Hooray for ridiculous POV's and terrible updates! Sorry about the long wait.
This chapter is in third person. Because apparently I was feeling omniscient when I wrote this. Ah, well. Enjoy the angst!
Jealousy is bred in doubts. When those doubts change into certainties, then the passion either ceases or changes into absolute madness. -Francois de La Rochefoucald
Jacob barely let Renesmee out of his sight the next day; from the moment she awoke, he was at her side, eyes huge with adoration. Though thoroughly annoyed, Edward hung back and allowed it. Out of respect for his daughter, he didn't want the entire family to turn on Jacob for being possessive. It would only hurt Renesmee more, and she was already irritated with her dad for intervening.
She barely spoke to him anymore, as is.
Finally, when Rosalie was at her breaking point with Jacob's constant attentiveness and even Renesmee was growing bored, the vampires managed to get him out of the house for the night.
"I'll be around," he promised, clasping his imprint's hand in his own. Nahuel and Edward exchanged gags.
"Bye, Jake," Nessie said, her voice light yet insistent. "See you tomorrow."
Jacob loped gracefully across the lawn before phasing, his thick russet fur soon lost in the shadows of the dense woods. The sun had just set, and pale pink rays barely managed to show through the constant layer of clouds. It gave the whole setting a vaguely purplish tinge.
"I'm going for a walk," Renesmee suddenly announced. "I need to clear my head." And no, Dad, it's fine. I just want to clear my head.
Renesmee pretended like she was going to follow a well-worn path but soon strayed off course, her fingers brushing lightly against the thick foliage. A walk had been a good idea; for once, she wasn't caught up in anxiety. The butterflies in her stomach escaped one by one with each deep breath she pulled in.
The serenity was short lived, however; she got fifteen minutes of time to herself before Nahuel joined her.
"Hi," he said awkwardly, shifting his weight from foot to foot before deciding to lean up against a tree.
Renesmee smiled at him, and though the butterflies had returned she was glad to finally talk to him without Jacob's angry presence. "What's up? I haven't had much time to talk to you... Jake's a leech in training, huh?" But her voice was overflowing with cheerful affection.
"He is, isn't he?"
"…Do you like Jake?" Renesmee asked after a pause, knowing the answer before she received it.
"I can't say I like him. I tolerate him. He doesn't seem to like me." Nahuel thrust his hands into his pockets to conceal them as they balled into fists.
"I think he's jealous…"
Nahuel was confused. "Jealous?"
"Knowing him, he's very protective of me—like an older brother. He probably thinks you're going to take me away or something," Renesmee clarified, chuckling darkly. "He needs to lighten up sometimes. I'm not going anywhere. I couldn't leave him."
"Well, I wouldn't expect you to. You seem very comfortable here."
She shrugged. "But it can't last forever. We're going to have to move, someday. Somebody's bound to notice no one in our family ages." She smiled, but then that smiled faltered.
"What's wrong?" Nahuel asked immediately. Her need was his calling; like many before him, he was completely under her spell.
Renesmee bit her lip. "Well, we might not age, but the wolves will eventually. And then…"
"Jacob will age, too," he finished. She nodded, and her sigh was shaky.
"He's been my best friend since forever. Knowing he's gone will be hard." It sounded as if she'd thought over this before, but the tear that trickled down her cheek proved it was still hard.
Nahuel leaned in and brushed away the tear with a quick flick of a finger. "That won't be for a while though, will it?" he whispered. It was so easy to disregard his jealousy for her.
Renesmee looked up at him. He hovered near her, his expression anxious. There was something else, there, too, and it made her feel warm inside. His eyes, meeting her own gaze, burned with the sort of passion she sometimes saw in her father when he looked at Bella. She had the sudden urge to do something incredibly stupid, like kiss him.
But she stopped herself, knowing there could be serious consequences, and leaned up against a tree before sliding all the way down until she was sitting. She looked so tired, Nahuel thought. Soft violet circles underneath her eyes told the unspoken story of recent heartbreak.
A pink ray of fading sunlight fell across the tree, illuminating it and Renesmee herself. Nahuel was strangely drawn to it as if pulled by an invisible magnet, and he sat down next to her.
In the last hours of the day, Renesmee yawned and leaned her head against his shoulder, instantly asleep and feeling infinitely complete, more whole than she had in all her life.
Watching from the trees, a huge russet wolf turned and sprinted away, leaving a path of torn leaves and mauled trees in his wake. Fury guided his paws and blood surged through his veins.
He had one thing and one thing only on his mind: murder.
Bella froze from where she was re-reading Tennyson and looked up, her mouth hanging open and a gasp escaping from her full lips. Instantly, everyone else in the room panicked. Edward was at her side in milliseconds, and Alice's eyes grew distant as she searched the future rapidly - unsuccessfully.
"Oh, no… Jacob!"
"What is it, love?"
"Do you hear that?" Bella moaned. When they listened, it was clear: loud, lonely howls of distress tore through the empty night like a knife through velvet. With her enhanced hearing, she could also hear trees being ripped from their roots and tossed aside like playthings. "Where's Renesmee?"
"With Nahuel," Edward answered automatically. "I could hear her thoughts just a few minutes ago, but they must have walked farther away than I can listen. From what I've gathered in his thoughts, Nahuel wouldn't dream of allowing Renesmee to be in danger."
"Well, we've got to make sure everything's okay," Bella insisted. "What if something happened?"
Edward nodded grimly and opened his mouth to reply.
But Bella was gone, and he followed in an instant. Both had one thing on their minds: Renesmee. One near-death experience was enough for a lifetime, thank you very much.
They found their daughter propped up against a tree with Nahuel sitting tensely next to her - being smart enough to remove her head from his shoulder as soon as he heard them coming.
"Has Jacob been here?" Bella asked the instant she stopped.
"Yes and no… there was a very large wolf in those bushes a few minutes ago, spying on your daughter," Nahuel answered.
Bella groaned loudly. "Aw hell, that would be Jake, and the last thing we need right now..."
"I'm sorry I didn't pay any attention to him."
"You didn't do anything wrong. Jacob is extremely protective of Renesmee—he's probably just overreacting again," Edward said tensely. Worried. Jacob worked on a different wavelength, now - he had no idea what a jealous werewolf would do if his imprint betrayed him.
Further away, the large wolf that was Jacob Black sprinted toward La Push. His enormous paws propelled him forward almost as fast as a vampire could run. He was heartbroken. He knew what he'd seen. Nessie—his Nessie—was falling for the one person he desperately wished she wouldn't. But he couldn't be angry with her.
No, it had to be Nahuel's fault. What right had he to come back here and take his imprint away? He knew the special bond between Renesmee and Jacob, and so how did he have any justification for his actions?
A whine escaped the wolf's clenched jaw. Renesmee was falling into a trap. Deep in Jacob's gut, he knew that somehow that half-leech must be manipulating her. Renesmee had a gift - why couldn't Nahuel? Maybe he was a mind-controller. Maybe he was poisoning her.
It didn't matter. He had to be stopped.
Just as it was six years before, when, ironically, Renesmee had been the enemy, he vowed to kill his rival. Nahuel, he decided, only had a few more days left on this earth.
"He's extremely angry. I can assume that with background knowledge," Bella said later that night, running a hand through her thick mahogany hair. Renesmee was safely tucked in bed, blissfully unaware of the extent of Jacob's fury, albiet suspicious.
"Well that's just excellent," Rosalie hissed, shaking her head. "Now we'll have a psycho werewolf to deal with. Just when we were starting to get along."
"Shape-shifter," Bella corrected absently. Her mind was on other things—her daughter, for instance. Renesmee would be devastated. Bella knew her daughter well enough to know that Nessie would also be angry with them for not telling her right away, and mad at herself for going for a walk with Nahuel.
None of it was her fault, but of course Renesmee, like Bella, would take the blame. Though raised in completely different worlds - Bella having to take care of her mother and Renesmee being doted on incessently - the weight of the world always fell on their shoulders, no matter what the situation.
Bella looked out into the dark night. Welcome to the game of love, baby.
Renesmee woke the next morning with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something didn't seem right - hadn't since last night.
"Hi," Bella said half-heartedly at breakfast, the smile on her lips not reaching her golden eyes. Wordlessly, Renesmee placed a hand on her mother's and asked what was the matter.
And Bella was forced to explain everything - how could she not?
Renesmee, for a few minutes, sat silently without moving. Her chocolate brown eyes stared at the oak table in agony. "So… Jake's mad at me for talking with Nahuel?" she said after the pause. Her voice was hollow, scared. I've done it this time. I've gone and lost Jake for good. How can one person be so cruel?
"Unfortunately," Bella murmured.
"I—I should have known! I've been breaking Jacob's heart since the day he proposed. He's imprinted, for God's sake! What if he is right? What if I am supposed to love him and to be with him? And now I've gone and ruined things again!" She continued on frantically before Bella put a restraining hand on her shoulder.
"No. Renesmee… I don't think there was ever any concrete obligation for you to be with Jacob, like he assumes. It's just what has always happened in the past, so it's what we were expecting. No one will think any less of you if you don't fall in love with Jacob."
"But I do love my Jacob," Renesmee protested quietly. "I do. I would do anything for him. But something about the idea of marriage… about going along with the whole soul mate idea… I want to fall in love my way."
"Mm," Bella murmured, gently massaging her daughter's tense shoulders. It was so like Renesmee to say something like that. She had always been independent and strong-willed; of course she would not want to go along with a stereotype.
"But—but I am prepared to marry him if it makes things better. I hate to see him in pain like this, especially when it's my fault."
"Renesmee! Never say that. You shouldn't ever sacrifice your own happiness for someone else's gain."
Nessie looked pained. "I wouldn't be unhappy, Mom. Besides, isn't that a little hypocritical? I mean, when you were dying to save me—"
"Oh, shh!" Bella put a finger on her daughter's lips and silenced her. "That was different. I knew exactly what I was getting into. I was doing it 'my way'."
Renesmee raised an eyebrow but didn't press her mother on the subject.
"Now why don't we go to the big house? Your dad's been there for most of the night, talking with Carlisle and watching out for Jacob."
"And Nahuel?" Nessie asked in the smallest of voices.
Bella stroked her daughter's hair. "Nahuel's there, too. Nessie…"
"Yeah?" her daughter replied miserably.
"You should probably talk to him. About—you know… last night?" Bella looked as awkward as she felt. How was she supposed to comfortably tell her daughter to get a handle on her relationships? But Renesmee understood, and together, mother and daughter left the tiny cottage.
As soon as he spotted his wife and daughter hurtle themselves over the river, Edward was upon them. "Nessie, I'm sorry we didn't tell you first—"
"Dad… I'm fine. It's f—"
"Don't tell me it's fine, Renesmee; I've read your thoughts. I know you're hurting." His daughter looked away, pain flaring in her chocolate eyes. Edward turned her face toward his again with a gentle finger. "You know what would have happened, though. You would have gone after him. He's beyond furious, Ness; we can't put you in any kind of danger."
"I'm not that fragile," she protested. "I can fix it." I don't need your intervention.
"Nessie, Jacob's been hurt many times. I think he just needs to realize the truth. You just don't love him that way."
Bella nodded in agreement. "I know it sucks," she said quietly. "I hurt Jake pretty badly, too, and I desperately wish he could find someone—the right girl to make him happy."
"Mom, it's me. He's imprinted; he can't love anyone else. And it's my fault he's all screwed up. I have to make things right. He's mine."
Edward put an arm around his daughter's shoulders and brushed back a strand of stray hair. "Just please, Renesmee," he pleaded, "don't do anything that will make you miserable. I couldn't live with seeing you go through with your life that way."
"I won't, Dad," Nessie promised, and stepped into the big white mansion. The words rang hollowly in her ears.