(Wow! Sorry for my.. eh, for lack of a better explanation, cluster-f*** of editing I've done. I received a review that I really agreed with and I edited a few chapters and removed a few. I didn't like how I wrote them and well.. Yeah. So, I want to get back into this story. I have been writing it for yours but I keep getting distracted by life. I have proceeded to watch all four seasons of Orange is the New Black in the past week or so. Also have gotten an apartment with my best friend and we have just painted our living room. We have our two cats and a snake and we both work full time.. ANYWAY! Off of my personal life. I plan to finish this story in the next 10 or less chapters. This story has been going on for years now.. And I'd like to do a sequel to it as well, hopefully. I honestly feel pretty bad about on and off abandoning this story. And for pulling quite the switch-a-roo on you all. XD Anyways, thank you to those who read this and leave reviews and add this story to your favorites. I'm not the most articulate writer, but I enjoy writing this. It's been my escape the past few years not only from life in general, but school (before I graduated), any drama that I had landed myself into, and personal things. But, here goes nothing with Chapter 21! I will be fast-forwarding to Renesmee's birthday in September.)

A whole year alive on the earth, as of today. My family had seemed a bit secretive lately- mainly my father, whom I was almost always around. He seemed like he was hiding something, but yet in a fun, mystery kind of way. Momma was the same way, and she wasn't the best person at hiding things in the world. The whole family seemed in on the secret, and I had almost cracked my Jacob a few times, but he still wouldn't budge. I had begun to get a little frustrated, not knowing what was going on, but I still managed well to remain calm and patient.

I woke up early, as usual, dressed casual, put on my locket necklace, brushed through the tangles in my bronze curls and headed downstairs. As I turned to close the door to my room, I was lifted up by hard, cold arms- something that I that was unusually comfortable and something I loved. As my father held me close, my mother joined in on the embrace, and I grinned happily.

"A whole year already.." momma murmured/cooed into my hair. Daddy just responded with a light-hearted chuckle. Momma pulled away and I gazed up at her, meeting her now-golden eyes.

"Happy birthday, angel," she smiled brightly. "We have a surprise for you." I giggled.

"That's what you have all been hiding from me?" My mom laughed softly and shook her head in response.

"You'll love it." I touched my hand to her arm, showing her my anticipation to find out what they had been planning. My dad sat me back on my feet and dug something out of his back pocket before kneeling in front of me, joined by my mother.

"Close your eyes," daddy spoke, with a crooked grin on his face. I did as I was told. "Hold out your hands," he instructed. I obeyed, holding my hands up, palms flat. I honestly didn't know what to expect. I felt something light dropped onto my palms and opened my eyes, glancing at the thick, rectangle of paper that laid in my hands. The bold words on the plane ticket put a giddy smile on my face.

Child

Amazon, South Africa

September 11th, 2007, 3 pm

Seattle Airport

Round Trip

I quickly hugged them both around the neck, expressing a "thank you" with my gift. Senna, Kachiri, and Zafrina lived in the Amazon rainforest. Zafrina was my favorite of the three, honestly. She could show me vivid pictures, pretty ones, and completely change our surroundings. While I could do something similar, it was nowhere near Zafrina's power.

"You get to see everything she showed you for real this time," daddy responded to my thoughts as I imagined being in a lush rainforest with my family and our relatives.

The wonderful moment was short-lived as Alice had a party planned, as expected. Something small, which was strange for her. When we arrived at the house, the whole immediate family was there. Of course, they all were curious on my reaction to being able to see the Amazon coven- I was ecstatic, I informed them.

Grandma made a small cake, knowing only I would eat some. Alice and Rosalie had strung a few strings of yellow-white lights in the yard, managing to make it look like a scene from a dream, easily. Mostly everyone was emotional- myself included. Only a little less than a year ago today, we had all thought that I wouldn't have lived this long, and that nobody else would be here either.. but there we were. Emmett insisted that I blow out candles on the cake- well, one candle, and make a wish. I was stumped for a few moments on what to wish for. Were wishes real? They had to be. While I had no tolerance for fairytales or things like Santa Claus and the Easter bunny, wishes had to be real. My life was far from the ordinary, we had avoided certain death, and two different kinds of people who were meant to hate each other- the wolves and the vampires- got along like no problem.. but I truly had no idea what to wish for. I had everything I could ever want. The most I was able to come up with was for us all- my family, our distant relatives, all of them, the pack, and myself to have long, happy lives. I made my wish, and then there were presents.

Money was never an issue to my family- ever. Although I considered myself modest, and was most certainly not an extravagant person, my family sometimes were the opposite. From Esme and Carlisle, I was gifted a few of Carlisle's most prized books, and a thin and small, yet dazzling silver chain necklace. Esme had written on the card in the small box that it had belonged to her grandmother, and it was to be passed onto grand-daughter's in the as time went on. I thanked them both profusely, my father helping me close the clasp to the frail necklace behind my neck.

(A/N:: I will probably re-edit this if I feel the need to in the next few days. It is 1:44 in the morning and I have such an urge to write but yet my brain is literal pudding. I hope this comes out well!)

Alice had gotten me something that I hadn't expected from her, the same went with Jasper's gift. Alice was a great artist- any vampire could be, but she was exceptionally perfect. I removed the sketching set from its box. The set was complete with a sketching notebook, charcoal, graphite pencils and erasers. It had seemed almost redundant that I would draw the images when I could simply show them, but it was something that I would definitely enjoy. I loved to play the piano, art seemed nice, too. I promised her that I would try to draw her exactly what I saw in South Africa, from the plane view to the exact trees and animals in the forest. Jasper had gotten something similar- a good quality camera, along with a charger for the battery and multiple SD cards to hold as many things as I had wanted to shoot or record. I took quite a bit of interest in taking photos- preferably at good angles and of striking things. I promised him beautiful pictures as well, as well as I could do.

Emmett's gift was something I certainly should have expected- a teddy bear. One as tall as my elbow, in fact. He got quite a kick of me trying awkwardly to hold it to show my parents. It was cute, of course. Although I wasn't the usual eight-year-old child as I had appeared, I still had an appreciation of gifts and the thought behind them.. and then Em insisted that the bear have a name. I thought it was a bit.. comical, but of course, Emmett had never had a child or a niece, and I could tell he was getting a laugh out of it, and the usual uncle-type of humor.

"Matthew," I responded simply, analyzing the stuffed animal. Emmett busted into loud laughter, everyone else showing a comical grin as well. I couldn't help but giggle along with everyone. "He certainly looks like a Matthew, does he not?" I asked allowed, motioning to the still-eyed bear. Emmett agreed.

From Rosalie was something beautiful, just like her. Of course, the whole family was absolutely breath-taking when it came to looks- but Rosalie and my mother were the ones who I was still unsure of how they could look so perfectly proportioned and pretty. It was a charm bracelet, one I had seen her wear before, and I had noticed that she was wearing at that moment. They were matching? She knelt in front of me to show me hers.

"Charm bracelets were always a thing between myself and my mother," she explained. "Every few years, she would buy me a new charm. I had two, and Emmett got me two more." She motioned to the dangling pieces of decorated silver. She didn't go too into detail- but she showed me the three from her mother- a rose and a heart. The other two from Emmett seemed more new- a tulip and a teddy bear. I smirked at the bear- Emmett certainly did live up to the teddy bear nickname. Rosalie clasped my bracelet for me, the cold metal almost the exact same temperature as her skin. On the chain dangled a small, intricate rose. I smiled thankfully, hugging her and everybody and thanking them each personally for everything.

We had to leave then. Luckily, my parents had already packed my things I would need, and we said our goodbyes. We would only be gone for a week, I thought, and that was when it hit me.

"Jacob," I breathed aloud. Was he going to be coming with us? I could feel my heart picking up speed at the thought of being so far away from my big brother. I watched as we went the opposite direction of the highway, and I knew my question would be answered.

"Of course Jake's coming," momma turned and smiled reassuringly at me from the front passenger seat. I could feel my face beaming as we passed the sign reading- "La Push Reservation, 2 mi."