emmet does want to sign a new band, so fucking impress him tonight. He ultimately makes the decision."

"'Aww, so I can't fuck my way into a deal with you guys?" Jasper asked with a grin.

"You're not really Emmet's type." Edward grinned back, pulling away to leave Jaspers room.

Three hours later, Felon Love finally had the new new song done, and they could almost play it all the way through without someone forgetting a part. Mostly it was Jasper making the mistakes, he couldn't focus. His mind kept drifting back to the memories he had practically relived in his head the previous night. How he had promised Lizzy, or should it be Edward, he didn't know how to think of him in the past. He couldn't stop thinking about how it had all been his fault, that he had begged them to come, promised them that it would all be fine. And it wasn't. He fell for Alec's trap.

"He that good of a fuck?" Jacob asked, suddenly appearing inches from Jaspers face. "I saw the look on your face when he walked out the door. He that good in bed that you can't stop thinking about him?"

"No... I mean he's good. but no.." Jasper spit out, suddenly snapping back to reality. "Not why I'm distracted. Sorry. From the top again?"

"No, I think we need a break" Bella told them. "We've been working for hours. food adventure anyone?"

Jasper's stomach growled as he realized suddenly how hungry he was. "Sounds good to me. Happy Chicken?" He suggested. Half the time they ate there because of the ridiculous name, but the burritos and tortas were really good. And the sign didn't exactly say "Happy Chicken", it was just funnier to refer to it with the english translation.

Alice, who had been listening from the corner jumped up and offered to go to the taco joint with him. Once they were out of earshot from the others, who had decided on pizza or burgers instead, Alice pounced on him for information.

"There's something more to Edward then your telling me." Alice announced "He's going to be fine, you don't have to worry about him so much. He doesn't need to be protected."

Jasper stared down at her, silent, grasping for a response. He was kind of used to Alice's crazy psychic announcements and predictions, but she still always managed to throw him completely off guard.

"I know he doesn't" Jasper finally answered "But I still feel guilty, like it was all my fault."

Alice didn't reply until they had placed their orders and were sitting in a booth.

"So you figured out who he is then. Why he felt so familiar." She prompted, hoping for more from Jasper.

"I did. I knew him in Seattle, during college. Before I dropped out and met you." Jasper began. Alice stayed silent, urging him to continue.

"He's part of why I went back to Forks, the fucked up story I always refused to tell you. I didn't want to talk about it. I couldn't bear to remember it." Jasper's voice got rough and trailed off. Alice took his hand and squeezed it, noticing he was about to cry.

"Jasper, breath." Alice told him. "You didn't really lose him, he's fine, he's here now."

Jasper just nodded, staring at the basket of chips on the table. For the first time, Alices weird ability to just 'know' things was proving useful. He found it a relief to not have to explain everything.

"That doesn't make it ok though, what happened then."

Jasper continued to stare at the table, barely noticing the waitress appearing with his torta. He and Alice ate in silence before slowly walking back to the studio. "Let it go and focus on the song Jasper, you can't change the past." Alice told him as they walked back in to join the rest of the band and continue practicing.

"It's about time you showed up!" Emmet called as Jasper came into the house. "I was starting to think i was going to have to throw this show on my own."

"Sorry man, I ended up at Jaspers somehow. Wasn't planning on going there, just found myself staring at his front door, and decided to get it over with and tell him." Edward explained.

"And it went well?" Emmet guessed, "You don't seem to be freaking out right now."

"Yeah, it did actually, surprisingly well." Edward told him. "I told him my old name, and it got weird. I was suddenly terrified, expecting him to freak out on me, but he didn't. He suddenly remembered everything, from that night, and he started to cry, and apologize like crazy. He said he had no idea what Alec was planning, and was running after me to try to help me, when they knocked him out and beat him too." Edward stopped talking and stared at the floor for a few long moments.

"Why didn't I know about that?" He suddenly asked, looking at Emmet.

"I guess everyone thought they were protecting you" Emmet replied "I had heard that Dad met with the police, and some other parents, but they decided not to tell you any details. They wouldn't tell me anything either."

Edward resumed staring at the floor, processing this new information. Did his dad know how much more he had been hurt by his help? How much he had loved Jasper before everything happened, and how much the supposed betrayal had broken him?

"I wish they had told me." Edward finally admitted. " I would have agreed to talk to Jasper if I had known. He could have helped me sooner."

"Maybe." Emmet told him. "You didn't trust anyone though, not even me, or your doctors. the mention of Jaspers name sent you into panic attacks, and fits of violence. I think they were afraid of how you would react to that kind of news. Afraid you would get worse, stop talking all together."

Edward sank into the couch, wondering if Emmet was right. He had refused to speak for weeks after being moved back to forks, began cutting himself, and wound up on the psych ward on suicide watch. They did try to get him to talk about Jasper, but the sound of the name would put him over the edge every time.

"Fucking bastard!" He would exclaim, "Don't say that name.. I hate him, I fucking hate that bastard. Not my friend, never was..." Edward had rambled on and on, quickly becoming incoherent, before dropping to his knees and screaming, a fearful, pained look in his eyes. Then he would turn on his doctor. "You know that!" He would scream at her "You know I don't want to hear that name! You're doing this to hurt me! I hate you too!"

More than once, after throwing objects across the room, or trying to punch his doctor, he would find himself sedated, and being dragged down the hall to a seclusion room by a couple orderlies.

"Probably." Edward finally stated, snapping out of a daydream. "I was pretty fucked up then, wasn't I."

"Yeah, you could say that." Emmet agreed. "But no one blamed you for it. Some fucked up shit did happen to you."

They sat on the couch in silence for a minute, neither brother knowing what to say. Suddenly Emmet's phone beeped, breaking the silence. He picked it up, and stared and the new text message.

"Flyers for the 'From the Ground Up' record release party are ready. We should hand those out tonight." Emmet announced. "Do you want to go pick them up at the printers, or stay here and start hiding valuables?"

"I'll get everything ready here. The kid at the counter hates when I go in there, I may have overreacted a little once when they screwed up a job. I think he's afraid of me now. Gets all nervous and starts dropping things." Edward told him.

Emmet just burst out laughing.

"Smart kid." He said, once he was able to stop laughing. "I've heard some of your tangents in checkout lines, I would be kinda scared too."

"Haha, fine, so I can be a bit of a difficult customer sometimes." Edward admitted. He stood up and headed for the stairs. "I need a shower, and coffee, then I can be productive." he announced. "See you later!"

A/N- Hmmm, this story seems to be getting a little dark. Happier times are coming soon! I promise! Thanks for reading!