Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Behind Steel Bars

By Midnight Dreamer

Chapter 11: Cleansing away the Memories

Not sure how – or what – they were doing, they all headed over to Jasper’s. Once they entered the house, Jasper headed straight for the bedroom. Following closely behind, Peter, Charlotte and Isabella entered the bedroom also. What they saw was somewhat… scary. Charlotte was the first to say anything.

“Uh Jasper, what are we doing exactly?”

“Charlotte, my dear, we are gonna erase Alice from my house – starting with her closet.”

“Her closet?” Isabella asked.

“Yes, none of these clothes are mine.”

“But they look like men’s clothes?” Charlotte asked.

“Oh, they are. They were bought for me and I don’t wear this dressy crap. What man in their right mind would wear chino’s and polo shirts all of the time?” Jasper asked with a serious expression on his face, causing Isabella to laugh.

“What is so funny?” Peter asked her.

“He’s absolutely right. I just met him and can’t imagine him wearing any of this. You, Peter, possibly… for work, perhaps. But Jasper? No way! He strikes me as a jeans and t-shirt kinda guy,” Isabella said.

“I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.” Jasper said, dramatically while pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. Charlotte smacked his arm while chuckling.

“Yeah, yeah – so what do you want us to do?” Peter groaned out.

“I want each of you to take a room. Box up anything that doesn’t look like I purchased it and place it near the front door.” Jasper said, while shrugging then turning around to get back to work in the closet.

Each person took off to a different room: Peter went to the spare room, Charlotte to the kitchen and Isabella took the living room.

Peter looked around and noticed that nothing in this room screamed Jasper at all. So, he started throwing everything into boxes. Once the room was stripped down to nothing but the bare walls, he started moving everything to the front door.

Char wasn’t faring much better. She looked through all the cupboards and drawers, noticing that mostly everything had a very feminine look to it – despite the fact that Alice never cooked. So she started boxing all the cupboards and drawers up, labeling each one before she moved on to the pantry. Healthy organic food was everywhere, stunning Charlotte. Not that she was against healthy food, but Jasper was a man of substance and none of this said meat and potatoes. So she grabbed a trash bag and began to empty the pantry. When she finished, she started to lug the boxes out to the entry way.

Isabella wasn’t too sure of what to do in the living room since she didn’t know enough about Jasper to make these types of decisions. But, as she looked around, she couldn’t even tell that a man lived here. The furniture was all floral, the drapery was pink and lacy, and the decorations around the room screamed “bachelorette.” There was no way Jasper had any say in anything inside this room. So she began boxing up the nick-knacks on the shelves and removing any pictures with Alice in them from the walls and book cases. She packed away the curtains and window treatments, rolled up the Pepto Bismal pink carpet and stuffed it all into a box. Just as she was about to begin removing the cushions on the couch and chair, Peter and Charlotte joined her.

“So, I take it you came to the same conclusion that we did?” Charlotte asked.

“If the conclusion is that a very sick and twisted person of the female persuasion lives here, then yes. Or that a very gay man and is lover lives here? Even that I would agree with. But if you try to convince me that a marine and his wife live here, I would bitch slap you and tell you to stop lying to me.”

Peter was laughing so hard he had to grab the couch to keep himself upright. Peter’s laughter brought Jasper out of the bedroom to see what was going on.

“What the hell are you laughing about?” Jasper asked with a small smirk.

“Oh, just something that Isabella said,” Char told him.

“And what, pray tell, is it that she said that made Peter almost fall over?”

“Well, we all came to the same conclusion but Isabella here took it one step further.”

“And what conclusion is that?”

“Well, unless your gay and have yet to reveal that to us, then this house screams sick and twisted female. Not Married Marine and his wife,” Bella gave him the short version.

Jasper looked shocked for a moment before doubling over in laughter. It took him several minutes to get himself under control. After looking around the room his gaze landed on Isabella.

“You know what? You’re right. If someone was to walk in off the street no one would even know I owned this house. It screams single, white female. I guess the only way they would know I even lived here too would be to enter my office since it was the only room she was never allowed in.”

“You mean the door they tried to get into but couldn’t? Why is that by the way?” Charlotte asked.

“That ,my dear sister, would be because it has a security code and retina scanner. Only I can enter that room.”

“What is so top secret that you have a security code and retina scanner on your office?” Peter asked.

“Nothing, really. I just wanted a place to myself that wasn’t tainted by her love of all things pink,” Jasper said as if it was obvious.

“Well then, back to business. The spare room is empty, the kitchen is empty, and we are almost done with the living room. How is the bedroom going?” Char asked.

“Well, it too is empty,” Jasper told her.

“So, are you gonna start from scratch?” Isabella asked.

“I guess so.”

“Well then, I suggest we head to Home Depot and look for paint,” Char added.

“First let’s get rid of all the stuff at the front door.” Jasper said.

“Already taken care off.” Peter told them.

“How?”

“I called Good Will to come and collect everything. Might as well make someone else happy. That, and it’s a good tax right off at the end of the year,” Peter said.

“You definitely take after dad,” Jasper chuckled.

“One of us had to!” Peter snarked back.

“Alright, you two. Let’s get going! Jasper don’t you have a meeting with Jenks this afternoon?”

“Yeah, I guess we should get going then.”

Jasper and Peter started moving all the furniture out onto the front lawn, while Isabella and Charlotte stacked the boxes up against the house. Once the house was cleared, they locked up and got into Peter’s truck, heading off to the store to get supplies.

It took three hours to get everything they needed to fix up the house. From drop cloths to paint brushes and rollers to cleaning supplies and disinfectants, Jasper spared no expense in making sure that nothing of Alice remained.

They arrived back at Jasper’s just as another car pulled up outside. The lawyer Jenks had arrived with the divorce papers; he stepped out of the car, carrying his briefcase and quickly followed everyone inside.

“Doing some spring cleaning?” Jenks asked.

“Something like that,” Jasper told him.

“Good for you, boy. Now come sign these so I can take them to the hospital and have her sign them.”

“You’re not gonna just mail them to her?” Peter asked.

“Nope, it’s faster if I go to her and have her sign them right there. This way I can get them out of the office today to be processed. So by the end of the week, you’ll be a free man,” Jenks answered, looking at Jasper.

“Well, thank you. I can’t wait.”

They sat at the dinning room table since it was the only place left to sit. The table was Jasper’s grandmother’s so there was no way he was getting rid of it; besides his office, it’s the only thing he wouldn’t let Alice touch. It took him few minutes to finish signing all the paperwork but once it was done, he almost looked lighter. After saying his goodbyes and good lucks, Jenks left for the hospital.

Once they settled down, Peter ordered pizza for everyone. They ate and talked about how Jasper wanted the rooms done. Each person was assigned a room. Once again, Isabella took the living room and Jasper took the bedroom while Peter took the spare room, Charlotte the kitchen. After they wiped down the walls, they began to paint; Peter had a nice light blue to put on the walls; Jasper told him to pick a color that he and Charlotte would like since this was to be their room when they stayed over. Charlotte was painting the kitchen a pale yellow; Jasper told her to find a color that would make it seem warm and inviting. Isabella had one of the bigger rooms; Jasper choosing a neutral beige color that he said he could accent the room with other colors when he went for window treatments and furniture. Jasper had the daunting task of the bedroom; this room had the most memories to erase, but with each stroke of the brush he felt he was painting over the past and creating a new foundation for the future. The bright green of the room would give it a happy feel over the pale pink it was originally. He was enjoying the feel of control he seemed to have over his environment now that Alice wasn’t there to dictate how she thought things should be, and look. He couldn’t wait to see the finished product.

Hours passed and the group decided to regroup round the dinner table with some Chinese. Soon they were all laughing and bantering like they had knew each other for ages.

“So, who gets this room?” Peter asked.

“Well, who is all finished?” Char asked.

“I think we all are.” Jasper replied.

“I had the biggest of the rooms next to Jasper and if he is done then we are all done.” Isabella added.

“So, how about we all do it?” Char piped in.

“That sounds like a plan – we can each take a wall.” Peter said.

“Alright, we will just move the table into the living room and get started.” Jasper looked to Peter.

“Let’s get moving then!” Peter stood to throw the trash away.

Charlotte and Isabella started stacking the chairs in the other room. Jasper waited for Peter to lift the other end and they both maneuvered it into the living room. As soon as they were back, they each took a wall. Somewhere amidst all the seriousness a paint war broke out. Char splashed Peter with paint, Peter went to get her back and missed hitting Jasper who turned and accidentally swiped Isabella with his roller. This is how it began; it ended with the walls covered in splatter and the four friends covered in paint, laughing hysterically on the floor.