Chapter Text
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15 years later. Jasper is 33 years old.
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"Where's Edward?" Diego asks, pulling at Jasper's sleeve. The man smiles down at the little kid, ruffling his dark hair.
Ever since Diego spent the first months with them at their home, the bond with Edward had been the strongest. After almost nine months, Diego still needs to know where Edward is at all times.
Jasper sits down on his knees, zipping up the kid's jacket—the May air can still be a little too chilly in the evenings without it. "Edward had to work late today, remember? He'll meet us at the office."
Diego looks at him with his huge dark brown eyes. He's always so serious this little one. "All right," he says lowly.
Jasper kisses his forehead before he gets up. "Do you have everything you need ready in your backpack?"
"Yes," the six year old tells him, nodding once.
"Good," Jasper praises, grabbing his own much heavier backpack. "We're ready to go then!" He holds his hand out to Diego.
It's not easy to get this child to smile, or to get the quick feedback of appreciation, but Jasper and Edward are still working on it. They know he'll tell them if something doesn't agree with him, which is a huge step further from the state he was in when he came to them.
Jasper and the little boy take the subway into downtown Seattle, sitting side by side on the plastic seats, their fingers entwined. They've done great work with Diego, the psychologist told them yesterday. He's showing great improvement, and when he gets a permanent home in a few weeks, will hopefully be ready to start school in the fall.
Living as Jasper and Edward do, they never know when they'll get a new child or for how long the kid will stay with them in the emergency foster care they offer. Diego has stayed the longest so far.
Entering the office, Jasper and Diego are greeted by the usual guerrilla gardeners—all familiar faces—young and old, kids and adults. Diego stands still, one hand in Jasper's and the other placed rigidly against his side, his face serious as their friends greet them and ruffle his hair fondly.
Bella pulls a chair forward, sitting down beside the kid while greeting him like an old friend, "Hey, Diego!"
"Hi, Bella," he answers quietly.
"What are you going to plant tonight?" she asks him.
Diego looks up at Jasper, who smiles reassuringly at him, and opens his backpack, showing Bella the bag of seeds and his little shovel. "I'm going to plant sunflower seeds."
"Ooh," she grins. "I think sunflowers are the prettiest!"
"Thanks," he says shyly.
Then he notices Edward coming in through the door and forgets all about his backpack with seeds as he runs to jump his favorite foster parent. Edward catches him, lifting him up. "Hey, buddy! You two got here before me, huh?"
"Guess what I'm going to plant today!" Diego asks proudly, much more forward with Edward than anyone else. "I have sunflower seeds! It's a sunflower! A flower like the sun! And Bella thinks they are the prettiest!"
Edward looks over at Bella. When his husband's eyes reach him, Jasper feels the usual pang in his upper stomach and he can't keep a smile off his face, like it's just the two of them in the room.
Bella nudges him and grins up at him when he looks bewildered at her. "Here," she orders, giving him her hand. "Help me up!"
He pulls at her hand and she and her big baby-belly rise up. Then Edward's by his side, finally. Jasper can feel him without even turning to check. When an arm lands around his waist, he melts into his husband's side.
Jasper places a hand on Bella's belly, on his baby, and she grins at him, mouthing, "I'll give her to you soon."
Then a familiar voice calls from the door, "Hello, everybody! Now we're here, we can get this show on the road!"
Everyone laughs at James and Victoria where they're waiting by the door, letting cold air in with their backpacks ready and rubber boots on. They come into Seattle every month to attend Save The Forest's monthly guerrilla gardening meeting. It was their idea to begin with after walking through the concrete jungle that is Seattle.
Everyone talks and laughs as they find their way. Outside, the spirit in Save The Forest is still the same, even though new generations have come, too. The experienced members like Jasper have taught the newcomers how it's done.
Tonight they're going to make a flower bed a couple of blocks down from the office where there's a high brick wall which used to be gray concrete. Now it's filled with graffiti, but it could still use some flowers underneath to spice it up even more. It's best to do it at night when there's fewer people out to give them trouble for trespassing.
As they walk down the road, the cars whistle past them and Diego walks safely in between Jasper and Edward, telling his favorite parent about his day. Jasper smiles at them as Edward listens to everything the little boy has to tell him, showering him with attention.
He can't wait until Edward and he have their own little one who won't leave them after a few months of getting well enough to be assigned a regular foster home. When Bella offered to help them have a child, Edward wanted Jasper to donate the sperm. 'Making sure there would be someone carrying the amazing Whitlock genes in the future,' he'd said.
Jasper looks back at Bella where she walks beside her teenage son who's carrying her backpack for her. His face is dimpled and his arms too long for his body at the moment, but he's walking confidently beside his mother with a green plant sticking out behind his head. Charlie might have inherited Jacob's colorings, but his personality is luckily all Swan genes. He's never had much contact with his father and in Jasper's opinion he's much better off.
Bella blows Jasper a kiss before he turns around.
Diego knows he's not going to stay long at Jasper and Edward's. To let him think he'll live with them until he's an adult would be deceiving, but they haven't told him they will have their own baby sometime after he leaves. It's really not something for the kid to worry about.
As they reach the wall, Diego lets go of Edward's hand and runs the last few feet to the weeds and trash covering the soil in front of the wall. Jasper finds some plastic bags in his backpack and holds them out for Diego to throw things in; one for weeds and one for unsortable trash.
When they have filled up the cleared space under the wall with soil and organic fertilizer, Diego eagerly gets out his bag of seeds. He digs tiny holes in the ground, puts a seed in each and Jasper follows after him, tucking soil around them.
"We'll have to come back here from time to time, Diego," Edward tells him, staking the Save The Forest Was Here sign into the ground by the wall. "We need to water the flowers and pull up new weeds. This flowerbed is now our responsibility."
"Come on. Diego help a pregnant woman back to the office, will you?" Bella holds out her hand. "I need something hot to drink after working so hard." She winks at Jasper; the only work she's done is pointing and giving out orders.
Jasper tucks Diego's gloves in his backpack and pulls it up on his back. Then Edward's by his side taking his hand and they follow the others back to the office as it gets darker outside. The seeds are safely in the ground ready to grow up and become suns.
Jasper turns his face to Edward's scruff and kisses his cheek. "Love you," he whispers and receives a kiss in return.
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The End