A/N: As always I'd like to give a word of thanks to my readers: Cyber High Fives to ScorpiusRose, degrassiloveli101, anubisfreak and Paranormalcy Love for adding my story to their alerts. Cyber Kiss to Trinideanfan for giving my story a plug in her author's note. Cyber Hugs and Kisses to my two reviewers kanoha-kelly (thanks for the corrections) and nataliemarrs (thanks for the story love). I can't tell you how much I appreciate the fact that you took the time to give me your feedback. Enjoy this chapter everyone and PLEASE review if you can, it'll give me a sugar high and make me do a happy dance!
Jacob P.O.V
Renesmee. Nessie. Renesmee Carlie Cullen. His imprint. She was back in Forks again. She was back in his life again. No, she wasn't yet, and he wasn't about to let her become a part of his life. Not again. There was no way in hell he was going to give up everything he had worked so damned hard for in the last five years. What would he be giving everything up for? A half-breed vampiress? Imprint. God alone knew what had happened to the tenuous bond that had been established from the minute he laid eyes on her bloody, scrawny little body minutes after she had been born. The imprint had hit him like a ton of bricks. So entangled had he become by the very thought of her that it had been near impossible to stay away from her. He had worried constantly about all the ways she could be injured when she was out of his sight. He hadn't been able to trust those bastard vampires as far as he could smell them, not with his Nessie. Wait. Back it up. His Nessie? Oh no. not again, not ever. Hadn't he made that perfectly clear to Bella five years ago? Right on this very spot looking out at the raging rolling sea, hadn't he made his decision and burned every bridge that could possibly lead him to Nessie?
Five years earlier….
Jacob had been lying on his back near the cliffs with his eyes closed willing himself not to jump to his feet, phase and race back to the Cullen residence as fast as his four paws could carry him. Race back to her, just to ensure that she was alright it had been three days since he had last seen her and he felt like a drunk about to fall off the wagon.
"Jake? What are you doing here? I've been looking for you everywhere! Are you okay? You haven't been by the house in days. Renesmee is having a fit."
He opened his eyes as Bella appeared over him. Bella. She wasn't Bella anymore. She was one of them. Mrs. Edward Cullen. She had embraced her life as a vampiress fully even after it had nearly put her in the grave. Hell, wasn't she dead by all rights? She had justbeen lucky enough to manage to escape being six feet under. As he stared at her sparkling skin and almost painfully perfect visage he wondered about the all encompassing love he had thought he felt for her. How he had been willing to fight Edward to the death for her. Now, well now she was the mother of the child he was willing to die for. His imprint. His future. What was it about Bella's bloodline that made men slaves with just one crooked smile and clumsy slip….
With a growl he lurched to his feet and turned his back on Bella. "What are you doing here, Bella? How did you even find me?"
Without a sound or seemingly any movement at all Bella was suddenly standing in front of Jake. "I asked Seth to track you down for me. He mentioned that you said you were gonna hang by the cliffs. What's wrong, Jake? Have you been avoiding me? Us?"
He looked her straight in the eye then and for a split second he despised her so thoroughly that he could easily have pushed her off the cliff, if he thought it would do her any harm. Did she even realize what her merry, little band of bloodsuckers had done to his friends? His tribe? His whole, entire life?
Laughing bitterly he nodded. "Yes, I'm avoiding you Bella. I'm avoiding you, Edward, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper and any other vamp that you guys happen to drag out of the woodwork to cause more problems for my people. Tell me, is my absence such a problem for you that you have to track me down all the way out here to drag me back to … to what? For what? Can you explain it to me? Cause I'm having extreme difficulty understanding it myself right now."
For a split second Bella stared at him as if he had sprouted another head. He knew if she was still human, her mouth would have flapped open and closed like a fish out of water.
"What? What is this all about Jake? Since when have we become some horrible enemy that you have to run away from? You've been at our home, at my daughter's side almost every day since she was born! What the hell is this now?"
"This is me ending an insane situation the best that I possibly can, Bella. I can't do this. I don't give a shit about this whole Imprint business. I won't tie myself to a monster for the rest of my life. I can't. I have a tribe to think about. I have a family that I won't put at risk. Not again, not anymore."
Bella jerked away from him as though he had smacked her in the face. She shook her head as though she couldn't quite process what he was saying. When her head jerked up again, her eyes were blazing red with fury and … hurt?
"You son of a bitch! My daughter is a monster? My baby? Is that who you have to protect yourself against? Is that who you have to guard your tribe and your family from? A little girl whose growth is so accelerated she might be dead in two years? Fuck you Jacob Black! My daughter has been crying for you and asking for you for the last three days because you made yourself indispensable to her. You did! Did Edward want this? Did I want this? No! But we didn't stand in your way because we respected you, because I loved you! This is how you repay me you son of a bitch? You've made your decision Jacob Black. I hope you can live with it. I hope you can live with yourself." She whispered as she turned away from him and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The shrill ring of his cell phone jerked Jacob out of his reverie. With a sigh he flipped it open and frowned when he realized it was the office. "Yeah. What's up? I said I would be in late today."
Renesmee P. O. V.
Nessie was lost in the woods. She had no idea where she was or where she needed to go in order to escape the oppressive darkness. She just knew that she had to find him.
"Jake! Jake! Where are you?" She yelled as she ran faster. Her night dress ripped as it snagged against the branches and shrubs as she flew by them. Faster and faster she ran knowing that if she didn't reach him she would lose him forever. She caught a glimpse of thick brown fur racing away from her and in the blink of an eye she changed direction and began to follow the animal. Without warning she tripped over a root and went down hard on the earth, twisting her ankle and slicing her palm against a sharp rock as she fell. She screamed and clutched the ankle, even as she willed herself to get back to her feet. "Jake!" she screamed. "Don't leave me! Jake, help me! Help me!"
"Help me! Help me!" Nessie tossed and turned on her bed, tangling herself in the covers as she fought to be free of the nightmare. With a scream she jerked up and blinked rapidly, staring around the unfamiliar room. Where in the name of all that was holy was she?
"Nessie? Baby are you okay?" the door of the strange bedroom burst open to reveal her Grandpa Charlie. It all came back to her then. "Forks. I'm in Forks." She whispered as Charlie sat beside her on the bed and gave her a hug.
"Nightmare?" he asked unnecessarily, clearly not expecting an answer as he rubbed her back soothingly.
"Yeah. I… I don't even remember it." She laughed nervously as the lie left a bitter taste on her tongue. She had never lied to her grandfather, but for some reason, she didn't want him to know about her nightmares. "I just knew I had to wake up. But I couldn't."
"It has to be the new surroundings. It happens to the best of us, L'il bit. Even though you may not want to admit it to yourself, you're a little bit nervous being away from all those mother hens you're used to having around clucking all over you. Subconsciously, you're a little afraid to be out on your own. Thus, your fear manifests itself in the form of night terrors."
Charlie blushed as Nessie stared at him in shock following his pronouncement. "What? It makes sense doesn't it?" After one last hug he got to his feet. "Are you okay? Do you want me to sit with you for a while?"
"No, no. I'm fine. I think I'll just sit up for a while. You go back to bed. You've got work tomorrow. Don't lose any more sleep over me."
After Charlie bid her goodnight, Nessie fell back on the bed and sighed. She'd been in Forks for three days and every single night she had been plagued by nightmares. Nightmares that always involved her running around the woods like a crazy person, screaming for someone called Jake. She never found him, but she always awoke sweating and trembling, feeling alone and abandoned. What was wrong with her? She had never had any problems sleeping. Who in the hell was Jake? Two days ago she had been on the verge of asking her mother if she knew anyone named Jake, but she hadn't been able to make herself say his name. Why not? She usually shared her every thought with her mother. There were no secrets between them. Or, there had never been any secrets between them before her mother had so adamantly opposed her visiting Forks.
One thing was certain, somewhere in the recesses of her mind she had some connection to this Jake person. Her arrival in Forks had triggered the nightmares. Only she would be able to get to the bottom of them. If there was one thing Nessie had learned long ago, it was not to ignore signs and portents. What if this was the beginning of some new gift? What if it was a sign that one of her old abilities was transforming into a new one?
With a groan she sat up in bed. There was no way she was going to get back to sleep now. In truth, she didn't want to fall asleep again. Nothing about her nightmares was any kind of fun. What she wanted to do was find out who the hell Jacob was and why he was commandeering her dreams. She glanced at the bedside clock and sighed. 3:00 a.m. She just had to kill four more hours until she could get out there and solve the mystery of her nightmares. There was no time like the present to check in with her mother.
Jumping out of the bed she snatched up her cell and took a seat at the window, staring out into the darkness as she dialed the number. It only rang once before it was answered. Not surprisingly, Bella sounded frantic.
"Renesmee? Are you okay? Why are you calling? It's 3:00 am in Forks."
Nessie couldn't help but laugh. "Mom. Relax. I don't think I'm used to American hours yet. I couldn't sleep. I wanted to talk to you." There was silence on the other end and Nessie held her breath, relieved that her father's gift didn't work long distance. Finally Bella spoke.
"You know you can call us at any time." She chuckled softly. "You know we'll always be up."
Nessie grinned, glad that there was no hint of suspicion in her mother's voice. "I kinda figured. How is everyone? Is Aunt Alice missing our shopping trips? I know I've only been gone a few days, but that's at least five or six trips for Aunt Alice."
"You know her so well. Rosalie, Esme and I have been avoiding her like the plague …. But go figure, she keeps finding our hiding places."
Nessie was shaking with laughter. "I think you love the chase Mom … and aggravating Aunt Alice. Now that I'm gone you know you'll just have to give in."
"But you'll be back soon." Bella said quietly, and in that split second the tone of the conversation changed.
"Mom. Come on." Nessie grumbled. "Let me at least unpack my suitcases, will you? I haven't even had a chance to see anything! Grandpa won't let me out of his sight…"
"Remember, it's Charlie now …"
"Charlie! Charlie won't let me out of his sight! I've been dying to go for a run in the woods. I could kill for a good hunt.."
"Renesmee! Stay away from the Rez! Promise me!" Bella suddenly interrupted her in a shout.
"Mom. I know about the werewolves. Everyone warned me. Over and over again everyone warned me. Besides, I'm hardly a threat …"
"Why won't you just listen, Renesmee? Everything has to be a battle with you. Do you want to die? Do you think those werewolves won't kill you on sight? Jacob won't protect you this time! He's one …"
"What?" Nessie whispered. "What did you say Ma?"
Silence was the only answer Nessie received to her whispered question. She gripped the phone tighter.
"Mom? Mom, are you there? What did you just say?"
Bella's voice was ice cold when she answered. "Your father and Uncle Emmet are yelling for me, Renesmee. We're going hunting. I know he'll want to call you later."
""Mom! Mother don't you dare…!" CLICK …
"Son of a bitch!" Nessie yelled as she threw the phone across the room in fury. What in the hell was her mother hiding? Jacob. She knew she had heard her mother say the name Jacob. Was he the same Jake she was chasing in her dreams? Were her dreams some sort of psychic hint of the future? What did he have to do with the werewolves she had been warned to steer clear of? Was he on the reservation? More questions with no answers in sight. At least for now. There was nothing Nessie loved more than mysteries, except maybe thrill-seeking. It seemed like she would be getting both in Forks, starting as early as she could ditch her grandfather tomorrow.
