His Wolf Pup - a Jasper Hale Story

14- A New Year

Before I knew it, it was New Year's Eve. Esme made a bunch of cookies to celebrate, and I was going to try and stay up all night to celebrate with the family. I wanted to soak up every minute I could with them before I got adopted by someone else.

I was sitting on the couch with Jasper while I played a game of Mario Kart with Emmet, Noah, and Edward. We played for over an hour when Esme said that I should probably eat something since it was 10 pm and the last time I ate was noon.

Everyone made their way to the table as Esme served me a sandwich. I thanked her before starting to eat. Even though Esme couldn't taste anything she cooked, she was terrific at it.

As I began eating, Emmet and Edward got into an argument about how the other was cheating in the last game we played.

"Boys, no fighting at the table," Esme said as she sat down next to Carlisle at the table.

Both boys looked at each other, smiled, and said, "Yes, Mum."

I smiled at their antics as Rosalie burst out laughing at her husband. "Why did you call her that as if we live in England?" She asked the two boys.

"Uh, I take offense to that," Edward said, looking at Rosalie.

I continued eating as their banter went back and forth between different members of the family. Soon enough, I finished eating, so everyone got up and went back into the living room.

We all got ready to play Mario Kart again when Carlisle stole the remote from Noah. "My turn to play."

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing at looked at Carlisle. "You're going to play?" Edward asked him. "I don't think I've seen you play a video game before."

"This is the day all my dreams come true," Emmet said excitedly before quickly setting up the whole game again.

Jasper sat down on the couch before pulling me into his lap and wrapping his arms around my waist. I leaned into him as everyone else sat down near or on the sofa. We all picked our characters before starting the game.

The first three races were filled with yelling, screaming, and laughing as I attempted to beat any of the vampires in the game. Emmet won the first race. Edward sabotaged the second race, letting Carlisle win. Then Emmet got mad at Carlisle and ruined his game, letting Edward win the third race. Going into the fourth race, we were all super close in points, so every spot counted.

As soon as the race began, the three guys were trying to ruin each other's games. They ran into each other, they stole each other's remotes, and they shoved each other to try and get ahead. All the while, I silently pulled into first place while they all fell behind. Then Rosalie started laughing, causing Edward to look at my screen and see how far ahead I was.

"Emma's winning!"

This caught all of their attention, and they ditched their plan to ruin each other's games just to try and beat me. They were too late, however, cause I crossed the finish line first.

"Ha! Take that. I won the race!" I gloated as the boys crossed the finish line.

"No fair, she cheated," Emmet said, throwing his remote across the room.

"Not true, you just got distracted," I told him.

"Wait," Edward said, looking at the screen. "We need to see who won."

We all silently watched the screen as the overall scores came up. Edward got 4th, Carlisle got 3rd, Emmet got 2nd, and I got 1st.

"Ha!" I jumped up off the couch in excitement. "I beat you all! Losers."

"Carlisle, make her stop," Emmet complained while slumping on the ground.

"You do this every time you win," Carlisle told him. "She should get to celebrate too."

"Ha! Even Carlisle's on my side." I sat back down on Jasper's lap, and he hugged me from behind.

He kissed me on my cheek before saying, "Congrats, Puppy."

I turned to look at him with a smile on my face. "Puppy?" I asked him.

"Yeah. I thought about calling you kitten, but you're a wolf, so puppy." Jasper said it as if it was the simplest thing ever, and it made me smile even more. "What? Do you not like it?"

"I love it," I told him.

"It's almost midnight! Put on the show!" Alice yelled suddenly.

Noah grabbed the TV remote and switched it to the channel where you can watch the ball drop in New York. Some singer was performing before it was time for the count down.

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Happy New Year!" I had never heard Emmet yell so loud before, but I couldn't help but smile as he did.

"Happy New Year, Puppy," Jasper told me quietly.

"Happy New Year, Jazzy," I whispered back.

Carlisle stood up in front of the TV, getting all of our attention. "Okay, well, to start this year, I have some big news."

"What?" Emmet asked.

"We are adopting Emma."

"What?!" I stood up on instinct, making Jasper let go of me. "No, I don't want to be a bother. I told Jasper already that I wasn't going to impose."

"Emma, you're not a bother," Carlisle told me. "We already think of you like family."

"But I smell weird, and my blood must be a temptation. I don't want you to have to deal with that."

"Emma," Noah started, "we're already so used to you it doesn't bother us. The worst that happens is we hunt a little more often. No harm done."

I looked around at the family, ready for someone to rebuttal against Carlisle, but no one did. I finally looked back at Carlisle before saying, "you really want to adopt me?"

"All the paperwork is already filled out. All it needs is your signature, and you're officially a part of this family forever. What do you say?" He asked me.

I never actually answered the question. I just ran forward and wrapped Carlisle in a hug. I felt his arms wrap around me as I said, "Thank you."