The Inauspicious Beginnings Of A Prince
by Laura Spudzmom
Chapter 28
Jasper didn't regain consciousness until after they had boarded the Volturi jet and for that small mercy, Bella was thankful. She knew, just by looking at his current dark expression, that he would have thrown a fit at being rolled through the terminal and loaded onto the plane on a gurney.
She glanced over at Pete and Paula, who had been invited to move to the castle with them, and exchanged a small smile with Pete, both of them reading and understanding Jasper's dark mood completely.
Bella jumped, Jasper's gruff voice startling in the tense silence of the room at the back of the plane. "Why am I strapped to this thing?"
She moved to stand next to him, smoothing his hair back as she answered. "It's so you wouldn't fall off if they jostled you while moving."
She could see his jaw clench in frustrated anger and knew that she had to tread very carefully. She knew that he was feeling very vulnerable and his pride was wounded. Not a good combination, especially considering his, at times, volatile temper.
He pinned her with a fiery gaze. "Take off the fucking straps before I get rid of them myself."
"Jas, baby you're not well yet. You need to stay on the bed and they said that the straps have to stay as long as you're on it."
She gasped and jumped back as he growled loudly and snapped every strap that was across his body, the nylon sounding like shots as each gave way.
Pete was up out of his seat in a second, grabbing his brother in a futile attempt to hold him on the gurney. Jasper threw him off and jumped off the gurney just as Caius entered the room.
"Mio figlio, che cosa stai facendo? Calmati."("My son, what are you doing? Calm yourself.")
Caius looked around the room and noticed the destroyed gurney and his son's upset mate standing in the corner, tears tracing down her cheeks in a steady stream. He held out a hand to her and she rushed into his arms, hiding her face against him as he comforted her.
"Shh, daughter. He is just upset. His pride has been wounded. All will be well."
She nodded and he looked back at his son who was swaying where he stood, glaring at the floor.
He sighed and motioned to Pete and Paula. "Take Bella and go into the main cabin. I need to speak with my son."
Pete nodded and Paula wrapped Bella in a hug and led her from the room, the door closing quietly behind the three.
Caius motioned to the sofa. "Sit down my son, before you collapse."
"I will not collapse." Jasper growled.
"I have no patience for your pride today my son. You will sit down or I will seat you."
Jasper reluctantly moved to the sofa and sat, glaring at his hands that were resting in his lap.
Cauis sat in a chair adjacent to the sofa, motioning to his son's now bleeding side.
"You have reopened the wound in your fit of ill temper. If you keep injuring it, I will be forced to order you, as your King, to stay in whatever bed you are placed in without moving until you are fully healed."
He looked at his son who was still refusing to meet his eyes. "Look at me Jasper."
Jasper met his father's gaze, shame and pride warring for dominance within him.
"Need I take such measures with you at this late date my son? You have never defied any request that I have made of you. Will you start now?"
Jasper held his father's gaze. "No Papa."
Caius felt relief fill him upon his son's answer. If he had answered as a subject to a King, he would have mourned the choice his son had made, but by using the familiar term, his son had showed that it was his love of his father rather than the threat of a KIng that motivated him.
He smiled at his beloved son. "Thank you my son. I love you and wish to see you well."
Jasper nodded and hung his head, shame winning out over pride now that his hot temper had cooled.
"I am sorry Father. Please forgive me?"
"I will always forgive you. I love you more than you can possibly imagine, but someday soon, you will understand."
Jasper looked a little confused at that and Caius simply smiled. He would not tell Bella's secret. He would let her tell her mate about the little one she now carried.
Caius stood and motioned to the couch. "Lie down son. It's the only choice now that you have destroyed the bed you were on. Brace yourself. I am going to send your mother in to tend your wound."
Jasper groaned as he laid back on the sofa. "Father, really I don't….."
He trailed off of his argument as Caius narrowed his eyes at him. He knew better when his father gave him that particular look.
"Yes sir." He sighed as his father left the room, closing his eyes, feeling very tired and sick all of the sudden.
He was just drifting off when his mother burst into the room, a string of rapid Italian coming from her as she took in the damage to the gurney and her son's bleeding side.
Jasper covered his eyes with his arm and did his best to ignore the ranting female that was his mother, the now constant ache in his head increasing in measure with the volume of her voice.
~o0o~
Caius smiled as he retook his seat out in the main cabin of the jet. His son would surely regret his rash actions now. His mother's reaction, and the tongue lashing that she was currently delivering would see to that.
He looked over at a decidedly subdued Bella and sighed. "Are you well Bella?"
She attempted a smile and failed as tears filled her eyes. "I'll be fine. I'm just a bit more emotional that usual and quite frankly, it's pissing me off."
He chuckled and she laughed through her tears. "Thank you, by the way. I was pretty shocked in there and wasn't quite sure how to handle the situation. Is he all right?"
Caius smirked. "Well, he seemed to be, but now his mother is with him, so I can't be sure."
They shared a laugh at Jasper's well earned misfortune and settled back for the rest of the flight, Caius covering Bella with a blanket after she fell asleep, completely missing Aro's raised brows as he settled back in his seat with a book.
When they finally landed in Italy, Jasper predictably refused assistance from the plane to the waiting limousine, stoically ignoring the dark looks that his mother shot him.
Caius patted her hand as he watched his proud son walk straight and tall to the car, despite the pain he knew him to be experiencing.
"Don't worry Dora, we have an understanding, our son and I, that he will be a model patient once he reaches his bed. He shall be staying there until he is deemed fit to rise from it by you and his doctor."
"Good. I am so very upset with him Caius. I have never seen him act so stubborn!"
Caius chuckled as they made their way to the waiting car. "Oh Dora, this is the first time that he has been so severely injured, but I have seen this stubborn streak just about every day since meeting him. Believe me when I say that this is not a new development."
By the time they arrived back at the castle, Jasper had to be carried in. He had lost consciousness during the ride, and Bella was frantic with worry. She jogged along beside the stretcher they had placed him on, tears streaming down her cheeks. Caius and Dora were right beside them too, with Caius calling for the Doctor that they had employed since Jasper had come to live with them.
Bella held his hand and began talking to him. "Jas, baby please come back to me. Please baby."
She became even more frantic when Caius growled out the door. "Where is that fucking doctor?! I'll tear the fucker apart if he isn't here in under a minute!"
The doctor rushed in just then with two nurses behind him bringing carts of medical equipment.
The doctor had Jasper stripped in seconds. "How did he sustain this injury? It looks like a giant bite wound."
Caius answered. "It is. It's from a wolf."
The Doctor shook his head as he worked to stabilize Jasper. "I need the respirator!"
Bella stood back, tear filled eyes wide with horror and disbelief, one hand over her mouth to try to stop herself from sobbing in her fright. "Oh god, Jas, baby please don't leave me now."
Dora circled her arms around Bella, holding her close, each drawing comfort from the other as they watched helplessly.
The doctor intubated Jasper, hooking him up to the respirator and a heart monitor. He started two IV's and hung bags of blood, trying desperately to get clean blood into him.
When the Doctor stood back for a moment, making notes in a chart, Caius approached him. "Well? What is wrong with my son?"
The Doctor glanced at him quickly, going back to what he'd been doing as he answered. "I'll have to examine the blood samples I've taken to know for certain, but I believe it has to do with that bite and the specific creature that bit him. It was no regular wolf, correct?"
Caius scoffed. "That's correct, but those creatures can only kill a vampire with fire."
"My King, because Prince Jasper is half human, it weakens his vampire to some extent, and my guess would be because of that, the wolf saliva that entered his system is slowly poisoning him."
He moved toward Jasper, examining the bite wound again. "This bite looks to be at least a couple of days old and yet it's not healing as his wounds always have in the past."
He stood. "I'll take the blood sample now and analyze it. I'll share the results with you as soon as I have them."
Caius guided his wife and Bella to a sofa and seated them. He could tell that both were in shock over this turn of events and didn't quite know what to do with themselves, Bella especially so.
"Bella, you look very pale my dear. Have you eaten anything?"
He sighed as she shook her head, not moving her eyes from his son.
"My dear, you need to eat to keep up your strength. It's especially important now due to the little one you carry. Will you eat if I order some food for you?"
She nodded slowly and looked at him. "I'm sorry. I'm just so scared of losing him."
Caius smiled wanly. "That will not happen my dear. I won't allow it. I will not leave this room, because I will transition him completely if I have to. I will not lose my son."
Dora looked at her mate, eyes wide with alarm. "Caius! Isn't there a risk? We don't know if the turning will be successful!"
Caius nodded. "Yes, that's what the Doctor said years ago, but what if we don't have any other choice Dora? I would rather take that chance than lose him altogether my love."
Bella looked at him, her expression fierce. "I agree. If something happens, and he gets even worse, I want you to try. Please."
He caressed her cheek as she looked up at him. "I will do all in my power to save my son Bella."
She gave him a grateful smile but jumped in fright just as an alarm went off on one of the machines.
All hell seemed to break loose in the room within seconds, the Doctor and nurses crowding the bed as Jasper's body seized and shook.
Bella shot up from her seat. "What's happening?!" What's happening?!" She was screaming as Caius held her back, but she couldn't help herself.
Caius called to his wife who was standing as she looked on in shocked horror at the fiercely seizing body of her beloved son.
"Dora! Take Bella and do not let her go. I must get to our son!"
She nodded and wrapped a sobbing Bella in her arms, comforting her as much as holding her back.
Caius flew to his son's side. "Speak Doctor."
The Doctor was frantically working on Jasper, trying desperately to control his seizing body. "He is critical my King. If I cannot stabilize him quickly, his heart may stop."
"I will turn my son, Doctor."
He glanced at his King quickly, continuing his efforts as he spoke. "You may kill him by trying, my King."
Caius growled. "He is dying now, Doctor! How can anything I do be any worse?!"
"He's only seizing for now my King. It's due to the poison effect of the wolf saliva in his system. His heart still beats…."
The Doctor trailed off as another alarm screamed from the heart monitor. Jasper's body gave one final spine bending seize and fell back to the bed limp as the monitor flatlined, a steady, shrill tone filling the room.
Bella screamed his name, followed by heart wrenching sobs as she collapsed in Dora's arms.
"Jasper! No! Jasper!"
Jasper didn't regain consciousness until after they had boarded the Volturi jet and for that small mercy, Bella was thankful. She knew, just by looking at his current dark expression, that he would have thrown a fit at being rolled through the terminal and loaded onto the plane on a gurney.
She glanced over at Pete and Paula, who had been invited to move to the castle with them, and exchanged a small smile with Pete, both of them reading and understanding Jasper's dark mood completely.
Bella jumped, Jasper's gruff voice startling in the tense silence of the room at the back of the plane. "Why am I strapped to this thing?"
She moved to stand next to him, smoothing his hair back as she answered. "It's so you wouldn't fall off if they jostled you while moving."
She could see his jaw clench in frustrated anger and knew that she had to tread very carefully. She knew that he was feeling very vulnerable and his pride was wounded. Not a good combination, especially considering his, at times, volatile temper.
He pinned her with a fiery gaze. "Take off the fucking straps before I get rid of them myself."
"Jas, baby you're not well yet. You need to stay on the bed and they said that the straps have to stay as long as you're on it."
She gasped and jumped back as he growled loudly and snapped every strap that was across his body, the nylon sounding like shots as each gave way.
Pete was up out of his seat in a second, grabbing his brother in a futile attempt to hold him on the gurney. Jasper threw him off and jumped off the gurney just as Caius entered the room.
"Mio figlio, che cosa stai facendo? Calmati."("My son, what are you doing? Calm yourself.")
Caius looked around the room and noticed the destroyed gurney and his son's upset mate standing in the corner, tears tracing down her cheeks in a steady stream. He held out a hand to her and she rushed into his arms, hiding her face against him as he comforted her.
"Shh, daughter. He is just upset. His pride has been wounded. All will be well."
She nodded and he looked back at his son who was swaying where he stood, glaring at the floor.
He sighed and motioned to Pete and Paula. "Take Bella and go into the main cabin. I need to speak with my son."
Pete nodded and Paula wrapped Bella in a hug and led her from the room, the door closing quietly behind the three.
Caius motioned to the sofa. "Sit down my son, before you collapse."
"I will not collapse." Jasper growled.
"I have no patience for your pride today my son. You will sit down or I will seat you."
Jasper reluctantly moved to the sofa and sat, glaring at his hands that were resting in his lap.
Cauis sat in a chair adjacent to the sofa, motioning to his son's now bleeding side.
"You have reopened the wound in your fit of ill temper. If you keep injuring it, I will be forced to order you, as your King, to stay in whatever bed you are placed in without moving until you are fully healed."
He looked at his son who was still refusing to meet his eyes. "Look at me Jasper."
Jasper met his father's gaze, shame and pride warring for dominance within him.
"Need I take such measures with you at this late date my son? You have never defied any request that I have made of you. Will you start now?"
Jasper held his father's gaze. "No Papa."
Caius felt relief fill him upon his son's answer. If he had answered as a subject to a King, he would have mourned the choice his son had made, but by using the familiar term, his son had showed that it was his love of his father rather than the threat of a KIng that motivated him.
He smiled at his beloved son. "Thank you my son. I love you and wish to see you well."
Jasper nodded and hung his head, shame winning out over pride now that his hot temper had cooled.
"I am sorry Father. Please forgive me?"
"I will always forgive you. I love you more than you can possibly imagine, but someday soon, you will understand."
Jasper looked a little confused at that and Caius simply smiled. He would not tell Bella's secret. He would let her tell her mate about the little one she now carried.
Caius stood and motioned to the couch. "Lie down son. It's the only choice now that you have destroyed the bed you were on. Brace yourself. I am going to send your mother in to tend your wound."
Jasper groaned as he laid back on the sofa. "Father, really I don't….."
He trailed off of his argument as Caius narrowed his eyes at him. He knew better when his father gave him that particular look.
"Yes sir." He sighed as his father left the room, closing his eyes, feeling very tired and sick all of the sudden.
He was just drifting off when his mother burst into the room, a string of rapid Italian coming from her as she took in the damage to the gurney and her son's bleeding side.
Jasper covered his eyes with his arm and did his best to ignore the ranting female that was his mother, the now constant ache in his head increasing in measure with the volume of her voice.
~o0o~
Caius smiled as he retook his seat out in the main cabin of the jet. His son would surely regret his rash actions now. His mother's reaction, and the tongue lashing that she was currently delivering would see to that.
He looked over at a decidedly subdued Bella and sighed. "Are you well Bella?"
She attempted a smile and failed as tears filled her eyes. "I'll be fine. I'm just a bit more emotional that usual and quite frankly, it's pissing me off."
He chuckled and she laughed through her tears. "Thank you, by the way. I was pretty shocked in there and wasn't quite sure how to handle the situation. Is he all right?"
Caius smirked. "Well, he seemed to be, but now his mother is with him, so I can't be sure."
They shared a laugh at Jasper's well earned misfortune and settled back for the rest of the flight, Caius covering Bella with a blanket after she fell asleep, completely missing Aro's raised brows as he settled back in his seat with a book.
When they finally landed in Italy, Jasper predictably refused assistance from the plane to the waiting limousine, stoically ignoring the dark looks that his mother shot him.
Caius patted her hand as he watched his proud son walk straight and tall to the car, despite the pain he knew him to be experiencing.
"Don't worry Dora, we have an understanding, our son and I, that he will be a model patient once he reaches his bed. He shall be staying there until he is deemed fit to rise from it by you and his doctor."
"Good. I am so very upset with him Caius. I have never seen him act so stubborn!"
Caius chuckled as they made their way to the waiting car. "Oh Dora, this is the first time that he has been so severely injured, but I have seen this stubborn streak just about every day since meeting him. Believe me when I say that this is not a new development."
By the time they arrived back at the castle, Jasper had to be carried in. He had lost consciousness during the ride, and Bella was frantic with worry. She jogged along beside the stretcher they had placed him on, tears streaming down her cheeks. Caius and Dora were right beside them too, with Caius calling for the Doctor that they had employed since Jasper had come to live with them.
Bella held his hand and began talking to him. "Jas, baby please come back to me. Please baby."
She became even more frantic when Caius growled out the door. "Where is that fucking doctor?! I'll tear the fucker apart if he isn't here in under a minute!"
The doctor rushed in just then with two nurses behind him bringing carts of medical equipment.
The doctor had Jasper stripped in seconds. "How did he sustain this injury? It looks like a giant bite wound."
Caius answered. "It is. It's from a wolf."
The Doctor shook his head as he worked to stabilize Jasper. "I need the respirator!"
Bella stood back, tear filled eyes wide with horror and disbelief, one hand over her mouth to try to stop herself from sobbing in her fright. "Oh god, Jas, baby please don't leave me now."
Dora circled her arms around Bella, holding her close, each drawing comfort from the other as they watched helplessly.
The doctor intubated Jasper, hooking him up to the respirator and a heart monitor. He started two IV's and hung bags of blood, trying desperately to get clean blood into him.
When the Doctor stood back for a moment, making notes in a chart, Caius approached him. "Well? What is wrong with my son?"
The Doctor glanced at him quickly, going back to what he'd been doing as he answered. "I'll have to examine the blood samples I've taken to know for certain, but I believe it has to do with that bite and the specific creature that bit him. It was no regular wolf, correct?"
Caius scoffed. "That's correct, but those creatures can only kill a vampire with fire."
"My King, because Prince Jasper is half human, it weakens his vampire to some extent, and my guess would be because of that, the wolf saliva that entered his system is slowly poisoning him."
He moved toward Jasper, examining the bite wound again. "This bite looks to be at least a couple of days old and yet it's not healing as his wounds always have in the past."
He stood. "I'll take the blood sample now and analyze it. I'll share the results with you as soon as I have them."
Caius guided his wife and Bella to a sofa and seated them. He could tell that both were in shock over this turn of events and didn't quite know what to do with themselves, Bella especially so.
"Bella, you look very pale my dear. Have you eaten anything?"
He sighed as she shook her head, not moving her eyes from his son.
"My dear, you need to eat to keep up your strength. It's especially important now due to the little one you carry. Will you eat if I order some food for you?"
She nodded slowly and looked at him. "I'm sorry. I'm just so scared of losing him."
Caius smiled wanly. "That will not happen my dear. I won't allow it. I will not leave this room, because I will transition him completely if I have to. I will not lose my son."
Dora looked at her mate, eyes wide with alarm. "Caius! Isn't there a risk? We don't know if the turning will be successful!"
Caius nodded. "Yes, that's what the Doctor said years ago, but what if we don't have any other choice Dora? I would rather take that chance than lose him altogether my love."
Bella looked at him, her expression fierce. "I agree. If something happens, and he gets even worse, I want you to try. Please."
He caressed her cheek as she looked up at him. "I will do all in my power to save my son Bella."
She gave him a grateful smile but jumped in fright just as an alarm went off on one of the machines.
All hell seemed to break loose in the room within seconds, the Doctor and nurses crowding the bed as Jasper's body seized and shook.
Bella shot up from her seat. "What's happening?!" What's happening?!" She was screaming as Caius held her back, but she couldn't help herself.
Caius called to his wife who was standing as she looked on in shocked horror at the fiercely seizing body of her beloved son.
"Dora! Take Bella and do not let her go. I must get to our son!"
She nodded and wrapped a sobbing Bella in her arms, comforting her as much as holding her back.
Caius flew to his son's side. "Speak Doctor."
The Doctor was frantically working on Jasper, trying desperately to control his seizing body. "He is critical my King. If I cannot stabilize him quickly, his heart may stop."
"I will turn my son, Doctor."
He glanced at his King quickly, continuing his efforts as he spoke. "You may kill him by trying, my King."
Caius growled. "He is dying now, Doctor! How can anything I do be any worse?!"
"He's only seizing for now my King. It's due to the poison effect of the wolf saliva in his system. His heart still beats…."
The Doctor trailed off as another alarm screamed from the heart monitor. Jasper's body gave one final spine bending seize and fell back to the bed limp as the monitor flatlined, a steady, shrill tone filling the room.
Bella screamed his name, followed by heart wrenching sobs as she collapsed in Dora's arms.
"Jasper! No! Jasper!"
DISCLAIMER: Twilight and its inclusive material is copyright to Stephenie Meyer. Original creation, including but not limited to plot and characters, is copyright to the respective authors of each story. No copyright infringement is intended.