"Nessie, what are we gonna do? When your Dad finds out...he'll kill me! And I don't wanna die!" Hell,I doubted if I ever could die. I wouldn't allow it. And neither would my new girlfriend. Bella and Edward's daughter Renesmee. I imprinted on Renesmee when she was 's what was keeping me near Bella throughout her pregnancy. Not Bella herself,but what she was carrying. Renesmee had Bella's old milk chocolate eyes. She had long,blonde curls down to her waist. So beautiful. Right now me and her were walking-hand in hand-to Bella and Edward's cottage. We were going to tell Bella and Edward that Nessie and I had feelings for each other. I was scared because when I told Edward I had imprinted on Renesmee,I promised him it was not in that way. And I was telling the truth. I didn't have those feelings for her. At the moment. But now since she's older now not my age,but looks like it, we've developed strong feeling for each other. In THAT way. So i'm now about to face potential death. She laughed. "Jake,you worry too much! My Dad is an understanding person,he'll forgive and forget,maybe not soon but definitely someday." Ugh! She was so much like Bella used to be. So freakin optimistic! She wasn't a psychic, like Alice! How did she know whether or not Edward was gonna kill me! I knew he wouldn't touch her. But there was no restraint for me. No mercy. We walked through the door. Edward was sitting in front of the fireplace. I guessed Bella was either in their room or at Carlisle's house. Edward started to say hi,then his eyes flickered to our hands just as I dropped hers. He stared me in the eye,reading my thoughts. "Breath,Dad!", Nessie said. Edward looked at me with pure hatred on his face,in his eyes. I thought he was about to rampage around the house,having a fit. Or at least punch me,kick me out, or inject his venom in my veins until he could be sure I was dead and never coming back. But instead he took a deep breath and unclenched his jaw. "Renesmee Carlie Cullen, may I please speak to you in private for a moment?", he said quietly and calmly. "No", she said defiantly. "Whatever you can tell me in private,you can say right here. In front of Jacob." I stared at her with my mouth hanging open. Was she crazy? Mental? She was making this situation harder than it needed to be! If Edward wanted her alone, she should've just went! And instead of lashing out full force on her,Edward was calm again. "Jacob,may I speak with you alone then?", he asked me with rage in his eyes, but a serene look on his face. Of course I followed my own advice. "Uh,yeah. Sure," I said. I wasn't about to get on his bad side now,after Nessie ruined any understanding he was capable of! We walked into the next room and as I started to talk he stopped me midsentence and told me to just think my statements,and that he would reply out loud. And so without question I followed his instructions. "Explain,Jacob." C'mon Edward you knew that this day would come."I didn't know it'd come so soon," Edward muttered. Neither did I. "You know your gonna be the one to tell Bella this,right?" Are you kidding!? She'd KILL me! "Well, you and Renesmee figure this out. I'm not in this." Edward, please. You know how it is, when you love someone that your banned to be with. It's wrong, against nature. But I love her and there's no changing that, whether or not Bella rips my face to pieces. "We'll have to make sure Seth isn't near this time. I'd hate for him to get hurt again because of your and Bella's quarrels." Oh, har-har! Nice that you think this is a joke! Well, off to tell Bella. "Good luck", Edward said, amused. I walked back to their living room. Renesmee had a suspicious look on her face. Tell you later, I mouthed. She took my hand, and we walked out together. "Your telling Bella", I said. "Your right", she said. "I will tell her. Your too chicken. I mean you and my Mom are close. And my Dad took it well, so she shouldn't freak." Again with the optimism. "Oh, speaking of! What was that in there? You made that exponentially harder than it needed to be. And you know that if any violence would've gotten involved, it would be against me!" She rolled her eyes. "Jake, he needs to know that I'm not gonna be intimidated! I am not a little kid anymore and now I think he understands that." Now I was the eye roller. "So this is about him not underestimating you!? He's your Dad! The overprotective-ness is gonna be there. If you haven't noticed we're not the most predictable couple. Not in this crazy magical world we live in! With werewolves and vampires and mind-readers and psycics and odd half-breeds! I continued on with my rant until her lips silenced mine. When she kissed me, all my worries went away and she knew it. If Bella ever seen her and me kiss like this I'd be dead. She wound her arms around my shoulders and hitched her leg around my hips. I tightened my left hand on the small of her back, my right cradled her face. My breathing got harder, ragged as I shaped my lips around hers. After a couple of minutes she gently pulled away leaning her head against my chest. I laid my cheek on the top of her head. "I should get stressed more often", I said, a smile in my voice. "Maybe you should", she agreed. I pulled her by the waist towards Carlisle's house. We walked up the stairs and into the house. Emmet was watching some game. Esme was reading poetry quietly to herself. Jasper and Rosalie were whispering to each other, debating about something political. "Hey, Jacob. Hi, Nessie", Emmet greeted us loudly. "Hey, Emmet", I said back. "Where's Bella?" He switched the channels as he answered. "She went to Port Angeles, shopping with Alice." Thank all that is holy. "Do you know when they'll be back?" He thought for a moment. "No", he finally answered. "I mean, she's with Alice…so well…I mean…you know Alice." I took a deep breath. "I do know Alice. Um, when they get back could you tell Bella I need to talk to her?" "Sure. Jake, you okay? You seem nervous…jumpy." Gosh. Did everyone see through my perfectly fabricated pretense? If Emmet seen through it, then Bella-who's known me for such a long time-would too. She knew me too well to not see it. "Yeah, everything's fine", I lied, my voice breaking in octaves. He gave me a knowing look. "Right", he said sarcastically. "Perfectly fine." Jasper snickered, taking in my emotional climate. "Hope she really hurts him", Rosalie said under her breath, thinking I couldn't hear. I glared at her. It was weird knowing Bella could hurt me. Since apparently, becoming a vampire was better than steroids. I grimaced. "I wonder how she'll react to whatever it is this time", Emmet mused. We'll all find out soon enough.
***
Let's just say she didn't take it well. I said everything I could to make it easier. I reminded her [just how I reminded Edward] that I couldn't help it. When someone imprints, there's no going back. It's true that it didn't need to be "like that", but Renesmee felt that way, so I did too. I went through the conversation in my head…
Bella and Alice had just gotten back from shopping in Port Angeles at 9. Bella walked through the door and set her bags down, Alice towing in behind her. "I'm glad you've gotten over your resistance to fashion", Alice said. Bella laughed. "I haven't gotten over it", she said. "I've just gotten used to the inevitability that being your sister entails loads of expensive, designer clothes." "Good", Alice said. "It's about time." Nessie and I were sitting on the big, white couch. My palms were sweating, my face hotter than
usual, my breathing coming in short, fast rasps. Bella looked me and her eyes narrowed. "What's wrong, Jake?" she asked. "You look like your gonna puke!" I exhaled. "Bella, Nessie and I need to talk to you." She looked confused, suspicious, and anxious all at the same time. "Okay", she agreed, wary. "What's up?"
"Bella, before I tell you this, will you promise you won't kill me?" Her breath caught.
"Jake, what the hell did you do?!"
"I won't answer that until you Bible that you won't kill me! You can get mad and hate me forever, but just that you won't kill me!"
"Jake!" she started to protest.
"Bible!"
"Fine! I swear on the Holy Bible that I won't kill you!"
"Okay"-I took a deep breath, than the words started spilling out in a flood of truth-"Bella, I love Renesmee! I love her more than anything else in the world and I'd give anything for her. And yes in "THAT WAY!"
She just stared for a moment. According to her stillness, she was never going to move again.
"Mom?" Nessie said. "Are you there? Can you hear me? Mom?
Mom!?
Mom!
MOM?!"
Bella spoke slowly, precisely. "I crossed my fingers." I didn't have time to react as she lunged at my face.
You know, some people should be more grateful for Emmet.
I was.
I am so glad that Emmet was there. If it weren't for him, Bella would still be clawing at my face right now. I don't know how he got her off of me. After Bella was done with her attempt at murder, I wasn't going near her. And while she attacked me, I didn't fight back or phase to try and protect myself. For one: I earned a good swipe. For two: I knew that if I fought back, I'd have a ton of people after me, even though it was in defense. That's what, aside from the bad smell, cold skin, special powers, and never sleeping, bothered me about vampires. You hurt one, you hurt a thousand. And I don't think I had it in me to fight one of the Cullens. If there was a such thing as a good vampire, they were it. Except Rosalie, I hate Rosalie. I've always hated and will always hate her. She's the only Barbie doll vamp I've ever met. Like the superficial cheerleader. Especially with her, as long as we're throwing out high school cliques, "Jock" boyfriend/husband Emmet. Although I had nothing against Emmet [he was a cool dude] I would never see what he sees in Rosalie. The only reason I would ever have anything against Emmet would be because of her. She brought out the worst in everyone. Even Bella didn't used to like her. Once upon a time, Bella hated Rosalie. The only reason Rosalie and Bella became friends was because Bella remembered that Rosalie had always wanted a baby, so she called Rosalie when she got pregnant with Renesmee. Bella was in critical condition the whole span of her pregnancy, not that Rosalie cared just as long as she got her "monster spawn out of the deal." [Renesmee was---at the time—the "monster spawn" that was sucking Bella's life from her. Now she was Renesmee, the gravitational force that held me on this earth.] But then blah, blah, blah she got turned into a vampire blah, blah, blah and they all lived happily ever after. Blah, blah, BLAH! It seemed as if Bella didn't have any sense of self-preservation. Especially when she was human. I remembered me thinking that she was born in the wrong time, that she should've been born in a time that you could get fed to lions for a good cause. Whatever. That was over and done with. Now all I had to do was steer clear of Bella until she decided that she wasn't gonna kill me. No problem. Renesmee didn't help the situation either. She gave Bella the same attitude that she had given Edward. Ugh. Jasper had to calm everyone down before things could get out of hand. Now Alice was with me asking me questions about werewolves. "How does it feel when you phase?" She asked. "I mean I don't mean to pry, but, does it hurt?" I laughed. It was so like vampires to automatically think the worst.
"No. It doesn't hurt. It feels sort of tingly, In a weird way. But no pain."
"Oh. Are you colorblind, like all other dogs?"
"No. I keep on telling you vamps that I'm not a dog. Werewolf."
"Whatever you say…dog." She didn't say it in a mean way. She said it in a teasing way, so I teased back.
"Let me ask you a question. Why are you so short? And how come you can see the future and not anyone else? Why can Edward read minds? And Jasper control emotions?"
She laughed her musical, high laugh.
"Pick a question!"
"Fine, I'll make my way down the list. Why are you so short?"
"Why are you so tall?" She countered.
"Answer my question and I'll answer yours."
"I'm short because I was short when I was changed. And since our bodies can't change, I will stay this short forever."
"Good answer."
"I try."
"Now, how can you see the future?"
"Carlisle has a theory. He thinks that I had a talent for predicting what would happen next…Edward had a talent for reading people, and Jasper a talent for…persuasion, you could say."
"Carlisle's smart."
"Yup. And you already know that Bella had immunity to vampire's special "talents" that worked inside the mind."
"There's something wrong with her brain!"
She laughed. "I think so, too. She shouldn't have lost control like that, she knew that one day, you and Renesmee would find love. That's what imprinting entails…so I hear."
We walked in silence for moment, thinking.
"Alice, how long do you think she'll be mad?"
She contemplated for a moment.
"She'll be over it by tomorrow. You know Bella, she gets mad-doesn't stay mad."
Yeah right.
