Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

The Human Strikes Back

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 04:

Jason POV

I have been in some serious shit storms and cluster fucks and never had time to be afraid. I have fought terrorists in hand to knife combat and won. I have killed unknown numbers of enemy combatants. And I have led men who have done the same. In the past couple years since “discharging” from the Marines I had fought and killed a lot scarier things than terrorists. Nothing in my life made me as nervous as I was now. I was about to meet the girl of my dream’s father. Her small town police chief father. After I had been shacking up with her for over a year.

To say I was a little apprehensive would have been the understatement of the year. I needed this guy to like me. I was planning on asking his permission to marry his daughter. I had two weeks to win him over. Not to say I wasn’t gonna marry her anyway. It’s just that it would be nice for our future kids to be able to have holidays with the grandparents instead of hiding in Texas.

I knew I was gonna marry Bells the first time I laid eyes on her at the beach. In a city full of bleach blonde bimbos she was the first woman I saw who looked beautiful and real. She was sexy as hell and had a rawness to her that I loved.

She had seen things. She had secrets. That’s okay because I knew all about secrets.

To this day she had no clear idea what I did. She knew it was military but wouldn’t keep me away from her for long. She was happy with that. As long as our secrets didn’t involve another guy she was seeing or a woman I was seeing we were happy. But I could tell from her eyes her secrets were nothing as trivial as guy problems. She reminded me of me. When she walked into a room she was aware of her surroundings. She was always looking for danger.

The fact that she was the first woman to ever agree to go skydiving with me on a first date also told me that if she wasn’t my soul mate, then that soul mate cheesy crap didn’t exist.

Washington State. I had been here once before for two weeks while we trained for a mission involving wet, mountainous climates with heavy tree cover. Give me a desert or a honest to goodness jungle any day.

The life we have in Galveston is fantastic. I get called away about once a month but if I do my job well I am never gone for long. Bella is a great writer. It’s ironic that she writes about vampires. The guys on the team give me hell about it all the time.

“What ya thinkin about darling?”

“I haven’t been here in two years. I’ve talked to some friends and my dad of course but still it’s not the same. I told you my ex best friend hasn’t spoken to me since I left. I’m kinda hoping to see him and I’m kinda scared to. ” she said.

“I’m sure everybody will be happy to see you. Have you changed a lot since you were last here?”

“Yeah I have. I have shorter hair. I’m not clumsy anymore thanks to you and your ‘combat preparedness lessons’. I’m in much better shape. And I feel like I have grown up.”

“Don’t forget you’re a famous author now too.” I reminded her.

She simply smiled. So humble about her talent. I have seen her self-confidence grow in the time I have known her. I would like to think I have had something to do with that. But honestly I just encouraged what was already there. But still at times I think she still doubts her talents.

I took a deep breath as we pulled up to her drive. I saw a little two story house. It was kinda cool. A nice place in a nice town. Straight out of a Rockwell thank you for putting me in Texas at birth. It had to be 20 degrees out! We don’t do that in Texas. Temperature drops below 40 and we are closing schools and post offices. Bella was excited and practically jumping in her seat. I pulled to a stop and she was out the door and practically running to the steps of the house.

“I’ll get our bags I guess” I chuckled.

“No get up here first. I want you to meet Daddy.”

All right. Here we go.

Jasper POV

” Edward, Jenks got a visit from a federal agent from snooping around about this guy. I don’t know what he did in the Marines or what he does now but the US government does not appreciate anybody snooping around to find out.”

“I know Jasper. But in two years we have no idea what this guy does. We know he was born, we know he went to High School, the Marines, and then nothing. “

“Jenks managed to get me some more information from hanging out at a Navy bar in San Diego near where Jason met Bella and talking to Jason and Bella’s neighbors in Galveston. I haven’t read what is in here but he told me I should find it interesting. He also told me under no circumstances would he be looking into Jason Connolly now or in the future again.”

Edward thought for a minute. “I have to know Jasper. I know she didn’t want to be interfered with but I still have to know. I won’t interfere unless the guy is an axe murderer or something of that nature.”

I sighed. Edward had not taken Bella leaving well. He still hoped she would come back. He now knew she wouldn’t stay with him being human and finally understood why a healthy woman would not want to be in a non-sexual relationship with a 17 year old boy who would never age. I think he was secretly hoping she would come back and ask to be changed, even though he says he never wanted that for her.

I opened the package full of various pics and a few documents. The summary Peter had kindly written was on the top. The family filtered in. Everyone of them loved Bella something fierce. They all kept tabs in their own ways but were careful not to give her money or interfere in anyway. Esme was proud of her books and had a bookshelf full of them. The same two books. We all got a kick out of reading them. Trying to figure out what character represented each of us.

“Ok since everyone is here let’s start. Jason Connolly is a legend in the spec ops field. Pretty much a legend in the whole Marines Corp. It is widely acknowledged that he was the most dangerous man in the United States Military. There is no hard evidence as to why this is. Just rumors about his exploits which are probably embellished. He entered the Marine Corp at the age of 18 and was assigned directly to Force Recon. After two years he went to BUDs school and passed. He was a Navy Seal for the next 4 years. He transferred back to the Marines for an unknown reason and then discharged from active duty and went to reserve status where he is still at right now.

“He met Bella at that time in San Diego where Bella was writing and working at a bookstore. After knowing each other for about 4 months she moved with him to Galveston Texas. They live an interesting life. Neighbors say the two have few friends come over. They surf, skydive, take motorcycle weekend road trips and are regulars on the Strand, a shopping district during the day and basically a place to let loose at night. They both have Houston Astros season tickets and hardly ever miss a game unless Jason is gone.

“He reportedly leaves about once or twice a month for anywhere from two days to two to three weeks. Nobody knows what he does. At this point Jenks got a visit from a federal official who refused to give him any official ID and strongly suggested he stop any and all inquiries into Jason Connolly and Bella Swan. Jenks got the message in a somewhat physical way and no amount of money I offered him will make him search any deeper. That’s what we got.

“Alice knows from her visions that he and Bella will be in Forks for Christmas. Alice can get no clear vision of him other than those associated with Bella. It is also getting increasingly difficult to see Bella. We thought at first that maybe her new boyfriend was a dog like our friends in La Push but this does not seem to be the case. It is most likely that she is a shield and would have been a powerful one had she been turned into a vampire. Now it is probably just getting stronger as she gets older.”

Edward was silent for a few minutes as was the rest of the family. “Everything about this guy screams danger.”

“Edward you promised you wouldn’t interfere” Carlisle spoke, the voice of reason.

” I don’t plan to interfere unless it is necessary. I just want her to have the information she needs. I think I need to get close enough to read his mind. Perhaps it is time for Christmas in Forks? Bella asked us not to interfere in her life but she never said she never wanted to see us again.”

“Okay Edward, if it will give you peace of mind we will do it. But this had better not be an attempt to get her back.” Rose said.

“It is not. I am just curious and want her to be safe. We all do, don’t we?”

Esme broke out into a smile. “Bella and Forks for Christmas would be nice.”

” We have to be careful, Edward.” I told him. “If anybody is going to figure out what we are in a few minutes of being with us it’s this guy. He is trained to notice everything.”