Disclaimer *I do not own any of the products or characters in here*

Chapter 2

Two Turtle Doves

Don't get me wrong, I love Nessie to no ends, but her power can scare the hell out of me. I can be just sitting and chilling; thinking about nothing, sorta like now. Random stuff like food, bikinis, or goldfish pops into my head. Goldfish make me think of the little snack crackers. So, my stomach starts to growl and the saliva in my mouth grows thicker. I'm really digging this idea of food and I'm considering getting up to raid the fridge when suddenly, the quadratic equation explodes in my brain like an eight foot neon billboard sign. I scream, because that is definitely not something I normally associate with food. I wonder what's wrong with me, because I can't open my eyes and get rid of the damn thing.

My eyes zoom in and out of focus, like I'm at the optometrist's office and they're playing with the mask thing, trying to find a prescription for me, and saying 'better, or worse,' every five seconds. I blink a few times, as if the nurse put the numbing liquid in my eyes. I wonder how the hell this doctor could've gotten a practice license because I'm in serious pain right now. I finally just close my eyes because it's not like I can see anyway.

And then I feel arms wrap around my neck and a small weight plop into my lap. The hands brush my face and the weight bounces slightly in my lap.

I'm trying to remember if my optometrist has a hot receptionist and I start to conjure an image of a blonde, Charlene or something, with a really nice derrière. Not that I was looking. Another face brushes next to mine. Curley hair grazes my cheek and cold hands leave my shoulders and run down my chest, trailing off around my muscular eight-pack.

At this point, I remember the other receptionist, a skinny guy with small hands who wore sparkly pink lip gloss. This guy looked and talked like he worked a shift at the strip bar down the street from the optometry office. I can imagine his name being "Candy" or another sexually charged innuendo… Not that I have a problem with gay strippers, but I start to realize there is no lustrous bust pressing against my ripped chest and, no ass to speak of. The person in my lap seems more likely to be Candy instead of Charlene. I open my mouth to scream because either Candy, the gay stripper, is sitting in my lap feeling my eight pack or my eye doctor is giving me a physical. Either way, I'm screwed.

Then I realize I don't remember how I got to this appointment or why, because among others on the Things that Make Jacob Black Perfect list, having 20/10 vision is one of them. The only time I visit the optometrist is with Nessie.

Where's Nessie?

Protector mode kicks in as my muscles start to twitch as I strain my senses.

That's when Nessa's voice drifts into my head. You're starting to drool. Like liquid, her words drip in through my ears and spiral around the little gorges in my brain. I can feel her tepid, child sized, fingers weaving into my hand and her curly bronze hair brushing against my cheek. My vision starts to clear and I blink once more. Then I'm back. Jacob is in the building.

I realize I'm not at my eye doctor's office, but I'm slouched on a leather couch in the main Cullen house. At least, that's what I call it, because this is where all the action takes place. All the various love lofts around here are hardly ever used for public events.

I don't have to look far to find Nessie. She's with me, which is an understatement because she's actually on top of me, in my lap. Huge brown eyes stare up at me. I blink. She blinks. I push a hunk of her curly copper-red hair behind her ear and try to count all the ways I love her. She bounces excitedly a few times on my lap before she gives me a 'so…' look. Jeez, it's just like the one Bella gives.

"Yeah," I sputter, just to please her. I obviously said the right thing, because she makes a happy chirping sound and jumps off my lap. I hope I didn't just give her permission to burn the house down or something of the sort as I follow her dancing figure to the table.

Suddenly, I have a feeling I know what's coming. My wolf senses are tingling. They're telling me to run while I still can.

There's an open math book on the table. With trembling limbs, I sit in the chair next to her. I was never good at math. In fact, I pretty much suck at all things school related. My stomach starts to churn like someone is making special stomach bile ice cream in there. Yum. Ice cream.

Bella used to 'tutor' me, when we were human and Edward was gone. Wow. That seems like so long ago when in retrospect it was only a few years. Anyway, she would get frustrated with my inattention and general denseness after about ten minutes. Hence, she would just do my math homework for me as I fixed up the motorcycles. I still don't know how my math teacher never noticed my dark, monsterish printing change into Bella's thin girly handwriting half way through the homework.

The point is, I hate it when Renesmee does this to me. Edward is her official math tutor, when she needs it. Despite this fact, she likes to try to get me to teach her. I would, gladly. I would love to teach her everything I know however she already knows more than I do in the art of school. I think she probably knew more than I did when she was about six months old. I would jump off a bridge or stop the sun coming up for her but, this is the one thing I can't do.

I try anyway.

So the quadratic equation is sitting in front of me. Funny how I know its name, yet I have no idea what it means. Maybe that was a good sign. After all, many good things in this life only have a name. Like religion, or the future, or school lunches maybe …

Alright. So it won.

That round.

It looks exactly the same way it did when I was a freshman trying to learn this stuff. In fact, if I look at it right, it looks like its breathing, and like it could jump off the page and eat us. Of course, that would never happen, because if the quadratic equation ever decided it was hungry enough to eat a half vampire and a werewolf, it would have to deal with me first. Which means I would send it to hell and back and see if it still had an appetite.

"Well, Nessa," I manage to say, although my throat feels as if it will swell shut. "When you have some numbers…" I'm sweating big time. A teaspoon sized sweat drop just rolled down my neck. I watch as she starts to fill the paper with numbers and letters and symbols. The scary thing is I think it's all coming from her memory. I know under half of what she's writing.

Just then, I hear a soft chuckling from the hallway. I know right away its Edward because any other non-anal retentive girly-boy member of his family would come and save me from wrecking her education. I think all of this really loud and clear. The laughing continues. Bastard. I think that one pretty loud too, but, I try to make it seem random, like swear words pop up in my mind, unprovoked, when he's around, which, they kinda do…

"Hi daddy!" Renesmee finally noticed him. The paper is covered in mathematical stuff. Her writing is like a half a freaking centimeter tall and it's covered every white space on the damn paper so it looks gray from a foot away!

That's my freaking little girl!

Edward slides in, as if he had been casually strolling through. "Hello my darling," He says all innocently, as if he hasn't been picking my brain for the past five minutes. "Is Jacob helping you with homework?" I could've thought anything; anything to convey how I felt for Edward at that moment, but for some odd reason, bubble gum popped into my mind. Great.

Pop.

"Yeah, but I think we're both a little stuck." Renesmee can sweet talk anyone. I watched it happen as Edward grabbed a chair and sat on her other side. "We're working on the quadratic equation."

"I see why you're having trouble. It can be difficult at first." Whatever Edward. As he flipped to a new page and began to explain, I stood and went to fridge. I heard some steak leftovers calling my name. After I was done chowing, I took the milk gallon hostage and stood watching them from a distance.

It was funny as hell to watch Edward tutor Renesmee. I compared it to watching a silent film, because Edward mostly wrote after the initial spiel. Renesmee would watch, occasionally touching his hand to ask a question or mentally solve a problem with her mind power. Not wanting to be the only one without mental powers, I inserted black screens with cheesy, white words every five seconds or so with my mind.

I felt kinda bad for what I thought about Edward while I watched. These days, our relationship was friendly, to say the least, because we 'shared' Nessie. We moved from hating each other to an almost friend-like bond.

However, even with Renesmee as our glue, we still didn't stay up into the wee hours of the morning playing truth or dare and have pillow fights like preteens at a sleepover. That would never happen. Edward looked up for a fraction of a second and met my eyes with a warm smile. I guess he agrees on that one.

Times like right now I'm insanely jealous. When we're no longer equals, I can't stand it. Now, he as he's sitting with my Nessie, helping her with things I never could. When Nessie loves him more than she loves me, he seems much older, wiser, and composed. Then I wonder where the hell that thought came from because I know Nessie loves both of us equally.

And if she doesn't love us equally, she loves me more.

Jeez, I think being stuck in this house of leeches is starting to mess with my head. Maybe I should go outside and wait until Edward's done hogging Nessie.

I glance out the window and watch as snow drifts to the ground. There's about three feet of snow out there and it's still coming down. It's like there's a film crew out there making sure their Hollywood snow mix of shredded toilet paper and clear jello keeps coming down so they can get the perfect shot before I start to turn green and let out the Hulk that lives within me…. I press my face to the kitchen window. This, by the way, is like zero degrees and practically burns when it makes contact with my comfy 108.2 degree skin. Just making sure Stephen Spielberg isn't standing outside with a camera crew.

I'm good. Outside is just snow. Oh, and a rabbit, hopping across the clearing a thousand feet away.

"I think I've got it now daddy." Renesmee's voice broke the silence. I pulled my face away from the window. There's a large nose print on the glass, right at eye level of one of the leaches. I think I'll leave it for Edward to clean up.

I smile as I put the empty milk gallon on the counter, also for Edward to clean up, and wander over to watch. I leaned on the back of Nessa's chair, trying not to drool from dumb-foundment as Renesmee did some math-a-magic with numbers I didn't know existed. "Thank you daddy!" She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"You're welcome Nessa," Edward said. He brushed the bangs out of her face and for a second, I saw something I had never seen before. Pure fatherly love and admiration shone with a glossy film in his eyes.

Edwards's eyes flicked up to mine and I got it. It was sorta weird I never thought of this before. Edward truly loved her. Probably, well, definitely, not in the same way I loved her, but there was a chance our love for her was equal. Just like when we had it over Bella, or over what-ever-the-hell we fight about nowadays.

"I'm gonna go hang out with Jake, okay?" Like there was really an option Renesmee?

"Alright, stay inside, it's cold out there." Edward stood up and walked up the stairs.

So that left us alone. Well, not completely, because almost no matter where we go in this house Edward can still pick my brain if he really wants to. However, I try to imagine him doing something else with his spare time instead of sitting all alone in his room and racking my brain down to the last silent syllable I think.

Renesmee tips her head back in the chair, so she was looking at me upside down. Her bangs flop away from her face as she smiles an upside down smile at me. From my perspective, she was frowning, but I would never let my Nessie frown like that. She flips her head back and turns in her chair, stretching her arms up to me. I sweep her up into my arms.

Here's another thing I love about Renesmee. Her temperature. She's not really hot, like a human, or cold like a vampire. She's like a cold human or a really warm vampire when I hold her. Just perfect for me.

Renesmee's skinny arms feel perfect around my neck, like they were custom made to fit there. This really turns me on. Not in a kinky perverted way, but in a way that reminds me of what I want to do with the rest of my life.

"Oh! I remembered!" Nessie pulls away from me and wiggles out of my arms. "I found something that I wanted to show you!" She takes my hand and leads me down to the newly remodeled Cullen basement.

This place is the ultimate entertainment center. I have a feeling the blood suckers built it to entertain Nessie and Bella, because they're the only half people I see down here. At least the rest of them could pretend like they actually use the pool table; pimped out theater system; a small swimming pool; hot tub and sauna; foosball table; pinball; just about any gaming system known to man with a walk in closet filled with games; an art and photography studio; small stage with sound recording and video equipment; art and craft haven with several sewing machines and close to a whole freakin' craft store, and several floor to ceiling book cases, filled with all sorts of books and papers.

Come to think of it, I did see Pipsqueak and Mood Ring down in the hot tub a while ago, but I'm pretty sure they weren't here for the massaging affects of the water…

"Jake, don't walk into the pool!" Renesmee squeaks suddenly. I'm pulled out of my thoughts and find my toes two inches from the pool. I could've taken a dip, but I do have my ipod in my pocket…. I think Bella is tired of buying them for me. I've gone through seven since September. The buttons are so freaking small!

Renesmee's curled on the end chair of one of the leather couches. She pats the empty seat next to her as grabs a laptop, one of the eleven lying around the three thousand square foot basement.

She flips the lid up and it flashes to life, kinda like the little light in the refrigerator. I sit down next to her as she opens the 'my computer' screen. A page flashes open that I only visit when I'm utterly lost when I'm looking for solitaire. She's clicking everywhere and my head starts to hurt because I'm trying to follow the little pointer as she opens folder after folder. Finally, I have to look away because what she's doing makes no sense.

"They're not on this one." Her angel eyes looked up at me. Sadness dripped off of them. Her eyes make me feel sad, until they get a glint of mischief. "I can get them though…"

Slender fingers held down several buttons at once. The screen turns black, as if in protest to her button combination. She releases her fingers and presses several more keys until the screen pops back, toting an additional window. Clicking on the keyboard filled my ears for several seconds before she finally grins. "Got them!"

"Got what? From where?" I asked, surprised.

"The pictures I wanted to show you." I look at her skeptically. "I borrowed them from mom's computer."

I sigh and pretend I don't know where she obtained her professional hacker skills. She learned them from Pipsqueak, who was the most computer savvy hacker in the Cullen family. Once, late at night, I stumbled upon the two of them happily hacking into the pentagon defense system.

I feel Nessa's warm hand press against my cheek. Look she thought and I see through her eyes. I obeyed her. How could I not obey her every command?

Glowing on the screen were pictures from Bella's old camera, the one she got for Christmas her senior year. Shots of Edward, me, her, all of us looked eons younger; innocent and almost pure. Like the world was simpler back then. Like Edward and I weren't trying to kill each other every other second. Like my teenaged hormones weren't urging me to jump Bella every time I saw her… And I thought my life was complicated then.

You and Mom? Renesmee's voice says as I look at a picture of me and Bella. She's sitting in my lap with a smile wider than the Grand Canyon on her face. I'm planting a sloppy, wet kiss on her cheek while sticking my hand into the lens of the camera. It's a real candid shot and I vaguely remember Quil taking it when I was still trying to talk her into coming back from the dark side. Renesmee hits a button on the keyboard and the picture changes.

The next one is a shot of Edward, Bella, and me. We're in a tent of some sort and I'm obviously sleeping, because my tongue is lolling out and my limbs are twisted at weird angles… around Bella. Edward is lurking in the background; his face is scrunched up in disgust as I'm clinging to Bella in my sleep. I start to regret that Nessa found these, both because she now has blackmail material and because the shots of Edward are becoming less frequent. I'm starting to appear more and more. Renesmee knows the story of what happened between us, but it's starting to look like we had some sort of sick love triangle going on between Edward, Bella and I, which is totally not the case.

Finally, she reaches something I can't be blackmailed with. Edward, Bella and I are lying in the rusty, red bed of her truck. Bella's in the middle, I'm on the left and Edward's on the right. Its fall, so she's dressed in jeans, tan Uggs, a green sweater and a striped rainbow scarf. I'm in a white-turned-gray from use t-shirt and ripped up jeans and Edward's in some coal gray designer sweater and kakis. We're all laughing our heads off, our eyes are squinty and our mouths are open. I'm taking the shot because of my freakishly long arms, one of which is around Bella's waist. Naturally, Bella seems to gravitate toward Edward. Her body is angled slightly toward him, so their hips are touching, although her hand is loosely wrapped in mine. We all look silly, but, somehow, normal and teenaged. If you can count one pasty white 107 year old vampire and one cinnamon brown werewolf as 'normal' teenagers.

Did I ruin it? Her tiny hand rests on my cheek as her words pop in my head. I bent forward and look down into her eyes. Nessie's giant coco brown eyes stared at the picture with a type of longing. Tears brim in her eyes as her lip quiver.

Automatically, I wrap my arms around her shoulders and pull her small body to my chest. The laptop falls to the ground with a clatter as she scrambles to climb into my lap. "Nessa, you being born changed how we were before. We all had to grow up some. But all of us changed for the better. I would die without you here." I take her chin gently in my hand and tip her face up as a tear starts to roll down her cheek. I wipe it away. No tears would fall on my watch. My lips were so close to hers. I want to progress and kiss her tender lips, but that's not what she needs me for at this stage in her life. My hormonal wolf instincts will have to wait.

Renesmee's giant hot chocolate eyes look into my face as I pry my lips away from the air above hers and kiss her forehead instead. Her lips form a weak smile and she rests her head on my chest as I hold her close.

Our hearts beat in unison. My strong, deep heartbeat was the thumping beat to her soft and shallow one. Together, they form a symphony of a blooming love. Or so I'd like to think.

Renesmee almost falls asleep like that, listening to my heart beating. She's always been fascinated with my heart, even since she was a baby; probably since neither Bella nor Edward have a working ticker anymore. With closed eyes, she cuddles into my arms, breathing steady and even.

"It beats for you." I breathe as she slips away into dreams. "Everything beats for you."

R&R