A/N: Thanks to everyone who read my story so far. Special thanks and a cyber high five to degrassilovelive101 for adding my story to her favorite stories list, and nataliemarrs, Soccerdevil2222 and Trinideanfan for adding my story to their alerts. You guys made my day. Two high fives to Trinideanfan for also reviewing my story. I REALLY appreciate the review. Enjoy this chapter and please, please, please if you can, review it! Remember, reviews give me a sugar rush!

One week later Bella was reluctantly on the phone finalizing the details of Renesmee's extended stay with Charlie. In truth she had delayed sorting out the final details until the last possible minute, hoping against hope that Renesmee would come to her senses and change her mind. "I begged her to keep it short this time, two weeks, but she's so damned insistent!"

"No! Your daughter? Unbelievable!" Charlie said with a chuckle. Bella decided to ignore him.

"I can only hope she gets bored quickly. She doesn't remember Forks at all, but we don't know if that will change when she gets back there. The spell has worked so well because she has been so far away for so long…."

"I always said that was a bad idea Bells. Messing with people's memories? It isn't just crazy, it's wrong, morally. What in the hell am I supposed to do or say if she starts remembering? It was just such a damned bad idea. "

"Dad! You know how bad it was for her when she realized we were leaving you and Jake behind! It would have been worse because he was pulling away from her himself. Do you remember how she cried when he stopped coming to visit her? He didn't want any part of Renesmee, no matter how she felt about him. She was just a baby, Daddy! And she loved him like a big brother, but he didn't give a damn. What was wrong with choosing to do the needful to protect my child?" Bella said angrily.

How could she ever forget the angry words she had exchanged with Jacob three weeks before they had left? It had burned her to know how he still felt about vampires. However, when he had revealed how he felt about Renesmee, her precious daughter, Bella had known then without a doubt that leaving Forks had been the best thing she could do for her child and her family. It was also one of the most difficult things she had ever had to do in her entire life.

"Bells…" Bella heard the hesitation in her father's voice and braced herself.

"What is it, Dad? Spit it out." She growled. "All the shit is already hitting the fan, so feel free to throw some more up there."

Charlie sighed. "Bells, you must know that Jake didn't leave Forks. He's still here. He owns the only garage in Forks, and he's doing really well for himself. After you left, I didn't … I couldn't just cut him out of my life. His father and I are best friends, the kid's like a son to me… You understand what I'm saying?"

"You're saying that Renesmee could run into Jake? You believe that she probably will run into him when she gets there?" Bella sighed. "You don't even know how hard this is for me, Dad. I just want to …"

"Wrap her up in a ball of cotton and luck her away from the world? Make sure she doesn't get near to any of those boys that only want to do dirty things to your innocent, little baby girl?" Charlie let out a hearty laugh that made Bella want to reach through the phone and strangle him. "I think I have a slight idea of how you feel, Bells. "

"Mature Dad, that's really mature. The one big difference here is that my daughter is actually five. I can't believe you're getting a kick out of this Dad!"

"I'm sorry honey, I know how hard this is for you, but you gotta know that I'd die before I let anything happen to my l'il bit."

Bella sighed. She was wrong to take her frustrations out on her dad when he was doing his best to make this as easy as on her as it could possibly be considering the circumstances. She knew he was one of the few people she would ever trust her daughter to if she couldn't be there herself.

"No Dad, I'm the one who's being a bitch here. It's just . . . I've never been apart from her. Ever. But I can do this. I know I can do this, but only because she's going to be with you." There was silence for a minute before Charlie spoke.

"Awwww Bells. Don't make your old man cry over the phone now. This will all work out. You'll see. I'll tell you something else too, I can't wait to see that girl. If she's not here in two days, I'm gonna come over there and get her myself, vampires be damned."

Bella hung up the phone and turned to look at Edward who had been sitting there the entire time listening to the conversation. With a sigh she joined him on their bed and let him pull her close and kiss her gently. "You know you're doing the right thing." He whispered softly.

"I know. But … it doesn't make it any easier." She whispered back as she grasped his hand and brought it to her lips for a kiss. They were silent for a long time, just enjoying each other's presence before Edward spoke again.

"This is hard for me too." He sighed. "I wouldn't take away her independence for a second. I love her strength, her fearlessness, but it scares me to death! I didn't want her to go either, Bella. Part of me, a huge part of me, was hoping you could force her to change her mind, even though I knew just how impossible that was. Knowing my daughter as well as I know my wife, it was an impossibility I still held out a little hope for."

"Edward?" Bella shook her head in confusion. "I don't understand…"

"She had to spread her wings and fly, Bella. Do you remember how much pain I caused us when I tried to do what I knew in my heart was wrong? When I tried to end our relationship? Renesmee has to be in Forks. Alice is certain of that. I learned long ago that fighting fate was a painful, fruitless sport. I won't ever do it again."

TWO DAYS LATER….

Nessie squealed as her grandfather grabbed her and spun her around in the middle of the airport. "Stop it Grandpa!" He grinned at her and planted a kiss on her forehead, then her cheek, then her forehead again. "Grandpa! You're crazy! I missed you so much!"

Charlie shook his head as he finally put her down and took a good look at her. "Grandpa. I'll never get used to that one. You're as beautiful as ever l'il bit! Everyone's gonna think you're my long-lost daughter. You know which one right? The one who was the result of a sexy, forbidden rendezvous! I'm a little bit shocked that I had it in me! "

Nessie laughed. Her grandfather Charlie had been the one to give her the nickname that her entire vampire clan hated, but she loved. He had never lost his temper with her, regardless of the numerous tricks she played on him. She missed him so much when he wasn't visiting. "Then I guess you're Daddy Charlie unless we're alone."

"I have to admit I didn't think you'd be able to convince Bella and Edward to let you out of their sight." Charlie said as he grabbed her bag and pulled her close as they headed toward his car. "Bells still wasn't happy when she called me this morning. She'll want you checking in every minute by the way. Seriously. Phone-calls, texts, emails, all that other computer stuff. The whole nine yards." Charlie shook his head and laughed. "As much as those two, you father and your mother, put me through before you were born … this is funny as hell."

"Oh Grandpa!" Nessie tried to look angry but spoiled the effect when she burst out laughing again. "Don't be mean. Mom and Daddy are just … ugh …. Mom and Daddy I guess. I'm just happy that they finally came around and let me go. Of course, there were a few tense moments at the airport." She shook her head slightly then brightened up again. "But Aunt Alice assured them that she couldn't see anything dark and dangerous in my future. That really made dad feel better. As long as my dad is kinda okay with this, I know he'll get mom to come around and see reason."

"Hmm." Charlie grumbled as he closed the car door behind her and hopped into the driver's seat. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that woo-woo psychic stuff. But as long as it got you here with me, I'll tolerate it."

In forty-five minutes Nessie was standing in Bella's old room, her room now, looking out at a forest behind their property, hungrily. She was itching for a run. Her entire body begged her to forget everything and lose herself in the wildness of Forks.

"Nessie did you hear anything I said?" Charlie interrupted her desperate yearnings from the doorway.

"What? Oh sorry, Grandpa. I was just … it's so beautiful. I feel like I've been here before, like I've hunted and run in those forests before. I miss it. I want to do it again." She ended with a grin as she leaned out of the window and inhaled deeply taking in all of the various sounds and smells of night.

Charlie couldn't help but laugh. "L'il bit, of course you've…" he stopped suddenly and cleared his throat. "Everyone feels that way when they first get here. Don't you go running off alone yet. Not until I'm sure you know the place. I don't care what you are, young lady. It's safety first around here."

...

Jacob Black knew something was up. He had known it for weeks, but things had suddenly gotten crazy busy at the garage. Almost overnight he wasn't at home as much as he used to. He left before his father, Billy, woke in the morning and returned hours after he was already asleep. But for the last three weeks he had been unable to shake a strong feeling of foreboding that rode him hard. Something was coming. When he woke up this morning it was with a sense of urgency that there was something he had to accomplish. Something that was monumental. He had lain in bed for twenty minutes reviewing every car he had worked on in the last month, every contract he had signed … nothing stuck out. His father usually handled the paperwork side of the business anyway.

With a growl he had jumped out of bed and taken a long, warm shower. He probably just needed to run. It had been two weeks since he had been able to get away long enough to phase and really get the wind behind him. He had begun to delegate the patrols to the younger wolves and allow Sam, to really run things. Maybe that was it. Maybe his wolf was feeling neglected. Jake had reassured himself with that theory this morning. However, as he sat across from his father sharing dinner, that foreboding and sense of urgency had returned with a violent vengeance. Billy had been avoiding his eyes for the last fifteen minutes. With a growl he threw down his fork.

"Okay Dad. What's happening? Whatever it is … it's eating you up inside, so just spit it out. I haven't bitten you since I was three years old … and that was before I became a werewolf."

Billy sighed and put down the fork he had been using to push his food aimlessly around the plate.

"I talked to Charlie last week. I know I should have said something sooner, gave you some kind of heads up but…" he shrugged and his voice trailed off.

The minute his father mentioned Charlie, Jake's heartbeat sped up. He swallowed and narrowed his eyes as he looked at his father, seeing the nervousness in the way he played with the cream tablecloth beneath his fingers almost absently. He sniffed slightly and could smell the regret and the worry wafting off his father.

"What is it Dad? Is this … is this about the Cullens? Bella? Nessie?"

His voice was a harsh whisper when he said the name he had not allowed to pass his lips in more than five years.

"Charlie told me a little over a week ago that Bella had been really upset because Nessie had been agitating to come visit him here in Forks. You know, instead of Charlie heading over there to Italy like he does every summer." Billy took a deep breath before he rushed out the rest of his words.

"She's back, son. Charlie just called me to tell me, I suppose so I could warn you, she's not just agitating to come visit anymore. She's here. Nessie arrived earlier today. She'll be staying for a while with Charlie. The story is gonna be that she's his long-lost daughter."

Jake didn't even register the crash of his chair as it hit the ground when he exploded out of it and shot to his feet. He was too busy taking deep breaths, trying to calm the violent tremors wracking his body as it fought to shift into his wolf form and flee.

"Jake. Relax son. Relax." He heard his father calling to him. He knew Billy was wise enough to move away from him even as he tried to calm him down. His father knew the deal with angry werewolves.

Son of a bitch! Nessie was here? In Forks? Now? How in the name of everything that was holy could Bella allow that to happen?

"So the vampires are back then?" he growled as he clenched his fists and closed his eyes.

"Not the Cullens, son. Just one Cullen. Nessie."