Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: I really want to thank everyone for all of their reviews, the good and the bad, but I also want to thank Alessandra1 for reminding me not to doubt myself:) I long for Jacob and Nessie to reunite, too, but the story is what it is and I have no intention of rushing it. Sorry, but I hope you stick around for the rest of the journey:)

Winter Moon

by Kristen Elizabeth

"Carnival?" Bella repeated the word like it tasted bad in her mouth. "Nahuel wants to take my daughter to the biggest, wildest party on the planet...and you didn't get rid of him immediately, Alice?"

"There's no need for melodrama." Alice sighed into her phone. "Besides, he's just about as indestructible as we are, remember?"

"She can't go."

"Bella..."

"I'm serious," Bella cut her off. "Shopping in London and Paris with Rosalie and visiting the rainforest with you is one thing, but flying off to Rio with a man who's a century and a half older than her is way too much adventure for a teenager!"

Alice nodded. "I agree, but she has her heart set on it."

"Well, she can just un-set it, then."

A moment passed. "She's your daughter and I would never go against yours or Edward's wishes in regards to her, but if I can offer my opinion as someone who's seen her over the past couple of days?" She took her time piecing together the right words. "If you forbid her from going, you might lose her forever."

"Now who's being melodramatic?" Alice could almost see Bella scowling. "She's my child, Alice. She might be mad for awhile, but she will get over it."

"That's just it, though. Is she a child? Or is she a teenager? We can't even seem to decide, so no wonder Jacob was so confused!" Alice gave her sister a second to process this. "What I do know is that we shouldn't treat her like a little girl."

"So...what? We should treat her like an adult? Throw her out into the world without any guidance?"

Alice switched her phone to her other ear. "I'll be with her in Rio, Bella. Jasper, too. If I call him right now, he can easily change his flight to meet us there instead of here. We won't let anything happen to her."

"I know that. I do. But, Alice..." Bella might not have had the ability to cry anymore, but her voice could still break with emotion. "I'm supposed to be the one guiding her through all of this. I went through so much when I was still human and my mother never knew about any of it. I don't want Nessie to feel like I'm some distant part of her life."

"She doesn't," Alice promised. Another second ticked by. "Why don't you and Edward end whatever silly spat you're having and fly down here together?"

"Maybe we should." Bella sniffed. "At the very least he should see first-hand what happens when he tries playing matchmaker for our daughter."

Alice walked to the closed sliding glass door that led onto the balcony. Outside, Kachiri and Senna were getting Nessie ready for Carnival by teaching her how to samba. It wasn't going all that well; she had apparently inherited her dancing skills from her mother. Still, Nessie was glowing with happiness and anticipation.

Nahuel stood off to the side watching Nessie's every stumbled step and awkward movement like she was the greatest dancer he'd ever seen.

"I have to go," Bella suddenly said, bringing Alice back to attention. "Call Jasper. Give Nessie my love. Have fun in Rio."

Her voice, like her words, was short and tense, but when Alice quickly scanned her sister's future, she saw nothing. It didn't alarm her too much, as it would have in the early days. Bella had simply put up her shield.

Something was going on that she didn't want Alice seeing.

"Bella..." But she was already gone.

With her phone still in her hand, Alice slid the door open, plastered a smile onto her face and stepped out into the humid night air.

"Guess what, everyone? I've got good news..."

"At the very least he should see first-hand what happens when he tries playing matchmaker for our daughter."

If not for the knock on the front door of Charlie's house, Bella would have gone on with a few choice phrases about her husband, but she never had the chance to vocalize them.

When she reached the door in the blink of an eye, Jacob Black was standing on the stoop.

"I have to go." To his credit, Jacob didn't run, even though he was obviously floored to see her in Forks. "Call Jasper," Bella told her sister, her eyes never leaving his. "Give Nessie my love." Jacob's mouth twitched. "Have fun in Rio."

"Rio?" he said when she lowered the phone from her ear. Jacob swallowed heavily. "She's in Brazil?"

Bella inclined her chin a fraction of an inch. "With Alice." She looked him up and down. "You've lost weight." He lifted his shoulder as if to indicate how much he cared about that fact. "Color, too."

"You should talk, pale face," he snorted.

"I have an excuse." Bella folded her arms. "What's yours?"

"Nothing you should worry about." Jacob took a step backwards. "I'll get out of your hair."

"Jake, stop. Seriously..." She sought out his eyes. "Don't you think we should talk?"

He snorted again. "Depends on if you define talking as ripping my throat out."

"I don't," she told him. "I'm not Rosalie." A cold wind rushed by, making the long strands of her hair dance around her shoulders. "Come inside. Please?"

Jacob hesitated. "I shouldn't."

"Why not? You came here for a reason, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I didn't know you'd be..." He stopped.

"Why did you come then?" Bella frowned when he looked away. "To see Charlie?"

The expression on his face was twisted with agony. "No."

"Sue?"

Backing up again, he just kept shaking his head back and forth. "It doesn't matter. Just...forget I was here."

She managed to get a few feet out of the house before realization struck her like a bolt of lightning. "You're looking for Leah." She closed her eyes briefly. "Are you still seeing her?"

"No!" He emphasized this with wild gestures. "No way. It's just...she took off and I thought...Seth is worried about her and he asked me to..." Jacob stopped, his shoulders slumped. "Shit. Everything's a mess, Bella. I fucked everything up." His eyes were red with tears he refused to let her see. "And I..." He spread his muscled arms helplessly. "I don't know how to fix any of it."

"Oh, Jake," she whispered. "Please come inside."

His Adam's apple bobbed above the neckline of his fitted T-shirt. "What for? I don't expect you to forgive me. How could you? You're Nessie's mother!"

"I'm also your friend," Bella reminded him. "And you're mine." She tried to smile. "After everything we've gone through, I think we're pretty much stuck with each other."

"No," he disagreed. "Some things are unforgiveable, Bella."

"That's true. Some things are. But making a mistake, having a moment of imperfection...being human..." She shook her head. "Not one of them."

Jacob stared at her. "Are you on some kind of vampire happy pill?"

Her laughter cut through the wind. "If there was such a thing, I'd be giving my dose to my husband."

Mentioning Edward put the agony back on Jacob's face. "You should take a page out of his book. He's got the right idea about me."

"Edward never thinks he has the wrong idea about anything," Bella replied. "But he's changed his mind about you before, Jake, like you've changed your mind about him."

"Maybe it's different when it's his daughter and not his girlfriend that I'm messing with."

Bella jerked her head towards the door. "Please. Let's talk." She paused. "For Nessie's sake."

He swallowed. "I miss her so much, Bella."

As he passed by her on the way into the house, she slipped her arm through his and squeezed gently as they walked up the steps together. "Join the club."

Jasper had never liked flying. Unlike the rest of his family who had all immediately taken to commercial flight when it came about in the 60's, Jasper just found something disturbing about hurtling through the upper atmosphere at six hundred miles per hour in what basically amounted to a metal cylinder, even if he would be the only survivor if something were to go horribly wrong.

But, then, he'd never been flying to Alice before. Somehow knowing that in only a couple of hours he would be with his wife again made the flight to Rio almost bearable, in spite of the half-dressed, middle-aged woman in the seat next to him who seemed determined to rub as much of her leg against his as possible.

He doubted anyone else in first class would have agreed, but it was a good thing she'd doused herself in a very potent perfume. Made her much less tempting to the vampire she had decided to seduce.

Jasper was the first one off the plane when they landed. He shot through customs and made his way to the baggage claim area, where Alice and Nessie were waiting for him.

If he had needed to breathe, he would have been doing so much easier right then. The missing half of his heart was back in place.

Nessie glanced away when Jasper wrapped his arms around Alice and lifted her off the ground. It didn't seem right to intrude on their reunion. She suddenly wished Nahuel hadn't gone off to arrange a rental car.

Finally, Jasper set Alice back down again, but kept her close, as if he was afraid she was an illusion. Her aunt wasn't complaining. She fit against her husband's side like they were made for each other.

"Hi, Uncle Jazz," Nessie said with a spunky wave.

He stepped away from Alice just long enough to give her a hug and to kiss the top of her head. "You've been very missed, Renesmee."

She smiled at his use of her real name. "Really?"

Jasper reached into the inside pocket of his corded jacket. "Don't believe me?" He handed a cream-colored envelope to his niece. "Here."

Nessie took it hesitantly. Her name was on the front, in handwriting she recognized immediately. Her father's script spoke of another time, when men still wrote letters. She looked up at her aunt who was watching her carefully. "Thanks." After tucking the letter into her shoulder bag, she put her smile back on. "Can you believe that Aunt Alice managed to get three rooms at a five-star hotel the day before Carnival starts?"

"Alice is a miracle worker, always has been," Jasper told her. He glanced down at his wife. "Three rooms?"

She nodded with a forced smile of her own. "Us, her and..."

"Nahuel!" Upon spotting him across the baggage carousels, Nessie waved her arm high above her head to catch his attention. "Over here!"

As they waited for him to wade through the crowd, Jasper lowered his lips to Alice's ear. "Should I be worried?"

"I don't know," she told him under her breath. "Read him when you can?"

"Do you even need to ask, darlin'?"

Upon reaching them, Nahuel held out a set of car keys with pride. "I hope you do not mind, but I was forced to rent a Mercedes. It was all they had left." He lit up at seeing the new arrival. "Jasper, old friend!" He seized his scarred hand and shook it firmly. "Welcome to Brazil!" Nahuel winked at Nessie. "And welcome, all of you, to Carnaval!"

To Be Continued