Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, but thank you for reading! You all are wonderful! This next song belongs to All Time Low.

Strange maze, what is this place?

Hearing voices over my shoulder

Nothing's makin' sense at all

Wonder why do we race

When every day we're running in circles?

Such a funny way to fall

"No!"

A glass-shattering scream rang into the silent forest trees, echoing through the shape-shifter's attuned ears, causing him to follow after the worst sound. He was more scared than he had ever been in his whole life. Jacob lost it; he had let the connection to his imprint slip right out of his hands. Damn it, he could feel his heartbeat pound horribly in anxiety, ready to leap out of his chest, and was just about ready to palpitate.

Where the hell could that women be?

He sprinted, moving his feet faster than he ever had before and raced with the whistling wind until he discovered a vision that would haunt him forever—a pale mother holding her pale daughter. Jacob's heart sank at the sight, and he couldn't find the strength to even stagger forward. It was hard to believe any of this real, but it was. There was no way to escape it.

"No!" Bella Cullen cried out again, rocking her only daughter's motionless body back and forth. "Please! Come on, Renesmee, I'm here! Everything's okay, you can wake up! Wake up!"

But Renesmee stubbornly refused—her unblinking, lifeless brown eyes could do nothing but stare at the silhouette of the dying man watching over Bella. Her clothes were drenched in blood and there were purple bruises along the side of her face; but it was somehow clear to Jacob that, while it was sure to have been a struggle to remember, his wife had been poisoned with hind's blood.

The female vampire dryly sobbed into the crook of her child's cold neck. "Jacob," Bella murmured, using two fingers to shut Nessie's eyelids, "they-they murdered her. . ."

Oh, God. . . His stomach churned tightly, bile threatening to boil over as tears trickled down his russet cheeks, stinging his eyes. This was hell. How could he let this happen to his wife? How could he let his Nessie to die in his place?

Jacob dropped to his knees beside Bella, stealing his Nessie into his arms, amazed by the icy touch to her skin. "You have to open your eyes, Ness. Do it for me. C'mon, I love you! I need you! Come back, Nessie!" he demanded, carefully shaking her shoulders. "No, don't you give up on me, Nessie! Don't you give up on me! Don't you give up on me!" His tears fell down to Renesmee's face, sliding down her soft cheek as his plea resounded into the humid air.

Bella laid a hand on her best friend's shoulder, attempting to seek her own comfort. Her mouth opened, hyperventilating on her next statement: "It's no use, Jake. We lost her."

"N-n-no." Jacob replied, shaking his head in denial. "Bella, you can use your venom to change her! It doesn't have to be like this. Make her a vampire, too. You can-"

"I can't," she said, the words poked and prodded like daggers to an already open wound. "Her heart. . . Jacob, I'm sorry. You know I would if I only could, but it's already stopped beating. We were too late."

"No. . . No!" His voice roared, frightening a flock of crows out of a tall spruce tree, but it didn't matter. Nessie would never hear him, never again.

This had to be a dream. It must be a dream. Please, let this be a dream!

Deep in his pocket, Jacob's cellphone vibrated, and awoke the napping werewolf with a start. His eyes fluttered open, remembering that he was in search for wedding attire alongside Seth and Marguerite. He must have fallen asleep, forever waiting for his pal to finish getting dressed. Once his brain jolted to action, Jacob reached for his phone and flipped it open to answer.

"Yeah, hello?"

"What's up, Jakey-Jake?" He would know that sweet, soft voice anywhere, always giggling at him for unknown reasons. "I sensed you were feeling homesick, so I took time out of my busy schedule to give you a call."

Jacob lightly chuckled. "Color me grateful, Lizzie."

Lizzie expelled a sharp breath. "So, how is dreary, ole La Push treating you, Jake?"

For a minute, he pondered what his response would be. His heart thudded once in a strained, aching beat when a certain half-human half-vampire fleeted through his mind. Every pigment on his face turned crimson just thinking about her—how embarrassing. He could hear her soft peals of infectious laughter filling the air along with Leah and Madge.

"My life could be a lot worse. My buddy, Seth, has me dressed in some fancy-shmancy get-up."

"I'm sure you'd look dashing in anything," Lizzie replied, her smile heard crystal clear, even through a phone.

Jacob stood up from his seat, checking himself out in the mirror. He did look pretty spiffy, less rugged and more refined. "I do look rather groomed," the shape-shifter said in a British accent, "fit enough to be a best man."

"Told you so. I am never wrong," Lizzie sang mockingly.

"How are you?" Jake inquired curiously.

"Bored to death without you. A gross, old customer slapped me on the ass, then he didn't leave a tip! I miss you, Jacob Come back, pretty please with mustard, turkey gravy, and cheese on top?" Lizzie melodic voice begged.

"Gravy is pretty hard to resist," Jacob retorted, feigning weakness. A tiny, little voice in the back of his head told him that Nessie was much harder to resist. "Wish I could, Liz, by my word is solid."

"Eh, I thought I'd at least take another whack at it," she replied half-heartedly.

"I'm flattered for the effort," he told his friend.

"That's what I get for having only one friend, I suppose," the redhead sighed.

"Why don't you go visit your favorite place in the world? Chicago, right?" Jacob suggested. Lizzie was from Chicago, after all, and she spoke of it often—the winter snowflakes, the delicious food, the nice people. It was her home, or it would still be if her family still resided there."

"I would love to if I could only get off work, but as it is, I need this thing called money," Lizzie answered.

"Don't make me go Jessie J on your ass!" he jokingly threatened, followed by a long pause of silence. "We just wanna make the world dance! Forget about the-"

"Tata, Jacob!" Lizzie abruptly hung up upon hearing the off-key rendition of her 'Price Tag.'

Jacob laughed, shoving his cellphone back in his pocket as Seth walked out of the changing room, clad in a beige tuxedo with a black tie—same as Jacob. He swept some dust off his shoulder and glanced at Jake.

"Welp, how do I look?" the younger werewolf asked nervously.

"Handsome, bro. Oh, no. Sorry. I was just looking at my reflection. You look horrible," Jacob answered, mockingly grinning.

"Har-har," Seth replied, rolling his eyes. "Seriously, man?"

"Not bad. I'm positive Madge will be totally impressed by the suit. Who knew Natives could pull off beige, huh?" Jacob queried rhetorically.

"Um, yeah. . ." Something in Seth's voice suggested amiss.

The twenty-four year old narrowed his eyes in a suspicious glower. "It was that freak's idea, wasn't it?" Seth nodded with a guilty grimace. "Oh, well. I'll give her credit where credit is due. Her judgment is right on the money."

"Wait a minute—you complimented Ren? The world must be coming to an end," Seth replied incredulously, simpering with a sly wink.

"Hey," Jacob exclaimed, punching his shorter friend on the shoulder, "don't sound so surprised. I'm awesome!"

One of the dressing room doors swung open, and Nessie emerged with her tongue sticking out at Jacob. "No, you're not. Dude, don't lie!"

Seth chuckled. "Is it National Break out into Song Day and nobody bothered to inform me? Ruh-hude!"

Renesmee smiled a dimpled smile; Jacob thought it was kind of cute. "You look great, Seth!"

"Thank you. Not too bad yourself there, Ren. Where's Madge?" It was an instinctual inquiry, of course—it was a side-effect of the imprint phenomenon.

"In the dressing room with Leah. Wait until you see the dress we picked out for her, big guy! Good luck keeping your heart rhythm steady," Nessie said, patting him on the shoulder.

Seth grinned. "Alice will be proud. I'm gonna go find another dressing room and change out of this monkey suit," he announced, scurrying off, and left Jacob and Renesmee alone in the store corridor.

His red wood orbs stared up and down at the girl-woman's body, wearing a metallic lavender V-cut dress with spaghetti straps. Ever time she emitted a breath, her porcelain breasts softly pushed against the silk fabric. Her reddish-brown locks curled at the tips, blanketing her shoulders finely. Damn, she was a sight for sore eyes, especially with that dress accenting Nessie's subtle hips. Yep. Nessie undoubtedly managed to achieve the balanced appearance between sexy and drop dead gorgeous. The other guys must have been thinking some of the same stuff, because a few stopped dead in their tracks to stare, not that Nessie seemed to notice all the leering.

"Hey," Nessie greeted shyly.

Jacob crossed his arms over his chest, trying desperately not to fantasize about Nessie naked. "That was gonna be my opening line. Um, I'll regret saying this later, but the bridesmaid gown looks good on you." Beautiful, actually.

Nessie hummed, nodding slowly as the raspberry corners of her mouth curved into a sultry smirk. "Back at you, boo. You look quite dapper yourself."

"Thank you," he retorted, feeling his cheeks form dimples, "but I still hate you."

"I still hate you, too."

Damn it. Jacob refused to look down. He couldn't. He was afraid that the traitorous chemicals of his bloodstream might be traveling south. . . Before he could think his next set of words through, Jacob already begun to spout, "I just wanna tear that dress off-"

Fluttering her thickly rimmed, black eyelashes in a seductive manner, interrupting him with a cheery giggle. "That's really inappropriate, Jacob. Flattering, but inappropriate."

"Then, I'll burn it, and burn you."

"Hmmm," Renesmee murmured, leaning back on the wall with a straight posture. "Is that why you can't stop picturing us rolling around in a mess of sheets without a stitch of clothing on either of us?"

Without realizing it, Jacob braced his hands on the wall to bring himself closer to Nessie, as his brown eyes smirked upon her arrogant structure. "I am not. . ."

"Keep telling yourself that, Jacob, but mark my words, you won't be able to keep up this charade up for much longer." Her pink tongue licked across her bottom lip, her minty breath brushing against Jacob's cleft. "You are going to fall in love with me."

Jacob shook his head. "Never."

"Nope. Sooner than you think." Renesmee grinned, her lips full and plump and shell-pink.

"No," he denied, telling himself more than her. In all honesty, Jacob was dying to kiss Nessie again, and it was entirely unfair how this alluring creature could tempt and taunt and manipulate his natural instincts to her pleasure. Jacob could give in right now, allowing his good senses drown into her intoxicating mouth, or he could stand his ground. "We hate each other, and that's the way it should stay."

The halfling shrugged. "Perhaps, but I find doing the unexpected keeps life intriguing. I love the taste of surprise."

With the sound of a thousand mustangs madly running, his heart thumped. Right then and there, Jacob knew that his unstoppable desire was more than just temporary insanity, but he couldn't rid of the awful recollection of his nightmare—of her's mother's piercing declaration, of Nessie motionless in his arms. "Oh, yeah?" His dark eyebrows arched, observing the faint pink blush staining her cheeks.

"Mhmm. However, you're absolutely right about one thing. We would never work out in a million years." Nessie emitted a long sigh, tilting her chin upwards and all Jacob could contemplate was getting his mouth on hers once again. "I bet that kiss didn't mean anything to you."

"I wanted to wash my mouth out with soap," Jacob retorted sarcastically, leaning in further whilst their chest mashed together.

Renesmee half-smiled as her chocolate eyes smoldered. "We're not even the same species. If there were anything between us, it would be totally and utterly forbidden." But then again, prohibition was always a fun aphrodisiac.

"Yeah, and your mom doesn't want us together either," the man-wolf added.

"She loathes the idea."

"We shouldn't. . ."

"I agree."

"I do, too."

For the second time that day, the werewolf and the half-breed met in a feverish kiss, their lips harmonically molding and moving and massaging. His hands cupped Nessie's rosy cheeks, feeling their kiss in a different way. Nobody could kiss like her, fore she could make Jacob soar without his feet ever leaving the ground. This girl was an foreign to Jacob, so unusual and taboo, yet being her prescence was like relaxing at home. Although, his brain could not yet got on board with the ridiculous notion, his heart was still fervently trying to make a blind man see the light shining from this singular woman.

Jacob didn't like her, of this fact he was certain. This feeling—it was crazy, no doubt, but it was something else—out of this world. He pulled away suddenly, just to memorize her in case this was all merely a figment of his imagination. The last thing he wanted to do was wake up to an existence without Renesmee. "Ness, I. . ."

"It's okay, Jacob," she whispered contently, putting a patient finger to his lips. "I know." Renesmee smiled warmly at him, her temptress demeanor disappearing and pushed him away from her, a hurt expression worn on her face for a brief millisecond. "Just do me a favor, please?"

"Sure, what is it?" he queried.

Nessie grabbed Jacob's hand, and dragged him to the nearest dressing room.

When I wake up

The dream isn't done

I wanna see your face and know I made it home

If nothing is true

What more can I do?

I am still painting flowers for you