Chapter 2: Home Not So Sweet Home

Jacobs POV:

The flight attendant was walking down the row, handing out blankets and pillows. Since we were in the last row, it took awhile for her to get to us. When she did, however, she only had one blanket left. That was fine. Nessie was still cradled to my chest, drooling slightly on my dark blue shirt. Drawing the blanket over us both - covering her so her head was the only thing above the thin gray blanket - she stirred in her sleep. Reaching her hand up to my face, she showed me pictures of her mother, father, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and Seth. This hurt, seeing how she was so scared. I loved how she trusted me enough to sleep, though, no matter how scared she was.

Fuck! How am I going to protect her! I had not let myself think of this outcome. I had assumed that the Cullens and all the extra leeches would have a plan that worked. After Alice and Jasper brought the halfling on the field, I had allowed myself to think of "happily ever after". The Universe finally made sense! All I could think of now is that as long as my drooling girls heart was beating, I would have a reason to live.

What seemed like hours passed like this, with Nessie showing me her dreams. She wanted to wake up to her mom, who would be there to pick her up. She showed me the need to play piano with her father. She missed her family dearly. One dream had me laughing, though. Seth was walking with her on the beach and then, they were, suddenly in the water! Surfing! I hoped that these dreams would comfort her for the years ahead of us.

That is, if we truly had years ahead of us.

The captain came over the intercom a few times, explaining that they were fighting a headwind so the flight was going to be around 7 hours instead of the regular 6 1/2 hours we were expecting. My heart sank. If the leeches did know that we got on this plane, they may have enough time to meet us at the airport and ambush us.

Nessie must have felt my change in stress levels. She slowly move from her spot on my chest to resting her head on my shoulder. I could feel her breath against my neck. She wrapped her little hands around my neck, cuddling closer.

I forced myself to relax, for her sake - falling back into unconsciousness Nessie's head flopped against my neck. I could feel her lips against my neck, opening and closing, until she reached deep sleep and they remained open.

Nessie needed this sleep. My breathing remained consistent, allowing her to not feel how anxious I was - anticipating the plane touching down on the runway.

I found sleep. I woke up to the captain over the loudspeaker, requesting that everyone return to their seats and buckle up for landing. Nessie stretched in protest. Her eyebrows mashed together as she touched my face and asked "Why?"

This made me laugh. "For safety, Ness. The same reason you wear a seatbelt when you ride in a car."

I laughed again when she protested whispering "I have never worn a seatbelt."

I slid her to her own seat, keeping a hand upon her all the way - feeling that, if I were to let go, she would disappear. She flipped my hand - it looked massive compared to hers. She put the open facing palm up to her mouth and blowed a raspberry on it. This caused me to belly laugh.

The plane touched down. It was time to go now. I knew it would be an expectation for us to get on another flight - we needed to get as far away from Forks as possible. So instead, I ran us out of the airport I abided with security, and touched the least amount of objects or people possible - leaving little behind for the leeches if they entered the airport. Once outside, the air hit us hot and dry. We jumped into the first cab I saw, rudely cutting off some vacationers. I rattled off the address. As we drove, Nessie continually questioned where we were going. I kept the information to myself, though. I did not know if this was going to be safe.

I distracted Ness with the vibrant views outside the window. The awe in her eyes was adorable. She had her little hand on my cheek, and was comparing our new ocean view to the only other beach she knew. La Push looked bleak in comparison.

The driver parked in front of a beach house that looked empty. After paying him, he drove off. I carried Ness to the front door. Bright blue. What else did I expect? There was a key code on the door. I put in the four digit code. Seriously. Next time, I talk to her I will remind her to change this - whenever that was. Opening the door, the first thing I saw was a wedding photo. The wedding of Rebecca and Solomon Finau. Nessie pointed to a photo that had Rebecca, Rachel, and me.

"This is my sister's house" I told her. Walking over to the kitchen, I looked at the calendar. It said "visiting in-laws". Looked like she would be gone all week. We would not stay here that long.

Nessie jumped down and went to explore the house. I followed behind. She opened one room and cried out. Running to her side I peered into the room. It was a half built nursery. "You're going to be a Uncle!" Nessie cried out in excitement.

I laughed at her excitement, but was slightly in shock. I had not known that my sister wanted a child, let alone was planning or carrying one. She and Rachel had been my mother's replacement after she had passed away. I knew Rebecca would be a great mom. She was always slightly more strict than Rachel. A pain hit me in the chest as I realized running from vampires would not allow me to be apart of this new life.

After reading the kitchen, Nessie and I settled on boxed mac and cheese. All she wanted to do was go outside and explore. All we could, however, do was stay bunkered down in my sisters house. Using Rebecca's computer, I checked the flights that were coming here from Seattle. We had taken the last one out of the city. The next one departs at 7am. We would be gone before then.

I curled up on the couch later in the evening with my tired little girl. I was whittling down a piece of driftwood that I found in the fireplaces wood pile. When I was done, I had made a beautiful wolf the size of my palm. I carved a phrase in the back: "You will always have a protector", and placed it in the new babies room on a shelf. I then picked up a sleeping Ness and got into the cab I had called. It was time to return to the airport.