Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.

Author's Notes: I just want to make sure you know how much I appreciate every single review and every single hit. I picked this story up again based on one review, but I've kept going because of all the ones that have followed. You inspire me:) Thank you.

Winter Moon

by Kristen Elizabeth

As Nahuel guided the car through the crowded streets towards their hotel, Nessie's eyes were drawn to Cristo Redentor, the impressive statue of Jesus that watched over the city of Rio de Janeiro, arms spread in welcome and blessing.

And if even part of what Nahuel claimed went on at Carnival was true, the citizens and tourists in Rio would need all the blessings they could get before the end of the week.

"I have gotten us into a private box at the Sambadrome tonight," Nahuel told them. "That is the only way to watch the parades."

In the backseat, Alice frowned. "I was told the private boxes have been sold out for months."

Nessie glanced at Nahuel in time to see him wink. "It is all about who you know, yes?"

"Do you always come to Carnival?" Nessie asked.

"Only in recent years have we in Chile begun to have Carnaval, so before that, if I wanted to celebrate, I had to come here." Nahuel turned off the main street at the entrance to the Copacabana Palace. "But I will tell you one thing," he added as he pulled the car up under the shade of the valet attendant's awning. "I have never looked forward to it like this before."

When Nahuel and Jasper got out to unload the luggage, Nessie turned around in her seat to look back at her aunt. "Isn't this amazing?" she gushed. "The beach...the mountains...everything is just gorgeous!"

"Everything?" Alice reached through the front seats to grasp Nessie's hand. "Honey, when we get settled in our rooms, I think you and I should have a talk."

"We had a talk," Nessie reminded her with a hint of exasperation. "You thought Nahuel was taking me on that jungle hike in order to seduce me, remember?"

"I don't think I ever said that exactly."

"But you were wrong, Aunt Alice. It was so far from what you were thinking! I swear, he treated me like Uncle Emmett would have. He even threw me into the waterfall!"

Alice arched an eyebrow at the idea of Nahuel handling Nessie like that, especially when she knew exactly how little her niece would have been wearing at the time. "Nessie..."

"Renesmee!" Nessie shook her head in frustration. "I really wish I could have a word with whoever came up with that nickname."

"Actually, it was Jacob," Alice replied coolly. Although it bothered her to see the sudden flash of hurt across the girl's face, she added, "And I would love it if you had a word with him. I think it's long overdue."

"It's really hard to have a word with someone whose phone number's been disconnected." Nessie hid her eyes behind her Chanel sunglasses and threw her door open. "I'm going to help with the bags."

Alone in the car, Alice chose to forget, just for a moment, that ladies weren't supposed to curse, even when it was warranted.

As she waited for the call she had just placed to be answered, Bella tapped her manicured fingernail against the polished wood surface of her father's kitchen table. She glanced out the window at the darkness; there was no sign of the sun yet.

She and Jacob hadn't talked all night, but they'd only missed doing so by an hour or two.

Finally, she heard her husband on the other end. "Hello, Bella."

It had been so many years since she'd first heard Edward's voice. They had been through everything since then...battles, a wedding, losing their virginity, childbirth, death, immortality...how could it be that she still felt like a seventeen year-old girl whenever he said her name?

She'd let too much time pass without replying and it clearly concerned Edward. "Bella? Are you there? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she promised. Several long moments passed. "Did Alice call you?"

"Yes." Bella frowned at the wood pattern in the table top until he went on, "I told her I didn't want Nessie to go to Rio, but that I would leave it up to you."

Her chin shot up. "Wait. I thought you..."

"Were thrilled about Nahuel sweeping our daughter off to Carnival?" Edward supplied. "Hardly, Bella."

"You've done a pretty good imitation of just that up until now," she informed him.

She could hear music in the background and immediately recognized it as a recording of the lullaby he'd written for Nessie on her first chronological birthday. "It's amazing how clearly one can think in a nearly-empty house. Without as many voices to filter out, I've actually been able to listen to myself."

"And what did you figure out?" Bella asked.

Edward hesitated before he answered. "Seven years ago, when I first realized how Jacob felt about Nessie, I hated it. I hated him for it, even though I knew it wasn't anything he could control. But there wasn't anything I could do except trust that he, unlike any of the other men in the world who might fall in love with her, would never, ever cause her pain." His tone turned hard. "I trusted him with my child's heart and he betrayed that trust. And I suppose," he grudgingly went on, "for a minute I thought that he deserved a taste of his own medicine in the form of Nahuel."

"Oh, Edward, if you could just see him, not even hear his thoughts, but just see what's happened to him, you would know that he has punished himself far beyond what even you think he deserves."

"The fact that he did it at all..." Edward gave himself ten seconds to calm down. "How can I ever be sure that it won't happen again?"

"I don't think it matters if we're ever sure about that," Bella said. "And it is us I'm talking about, because I trusted him, too, remember?" She paused. "But the only person who has to forgive him is Nessie. The rest of us...we just have to trust her judgement."

Edward let out a lungful of air that he'd been unnecessarily storing up. "She's too young to be able to figure that out, Bella."

"No," Bella said sadly. "We want her to still be that young, because we don't want to lose her. But she's not a child anymore, Edward. Yes, she still has a lot to learn, so she still needs us, but when it comes to Jacob...she's as ready for him as I was for you."

"You and I were different," he tried to protest.

"Sure, we were," she agreed. "You were a hell of a lot older than Jacob is and I was so much stupider than Nessie ever has been."

She could feel him smiling reluctantly. "You were never stupid."

"We can debate that another time. Right now, I have a clinically depressed werewolf passed out on my father's couch and I have no idea how to help him."

"Is he really that bad off?"

Bella got up and walked to the living room. Lost in a nightmare, Jacob's pale face was scrunched up in agony. "Edward, he's worse than I was when you left me. For once, I'm not trying to make you feel bad about that. I'm just being honest." She sighed. "He's going through hell."

"It's a hell he created," Edward couldn't help but point out. "And, yes, I would know." A second passed. "But what I did...it was to protect you."

"Well, you know what they say about good intentions."

Edward chuckled in spite of himself. "Oh, you have no idea how much I miss you."

"Yeah, I do." She tore her eyes away from Jacob and made her way back into the kitchen. "I was going to stick around for a few days, but if you want..."

"Come home. Please come home, Bella."

If she'd had a heartbeat, it would have skipped several times. "I'll be there before sun down."

Lying in Jasper's arms after a quick, but thoroughly satisfying reunion, Alice had a hard time remembering why she'd been so troubled earlier. Her husband was trailing his fingers up and down her spine and his scarred chest was so warm against her cheek...nothing else seemed to matter when she felt so content.

But the good feeling didn't last long.

"He's infatuated with her." Jasper broke the silence without warning. When Alice tilted her head back, she saw him staring up at the ceiling with a worried frown marring his otherwise perfect face. "Nahuel. Every time he looks at Nessie, all I feel is..."

"Love?" she whispered.

Jasper shook his head slowly against the pillow. "I don't know. It's hard to tell the difference between the two. Infatuation can seem so much like love that it can even fool the person who's feeling it." He paused. "He probably thinks he is in love with her."

"I tried to tell her." Alice closed her eyes for a second. "This is why it's so hard not to treat her like a child, Jazz. She just doesn't have enough experience to recognize the obvious!"

"Well, is it such a bad thing?" Jasper glanced down at his wife. "Him being in love with her?"

Alice blinked. "I thought you liked Jacob."

"I do," Jasper assured her. "I'm on his team. Or whatever team you're on. But how is Nessie ever gonna get this so-called experience if she only ever has the attention of one guy?" He urged her up for a kiss. "If you want my opinion..."

"Always." She twisted a honeyed curl of his hair around her finger. "You know that."

He kissed her again, deeper this time. "Let her figure what she wants, like any other teenager in the world. It's the only way she'll ever really grow up."

Alice gently yanked his curl. "When did you get so smart?"

"Since you asked, ma'am," he drawled, "1949, when I decided to wait out the rain in that diner."

Several hours, and several more "reunions" later, Jasper and Alice knocked on the door to the adjoining suite. Nessie answered within seconds. Immediately upon seeing her aunt, she stepped back in order to give Alice an unobstructed view of the outfit she'd put together.

"How do I look?" she asked.

There weren't really words. Nessie was the best of both her parents and that was saying something. Her bronze hair was pinned back on either side of her face, but still tumbled around her shoulders in perfect curls. Her brown eyes sparkled with excitement and her flawless skin glowed even though they were indoors.

She wore a vintage Diane von Furstenberg sundress, striped in every shade of blue. The spaghetti straps tied at her shoulders and the full skirt swung just above her knee. Alice recognized the Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals on her feet; she'd picked them out for her niece in France.

The only jewelry she wore was a load of bangle bracelets on her wrist and the locket that Bella had given her shortly after her birth.

Alice held out her arms for a hug. Nessie happily obliged; it was like the scene in the car had never happened. She laughed as she embraced her niece with no small amount of pride.

"Have I ever told you how glad I am that you got your fashion sense from me?"

But once again...Alice's good mood didn't last long.

When they stepped off the elevator and into the lobby, Nahuel was waiting for them, wearing a pair of tailored black pants and a fitted blue shirt that had one too many buttons undone. His eyes locked onto Nessie like she was the only woman in the entire city.

Alice felt Jasper squeeze her hand tighter, but it wasn't enough to drive away the butterflies in her stomach. She was blind to the future where Nessie and Nahuel and Jacob were concerned, but it didn't take a clairvoyant mind to realize that something was stirring in the sultry South American air.

She just prayed that her husband was right...and that Nessie would be able to handle whatever happened next.

To Be Continued