*All characters are © Stephenie Meyer!*

A/N: I wrote this one ridiculously fast. I hope it's better than the last one… I only got a couple reviews. Oh well can't win them all. And re: High Society: I had no idea the number of seats in a Porsche... shows how much I know about cars!

Chapter 21 – What Lies Ahead
Bella

Edward was right, Melbourne was worth it. In some ways it brought me back to when I was first changed; spending all night together when Renesmee was a baby. It solidified to me the reason for me changing. He was my reason for being. He always had been, my other emotions had just gotten in the way of it. I couldn't let that happen ever again. We would live our version of Happily Ever After, even if it wasn't perfect.

Jacob asked to speak to me and Edward away from the house and it sounded urgent. We met him at his garage; I had wanted to show Edward our progress on the bikes anyway.

"I wanted to tell you both this before Edward hears me thinking about it, because I might be good at controlling my thoughts around you, but not about this."

I was worried. It had to be around Renesmee, nothing else would cause him this type of worry. He looked confused and nervous. He kept his hands in his pockets and shoulders shrugged up as if he was about to admit to something.

"Please just spit it out, Jacob, you're freaking us out!"

"When we were in Washington a girl came up to me," he paused. I could hear his heart speed up and his breathing quicken. Could he like someone else? Could he do that to Renesmee? "Nessie got jealous. Really jealous. She was pretty rude to the girl. I swear I had no interest in her whatsoever; you both know I don't see girls anymore like that." His hands were out of his pockets now and he couldn't keep them still. They went from being crossed on his chest to clasp behind him and then back again. "She later asked why I don't date... she got embarrassed. I know she's awfully young, but girls at her age do have crushes and I just wanted you to know that's just what I noticed. She can read me really well and I don't know what she'll figure out. She's incredibly smart and observant."

That I knew already. We didn't keep much from her anymore because she saw through all of our lies. In the last several months she had matured more, looking closer to pre-teen. She was also starting to develop, meaning she did have hormones. Luckily for us she taught herself all about the human body after the sex confrontation and I was spared from anymore awkward conversations.

"Well," Edward had remained very composed through the explanation, possibly relieved that it wasn't as bad as it could be. "We really appreciate you coming to us with this. It is better that we know where her head is at. There is nothing we can do, I guess."

I could think of a few things. Like send her to an all girls boarding school or maybe military school.

"You're not happy with me," Jacob frowned at my expression.

"No Jake this has nothing to do with you. It's just my protective maternal instincts I think. I want to keep her a little girl."

We didn't say much on the way home, Edward just held onto my hand and watched me, barely keeping his eyes on the road.

"What?" I cocked my head.

"Am I not allowed to admire you?" He smiled at me and squeezed my hand harder. "I love you."

"As I love you."

He was still quiet and I knew he was deep in thought. "Edward? What are you thinking about?"

He sighed and laughed sarcastically. "Just wondering how crazy I'll be when she does begin to think more about Jacob, or even worse when he begins to think about her. I'll be attached to you like glue to keep me out of their heads."

"We have a couple more years before we need to worry about that," I soothed. "Hopefully."

True to Jacob's story, Edward heard Renesmee fret over what happened in Washington for the next couple of days. She even refused to come with me to the garage and work on the bikes. She busied herself when Jacob was over and I could tell it hurt him. I had to put a stop to this.

"Renesmee, can you come in here?" I called from our suite.

She peaked her bronze head into the room, unsure of my motives. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I'm not sure, did you?"

She thought for a moment and then shook her head and joined me on the couch.

"Renesmee, I've noticed you've been distant from Jacob lately and I think it's hurting his feelings."

My poor daughter had the unfortunate disadvantage of having the ability to blush, and her cheeks started to flame red. "I don't have to hang out with him all the time, do I? Aren't you best friends too?"

"Don't try and play coy with me, miss. You and Jacob have been inseparable since you were born. I had never seen you more miserable than when he was away in La Push."

"I was just..." her sentence cut off as she tried to string it together. "I was immature in Washington and I really embarrassed myself. Why would he want to hang out with a little kid?"

Her eyes were on her hands. She played with the braided Quileute promise ring on her finger. Her very first Christmas Jacob had given her a bracelet, because her fingers were too tiny, but she grew out of it and he made her a new one. She didn't know the significance of it at all, or at least I hoped she didn't.

"I don't think he cares, I promise. Can you please just stop avoiding him?"

"I'll try," she relented.

"Thank you."

There was suddenly commotion from the great room. My first thought was that Emmett was trying to wrestle or had lost his video game and was throwing a temper tantrum, but the first person I saw was my French angel.

"Élisabeth!" I began to run towards my friend until noticed the petrified expression on her face. I quickly assessed the room noticing Jasper was being cornered by Emmett and Edward at the far end looking quite disturbed. The little pigment he had was washed away in blankness. Carlisle hovered around Gabriel and Adrianna, their faces matching Élisabeth's. Gabriel held his neck in agony; I could see a bite mark under his hand. Esme, Alice and Rosalie stood stunned in the middle of the room.

"What happened?" I cried.

"Jasper didn't remember them," Alice said quietly. "I wanted to surprise you so I invited them up..." She turned to the family. "I'm so sorry. He is just protective."

I turned and stared at Jasper in horror and he looked down in shame not able to hold my glare. It was out of instinct that I went and stood next to Élisabeth, the one who needed protecting. I think Edward expected me to stand in the middle with the other girls.

"We should go now," Élisabeth said quietly.

"No! Please don't! Jasper is fine!" I begged like a child.

"I'll leave," Jasper said hoarsely. "Alice?"

"No Jazz, stay, it's okay." But regardless Alice's plead he shook his head and exited out the window behind him.

"It's fine now," I promised. "Jasper's just had a tough beginning."

Élisabeth nodded as if she was alright with that excuse. "I see his scars. He has been in many battles."

"Yes, he has." Carlisle was inspecting Gabriel's wound. "This will sting for a little while from the venom but you should be fine."

The equally handsome boy winced, looking at the growing scar in the mirror. "I guess it adds character?" He managed a weak but still frightened smile. "Too bad he came so quickly from behind," he said to his sister, but I wasn't sure what he meant.

"This got off to a rocky start but tell me, what are you doing here? How is Anatoli?" Carlisle changed the subject.

The mood in the room changed to somber. Élisabeth's face dropped and she sighed deeply. "We have decided to move to Québec," she pronounced the Canadian province with the French "Kay" sound which made it sound lovely. "We wanted to let you know not to trust him."

Edward huffed in the corner. "Figures."

"The Volturi came to see us. A leader they call Caius and a younger vampire named Jane."

Regardless of my immunity against Jane's deadly power, I still shiver at the memory of the small child-like monster.

"Alice, you didn't see this?" I realized she should have, she was keeping an eye out for it.

She looked over at Edward who looked guilty as all sin. "I knew. I also knew they weren't going there to hurt anyone, at least that wasn't their plan. We decided not to tell you..."

"What?" I screamed. "I am not some weak unprotected human anymore! I deserve to know these things! These are my friends!" I was yelled directly at Edward now, knowing it was completely his idea.

Edward was at my side, his arms around my waist. I refused to recognize him and kept a sour look at my face. "Bella, my love, you were so torn about going. I didn't want you to suffer."

I knew why he did it now; it wasn't to keep me in the dark, but I was still mad at him.

Élisabeth was waiting to continue and saw her opportunity. "He claimed that they only came to meet you and observe your powers. To prepare themselves."

"Too bad Aro wasn't there, he would have seen through the entire charade with one touch." Carlisle had begun to help Esme pick up some broken vases that had gotten knocked over during the attack.

"Do you blame him?" Rosalie chimed in. "He has no relationship with the Volturi like you do Carlisle. He's working solely on his own self-preservation."

I saw Rose's point and felt badly then for Anatoli and his people. But, being dubbed two-faced in the vampire world was not a good thing. You would never be trusted. At any given moment, if it ever came down to a battle, they could switch sides.

A battle. In which lifetime of mine would that finally happen? Where would we be living? What allies would we have left? Who wouldn't survive? I always believed it was inevitable, ever since our last run-in. Carlisle may truly believe they are too afraid to show a weakness and possibly lose, but I didn't. We would see them again. I looked over at Renesmee who had wandered into the room after me. She would be grown in only a few years time. There was nothing I could do to protect her from this. She would face them too.

Edward

Bella had danced around Élisabeth for the rest of the day, speaking to her in halted French. The girl praised Bella's excellent skills which truly made her glow with pride. As happy as she was now, I had seen the sense of doom on her face during the conversation about the Russians. I know Bella and I know that she is completely convinced that there will be a battle to the death. She won't take anyone's reassurance seriously, and sometimes I wonder if I'm just being naive in hoping Carlisle is right.

Interesting enough, we found out both Adrianna and Gabriel did have powers, but they had refused to use them in front of anyone. They never wanted anyone to try and control them. Adrianna was the living foundation of youth. Though it only worked on humans, she could speed up the aging process, or reverse it. Gabriel on the other hand had a power that someone like Aro would covet and seek out. He could freeze anything in time. I tossed a book in the air and with one wave of his hand he stopped it mid-fall. In amazement I went over and pulled the book from space.

"Do me! Do me!" Emmett jumped up and down. Gabriel shrugged and waved his hand again. There was big brawny Emmett stuck in place.

"If you knock it from its place in time though, it...he will unfreeze." He pushed Emmett

"Did it work? Did it?" Emmett was looking around confused and trying to balancing himself.

"Did you feel anything?" Carlisle asked intriguingly.

"Not at all. That is too cool. I wish I had a power!"

"How much can you freeze at once?" I asked.

"Immediately? Just one at a time; I have to be concentrating on it. But I could hold a freeze on many things at once." He stood tall and proud of his gift now that he could share it.

I saw his French accent making Bella melt. My wife was the most ridiculous romantic sometimes. "Maybe I should just speak to you in French from now on," I whispered in her ear poking her side.

"Well we know who the ultimate test is, don't we?" Rosalie sauntered over to Bella pushing her in front of Gabriel.

Bella readied herself and suddenly with a flick of Gabriel's hand, she stood there, unmoving.

"Wow." Emmett stood in front of Bella, his hand waving in front of her face. Sticking his tongue out at hers.

Gabriel knew how powerful Bella was and looked at his hands in awe.

"Could you unfreeze my wife now?"

"Oh yeah, sorry."

Emmett was still in her face when she unfroze. "For Christmas sakes Emmett! If I wasn't already dead you would have just scared me to my grave!" Then she realized what happened. "Oh, so I guess that means it worked."

I could see the defeat in her eyes. Her all powerful ability had been thwarted. "It's okay, it's the same reason you're not immune to Jasper's power either. It's only the mental abilities you can block." I tried to calm her down.

When night finally came the group had to say goodbye, they were trying to travel as much in the dark as possible. I thought I saw Bella's lip quivered as she promised Élisabeth that we would visit them in Canada.

In the early hours, long after Renesmee had fallen asleep, we laid in bed after making love. Bella had something on her mind, as always, and it was killing me not to know what it was.

"Are you going to tell me what you're thinking about?" I stroked her bare body in awe of its beauty.

"Fine, but you won't like it," she warned. "We know we have the French on our side right? If they left the safety of Anatoli and warned us, they can be trusted. Right?"

"I suppose, yes, we have gained more friends."

"Gabriel's ability is immense. In the future, if we ever had to face them again..." She didn't say their name, but I knew who she was talking about.

"The Volturi."

She cringed like I had struck her. "He could freeze Jane and Alec. We could take out the rest of them. Maybe his freeze would even work on Renata." She was referring to the shield the Volturi had on their side. Unlike Bella, her shield was physical and not mental and her job was to protect the ancients.

"Your military planning is as foolproof as Jasper's, he was thinking the same thing when I told him about it later. We will not confront them though, Carlisle will never allow it. There needs to be some type of fear bestowed on the other vampires to keep order and we can't do that-- we won't do that."

"But if it comes down to it, we could win, Edward."

My Bella, my queen, was ready for a fight to the death. Would it be as easy as she pictured it being? Would there be a day that the Volturi takes it just one step too far. The prophecy ran through my head. Perhaps this was a destiny set in motion long before our time. But it was too much to consider at the moment, being that I was lying next to the most perfect woman on earth, our skin touching in every place possible. I rolled on top of her and brought her lips to mine. There would always be something, but for now, there was just us.

A/N: Those of you who were wary about Anatoli are observant. I'm not trying to make him out to be a bad guy. He is not supposed to be another enemy, just a thorn. Like many of their kind, he put his coven first, end of story. This chapter and the last one are also attempts to introduce more of Renesmee and Jacob because that's what my next story is based on.