Twilight and all associated characters belong to Steph Meyer

BPOV

Shocked isn't nearly strong enough a word to describe how I felt seeing Jake standing in front of our class. Even with my advanced processing ability, I couldn't make sense of the fact that he was standing ten feet in front of me. I immediately thought back to the last time I saw him, and was flooded with shame for the way we had treated him. He meant so much to me and yet I went along with breaking his heart.

I remembered the strain that our decision to move without Jake had put on mine and Edwards' marriage. In fact, the situation with Jake was the only thing that Edward and I had ever really fought about. I knew that I wasn't the only one who disagreed with my husband, either. Carlisle and Esme made it very clear from the beginning that they felt we'd made the wrong decision. Esme was almost as beside herself as Renesmee was in those first few months. She treated Jake like a son, and I knew his absence hurt her. Emmett, Jasper and Alice also had a hard time at first, though I know partly that was because they were forced to experience Renesmee's pain up close.

In the end, I went along with my husband's decision because I knew he wouldn't back down after putting up such a strong argument. Secretly, I also thought that the separation would only last a few weeks, maybe months. I really believed that I'd be able to wear Edward down and that somewhere down the road, he'd cave and invite Jacob to come stay with us.

When month after month went by, and Renesmee became more and more quiet and withdrawn, I kep t waiting for Edward to talk to me about it, dropping hints and subtly expressing how I felt. It was obvious what was wrong with our daughter, everyone in the house was suffering right along with her because none of us could stand to see her so sad. I knew Edward felt terrible for her, but instead of backing down, he threw himself into becoming Renesmee's social activity director. He started keeping her days filled with every sort of fieldtrip or educational activity imaginable. I knew, of course, what he was trying to do, just as I knew it wouldn't be successful.

I also knew that his desire to keep the two of them apart wasn't personal; he didn't hate Jacob. Edward just knew that we would have a shortened childhood with our little girl and I think he truly believed he was doing the right thing by putting distance between them, forcing them to have life experiences apart from each other. Of course, I think the part of Edward that will forever be 17 was also a little jealous of Jacob's closeness with our daughter. He'd never admit that, though.

Seeing Jacob today sparked a feeling of hope in me. As much as I knew Edward was livid and would do everything he could to keep them apart, I also knew that was mostly due to his being caught unaware. My husband did not like being being taken by surprise, probably because it so rarely happens for him.

I was strangely excited. Maybe this was happening now for a reason….. Maybe he was meant to come back into her life now, as she stood on the cusp of adulthood…

In that moment, I knew I'd do whatever I could to help them find their way back to each other, even if I had to do it covertly to keep Edward from blowing a gasket.

Throughout class, I caught Jake and Renesmee stealing a few glances at each other. I took that as a good sign, but still hoped for something more; a gesture or sign that hinted at what they must be feeling. As the end of class came and we started trailing out the door, I felt a keen sense of disappointment. Then, I heard him ask her to stay after class. YES! I thought to myself!

Edward immediately tensed up. He told Jake to let her go, that we'd come by later, but Jake was having none of it. I was secretly so proud of him. I grabbed Edward by the elbow like he had just tried to do to our daughter, and used every ounce of my strength to maneuver him out of the door and down the hallway.

"Bella, what are you doing?" He whispered furiously to me.

Not wanting to play my cards to early, I simply said "Everything will be fine; they're in school, what could happen? Remember that we cannot make a scene. Let's go to class and we'll see her in a little bit." I soothed.

His lips pursed, he stalked off down the hallway without another word to me. Yep, he was mad at me too, now. Knowing he could never really stay mad at me for long, I didn't worry too much. I followed him back towards the locker rooms to change. As soon as I was done, he was waiting outside with a small smile to escort me to our Economics class that Renesmee would soon be joining us in.

Nope, never really stays mad at me.

We walked hand in hand in a comfortable silence. I knew he was thinking about how to handle the situation, and that he would tell me about his plans as they firmed up. I felt a twinge of guilt knowing that I'd actively be working to undermine them, but I also felt a responsibility to my daughter. In this moment, I was sure that I knew what she needed better than he did. I loved my husband more than I ever thought was possible, but he could be excessively stubborn and self-righteous at times…..He needed me to handle this, even if he didn't know it yet.

I saw the door to the classroom we had next and walked in after Edward, only to bump forcefully into his back. He had stopped suddenly in the doorway and wasn't moving. I heard him mutter "Oh, for the love of all that's holy, you've got to be frickin' kidding me…."

I peeked around him and saw no other than my old friend, Seth Clearwater standing behind the podium at the front of class. He looked up in that moment and instantly grinned ear to ear. He was over by us in a second, pulling us into the hallway and hugging each of us. Edward recovered enough by this point to greet him sincerely, their past friendship seemingly rekindled.

Seth quickly closed the classroom door as the bell rang, instructing the other waiting students in the room to just "chill for a minute, quietly". He turned to us in the hallway and just stared for a moment, before grinning again. "I can't believe you're here, man….this is too weird! How is it possible that you show up in this town, in this school, hell - in this state?! Burning desire to be cheeseheads?"

He stared at us expectantly until Edward just muttered "Long story…." and after a minute, Seth dropped it.

"Well, I'm happy to see you. Is this going to be too weird?" he asked, gesturing to the classroom.

"No, not at all, Seth, and we're happy to see you too." I answered for the both of us.

"Well, I guess we better get in there, then, before things get out of hand." He opened the door and waved us in in front of him.

Edward ushered us to two of three empty desks in the back row and I settled in to listen to Seth discuss his plans for the school year.

My mind wandered over to the odds of running into two Quileute Shape-shifters this far from the reservation. What were the chances? Fate had to be intervening, there's no other way. I continued to mull this over in my head as I waited for my daughter to join us. I was worried about how things were going between her and Jacob. What were they talking about? Was she okay?

I was just turning my attention back to Seth when Renesmee made her entrance. I thought Seth was going to need the Heimlich after the way he sputtered and choked on his words as she approached him with her late pass. I saw her react to him, as well, though I thought she covered her reaction better. I saw her hand settle on his for a moment as he took the pass, and I was sure she was telling him something silently. He continued to look at her in near shock, but nodded slightly and gestured her toward the empty seat next to me.

I looked at her expectantly, hoping I'd be able to read something on her face to let me know how things had gone. As soon as she met my eyes, however, her face clouded over with anger.

Uh oh.

She skipped the desk next to me in favor of one a row over. I was afraid of a reaction like this. They must have discussed quite a bit. I told Edward that letting her believe that Jake was in favor of the separation was a very bad idea. I told him that it would come back to bite us, that it would only make things much worse when we had to face the consequences of keeping them apart. He insisted that everything would be fine and no amount of persuading on my part made any difference. Gawd, he could be so smug sometimes!

In that moment I vowed to never again dismiss my concerns and allow my husband to have the final word on something I felt strongly about. Fat lot of good it did me now, but it felt good telling myself that.

I tried unsuccessfully for the rest of class to get her attention. She steadfastly ignored me. I looked at Edward with pleading eyes, but he shook his head, letting me know that he could not read any of her thoughts.

Finally, the bell rang to signal the end of this very bazaar day. I gathered my things quickly (well, humanly quickly) to try and walk out with her, but she was out the door before I even looked up. I looked at Edward sadly. We clasped hands and followed her out, eager to talk to her but dreading what she might have to say to us.

We made our way through the parking lot, knowing that we'd at least have the car ride home to speak with her about things. I began planning in my head what I would say to her, when I saw her climbing into Emmett and Rosalie's truck. With a quick look in our direction to assure us that she was with them, Rosalie sped out onto the road and headed for home.

Well, dammit!