A/N: Thanks to EVERYONE for those awesome reviews! I really appreciate them!! Just wanted to let everyone know that this story will probably be 8-10 chapters, give or take… I'm not totally sure yet. So it might seem a little bit fast-paced for some of you… Enjoy!
Chapter One
Three years later…
"Hey Nessie, could you grab that wrench for me?" Jacob's voice was muffled as he called out from beneath the body of the large, beat-up Cadillac.
Nessie dug through the cluttered toolbox uncertainly. "This one?" She asked, handing him the first one she saw. The gesture was met with a stifled snort of amusement.
Shaking his head, Jacob pulled himself from beneath the vehicle, a slight smile on his lips. "I think this one's just a little too small, Ness." He handed it back to her. "I thought you'd start picking up on some of this stuff eventually…"
"Well excuse me for my lack of enthusiasm, but we can't all be obsessed with fixing up crappy cars, Jake." Nessie crossed her arms angrily, but the look in her eyes told him that she was joking.
"Don't worry," Jake grinned as he leapt to his feet, stretching widely. "Once I'm through with you, you'll be better at this stuff than me."
The girl gagged loudly at the thought. She extended one long pale arm towards Jacob, who helped her to her feet.
Jacob gazed at Nessie thoughtfully for a moment, his black eyebrows pulling together. It was so strange to see her standing there before him, barely a foot shorter than he was. Could it really have been less than four years since he first held her in his arms? So much had changed since then…
He could still remember that first night they had spent sleeping beneath the trees just outside of Sequoia National Park. While Nessie lay asleep beside him, he had opened her backpack to find Bella's instructions tucked in with the forged travel documents and letters to her family. The tenderness of her words had touched him deeply, yet they made the pain of her loss all too real. He couldn't even count the number of times he'd been forced to say goodbye to his best friend in the past. But this time there was no doubt in his mind – he'd seen Bella for the last time.
After mailing the letters to Charlie and Renee from a post office in Fresno, he and Nessie had headed straight for the airport. They were in the air within hours, headed toward Rio. The whole time Jacob couldn't help but wonder why of all the places in the world, Bella had to send him to Brazil? Couldn't she have sent them to a place where they spoke English? That and Quileute were the only two languages he could speak, and he doubted either would be of much use to him in Rio. Leave it to Bella to make this even harder for me. He had thought miserably.
Luckily for him, Jacob and Vanessa Wolfe had a fairly easy time adjusting to life in their new home. They were able to find a small house in the Tijuca district in the north of the city. They were nestled right near the edge of the rainforest, which made hunting fairly easy, and were close enough to the tourist areas that it was unlikely anyone would get suspicious; No one ever stuck around long enough for that.
Bella had left them with so much money that Jacob didn't have to worry about finding a job and leaving Nessie at home alone. No one living in the area was very surprised that he ventured into public so rarely – after all, Mr. Wolfe's stepdaughter was very ill and needed constant attention.
After a couple years of putting up with the charade, Nessie finally looked old enough to pose as a young woman hired to help care for Mr. Wolfe's ailing daughter. Her aging had slowed enough that she was able to attend some classes at a nearby university during the day while Jacob started a small business fixing up old cars for locals. He didn't make much for his efforts, but money was the least of his concerns. At least it was something to do.
"Jake?" Nessie's concerned whisper brought him back to the present. "Jacob, are you alright?"
"Yeah." He smiled softly to himself. "I was just thinking about how much everything has changed since..." He paused. The sentence hung in the air, unfinished. Nessie had a hard time discussing anything that would remind her of the day she lost her family.
She took a deep breath and nodded slowly in reply. "I know what you mean… I've been thinking a lot about that too…" Her chocolate brown eyes met his and held him there, rooted to the spot. Neither spoke for several moments.
The way she stared at him was so strange. Her eyes sparkled with some emotion he'd never seen in them before. Not until now. Jacob never thought he would meet anyone more beautiful than Bella, not in his wildest dreams. But Nessie was too stunning, too perfect for anyone to ever dream of. The way she looked at him in that moment was proof.
Very slowly she lifted her right hand to press it gently against Jacob's warm cheek. He closed his eyes at her touch, letting the images she sent him flood his mind. He was used to the types of things she liked to show him by now – some exotic animal she had discovered, a tourist's ridiculous outfit, the face of a new classmate – all very trivial and amusing. It was not often that Jacob was given the chance to see himself through Nessie's eyes. He couldn't even remember the last time she had shown these sorts of images to him, but he was certain it had been nothing like this.
The smooth contours of his arms and chest as he worked so skillfully in his garage... The little crinkles in the corners of his eyes whenever he smiled… The distinctly canine way he always shook wet hair out of his face… The worry in his eyes every time she was hurt or angry or afraid... Every insignificant detail - each look, each smile, each movement – was suddenly so different when he saw them through her eyes. It was so much more than mere admiration… It was almost a longing.
He opened his eyes slowly to find that her dark, piercing gaze had never left his face. She watched him expectantly, as if she were waiting for him to say something.
But he merely continued to stare back at her, his eyes full of uncertainty, as the seconds ticked by.
A/N: Yes, that was a terrible place for me to end this chapter, and I know it… but it would have ended up being TOO long if I kept going and too short if I cut it off sooner. Plus, it's kind of cliffhanger-ish, dontcha think? Please R&R!
