Chapter 2: Exactly!

Ok, this chapter has less fluff, and more stuff. I'll just let you get to reading, because that's what I'd want to do, if the situation were reversed.

We got up, and we took our turns behind the room divider to change into normal clothes. She was wearing the same jeans and tee, and I was in the usual cut off shorts and shirt, which Nessie had bought for me, which read "Hungry like the wolf" on the front. It was pretty funny, and I'm sure any human would agree after seeing my lunch yesterday.

"How'd'ya wanna roll, kiddo?" I asked her, after we were all dressed and ready to head up to the restaurant.

She reached out and grabbed my hand. "Just like this." She smiled.

I sighed mentally. It's not that I didn't want to hold her hand, no, it felt amazing; warm like nothing else was to me, and also having your destiny holding your hand felt pretty awesome. But it was that I didn't want her to want to hold my hand. She was growing up so fast, and I loved her so much, I just wanted her to have a really nice, full childhood with no mention of marriage until it was absolutely necessary. I guess this was how Edward and Bella felt all the time, because they always saw past the girl and saw the child inside. I guess I see through the girl and see the graceful young woman inside.

She made a face suddenly, her tiny little button nose wrinkling in disgust. "We are going to have to eat cold food."

I laughed. "Yeah, guess that's just a fact of life. We should definitely reward ourselves today. Maybe with some custard or something at lunch; that's a food that tastes good cold."

She smiled in the most innocent of ways. "I love spending the day with you."

My breath caught. This was all too fast, she was… so young! She shouldn't be... I can't do this. I really, really needed a break, something to slow her down. But I fought to keep my feet moving and not stumble like I felt like I should. "Yeah, me too, Ness. Me too."

This made her smile wider, and I felt like I should have lied. But I couldn't hurt her feelings. It killed me whenever her smile went away, or when a teardrop ran down her cheek, or anything at all that kept her from complete and total bliss, all the time. I guess I was a bit far in now to change my mind, but I think she would've grown up a little slower if she didn't know exactly who would be her first boyfriend, who would be her first kiss, who would eventually be her husband, right from day one. I just wanted to stop her in her tracks, and say "I will do anything for you. Take it slow. Don't rush things. We have forever together, and I don't care if we get married tomorrow, or never. Just relax and enjoy the short, short time you have as a child." But I couldn't. Because I wanted to be her first boyfriend, I wanted to be her first kiss, and dear god, did I want to be her husband. So I was really selfish.

"Look, Ness," I said quietly, stopping and turning her body to face me in the middle of the aisle, "I love you. You know that. But just because you're an imprint doesn't mean you have to… rush in to everything. Just… slow down…. Enjoy the short childhood that you have."

Her eyes welled up. "Jake!" She sobbed as she threw herself against my chest. "I love you, too, and I understand. But Jacob," She pulled her head back to look at me. "I want forever with you, too. I love you, and if you want us to be… slower, I can do that. But I just…" She sobbed again, but I think these were happy tears now.

"I know." I said to her. "It's hard."

She nodded mutely against my body. I wrapped my arms around her, protecting her and reassuring her at once.

"Alright, let's go get murdered by your parents," I sighed, pushing the button on the elevator to take us to the Cafeteria.

She giggled, but sighed. "I kind of wish they'd let-"

I cut her off. "Don't say that. They have every right to be angry with me, and every right to say that I can't see you again. They're your parents; they decide what's best for you."

She looked up at me, new, fresh tears setting her eyes glistening. "They won't say I can't see you again, will they?" She asked, tears pouring out just as the elevator doors opened.

I saw that only two seats were occupied, and it was Bella and Edward.

Edward already looked angry, which was never a good sign. Bella looked kind of… upset, but she whispered 'benefit of the doubt' to Edward, so I guessed that she was on our side… at least a little.

We walked to the chairs, hand in hand. Ness looked solemn, but happy. I guess she'd figured out that her parents wouldn't keep me away, it would hurt her too much. I heard Edward growl as I thought that, and I guessed that, yeah, they would. If they had to.

"Hello, Darling." Bella said in a slightly strained cheery voice to Renesmee. "How was your sleepover?"

"Good," She replied, and then got more animated. "I had a bad dream, and then we walked to the bathroom, and then I told Jacob a really funny joke-" She glanced at me, smiling because of the 'abs' thing, "- then I ah…accidently showed Jacob a dream."

Edward hissed, and I guess he'd already seen the dream. Bella leaned forward in her seat, curious. "What was the dream about?"

She blushed. "My honeymoon." I saw Bella's back go ram-rod straight as she assumed the very worse about Ness' dream. "No, no, not that, not that!" Renesmee protested, "It wasn't that. I swear, it was just me and him, um… Walking along the street."

She really should know by now that she can't lie to her parents. Edward snorted. "And kissing." And then his face hardened again.

"Who was it?" Bella asked, looking nervous, glancing at me for a half second before returning her gaze to her daughter. "Zac Efron?"

She smiled, clearly not seeing the danger in what she was saying. "No, of course not. Jacob," She laid her hand over mine, which was laying on the table, "We're honeymooning in Paris."

That tipped the bucket. Edward stood abruptly, and his chair skated back across the floor before tipping over backwards.

"You proposed?" he growled. Bella futilely tried to grab his wrist.

I stood, carefully backing away in case I had to get in wolf form. I held my hands up, and tried to remain calm.

"No. It was more like she had a dream, and then just kind of… Um, well kind of proposed to me." I sent a smile in her direction. She giggled. Edward hissed.

"She's four years old, Jacob! Four!" He snarled.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea, and it just sort of happened, it wasn't really proposing, I mean, I tried to tell her today to take things slow, but everything was kind of…. I don't know, it wasn't her fault, everything just unfolded, ok?" I took a few hesitant steps backward. He followed.

"Tell me everything that happened that led up to that point." He growled.

"Well, you were there for what sort of started it, when she was on my shoulders and she got the sheepskin, and said she wanted it in her room, to remind her of me, and then at lunch, when Jasper made everyone all lovey-dovey, she sort of gave me this look, and I kind of looked at her that way, too-"

"If you are going to list every time you flirted with my daughter," Edward snarled, "This is going to take a while."

"Ok, ok, well, then she didn't separate our beds, so we were kind of snuggling, like this," I bent my left arm around air, and then pointed to the invisible Renesmee in my arms. He just growled.

"And then she had a dream, and in the dream I was getting attacked, and Ness tried to protect me, but she couldn't, and then she was crying because I got hurt, and then she had to go to the bathroom, and we ran in to Alice and Jasper, which was really gross, and then-"

Bella cut me off, addressing Ness with a slightly stern look, "Now, that's completely natural and their decision, and it's a completely natural part of life."

"Seeing my Aunt in a bustier is not natural," Renesmee snapped back, then turned her attention back to me.

"Well, then, she did this thing where she brushed her hand against mine, and-" I smiled tenderly at the now-blushing Renesmee, to which Edward let out a teeth-snapping snarl, "-And, well, she said she wanted to hold my hand, so I was acting all goofy, telling her that we could, and then we went to the bathrooms, and then we held hands on the way back, jumping the railing to avoid Alice again."

"Where does the dream come in?" Edward growled.

"Ok, well, we were sort of laying in bed, and she was showing me these pictures of me, and then she showed me something that happened a week ago, where her friends had asked if I had nice abs, and she sort of laughed at it, and then she kinda pretended like she was talking to my abs, and she said they were very nice, and well, then she sort of squirmed a little, and kissed my chin, right here." I pointed to the exact spot. I knew it was the right place because my skin tingled there like it was really sensitive, but in a good way.

He growled, snapping his teeth again. "The dream?"

"Ok, well, then she sort of had her hand on my chest, or um, my belly, and then I guess we both fell asleep, and she started having this dream…" I realized my voice sounded a little bit too 'this dream, man,oh, man' and less, 'I'm sorry about your daughter. "Anywaay, you 've already pretty much seen the dream-"

I was cut off by Bella gasping. Renesmee had reached across the table to touch her arm, probably after Bella asked what the dream was about while I was distracted. We all froze and watched Bella, who's mouth was dropped, staring off into space looking horrified. Edward growled some more.

"Oh." Bella said softly as Nessie abashedly pulled her hand back. "That was, uh… some dream."

She nodded, blushing fervently.

"Anything else before I tear your head off, mutt?" Edward asked.

"Well, then we woke up, just, like, a half hour ago," I glanced back toward the toy floor, and saw that Blondie and Emmett had now joined us, hovering near the elevators. Blondie sneered at my discomfort, but Emmett kind of looked… sympathetic or something. "And I told Renesmee that I'd seen it, and then she asked if I'd liked it, and um, well," I stuttered because there really was no right way to put it.

"Repeat the exact words, exactly how you said them." Edward snarled impatiently.

"Well, ok.. So we're awake, and I go,

'I… saw that. You.. Were showing me… accidently.'

And then she was all freaked out, and she said,

'You… saw… that?' I tried to make my voice high like hers is, but still convey the horror in her tone. 'Oh, no…'

Then I laughed a little bit, and she looked at me, now really freaked out, and I said,'It's ok.' Then she blushed, and asked me, 'How much did you see?'

'Aaaaalll of it,' I said, and I tried to make my tone as laughing as it was before, but it was hard with Edward's glare.

And then.. She said, 'Well?'

So I was like, 'Well what?'

And she was like, 'Well, did you like it?'

This was the really hard part. He said the exact way I'd said them. But saying them that way now was like taunting him. I decided to look at my feet while I muttered, 'I.. liked it…', 'I liked it a lot.'

And then she asked me in her head, 'Honeymoon in Paris, then?'."

He sighed frustratedly. "Anything else? Because I'm getting impatient waiting for the part where I kill you."

And then Renesmee was out of her chair, standing in between us. "No." She said matter-of-factly. "You will not hurt Jacob, dad. If you hurt him, I'm running away." Then she turned her body to face her father completely. "I love him. You can't touch him." She said confidently, head straight. I was so proud of her.

Then she seemed to make a really, really stupid move. She turned her back, walked towards me, wrapped her arms around my waist, and stretched as high as she could to kiss my chin again.

Edward was frozen, looking undecided. It was very obvious that he wanted to kill me, or at least lock me away from his daughter for life. But Renesmee was right. She loved me. Edward couldn't hurt me because it would cause him to lose his daughter. He huffed, and reset his chair and sat down. I timidly walked back to the table. Edward was on Bella's other side now, and I made sure Renesmee wasn't between us, in case he snapped.

Emmett and Blondie now walked over to the table, seeing as how the Bad-western-movie standoff was over.

Emmett sneered at me playfully. "Couldn't keep it in your pants, eh, mutt?" He taunted. I rolled my eyes, Ness stuck her little tongue out at him, and Edward growled in his direction.

"Like you know anything about resisting temptations, Em." Blondie snorted, wiggling her fingers at him to symbolize her girly charms.

He grabbed her around the waist, started kissing her again, and I sighed. Renesmee was very studiously looking out the window, ignoring the couple just one seat over.

"So, what's for breakfast?" A chirpy voice, sounding nervous, said from behind my seat. Jasper hung back, determined not to look at Alice, Renesmee, Jacob, or Edward and Bella.

"I'll go to the kitchen and make eggs." Edward sighed. He looked down at Bella with fond eyes. "You want any?" He asked her.

She sighed. "I loooooved eggs… and feathers." She giggled in a way that made me uncomfortable.

He smiled at her, and then strode towards the counter where you pick up your food. He hopped the barrier.

"So, how're you feeling today, Ness?" Alice asked her, looking uncomfortable.

Renesmee glared in her direction. "Scarred for life."

Alice winced. "Well, ah.. So, Emmett… Are we leaving here this evening?" She asked him.

Emmett thought about that. I prayed that he would decide that we should go back home, and that Renesmee wouldn't be in such close proximity in the dark to me again.

"Nah. I like it here. Nice… atmosphere." He grinned at Rose in a way that made me want to look away.

Then Ness squeezed my hand gently. "Exactly." She smiled up at me, and I had to work really, really, really hard to control my thoughts. I wasn't one for gloating, and I didn't want to add insult to injury.

Moments later, Edward came from the kitchen, balancing two trays on each arm, loaded with eight plates of eggs, toast, and sausage. He had even thought to bring four glasses of milk. Renesmee thanked her father as he set one down in front of her, and he just nodded. He set one down in front of me, too. He was genuinely trying not to make it obvious how much he hated me right now. It was something that was hard for me to do at the best of times, let alone if my only daughter, a four year old, just threatened to run away unless he allowed her to marry his mortal (immortal would be more appropriate here) enemy, who also happens to be the same person that tried to steal his girlfriend a few years back.

It was a lot to handle.

Ness, with only the slightest of 'ew' faces, ate her plate gladly. I ate mine, Alice's, Jasper's, Rosalie's and Emmett's plates, too.

"Um, everyone, we need to cover our tracks," Edward stated. "That means making a list of Bedsheets, Pillows, Mattresses, and anything else you may have used, and collecting the money for them."

Emmett grinned widely. "Well, let's see, a few spoons-" My hands were over Renesmee's ears before Edward could silence him with a glare.

I felt her shudder under my hands. "Seriously!" I said to the huge vampire, removing my hands from Ness' ears. "Your four-year-old niece is sitting right here!"

"Hey, we were here when you were talking about that Honeymoon night dream she had! She needs to learn this for when it's not a dream anymore!" Emmett was soon being pummeled by Edward, Rosalie, and Renesmee.

"Hey! Hey!" he protested, wincing with each fist that connected. "Jeez, ya try to tell a joke around here…"

I looked at Nessie to see how she was handling it. Her fists were red, and I knew they'd be bruised later. Her plate was empty, though, so I decided to try to get her away from her highly inappropriate uncle. "Ness, you wanna check out the Ball pit?"

She glanced up at me, her expression one of disbelief. I quickly added, to avoid confusion, "In the kiddy play area. I wanna see it!"

She sighed in relief. I'm sure, just a few days ago, she wouldn't have thought twice. But now her gutter-headed family had corrupted her.

She took my hand, pulling me out of my chair. She glanced around at the rest of the family. Edward's mouth opened, but Renesmee stopped him before he could start. "Dad, I'm not running away to go get married or make out with Jake. I'm going to the ball pit, ok?" He looked like he was unable to answer, so he just nodded mutely.

We hopped the counter into Smaland, the babysitting service place near the front entrance. We stepped around the fake tree stumps and little coloring tables, heading towards the ball pit. Suddenly she dropped my hand. My hand felt empty without hers in it. I hadn't realized how very much I liked it there. Not because I wanted her to be my girlfriend or anything, but because I knew for a fact that she was safe. Because I knew that nobody could hurt her, and that she wanted her hand to be in mine.

She started running at top speed, diving head first into the ball pit. I ran behind her, jumping in like it was a swimming pool. I even came up with my hand plugging my nose, and she laughed. Then she got very thoughtful. She pushed her way through the all the brightly colored plastic balls, and came to stand in front of me. We were both waist-deep, and I was suddenly afraid that she'd lied earlier, and that she had come here to make out with me.

But she just reached out, tenderly touching my cheek. I saw the dream she'd had last night play in my mind again. It was just like the first time, my breath shortened, my whole body tightened, and it felt amazing. And then everything changed, we were together again, with the same older Renesmee, and we were kissing against the side of the cottage. I swore that I could feel the mismatched stones against my back, and her lips on mine, even though she was still a good foot away in reality, just touching my cheek. Then the scene changed again, kissing in the forest this time, and then embraced at the top of a Ferris wheel, and then lying together on the shore at First Beach, and then necking in my homemade garage. I gasped as each new picture shuffled by.

She pulled her hand away, red-faced and fearful of my reaction. "Renesmee," I breathed. "….. How… How many times have you dreamed of kissing me?" I asked, shocked that her innocent mind had ever considered a thought like this more than once.

She blushed deeper. "I lost count."

"I… I think I need a minute, Ness." She nodded as I slumped back against the balls, looking up at the ceiling.

"When…" I took a deep breath. I needed to stop being so knocked off my feet. "When did these dreams start?" I asked her.

"A few months ago. I've had them every night since then." She said so calmly, like we were discussing the weather.

"Every night?" My voice climbed an octave.

She nodded. My head was spinning. This was so not good at all. Now she would want to kiss in real life, and then Edward would try to kill me, and then Renesmee would run away…

"I just want you to know Jake. I don't want to do that yet, I don't feel ready. But I just want you to know, whenever you doubt if I love you, that you are always in my thoughts." She stroked my face. "Always in my dreams."

She leaned close to my ear, and my whole body just stopped. Because this was way too far ahead, way too much, so much more than was appropriate, so far past what I'd ever imagined. "And Jake, I'll show you more dreams tonight."

I needed to get away from here, fast, because I swear to god, I will kiss her if I can't get out of this store, out of the country, in the next five minutes. I started chanting Four-year-old in my head again. But the way she was laying on my chest was too much to conquer mentally, I physically had to get away from her.

I scrambled away, stuttering Sorry's and Oh, God's as I went. I couldn't look at her face now, I knew that her disappointed pout would drag me back to her side, where we would hug, and inevitably, she would show me a few month's worth of fantasies, and I would totally lose it.

I stumbled out of the kiddy day care section, and desperately searched for someone. Edward would be preferable, because he would be all too ready to restrain me, but I would take anyone. Even little Alice.

I spotted Emmett and Rosalie looking at dishes or something, and I ran up to him and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him about 15 feet away from Blondie. She could probably still hear us, but I still found it kind of better, for some reason.

"I need to talk to you about Renesmee," I gasped.

His body tensed, and his eyes swept the area over my shoulder. "Is she hurt?" He asked.

"No, no," I assured him, panting. "Renesmee has been dreaming about me for months." I choked on the last word.

His eyes popped. "Dreaming about kissing you?"

I nodded, so not able to speak.

"Whoa," He breathed, his eyes wandering to the ceiling.

"Yeah, imagine how I feel," I told him. "She showed me a few. I actually had to run away, I wanted to kiss her so bad. She said she didn't want to in real life, but it's killing me. I came to you because I thought you might be able to restrain me." I coughed self-consciously, because this was just really, really awkward.

"Man, you need to get it together. Seriously, Jake, she's only four. I mean, really…"

I huffed. "I can't really control it, Emmett," I told him. "Imagine if… If Blondie were in Renesmee's position, four years going on twelve, and she knew that you were soul mates, and she had been dreaming about kissing you for months." I blew out my air in one big blow, then took a deep breath. "And that her father would kill you as soon as you did anything that could be remotely perceived as sexual."

He sighed, because we both knew exactly what he would do in that situation. Kiss her, and deal with consequences later.

"Look, Jake, if you want me and Rose-" He glanced over his shoulder at her, and the way she waved at him made it clear that she did not want to have a child in their bed tonight. "- to take Renesmee, we will. But Jake, you have to try, really hard." His voice was very determined, for some reason. "You have to try, because she has only such a short time, and that's all Edward wants, really. He just wants her to enjoy the short, short time that she has for being innocent. He deals with things he can't control in his own way. I saw it with Bella, when he was overprotective and controlling, trying to get her to enjoy her human life, despite knowing that she would have everything she wanted so soon. Edward just wants Nessie to live in the moment, and not look ahead to the future too much. And Jake, I think that's what you want, too. You just include yourself a bit more in that future."

I blinked. I think that was the longest conversation we'd ever had. And it was really, really deep… and true. Really true.

"Alright." I said stupidly.

He clapped a hand on my shoulder, and nodded at me. "Then go do what's right, Jacob."

I stumbled away from him dazedly. I carefully jumped the barrier into the day care place. She was still sitting there, scratching her nail against a green ball. She glanced up as I walked in, tears in her eyes. I suddenly knew what was right.

I strode across the floor, stepping into the ball pit. I drew her body to mine with as much force as I could. "I love you, Renesmee Cullen." I whispered into her bronze curls. Hesitantly, she wrapped her arms around my waist. Then she looked up at me, her eyes shining. "And I want you to know that you will never have to change for me. I want you to do what's right for you. If you want to grow up, go ahead. If you want to be a child for a while longer, I'll be happy with that, too. I love you."

Her eyes closed gently, but I felt none of the burning desire I felt before, the acute need to touch her lips to mine. I just saw a young, beautiful woman before me.

"I love you, too, Jacob Black."

~O~

As we walked back to the cafeteria, I felt so buoyant. I knew I'd done the right thing. It was better than if I'd just kissed her and told her I'd loved her. I had showed her that I truly did love her, and that I wouldn't make her decisions for her. She seemed buoyant, too. Her hand felt natural and relaxed in mine, somewhere between love and safety. I was her comfort, and she was mine.

We arrived, waiting for one of the vampire couples to show up. Rosalie and Emmett came first, Emmett patting my back as he went by, letting me know that I had done the right thing. Then Alice and Jasper came, Alice smiling like she knew, too. Maybe she did. The couple I was most afraid of came through the elevator doors seconds after Alice and Jasper sat down.

"Alright." Edward sighed as he sat down.

"What?" I asked.

"I trust you with my daughter. I trust you to keep her safe. I trust you to keep her happy. And I trust that she is in good hands." He said peacefully.

Whoa. How had he gone from the Spanish Inquisition this morning, to trust and…permission… this afternoon?

"I saw what you did, Jacob. I understand you better, now. And you make me want to do what's right for her, too."

I blinked again. This was all just a little bit much. I glanced down at Renesmee. She was looking out the window, the setting sun lighting her hair to a brilliant copper hue, and setting her skin shimmering softly. She was perfect.

"Thank you." I told him.

OK, so that's the end of Chapter two: Exactly!. What did you think? I think Jacob dealt with it pretty well, and I sort of kind of tried to make Edward see the light (Pun intended!) in Renesmee and Jacob's relationship. I think, also, that it showed that Jacob and Nessie's relationship is very different than Bella and Edward's. I've seen too many fanfictions where Nessie marries Jacob in the dress her mother wore, he takes her to Isle Esme, Jacob gets all angsty about hurting her, etc., etc. By the way, I'm really enjoying this, so I think I may just write Renesmee's wedding and Honeymoon with Jake (Cough Cough, Stephanie style. No lemon). Don't be looking forward to Paris, though. Snow capped mountains, yes, red wedding gown, yes, but no France. Read and review, thanks!