10. The Plan

Renesmee POV

I woke to the low murmuring of my family talking. I was lying on the sofa with my head in Jake's lap. Jake stroked my face as I became more aware of my surroundings.

I must have fallen asleep whilst my family discussed what to do about the Volturi and Brooke. My dream had changed last night, I was still in Volterra with Brooke but mom was with me and Brooke was ok. We were alone in the small damp room but we could hear fighting outside the room. I tried to remember more of the dream but it was not as clear as my previous dream.

"Good morning sweetheart, how are you feeling?" Jake asked.

"I'm fine," I lied pulling myself up into a sitting position.

In truth I felt awful, I just wanted to sleep forever until this whole mess was over. I hated thinking about my family and friends fighting the Volturi and about mom going to Italy, it was just too painful.

We could all die in the effort to save Brooke and ourselves but I could deal with that. If I was captured by the Volturi and used in their sick experiments, I do not think I could deal with that. These were awful circumstances but neither of these would compare to losing Jake, I would not be able to live through that; just the thought of it caused me pain.

I snuggled closer to Jake as he wrapped his arm around me. I looked up into his face and he looked tired and concerned.

"Haven't you slept?" I asked pretty sure the answer would be no.

"A little, I didn't want to disturb you," he replied.

"Jake that is the silliest excuse I have ever heard. You need your sleep too," I said disapprovingly.

"Don't worry about me Nessie, I've survived on a lot less sleep than that before," he retorted.

I wasn't in the mood to argue over something silly especially when there were more important things to discuss, so I let it go.

"What did I miss while I was asleep?" I asked wearily not sure if I really wanted to know the answer.

I noticed everyone glance at me with anxious expressions. If I wasn't worried before I definitely was now.

"Not much really," Jake said shrugging his shoulders.

I knew immediately that he was keeping something from me. Jake never lied to me, he always told me the truth. This must be bad if he didn't want to tell me.

Mom and dad approached us causing me more anxiety.

"Calm down Nessie, there is nothing to worry about," dad said obviously hearing the anxiety in my thoughts.

"If there is nothing to worry about why is Jake lying to me?" I countered.

"I'm not lying to you Nessie; there really isn't much to tell you. We spent most of the evening arguing about who was doing what and I'm glad you didn't hear it," he said with an expression I didn't understand.

"I'm going with mom," I announced.

"No Nessie, you are staying here. I am not having you involved in any part of this," dad said in an authoritive voice.

"No way! I am not staying here while my family and friends are fighting for their lives. I can't, I won't, I'm going to help mom," I said stubbornly.

There is no way they are keeping me out of this, I will fight the Volturi or I will go to Italy with mom. I will do something. I thought looking into dad's eyes.

Dad sighed, "Well there is still a lot of planning to do before anyone goes anywhere."

I sighed too; we still had to find anyone who would be willing to help us. We all hated the thought of asking our friends to fight with us knowing that they may not survive. How could we ask them to do that?

"Carlisle has spoken to the Denali coven and they have agreed to help us. Garrett is trying to contact some of his friends to help too," dad informed me.

"What about Zafrina, Senna and Kachuri?" I asked.

I really miss Zafrina she was so nice to me, I loved exchanging pictures with her. It would be great to see her again but do I really want her fighting with us?

"We are going to contact as many people as we can but we are not expecting any of them to agree to help but there is no harm in asking. We will not hold it against them if they disagree," mom said interrupting my thoughts in a calm soothing voice.

It was amazing how mom had learnt to control her emotions. She could actually lie convincingly now although dad and I always knew when she was lying and I think Jake could tell too to an extent.

Although mom's words were true enough her, calm façade was not. I could see the turmoil in her eyes and by the way, she glanced at dad every second I knew she would find it impossible to leave him. I knew how she felt, the thought of leaving Jake was too much to bear.

"Have you informed the pack?" I asked Jake trying to distract myself.

"No not yet. I need to find a way of telling Sam without mentioning Nahuel," he explained.

This confused me, "Why can't you tell Sam about Nahuel?"

"I don't want any of them knowing Nahuel is involved. It would crush Leah if she found out and I don't want to take responsibility for that happening," he said shrugging his shoulders again.

I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him gently on the lips, "I love you Jacob Black."

He was so shocked that I couldn't help but to laugh and he was even more shocked when mom and dad started laughing too.

I was so lucky to have Jake not many men would put their friend's feelings before their own but here Jake was - ready to kill Nahuel - putting Leah's feelings before his own.

"What's so funny?" Emmett asked.

"Jake!" mom, dad and I said at the same time, setting us all off laughing again including Jake.

Jake and I decided not to go to La Push, we were both to annoyed to be anywhere near Nahuel and we wanted to spend some time alone.

We ran off into the forest leaving my family behind to discuss how they were going to find their friends. We knew we would just be in the way and not missed, so we made the best of the opportunity to be alone.

I was surprised to see the sun high in the sky, it was usually obscured by the clouds but the sky was very clear today and I planned to make the most of it. We slowed to a walk after a few minutes of running. Although I enjoyed running there was something more romantic about walking hand in hand.

We listened to the birds singing in the trees, also rejoicing in the beautiful weather. It was so peaceful it was hard to believe that we were in danger of losing our lives.

I hadn't realised how far we had walked until we were standing in front of a huge cliff face. Jake and I looked towards each other, "shall we?" Jake asked flashing a grin.

"Race you," I said taking my first step towards the cliff.

I leaped up to catch a jagged edge and pulled myself up knowing Jake was right behind me. I pushed and pulled my way up the cliff, feeling the hard rock under my hands. I felt free; the rush of racing Jake up the cliff was exhilarating.

The view at the top of the cliff was breathtaking although I couldn't enjoy it for long as Jake tackled me to the ground.

"Cheater!" he declared as he rolled on top of me.

"It's not my fault you're too slow," I laughed.

Jake started to tickle me and I couldn't control my laughter. "Too slow am I?" he said laughing as he continued to tickle me.

"Okay, okay…" I said gasping for breath.

Jake stopped tickling me then and rolled off me to lie beside me on his back.

We layed back onto the hard cliff top watching the sun brighten everything around us. We could hear the waves crashing against the other side of the cliff and I could smell the brine of the ocean.

Jake turned to the side and leaned up on his arm to look at me. He looked gorgeous with the sun shinning on his beautiful dark skin but his expression was one of worry.

"Jake are you okay?" I asked concerned.

"Yeah… I have been thinking about what Alice said the other day… I want to ask you something but… I'm not sure how," he confessed.

"You can ask me anything Jake, just say what is on your mind," I encouraged.

I had no idea what he wanted to ask, Alice had said many things in the last few days but I was intrigued to find out. Jake has never struggled to ask me or tell me anything before, not even when he explained about imprinting.

Jake took a deep breath, "okay, here goes…" He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out something that looked like a bit of thread. He reached for my left hand and looked into my eyes, "Renesmee Carlie Cullen, I love you with all that I am and I want to be with you forever… will you marry me?"

I stopped breathing and my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest. I was not expecting this, I had never even thought about getting married but at this moment that was all I could think of and all I wanted.

I pulled Jake towards me and kissed him with so much passion that I felt the fire burning inside of me.

"Is that a yes?" Jake asked, pulling away.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes," I said pulling him into my arms again. I couldn't control my excitement; I thought I would explode with happiness.

Jake pulled away and took my left hand in his again. With his right hand, he gently pushed an intricately braided ring onto my finger. It was beautiful; it reminded me of the first gift Jake ever gave me. I didn't know what it was at the time, I thought it was a pretty bracelet but I later found out that it was a Quileute version of a promise ring.

The gold, silver, brown and red threads complimented each other perfectly. I felt the tears begin to well in my eyes and run down my cheek.

"This is just temporary until I can get you a proper ring…"

"No, no it's beautiful Jake. I don't want another ring, this is perfect," I interrupted.

Jake wiped the tears from my face and gently kissed my trembling lips. I took the kiss deeper, expressing my joy and excitement. I was so happy I wanted this moment to last forever.

Bella's POV

With Nessie and Jake gone for the day, we all continued our conversation from last night.

Edward had watched Nessie's dream informing us of any changes. I wasn't happy that Nessie was with me in Volterra and neither were Edward and Jake. I was happy to see that we had made it to Brooke before the child was born. This had given me an idea but I hadn't told anyone at the time.

We couldn't decide on who was going to do what last night so I decided it was time to put my plan into action.

"Edward I don't want to argue anymore. Does it really matter who does what? The main thing we need to concentrate on now is finding anyone whom is willing to help us," I said exasperated.

"She has a point," Emmett agreed.

Edward looked into my eyes, his expression was very intense but suddenly changed, his face softened and he placed his hand on my cheek.

"I'm sorry, you are right. We need to find our friends first," he said softly.

"We will need to split up and look for them again," Carlisle announced.

Alice disappeared upstairs then returned with the globe from Carlisle's office and placed it on the coffee table.

We all gathered around the globe as Carlisle pointed out the places we would find his friends.

I was adamant that Edward and I would go to help this time. I could not wait around for people to show up again, I needed to do something.

"Emmett…Rose you can go south, see if you can track down the amazons. Esme and I will search for as many American nomads as we can," Carlisle said.

"Bella and I will try to track down Benjamin and Tia," Edward announced.

Carlisle paused before answering, "I suppose you would be the best person for that job. It will not be easy Amun can be very stubborn. What about Nessie?"

"Nessie will be fine to stay here with Jake," Edward replied.

Although Edward said this confidently, I could tell that he was not completely happy with his statement.

"And we are going to track down the Irish coven and any European nomads," Alice chimed.

We all laughed; of course, Alice would know where they would be going.

"Yes please, that will cover just about everyone," Carlisle said.

"How is this going to work? Shall we send them straight here or shall we ask them to come once we are all back?" Edward asked.

"I don't see the need for them to come straight away, Alice said they wouldn't be here for about three weeks. Just spread the word and tell anyone that is willing to help to be here in about two weeks," Carlisle said.

"When are we leaving?" Emmett asked.

"I want to wait for Nessie but you can go now if you want to, we don't know how long it will take to track everyone down," I replied.

"I think the sooner the better," Carlisle said. "Let's get going."

With that, everyone left the room to prepare themselves while Edward and I sat on the sofa.

I hated the thought of leaving Nessie on her own with Jake, I knew she would be safe with him but I wanted to be with her. We have no idea what is going to happen to any of us and I don't want to waste what little time we may have left together.

"I want Nessie to come with us," I said to Edward.

"I thought you might," he replied, "what about Jake?"

"We'll leave it up to him. It wouldn't hurt to have more help and I don't think he could handle leaving Nessie anyway."

Edward nodded in agreement. We would both feel more comfortable having Nessie with us.

The others returned with their bags packed. They had also changed into more appropriate clothing for their trips. Rosalie had swapped her long satin dress for a pair of jeans and a button down shirt. Esme and Alice had also changed into jeans and a shirt.

Edward and I kissed and hugged our family goodbye and wished them luck. We would all need luck in order to convince our friends to help but it did feel good to be doing something, I hated waiting around.

Edward and I decided to go hunting while we waited for Nessie and Jake to return.

I decided to wait until we were in Egypt before I told Edward of my plan. I was worried he wouldn't understand and would think it was too dangerous. I would wait until I couldn't wait any longer.

Edward was very quiet on our hunting trip and I wondered if he knew I was keeping something from him. Suddenly he abandoned his half-drained elk, I abandoned mine too searching for the course of Edwards reaction. I couldn't hear or smell anything out of the ordinary.

"Edward what is it?" I asked alarmed.

"Nessie and Jake," he replied in a whisper.

I was confused, why would Nessie and Jake's presence cause Edward to abandon his kill?

"Are they okay?" I asked.

"They are more than okay," Edward replied.

I was about to question him when Jake and Nessie appeared hand in hand with anxious expressions on their faces.

"Hey Nessie are you okay?" I asked hoping she would be able to give me some answers to Edwards's strange reaction.

"Yes I'm fine, we're fine actually we are better than fine…" Nessie trailed off.

Edward sighed and came to my side taking my hand.

"Okay so if you're fine why do you both look nervous?" I asked even more confused than before.

Nessie took a deep breath before answering, "Okay don't freak out but Jake and I are engaged," Nessie announced.

What? When did this happen? Why didn't I know about it? Did Edward know? No, he would not have reacted like that if he had known previously. What are they thinking? They are both so young. Is this what Nessie wants? My head was spinning but no words would come out of my mouth.

"Mom are you okay?" Nessie asked anxiously.

Edward squeezed my hand in support, I looked into his eyes to see his reaction but his eyes and face were blank giving nothing away.

"Um yes I'm fine just a bit shocked," I replied. "When did this happen?"

"Jake asked me this morning and I said yes," Nessie replied unable to hide her excitement.

I didn't know what to say, I suppose we should have been expecting it really but it was still a huge shock.

"Are you angry?" Nessie asked, the smile gone from her face.

Was I angry? No… shocked yes but not angry. How could I be angry when this is obviously, what Nessie wants? She was so happy and excited and my reaction was tainting her happiness.

"No of course not Nessie," I replied.

I let go of Edwards hand and gave Nessie a hug. "If this is what you want then I'm happy for you," I told her.

"Oh thank you mom. You have no idea how happy I am, this is definitely what I want," she replied hugging me again.

I noticed Jake looking at Edward; I turned to look at Edward too. His face was still expressionless which worried all of us.

"Dad?" Nessie said timidly.

I could see that she was pleading with him through her thoughts and I guessed Jake was doing the same.

Edward sighed before answering, "I won't stand in the way of your happiness Nessie. That's all I have ever wanted for you."

I could see the pain in his eyes as Nessie hugged him and I was happy Nessie didn't know how hard this was for Edward and me.

Renesmee is our daughter and we have only known her for seven years but here she is, telling us she is going to be married, it just didn't seem right.

Although Nessie will always be our little girl, we could not ignore the fact that she was now a grown woman, a brave woman too. She must have been so worried about telling us but she did it, unlike me. I was not brave enough to tell Charlie that Edward and I were getting married I had left that to Edward. However, I also know that Nessie is a better person than me and a lot stronger.

I gave Jake a hug and whispered into his ear, "thank you for making Nessie so happy."

Jake seemed lost for words, I gave him another squeeze before releasing him.

"The others will be upset that they left before hearing your news," I said.

"What? Where are they?" Nessie asked disappointed.

"We have decided to split up and look for anyone willing to help us," Edward informed her.

"I better inform Sam," Jake said with a sigh.

"Yes he needs to know. We are going to ask them to join us in a couple of weeks, so he should expect more vampires in the area soon. I know this makes things difficult for all of you but like before we will ensure they do not hunt in this area," Edward replied.

"Sure, sure," Jacob replied.

This was Jacob's automatic response to anything he wasn't really interested in. Jacob knew what it was like last time and I'm sure he could have waited for this to never happen again just like the rest of us.

"Where are we going?" Nessie asked.

Edward and I exchanged a glance, "we are going to Egypt to see if we can track down Benjamin and Tia," Edward informed her.

"That far?" Jacob asked.

"Yes, you and Nessie are welcome to come with us," Edward replied.

"Oh please Jake, say you'll come," Nessie begged.

"Won't we slow you down?" Jake asked.

"No, we are going to fly. We need to get there as soon as possible as we don't know how long it will take to find them," Edward informed them.

"When is the flight?" Jake asked.

"I'll try and get us one for this evening so you have time to inform Sam about our situation."

"Okay thanks. I'll go now and I'll be back as soon as I can," Jake said.

"I'll come with you," Nessie said.

"No you stay here Nessie; I need to do this alone. I won't be long," Jake replied before kissing her on the head and disappearing into the forest.

Nessie seemed confused, she was so used to being with Jake all the time that it worried her when they were not together.

Edward, Nessie and I returned to the house. Edward called the airline as soon as we got there while Nessie and I packed some clothes for our trip.

Edward got us a flight from Seattle Sea-Tac airport at 6.30 pm. We would fly to London where we would get a connecting flight to Cairo. Edward had also booked us a hotel in Cairo so we could discuss our plan of action.

Jake returned to the house looking tired and worried. He had told Sam what was happening and Sam was preparing the wolves. Jacobs pack was to stay with Sam whilst we were away.

As we left the house for the airport I looked back and wondered if I would ever see the beautiful white house again.