Author's Note: I'm so sorry that it took me so long to post this installment. I had no idea it would be so long, 24,000 words and I couldn't work for a few days over the weekend. So, I hope to have the next installment up by next Wednesday. On the same embarrassing note, I have to apologize for the number of typos in the last one. I hope that isn't the case this time. On an even more embarrassing note, I stated in the last part that Rachel had come home "a year and a half ago." Since the last part was supposed to have taken place in early June, she would have only been in town for less than a year. My sincerest apologies. I felt like an idiot when I reread that. On a much, much happier note, thank you to all who reviewed. I'm glad you're enjoying it.
I would like to assure you that these installments will become shorter, but I actually have no idea. Before I started writing, and even halfway through, I would have bet good money that this part would be much shorter than the last. I don't presume to know anymore how long the next one will be, but I hope you're into these lengthy updates. I know that there's an obvious solution, but I can't bring myself to put them up in parts, especially because I always have to go back to the first section after writing something completely contradictory in the last. So, stop reading this and get to it!
Stephenie Meyer: I hereby declare that I did not create nor do I own your beautiful characters. I do, however, hope my readers know who they are, or they will be completely confused when they read my work. Thank you, again, for them.
***
When I'm walking beside her,
People tell me I'm lucky.
Yes, I know I'm a lucky guy.
--The Beatles
Every Little Thing
***
I had taken over Leah's shifts without complaint. I hadn't been surprised when she didn't show up for her next shift after our fight or when we were never phased at the same time. I gave her space. I figured that the added responsibilities I was putting on her were nothing compared to running a few back-to-back patrols. Sam had stopped asking after a week what Carlisle had had to say to my dad. I told him that I'd tell him when I told him and left it at that. We hadn't been on the best of terms since then. Not that we had been on good terms for a while. I don't think he had forgiven me for undermining his authority all those months ago. I know some of his pack still held it against me and I know they held joining me against the rest of my pack. Especially Quil and Embry, because they had joined me such a long time after the initial break-off.
It made me a little sad to think that there were wolves, that I had brothers, who I didn't even know. I had seen them around, the new ones. It was easy to pick them out of the crowd on the Rez, at first. They were the guys who looked uncomfortable in their new, hard bodies; graceful in spite of themselves. I had wondered in the beginning why their allegiance hadn't been mine when they first phased. I was, after all, the True Alpha. Nessie had looked up stuff on wolves one day. She had told me that wolves didn't fight over being Alpha. Instead of power plays, the would-be usurper just left to make his own pack. I guess that's what had happened. Sam remained Alpha of the original pack, which still was the true pack of La Push, and I had taken off to make my own. It didn't bother me, I didn't really want the responsibility of taking care of new wolves, especially now that I was moving. But I did regret the near stranger status I had with some of my brethren.
The day before Nessie was going to come down to the Rez, three weeks after Bella had put her foot down about allowing visits, I had left the Cullens' early. Edward was being especially unpleasant to me and I didn't want to snap at him and put Nessie's visit in jeopardy. So, I made up a lie about having an early patrol and took off. No one was home when I got there. Rachel had left me a note:
Jake-
-You probably won't be home before we get back. I should probably stop writing these notes. Anyway, I'm over at Paul's and Dad's over at the Clearwater's place.
-Rachel
Rachel was on Paul's side in this whole mess. I don't understand why they still held it against me. Would they really have rather killed Bella and Nessie? Was having to deal with the stress of the Volturi really worse than destroying their brother's imprint? Most of Sam's pack was against Nessie as the object of my imprinting. They considered it to be unnatural and some sort of misplaced leftover feelings for Bella. Since that hadn't been inside my head, some were convinced that I hadn't even really imprinted. Assholes. I'm not sure what Rachel thought about Nessie, I think she was just upset that I had picked the vampires and Bella over her Paul and his pack. I don't think any of the imprints consider the pack to be Sam's, it was their imprints' pack. Emily, of course, was right no matter which way she looked at it. From the note Rachel had left me, she was also upset about the amount of time I spent with Nessie and the Cullens. Oh well. Maybe I should make it a point to hang out here while I still had the chance. Maybe I'd go fishing with my dad this weekend, or something. I decided to go down to the Clearwater's and pick him up. I called Seth and gave him a heads up, making sure Leah wouldn't be there.
I was halfway up the hill when I saw Charlie's cruiser in the driveway. I wonder if he spends the night. Seth hasn't said anything about it and I can't imagine Leah being cool with that. Sue opened the door for me when I knocked and gave me a hug. "Hey, Jake. Long time, no see." I smiled and nodded and then followed her into the house. Because, really, what do you say when someone says that to you? Charlie was sitting on the couch and my dad was sitting in his chair on the other side of the armrest. A Mariners game was on and they each had a beer in their hand. They turned to me when I came in.
"Hey, son. Haven't seen you since breakfast. Busy day?"
"Not really. Nessie and I caught some frogs."
"Oh, yeah?" Charlie was interested. "Edward let her keep 'em?" I just shook my head. I didn't tell them that the frogs freaked out as soon as we got to the house and we had to let them go. "Figures." He still didn't think much of his son-in-law. " Probably for the best, though, whenever Bella gets around animals, they end up dying." Seth and I couldn't suppress our laughs. Sue and Billy shot us a look. Charlie hadn't thought anything of it, he just thought we were laughing at Bella's track record with pets.
I stayed for a while, just catching up. They ate and I told Sue I had eaten at the Cullens'. She looked surprised, but didn't say anything. Seth and I were having our own conversation on one end of the dinner table. "So, what's going to happen to your car when you move?"
"Carlisle's gonna ship it with their other ones. Can you imagine the guy that sees my car next to all of theirs? They're gonna think it's a joke or something. They'll probably just think it's Carlisle's first car that he can't bear to part with." We laughed. Then all hell broke loose. I felt Charlie's eyes on me, so I looked over to him.
He was just staring at me. Billy and Sue's conversation trailed off when they saw him. It took him a while to speak. "You're going with them?"
Huh? "Yeah. Didn't Bella and Edward tell you that?"
I saw Sue looking back and forth between us. Charlie looked at her. "You knew about this?" Wait a second. Why was Charlie pissed off? She just nodded. He turned back to me. "What the hell is all this about, Jacob?"
I looked around the table, confused. Trying to ask everyone with my eyes why he was so upset. Seth shrugged slightly, he looked as confused as I did. "What do you mean, Charlie?"
"I mean, why the hell are you moving across the country with my daughter, her family, and her in-laws? And why the hell," he looked around the table, " am I the only one who thinks anything of it?" He looked at my dad. "Billy, you're letting your teenage son move across the country with the Cullens?"
"He's a grown man, Charlie. He does what he wants."
"He's not a grown man, Billy. He's a teenager. He still has to finish school and--"
"Is that what you're upset about? He'll be finishing school in New Hampshire."
"But why, Billy? Why is he finishing high school across the country? Why is he moving at all? What is this all about? There's something more to this, I know there is."
Shit! I didn't know what to say. I had never talked to Bella and Edward about telling Charlie that I had imprinted on Nessie. What was I supposed to say? Seth's head whipped towards the back door before whipping back to me. "I know," I said under my breath for his supernatural ears only. "I smell her, too." Leah was back. Goddammit. I had planned on leaving before she came home. I was surprised she kept the course she was on, she could smell me just as much as I could smell her. Oh well, I couldn't think about her right now, right now I just had to focus and tell Charlie something that made some sort of sense. I wasn't speaking, so Charlie just kept on ranting.
"I mean, you're always around them. Every time I come down to visit Billy, you're always with the Cullens. Every time I stop by at the Cullens, you're there. They all treat you like you're part of the family. And you used to hate Edward, I was convinced that one day you two would get into it. Now, everything's fine between you two? Then there's Nessie. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen that little girl without you. And she's just as attached to you as it seems you are to her. She starts every story with, 'Jacob and I...' or ' When I was with Jacob...' it doesn't make any sense." And despite the situation I was in, despite the fact that shit was coming at me from two different directions, hearing that Nessie couldn't tell a story that I wasn't in made my fucking day. Leah walked in then and I didn't look up, my eyes were still glued to Charlie's. He didn't seem to notice, he was still ranting, his volume increasing with each sentence. "It's like you're best friends with that little girl. And Bella seems fine with it, better than fine with it. I don't know if it's just guilt over picking Edward or what. And then there's that. The fact that you were in love with my daughter for over a year and then one day, overnight, there's nothing there and you guys are just best friends. And then you start talking about my kid granddaughter the same way you used to talk about Bella, better even. 'She's the most wonderful person in the world,' 'more special than all of us put together,' right? So, I'll ask you again. What's this hell is this all about?"
Leah took my silence as an opportunity to dig it in a little deeper. "Yeah, Jake. You're sure on about that kid. What's up with that?"
I ignored her. My brain still hadn't come up with a fantastic explanation for all of it. Charlie was too observant for his own good. So, I just said the one thing I knew I could get away with saying. "Need to know, Charlie. Okay? Can you just leave it at that?"
His face turned red. I had never seen him this upset. "No, Jacob, I don't think I can. This is not 'need to know' this has something to do with my granddaughter and I want to know what it is."
Seth sneaked off from the table, taking the phone from the kitchen outside. Goddamn I hope he was calling who I think he was calling.
I looked at Billy, he was sipping on his beer. He looked...amused? Shit. I looked at Sue, begging her with my eyes. "Honey, maybe you should calm down and we'll--" She started, but Charlie cut her off with a look before looking back at me, expectantly.
Leah was standing with her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the door frame, laughing. Goddamn, she was pissing me off. Sue tried again. First, she scolded her daughter. "Leah, please. You're not helping the situation." She didn't hear her daughter's reply under her breath that that was the point. To Charlie she said, "Maybe this is something you should talk to Bella about."
He shook his head and pointed a finger at me. "He knows just as much as she does about all this, maybe more, and he's going to be the one who explains it all to me."
I swallowed hard. How the hell was I supposed to explain it without explaining imprinting? Could I explain imprinting to him? Should I? Man, I wish I could talk to Edward right now. He was always good at lying.
"I'm waiting," Charlie growled at me. Leah laughed again.
Seth came back in and sat down again at the table, whispering to me. "I called Bella, she's on her way. I called Sam, too, he knows she's coming." Thank God. Now all I had to do was stall long enough for them to get here. Billy finished off his beer, sighing in satisfaction. The conversation was having absolutely no affect on him.
"Look, Charlie, I'm not lying to you when I say that this is one of those 'need to know' things. I'm really not. Ask Sue." I shouldn't have said that. Sue's eyes narrowed on me.
Charlie's head whipped around to face her. "You know what all this is about?" She nodded. "Billy?" He turned to my dad. "You know, too?" Billy nodded. He erupted. "Does everybody know about this? Am I the only one left out of this secret involving my granddaughter?" There was a knock on the door. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. Charlie turned purple. "Is that who I think it is? Is that who you were calling, Seth?"
"Hey," Sue warned Charlie as she walked towards the door. "Leave him be, Charlie. He was just helping his Al—I mean, Jake." The door opened to Bella and Edward, wet from the rain that must have just started. They took in the scene quickly, greeting Sue before coming in.
Bella went straight to Charlie. "Hey, dad." Her voice was quiet, testing the waters.
He just shook his head. "You shouldn't have made the trip, Bella. I'm going to hear the explanation from him." He pointed at me.
Edward took a step closer to the table. "What is it you're upset about, Charlie?" That made me want to laugh, he knew exactly what Charlie was thinking, exactly what was pissing him off. "We didn't hear anything but that you were upset and it had something to do with Bella and Renesmee." That got me thinking. Did Nessie know something was wrong? I had told her I was doing patrols. "No, she was asleep already when we left." He said it fast and in a whisper. Leah rolled her eyes. It was obvious what I was asking. She really didn't understand imprinting, didn't understand that it didn't matter what kind of mess I might be in, her peace of mind mattered more.
Charlie looked as though he was debating whether or not to even tell them. He probably thought that it would give them the opportunity to answer the question for me. For whatever reason he wanted to hear this from me. I was more nervous about telling him than I had been about telling Bella. Thankfully, I had never had to tell Edward, he had heard it in my thoughts. I had a newfound respect for Paul. Other wolves could allow a girl's parents to find out naturally. They could date for a while before springing the whole 'mine forever' thing on them. But Paul had to come right out and tell my dad that he belonged to his daughter, that they would eventually get married and have kids, only hours after he had found out himself. Then, Billy had to watch his daughter fall instantly in love with Paul. Paul. At least Charlie would have the benefit of it happening over time, but was that really so much better when you knew it was going to happen? Did Edward feel like there was this giant clock counting down to the day that Nessie would look at me and it would all be different? I did, sometimes. Sometimes when I was alone with her it felt like we were in an empty room, just me, Nessie and the clock. I couldn't figure out if I wanted that clock to slow down or speed up. It didn't matter. I didn't have a choice. That clock just kept running at the same speed and none of us had any idea when the hell it was going to go off.
Charlie took a deep breath. "I want to know why Jacob's moving with your family across the country. I want to know what this has to do with Nessie, because everyone's all but confirmed that it has everything to do with her. Is it because of what he is or because of what she is? I want to know if she's why he told me about what he is in the first place. He said it was to keep Bella close by, but was it to keep Nessie close, too? I'm not an idiot, I know something isn't right with the way they are with each other. I don't want to know everything, but if this is something that's that important and it's about Nessie, I want to know."
Bella was looking at Edward with such a look of concentration on her face that she had to be removing her shield for him. No one spoke for a few moments. I was waiting. I wasn't even trying to think of anything to say. This was Edward and Bella's show, now. I'm the mouthpiece, tell me what to say. Sue had taken Charlie's hand and was trying to soothe him by stroking the back of it. Seth was looking back and forth between Bella and Edward. He obviously knew what they were doing, but it wasn't like he could hear them, so he just looked like an idiot. Leah was bored and she sat down in one of the empty seats at the table. The conversation had become calm since Bella and Edward had shown up and she couldn't feed off the tension that had been emanating from me since Charlie had erupted.
Billy was bored, too. He let out a sigh. "You should just tell him, Jake." Traitor.
I didn't say anything. Edward would figure out something. He could take some small random thought in Charlie's head and elaborate on it, creating a perfect red herring. I had faith in his bullshiting abilities. "You should," Edward said. He didn't even whisper it.
What? "Everything?" My voice came out as a squeak. He nodded. "About Nessie, too?" He thought for a moment. "Not what she is, but about her growth, yes." Her growth? Why? Was he just trying to make it harder on me?
"He doesn't need to know when it'll happen." I tried to reason with him.
"Yes, but when it will happen will not be when you act on it."
Billy chuckled. "Tough break, kid." He leaned back in his chair and put linked fingers behind his head. Amusement was back on his face.
Across the table, Leah was laughing. She was probably remembering our conversation from a few weeks ago. Edward's eyes went to Leah and I knew I was right. "You want her to move in with you when she's eight?" That he whispered, well, more like hissed. Bella's head whipped around towards me and her eyes narrowed.
"That's not what I had meant. You guys, we haven't had this conversation, yet. Can't we talk about it late--."
He cut me off with a hand. "There's really nothing to discuss, Jacob."
"There sure as hell is," Charlie said, bringing us back to the reality of the dinner table. "I believe everyone is in agreement, Jacob. Explain."
I rubbed the back of my head, unsure where to begin. To be honest, what Edward had said about not acting on it was still bouncing around in my head. I didn't know how fast I wanted that clock to go off, but when it did, I sure as hell wasn't going to just sit there and ignore it. Had a wolf ever tried to not be with his imprint like that? I know Emily had resisted Sam at first, but I doubt Nessie would do that to me when the time came. Oh, God, what if she did? What if she only ever saw me as a best friend? At least Bella had seen me as more than that, she didn't act on it except the once, but at least I knew the attraction was there. What if Nessie found someone else? What if I had to watch her marry someone else? Someone more like her? Nahuel or some other vampire? What if I had to watch her stomach get big with someone else's baby? I would have to be there for her. I would have to watch it all. I was hers if she wanted me as a best friend for the rest of her life, I would have to--.
"Jacob..." Edward snapped me out of my horrible thoughts. He looked...sad for me? Bella was looking at me with worry etched in her stone face. What did my face look like? Did I look like I was in as much pain as my thoughts had made me feel?
"Jesus, Jacob," Charlie asked, "is it as bad as that?"
Mutely, I shook my head. I had to refocus. Start at the beginning, Jacob. Just like you told Bella when you first phased. "Well, Charlie. Now, remember, I told you it's 'need to know' stuff, okay?" He nodded, but looked unsure about it. "Well, to answer one of your questions, it has to do with werewolves." He flinched, but didn't say anything. "I guess the easiest way to explain it is with an example..." Shit! I had explained imprinting using Sam and Emily as an example when I had told Bella. I couldn't do that with Leah sitting across from me. Regardless of all the shit that was going on with us now, and despite how much pleasure she was taking in my pain, I couldn't, I wouldn't do that to her. "Um..." I tried to find another example that Charlie would know. "Well, do you remember when Rachel came home last summer from school?" Leah let out a breath. I took that as a thank you. "Well, Paul ran into her on the beach a couple of days later and he...he imprinted on her." I let out a sigh.
He took what I said in and then his face regrouped back in a confused look. "Imprinted on her? What does that mean?"
How do you explain it? I looked to Edward for help, he just shook his head. I knew that I was beating around the bush with all this. I was just hoping he'd get it without having to just come out and say it.
"Just explain it, Jake. It's not a bad thing." That was Seth, the eternal optimist. Leah shot him a dirty look that he ignored. "Really, Jake. You shouldn't be embarrassed or whatever. You know how pure it is, why are you acting like you're ashamed? Shout it from the rooftops, man!" A smile broke across my mouth and I let out a nervous chuckle. I couldn't help it, the kid made me laugh. Sue was giving him a proud look that only a mother could give their child. He was right, though. I had to give him that.
I decided to start over. "Charlie, from the day your granddaughter was born I have loved her more than anything in the world, more than life itself. That's why I'm moving...to be with her. I can't be without her and it would be just as hard for her to be without me. That's why I told you about me in September after she was born. They were talking about leaving and I couldn't give her up. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to go with them, so I bought myself some time.
"The day she was born, I imprinted on her. And from then on, for the rest of eternity, I will belong to her. Whatever makes her happy will make me happy. Whatever she wants is what I will want. Whatever she needs me to be is exactly what I will be. Right now, I'm her playmate. Someone who will help her break the rules and teach all the normal childhood things you learn from other kids. Like today when we caught frogs. Later, when she'll need someone to confide in, I'll be her best friend. Then, one day, she'll want something more from me. There'll come a day when I'll make her my wife and the mother of my children." Edward growled at the last part, but I ignored him. "I love her, Charlie. I'll love her forever. I'm her soul mate."
He was stone faced throughout my little speech. Sue was tearing up a little and Bella looked like she would be, too, if she could. Edward was expressionless and Leah was scowling. Seth was grinning like an idiot. It was funny, but having said all that, I suddenly found my thoughts from earlier ridiculous. I was her soul mate. I was hers. How had I forgotten that? I felt euphoric. I found myself grinning just as stupidly as Seth was. We were grinning at each other. I suddenly wished she were here, just so I could hold her and never let go. "Thanks, man."
Seth just nodded. "I've seen it, I know how great it is, you weren't doing it justice."
"Great?" Charlie's squeaky outcry took the grins off of our faces. "You think this is great? The werewolf who was in love with my daughter for a year just told me that one day he wants to marry my nine-month-old granddaughter and knock her up, probably hoping to make more werewolves, and that's great? That's just supposed to make my day? You," he pointed at Edward, "you're her father. Put an end to this now. How could you let him follow her? This is ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous! And, you," he pointed at Billy, "Paul's trying to pull this crap over on Rachel? Stop it now, before it goes too far. This is insanity! Utter insanity!" He was out of his seat now, pacing the room. "Am I the only one who thinks this is complete nonsense?"
"Nope," Leah spoke up. Everyone but Charlie turned to glare at her. She just smiled. She was enjoying herself again.
"Dad, you need to calm down. Jake isn't lying about this. Paul isn't lying. It's real, Dad. Just like the wolves. It's magical, Dad, just like they are."
He rolled his eyes and didn't stop pacing. "Please, Bella. Magical? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I bet he told you the same thing when he was trying to woo you. Soul mates? Please."
"No, he didn't, Dad. It's not something you can fake, or even will. I trust him completely. I trust him with Renesmee. He won't hurt her, he can't."
"And what were you going on about with her age, earlier? Is there more to her growth, because I don't think I could take it if it goes any faster than it already is. I don't bring it up, because I don't want to know, but it scares the crap out of me. Are you telling me that all this, him marrying her and everything, could happen soon?"
"If he has his way," Leah said, grinning. "These boys don't wait very long to claim their territory." Billy glared at her. "Hey, sorry if I'm bursting your bubble, Billy. Just be happy you didn't have to see the replay like I did. At least all the wolves in my mind now are into little girls." Billy was still glaring at her, she ignored him.
"What does that mean, anyway? You guys keep speaking in riddles. They're in your mind how?"
"It's a wolf thing," Leah said, bitterly. "We can read each other's minds, when we're wolves."
Seth tried to help. "That's how I know he's telling the truth, Charlie. I've seen it in Jake's mind. He loves Renesmee more than anything. It's not romantic at all. He sees her as a kid, but like she's the most perfect little girl that's every existed. Is there anything wrong with that?"
"And when she grows up? What then?" Charlie had started to calm down, but just thinking of me with his future-adult granddaughter, just upset him all over again. Seth just shrugged and Charlie went back to pacing.
"Charlie," I started, but he turned and gave me a look that made me shut up. I had never seen Charlie look at me like that. Jesus, I had kissed his daughter, breaking her hand, and he had laughed. What happened to the Charlie that loved me? Oh, that's right, I was going to have sex with his granddaughter one day.
Edward growled at me, again. I inwardly shrugged. He wasn't the scariest guy in Nessie's life right now. I could only deal with one overprotective family member at a time.
Billy tried this time. "Charlie, do you think I would give up Rachel if I didn't think it was real? It's in our legends, it's in our blood. This is how they find the girl they're supposed to be with." I noticed that he had left out all the breeding implications that he thought imprinting entailed. Charlie just scoffed, obviously believing Billy had been taken in just as much as everyone else.
This was never going to end and there was no way Charlie was ever going to get over this. I had ruined my entire relationship with Charlie, the man I had known my whole life, the closest thing to an uncle I had ever had. Worse, I may have ruined Renesmee's relationship with her grandfather. How could I ever fix this?
Edward came up and put a hand on my shoulder. "Charlie, the world we live in, the world that Renesmee was born into, is supernatural. Imprinting is just as real as Jacob, the boy you've known since birth, changing into a giant wolf. Now, like you, I have never liked the fact that everyone seems to think her fate has been sealed up so completely before she has been given a chance to live, either. Trust me when I say that I will make sure that she has a choice in all of this." Charlie stopped pacing. Billy frowned. "She is aging faster now than she will be in just a few months and her accelerated growth will cause her to be fully grown in about six years. However, I will do everything short of locking her in a windowless tower before I allow their relationship to progress to that point at such a young age. I do trust, Jacob, though. He means it when he says that he only wants what's best for her. He's sincere in his love for my daughter and, if he is who she chooses, I don't think that she could end up with someone who loves her in a purer way than he does. Billy and I are truly lucky that our daughters have the suitors they do, ones who love them more than they love themselves. I hope you respect our decision to trust them with our little girls." Charlie seemed entranced by Edward's words and for a second I wondered if he was hypnotizing him or using some sort of vampire mind trick on him. Whatever the reason, I heard Charlie's heart rate decrease and he nodded at Edward before taking his seat again. He looked exhausted.
The tension in the room all but dissipated and I thought back on what Edward had just said. It had to be the nicest thing he had ever said to me, aside from the time we all thought we were going to die. The talk of her age upset me a little, but I couldn't even imagine thinking of her that way except in the abstract, so I wasn't too worried about it. And if I hadn't felt only a few minutes ago a complete reassurance in the fact that Renesmee could never feel about anyone the way she felt about me, I would have been seriously pissed off about all the choice talk.
Bella and Edward decided to leave after that and I followed them out. It was still raining, so I only went as far as the porch. "Well, that was interesting." They just nodded, obviously still dazed like the rest of us by what had just happened. "Why didn't you guys tell him I was going with you?"
Bella looked up at me but her eyes were miles elsewhere. "I don't know, Jake. I guess we didn't even think of telling him at the time. I mean, I guess I thought it was obvious you'd be moving with us. I'm so sorry."
"No, Bells. I didn't mean it like that, I was just wondering. It's just that we never talked about telling Charlie I had imprinted on Nessie. I didn't know what to do. I didn't even ask Seth to call you. I was still trying to use our 'need to know' line, but he wasn't having it. Thanks, Edward. What you said in there helped. It probably would have eventually come out, but I don't think any of us would have been able to calm him down in the end. And, you know, thanks for what you said about me." He raised his eyebrows. Are you really going to ruin this nice moment?
He smiled. "No. You're a good kid, Jacob. I'm glad you're in my daughter's life."
Bella playfully hit his arm. "Hey, he's only a year and a half younger than me."
"Yes, love, but he was the one out catching frogs today, wasn't he?" I rolled my eyes and she laughed.
"Whatever, old man. How does it feel to know that in a few years your daughter and son-in-law will look five years older than you guys, for all eternity?"
"I don't know, Jacob, how does it feel to know that we can have a windowless tower built in less than a day?"
Bella laughed as they started walking hand-in-hand back to the Volvo. It was funny to see her strolling in the rain, I remember when she used to hate it.
"Hey, we still on for tomorrow?" She nodded before getting in the side door he held open for her. "I'll run to your place in the morning and then you can drive me back." He had already shut her door but she could hear me perfectly, just as perfectly as I could hear her when she said, "How about I let you drive the Ferrari?" My mouth dropped open and she laughed. Edward did the fastest reverse 180 I had ever seen, and they were gone. I shook my head. Cocky asshole. I hope he hydroplanes on the way home and his precious Volvo's totaled.
I was about to go inside when Leah met me in the doorway. "We need to talk."
I nodded. "I know. You want to do this with me in your head?"
She shrugged. "Might as well. We'll be able to skip the small talk." We walked to the woods and I turned around as we stripped and phased.
Look, Leah. I'm sorry about everything. I don't want to put all this on you. I feel really shitty about it, actually. I think it might be okay, though, you know? I mean, when I ran away, I was in northern Canada, that's gotta be nearly as far as New Hampshire, and I could still hear you guys. I mean, I obviously won't be able to do my patrols, but I could deal with Sam and even keep you guys company when you're doing patrols. Just to catch up, you know? I have to shift, anyway. I'm gonna talk to Sam tomorrow about everything and I'm going to tell him that his guys are going to need to take over my shifts, because it's not fair for you guys to have to do it when he's got so many guys he's running three at a time. And--
It's cool, Jake. I get it. I'm not happy about it, but I get it. The fact is, I'm forced into this whole thing until I can keep myself out of it. I mean, it took all my energy to wait until you were done with your shift before I released my anger and phased a couple of weeks ago. There's no way I'm controlling this for a while, so I'm stuck with it. That's not your fault. It just pisses me off that you have such great control over it and you're not even thinking about giving it up. I mean, you're gonna phase just for the hell of it just to stay young. Anyway, whatever. I just wanted to tell you that I'm sure as hell not going to be demoted, so I'm going to stay your Second while you're gone.
Thanks, Leah. I don't want anyone else as my Second. I don't trust anyone else with it.
Yeah, yeah. Just know that if you hadn't just had an hour of hell in there, this would have been a lot harder than it was.
Thanks. I lay down on the forest floor, resting my head on my paws. I had never seen Charlie that mad before.
Leah lay down next to me, facing the same direction I was. Well you are planning on having sex with his granddaughter in the not too distant future.
Yeah. Thanks for thinking about that, by the way. Guess Edward doesn't think Nessie will be up for making her own decisions for a while. Did you hear him threaten me with the 24 hour tower before he left?
She laughed, but it sounded like a snort. Yeah. I don't even think he's kidding about that shit.
I don't, either. The look on Billy's face, though, when you told him Paul had had sex with my sister was priceless. I mean, I don't even like thinking about them going at it. Thankfully, I never had to see the replays. He was always pretty good with his thoughts when I was phased. But making Billy think about it like that. Man, I don't think he's gonna leave them alone in the house for a while!
Seth showed up and we looked away as he undressed. He phased and lay facing us. Oh, man, Jake. I think you're lucky that my mom doesn't like Charlie bringing his gun into the house! It was cool Edward sticking up for you, though.
Took him long enough. I was enjoying watching you squirm, though.
You really were, weren't you, Leah? Trust me, he waited until I was at my lowest to step in. I have to admit, though, under any other circumstances I might have laughed a couple of times at stuff you said.
That Bella's too much, though. She really thinks we're magical? What kind of fucked up fairy tales did she read as a kid? Vampires are princes and werewolves are fairies?
I laughed and it sounded like hoarse barks. That's hilarious. She once told me that Edward thought imprinting was like the magic in A Midsummer's Night Dream.
Shakespeare? They actually talk about Shakespeare in normal conversation? I swear I like those two less and less the more I get to know 'em.
I would shut up if I were you, Leah. Bella could be our step-sister one day and I don't think there'd even be a contest for who would be my favorite sister. Leah snapped at her brother's snout. He didn't move an inch.
Would you really like that, Seth? Because then you'd have a crush on our step-sister's husband. He just stuck out his long wolf tongue and he looked so stupid that I snorted.
We lay there for a long time. Each thinking about different things, occasionally starting new conversations because of something in another's thoughts. After about an hour, Seth fell asleep.
Hey, Leah? Can I ask you something? She agreed and I replayed the conversation I had had with Seth the day after our fight. Are you going to wait until you imprint? He's right when he says it'll help you get over Sam.
I don't know. I told you a long time ago that I don't think I can have kids, so if Billy and Sam are right, I don't think I ever will.
I don't think they're right.
Okay, Jake.
I'm serious, Leah. I don't think they're right. Not that I don't think that a werewolf-vampire hybrid would be stronger than a regular wolf, I just don't think that's all it's about. I don't know. Maybe I'll know better when Nessie's older.
I guess maybe it could happen to me, I'm not really counting on it, though. I can't stop phasing, so I'll have a while until I actually have to make a choice to wait or not. She paused. Seth really wants it, huh?
Seems like.
I hope he finds her. There's no justice in this world if Paul can find his soul mate and my little brother can't.
He will. You will, too. We all find them. That's the point.
***
I parked Bella's Ferrari on the side of the dirt road in front of Emily's house the next morning. I turned off the ignition and turned to Bella who had Nessie sitting on her lap in the passenger seat. "Surprise." She looked at the house confused. "You don't remember?"
She was staring at the flowers in the window planters when it came back to her. "Emily?" I nodded. "It's getting harder and harder to remember those blurry human memories." Nessie put a hand to her mom's face, her eyebrows furrowed. "Emily," Bella explained to her, "is a friend of ours. She's engaged to Sam." Nessie's hand went up again and Bella nodded. "Yeah, he's a werewolf, too."
I had already opened my door and was struggling to get out of the car. They definitely don't design these sports cars around guys who are over six feet, let alone a six-ten werewolf. The girls were giggling at me when I resorted to crawling out of Bella's after car. I met them in front of the masterpiece of a engine, brushing off dirt and loose leaves from my clothes. Bella looked nervous. "Don't worry, I called Sam, he knows we're coming." I took Bella's hand when Nessie jumped to sit on my shoulder, and we walked to Emily's front door.
Sam answered it for her. "Jacob, Bella." He nodded at each of us. Bella still looked nervous, but there was also something else in her eyes...hostility. I felt partially responsible. If I hadn't made all those assumptions about Sam, Jared, and Paul before I had joined them, she might have gotten off on a better foot with Sam than she had. It wasn't all my fault, though. No, Sam had sealed his fate the day he decided to kill Nessie. Not even Sam's stand with us against the Volturi had completely softened Bella's feelings towards him. "And, you," he smiled up at the girl whose legs were dangling on either side of my head, "must be Renesmee."
"Yes." Her voice was soft, but crisp. "Are you Sam, the other Alpha, like my Jacob?"
He smiled and nodded. His face took on its usual blank, calm expression when he looked to my face and then Bella's. "Come in."
Sam closed the door behind us. Emily came out of the hallway leading to the back rooms, they stared at each other as she went to stand next to him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her smooth cheek. Her eyes closed slightly, but she made no other show of noting his affection. She took the three of us in, a smile on her face. "Jacob Black! Didn't know you still lived around here, anymore." I tried not to flinch and give myself away before I had my talk with Sam. I opened my mouth but she cut me off. "I'll get to you in a sec. First..." She turned deliberately so that she was facing Bella and opened her arms. "Vampire girl." Sam noticeably tightened his grip on her and a look of panic was making its way on to his stoic face. She looked confused at Sam's reaction. "Oh. Right. Can you not..." She didn't really know how to finish her own sentence.
Bella's face, on the other hand, lit up. "Of course I can..." She hugged Emily gently and I could tell she was trying to get away from Sam's too-close scent and Emily's too-tempting blood when she pushed away quickly. "...Wolf girl." They beamed at each other. Bella was obviously relieved at the warmth of their reunion. Nessie giggled at their nicknames for each other and Emily's eyes caught hers. They smiled at each other.
I took her off my shoulder and holding her around her middle, pressed her to my chest. My other arm bent over my stomach and she sat on my forearm. "Emily, this is Renesmee. We call her Nessie, though."
"You call her Nessie," Bella corrected.
"And Carlisle and Esme and Alice and--"
Nessie cut me off. "Hello, Emily."
Her perfect speech and overt intelligence surprised Emily, Sam had experienced it before when she had spoken to Aro. Her expression immediately turned to one of amazement. "Hello, Nessie. You're a special little girl, aren't you?" Nessie just shrugged. "Can I give you a hug?" She nodded excitedly and threw herself at the unprepared human, nearly knocking the breath out of Emily as she went about wrapping herself around her new friend's frail body. Emily had to take a few steps back from the force of her weight and Bella and I started to scold her, but Emily waved us off. Sam was upset at first but couldn't fight with the happiness in Emily's face or the charm in Nessie's. Both he and Emily laughed when Nessie looked up at them apologetically. She was beginning to struggle with Nessie's weight and asked if she would mind Sam holding her. She launched herself at Sam before she gave a response. Sam looked taken aback, his fast reflexes taking the initiative to grab her before he even processed what was happening. He kept his arm around Emily's waist as he held Nessie to his side, looking bewildered at the enthusiastically trusting child.
"May I show you something, Emily?"
"Of course, Nessie." She looked surprised when Nessie leaned over Sam's body and touched her face. Bella stiffened next to me and Sam glanced anxiously over Nessie's head at her when he sense her tension. Then he looked at me to take in my demeanor. I was perfectly calm, amused actually. I loved seeing Nessie use her power on someone for the first time. Even if it freaked them out, they couldn't help but be even crazier about her in the end. Sam relaxed a little when he took in my face, but not completely.
Emily made a small gasp, but it was one of awe so Sam didn't do anything but tighten his already inescapable grip on her waist. Nessie slowly pulled her hand away as Emily's now-wide eyes stared into hers. "He's your Sam, isn't he? He's my Jacob." She pointed at me. We smiled at each other.
"H-how? Wh-what?" I laughed. Sam glared at me but he turned to see Emily glowing, her warped smile wrapping as far across her face as it could. She laughed, an exuberant, giddy laugh. "Yes, Nessie. He's my Sam."
"What did she show you?" Bella couldn't help herself. I have to admit, I was curious, too. Sam was just too enthralled in Emily's good mood to take his eyes off of hers, to care about what had put the light in them.
"Wait, can you show Sam, first?" Nessie grinned and touched Sam's face. His eyes widened but didn't stray from Emily's. I had never seen Sam grin like an idiot before. Nessie jumped out of his arms and landed in mine, a very satisfied look on her face. Sam and Emily were now pressing themselves to each other, tears welled up in her eyes and they kissed, slowly and passionately.
I cleared my throat, expecting a cold stare from Sam. They broke apart, still holding each other tightly. "Was that really what you were feeling?" Sam asked Emily. She just nodded, new tears forming in her eyes. Sam looked over at Nessie, still overwhelmed by his own emotions. "You really are special, aren't you?" She buried her face in my neck and I could feel the heat in her face exceed the heat in my neck. He looked back and forth between Bella and I, his expression became filled with amusement as we were both annoyingly left out of the loop. "She showed us us. She showed us my face when Emily came into the room and Emily's face when I kissed her--" They were both clinging to each other, half-bent into each other, giggling happily. "Then she showed us a memory of hers from when she was younger." They were catching their breath now, just staring into each other's eyes. "The looks on our faces reminded her of her and Jake."
I hugged her little body to mine and turned my head to kiss her on her cheek. I felt her blush again as she burrowed herself deeper into my neck. "I love you, Nessie, honey," I whispered.
After Nessie had so thoroughly buttered Sam up, I was no longer anxious about telling him I was moving. We all sat around the kitchen table, Sam sitting as far from Bella as he could. Bella and Emily were catching up on the wolves and Nessie was sharing some of her memories with Emily.
"So, what did Carlisle need to talk to your dad about, Jake?"
Right down to it. That's Sam, all business. "The Cullens have been in Forks too long. They're moving--"
"Can't say I'll be sorry." The girls shot him a look, temporarily pausing their own conversation, and he began to backtrack. "I just mean that there'll be fewer new wolves now, less need for patrolling." I chuckled to myself at the similarity between his and Leah's thoughts. "I did't mean we'll be celebrating or anything."
"Yeah, right. I remember the bonfire last time they left." Bella said it fast and under her breath. Emily didn't hear it, Nessie looked confused. She didn't know there had been a last time. She put a hand to her mother's face, probably repeating the scene back to her. "I'll explain later," she promised, though I knew she probably wouldn't. I wonder when Bella and Edward would ever drop that bombshell on her. She saw her parents, her grandparents and her aunts and uncles as having perfect relationships, I wonder how she would take the news that her dad had left her mom nearly two years ago. Not that I was so up for telling her myself, it would just lead to the inevitable "I was in love with your mom" conversation that I wasn't exactly joyfully anticipating.
"After everything I had seen that night, I wasn't missing them too much." He retorted in the same low tone, barely moving his lips. I had only heard about the bonfire in the thoughts of Sam, always connected to the broken face of Bella after he found her in the woods. That was kind of a low blow, though I couldn't bring myself to care. Edward leaving was hard on Bella and I hated seeing her hurt the way she had been. On the other hand, if he hadn't left, I would have never had loved Bella. I never would have pursued her to her death, to the birth of Nessie.
I knew I had to stop this, though, before things got ugly and we lost all the work Nessie had done. I refocused the conversation. "I'm moving with them, though, so, my pack will be one short..."
Sam understood better than I thought he would. After just having seen whatever he had seen from Nessie, he wasn't going to suggest I not follow her. He promised to cover some of my pack's patrols and to contact me if anything came up, before going to Leah.
After an hour-long visit, I told them that I wanted to show Nessie more of La Push and we all got up and walked to the door. Emily was holding Nessie's hand. "Oh," Emily gasped as she looked down at the little girl, "why don't you guys come down for 4th of July in two weeks?"
Nessie leaped into her mother's arms, putting a hand to her face. "Of course, you can go, Nessie." She beamed at her mother and Emily.
"All of the Cullens are invited. Jake's family is Sam's family."
Bella, Sam, and I stopped in our tracks. "Emily..." Sam started.
She looked defiantly back at him. "All of the Cullens are invited."
Bella tried to help Sam out, a first. "Well, I mean, I'll talk to them, but--"
"Great!" Emily reached down for Nessie and she jumped back into her arms. This time she was prepared and only made a small oomph sound as she caught her weight, shifting her to her hip. "Okay, Nessie, I'll see you in a few weeks, if not sooner." She nodded her small head furiously, ringlets bouncing. "Jacob, bring this girl by, okay?" Her voice changed, it was tinged with sadness and I felt guilty. "You never visit anymore. Seth and Quil come by, to talk or to see Claire, and even Embry comes by every once in a while, although I know if it's only for my cooking. You're not in our pack anymore, but you're still in our family." I guess that answers how Emily sees the pack, it's not just Sam's, it's hers, too.
Nessie hugged Emily as she was put down. I pecked Emily's smooth left cheek before picking Nessie up and sitting her back up on my shoulders. "I promise I will come by, all this summer. We will," I amended when Nessie hit the top of my head. Everyone laughed as we walked back out into the overcast June day. Sam and I patted each other's backs and said goodbye. He gently tugged on one of Nessie's curls, making her giggle when it sprang back into place, while Bella and Emily hugged. Bella and Sam awkwardly and stupidly waved at each other across the yard of space that separated them before we turned around and headed back to the car.
I drove to my dad's house, crawling out again. Billy had heard the smooth-sounding engine and had come out to greet us. He joined Nessie and Bella in laughing at my discomfort. To think that this morning I had been drooling to drive this car. "We should have taken the Vanquish," I muttered.
Nessie was still in a good mood from having made two new friends and she jumped into Billy's lap without thinking. To my surprise, he just laughed. "Hey, Bells. It's been a long time since you've come over." She winced. I wonder if she still remembered that the last time she had, it had been to break my heart. Probably not. Like she had said earlier, human memories were blurry. It was more likely that she felt guilty, like I did now that our time in Forks was running out, for living in our own worlds the past year. I left them to catch up and showed Nessie my room. She ran her hand over the edge of my bed, peeked into my closet, and shook her head at the mess on the floor she had to step around to get to everything. I took her back out to the living room and she looked at the few family pictures we had out on display. They were old. Moms were the ones who usually updated them, I doubt Billy had ever even developed a roll of film let alone bought a picture frame. Billy and Bella talked about the only things they really had in common: me and Charlie. Nessie sat on Billy's lap as we all caught up for a while. I'm glad he was relaxing around the both of them. The first few times he had seen Bella after the change, he had eyed her nervously. Charlie had never noticed, he was too busy making sure I wasn't about to turn into a overgrown wolf. Two best friends, each afraid of the other's child.
The sun was shining out in pockets from the clouds and Bella decided to go back home while I continued my one-person, private tour of La Push. Actually, it was more like the private tour of Jacob Black's La Push. I felt like I was in the part of the movie where the guy takes the girl he's interested in back to his hometown and they bond over the "people who knew him when" and the memories he had of various places. But this was different than that. First, I was showing my childhood stomping grounds off to a girl who was a child herself, who didn't have the appreciation of it that you get with aged hindsight. To her, everything had the potential to be either hugely influential or hugely inconsequential because she just didn't know yet. That made bonding over my own influential things hard, she just couldn't get it, no matter how smart she was. Second, there were no similarities in our childhoods. She was born into the supernatural, I was practically grown when it had caught up to me. My childhood was fairly normal, except for my mom dying, and she was never going to be the girl who knew what it was like to play with other kids at recess in the sandbox. Third, and most importantly, it was hard to see this little girl as the future object of my romantic desire. She was just Nessie to me. Perfect? Yes. Beautiful? Yes. Mate? Definitely not. For just one moment, I wished that goddamn clock would go off already.
I remember the conversation I had had with Quil on the beach last summer, just days before I would meet Nessie for the first time. I had encouraged him to date, to have a good time with other girls at night while he was playing the babysitter by day. I understood now more than I did then, what he meant about not seeing the girls. But the weird thing is, I had already had that normal human soul mate, falling in love experience. There was nothing out there for me now but a warm body on a Saturday night. Was it even safe to say that Nessie wouldn't be hurt if I fooled around while she was little? I mean, I was starting at a new school in a few months. One where no one had known me since I was in diapers. I doubt I would have trouble finding a girl, as cocky as that sounds. Next to all the normal, weak, pimply teenage boys out there, I was a catch. Besides that, I was easy to get along with and girls had always kinda liked me. But could I do it? Go out with a girl, just to go out with her? Kiss someone, just to get good at it? Get to second base or even further, just so that I wouldn't be the most inexperienced 25-year-old ever? Besides Edward, of course. And would Nessie accept it? Could she look past the fact that I was hers when I had been with another girl? I mean, wasn't it bad enough that I was going to have to tell her one day that I had loved her mother? Would have married her and had kids with her if she had given me the chance? Would still be loving her if not for the mythical and magical? Wouldn't that hurt her enough? And that was before she was even born, before she was even a remote possibility.
I usually didn't think this way. At all. But, between the imprint conversation with Charlie last night and the intense visit with Sam and Emily, my brain couldn't stop heading in this direction. I decided to push it from my mind. I was going to make this La Push tour enjoyable for the both of us. I was going to make it special, even if it wasn't special in the way that the movies made me feel it should be. Because one day, when that clock did go off, Nessie would look back on this day with that perfect memory of hers and then all of this would be worth it.
We were near the school, so I took her there. The main doors were unlocked and I showed her each of my classrooms for the past 12 years. "Here's where I had Kindergarten...1st grade...2nd grade..." I showed her my locker for the past six years. It was weird that it would be someone else's next year. A year sooner than I would have thought. I blushed when I saw the JB + BS I had etched into it sometime last year. Nessie didn't notice. She was too entranced by the school. I knew that more than anything, she wanted to go to school. She loved learning and the poor kid actually thought that that was what went on here day after day, year after year. The problem is she would always be too smart for this place. The sad thing is, she thinks the problem is that she would always be too abnormal for this place.
I didn't want to depress her more than I was afraid I already had, so I took her to the beach. We walked all along the miles of shoreline that made up the western edge of La Push, cutting though the woods when we had to. She seemed to be taking it all in. The forest life may be the same near her house, but it didn't smell the same, didn't feel the same. We saw the tide pools and she knew the scientific names of the all fish. When I looked surprised she shrugged, embarrassed, and said that she had been studying, hoping to see them on this trip. That made me happy, at least I had done one thing right. I told her about the rock formations, told her about the times my people had used those rocks as protection, told her about the burial place of all the old Quileute Chiefs. She wanted to swim out to them, but there were too many tourists at the beach and it would look suspicious, especially if a little girl did it.
We walked along the rocks for a long time. I was used to the silence when it was just the two of us. She didn't like to speak and I didn't like to force her to. If she had something to say, I knew she'd show me, like she had shown me an image of us swimming to the islands. Suddenly, she crouched to the ground and picked up one of the millions of rocks that hugged the sand and the water. It looked like a normal rock to me, a dark red one, so I guess that was fairly uncommon. But she was staring at it with such intensity that when she knew I had caught her doing it, she looked away and pretended to be fascinated by the waves. She pocketed it and I didn't say a word. A half mile later I asked if she wanted to learn how to skip rocks. She did and I told her how to find the right kind of stones, how to flick her wrist. She was good at it, like most things, and she was having fun. I took her down to the store on the beach and introduced her to Embry's mom. She still knew nothing about the wolf packs and was more than a little stand-offish to me. It made sense, she equated me and the rest of the wolves with the trouble she felt her son had been getting into for over a year. She liked Nessie, though. Who didn't?
We went back to the beach and I sat on a log, pulling Nessie on to my lap, sighing as she leaned back into me. We shared a bag of sunflower seeds I had brought from the house. She didn't like the seeds, she just liked sucking off the salt. We stayed like that for a while, until it began to cloud over again and a wave of late-morning fog made its way towards the beach, passing over the island rocks until I could only see the faintest outline of tree lines on top. I sighed at the beauty of it all, pulling Nessie closer to me. The sunflower seeds weren't doing much for my lunchtime appetite and I was about to stand up and take her back to my place, when I felt a wetness fall from her face and onto my hand. I whipped her body around so that she was facing me and she sobbed into my chest. What had happened? What had I done?
"Nessie, honey, what's wrong? You can tell me. Please?" She mumbled into my chest, but I couldn't hear her. "What, Nessie? C'mon, I couldn't hear. What is it?"
She moved her head up my chest, not lifting it, until her chin hooked into my shoulder so I could hear her speak but not see her face. Tears were still rolling down her face, though, I could feel them wet my shirt. She showed me still-shots from our morning: Sam, Emily, Billy, my house, my school, and the beach with the fog rolling in as it was in front of us right now. Then, she showed me pictures of my pack. "You're leaving all this for me." What? How was I supposed to respond to that? Of course I was, but why was she saying it like it was a bad thing? I tried to think of a way to explain this to her without going into imprinting or what it means. It was like explaining why I was moving to Charlie all over again.
"Renesmee." She pulled away to look at me. I never used her full name. "You're my family now. I wouldn't want to be away from you any more than you'd want to be away from your parents or your aunts or Carlisle and Esme."
She seemed to understand, her face was dry, at least. She showed me a picture of Billy, of my pack. "They're your family, too."
Dammit. She had a point. I wasn't telling her the whole truth and she knew it. I thought about likening it to her parents being apart or her aunts and uncles being apart or Carlisle and Esme being apart, but that seemed a bit on the nose to me. I didn't want to make it seem like we were a couple the way they were, mates. So I settled for something she would understand. I wasn't sure if it would sound more intimate than I wanted, but it would have to do. "Remember what you showed Emily and Sam, earlier?" I knew she did, I always felt odd saying that in front of the Cullens, but it was a figure of speech and it was hard not to use it as a means of bring something up. She nodded, but she didn't give me the usual look she gave me when I asked her something obvious like that. "Well, how do you think Sam would feel if he couldn't see Emily every day? I'm not leaving for you, Nessie, I'm leaving for me." She tilted her head to one side, thoughtfully. I thought she would blush like she had earlier at Emily's, but she didn't. It made me wonder why she had in the first place. She usually only blushed when I gave her compliments she thought she didn't deserve, so I understood why she had blushed when Sam called her special. There really was too much Bella in her. It amused me to think that the Jacob of a year ago would have thought that too much Bella in anyone couldn't possibly be a bad thing. But what about the second time, when I had kissed her and told her I loved her? She never blushed when I did that.
"Do you want to see what I showed them?" This was turning into one of the longest conversations we had ever had and she had only said three sentences. Actually, it was one of the longest she'd ever had with anyone. I nodded. I tried to seem somewhat casual about it, not wanting to pressure her into it even though she was the one who had offered. But I desperately wanted to see it, to see what had made Sam so happy. My face or the force of the nod must have betrayed me because she giggled. She rested her chin on my shoulder again, projecting through a hand on the back of my neck while I looked out at the ocean.
She surprised me. I had expected to see Sam or Emily's face. Instead, there was only darkness. I felt a brush going through too-long hair, it felt good. The memory continued as the eyes I was looking through opened. I saw Nessie in a mirror, she was tuning out Alice's babbling as she was groomed. Then, she saw me in the corner of the mirror and looked at me. I remembered that day. I had come over on a Saturday morning, searching the house until I had found her in Alice and Jasper's room. She looked so content, so beautiful, that I had stood in the doorway and stared. I didn't know what my face had looked like until now.
I looked like a man who had just found out that the world he lived in was perfect. In this man's world there was only peace, there was only happiness, there was only love...and now he saw it. He walked over and kissed the cheek of the cause of his epiphany, unable to contain himself. She watched the man kiss her, knowing exactly what he felt. The brushing had stopped and her eyes half closed, she was still watching her reflection. Except for the movement of her eyes, she looked as though she were taking in a common occurrence, which she was. The recency of the bliss that came with the brush in her hair, however, compared in no way to the strength of the feeling that came with the look on his face and his kiss on her cheek. She was ecstatic to be the cause of his sudden contentment and she wished she could put that look on his face more often, every day, every chance she got. And as his kiss continued to burn on her cheek long after his lips had left the skin, she realized that all she wanted in return was a kiss every time he felt it, so that she could feel just as wonderful as he did.
A full minute passed after the image ended and I just looked out at the sea while she hugged me around the neck. "I'm glad you're staying with me, Jacob."
I didn't realize that my jaw hurt from the smile that threatened to overrun my face, until I spoke. "I'll never leave you, Nessie. I love you."
The wind shifted and I smelled Bella. So did Nessie. We looked to my right at the same time. She was walking towards us, but she stopped in the dirt parking lot. "Ready to go? I'm surprised you guys are still out here, it's past your lunchtime, Jake." She didn't call out, and if anyone had been looking, they might have thought she was talking to herself. My stomach growled as a reply and I held Nessie against me as I walked us towards her mom. "What are you two grinning about?"
***
Carlisle had agreed to Emily's 4th of July invitation on behalf of the entire family. They decided to only go to the bonfire at night, skipping the beach party because Alice foresaw that it would be a sunny day. Only Blondie, Jasper, and Edward really had a problem with going. Edward was still didn't like to think about Nessie with a bunch of werewolves. He was overjoyed when he found out that we had only seen Sam on our visit to La Push. Jasper was worried about the emotional climate he'd be walking into when the two groups of mortal enemies met up. Not that I blamed him, the first time he had seen half of them, Paul had nearly gotten into it with Emmett and Blondie and he had had to calm everyone down. Blondie just didn't want to hang out with humans and "a bunch of dogs" all night. She huffed out of the room after that.
On the other hand, Alice was barely able to control her excitement, stopping just long enough to give us her weather forecast and to grab Nessie's hand before humming and dancing her way back upstairs. Edward had looked after them shaking his head. She was probably going to pick out the perfect 4th of July outfit for Nessie to wear. Esme and Bella decided to bring dinner and set about making a list of the foods they wanted to cook. I told them it wasn't necessary, there would probably be hot dogs to roast and bags of chips. "What are you going to have at the beach for lunch?" Esme had asked. I had shrugged and told her that it would probably be more hot dogs and chips. She insisted that I give her Emily's number "to coordinate the menu." That's exactly what she had said, "to coordinate the menu." If there was one person who didn't see the wolves as a bunch of animals, it was Esme.
To Emmett, though, it was all we were. Large, intelligent animals that he could wrestle against for fun. "How many of your brothers would be up for a little action that night?"
I raised my eyebrows. "I don't think any of them would want to sleep with you, Emmett." Edward and Jasper laughed.
He rolled his eyes. "C'mon, you know what I mean. You think they'd wrestle with me if I promised not to bite?"
"Man, do you listen to yourself? You're just setting up the jokes for me."
"Emmett," Carlisle interrupted before he could ask me a third time. "Perhaps it would be best to refrain from fighting with our hosts. They are already being gracious enough by inviting us onto their land, let's not seem hostile once we are there."
"Yeah, Emmett. I don't want to bail your ass out if you and that gray one get into it again." So Jasper had been thinking about that first time when we were chasing Victoria.
"Paul's temper's gotten a little better now that he's imprinted." I found myself defending my future brother-in-law for who knows what reason.
"Paul, eh?" But Emmett didn't really mean it as a question. He was saying the name thoughtfully to himself. Probably storing it so he could ask him to wrestle if the situation presented itself once he got there. Edward caught my eye and nodded to me.
"Don't do it, Emmett." I warned. "I'm going to have to be the one bailing him out if you two get into it."
"I wasn't going to," he said for Carlisle's benefit, but from the look on his face, he didn't believe him. "Why would you have to bail him out, anyway? He's not in your pack."
"Worse. He's family."
"So? I thought you guys were all family? Cousins and everything."
"We are, kinda. It's just that he's imprinted, like I told you before, on my sister."
"Your cousin imprinted on your sister? That's fucked up, man." Jasper laughed, but Edward pointed upstairs, reminding him that Renesmee was in hearing range. He ignored him completely. "I mean, I thought the whole thing about imprinting was stronger wolves, not deformed ones." Jasper laughed again and Edward joined him this time.
The weird thing is, I had never really thought about that. Paul was the first to imprint on a relative of another wolf. Sam did, I guess, but it was before Leah and Seth were wolves, and Emily's their cousin on the other side. "Well, all of us can go back to the same guy like I don't know how many generations back, but there are three different great-grandfathers we could have. So, Paul and Rachel related, but not really. But everyone on the Rez is kinda like that."
Carlisle had listened intently to my answer. "Was there a first wolf who you're all descended from?" I nodded. "Fascinating. Has anyone done the complete genealogy of the pack?"
I shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, all the records are somewhere on the Rez. My dad probably knows. The records on our family are really good, not because we're wolves, just because we're descendants of Ephraim, and the Chiefs' family records are kept really well. Or they used to be."
Jasper joined in the conversation. "I wasn't around when you guys made the first treaty with the the Quileutes. You're Ephraim Black's great-grandson?" I nodded. "Is that why you're Alpha?" I nodded again. "But there are other male descendants who are too old to be wolves?"
"Well, yeah. My dad."
His eyebrows shot up, so did Emmett's. "Wait, man. So, you're like Chief or something?" Emmett asked, kind of in awe.
"No, we don't have Chiefs anymore."
"Yeah, but if you did, you'd be it?"
"No, my dad would."
"Aw, c'mon, man. You know what I mean. One day you're gonna be Chief." He didn't ask this time, it was a statement. I just shrugged. "No, man, that's awesome."
"I think so, too," Bella said, looking up from her list. Esme had gone into the other room to call Emily. "Chief Jacob." She had that same stupid look on her face that she had had when she said it the first time, a year ago. "You should hear their old legends, about the spirit warriors and the first wolf and the third wife."
"How do you remember all that? You can't remember human things, right?" The men in her family turned to her, surprised, and I knew I was right.
"It can't be part of her newborn control, I've seen some of her human memories and they're blurry like the rest of ours." Edward must have been answering someone's internal question. "Do you think about the stories often, Bella?"
"I've thought about them a couple of times," she admitted. "They're easier to remember than regular memories. It's sort of like remembering the plot to a book I read as a human. They're not really sensory memories, more like something I just know." They all seemed appeased by her explanation. Her talking about the stories and what Carlisle had asked earlier about the wolves had given me an idea. Edward raised his eyebrows at me. What? I think it's a good idea. He just shrugged.
Esme walked back into the room, writing something down on the list, still talking to Emily. Bella nodded at whatever she had written. "Okay, Emily. ... You don't have to thank us, dear, guests should always bring something to a party. We're just unaccustomed to thinking about food and thought it was better to ask. ... Jacob? Yes, he's here. ... Alright, dear, we'll keep in touch." To me she said, "Jacob, Sam needs to speak to you."
I took the phone from her and walked outside, in case the Cullens wouldn't like what he had to say. What was with me defending the wolves today? I guess I was defending Esme's feelings, more. "Hey, Sam. What's up?"
"So, this is really going to happen, then?"
"Looks like it. They're not going to the barbecue on the beach, though. Sun."
"Ah. Your brothers are not going to like this."
"I think the five-course dinner they're preparing might help win a few of them over."
He laughed. "You may be right about that. I just don't know how we're going to eat around them."
"Upwind?" I suggested. I was the wrong person to ask, I was completely accustomed to them, now. He laughed, again. He seemed to be in a good mood, considering. I decided to tell him about my idea. "Hey, Sam? Old Quil and Billy are coming to the bonfire at night, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, I was thinking. I mean, I know this whole thing wasn't really your idea, but you have to admit, it may not be a bad thing. And I was kinda wondering. I mean, it was only because Bella was talking about it earlier. Well..."
"Spit it out, Jake."
"You know how whenever there's a new wolf or a new imprint we tell the stories?" There was silence on the other end. I decided to keep explaining myself, even though he knew exactly where I was going with this. I figured it might not be a bad thing, giving him more time to think. "Well, I mean, I don't know when we'll be in town next or when Edward's ever going to let Nessie go to one of these bonfires again." Good, bring Nessie into it, he likes her. "And I know she'd really want to hear them. I don't know, I just figured it would be the perfect opportunity. Plus, I know Carlisle would be interested in them." Good, Carlisle, too. He respects Carlisle. "I could talk to my dad about it. I'm sure he'd do it, especially for Nessie. And Quil could talk to Old Quil. I don't think Claire's heard them, yet, either. I'm sure Old Quil would do it for Claire, he loves that kid." I just kept talking. I was going to keep talking until I heard a yes. "It might be interesting telling those stories in front of real cold ones, too. Show them we could take them if we wanted." Too much, huh? There was a sigh on the other end of the line. Yeah, too much.
"I'll talk to Billy and Old Quil about it. I'm not promising anything. I don't know how I feel about telling them just how much we know or telling them that much about ourselves."
I wanted to tell him that we knew nothing more about them than that they smell bad to us, that we have to burn their pieces to kill them, and that they really like blood. I wanted to tell him that we don't know anything about them that we didn't show them we knew during the newborn battle. I wanted to tell him that Carlisle could fill whole volumes with the things he knew about vampires that he would tell Sam in an instant if he asked. I wanted to tell him that we were past the days of spirit warriors and people murdering our bodies to take over as Chief. I wanted to tell him that we weren't really as complex as all that. Instead, I said, "Thanks, Sam. It means a lot. Really."
***
The 4th of July was on a Wednesday this year. That meant it was the end of a five-day weekend, the beginning of a five-day weekend, a weird day off in the middle of the week, or just another free day of summer. The beach was crowded with tourists and locals from the Rez and Forks. I had picked Nessie up and driven her back to my house in my Rabbit. Alice had gone a little overboard with her outfit today. She had two french-braided pigtails with red, white, and blue ribbons woven into them and she was wearing a navy polo shirt dress with red flip-flops. Her bag was red canvas and Alice had packed her a red and white striped beach towel and every type of sunscreen and sunblock imaginable. Edward and Carlisle thought that it would be unnecessary, considering her skin was impenetrable, and that probably meant UV rays couldn't get through, either. Nessie had packed herself a book to read and her mp3 player.
She looked nervous as I parked and opened my door to get out. I didn't know if it was because she had never been around so many strangers, or if it was because she had never been around so many humans. I knew her thirst was under control, we had gone hunting last night in preparation, and I think she drank more than she needed. But, the thirst was never satiated, and I wondered how hard this would be for her. On the other hand, she might just be nervous to be introduced to the other pack and all their families. She looked at me, unmoving in her seat, and asked in a whisper, "What if they don't like me?" So it was the pack she was worried about.
"They will, Nessie. Trust me." I hope I wasn't lying. "Besides, you'll know a lot of people who are there. Charlie and Sue, Leah and Seth, Sam and Emily, Billy, Embry, and Quil. That's ten people already." She held up nine fingers. "That's only because you're not counting me, kid." She smiled. "C'mon. It'll be fun. Plus, you'll get to meet my sister, Rachel, and Claire. Remember Quil was telling you about Claire? C'mon." I walked around the car and opened her door. She still hadn't moved. I knelt down outside the car. "Is that really all that's bothering you?" She put her hand to my face and showed me everyone I had named eating, she wasn't. "They know you don't eat. Charlie's the only one you have to worry about hiding stuff like that from. Besides, we'll make you a plate and I'll sneak food off of it like I always do." She showed me another image, a crowded beach, she put some thirst into it. "I know it's going to be hard for you, Nessie. I'm sorry. If it's too much we'll leave, okay? I'll tell them that Edward would only let you stay for a few minutes, or something." She showed me another image, her skin sparkling in the sun, people staring and pointing. "Aw, c'mon Nessie, you've been in the sun before, you know it's not like that." I was beginning to think she was just trying to come up with as many different things as possible to get out of going. "If anyone says anything about it, we'll tell them Alice put some glittery lotion on you. If they know Alice, they'll believe it. If not, they'll believe it when they meet her later tonight." She showed me yet another image, she was in the water, swimming too fast, taking too long between breaths. "Well, then don't swim too fast and take breaths when everyone else does. While you're at it, don't run too fast or throw too hard or any of the other stuff you're already used to not doing in front of humans. C'mon, Nessie. Now you're just stalling." She stuck her tongue out at me. "You gonna walk or do I have to carry you?" She grabbed her bag and opened the door wider so she could storm pass me. Good, angry was good, it was better than scared. She knew how to get to the beach from my house thanks to her vampiric memory, and once she was there it was easy to spot the wolves. Everyone was gawking at the too-fit guys tossing around a football, playing volleyball, or just lounging. All without their shirts and all with every single muscle defined to the point that they looked like walking anatomy book illustrations.
Seth waved when he saw us, ducking under his side of the volleyball net to run over and pick up Nessie, swinging her around. "Hey, kid. You look bigger since the last time I saw you." She smiled. He usually said something like that when he saw her. I don't know if he did it because she liked it or if he could see the smaller changes in her that I didn't because of his less frequent visits. He held her out and took in her outfit. "Alice?" She nodded slowly. Then she reached out towards his face and he brought her closer so she could make contact. "Oh, yeah, Nessie? Tonight? Awesome!"
I had caught up to them by then. "What's tonight?" Nessie ignored me. Great. So maybe her anger wasn't better than fear...for me.
Seth set her down and she went over to Sue and Charlie. "Hi, Grandpa. Hi, Sue." Charlie gave her a hug and glared at me over her head. Aw, shit. I had completely forgotten that I hadn't seen him since our little conversation a few weeks ago. And I had to deal with him with Nessie here, too. Great. Things just kept getting better and better. At least Sue gave me a hug when I walked over to their canvas folding chairs under a large beach umbrella.
"Hey, Sue. Hey, Charlie." He mumbled a hello and then in a lower voice that he thought I couldn't hear, said, "Go away and leave my granddaughter alone." Thankfully, Nessie had already walked over to Sam and Emily who were sitting under their own umbrella on the other side of the large grouping, so she didn't hear him. Maybe in the mood she was in, she wouldn't have minded him too much. Leah, who was sun bathing on a towel near her mom's feet heard, though. She laughed. I kicked some sand at her. Not that there was very much of it. The wolves had gotten a good spot, near enough to the water to have a few yards of sand before it turned into large unyielding rocks. Everybody with chairs had them set up at the border of the rocks, so that they could still dig their toes into the warm sand. I don't even know why they had brought out the volleyball net. People were looking at them as if they were crazy. The rocks under them didn't hurt their feet, but they should have.
I walked around, saying my hellos. All of the new wolves were playing volleyball, so I figured I'd talk to them later. My sister and Paul were in the water and it looked like he was trying to grope her under the rolling waves. I growled softly. Most of the wolves turned around, including him. He saw me and straightened up. My sister looked confused until she followed Paul's gaze and saw me. She thought Paul had stopped on his own and she waved happily at me. He took her by the hand and swam her out farther. I shook my head at him. I walked over to Sam and Emily because Nessie was still over there, sitting on Emily's lap. She was pointing out everyone to her. "And that's Jared and his..." I madly shook my head behind Nessie. Emily tried again. "I mean, that's Kim and her Jared." I nodded, gratefully. It seems like I had come over just in time. This intrigued Nessie, who immediately looked over at the couple. Jared was brushing a piece of hair out of Kim's face as she sunbathed with her eyes closed on the sand. She smiled at the touch, but didn't open her eyes. Nessie nodded at Emily, as if in agreement. Sam and I laughed at that and Emily just looked even more taken in by her.
I figured that seeing another imprinted couple might have made her a little friendlier to her Jacob. "Hey, Nessie, you want to go in the water, I'll introduce you to my sister?" I was right, she smiled and nodded. She put down her bag next to Emily's chair and pointed questioningly at one of the many sunscreen bottles popping out of it. "Edward said it was up to you, but you don't have to." She thought for a second, took off her small dress and her flip-flops, and started walking slowly towards the water.
"Aw!" Emily's smile got bigger when she saw Nessie's two-piece. Leah scoffed, but I shot her a look and she shut up. The top was blue with white stars and the bottoms were red and white striped.
Charlie had looked up when he heard Leah laugh and saw Nessie. "Alice?" he asked her, knowingly. She nodded, glumly.
Sue repeated Emily's outburst and so did Kim, who had sat up to see what everyone was talking about. I decided it was a good time to introduce them, and I did. "Nice to meet you, Kim. Nice to meet you, Jared." They looked taken aback by her formality and perfect speech, but they knew who she was, so it didn't surprised them too much. Jared looked a little more wary of her than Kim did.
"Well, I love your bathing suit, Nessie. And whoever Alice is, she has great taste."
"Oh, Alice is my aunt. If you go to the bonfire tonight, you can meet her." Jared made a face at that that Nessie, thankfully, didn't catch. Goddamn these guys. If they made today hard on Nessie, I swear I would make them regret it. And now I had to go introduce her to the biggest ass of them all, when I introduced her to my sister.
"Hey! You guys going in? Wait for me." Seth was coming back from the makeshift volleyball court.
As he passed by his mom, she stopped him. "Seth, would you run back to the house, I forgot my suntan lotion?" I laughed.
"Wait, Seth." I grabbed Nessie's bag and walked it over to them. "Here, Sue. I'm sure that whatever you need is in there." She looked confused until she began to look through it, then she looked even more confused. "Why did you bring all this, Jake?" Charlie looked into the bag, over her shoulder.
"Alice?" It was Seth who said it this time, for the second time. Nessie nodded again and everyone around laughed.
We went into the water and swam out to Paul and Rachel. They had been out there for a while and Rachel was tired, so Paul was holding her while he stayed afloat for both of them. I introduced her to Rachel and she gave her a hug. "Ooh," she said when Nessie was back in the water, "you're as warm as the wolves! Do you ever get cold?" Nessie shook her head. "You have very pretty hair and I love the strings you put in it."
"Thank you. My Aunt Alice goes a little crazy sometimes."
"It's 4th of July, I think you're supposed to go a little crazy with the red, white, and blue."
Paul hadn't said anything, until he said, "C'mon, Babe, I'm getting tired. Let's get out now." She agreed and said goodbye as they swam back to the shore.
"Ass," Seth said under his breath. I nodded in agreement, Nessie just looked confused.
I distracted her by challenging her and Seth to a breath-holding contest. She rolled her eyes. "I know, I know." To Seth I said, "I just told her in the car not to hold her breath for too long so she doesn't look suspicious." Seth laughed and I turned back to her. "But if we don't go underwater, we're far enough away from everybody that no one would know what we were doing." They both agreed and we took a deep breath. We treaded water, staring back and forth at each other for a very long time. Seth broke first, gasping wildly. He looked so funny, Nessie almost started to laugh. That gave me an idea. I started making stupid faces at her. That didn't work. I started pretending that I was going to tickle her. Not actually doing it, but trying to make her think I was. That didn't work. I wasted so much energy that I had to take a breath. She was still fine. She let it go slowly, not panting at all. We gaped at her. She smiled slyly. "And your lungs are so much smaller than ours. Was it even uncomfortable?" She shrugged, nodding. She put a hand to my face, first, and then Seth's, showing us what she had felt. It was uncomfortable, like a weird form of sensory deprivation, but other than that it had just lowered her heart rate, so that it was beating more like a human's who had just run a marathon. I wonder if her heart rate made it so that it would take it a lot longer to feel like she was going to pass out than the rest of us did. Her brain was being deprived of the full amount of oxygen it was accustomed to, but not of a steady supply of altogether. "Cool," I concluded. Seth agreed.
We swam around for a bit, trying to play Marco Polo. She had never played and was excited until we found that it was too easy with our hearing and each others' scents. Half an hour after we had gotten in the water, we were met up by Quil, who had Claire on his back, her arms clutching his neck. We introduced the girls. They looked about the same age, Nessie might have had the edge. She already looked like a four-year-old and Claire's fourth birthday wasn't until August. In minds, though, they were light years apart. Claire still had trouble with some word tenses and some letter sounds, and those were only the obvious speech differences. Nessie quickly learned all the differences and was a little disappointed. Claire was the first person she had ever met that was her "age" and it was apparent that they were too dissimilar to interact well together. Claire, on the other hand, loved Nessie, and didn't seem to understand that they looked to be the same age. She assumed Nessie was way older than her, not even seeing the similarities in size. To her, Nessie was interesting, funny, and "special." Quil took her to see the tide pools, while we swam back towards the shore.
It wasn't until I got out of the water that I realized that I hadn't brought a towel. I told Nessie and she rolled her eyes at me. She walked over to her bag, now sitting next to Sue and Charlie and brought out her red and white striped one, along with a blue and white striped one. "I love Alice!" There was more laughter. I wonder what Alice would think when she got to the bonfire tonight and found herself to be a mini-celebrity. Who was I kidding, she'd love it.
Sue was sitting in her chair reading a book. "Nessie, are you reading Pride and Prejudice?" Nessie nodded. "I haven't read it since high school. Have you read it before?" She shook her head. "What do you think of Elizabeth?"
"Oh, I like her. I like her and Jane and Charlotte, although I was sorry she had to marry that horrible Mr. Collins just because she was starting to be seen as an old maid. I don't like any of Elizabeth's other sisters, though, or her mother. I like Mr. Bingley and I like Mr. Darcy in a weird way, even though he was mean to Elizabeth, although now it's starting to look like he might like her. I don't like Miss Bingley, though. I think she might be the worst character in the book. I just think it's funny that she's exactly like Lydia and Mrs. Bennett and yet she looks down her nose at them. I like Mr. Wickham a little, I guess, though it seems like all he does is make fun of everything and everybody. It's an interesting book, though. It makes me want to to go England." Everyone had gone quiet as she talked about a book that all of us would have to be forced into reading. And here she was, a nine-month-old four-year-old, going on and on about it, in what was probably her longest monologue to date. Books. That's what got her going. Well, that and being surrounded by humans, one of whom she was not allowed under any circumstances to use her gift on.
They just weren't used to her, yet. But Seth was. He didn't even seem to feel the tension coming off everyone as every bone in their body took Nessie in and screamed Not right, something's not right. Yup, Seth just continued to dry off and said, "Well, at least you might get to go to England without having to learn to Old English or something." He laughed at his own joke, because no one else got it. So he explained Edward's promise to everyone and they looked at Nessie again with that same unease. This girl knows Latin, is learning Ancient Greek, and will soon learn other languages, just so her rich daddy will let her travel the world? Not right, something's not right. But then he managed to ease all their tension and turn the whole mood around. "So, get this, to get Nessie to come down here in the first place, Jake had her learn Quileute!"
There was a chorus of What's and some disbelieving grunts and chuckles. Sue was the one who decided to test her. "Basáł xaxíḳtiya*."
"Haçháł xaxíḳtiya**," Nessie corrected her. Emily and Sam laughed. Figures that they would know the most Quileute out of all of us; especially Emily, she was a nerd when it came to tribal stuff like that. I wonder if she was trying to make up for the fact that she was Makah. The rest of us waited for Sue's smile to let us know she had understood what she had said and had responded correctly. Then everybody was impressed.
Seth just laughed. "I told you, guys." You would have thought that this would have made everyone a bit more uneasy. This girl knows the dead language of Latin, is learning the dead language of Ancient Greek, and is fluent in the practically unused small Native American language of Quileute, and she's only been alive for nine months? But all they heard was, she learned Quileute for Jake, to come here, to be with us. And they liked her for of it. I didn't understand why their ease seemed to have vanished, but I wasn't going to complain.
Deciding to leave on a high note, I took Nessie over to Embry, who was manning the grill. We said hi and he gave Nessie a hug. That boy was a pig amongst wolves. For every three hot dogs he put on the grill, he ate one raw, not wanting to wait the time it would take to cook There was a nearly empty extra large chip bag on the side of the grill next to a half-empty two liter of soda, an empty two-liter bottle was at his feet. "Your mom tell you I saw her yesterday?"
"Yeah. She said you brought in Renesmee, she was kinda weirded out by that. She didn't know who she was and I didn't think I should tell her she was Bella's daughter."
"Probably not. For Nessie to look this age, Bella would have had to have shown up in Forks with a toddler. She working?"
"Yeah. Today's a big day for souvenirs. You gonna help with the fireworks this year? You missed them last year."
"Sure, sure." I hoped he wouldn't bring up why I had missed them last year, when I had been wolfing it to get my mind off of Bella's wedding and eventual change.
After lunch we went to the tide pools again. They were crowded and I stopped Nessie from telling me the names and habits of all the life after some of the other tourists started to stare at the four-year-old wildlife prodigy. Back at the camp, some of the new wolves were playing cards. They asked me to join and I figured that I might as well. After all, part of what I wanted to get out of today was getting back in good standings with Sam's pack and to get to know the guys I didn't. Nessie sat on my lap, reading her book, listening to her music. We played poker, betting using our patrol shifts. I was betting recklessly, I had been running double-shifts for so long that it didn't seem like such a horrible thing, anymore. Plus, I didn't mind the morning shifts, it allowed me to see Nessie all day without worrying about leaving to patrol. I got into an intense one-on-one stand-off with the youngest of the new wolves. He was a little cocky and he felt like he had something to prove. He sorta reminded me of Leah when she first phased. He wanted to take down an Alpha and we were both betting high. Nessie had closed her book and had taken off her headphones, yawning. Today had been a busy and exciting day for her and the hot weather was getting to her. Bella had wanted me to take her back so that she could nap and Alice wanted her to have another wardrobe change. I knew this was going to be my last hand, I had to make it count.
I showed Nessie my cards. "What do you think? You think I'll win?" She didn't know the rules of the game, so I explained them to her quickly. She asked me how many cards there were and how the deck was set up. Then she asked me which hands beat which. The young kid rolled his eyes at my patience with her. He looked at another new guy and mouthed imprint, rolling his eyes again. It didn't bug me too much, I used to be that kid. Nessie was looking over my cards again, and the communal cards. She nodded. "Yeah? I'm gonna win? You sure?" She nodded again.
"Wait," the kid said. "What was that all about?" He obviously knew who I was and had heard about my half-vampire imprint. "Can she see the future or something? That's not fair." Sue and Charlie were still there, watching the scene, but it just sounded like nonsense to him. I was about to say something to make it seem like it really was just nonsense when Nessie spoke up for herself. That made me smile.
"No, I can't see the future, I can do math." Seth, who was playing sitting next to me, laughed. "Jacob has over an 85% chance of winning."
"Where did you learn how to do that kind of math?"
She shrugged when she turned around in my lap to look up at me. "Daddy taught me simple math a long time ago and then Uncle Jasper said he'd teach me statistics before I learned algebra, because it was easier. Did you know he really likes math?" I just shook my head, still smiling down at her. When was she learning all this? I guess she only had to read a book to learn it, that couldn't take too long for her.
"Oh, yeah?" The kid looked pissed that this four-year-old had made him seem like an idiot. "You haven't seen my cards, so how could you possibly know that?"
She paused, sighing as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I knew she was like Bella, but maybe she was a little like her father, too. My smile widened, Seth laughed again. "The two things are not mutually exclusive, the odds of you winning are dependent upon the odds of Jacob winning. I know the odds that you'll win, so I know the odds that he'll win. You have less than a 15% chance of having the combinations of two cards that will beat him. So, if I were going to bet, I'd bet on him." He blew her off and bet high, not wanting to seem swayed by a little girl's mathematical skills. She rolled her eyes and took my cards away from me so that she could slam them on the rocks in front of us, herself. "Come on, you probably had two pairs, right?" He didn't say anything, just threw his cards into the space between us, face down, and stormed off. She flipped them over and, in a voice she knew he could still hear said, "See? Two pairs."
***
Nessie fell asleep on the car ride back to the Cullens' and I refused to tell them anything about what had happened at the beach until she woke up. I took a nap myself, partially to keep Edward from seeing the day in my thoughts and partially because I had overeaten and was slipping into a food coma. I slept on the sofa with Nessie on my chest.
When I woke up, the heat on my chest was gone and I could smell Bella and Esme's cooking. I could hear that Jasper and Emmett were wrestling in the backyard and that Blondie was watching them. It must have been Carlisle's idea to keep Emmett from fighting with the guys later. Bella, Esme, and Edward were in the kitchen putting the food in buffet containers. And Nessie was up in Jasper and Alice's room, I could hear her giggling. I sat up and a note that was on my chest, fell on my lap.
Jake,
I bought you a pair of trunks, but earlier you left before I could tell you to change into them. Now you don't have an excuse. I groaned. Use the guest bathroom to shower, I'll leave them on the bed for you.
Alice
A shower wasn't such a bad idea, I still had sand on me and I smelled like salt water. The trunks weren't bad, either. They were maroon and felt different than the trunks I had always had, made out of a softer material. I bet they were expensive. She put a navy chino short-sleeve button-up shirt next to it that I assumed I was supposed to put on. I did, but I didn't button it. I loved the summer, it was the only time that I could go walking around barefoot, wearing clothes exactly how I liked them, and no one thought anything of it.
After I dressed, I walked down into the kitchen. Alice had obviously dressed Bella. She was wearing a muted Hawaiian print halter dress. It wasn't bright or showy or anything, but it wasn't really Bella. At least Alice had let her wear flat sandals. Esme was wearing linen pants and a button-up blouse. Edward. Well, I laughed when I saw Edward.
"Shut up, dog." That just made me laugh harder. Edward was wearing shorts, cargo shorts! Somehow he made the linen shirt he was wearing look...stiff. I laughed even harder when I saw the canvas flip-flops she had him in.
"No, Edward, it's cool. You're legs are cute! I mean, your toes are cute! I mean..." A look from Esme had me trail off at the end. But the damage had been done, Jasper and Emmett had stopped fighting just to laugh. Edward's hands were clenched in fists at his sides.
Upstairs, Alice called out to her husband and siblings to come inside and change. I started to unroll the sides of the foil covering the dishes, Bella slapped my hand, smiling at me. I smiled back. "You look nice, Bells."
Edward came up beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist. "You always do that, Jacob. You always tell Bella she looks good or fine or pretty, when really she looks gorgeous." Bella and I rolled our eyes in unison, but she let him kiss her.
I heard Alice run out the front door before running back in the house and up the stairs. I don't know how she was managing to be running around, even though she was only going to be a guest at the party. Blondie came into the kitchen. She didn't seem any happier about attending this thing than she had two weeks ago, when she found out she'd be forced into going. She had dolled herself up for it, though. All she wore on top was a black bikini top and on the bottom she wore a black sarong that showed off the entire length of one of her legs. Her black strappy heels were too high for a runway, let alone a beach-side bonfire. Her outfit said one thing: if she was going to go hang out with a bunch of dogs, she sure as hell was going to leave them panting.
Edward laughed at that. "You're not wrong, Jacob." And shook his head dismissively at Bella when she looked curious.
Emmett came in right after wearing cargo shorts and a tight black tee. He looked his wife up and down appreciatively a few times before pushing her against the wall and kissing her. As soon as we heard her first moan, we picked up the trays and went to wait in the living room.
Jasper walked down the stairs wearing long black linen pants and a blood red chino shirt like mine. His was long-sleeved, though, and he wore it buttoned up with the sleeves rolled up to right below his elbow. Alice wore a sarong in the same color as Jasper's shirt that she had skillfully tied around her body into a one-strapped dress. Her platform sandals had a string tying them to her foot which continued up her calves. Nessie hopped down the stairs a few steps behind her. She wore a maroon shirt dress that looked like the shirt I had on. She had taken out the pigtails and ribbons in her hair and put it in a high ponytail, instead. She looked beautiful. Jasper groaned. "Please, you two. Can we go?" Blondie walked out of the kitchen, fixing the straps on her top and the tie on her skirt. It took Emmett a while to join us. I picked Nessie up in one arm and balanced two huge buffet containers on my other hand. We fit most of the food in Edward's trunk, the rest went in Emmett's Jeep.
We made it to the bottom of the cliff we'd be climbing, in only a few minutes. Nessie was straddling the back of my neck as we reached the bonfire at the top of the hill. I heard her gasp as she saw the different colors in the fire. She showed the flames to me, lacing a question in the image. "It's a driftwood fire, honey. The salt makes the flames burn in different colors. Do you like it?" She was leaning forward, resting her head on her crossed arms that were laying on top of my head. I felt her nod. I smiled. It was awkward for a few minutes as the two groups looked at each other, not sure how to mix. Emily stood up and came to hug Bella and Nessie. Bella introduced her to Esme and they hugged. She thanked the Cullens for the food as Sam came up behind her, shaking hands with Jasper, Emmett, and Edward, leaving an arm around Emily's waist. In fact, every male vampire and all the wolves with imprints were claiming and protecting their mates with a arm around their waist.
I decided to cross the line first, taking Nessie to sit on a log next to Seth and Leah. Nessie jumped from my shoulders to Seth's and he tickled her. Neither of them seemed to notice that all eyes were on them. She jumped from Seth to Billy's lap, saying hi to Charlie and Sue, who were sitting next to him at the head of the makeshift circle. Bella and Edward crossed next, going to greet Charlie and Sue, also. Alice was not so quiet when she crossed the invisible line. After she had made sure all the food looked perfect, she had turned around and spotted Charlie. "Charlie!" she squealed, barely keeping up a human pace as she ran over to him, hugging him and kissing him on the cheek. The wolves tensed as the small vampire ran at the human, but then were suddenly calm. Jasper followed her slowly, changing the atmosphere as he passed everyone. Blondie and Emmett walked after him, arm in arm, looking like the Prom King and Queen. I saw some of the young wolves' mouths drop open at her. They closed them and looked away quickly when Emmett made eye contact with them. It seemed like the vampires were setting up camp by Billy, Charlie and Sue, so the area around them casually was emptied, the werewolves readjusted themselves on the other logs. Esme had disappeared soon after getting to the top of the cliff. She came back into view now on the arm of Carlisle.
Carlisle was looking at Sam and Emily as he spoke, but he spoke to the whole gathering. "On behalf of my family, I would like to thank you all so much for having us here tonight. I hope tonight is the first of many pleasant evenings shared in each other's company."
Some of the wolves snorted. "Yeah, if Emily cracks that pussy whip, again." My future brother-in-law, ladies and gentlemen. What an asshole. At least he had whispered it. Sam growled quietly and they shut up. Carlisle pretended that nothing had happened.
"As you know, Jacob is an invaluable part of our family," there were snickers, "and we are so happy that both of his families could come together tonight." Now he addressed the group. "I just wanted to introduce everyone to those of you who may not know us. My wife, Esme." He pointed as he called the names. "Our son, Emmett, and our daughter, Rosalie. Our son, Jasper, and our daughter, Alice." I heard some murmurs after that, mostly from Emily, Kim, and Rachel, who were leaning to see her better. She seemed just as thrilled with the extra attention as I had imagined. Jasper smiled at her. "Our son, Edward, our daughter, Bella—who is also Chief Swan's daughter—and their daughter, Renesmee." Carlisle went to shake Sam's hand.
Seth slapped his legs, getting to his feet. "Hope you guys brought enough, I'm starving."
"Seth," his mother scolded.
"What? I am. Who put Embry in charge of the grill, anyway? That was just stupid." Only the new wolves didn't laugh. They didn't know Embry well enough to know that he was a bottomless pit.
As Seth filled up one of the most expensive-looking disposable plates I had ever seen, stomachs could be heard growling all around the fire. "C'mon, Leah." I looked over at her. "We better get to the food before their stomachs become bigger than their pride." She laughed when she heard some of their growls, but she knew I was right, so she got up. Charlie and Sue went with her and I pushed Billy, with Nessie still on his lap. "Did Quil come to get you earlier, old man?"
He nodded. "He seems pretty excited about the stories, tonight. He went to pick up Claire and Old Quil. I hope there's enough food left for him by the time he gets back."
"Aw, I'm sure my Alpha would've saved me something." Quil came into the clearing, taking on most of his grandfather's weight, Claire on his back.
"Don't bet on it." I said hi to Old Quil while Claire ran up and hugged Nessie.
"Nessie would have, huh, Nessie?" He picked her up in a hug and she nodded earnestly. He laughed.
Seth walked over and handed him three empty plates. "Hey, thanks, man." He pointed with his chin at the other wolves, most of them were still sitting, sulking. I wonder if Sam had ordered them to be here. "Why aren't they eating?"
Seth laughed, glancing over his shoulder before turning back to us. "I think they're waiting to see if it's poisoned, laced with venom, or something. Idiots." We laughed and Quil took Claire and his grandpa to get food.
Nessie and I went back and sat next to her parents. "Food's good, Bells."
She smiled. "Not like you guys wouldn't have eaten cardboard if that's all there was."
I shrugged one shoulder. "True." She laughed. "Did Nessie tell you about her day?" Nessie nodded.
I saw Rachel and Kim dragging Paul and Jared to the food after seeing what Emily had on her plate. I laughed. The younger wolves still hadn't moved. The kid Nessie and I had beaten at poker was still glaring at me. Or was he glaring at her?
Beside Bella, Edward nearly choked on nothing but air. "Jacob," he growled my name. What? I looked around stupidly. What did I do? "You taught my daughter poker."
"Oh, yeah." It was Charlie that spoke up, proudly. "You should have seen her, Edward. The kid's a natural. I mean, I knew she was smart, but she figured out the odds of Jake winning only a minute after being taught how to play. Then she shoved it in some kid's face when he didn't believe her." Nessie ducked her head, hiding her smile with her hair and blushing.
"Renesmee," Bella scolded. "Shoved it in some kid's face?"
"Aw, Bells, it wasn't like that. He was being a jerk." And he almost told Charlie what you guys are, I added for Edward. Emily called to Nessie, and she ran off to sit with her, Rachel, and Kim.
"He's a wol--" Edward cut off the sentence, when he remembered about Charlie. "He's here?"
I nodded, chewing on some fried chicken. This stuff really was good. I replayed the entire scene in my head for him. His eyes widened at the end.
"Nessie kicked some kid's ass?" Emmett was curious. Jasper and Carlisle were, too. "Who?" He looked around, as if expecting the guy to stand up and wave his arms.
I lowered my voice, hoping it was enough. "See the kid in the middle of that group of guys on the log next to Sam's?" They nodded, taking him in.
"He's young," Jasper said.
"The youngest," I agreed. "Anyway, we were playing Texas hold-em and I was betting high, so a lot of the other guys had folded, but this kid keeps matching me. So, I could tell Nessie was getting tired, and I figured I might as well go all out on my last hand."
"How much was in the pot?" Emmett was really into this, now.
"Aw, we weren't playing for money, we were playing for patrol shifts." He rolled his eyes. Now he was less interested. "Anyway, Nessie had stopped reading, so I asked her if she thought I was gonna win. She didn't know the rules or how the deck of cards is sorted, so I told her. Then she asks me which hands beat which hands so I tell her. Then, a second later, she's telling me the odds I'll win. Which, I guess, is your doing?" Jasper nodded, obviously pleased with himself. "So this kid doesn't believe a four-year-old" Charlie grimaced "could figure all that out and, I don't know, thinks she's lying or something. So he raises me and Nessie gets so pissed off that she throws my cards down and tells him what hand he was holding. He was pissed!" Carlisle shook his head, but he was smiling. Jasper and Emmett were laughing, sneaking glances at the kid. Edward had no expression on his face, which I took as his usual anger. "So, what, you're allowed to be a cocky ass all the time, but your daughter's not?" Charlie nearly spit out his beer and Emmett and Jasper laughed even harder.
"Actually, Jacob, I was thinking about how much Nessie seemed to be speaking today."
"Oh, I know. You should have seen her, guys." Even the girls were listening to the conversation, now. "She went on and on about some book to Sue, and she was talking about her outfit with the girls, and then she was talking to that kid. When it was just Seth and I, though, she didn't." He looked over at her with the other imprints. "I guess she's talking now, too." He nodded, still in his thoughts.
Esme pulled out a trash bag from nowhere and I helped her by getting the trash from the wolves so she wouldn't have to. The trays were empty. We threw them out, too. Nessie followed me back to her family, sharing her last conversation with her mom and aunts. My dad cleared his throat. Oh, shit, the stories.
"Nessie..." She looked over at me. "Come sit by me." She came and sat on my lap. "The stories are gonna start," I whispered into her ponytail, kissing her on the back of her head.
First was the story of the spirit warriors and Taha Aki's change into a wolf. I heard Bella sigh nostalgically as Billy finished. Sue leaned in to Charlie and told him she was tired. He looked dazed, probably still in the story. The way everybody gets when they hear the stories and then come back to reality and realize that everything they heard was true. They got up, saying a general goodbye to the group, and started down the hill. I got up off the ground and sat in Charlie's seat, next to Bella on one of the logs. She looked at me, smiling lopsidedly. "I love these stories."
"I know you do, Bells."
She rested her head on the side of my arm and Nessie turned to her. "Aren't they wonderful, Renesmee?"
She nodded, grinning. "Because they're real, and they're about Jacob." They sighed together. Softies, the both of them. I kissed Bella on the forehead before she leaned away and then Nessie on the top of her head. I shifted my body to face Old Quil a little more as he began to tell the story of the third wife.
I felt everyone tense a little as the story got underway. When Billy pulled out the pouch with the ashes, I felt Nessie shrink into me. Emmett whispered, "That's fucked up," under his breath. Jasper had an odd smile on his face. I wonder if he had killed so many vampires that the thought of a legend being made about just one was almost laughable to him. Or I wonder if he was remembering his first vampire kill, maybe you always remember the first, we were just passing our memory down.
At first, the mention of the her family seemed to enliven Nessie. Hearing about the pact made her happy, she didn't know that it had ever been broken, had been replaced...because of her. What she did understand was that her family was the cause of wolves in the first place. I felt her sink back, again, her head lowered when Old Quil said, "burden" and again when he said "sacrifice." There was an awkward silence when the stories ended.
"Billy, Quil, thank you so much for sharing your stories with me and my family." Carlisle, ever the peacemaker, wanted to end the uncomfortable silence that had just filled the air. "I wonder if I may be so indulgent as to share with you my story?" Nessie's head shot up at that. I hadn't expected this. I was curious as hell. Jasper had told me his story a couple of months ago. Nessie had fallen asleep while we were watching TV with him. One of his scars had caught my eye and it reminded me of those nights in the clearing before the newborn attack. I asked him how he knew so much about how to fight them and he had told me everything. I was grateful Nessie was asleep, I think I had gotten the full unedited version. I had never looked at him the same way. But I had never heard Carlisle's full story, neither had Nessie. Billy looked taken aback, but he smiled, sweeping one of his arms in invitation.
"I must first begin by telling you that I was born in London in the 1640's..." A half-hour later, Carlisle had finished, ending his story when he got to America. I figured he didn't want to talk about changing people. The part about him living with the Volturi was trippy. I hadn't known that, it made the stand-off with them a few months ago a little bit intenser, if that was even possible. Most of the wolves seemed genuinely impressed. I don't think any of them had any idea how old he was or what kind of life he had lived. I think they respected the fact that he had tried to kill himself before he could even think about killing another. They respected that he had no other choice but his lifestyle, murder was not an option. Or maybe that was just what I had gotten out of it and I was projecting it onto everybody else. It was obvious why the rest of his children had chosen his lifestyle, how could you go out and murder after hearing that? How could you disappoint your father when he was this man? I even felt a little bad about killing vampires now. In the winter, I would have done anything to kill just one of those Volturi bastards. I was happy it ended the way it had, but if there was no chance of retaliation, I would have killed every last one of those smug assholes. Now, I wasn't so sure. Not if I had to come back and look at Carlisle's face after I did it. They did threaten Nessie, though. No, if they ever threatened her again, I'd still kill them. Could I kill for any other reason, though, except to protect Nessie and my family. I knew that Carlisle would do that much.
I saw Jasper shoot a concerned look at Edward. He did look awful. I couldn't tell what was on his face, he'd heard our thoughts and carefully rearranged its shape. Had it been shame? I wonder why.
I looked down at Nessie. She was still staring at her grandfather in awe. "He's amazing, huh, Nessie?" She just nodded, still dazed.
"Nessie!" Alice called out, for no other reason but that she was excited. "It's time!" I looked at her questioningly when she got up, but she was already halfway down the hill with her aunt. Alice and Nessie reappeared a minute later, all need to hide their speed gone now that Charlie had left. They were carrying the Louis Vuitton luggage that Alice had insisted Nessie needed, even though we never went anywhere. I wonder why.
Nessie was blushing and she looked nervous. Alice looked exuberant. "Seth," she called, "can you help us?" He nodded, grinning, obviously in on the joke.
"Do you want me to phase?" Everyone's ears perked up. Wait, what? What was going on?
"Seth, is this really necessary?" Sam eyed the imprints. Sam was no longer Seth's Alpha and his command not to phase in front of the imprints could not bind him. "I mean, they haven't even seen their wolves before." He said the last part in a whisper.
"You guys mind?" Jared and Paul shook their heads. I wonder if it was because they wanted to see the girls' reactions, just like I had wanted to see Bella's reaction a year ago. Or if they had been trying to convince Sam to take off the injunction and they figured this demonstration might change his mind. Or if they just trusted Seth because he's always been the most passive wolf. I don't know. If it were me, I wouldn't want Nessie to have seen another wolf before she saw me. Seth took off into the woods and came back walking awkwardly sideways. I heard Rachel and Kim gasp. They looked at their wolves in wonder, they grinned back at them. Then, Rachel looked at me, a different kind of awe in her eye. The awe of an older sister who just realized their younger brother can do something amazing. I just shrugged.
As if to further illustrate the complexity of sibling relationships, Leah growled at her brother. "Turn around and walk normally, you look like an idiot."
"He's trying to keep it a surprise until I tell you about it." Alice explained. "I actually got this idea a couple of months ago when Emmett made fun of Jake's 'gay leather anklet.'" Emmett and Jasper laughed, the wolves didn't. It was as much a part of the standard uniform as our fur. "A few weeks later, I had come up with the perfect solution. I mentioned it to Seth, and he liked it, so he's been helping me with it. Nessie wanted it to be a secret for you, Jake." I didn't move. I had a horrible feeling that I know where all of this is going. Edward tried to contain a laugh next to me. "And then, when I found out about 4th of July, I knew I had to get them ready. So, without further ado, I present to you...the Wolf Pack. Get it? I couldn't help myself."
Seth turned around. On his left hind leg was a large, black, rectangular rubber box. There was silence for a beat and a half. None of us really knew how to respond to it. Alice filled it. She walked over to Seth and started talking like a lady on those home shopping channels. I figured she'd watched enough of it to get them down perfectly. "The base of the bag is completely made of rubber. It took me a long time to figure out how to get them completely waterproof and still look okay when you weren't wolves. There's a pocket, here" she pointed to the right side of the bag "for your change of clothes." She opened it enough for us to see the cut-offs Seth had been wearing, Seth maneuvered his body to help her. "Can I take it off, Seth?" He nodded. She pulled it down and off his leg. There were two crisscrossing three-inch wide black elastic straps on the back that had been holding it in place. She pulled at them and let go, they snapped back. "Seth told me that the leather strap digs into your leg once you've shifted, so I came up with the idea of elastic straps. They'll fit on your human thigh and then stretch to fit on your hind leg comfortably." She turned it back around to the front. "You can go phase back, now, Seth." She opened the side of the bag and Nessie pulled out his pants. He took them in his mouth and Alice kept talking as he walked away. "Now, the main point of this is to keep your change of clothes clean and attached to you while you run. But, you obviously couldn't walk with this bag around your thigh all the time. So..." She pulled at a piece of the rubber that ran the length of the left side on the front of the bag. We heard claps unsnapping. "It's two bags in one. This flap is rubber on one side and it wraps around to the front when you're a wolf. There are three rubber edges on the other top, bottom, and non-flap sides of the front to keep water from going in when the flap's clasped into place." A long, black, adjustable shoulder strap fell out from between the flap and the bag when she opened it. She began to wrap the flap the other way. "When you're human, the flap goes around the back and covers the elastic. Now, the front and back of the bag both look like they're made out of nylon. The sides and the top and bottom of the bag are rubber, and it makes the three rubber edges on the front and back look like matching accents." She held up the finished product. It looked like a normal nylon messenger bag. It had a lot of rubber on it, but other than that, it looked completely normal. The rubber actually made it look more stylish than a lot of messenger bags I had ever seen. Manlier, too. At least, that was what I was telling myself. Edward chuckled.
"The side pocket for your clothes is covered when it's the nylon bag and there are two larger zippered pockets that make up the rest of it. If you always have an extra pair of clothes in there, it will just look like padding for a laptop, or something. I've given you all two different pockets. The first has a smaller pocket inside for loose things. The second one is just a basic one. I know most of you are still in school, so you can use it as a backpack, if you want." Seth was back and she handed his bag back to him. He put the adjustable strap over his head, it rested on his shoulder while the bag rested on the opposite hip. He was grinning at our blank, gawking faces. Alice was still oblivious. "You want to change it back for them?" He took the bag off, unsnapped the flap in the back from under the side rubber "accent," wrapped it around to the front, slid it under those rubber flaps, shoving the shoulder strap underneath it before snapping it closed. He put it on his leg, proving that it would stay there when he wasn't phased. He was a ham, just as into this as Alice was. He pulled it back off and did the process in reverse, putting it back on over one shoulder. "Oh, and I had Nessie wash them a dozen times after I made them, trying to get the smell off. If it still smells, you can wash them."
Everyone was still speechless as Seth began passing them out. He was the only one who knew which bag belonged to which guy. Alice had color-coordinated each bag with each wolf's fur. Nessie came over and handed me a maroon-colored one. "Sorry, Jake," Alice said, "that was the closest I could get." I just nodded, it matched the trunks she had had me wear. "Yours is deeper because it has an extra side zipper." She looked around and found Leah. "Leah, yours is smaller and squared, but it's deeper, too."
I started opening zippers. The extra hidden one on the side held two passports, a driver's license, and more cash than I had ever seen in my entire life. There was also a large envelope. I looked at Bella and Edward. We smiled sadly at each other. We didn't speak. I continued to open zippers. When I got to the last big one, there was something in there, already. It was a tiny replica of my bag, down to the flap and the elastic bands. I took it up and held it up for Nessie to see. "What's this?" She looked down, shyly. "Is this for you?" She nodded, still looking at the ground. "It's perfect. Now we can match." She finally looked up at me, grinning. "Put it on, I want to see." She did. I thought of the flap. "You can change yours to run, too?" She nodded and showed me. Instead of putting the bands on her leg, she slipped her torso between them and the bag, they fell across her chest. It looked like a rubber backpack. "Cool." She took it off and switched it back, putting it on that way. "Did Emily, Rachel, Kim and Claire get bags?" She nodded. "Can theirs do what yours can?" She grinned slyly and shook her head. I grinned back.
The other wolves were still silent as they opened the pockets, reversed the flap, and sniffed the nylon. I wondered if they felt the way I had those few days of hell before Nessie was born. When the Cullens' overwhelming hospitality made me feel uncomfortable in my inability to feel the hatred I knew I was supposed to feel. It was hard not to like them, especially when their giving nature was so genuine. Alice hadn't made these bags to show off or because she pitied the poor Native kids. And she could have just made one for her niece and the guy her niece was always hanging around. But, instead, she chose to make one for every wolf, even those who didn't like her and her family. And if they had a girl like Nessie in their life, she was getting one, too. You couldn't help but like her for it. It wasn't a wolf who spoke first. It was Emily, who was modeling her all-black bag for Sam the same way Nessie was modeling hers in front of me. "Alice," she breathed, slowly and in awe.
(Some Quileute characters were, again, approximations)
*: Bad weather today.
**: Good weather today.
Author's Note: Sorry about the lame Quileute quotes. I'm working with only a few phrases and I'm running out of easy ways to test Renesmee about her Quileute fluency. Also, I had a very hard time describing the "Wolf Pack" in detail whilst maintaining some semblance of honest speech from Alice. So, my wonderful husband was good enough to draw it for me. A link will be posted on my profile as soon as I can scan and put it on Flickr.
