A/N: Sorry that it has been a week since my last update. I have been busy at work. I own my own restaurant and we are getting into our busy season plus I am pumped that I will also be going to bartender's school. I start in a week and it will be a gruesome schedule but I welcome it. I am hoping to get a couple of chapters written before then. I am also committing myself to working on my next novel for the month of July. Have been working on the characters for that and the outline, it will be awesome and very emotionally driven!

Tissue Alert! For those that have read some of my previous stories know that I have a tendency to make people cry! This is one of those chapters! There are a lot of flashbacks in this chapter. And don't worry we are very close to Jacob and Renesmee actually meeting eye to eye. And for a couple of you that have mentioned in reviews why I call her Renesmee you will learn some of that here.

Thanks again to my Beta's and for all of your reviews. They are very much appreciated. Please be sure to check out my profile and go to the community if you are looking for some other great Ness and Jake stories! They are out there! If you have any recommendations please let me now! Now onto chapter 7!

Chapter 7 Playlist: Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler

One thousand dollars! I bet a thousand dollars on a guy I knew nothing about! The only thing going for him was his scent, the scent that has bugged me to death, if I could have died that is. The big question that floated in my head when I left the gym was why?

"It's for a great cause," Nix said while we walked across the campus toward our dorm rooms.

Did I actually say that out loud? I couldn't argue that point and I guess that can be my excuse when my parents see the withdrawal on the credit card in a couple of days.

"And he's really cute," Bee mentioned from my other side. "Oh and by the way, Renesmee, thank you for backing our two guys as well."

I groaned internally totally forgetting about the near five hundred combined that I spent for Bee and Nix's dates. "You're welcome."

After that initial conversation it was dropped which I was very thankful for. The less that it was thought and discussed the less chances of Aunt Alice "seeing" it or more of where we were going in a few days with complete strangers the better. I didn't need her telling my father.

But after the eventful Monday night auction the week turned south. Tuesday I get my first English test back with a giant red B. I have never been given anything less than an A. I sat in my dorm that night alone with a half gallon of Ben and Jerry's Monkey Bites. Again something I have never done before!

Wednesday was the worst day by far in my existence. For the last month I have made it a point to visit Bailey on Wednesday's. Ever since that first day I got attached. Not really sure as to why though. It has been drilled in my head for as long as I could remember to never get attached to a human. In the end it will only hurt. The second Wednesday is when I made the drastic decision to cut my hair donating it to Locks of Love. I remember going into the beauty salon with Bee and sitting down in the chair.

The beautician pulled a cape around my shoulders and pulled my long reddish brown hair over it. I closed my eyes thinking about the length that has never been cut a day in its life. Long, curly and flowed almost to my waist.

"You have such beautiful hair," the lady with purple hair said while she smacked on her gum. "Just a trim? Take off the dead ends?"

I tried not to laugh at the question. I knew for a fact I didn't have dead ends. "Take it to the shoulders?"

I watched in the mirror as the lady looked at me with wide green eyes. "That's going to be about a foot of hair you are cutting off."

I nodded and reached in my pocket pulling out a large zippy bag. "Cut it off and put it in here. I have plans for it."

I could see her chew on her lip before letting out a heavy sigh. She quickly brushed through the curls and then pulled my hair into a pony tail. I gave her a final nod before she picked up the scissors and cut my hair off with one snip. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply feeling the weight of my hair come off of me. She took my pony tail and laid it in the bag, zipping it up tight. After fifteen minutes or so I was walking out of the beauty shop with Bee, who couldn't keep her eyes off of my new hairdo.

"I…I can't believe you went through with it," Bee mumbled reaching up to run her fingers through my shoulder length hair.

I shrugged my shoulders. "It's hair, it'll grow back. My hair tends to grow fast anyways." Or at least I hoped so!

"But why?"

"There's someone that needs it more than I do."

"Hhmm," was all she said while I reached into my pocket to pull out my phone and dialed Aunt Alice.

"Hey, Renesmee," Aunt Alice's voice sang through the phone. I smiled at how much I missed her. It's still hard to believe that they are all the way across the country.

"Alice, I need a favor."

"Okay," she said, but I could hear the hesitance in her voice. "It better not be something I am going to have to hide from your father you know he will eventually hear about it anyways."

I smiled. "No, Alice it's nothing bad. I promise. I need you to tell me where I can go have a wig made."

"A wig?" I could picture Alice standing with her hands on her hips trying to contemplate why I would need a wig made. "Why?"

"It's for a friend," I said which, wasn't a lie; I just couldn't tell her…

"Renesmee, what did you do to your hair! I just had a vision of you with your roommate and she was talking about how she likes you with short hair! Your hair, it's gone!"

"No, Alice, it's not gone, I just got a little cut off. It's something…"

"A little? How much is a little, like a trim?"

I sighed. "More like a foot, but it's for…."

"A foot? Oh, your mom and dad are going to shit a brick if that was even possible. How could you?"

"Alice, can you please tell me where I can take my hair and get a wig made out of it. Someone that you would trust and I can have it back quickly. It's for a friend, Bailey remember the girl that is dying of cancer?"

The line went quiet for a minute. I actually pulled it away from my ear to see if I was still connected.

"I know someone with Locks of Love. Mail me your hair and I will see what I can do."

I smiled and saw a post office on the other side of the street. "It's going in the mail now. I will express it so you will have it tomorrow! Thanks, Alice, you're the best."

Alice laughed. "You're welcome, Renesmee, now let's just hope your hair grows back."

A week later a package showed up at my door and I knew without opening it that it was from Alice. I brought into my room and pulled out the wig. It was odd staring at the piece of hair that was once a part of me. I ran my hands through it and was surprised at how soft it felt. I brought my nose to the wig and inhaled deeply. Even though it didn't have my scent anymore I could still smell a hint of me flowing through it.

"Is that it?" Nix and Bee walked into the room and I looked up at the sound of Nix's voice. "I still can't believe you did that. It's really cool you know, not many people our age would be that selfless."

I shrugged. "Bailey has always complimented me on my hair and I figured if there is nothing else I could give her and if my hair makes her happy, why not?"

I walked over to my closet and pulled out a red gift bag and placed the wig into it. "I am off to go visit her. I'll see you all later!"

As I was walking over to the Children's Hospital I couldn't help but feel like I was on cloud nine. I never did something like this before. Sure, my family has always donated to millions of charities, but that is where it ended. Never has there been a one on one contact before. I ran my fingers through my hair and couldn't help but smile knowing that I was about to put another smile on my friend.

Friend? Wow that was something I never really thought I would have. Sure, I experienced two years of high school with my family, but I always kept to the family never venturing out past the school walls or the house. This….this college experience is something I am glad I decided to do. Learning to live on my own and not having the family smother me. Not having Dad in my head every five seconds or being able to feel my own emotions without Uncle Jasper feeling them himself or him changing them for my supposed benefit. After having the freedom here in California, even with it being only about six weeks, I'm not sure I am going to want to go back to the family.

I chewed on my lip while I took the elevator up to the Oncology department. Could I live like this for the rest of eternity? Sure, but not alone. If I haven't learned anything else from my family, I did learn that the vampire side of me loves deeply. They take their mates for life and will die for one another. I guess when you have forever to live you want someone there to share it with. Was there someone out there for me? I knew that I could never be like Dad falling in love with a human. I'm not sure I could let that person be subjected to a life like this. Forever stuck in a body of a twenty year old while the rest of the world kept growing and moving on.

My family tells me that I'm lucky I have never had to experience death. I rolled my eyes at that. Of course I never experienced someone dying. I never knew anyone that died nor was I allowed to get close enough to someone. I remember about three years ago, my first day of high school. That morning Mom received an email from Grandpa Charlie, Mom's dad, someone I never met but has seen pictures of. He didn't know about me nor did anyone else from my mom's human family. I walked down the hall and heard a sharp intake of breath coming from my parent's room. I walked over and tapped on the door.

"Mama," I asked quietly as I opened the door. "I'm ready for school."

Mom looked up and her eyes were bright. That was the first time I realized that vampires can't cry. They just can't have the tears running down their face like I can. Their eyes only fill with the venom with nowhere to go. Mom reached up and put her face in her hands while her shoulders shook.

I walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulders to give her a hug. "What's wrong?"

She reached her hand up to her eyes wiping away the invisible tears. "I just received an email from my dad. A very good friend of his died a couple of days ago and the funeral is today."

"How did he die?"

I watched as her mouth trembled slightly before finally answering. "Of a broken heart. His son ran away a week or so before you were born. He and I used to be best friends and we had an argument and he left. I never saw or heard from him again."

Now it was my turn to chew on my lip. This was the first time that Mom ever talked about life before I was born. To them one day I wasn't here and the next I was. Sure I know how I came to be and how deadly my birth was on Mom. I can remember everything of my birth and some of the conversations while I was in the womb. I remember hearing another voice a couple of times that I have never been able to place. Or at least he wasn't a part of my family anymore.

"He was the one that had the deep husky voice," I murmured and that is when I first felt a flutter in my heart thinking about that voice.

Mom turned and looked at me in confusion so I continued. "I remember while being in you all the voices I have heard. There was one that I was never able to place after I was born. I'm thinking it was your best friend. Did he visit some while you were pregnant?"

Mom nodded her head slightly. "Yes, two or three times. But he couldn't take it I guess and left."

"Where did he go? Why didn't someone go find him? Or go find him now? He needs to at least know that his father has died."

Mom reached out and ran her fingers through her hair. "Sweetie, it's not that easy. People have been looking for him, but after a few years they gave up. He's different."

I never received or learned any more information after that. Deep down I knew that the family was hiding things. Keeping secrets.

I jumped slightly when the elevator doors dinged open. I stepped off the opened elevator and walked around the nurses' station. They all looked up and smiled at me. I walked toward room 313 and before I noticed that Bailey had a visitor, but that wasn't the only thing off coming from her room. I could smell death. I knocked hesitantly on the door.

"Come in," a male voice said.

I opened the door and peaked in. "Hi, sorry to interrupt, I just brought Bailey a gift."

The man reached up and wiped his eyes tiredly. "You must be the girl that Bailey can't seem to stop talking about. I'm Henry, Bailey's uncle."

I took out his outstretched hand and shook. "Renesmee and yes, I guess that's me."

"I've seen you around campus, what year are you?"

"Freshman."

"Oh, I'm in my final year of medical school. I am actually on rotation right now, but had to come and see her one last time before I head home."

"How is she doing, really?" I asked him quietly.

Henry looked over to the bed and I followed his gaze. Bailey's appearance changed drastically from last week. Her skin was transparent; she had huge, dark shadows under her eyes. The little bit of hair that had grown back from her last round of treatment seemed to have fallen out again. She looked like death has already won and she was giving up.

"To be honest, I don't think she will make it through another week. Her kidneys are failing. I actually just signed the papers for her to go on dialysis as well as a DNR. There's no sense in stopping the inevitable, right?"

All I could do was nod. I could tell by the smell of her blood that she didn't have much longer.

"Ren?" Bailey's sleepy voice called out.

I smiled at the nickname that Bailey gave me the first day we met when she had a hard time pronouncing my name. It actually surprised me that she was the first to give me one. I never told anyone else about the name change. To me it made our relationship that much more special.

"Hey, Bailey, I brought you something," I said as I walked over to her bed and placed the pink bag on the small night stand. "You want me to open it for you?"

She nodded and Henry helped adjust her bed so she could sit up. I pulled the tissue paper out and then reached in to grab the wig.

"You need to close your eyes I want to surprise you."

I watched as Bailey closed her eyes. I waved my hand in front of her face and then slid the wig onto her bald head. I tucked all the strays away and then pulled the small hand held mirror out of the bag and held it up on front of her face.

"Okay open your eyes," I whispered near her ear.

Bailey opened her eyes and gasped as she put her hand to her mouth. I watched in silence as she reached up and let her fingers run through her new hair. She was silent as tiny tears began to spill over her eyes.

"You gave me your hair," she whispered.

I smiled. "I would give you the moon if I could. You showed me something, Bailey, and I wanted to say thank you."

I looked over to Henry who was getting ready to walk out the door. He mouthed Thank You.

That was a week ago. That was also the same day she told me about her wish. A wish that I knew I could grant easily, but would put her in danger. But if I would have known that the next time I saw her it would be the last I would have taken my chances. So I did the next best thing.

I could tell the minute I walked off the elevator that something was wrong. The nurses, who are usually all bubbly, gave me sad smiles while I walked down the hall to Bailey's room. The smell from her room hit me hard. Death. A smell I never knew, but one I could still distinguish. It was far from fresh blood. Henry was sitting in a chair next to Bailey's bed holding her hand. I learned through the weeks that her parents died in a car crash a few years back and it has been Henry who was taking care of her. He looked up to me and attempted to smile, but I could see the pain in his eyes.

"You're the one that bid a thousand dollars on one of the brothers," he said quietly.

"How did you know?"

"I saw you at the auction. Believe me when I say I was very surprised, but I guess after knowing you a little, it doesn't surprise me anymore."

I shrugged my shoulders. "It's for a great cause. Sad thing is I have no clue who it is that I won. Don't know his name and we haven't really been formally introduced."

"Jacob, sophomore year. He is actually someone I am thinking of asking to take my spot next year as House President."

I allowed his name to roll around in my head. The name seemed natural like it was a name I should have always been saying.

"How's Bailey doing?"

"Her heart stopped a couple of hours ago. I actually asked for them to restart it and put her on machines. I knew that you came on Wednesday's and I figured you would like to say good-bye."

"Thank you, you didn't have to do that."

Henry stood up and kissed Bailey on the forehead. I watched as his lips lingered for a moment before he stood up to his full height. "I'll give you a moment."

I walked over to the bed and pushed the hair out from her face smiling as I took in her appearance. She seemed somewhat at peace, but at the same time I could see her pain. Her breathing was shallow and labored. Her heart beat irregular.

"Bailey," I whispered.

Her eyes attempted to flutter open, but closed again. "You came, Ren," she whispered and it was so quiet that if I were human I would have never heard it. "It hurts."

"I know, honey," I chewed my lip for a moment before placing my hand over hers and squeezing it slightly. It was then that I knew what I had to do next. I reached up with my other hand and wiped away the couple of tears that escaped. "You remember last week when you told me about your favorite movie and that you wished you could meet a real Lycan or vampire?"

She nodded her head slightly. "You found one?"

I shook my head. "No, I didn't find one that wanted to come, but I can show you some."

I closed my eyes and opened my mind and allowed my gift to flow through her mind. I heard her take a sudden gasp at first and then her body relaxed. I showed her my family. Resting a second on each one and letting her know who they were. I showed her my last trip to Isle Esme that we took as a family before I headed off to college. I watched her face with intent as a small peaceful smile played on her lips. I continued to flash pictures at her until the door opened and Henry walked back in with a doctor.

"It's time," Henry whispered as he sat on the opposite side of me and reached for her other hand.

I nodded never letting go of Bailey's hand. I knew I had to concentrate harder to not let my images pass through Bailey and into Henry. I watched as the doctor went over to the machines and one by one flipped the switches. I wanted to wipe the tears away, but for some reason I allowed them to flow freely. I opened my mind and allowed the peacefulness of the waves lapping up against the sandy beaches at the Isle. The sun as it began to set. I continued to hold her hand until the sun was completely gone and the full moon slowly made its way into the night sky. I showed her the eagle that was flying high in the sky. And I listened intently as her slow beating heart took its last beat.

I never knew that death could hurt so badly. I never knew that a little human girl could become my hero. She was like the wind beneath my wings. She allowed me to become a better person and that I could fly higher than I dreamed.

"Come on, Renesmee, you know we have to go," Bee said from the door. "It was part of the agreement."

I lay in my bed looking up at the ceiling. I have not wanted to get out of bed since I said my final good bye to Bailey two days ago. I could care less about the stupid date and road trip that Bee, Nix and I were supposed to be leaving for in an hour.

"I will donate another thousand to the stupid house and charity just to stay here," my voice broke and sounded hoarse from lack of usage.

A knock came from the other side of the door and Bee reached for the handle to open the door. Nix walked in with a large overnight bag.

"Any luck?" Nix asked Bee. I knew she was asking about me.

"Nope, but I did go ahead and pack for her."

I could hear both set of footsteps walking toward me. One of them reached over and pushed my hair out from my eyes.

"Come on, Renesmee, you'll have fun," Nix coaxed. "Bailey would want you to have fun."

I smiled at her name as tears began to run down my cheek again. I knew that deep down Bee and Nix were right, but it felt wrong. I sighed and sat up.

"Fine, I'll go but not because I paid for this person, but because Bailey would want me to go."

I watched as Bee and Nix both smiled triumphantly. I jumped from my bed and walked toward the bathroom to freshen up and change my clothes. An hour later I was in the driver side of my car and watched as three guys came over to the car. Nix immediately jumped out and made introductions.

When I looked over to Jacob who was sitting in the passenger seat next to me I couldn't help but smile. I inhaled deeply to take in his scent that was very distinct and different. His blood didn't smell like any other human blood. Yet the scent seemed familiar, like it was something I have known all my life.

"So, where are we going?" Jacob asked as I peeled out of the parking lot and made my way for the interstate.

I looked over to him through my dark Ray-Ban sunglasses and smiled. "Tijuana, Mexico."

The group of boys let out howls and I couldn't help, but notice how much Jacob sounded like a wolf when he did that. I looked over at him quickly and saw a huge smile on his face, but his eyes…I've seen them before; the same dark chocolate eyes that belonged to the huge wolf from a few weeks ago.

But how?