Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from Twilight.
This chapter was giving me problems in the continuation of this story. I was already working on another story. Thankfully, some other fanfics I read during the time gave me some well needed inspiration.
Chapter Six - Double Bombshell
Alice Cullen, struck by a sudden bout of generosity, decided to help Esme rearrange the furniture in the family room. According to Esme, the arrangement was getting 'boring and overused'. The weather was especially cold that winter morning, but that didn't affect the two vampires of course. Esme glanced at her watch as they took down the red curtains curtains to be replaced by beige ones. "Where's Renesmee?" she wondered. "She should be down by now to get Jacob to take her to school."
Alice glanced up the stairs in the direction of Renesmee's room. "Should I get her?" She suggested helpfully. But there was no need to, because before Esme could respond, Nessie glided slowly down the stairs. What got Alice staring was her outfit: Armani Exchange Faux Fur Coat, Splendid Lurex-Flecked Striped Cardigan, Lacey Ikat-Print Skirt, Blossoming Babydoll Tank - AƩropostale, Solid Button-Front Cardigan - AƩropostale, Rag & Bone March Leggings, Garage- Stripe Scarf, Charlotte Russe Knit Beanie, and Uggs; with Gabriel & Co. 14k White Gold Diamond Drop Earrings, Porcelain Heart Pendant Necklace, and a Miu Miu Waxed-leather cross-body bag.
Nessie caught the stares and fingered the hem of her faux-fur coat uncertainly. "Do you think I went overboard?" she asked nervously. Alice smiled with glee.
"No way, you look awesome! I've always wanted you to dress like this; I'm glad you're not gonna turn out like your mom!" she exclaimed, giving the girl a hug.
Esme sighed, knowing Alice couldn't resist saying that.
"Do you think I look nice, Grandma Esme?" Nessie asked her, now grinning.
"Yes, yes, you look lovely," Esme replied warily. Nessie beamed.
"Great! I can't wait for Bridgit to see me in this! She'll love it!" To her Aunt, she said, "Bree's driving me to school today."
"Really?" Alice frowned. "I thought Jacob was driving you to school, he usually does."
Ness avoided her eyes. Her aunt still didn't know about the change between Jake and her. "Yeah, but Bree and I wanted to talk specially about, uh . . ."
"The bonfire at La Push tomorrow?" Alice prompted.
There's a bonfire at La Push tomorrow? Nessie thought to herself. I didn't remember . . . oh, right, Rhiannon was telling me about it but I wasn't really listening. She'd been thinking about Jacob. She missed being his Nessie, but it didn't seem like she could be that anymore, from the way he was behaving around her nowadays. They still talked, but they couldn't even hang they way used to, like best friends.
"Right, about the bonfire," she told her aunt, subconsciously running a hand through her dark bronze curls. "We need to talk about what to wear and stuff like that."
"Well then, my dear niece," Alice proclaimed, "We'd better go shopping with Bridgit after school; I've got to get you ready!"
Renesmee smiled for Aunt Alice's sake, when really, the last thing she wanted was to try on a whole bucket load of uncomfortable clothing; frumpy outfit after frumpy outfit, until Alice deemed one 'worth donning'. To be honest, she wasn't sure if she even wanted to show up for the bonfire at all. She moved to the kitchen to get herself some breakfast, and sat herself down at the island on a bar stool with a bowl of Cheerios. All the werewolves were always at the La Push bonfires; Jacob always used to accompany her to them, ever since she could remember. She recalled the times with fondness, all the way back when Jake had had to put her on his shoulders to roast marshmallows together sitting by the bright warm fire. La Push and everything in it was a major part of her Jacob's life, and he'd loved taking to where the other werewolves were to coo over her.
She could remember the time she met her little friend Claire Young for the first time at a bonfire on the reservation. She had been three years in old in human years; looking like a nine-year-old. Claire had arrived with Embry and Emily and some others from the Makah tribe, and Jake's cousin, Quil Ateara, had immediately fleeted to her side. Jake tugged her over to Claire to meet and greet, and Nessie couldn't help being envious of Claire's clear russet skin, jet-black hair and chocolate eyes, just like Jacob's. Her Jacob really was beautiful, she realized, and so was Claire.
Seth Clearwater came over with his sister Leah. Nessie didn't like Leah, because she could tell that the lean werewolf, for some reason, didn't like her, although she didn't say as much. It was just that Nessie could tell certain things like that about people, just like, now, she could tell that Claire meant a lot to Quil and he was adoringly protective of her.
Seth mentioned something jokingly about 'imprint' which made Embry laugh, Leah sigh, and Quil scowl. She could feel Jacob's arm tighten around her and she felt him stiffen beside her. Worried, she looked up at his face and saw anger in his dark - now almost black - eyes. She knew what sometimes happened when her Jake got mad. She desperately placed her hand on his cheek with soothing images of them playing with her family to calm him down. "Please, Jake," she whispered fearfully, "Not now."
Then Jacob's eyes cleared and he looked at her, stricken that he'd made her upset. "It's alright, Nessie," he tried to reassure her, "Nothing's happening." He forced a smile, cupping Nessie's cheek in his hand, and Nessie smiled back into his strong eyes, no longer alarmed. The night continued with as much fun as Jacob had promised her.
Later, however, when they were at Sam and Emily's place, she could hear Jacob and Seth talking in hushed tones on the porch, from the living room.
"Don't you ever mention imprinting in front of Nessie again." Jake growled furiously.
"Jeez, Jake, I'm sorry," Seth implored, "I didn't know she didn't know about it."
"Whatever, Seth," Jake said, "not a word about it until we - that's Bella, Edward, and I - decide she's old enough to know. We don't want to freak her out - or make her feel her feel . . . pressured . . . in anyway."
"Gosh, Jacob, NO." she heard Seth say. "God!" Jake just snarled.
Nessie heard footsteps, and sprang up, careful not to wake up Claire, who was sleeping gently on the couch beside her. She sneaked into the kitchen before they could catch her eavesdropping. Emily was there washing up. She plopped down on a kitchen stool and looked up at Emily. "Emily," she asked curiously, "What's imprinting?"
There was no doubt that Emily had been startled. "Who told you anything about imprinting?" she asked, dropping the dish she was washing and staring, alarmed, at the little girl.
"I don't know . . . I think I overheard Seth or someone saying something about it." Nessie ducked her head and her hair fell like a curtain over her youthful face.
"Well, it's not something you should worry yourself about now. I suppose someone will tell you when you get older."
"But I want to know now." Nessie whined softly to herself. She wasn't used to people keeping things from her. The people in her life always told her everything, especially her Jacob. What was this imprinting thing he was keeping from her?
Maybe that's what's going on with Jacob now, Renesmee thought to herself. She was going to have to find out about imprinting from a reliable source, and it wasn't here.
"I'll see you later, Aunt Alice," she said to Alice with a smile, "I don't want to be late for school."
Bridgit Sanders was already parked outside waiting for her once she got out of the house. "Look who's here to take you to school," Bridgit said. Nessie followed her gaze behind her. Jake was heading over to the house, looking like he had just been back from a morning jog. Nessie knew better. He was back from phasing to sniff the perimeter, for what no one in her family was still telling her about. It was frustrating. Couldn't they see she was no longer a kid?
As Jacob jogged up, she watched the way the afternoon sun highlighted the contours of his well-muscled body and she marveled at the combination of strength and grace. Jake was usually shirtless half the time for as long as she'd known him, but Nessie had never fully appreciated the sight before. The muscles of his arms and chest moved in perfect symmetry. It was all she could do to tear her eyes away as he got close, and she managed to avert her eyes before Bree could notice.
Jake stopped in front of the two girls with his bright Jacob-smile, which, for some reason, was doing strange things to Nessie's stomach all of a sudden. After saying hi to Bridgit, he turned to Nessie. "Nessie, I thought I was taking you to school." There was a slight frown, printing confused all over his face.
Nessie couldn't help smiling back at her long-time friend, noticing his confusion. She tried hard to suppress the warm strange feelings she was suddenly feeling in the pit of her stomach from just looking at Jake's toned body, the same feelings she had been having since that morning.
"Um, yeah, it was just that you were taking so long." she mock-huffed. Jake grinned slyly. It was just like old times. Almost. She couldn't forget what that grin was doing to her.
"Always were the impatient brat," He muttered warmly. She rolled her eyes.
"So are we going or what?" She waved bye to Bridgit and marched Jake over to the garage. Bree, amused, observed the contrast of bright-pale skin and reddish-brown hair against coffee-tan skin and jet-black hair, before leaving. "Get out your Rabbit and let's go." Nessie demanded.
As always, Nessie sat back and watched as he tinkered with the old car. The Rabbit was another thing that was a part of her long history with Jacob. She could never help smiling at his dedication to the old thing. It was a part of him. Them.
Then Jacob stopped and swore. Nessie was instantly on alert. "What is it, Jake?"
"Nothing." he called. He turned to find Nessie sitting prettily on a counter top. "Just a damn gremlin in the engine."
"Should we take my Mom's car?"
"Aw, but Bella wouldn't like that, now would she?" Jake asked, a smile curving at his lips. They exchanged knowing looks.
"How about . . ." Nessie pretended to think. She grinned, Jacob was back and things were getting back to normal. Or so she hoped. "Hm . . . a ride?"
"Nessie, are you insane?" He stifled a smile, a smile Nessie felt he specially reserved for her. "What kinda ride?"
"You know what I'm talking about." She smiled what Jacob called her 'Nessie's gone loopy' smile. "On you. As a wolf."
"Uh huh." Jake scoffed sarcastically.
"We used to do it all the time when I was younger." Nessie persisted, not backing down.
"Yeah, when you were younger," Jake argued back, "I think you've gained quite a few pounds since then." He said sarcastically.
Anger. It was so quick and sharp that Nessie didn't realize it was there until she saw the hurt. "Don't make fun of me!" she snapped. "It's not funny!"
Jake was shocked; she'd not lashed out on him like this since that time they went hunting and he accidentally lost her. She'd been so afraid . . . he remembered. And then Nessie was on full throttle.
"Stop treating me like a kid! Can't anyone see I'm no longer a little girl anymore?" She was surprised to find tears suddenly fill up her eyes. She turned her back on him.
Jacob watched frozen, shell shocked. Then he quickly walked up to her and took her in his arms. It had always helped him when he had to sooth her from a bad dream.
She relaxed against him, like always, then looked up searchingly at him in the eye. "So why won't you tell me?" she whispered.
"Tell you what?" Jake replied, his eyes softening at her distressed face.
"What you and my mom and dad were talking about." She let go of him. "I deserve to know." When he didn't respond, she frowned. "Is it about Nahuel?"
"A little." Jake admitted. Nessie waited impatiently for him to continue, so he sighed and went on. "Do you remember his father, Joham?"
Nessie made an impatient noise. "How could I forget him?"
"And - " He swallowed. "And you remember how experiments with vamps and humans?"
"Yeah?" She knew it wasn't going to be good.
"Well, he's out for you. He wants to try out something with you."
Leah Clearwater jogged down the path, still alert, ready to phase at any time. She could see, in the distance, her Alpha phasing and running off with a certain light-skinned girl. She smirked. Jake never could resist, she thought to herself self-satisfactorily.
Then she tensed. She could smell something. Almost immediately, she was on all fours, only pausing to remove her clothes first. Phasing came naturally to her, that cool breezy morning, with the sun far completely covered by clouds. She started sniffing.
The scent was coming from the East. She managed to find a rough area in which she could determine the exact source. Stopping, she crouched on top of a hill.
The scent was so strong. She looked down below, where some children were walking up the steps to a building. She recognized that building, and bared her teeth with a growl.
The scent was most definitely coming from Nessie's school.
Leah phased back, and as she pulled on her clothes, she reached into her shorts' pocket and took out her phone. Then dialed a number. Someone picked up on the other line. "Sam," she said anxiously, "I think we've found a lead."
There really was an infringement by another pack on their territory.
This is it - I'm really sorry for the long wait! There were many external factors. And thank you to all my wonderful reviewers, you are the best :D
Please review to let me know what you think! I'm really starting out in this. :)
