Death Doesn't Bargain - A few facts...

In case anyone was ever wondering where Jasper's fictional unit ever came from ...

"The US Ambassador in the Congo ordered a small unit to Leopoldville in the Congo to help save American and European lives. The team consisted of three helicopters, three light single engine airplanes, an Air Force radio expert, and the Special Forces group from the 10th. A meeting with the Ambassador, the SF Team, and the Belgian paratroopers took place and the mission was defined. At the larger airfields the Belgian paratroopers would be in charge. 

The Special Forces Team would control operations on the smaller airfields. The mission was to get as many Americans and Europeans out as possible. Despite enemy contact resulting in a few holes in the aircraft, the mission was accomplished. Nine days following their arrival in country, the team had evacuated 239 refugees without a single casualty.” 

No publicity that US Special Forces Soldiers were involved with this action was ever made.

In addition to the Unconventional Warfare mission, the Group in the early 1960’s also started to pick up the mission of counter insurgency. Most of the training missions described earlier fit into this category. 

With this new mission, in addition to Eastern Europe, the Group found themselves responsible for North Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia as far east as Pakistan. 

So in addition to teams qualified in the languages of Eastern Europe, now the new languages of Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, Greek, Turkish, and Pashto could be heard in the coffee shop and around the team rooms. In fact, at times English was really the “foreign” language of the 10^th Special Forces Group."

Any of that sound familiar?

Peace,

Koko.

Take My Hand... the past and the future.

So, since I wrapped up the main story of TMH, I've had loads and loads of PM's asking me to continue it in some way.

All Roads is nearly complete, but I don't have the time right now to start writing another big fic.

With that in mind, I've decided to start bringing together some of the back work that went into TMH, starting with Jasper's military back story.

The chapters will be written in diary/journal format, and will be short and sweet. They will come from various POV's, Pete, Eli, Garrett, Ben ... occasionally, perhaps, Jasper himself. They will cover all the the little snippets we got in the main story and explain some stuff that never quite made sense.

The story will be called 'Death Doesn't Bargain' and I will be posting the first chapter very soon.

Banner of course by the incomparable FrozenSoldier.

Next up, because so many of you wanted to see what the future held for Jasper and Alice, I've decided to write a short series of futuretakes that will initially be donated to charity compilations.

This story is called 'Bring Me to Life' and the first installment has been donated to the Fandom For Heroes compilation.

Eventually, I will post them on FanFiction, but if you can't wait that long, get donating. I will keep you informed of which compilations to look out for.

Given Jasper's history, Fandom For Heroes seemed an appropriate place to start.

Banner once again by FrozenSoldier.

So, keep me on author alert and prepare for more Take My Hand.

I never said it was over ...

Love and light,

Koko.

All Roads Snippets...

::Skewed::

I never figured out if it was an accident, and we never talked about it, but it was one of the earliest clues that something wasn’t quite right. 

Perversely, though, it was also the day I realised the shit I felt for him went far beyond simply being his roommate.

Beneath the moody, suspicious eyes, he’d been so vulnerable that day, like he didn’t understand himself any more than I did. 

I watched him blanch at the sight of the mangled burned skin on his palm, and all I wanted was to make it go away for him.

I’d never felt that for anyone before. 

::KM::

All Roads snippets...

‎::Scratch::

It wasn’t always like this, 
I wasn’t always like this.
but right now, 
I didn’t even want to sleep,

because I didn’t want to wake up.

It was better to stay awake,
let the days blur into each other,
waiting until they ceased to matter
and I couldn’t remember anymore.

Forgetting used to be easier,
I had other methods.
These days, though,
insomnia was all I had.

::KM::

All Roads Playlist...

All Roads Teaser...

..."Wanna go walk in it?"


I finally tore my eyes from the swathes of fresh snow. "Now? You need to sleep."

He shook his head, cupping my face with his hand. "No, all I need is you, fucker."

Despite the icy breeze from the open door, I felt nothing but warmth as I kissed him, holding him close to me.

His rough, simplistic sentiment contained everything I knew he needed to say.

As he pulled me out into the deserted snow covered streets, I knew for certain he was all I’d ever need too.

That, and I was completely and totally in love with him....

Whisper.

My contribution to the Secret Santa Exchange...

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7680033/1/ Click here!

Banner by FrozenSoldier.

Apologies in advance for the shameless fluff fest.

The final list of dead and wounded.

Alpha 4.

*Capt Jasper Hale – Wounded. (1 i/c.)

Warrant Officer Peter Brennan – Killed. (2 i/c)

*Master Srgt Benjamin Toussaint – Wounded.  (3 i/c.)

1^st Class Srgt James Miller – Redeployed. (4 i/c.)

*Staff Srgt Paulo Raffinelli – Wounded. (Weapons)

Srgt Garrett Thompson – Redeployed. (Medic)

*Srgt Eleazar Del-Torres – Killed. (Medic)

Srgt Joshua Greene – Wounded. (Weapons)

*Srgt Ryan Holden – Killed. (Engineer)

Srgt Daniel Fredericks – Redeployed. (Engineer)

*Srgt Vincent Bradshaw – Killed. (Communications)

Srgt Harry Sawyer –Redeployed. (Communications)

Members of Jasper's original six man team have stars next to their names. Pete's team do not. If you're looking for Paul, (chapter 47) he's not there. He was killed in Afghanistan two years before the incident that killed Pete and the others.

He was a member of Pete's team, 4i/c and was replaced by James 'Jimmy' Miller.

This list is in rank order.

Any questions, let me know.

Don't forget, in return for a review of chapter 61, you can ask Garrett any question you like and he promises to get back to you.

Allow me to introduce...Garrett and Benjamin.

There's been huge interest in Garrett and Benjamin since they first appeared in chapter 55 so I thought I'd share the images that inspired the characters I gave them.

The image of Benjamin inspired a lot of this fic actually, I think it's quite a well known photograph.

Anyway...

I think it's obvious who is who.

One day I hope to find an image of Pete I can share with you.

And even of Jasper...as much as it pains me to say it, Jackson Rathbone just isn't this Jasper.

Anyway, welcome Garrett and Benjamin.

What do you think? Do the faces fit?

Chapter 57 - A Teaser.

Alice POV.


December 2006.

...It was strange, I didn’t feel as restless as I usually did on a Sunday, and I was actually feeling rather calm and serene. Even though he wasn’t in the house at that moment, I couldn’t help idly speculating maybe it was because I had Jasper to distract me. 

Whatever it was, I was feeling the urge to be creative, so I dug out a long neglected sculpture and set to work trying to carve the body shape of the baby hummingbird I was working on.

I knew it was a bad idea even before I started. I should’ve known better. The piece had been Angela’s idea, I should have insisted that she take it on herself. Clay was her medium, not mine. Everything I’d ever made with it had fallen apart. This was no exception.

I was on the verge of hurling it through the window when I heard a low chuckle behind me. Glaring over my shoulder, I caught sight of Jasper at the top of the stairs, a newspaper under his arm, and the amused grin from this morning back on his face. The smile suited him, so I didn’t have it in me to stay cross.

“Hey,” I said, turning around and wiping my hands on a damp cloth. “Where did you sneak off to?”

“Just a walk. The phone’s been ringing all day, it was drivin’ me crazy.”

I nodded in understanding. “It does that on Sundays. It was Bella, right?”

“Yeah, and Emmett and Esme, too.”

I laughed. “Esme doesn’t usually call me, honey, that one was for you.”

“Oh, I know,” Jasper said wearily. “She left a message asking me to come over. I didn’t want to upset her by being a miserable bastard, so I just ignored it.”

“There’s nothing wrong with needing some space,” I said lightly. “To be honest, I normally unplug the phone on Sundays. I’m not usually in the mood for company.”

Jasper paused for a moment, and curiosity flashed briefly over his features. But it was gone as quickly as it had come, and instead, he stepped further into the studio, peering over my shoulder.

He inclined his head at the work behind me. “What’s that?”

I sighed. “It’s supposed to be a hummingbird, a young one, what are they called?”

“A fledgling?” Jasper offered.

“Yes, that’s it. But I’m having trouble with its head; it’s unbalancing the whole thing.”

Jasper moved passed me, taking a closer look. “Keeps falling on its ass, huh?” He shot me a grin. It was a smile I hadn’t seen before, and I liked it, his whole face was lighter.

I stepped around him, reaching out to show him the problem. “I think the clay is too heavy. It’s such a delicate bird, it just doesn’t work.”

“The smallest bird in the world,” Jasper said with an absent smile. “Did you put supports in the body?”

“Like what?” I cocked my head to the side. This was exactly why I didn’t usually indulge in sculpture. These things never occurred to me.

“If you put some wood in here...” Jasper traced a finger up the delicate arch of the bird’s neck. “It would stay upright.”

“Really? It wouldn’t make it worse?”

“Nah, if you put the clay around it, you wouldn’t know it was there.” Jasper straightened up and turned away from the drafting table, treating me again to that wonderful grin. “It works for mud huts.”

My own curiosity spiked again, but I let it slide. I’d promised him I wouldn’t harass him about his past, and I intended to keep that promise. Instead, I returned his smile. “I’ve had enough for today. I’m going to go downstairs and watch a movie, wanna come?”

Jasper shrugged. “I’ve got nowhere else to be.”

I held out my hand. Jasper reached out and grasped it, and my frustration with my work evaporated as he gently squeezed my fingers. “Come on, then.” 

As promised - The story that built Take My Hand.

I made myself...and all of you, a promise when I began writing this story that I would base all of Jasper's experiences on real life accounts of the 2003 Iraq War. Obviously, the personal tragedies have been fictionalised, and characters invented. Things have been embellished, played down, or just plain old made up. But, each and every story has been based on something that happened to real soldiers...American, British, Iraqi, Kurdish...it matters not. They are all men.

This news clip in particular inspired me right from the beginning. Imagine this from Garrett's eyes, from Ben's, from Jasper's...from Pete's if you dare...

It was indeed, a scene from hell.

A Teaser...Chapter 54... (I'm officially in hiding...)

Edward POV.

Alice remained with Jasper, rarely leaving his bedside. She sat slumped in her chair, her head on her arms, her eyes blank. I’d been worried about her since Jasper had first fallen ill, but it was worse now. I felt real fear for what would become of her if she lost Jasper. She was his rock, his tiny pillar of strength, but he was absolutely everything to her.

We’d only witnessed them together for a few weeks, but we knew now that they’d been in love since the moment they met. I couldn’t imagine one without the other...it just wasn’t right. The unfairness of their situation made me angry...bitterly furious. It was just so unjust; they’d both been through so much already.

I’d loved Alice, or Mary as she was then, from the day she’d breezed into my life. She was this miniature, bright, exuberant, bundle of energy - always smiling and laughing. She brought light to everyone she touched. I’d only met Laurent once, but the change in her was evident from the start, and then one day, she just disappeared.

I barely recognised the girl we met at the airport the following year. She’d lost everything she’d ever had and more; she was a shadow of the vibrant girl she’d once been. I’d felt a real loss the day she’d returned to America, knowing deep down that she’d never be the same again.

She’d tried so hard to rebuild her life, to put the horrors of her past behind her and she’d very nearly succeeded. Even though I’d never been positive of the romantic relationship between her and Jasper, I’d noticed the change in her since they’d lived together. Little things, like driving and dancing. He’d given her a confidence I’d feared was lost forever.

But as I watched her keep her vigil over Jasper, my whole body burned with grief. We would lose her if Jasper died. He was the part of her she’d been missing and she would never survive without him.

Coming soon...

Everything's Bigger in Texas Awards.

Happy Saturday, people.

Take My Hand has been nominated in the 3rd Annual Everything's Bigger in Texas Awards run by the Jasper's Darlin's Blog.

It has been nominated in the following categories...

Best Use of Jasper’s Scars in a Fic

Best Southern Charm Fic

Best All Human Jasper Fic

Best Original Storyline

Best Canon Jasper

Best Overall Jasper fic

Please head over and show Jasper some love. 

If you don't like my fic, you can always vote for IdealSkeptic, she's up for a couple too. That's who I'll be voting for!

Here's the link...

VOTE HERE!

Much Love!

Chapter 53 ... A Teaser Of Sorts ...

Just a short one, I still have reviews to reply to before I can get the next chapter up. Enjoy...


Rosalie POV. January - 1998.

“Are you still here?” Jasper grumbled, dropping the book to the side.

“I’ll leave you alone if you promise to stop avoiding Emmett. I know you’re pissed at me, but don’t take it out on him.”

Jasper cracked an eye open and looked at me. “I’m not pissed at either of you.”

“Really?” I raised an eyebrow.

I didn’t believe him for a second. He wasn’t fooling me, I knew him well enough to know he was hacked off about something. As little as I’d seen of him for the last few days, I could spot pissed off Jasper a mile away.

Jasper sat up and eyed me steadily. “Not everything’s about you, Rose.”

“Oh yeah?” I shot back. “Enlighten me, then. What is it about?”

There was a long pause while Jasper and I appraised each other. I knew him better than anyone. He was my brother and, in some ways, my best friend. But he drove me crazy when he was like this, all fucking cryptic and vague. I knew he was pissed with me for hooking up with Emmett; the least he could do was be honest about it.

“What’s what about?” Jasper said eventually, grinning and closing his eyes again.

“Urgh! You’re so annoying sometimes. Why don’t you just say what you think?”

“About what?”

“About me and Emmett,” I ground out through clenched teeth. Why was he always so difficult? He knew I hated it when he ignored me. I’d rather he just fucking yelled at me.

Jasper growled slightly, snapping his eyes open and swinging his legs off the bed. “You’re not gonna give me any peace, are you?”

I remained silent, waiting for his response. Jasper always had an opinion, whether he kept it to himself, or not. This time, I wasn’t leaving until I got it.

“You really want to know?”

“Yes,” I said firmly.”

Jasper exhaled crossly. “Okay, I’ll tell you but then you gotta fuck off and let me sleep. I have to work later.”

I nodded my agreement and waited for him to continue, knowing that now he had agreed to talk, he’d explain everything to me properly. Jasper was nothing if not thorough.

“I’m not gonna lie, Rose, I’m in two minds about it. On the one hand, I’m pleased you’re finally with someone who’s not a total douchebag. But on the other hand, my best friend has been fooling around with my little sister.”

“I guess I understand that,” I said, frowning. “But that’s why we didn’t tell you straight away, Emmett said you’d be pissed.”

“I know, and I was...but I’m over it. I just have a lot going on. Let me get this trip paid for and then I’ll sort it out with Emmett, okay?”

“All right,” I threw up my hands in defeat, knowing that this was as good as I was going to get from him, right now. “But Esme said to tell you she wants you at dinner tonight, or she’s coming looking for you.”

Jasper threw up his hands in defeat. “That’s fine, but I don’t get off un...”

The crash of the front door reverberated through the house, signalling my dad was home. I rolled my eyes as I heard him walk into the dresser in the hallway. Jasper wouldn’t let me move it; he said it served him right every time he collided with it.

I turned back to Jasper, ready to begin another round of that particular discussion, it was fucking ridiculous. What was the point of just letting him hurt himself?

But Jasper wasn’t there. His window was open and his curtains were flapping in the breeze, but Jasper was long gone.

Sighing, I crossed the tiny room to close it, instinctively looking downwards to check Jasper wasn’t splattered on the driveway below. I was convinced he’d hurt himself one day and it scared me to death when he jumped from the second floor.

Not that I’d tell him that.

*TMH*

So, even teenage Rose has a heart, huh?

My Favourite Review So Far...Chapter 52.

dear koko,

i have properly prepared myself for this chapter over the past week by rereading from chapter...10? to chapter 30. just when i had a moment and i was hanging around on the internet, i'd read some here or there. annnd so i'm very refreshed on what's been going on pre-hospital days. and i just wanted to mention something before i review ch 52:

"Jazz, you know everything's going to be alright, don't you? In the end?" ch 12. alice.

okay, so, traditionally, alice just KNOWS things. she might not be able to see the future in tmh, but she's had feelings every time jasper has been close to feeling worse than usual. she knew something was up when she left for london and she knew something was up recently because she went to carlisle. which, i discovered in another earlier chapter, jasper telling her to just 'tell him the truth' regarding why jasper hadn't been around when he had gone to pete's memorial service. so i felt a bit more connected to her then, realizing that she might have found the courage to go to carlisle with that thought in mind... that jasper hadn't wanted her to lie for him back then and he wouldn't want her to, now, if she suspected something was up.

...anyway. what i'm getting at is in chapter 12 AND in another chapter back there when things were a little better [amazingly], alice reassures jasper that things will be okay in the end. i forget where it was mentioned a second time, but it WAS. it was there two whole times. she reassures him that in the end, things will be okay. now, i understand that can be interpreted in more than one way. i mean, let's be real, maybe the only way he can be okay in the end is to die and go be with peter and finally be at peace...

but that doesn't leave alice 'okay' and jasper wouldn't ever do anything that would hurt alice. i think that he'll hold on for her. even if she tells him it's okay to do what he needs to do, even if it means dying, i really really don't think that he would do that to her. he knows it'd kill her, too, and he wouldn't DO that. he wouldn't just die, even if she said he could. and she wouldn't give up on him, just as he won't give up on her. so... yeah. i am throwing chapter 12 at you and saying that that quote by alice gives me hope that even though times are dark and getting darker, things WILL be okay in the end! because alice said so and alice knows these things.

so while that is my optimistic side, believing that those two are too full of good and hope and love to deserve such a fate where they are separated, i won't lie: i'm so worried and upset and scared.

i don't really know where to start with reviewing. like, i'm too shaken and disturbed by this chapter to really form a coherent thought and to read between the lines and interpret and shit so... i think i'm going to pick out parts that stood out to me and try to go from there!

"...there had been something different about him when he'd said goodbye..I couldn't quite decipher..the look in his eyes had been heartbreaking..so utterly lost, as though he couldn't understand what he was feeling either." -this kills me. if i were alice, i would've connected that back to when she was leaving for london. same type of disconnect and lost-ness..he's so..just..not well. i don't know! i wish i could say something more interesting about it, but i think it speaks for itself.

"Jasper had been far from fine the previous evening. He'd barely strung a sentence together before he'd passed out on me." -it's weird how we know something isn't right, but we're just hoping so much that we're wrong, so we don't really do anything about it until it becomes very apparent that we're right or until it's too late.

"The room was empty. jasper's things were still there but the bed was gone, and so was he." -she wasn't freaking out enough already, but now to go to his room and see that he's not there..my first thought would be that he had died. we don't get to hear alice's thoughts right then and i liked that because it was like she was too shocked to think ANYthing at all.

i love that she takes the stairs..waiting for the elevator is way too long of a wait. and it puts too much faith into machinery when she could just walk herself up the stairs to him with her own two feet. i'm pretending that that's symbolic of what's going to happen and that in the end, though the machines/medicine helped jasper, it'll be the 'real'-ness of alice and of their love that saves him. magically, of course. [you should probably know now that if this does have a sad ending, i'll be in CRAZY denial for quite some time...fair warning ;)]

i think what really stands out throughout this chapter is just ALICE and how much dread she's feeling. the whole chapter is so full of descriptions of how utterly terrified and worried she is. she realizes at the end that she's behaving a lot like jasper does and she wonders if this is how he feels mostly all the time... which is heartbreaking in and of itself, but it's also a testament to the way that the two of them really are PART of each other.

but yes, i think you did an amazing job conveying how scared she is, but she also comes across as very strong. she wants to know what's going on with him and she wants to be strong for him and that keeps her going. even though she's probably way past a breaking point, she still does her best to just BE there for him and we can clearly see how hard all of this is on her, but she is definitely NOT weak. i just hope she can be strong enough for both of them..like i said above, they're part of each other and if alice is hurting, jasper knows it, just as alice is in pain by how much pain jasper is in. such a strong connection to one another..and you do such a good job showing it...

and i'm with alice..i have no clue what's going on with the medical jargon, but we can all sense it's bad.

"Despite the prior warning, the dim, unfamiliar room still took me by surprise. Jasper never closed his blinds. Even at home, he could never relax if he couldn't see the outside...an eerie darkness. It felt foreboding to me and it made feel dizzy."-it IS foreboding. i see it as the darkness in jasper's life. kind of like she's physically entering his mind. while before, he always had a window open to see outside and have some escape, now he's closed off and literally 'in a dark place' but it's more than that. it's like this is what the haunted part of him is like and right now, with all of his defenses down, it's creeping in and taking over. he has no escape from it because he's not strong enough to fight it. i know that the lights are off because it hurts him because he's sensitive to light right now, with his headache and fever and everything, but i definitely see this set up as so much more than just a dark room. it's a really dark side of HIM and i hope that now that there's no natural light coming from the window, no 'escape' into something else... that alice can be that 'light' and ground him when he starts to get really lost inside of himself and in the pain of it all.

hmm. they're trying to keep jasper from going into shock, but i think rachel is right to watch alice, too, and try to make sure she had food and some water to steady her. it's a LOT for alice to take in. i'm glad that rachel tried to help her a bit, at least.

when she goes back in, jasper has moved and is on his back with his arms at his side. which is a creepy image to me because it makes me think of lying in a coffin and i HATE that image of him there. so i'm ignoring that connection. but alsooo he's lying in a way that is less defensive. it's almost like he senses alice is there and wants to be more open to her, subconsciously. but that could also be my wishful thinking stretching things to be more optimistic than they really are. he might've just been uncomfortable the other way and happened to shift. i read way into things sometimes, as you know!

...i'm so glad edward is staying there too. he can be there if jasper needs him medically, but can also support alice, too. which she needs right now.

jasper is physically trembling because he's in so much pain and he tells edward to PLEASE give him the morphine. that's probably the most scary part of all of this because we're so familiar with how against medicine he is-especially morphine. so he's willing to risk losing a bit of his mind-his self-which is the scariest thing for him..just to stop feeling the physical pain. that is BAD. and really, really scary. i mean, i'm glad he's letting them give him medicine and help him and kind of think for him at the moment, but..it's really bad :-\

and it broke me when he talked to her and told her he didn't want her to drive in the rain, but knew he shouldn't be thinking that. i know high fever can mess with your brain..i'm wondering if the last thing he really remembers, other than the pain and being sick, is worrying about her coming home in the rain. which is adorable, because it's about her, but..when that was happening, he knew then that something was seriously wrong. and i guess we were kind of being led into thinking that it would be something happening to alice, because his worry was projecting onto her being away, but it was really him maybe feeling that something was seriously wrong with him. again, they're so connected that he couldn't determine if what he was feeling was something wrong with him or with her. they're just like..two parts of the same soul. so deeply connected. i'm not sure alice can exist without jasper being alive in the world and vice versa, so..he needs to get better some day =(.

love how alice takes control at the end. says to let rose in and then the two who probably love him the most sit together with him.

"..I knew this time, it wouldn't be enough." alice canNOT give up hope on him though!

i'm out of space. thanks for the gloom. you're too good at this!


Many Thanks to Lucy Alyce for the awesome review. She makes my day every time I post.


صديقي الحلو

Teaser... Chapter 52.

Alice POV

After stopping briefly at the house to get changed, I made my way to the gallery. Despite Jasper’s request, I tended to spend as little time at home as possible. The house was unbearably lonely without his presence and I avoided it as much as I could.

There were some things I needed to get done before he came home, though. Nothing major, just things I knew would bug him. Like the light bulb in the living room. It had been out for a few weeks but I knew if I didn’t change it before he got home, I’d find him doing it himself before long.

Carlisle’s main worry about releasing Jasper was him behaving himself, and I understood his concerns. Jasper and I had lived together long enough for me to know he couldn’t be stopped if he wanted to do something and I didn’t want to be the one trying to stop him. I wanted to take care of him...I needed to do that, but I didn’t want to police him. All I could do was ask him to look after himself and hope that he did.

It was the same tussle we’d been having since we met and it wasn’t something I could ever see changing. The thought made me smile as I opened the door to my office. It was just Jasper, and I wouldn’t change him for the world.

Resisting the urge to return to the hospital too early, I buried myself in long overdue paperwork. The gallery had been so far down my list of priorities over the last few weeks, the mountain of admin I had was overwhelming. It took me the best part of the afternoon to wade through it. 

It was past four o’clock when Brady appeared, the cordless phone from reception clutched tightly in his hand.

I glanced around the office when I saw it, wondering why I hadn’t heard the phone on my desk ring. The mystery was solved when I finally located it, unplugged and broken on the shelf above me. When had that happened? Exhaling crossly, I turned back to Brady.

My whole body froze when I saw his expression. “Brady? What’s the matter?”

Brady swallowed and held out the phone to me. “I’m not sure, it’s the hospital, they want to talk to you.”

Snatching the phone quickly, I pressed it to my ear. “Hello?” 

Happy Friday, Take My Hand Readers...

Hey, guys.

I've received an unprecedented number of death threats since Saturday's update. I wish I could say this blog post was to reassure you nothing bad is going to happen to Jasper...but it's not.

Instead, I'm just announcing the arrival of two new characters in the foreseeable future of Take My Hand. As ever, they are two undeveloped characters from the saga. Like Jasper, these two characters have so much scope for me to make them my own.

I'm not going to give them away, I'll let their arrival speak for itself, but I am open to guesses...

Who do you think is coming?

Koko.

Just some information.

Just to let you all know, all my work is now licensed under the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Please click this link for further details, but, basically, it means don't go pinching my shit...it belongs to me so write your own!

That means no translating, reposting or anything without my permission. If you do post my work on your websites, blogs etc...you must link the story to me, not yourselves.

I don't think I know anyone who would actually want to claim credit for my rambling rubbish but there are some strange people out there!

Koko.

Ben Howard - Keep Your Head Up

Hey, guys.

It's been a while since I blogged. Mainly because I was too busy drooling over the All Roads banner and too absorbed by it to want to replace it at the top of my blog. However, we are about to enter a new phase of Take My Hand and I wanted you all to have this song ready for when it began.

This song always makes me think of Jasper...especially TMH Jasper. As the next few chapters unfold you'll see why.

The next...9 or so chapters are going to be really hard and as I've not finished writing the story yet, I can't guarantee a happy ending. In moments of doubt, sing Jasper this song and hope he listens.

Until next time...

Koko.

Koko23cat - The next project...life after Take My Hand.

Jasper/Peter.

Pete’s POV.

Pete is a hard working paramedic in the city of Chicago. His lover, friend and true other half, Jasper, is a brooding artist with a traumatic past.  A story of love, trust and friendship, but will it be enough? Adult themes and sexual content. Rated M.

A oneshot for the Fandom Against Famine collective. Will be continued as a multi chaptered WIP. Betaed by IdealSkeptic. Chapter 1 preread by Jasperluver48 and FrozenSoldier.

To be posted some time after 4^th of December. Put me on author alert if you’re intrigued!

Banner contributed by the enormously talented FrozenSoldier.

Yes, I did it. I grew a pair and jumped head first into the slash world. The lure of a relationship between Jasper and Peter was just too strong.

Picture this... strong, kind paramedic Pete lives with Jasper, three years his junior. A tattoo artist with a big heart and a tortured past.

Pete and Jasper are very close in this story. They live together, and share a bed, but above all, they’re good friends. Sparks fly when they are intimate, but their relationship is also warm, and comforting, especially for Jasper who has lacked that security in his childhood.

For those of you missing Alice, never fear, I couldn’t write a story without the Jalice magic. Alice is Jasper’s best friend; she found him on the streets of Philadelphia and brought him home to her family. Every dynamic of their relationship is still there, minus the sex. They are very close and in tune with each other, and Pete adores her, too.

It’s not all good news, though, (obviously). Despite his close relationships with Alice and Pete, there are still large sections of his childhood they know nothing about. Jasper has struggled with depression since Alice found him, but she’s never known why. He has other issues too that she doesn’t know about, things only Pete knows, but again, he doesn’t know the cause of them.

Pete’s job is stressful, and as the story progresses, things begin to happen that encroach on his life at home. It distracts him Jasper’s subtly deteriorating state of mind.

The overwhelming theme of the story is will Pete reach Jasper before it’s too late?

This is different to my usual style of writing. This story is dark, really dark in places and has more sexual content than I’ve ever attempted to write before. That being said, the plot is not written around the sex, far from it. Those who’ve read my previous work will know that’s just not me. I just felt that as two adult males living together, avoiding their sexual relationship would be unrealistic.

I won’t be posting this story until I have finished writing Take My Hand, at the moment, that story still owns me. But, because I’ve been asked so much what my next project will be, I thought I’d take the time to let you all know.

So there you have it...koko23cat is writing slash....