A/N: This is a one-shot story about Jacob & Renesmee. It came to me while working on another story, and I wanted to put it out there. It is set after Breaking Dawn. All these characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, I'm just having a little fun with them!
JPOV
I can still remember the first time she kissed me like it was yesterday.
It was a warm summer day, free from any rain, for once, and the feel of the sun on my skin was glorious. Bella, Edward and I were down by the river playing with Nessie. I stood in the shallows of the water watching Nessie run from the shore and take graceful leaps into the water, somersaulting on the way down. Each splash incited giggles from the girl I adored.
Bella sat on a floating dock I had installed, soaking up the bright and rare rays. Edward may have been the mind reader, but his thoughts were quite obvious to me as he stared at her bikini clad body from the grass he sat in.
Just to fuel the fire, I skimmed my arm across the surface and sent a spray of water over Bella. She shrieked and was on her feet instantly.
"Jacob Black, so help me I will rip your head off if you don't start running now!"
"No Mommy!" Nessie protested, clinging to my chest suddenly. "Please don't hurt my Jacob, he was just having fun."
Her protection was not necessary, though. Edward was already standing on the floating dock with Bella, pushing a lock of dampened hair behind her ear to soothe her. I saw him trail a finger down her collarbone and continue the path of the water droplets to her cleavage. Her sparkling skin was even more luminescent when wet. Even after all this time, I still hadn't been able to get used to that freaky skin thing.
I instinctively turned Nessie away from her parents' scene. It was impossible to avoid their PDAs one hundred percent of the time, but I always did my best. They were still as mushy gushy over each other as the day Bella had been changed. I could hardly believe I had once felt that way about Bella.
"Come on, Ness, I've got an idea," I said, tossing her into the water and swimming for the woods side of the river. She beat me across and waited impatiently in a patch of shade.
"We're not done swimming, are we? I'm still having fun."
"No, I'm having fun, too. Race me up this tree, ok?" I told her.
Hopping and swinging from branch to branch of a tree that must have been nearly two hundred years old, we climbed until we were up in the highest branches. She stared at me expectantly when I stopped.
"Let's see who can do the most somersaults before hitting the water. You first." Nessie smiled at me with excitement lighting her chocolately brown eyes. This girl was a Cullen true to form. She could never turn down a little competition.
Without a word, she flipped from the branch, spinning many times before creating a wave of impact in the water. She stayed under for a few moments, but I wasn't worried. This was not something that could break her, and she could hold her breath four times longer than any human. One of the perks of being half vampire, I suppose.
She resurfaced near the house side of the river with a brilliant bright smile plastering her face.
"That was awesome! Come on Jacob, I want to see you now!"
"On my way," I called.
I turned around and edged toward the end of the branch I stood on. With a deep bend in my knees, I sprang backwards and spun in circles until I felt cool water surrounding me. Nessie was right, that was an amazing feeling.
I could hear laughter from inside the house.
After coming up for air, a few strokes had me in a place where the water was only waist deep on me. Nessie leaped into my arms, giggling uncontrollably.
"Look," she said, placing her left hand on my cheek. She was replaying my jump for me to see. I joined in on her laughter. It was not graceful, but it was still pretty cool to see from that perspective.
Her wet hand reached up again while I supported her with one arm. This time she showed me the jump she had made through her eyes. The feeling was absolutely exhilarating!
"Wow," was all I could manage. We looked at each other and laughed again.
And just like that she wrapped her arms around my neck and placed one quick kiss on my lips before tucking her head into the crook of my neck.
I'd say I was shocked, but there was no time to process that feeling. As quickly as Nessie had kissed me, I was underwater, face pressed into the mud and stones where my feet once stood. In the next moment my body was slammed violently into the thick old tree I had jumped from. The sickening crunch of bones echoed through the meadow the Cullen house stood in. The whole ordeal took less than five seconds.
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When I came to, I recognized the familiar living room full of pristine white furniture, but I was definitely laying in a bed. A quick assessment of my immediate surroundings told me Carlisle had brought out the old hospital bed.
I blinked a few times to clear the sleep from my eyes and saw Nessie staring wide eyed back at me.
"Grandpa!" She yelled. Not that anything more than a whisper was necessary in a house full of vampires.
Carlisle was at my side immediately. "How are you feeling, Jacob?" He asked with a concerned gaze that furrowed his brow. "They really got you good this time."
"I'm ok, I think." I tried to push myself up a little and winced. "Care to give me the replay?"
Before he had a chance to speak Nessie put her hand on my face and the scene began. She had been pulled out of my arms by Bella while Edward crushed me underwater, then launched me into the great tree that had broken my body. The sound was just as blood curdling as the first time. Nessie's memory of the event was laced with fear, anxiety and confusion.
"That's the seventy-third time she's remembered that since this afternoon," Edward sighed. He and Bella had entered the room through the front door and were approaching the bed.
"Daddy, I wish you would stop counting. And I think you owe Jacob an apology."
He looked down at his daughter and stroked her bronze curls. He sighed once more.
"I never have been able to deny those big brown eyes, have I Bella?" He looked from his daughter to his wife, then back at me. "I am sorry, Jacob. I realize that I overreacted, but it was my paternal instinct. I'm not sure if you'll ever be able to understand that, but it's quite similar to what your imprinting does to do."
"Sure, sure, it's cool. I wasn't expecting that either. What's the damage, doc?" I said, turning to face Carlisle again.
He pressed his fingers along my torso making an assessment. "Well, you have a number of broken ribs and some herniated disks in your back. Your tail bone was also shattered, but you should be able to move around soon. I'd like you to stay in bed until morning, though. Would you like any more pain meds?"
I shook my head. "I'm good. Thanks a lot."
When he turned to leave, I looked back at Nessie. She sat back down next to the bed and took my hand, avoiding her parents' stares.
"Care to explain?" I asked. I had one eyebrow raised and my eyes narrowed.
She shrugged in the cutest way that made her long curls bounce around her shoulders. "I don't know. I was just so happy." She looked down, the same way her mother used to always do. "I'm sorry I got you hurt."
I gave her hand a firm squeeze. "Don't worry about me, Nes. I'll be better in no time, then we're have a rematch on that diving contest."
She looked back up and smiled, placing her hand on my cheek once more. Our jumps flashed in my mind again.
"I won that time!" She giggled.
To my relief, Edward laughed, too. Bella shook her head and patted my other arm.
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At the time, Nessie was just under three years old in human years. Her physical age was closer to ten or eleven, though it slowed down minutely every day, so it was hard to get a precise estimation. Her maturity was well beyond that in many ways.
We all knew that she understood that I had imprinted on her and what that meant. Even as a toddler she would show us images of me holding her or looking at her, and possessive pleasure rippled through them. She had heard us speak of imprinting many times since her birth, and had seen my pack brothers with their respective soul mates. Our bond was just as real to her as it had always been to me.
Any doubts we may have had were squashed by Edward's ability to see into her mind. He confirmed that she knew I belonged to her in a very special way and that someday I would be hers in a way that was much like the relationships that surrounded her in the Cullen home. It wasn't like school girl crush, he told us, it was a pleasant acceptance of what was to come.
I cherished watching Nessie grow up, and it often saddened me to see how quickly it all took place. If possible, my already strong bond with Quil grew in the process. Because he had Claire, we shared a unique understanding of one another, and became confidants regarding the little girls we loved so much. We would often sit back, watching them play together and wonder what our futures held. It wasn't a desire for them to grow up so that we could experience the romantic side of imprinting, it was curiosity at who they would become. Utter fascination with the fact that life could possibly get better than this, yet a part of each of us knew it would.
Nessie's kiss at the river stirred something inside of me, though. It was only for the most brief flicker of a moment, but it brought a beautiful image to my mind. One of a fully grown Nessie staring at me in adoration, looking at me the way I had always looked at her. And in the same instant it came, the future memory was gone.
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I spent the next few years focusing on Renesmee the child, though she didn't always make that easy. Her body changed, and she became more like a woman and less like a girl. She went on shopping trips with Alice and Rosalie and came back in dresses that hugged her curves. She was tall like Rosalie and slender like Bella. Her long curls, which had never been cut, hung down past her waist. Her smile even matured, but still managed to capture the innocence and wonder of a child when it met her wide eyes. She was a teenager in every way.
I cherished every fleeting moment I had with the girl, but respected the time her parents and her family needed with her. The change of heart we anticipated when it came to me would take a piece of her away from all of them. A fraction of me felt smug about that, but I was mostly sad for them.
The year of her sixth birthday proved to be the most difficult. Now that her growth had slowed to an almost stand still, she was enrolled in public school as a new student in the eleventh grade. Her charismatic nature brought friendships to her with little effort and she even joined the cheerleading squad. With carefully tailored self control, she was able to display her gymnastic prowess through the activity. Had she been a normal teenage girl, Nessie would have been experiencing crushes and dating boys her age. Instead, her ponderings of her girl friends' relationships created questions about the impending future we would share.
She would replay Bella and Edward's private conversations for me, discussing the perils of raising a teenager, and when would be the appropriate time to allow our relationship to take the next step.
There were also the times she would replay that first kiss. I had stopped keeping track of how many times I'd seen it, but it always caught me off guard when it appeared. Sometimes it was simply a fond memory. Other times it would have an undertone of question or playfulness or even anticipation. I could not blame Edward for the way he became increasingly frustrated by all of it.
And then her seventh birthday came, and Nessie was a senior in high school. She wanted to go to the homecoming dance like all of her friends, and as it has always been, Edward and Bella could not deny her. When she hesitantly asked if I was allowed to go with her, Edward simply sighed and said yes. His reaction wasn't necessarily one of defeat, rather acceptance of the inevitable.
Before our first real date, I was assaulted by "talks" from every member of the Cullen family. And Charlie. And Sam. And the entire council. They were all varying degrees of concern, and I took them in stride, knowing they were meant out of concern for both Nessie and I. Esme was tender and sweet, Carlisle logical, Emmett and Rosalie threatening, Charlie threatening and melancholy, Bella stern. Sam was full of wisdom, which I should have expected. Edward didn't say much, but his face spoke for him. I saw a glimmer of the burning man I'd come to know when Bella was pregnant, but there was also reluctant pride in his tawny eyes.
The night of the dance, everyone gathered on the Cullen's front lawn, waiting for all the women who had kicked us out of the house. By everyone, I mean everyone. Edward, Carlisle, Charlie, Emmett, Jasper, Seth, Leah, Sue, Billy, Quil, Claire, Embry, Sam, Emily, and the rest of the pack their girlfriends and wives. It was utterly embarrassing, but completely worth it.
Alice, Rosalie and Esme emerged from the house first. Esme beamed brighter than both her daughters in a way that made my heart swell and speed. Edward chuckled at me and elbowed my ribs. Alice came straight to me and went off on some rant about not messing up Nessie's dress, using words like "silk dupioni" and "Nicole Miller." I had no idea what any of that meant.
A few minutes later Bella walked out of the house and nodded at the crowd gathered around me. She looked as though she would cry, if that were possible. The next moment, I felt something warm and wet running down my own cheek.
Nessie was a vision in shimmering red. As she moved, her dress seem to change color ever so slightly, while catching every bit of light that touched the fabric. It was a simple dress with a straight line across her chest, and inch-wide straps at her shoulders. A matching sash gathered above her waist, and the whole thing fell just above her knees. On a simple silver chain, a large heart shaped diamond hung around her neck. I recognized the gem, and saw a familiar charm bracelet on her wrist. The bracelet held a single item – a red-brown wolf carved from wood so many years ago.
"It seemed appropriate," Edward whispered in my ear.
To complete the outfit, she wore strappy thin high heels, and half of her hair was piled on top of her head like a crown. The other half hung down her back in perfectly placed tendrils and curls.
"Breath, Jacob," Edward whispered again, nudging me forward. I was relieved to see him smiling when I turned to face him.
I inhaled deeply through my nose and stepped up to greet Nessie. We were both smiling like idiots, while our audience murmured pleasantly behind us. I took her hand, and Bella wrapped her own around ours. She kissed us each on the cheek and wished us a lovely evening.
I walked to my Corvette that Bella had given me a few years prior for my birthday and helped my beautiful date in.
Everything about the evening was perfect. The newly acceptable pieces of our relationship, of our bond, fell into place with ease. I couldn't think of one moment of my life that had been any happier than this night. We danced and talked and socialized with all her school friends, who just so happened to be quite impressed by her older boyfriend. We laughed and agreed, "if they only knew..."
When the dance ended, we weren't quite ready to end our evening, so we went to the local park and strolled slowly, staring at the stars and studying each other's faces in the light of the moon. We stopped on a little bridge near the center of the park and watched the stream beneath it trickle beneath us.
"Thank you for inviting me tonight, Nes. This was all just amazing," I told her.
She smiled up at me and stretched her delicate hand to my face. I looked down to meet her touch as an old memory made it's appearance.
The spinning leaps into the river. The joy of a little heart, perfectly content with every part of her life. A simple kiss. The memories were flooded with so much love that it could only be rivaled by the way I felt the first time I saw her in Rosalie's arms.
The corners of Nessie's lips twisted up and grew as her eyes bored into my expectantly. Of course.
I placed my hands lightly on her hips and drew her closer to me. I let on hand slide up her arm and tuck under her chin. The luminescence of her skin under the full moon was breathtaking. Her delicate arms wrapped around my neck, sending a tingle up my spine.
Seven years of patience and acceptance shattered away from my body and fell to pieces at my feet.
I licked my lips and leaned in to press them against hers. Both of our mouths curled into a smile after a few seconds, and we allowed our now parted lips to lead the way.
I don't know how long we stood there or what was going through my mind. All I can say for sure is that it was the single most incredible feeling I'd ever had. We only parted to catch our breath, and when my eyes opened I saw pure elation in the big brown eyes that stared back at me.
"That was-" I began, but she completed my thought.
"Perfect."
"Yes, absolutely perfect. I love you, Renesmee Carlie Cullen."
"I love you, too, Jacob."
We held each other there for a while, reveling in the new meaning of words we had spoken to each other hundreds of times before.
After a long, peaceful silence, she interrupted my musings.
"Jacob?"
"Yes?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course. Anything," I encouraged her.
"Am I a better kisser than my mom?"
THE END
A/N: I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I had writing that!! I hope you liked it, and I would love Love LOVE any reviews you have!!!!
This story was not based on these songs, but I couldn't help be reminded of them as I was writing....
Stolen by Dashboard Confessional
and
Inevitable by Anberlin
Do you remember when we were just kids
And cardboard boxes took us miles from what we would miss
Schoolyard conversations taken to heart
And laughter took the place of everything we knew we were not
I wanna break every clock
The hands of time could never move again
We could stay in this moment (stay in this moment)
For the rest of our lives
Is it over now hey, hey, is it over now
I wanna be your last, first kiss
That you'll ever have
I wanna be your last, first kiss
Amazing how life turns out the way that it does
We end up hurting the worst, the only ones we really love
I wanna break every clock
The hands of time could never move again
We could stay in this moment (stay in this moment)
For the rest of our lives
Is it over now hey, hey, is it over now
I wanna be your last, first kiss
That you'll ever have
I wanna be your last, first kiss
Is it over now hey, hey, is it over now
Is it over how hey, hey, it's not over now
I wanna be your last, first kiss
That you'll ever have (that you'll ever have)
I wanna be your last, first love (that you'll ever have)
Till you're lying here beside me with arms and eyes open wide
I wanna be your last, first kiss for all time