Most of Jasper's attention is divided between watching Alice's emotional state carefully as it winds down from the spike of panic, and listening to Edward's side of the conversation and everyone in the background—Rose sounding irritated that they're uprooting themselves again, Emmett looking forward to getting back to familiar territory, not enough bears around Calgary it seems, Carlisle and Esme starting their plans—but at that, Jasper's head snaps around to stare at Natasha in undisguised shock.
She's a tangle of feelings, but there's a blue streak of certainty in her running through it all, and it takes him a moment to find his tongue. "Natalia, you know that's not something we'd insist upon," he says, and he can hear the helpless bewildered note in his own voice. She's making this decision based on so little, and she's so firm with it, he isn't certain there isn't anything he could say to dissuade her.
That said, he isn't certain he ought to, or even that he'd want to. Edward had agonized for more than a year over turning Bella, nearly lost her thanks to his reluctance, but neither Jasper nor Alice have any qualms about Natasha's human life being over too soon. They know something of what she's been through, Jasper's seen what she's capable of just as a human.
Instead of continuing on that line, he falls silent and wraps an arm around her waist. "We'll have time to prepare you for it," he murmurs, watching Alice again as she's wrapping up her conversation, then looking back down at Natasha. "I can't change you myself. It's up to Alice whether she wants to risk that."
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She's a tangle of feelings, but there's a blue streak of certainty in her running through it all, and it takes him a moment to find his tongue. "Natalia, you know that's not something we'd insist upon," he says, and he can hear the helpless bewildered note in his own voice. She's making this decision based on so little, and she's so firm with it, he isn't certain there isn't anything he could say to dissuade her.
That said, he isn't certain he ought to, or even that he'd want to. Edward had agonized for more than a year over turning Bella, nearly lost her thanks to his reluctance, but neither Jasper nor Alice have any qualms about Natasha's human life being over too soon. They know something of what she's been through, Jasper's seen what she's capable of just as a human.
Instead of continuing on that line, he falls silent and wraps an arm around her waist. "We'll have time to prepare you for it," he murmurs, watching Alice again as she's wrapping up her conversation, then looking back down at Natasha. "I can't change you myself. It's up to Alice whether she wants to risk that."