A/N 1: Thanks so much for the reviews and comments! :) I enjoy hearing from folks and knowing they want to find my work again.

So! Let's join Jacob and Nessie (and Edward and Bella) in the rainforest, where they're on their way to their new home...

4. Nessie

I'm not up for auction!

"Jacob, look!" I tugged on his arm and pointed out the window. Night's dark colors gleamed for my eyes and for his as we studied the overhanging greenery on our way to our new home. Animal eyes blinked in tandem as they watched the cars that drove near them on the rough road.

"You don't have to whisper," Jacob whispered. I smiled up at him, catching the turning corner of his smile as I leaned over him to see out. Okay, I could have been looking out my window, but it was more fun to look out of his. Then we saw the same thing. Then I wasn't tempted to share with him what I had seen.

I didn't want to mess up again!

"I know," I answered him, still whispering because I knew it would make him smile. I loved his smile. "How long now?" I asked him in a soft-normal voice.

"I don't know about you, or your parents, but I've been up for more than twenty-four hours. I'm beat."

Concern flooded through me. "Why don't you try to sleep now, then, Jacob? In the car? We probably have a long ride, still." I didn't touch his face, but I did clasp his hand. We had always been able to hold hands without a slip.

He encompassed my smaller hand in both his large ones. "Can't, yet, hon. Just a little keyed up right now."

I tensed. "What's wrong?"

He hesitated a moment and ducked his head closer to mine. I felt my heart skip over and that was really, really embarrassing. He could hear it. My parents could hear it! Sometimes, I just wished....!

I loved my life, but sometimes it made me crazy.

His voice came low over my ear. "I'm feeling edgy, you know? Like I need to run a patrol before I can crash human."

"Oh, well that makes sense," I said in the same type of tone. "I mean, it's been more than a day since you phased, right? Of course you want to run. Heck, I'd like to run, too." I smiled sunnily at him, feeling the heat from his skin wash over me. It was wonderful.

He lifted his head, though, and stared out the window again. "No way, Nessie. Not 'til I've got a feel for the place, okay?" Tension hardened his voice. "I can't let you out there, yet." I think he tried to smile as he released my hand with one of his and wrapped his arm around me. Had to be like a brother or friend. I tried not to read anything into it. His voice was back to normal when he added, "First I gotta go find the bad guys, remember?"

He was bringing up an old game we used to play when we first moved to New Hampshire, and I rolled my eyes. "Fine, be that way."

"You could go to sleep, though, if you want. No bad guys, here."

I shook my head and tried hard not to lean into his side, though I wanted to. Desperately. "I'm fine," I managed to say. "Really."

"If you take a nap now, though, you can help me when we get to where we're going."

I perked up. "Help? How?"

He laughed softly and tucked me closer against himself, keeping his voice quiet. "Well, you packed all my stuff, right? So you can find it and make sure it gets to wherever I'm supposed to be staying, at the station, or whatever we're calling it. I'd really appreciate the help since I gotta go run that patrol. It'd be nice to be able to come back and crash."

The conversation in the front seat continued. Dad and Mom kept up with the pretense that they couldn't hear us, which was just fine with me. I knew Dad was listening to everything anyway.

Hi, Dad.

I caught his butterscotch gaze in the mirror as he winked at me. Then, his gaze shifted to Jacob and he lifted both brows, as if he were saying, Oh, really?

I shifted my focus to Jacob's face, tilting my head back against his arm. His jaw was firm, his eyes direct as he met my father's in the mirror. Then, they both nodded.

"Great, keep me out of the loop," I muttered.

"I'll update you later. If you take a nap," Jacob murmured into my hair. I felt him shift a little on a diagonal and that actually helped, because I wound up leaning comfortably into him. Because he wanted me to.

I guessed I was tired, after all, because my eyes shut and I took one deep breath before I passed out, Jacob's woodsy skin-scent filling my mind.

"Hey, Nessie. Wake up."

I was curled up on the black leather seat of the car, Jacob's scent only an afterthought in my nose. "Huh? What happened?" I blinked and tried to sit up, but my muscles ached oddly. The gentle fingers that pushed the hair from my forehead were marble. "Mom?"

Her smile came into focus. "Sorry, darling. I let you sleep as long as it was safe, but we're going to be having some company soon, and I thought you ought to have some time to, ah, freshen up."

"Shower, shampoo and shine?" I asked wryly. Being half-human, I had maintenance issues. "Where's Jacob?" I asked, pushing myself up slowly. My inner clock wasn't working right.

Mom helped me out of the car, standing between me and the low-lying sun. "He's out running a patrol like he said he had to. With your dad." At my questioning look, she elaborated softly. "It's safer if Jake has one of us with him, and he can tell stuff to your dad without phasing."

I thought about that a moment. "Safer? Animals?"

"Humans and vampires, darling."

My imagination flooded with frightening images of what could happen if my Jacob were alone and caught by the vampires I knew lived not far away from here. Heart thudding in alarm, I gasped. "He shouldn't be doing that!"

Cool fingers brushed my cheek and I looked down a little at my mother's head, surprised that I seemed, once again, to be another nudge taller than she was. "They'll be fine. Both of them. Now, let me show you around. For starters, we'll all be sharing the compound, but we asked for separate quarters for Jacob."

"Like at home." I smiled fondly in memory of a hundred exasperated expressions. He hated the smell of vampires, even after all these years. My smell he said wasn't so bad, since I was half human. Weird. He had been with me since the day I was born and was used to me.

"Like at home," Mom echoed with a smile of her own. She led me from the car, sunlight exploding on her skin like nuclear diamonds. "All right. Now, you know we've had construction crews working on this for a while. It's looking really nice. Just needs our stuff to make it feel more like home."

I tried not to search for Jacob while I got the tour; I knew he was probably miles into the tropical rainforest by this time, my dad probably running at his side. So I made myself focus on the building. I wasn't sure what to expect, so my surprise would have been total in any event.

Sunlight is not a necessary prerequisite for my family, of course, but it was needed as a sort of natural accessory. A prop. We had to give off the idea of being human. Pale and hermit-like in our way of life, but human. So the clearing that I was walking in was completely necessary. Low stone walls rimmed the reddish dirt under my feet. Just behind me was the oh-so-necessary Cullen Garage. To my left was a small place, made of river rock, polished smooth and gleaming with quartz crystals in the sunshine. "Is that Jacob's place?" I asked Mom.

"Yep. And yes, I know you said you'd help get his stuff unpacked while he was running patrol, but first you have to see the rest of our home, all right?" Mom tugged at me, as if knowing my first interest would be with Jacob and not my own room.

Well, she was right!

I saw my family, flitting in and out of the house with boxes and packaging and picture frames. Grandma Esme and Grandpa Carlisle were probably already at work, decorating the main library and work rooms. Aunt Alice flitted to us and came to an abrupt halt. "Nessie! Had a good nap? Good! I want you to come see your closet!"

Mom laughed. "You're irrepressible," she told my aunt. "I'll get her up there when I've shown her the rest."

Aunt Alice pouted dramatically before flinging her arms out. "Fine! Let her walk around in a wrinkled shirt!" And she was gone.

I got the tour of the house. In New Hampshire, we had a few separate buildings, so that each couple had their own space, but in Washington, I know that the family all lived in one house, except when Mom and Dad got married. Grandma Esme built them a house of their own. It was a newlywed thing. Besides, I was born and then there was a room for me, away from the nonstop busy-ness of the main house.

Here, we would all be living in one house. The walls were heavy glass, with light sheers over them. Rain collectors, too, because conserving natural resources was almost a must to get building permits, down here. Light, airy rooms with private niches tucked away in surprising places filled the two main floors. There was a kitchen, too, suitable for a family of ten, including Jacob. Only Jacob and I would be actually using the kitchen, though. "It helps," Grandpa Carlisle had told me once. "Helps everything to feel used and lived in."

Whatever worked!

The bedrooms were on the top floor, the work rooms and living areas and music areas on the main floor. The lowest floor, built into the natural slope of this landscape, was a science lab. A research station. In addition, there was a place for Mom to keep her own research, anthropological though it was.

"Now, your room is right here," Mom told me, leading me down to the end of a long hallway. I didn't see a lot of doors on the way. "We had it soundproofed for you, Nessie." She smiled a little. "And maybe for us, too! We won't have to worry about waking you, now!"

I blushed a little and quickly ran ahead of her so she wouldn't see. I knew exactly what she didn't want me to hear. Did she think I never, ever woke up in the dark? That I never had seen or heard anything of the private life she and my father shared together? Ever? Uncle Emmett and Aunt Rosalie weren't what I called "subtle," either. I didn't go peeking on purpose, understand. But I didn't have to. Sometimes, just being awake at two in the morning was enough!

Ah, but maybe Dad already knew that. Hence the soundproofing? Could be!

"This is beautiful." I spoke to the room that was now mine, but I knew Mom had come up silently behind me. Unlike the rest of the house, this room had regular walls like the buildings I saw online and in magazines. Walls and windows with shutters. Skylights, electric lights, and a bathroom with an enormous tub and huge shower. I grinned. "Oh, Mom, I love it." Decorated in rich, woodsy hues – my favorites, as my grandmother knew – I already saw several of my favorite things standing about. Carvings from my Jacob, that he gave me every year. Small sculptures from France and Greece that my aunts and uncles brought for me when they traveled. My bed was the only bed used exclusively for sleeping. I bounced on it. "Oh! Air mattress? Like one of those number beds?"

"Exactly. We had thought to get foam, but this will be cooler, for you. Now, you best check out your closet or your aunt will think I've neglected the most important thing in the universe."

I giggled and leapt to my closet's open double doors. It was dominated not by hanging dresses, but by a huge armoire. "Ah, she remembered," I sighed happily.

Mom stood in the open door, watching me rummage eagerly through the lingerie. Lingerie, for me, was the epitome of feminine clothing. Outer wear served its purpose, yes, but the clothes next to the skin were personal. Aunt Alice enjoyed this, too, and she and I had oohed and aahed for months over pretty, silky underthings. And cottons, too, since the move had been finalized. "You're human remember," my aunt had cautioned. "And your skin needs to breathe."

"Mmm." I burrowed my fingers through silks and laces and grinned at the embroidered cotton camisoles. "These are so pretty!"

Mom grinned at me. "I know that Alice is thrilled."

I shooed her out so I could undertake my human maintenance and closed the door. "Remember," Mom called as she walked down the hall, "we're expecting guests, soon!"

I felt on edge and didn't care to see any guests. I just wanted to see my Jacob. Just somewhere on the premises. It wouldn't feel like home to me until I saw him in it, I guessed. I smiled at my silly reflection and then studied it a little. My hair was pretty, so that was good. Messy, but a shower would help that. I looked nice. Not beautiful like Mom or Auntie Rose but nice enough. I could see I'd need to make sure on the new lingerie, though. To make sure everything fit... Yeah. Unusual developments all around.

I shook my head, feeling silly and vain as I ducked into the shower. It didn't take long to get dressed in a pair of light khaki shorts and green camp shirt, along with a pair of loafers. I combed out my hair and considered mascara. Decided against it. I didn't want to look like I had dressed up for anyone. I didn't want Jacob to feel uncomfortable. It would be better just to act like myself.

Trying to listen for the visitors' arrival, I was thwarted – a word I had always wanted to use – by the soundproofing on the walls. Annoying! I didn't see who had come to visit until I reached the first floor of our new home.

And saw two new vampires, one with the burgundy-hued eyes of human-hunters, one with eyes the color of the darkest of woods. Was he a human-hunter, too? It seemed likely. Families tended to hunt together... I know mine did.

I tried very hard not to show my distaste as I approached them. Dad wasn't back yet, but Mom was talking to them pleasantly enough, as was Grandpa Carlisle.

"Nessie, you've met our guests before but –"

"But I was pretty young then, right?" I said, finding a smile for them and putting it on my face. Where was my Jacob? I needed him!

The older visitor smiled at me with real enthusiasm. "Good morning," she said, her voice luxurious somehow, in a way that made me think of commercials I saw for fine liquor online and on television. Approaching me, she kept her hands folded in front of her, though her expression was eager. She inhaled deeply. "Ah, you smell much like my Nahuel. Come here," she said to the young man who had come with her.

And I blinked. He was...beautiful. A smile slowly split his face and I could see the familiar sheen of venom coating his teeth. He had venom? I didn't have venom. I was thankful beyond words, too, because I had bitten Jacob a hundred times in the first week I was alive and he would have died if I had venom.

"Renesmee," the visitor said, approaching me with his hands extended in greeting. "I would have known you anywhere."

"Me?" I squeaked, disconcerted by the strange familiarity I felt practically throbbing from his whole body. As if he felt he had some claim to me, maybe. It was unnerving. "I do not remember you." That was odder than he knew; I remembered everything.

He took my hands in his. "Of course not. It was years ago. But I have waited, with great anticipation, to see you again. Truly, Renesmee."

His teak-hued skin had a faint, lustrous quality that I had only seen on my own, even here, within the house. Dark eyes danced with what seemed like real happiness under perfect brows. He was half-vampire, so he inherited the qualities of our breeding.

Mom had told me, once, that he was over 150 years old.

"Thank you," I finally managed, sliding my hands from his. I wanted to run back to my room, because I felt a singular, heavy pressure all around me. As if everyone wanted to watch this Big Momentous Meeting or something.

Where were Jacob and my dad? I needed them! Mom was smiling pleasantly, Auntie Rose exuded confident pleasure, as if she had cut and styled my hair herself, and Auntie Alice just beamed because my outfit pleased her. Who knows, maybe she could sniff out which set of the beautiful lingerie I was wearing. That would please her, certainly.

"We've only just arrived," I said, to make polite small-talk. I knew how to do that. Part of my "human education" that I had internalized over the years. "How did you know to come, today?"

"We've been waiting for word of you," Nahuel told me, still standing, still eyeing me as if I were something he had acquired at auction or something. Not on eBay, but more like Sotheby's.

I darted a glance around the room, hoping to find someone who would come to me. No, I wasn't in any real danger, but I felt as if I had been left alone in the middle of a wide ocean without a life jacket.

Uncle Jasper!

I caught his eye as Nahuel was telling me about the temporary camp he and his aunt, Huilen, had established not far from our new home. Help, I tried to tell my uncle with my eyes. I wished I could throw my extreme unease across the room at him, but I couldn't.

Still, he was protective enough to cross with apparent casualness to me. "Nahuel," he offered smoothly. "It has been awhile."

Relief swirled around me. Was that because my uncle was helping or was it merely that I was enormously relieved he had come to me? "Do you remember my Uncle Jasper?" I asked our – my? – guest.

Nahuel's smile slipped a little. "Of course, he and his lovely mate found Huilen and me." He eyed again Uncle Jasper's myriad scars and I could see the tension that stiffened his shoulders. "You were partly responsible for the biggest change of my life, Jasper. I thank you and your mate."

Jasper stayed close to my side as I asked, "Biggest change?"

His smile was back in full, charming force. "Yes. For I learned, in your family, what I could be and what the future could hold for me, and my whole perspective changed."

Though Jasper's hand now rested lightly on my shoulder, I felt so entirely uncomfortable that I shouted for my father in my mind.

Dad! Daddy! Where are you and Jacob? Help me! I need you!

~*~*~

Excerpt from Chapter 5:

Ah, hell, I decided silently. Edward, if you're listening, go away. I held Nessie against myself for a few minutes. We didn't talk. We just sat as we always had. But now, I was alert to the fragrance of her skin, the distinct taste-aroma of silk, of all things, and was reminded of the drawer of all that lace she had let slip. I felt the reawakening of ... of hungers, really, that I hadn't even remembered in years. It was disconcerting. It was kind of amazing. And through it all, I had to keep breathing, steadily, in and out. I wasn't stupid. Last thing in the world she needed was for her best friend to go all, well, carnal on her.