The Micro Moon
Year One, Chapter Seven
Quileute & Bonfires
Renesmee's Point of View
In a few days it would be Monday, and the first day Jacob and I were going to start staying with Billy on the Quileute Reservation. My mother and I grabbed the four suitcases and three bags of clothes that Aunt Alice had packed for me. I was only going to be gone for five days and was already dressed for today. How many clothes did she think I would need? And where was I going to put them all?
Oh well. It was just easier to go along with Aunt Alice in matters such as this, than try and reason with her. I had already learned that lesson. Maybe I will just keep these clothes at Billy's, if there was room for them. Jacob's room was barely big enough to house his minuscule collection of clothes. I was not sure where I was going to put everything. I'll just have to figure something out when I get there.
The look on Jacob's face when my mother and I walked over to his car caring everything was priceless. I assume he was thinking the same thing I had been.
"Alice?" he questioned.
"Who else?" I answered, as he started putting the bags in his Rabbit.
Just then the remained of my family emerged from the house to say goodbye to us. I was instantly engulfed in a massive group hug.
"Guys, I'm only going to be at the Reservation for less than a week. You will have me back this Friday night, and I can meet you at the border whenever you wish. You're squishing me," I laughed.
"We know Renesmee, but we have never had you away from us for that long. We're going to miss you," my father told me. He was trying to seem cheerful, but I could tell how sad he really was. I was going to miss my family as well, but I needed to do this for my Jacob. I also knew it would be good for me to get away, even temporarily, and I was looking forward to seeing how others lived.
Soon enough my family released me, said their goodbyes, and Jacob and I were off towards Billy's.
As we pulled up to the house we were surprised by the sight that met us. Billy's home looked like it has been on one of those home makeover shows. The roof no longer had a tarp on it and had been replaced by a brand new one, there was also a new coat of paint on the outside and the rickety old wheelchair ramp Jacob had built, when he was younger, had been replaced.
"Did you know about this?" Jacob turned and asked me.
"No, but what would you expect from my family. They have been wanting to do this for awhile now. My coming here was the perfect excuse." If this was the outside what did the inside look like?
"I wonder how and when they got permission to even come here to do all of this. And why no one told us."
The inside of Billy's house had been renovated just as the outside. The floors had been refinished, the walls painted, new furniture replaced the broken ones, a huge new flat screen hung on the wall across from the new couch where Billy currently sat.
"Hi kids," he smiled up at us, while glancing briefly from a football game on the TV. "So what do you think?"
"Um, it's nice. You let the Cullens do all of this?"
"Bella and Edward took me aside, along with Old Quil, Sue, and Sam, after your left the meeting about Nessie staying here. We worked out the details so they could come here and fix up the place for her. It was a onetime deal. I never dreamed they would do so much, we only agreed to let them on the Res for one day."
"They work fast." Jacob told his father.
"Yeah, they did a ton of stuff, fixed everything." I could smell the fresh paint, sawdust, wood glue and a host of other aromas that still lingered in the air. "Most of the furniture and your clothes arrived yesterday, though. It was delivered in the morning and Sam's Pack set it all up. Rachel put your clothes away but you'll probably want to reorganize them. There's a note from Alice that mentioned an extra dresser for Nessie, too."
"Sure, sure."
I was amazed, even with Vampire speed it looked like a lot of work for only one day.
"You've barely seen anything," Billy continued. "Keep going," he waved his arm to the back of the house, "they replaced all of the appliances in the kitchen, and the washer and dryer, and even added a dishwasher. We even have a new water heater and furnace. Everything's now wheelchair accessible too, including my bathroom."
"Your bathroom? We only have the one, dad."
"Not anymore, son. We all have our own. I guess you didn't notice from the front, but the house is a lot bigger now. The Cullens turned your room into a bathroom for Rachel and they added an addition onto the back of the house, you have a new bedroom and bathroom. There's a Queen size bed in there for you, too." Billy told us. "I guess they don't want their precious daughter to be cramped," he added under his breath.
"And you are okay with all of this?" Jacob questioned, ignoring his father's end remark, seemingly too shocked with all of the changes, or possibly Billy's approval of them . . . or both. I wasn't sure.
I could see why Jacob was worried. Billy was a very proud man and was not one to accept charity.
"Sure, as far as I am concerned they can come here anytime," Billy assured his son.
"Really, I didn't think you felt that way," Jacob looked puzzled and seemed to disbelieve his father.
I pulled Jacob down so I could use my gift and talk to him without Billy hearing me. My Jacob, please don't be upset? We owe Billy so much more than this. We are taking you, his only son from him, and the only thing we can do, to even begin to compensate him for it is some paint and furniture. We owe him so much more, you are worth so much more. Don't you see that? We could never do enough for Billy, this doesn't even come close to what you are worth. Don't you know how valuable you are, how loved you are? Please, never forget that.
I am not sure if I helped but Jacob smiled at me and didn't question his father further. We went on a tour of the rest of the house. It was just as nice as Billy had said, also the kitchen, and a new pantry, had been fully stocked with food, and Jacob had a new closet full of clothes.
In the back of his room I found a long empty dresser, perfect for my height. "So, I assume this is the dresser Aunt Alice mentioned in her note, where all of the clothes she packed for me are suppose to go." I started chuckling to myself.
"I wonder why she just didn't have all of the clothes waiting here for you already, like she did mine?"
"Why does Aunt Alice do anything? I am sure she has her reasons though." When I thought about it, it did make sense. "She probably wanted to make everything here a surprise and if she didn't let me bring any clothes, with me, I would know there was something suspicious going on."
We both started laughing at how ridiculously extreme this all was.
"I should probably call the Cullens and thank them, before we do anything else."
"Alright, Jacob, I am going to put my clothes away while you do that."
When we both were done he asked me what I wanted to do on my first day here.
Do you remember what you promised me, Jacob? He seemed confused so I continued. Will you still teach me to speak Quileute?
"Of course Nessie. But you have to talk if you want to learn properly," he smirked. Oh right. "Did you want to start right now? I could run down to the school and ask to borrow some early readers that they use to teach the Res kids with?"
"I don't think that will be necessary Jacob." I said out loud. "Are you forgetting," I pointed to my head, "super Vampire brain. Would it be inappropriate of me to ask if you and Billy could just speak nothing but Quileute for a little while so I can pick it up?"
He looked bewildered. I was not sure why. I thought he knew how I learned Spanish, by just watching people speak it on the television. Maybe I had offended him somehow.
"I'm sorry. Never mind Jacob. We can do something else."
"No Nessie, I told you I would teach you to speak Quileute, I just didn't realize it would be that easy. It's my fault, you seem so human sometimes, I forget you're half-Vampire. Well, let's go see if Billy is game." He took my hand and led me into the living room.
Jacob explained everything to Billy, who said he had no problem with my request, he just asked to finish watching the game first, so Jacob thought it might be good to start me off with some nouns and we proceeded to walk around the house while he named everything in sight.
Over the next few days Billy and Jacob spoke nothing but Quileute and by Friday the three of us were able to converse entirely in it.
"Okay, kids, that's it, I'm done, I think we can all switch back to English. This has been fun, and Renesmee you are remarkable, but I need to start preparing for the council meeting tonight. You kids are coming, right? There will be a huge bonfire on the beach."
"What's the meeting for?" Jacob asked.
"We need to initiate young Renesmee here, into the Tribe, of course. If she is going to be living here, that is. She's family after all," he grinned at us. "Or will be eventually." He seemed to have a habit of talking to himself under his breath.
"Don't start getting ahead of yourself dad," Jacob whispered, I guess not wanting me to hear him.
Jacob's Point of View
Nessie's initiation into the Tribe turned out to be more of an introduction of her to those in Sam's Pack who had not already met her, then Billy told some tribal stories about the Wolf legends, she had already heard most of them from me (but Billy did tell them better and I could tell she enjoyed hearing him speak) followed by a bonfire on the beach.
Billy, Sue and Old Quil, along with members of both Packs, and their Imprints, minus Claire since it was past her bedtime, were huddled around several fires that were going throughout the beach.
Paul and Jared were grilling up some food for everyone, while Emily and Rachel unpacked containers of potato salad, coleslaw, macaroni salad onto a folding table that Sam had set up earlier.
"Nessie, do you want a hotdog?" I asked while holding a plate out to her, stacked high with them. I had grabbed them as soon as they were cooked. You had to move fast to get any food with two Packs of hungry Wolves around.
"No, thank you, Jacob. I think I would like to go hunting with you tomorrow, though."
I tensed immediately. Were we going to have another close call, like we had with Charlie? She had returned to her previous once-a-week hunting schedule. I thought that would be enough to take care of any problems, but Nessie was not used to being around this many people. Was this too much for her? "Do we need to leave right now?"
She saw the worried look in my eyes and reached up to my face. No, my Jacob, I just really hate the taste of those things, she chuckled pointing to the plate of hotdogs. I immediately relaxed.
"In that case, it's a date." I smiled back at her. I loved watching her hunt, she was so graceful and strong. And every time we went hunting she got better and better. Sure, in the beginning, getting her to hunt animals was a bit of a challenge. She preferred the donated blood she received when she was first born, and she could be stubborn when she wanted to be. But it turned out she was very competitive and I soon discovered that if I made it into a contest she readily agreed to the challenge. Now she loved to hunt, as long as it was with me, no one else in her family, besides Bella, could get her to go usually. I felt so honored that it was something she normally shared only with me.
"Hey, everyone," Paul started shouting, "could everyone gather around, Rachel and I have some news we would like to share with you all."
What's going on? Nessie inconspicuously asked me with her gift.
"I have no idea, but let's go and find out," I said as I scooped her up and carried her over to where Paul and Rachel were.
As soon as everyone had made their way over, Paul started again. "Thanks everyone. Rachel and I just thought you all should know that she . . . um . . . well, we . . . err -" Was he sweating? I didn't think that was even possible for a Wolf.
"We're pregnant!" Rachel shouted over Paul's stammering. Everyone started shouting and cheering.
Rachel looked so happy but I wondered how Billy would take the news. Rachel and Paul were not even engaged, let alone married. Would he be upset, or did it not even matter anymore, what with the Imprinting. It's not like Paul would ever leave her, and would love her more than any man ever could. To a Wolf, Imprinting was the closest bond you could form with a person, a wedding seemed more of a ceremony just for the benefit of others to watch.
I looked over to my dad. Billy, not being a Wolf himself, but knowing of the Imprinting bond, I was unsure of how was he going to react to this. He waved Rachel and Paul over to him and gave each of them a hug. He whispered something in Paul's ear, but even with my enhanced Wolf hearing I could not make out what he said over all of the cheering and shouting happening around me. I guess I'll have to find out later.
"Nessie, let's go congratulate them and then we need to get going. It's getting late and we told your parents we would meet them at the border at ten."
"Alright, my Jacob."
Seven minutes later Jared was dropping us off at the border were Edward was already waiting for us. He did not seem happy. What was wrong? Were we late? I checked the clock on the car's dashboard and saw that we had arrived two minutes early. What was his problem?
Nessie seemed unaware of his negative mood or was just choosing to ignore it. She dashed out of the car and leapt into his arms, throwing her own around him in a long hug. I know she really missed him, this was hard for her being away from her family, but she hadn't complained once around me. I tried to make the week fun for her, but maybe I hadn't done enough. Edward must have heard something in Nessie's thoughts that I missed, that's why he was mad at me. She must have been miserable and I had completely missed it. I felt awful. I let my Imprint down and didn't even realize it.
"That is not why I am . . . troubled, Jacob. You did a wonderful job with Renesmee this week. It is your thoughts that have upset me," he told me after putting Nessie down in the back seat of his car.
Mine? He had a problem with my thoughts? I had been replaying Paul and Rachel's announcement in my head on the drive over, trying to figure out how my dad was taking the news. Why would Edward be angry with that?
"Nessie, could you please wait in the car for a moment while I speak to Jacob," he asked her as he closed the door and walked into the woods, waiting for me to follow. I didn't really like the idea of leaving Nessie alone in the car but it seemed that Edward wanted to talk to me without Nessie listening. When we got out of her hearing range he began.
"Jacob, I think we need to have a discussion as to whether or not I will allow you to continue your current . . . . relationship with my daughter." He wasn't shouting but his voice was full of contempt. I thought we had become friends over this past year. What had I done? "Do you really think that I would be okay with the idea of how you intend to, one day, take my daughter."
"What?" I was stunned. Take? What did he mean by that, I just brought her back. Two seconds later I got it. NO, I screamed in my head. She was still a little girl. I had never even once thought of Nessie like that.
He was livid. Of course I would be too in his shoes. But that wasn't the case here, where was this coming from? "Do you forget that I can read your mind?"
"No I haven't." I was getting irritated now. Why would he think that? He was attacking me for no reason. I would never do something like that to Nessie.
"No, not yet, but someday, when she's older . . . "
"Edward, if one day, I am lucky enough where Nessie loves me enough to choose me to be with her, in that way, or any way, then that is her choice. You know that." He still looked pissed. What was I missing? He knows about the Imprinting. He knows that that is where all Imprinted couples end up, eventually, well hopefully, if all goes right.
He started growling.
Okay, think. There had to be something more and Edward wasn't helping. I was thinking about Rachel and Paul, their announcement, everyone congratulating them, seeing my dad hug them. Of course, they're not married, and I was worried about how my father would react . . .
"Oh." I got it. He was upset that I thought Imprinting was more important than a wedding ceremony and wouldn't bother having one before Nessie and I . . .
"Oh? That is all you have to say for yourself?" Edward growled again.
"Come on Edward, don't you think you are getting a little ahead of yourself? You know I don't even see her like that. Who knows what is going to happen years from now."
"That is not making me feel better, Jacob. Why would you even consider disrespecting her like that?"
"This is ridiculous," I growled back at him. "I'm not disrespecting her, and I never would. Don't you think she should be the one to decide what she wants to do. Of course I would love to marry her, someday, if she would have me, but that is her decision."
"You would marry her?" He seemed shocked.
Was he kidding? "Of course. You know me Edward. I will always do what Nessie wants. If she wants to marry me, someday, it would make me the happiest man alive." After a minute of us just glaring at each other I added, "If there is nothing else, can we go now, I think we have been gone long enough. I don't like leaving Nessie alone this long."
When we got back to the car Nessie was asleep in the back seat. I half contemplated getting in but figured Eddie and I needed time to calm down, so I ran back in my Wolf form, sticking to the forests edge, beside the car, as much as I could.
Wolves, being faster than Vamps meant I arrived back at the cottage before them but hung around outside until they got there.
Most night when Nessie would fall asleep in my arms I would carry her to bed. I had been slightly worried Edward wouldn't let me tonight, or any night after this, but he handed her still sleeping form over as soon as I approached, seemingly having gotten the stick out of his butt. He growled at my thought, but it was quickly followed by a small chuckle as he kissed her forehead.
As I carried Nessie into the cottage I thought about what Edward had said earlier. Even though he was angry with me, he had basically implied that he not only assumed, but accepted that I would marry his daughter, someday. Even if that doesn't happen I am still the luckiest guy in the world, just to be in her presence.
I have never had a more blissful sleep than I had that night, cuddled up with my angel, my reason for being, my everything. I was truly happy and content with our current friend-like love.
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