Chapter 21 – Auld Lang Syne

Jacob

I barely made it through Christmas. The Cullens invited me over to spend Christmas Morning with them like I had since Nessie was born, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So I phased and ran the perimeter all day. I didn't even go over for Christmas Dinner. I couldn't decide if knowing where she was made me feel better or worse.

Edward and I had decided that the day after Christmas we would drive down and see if he could find her, check her thoughts and see how she was doing. I actually had never been to Portland. Dad isn't much of a traveler, and since the whole wolf thing, I've been pretty confined to the Res.

We left early in the morning and crossed the Interstate Bridge that connected Oregon and Washington. Traffic was pretty light because it was a Sunday and everyone was recovering from all of their holiday merriment. I was glad the weather was cooperating in that the sky was dark and Edward wouldn't be confined to the car. The ride down was awkward. Not a lot of small talk going on.

Edward took the 405 exit that dropped us onto the back side of downtown. He looked at me from the corner of his eye.

"This isn't the area where they caught her scent, but it is a good place for me to start. There are a lot of little districts here that she could be." We slowly made our way through the streets. There was a big open square, Pioneer Court House Square, where there was a large amount of homeless kids. I was secretly hoping that she avoided this area.

"I was just thinking the same thing." Edward smiled.

We made our way closer to the river. The Willamette River cuts Portland into two pieces basically. We had our choice of bridges to cross.

"We're going to take the Hawthorne Bridge because that is where Emmett and Jasper where. Hopefully I can get a read on her."

We crossed the bridge and dropped into a neighborhood where the income levels seemed to dip. It was full of old houses and business. It was nice though. I could see Nessie here. As we drove up the street, I saw Edward smile.

"I've got her."

He pulled over and I looked at him, anxious to hear, but scared at the same time.

"Is she ok? What's she doing?"

He smiled and looked at me. "She is reading. Jane Eyre. But her mind keeps drifting. She is thinking about you. Now she is looking around her house and wondering if you would like it. She is proud of herself." He paused. "I have never heard her be this way. She has changed a lot in such a short time." He went back to listening. "She is wishing that the two of you had a home. You are there in everything Jake. She has decided to go hunting. She is going up in the Mount Hood National Forest. I think we should head back. She will know we are here if we try to follow."

I nodded my head. We went back to the freeway and headed north. All the things that Edward had told me got me thinking. In the few short weeks that Nessie had been away, she had accomplished more that I had in the years. I had been using the pack as an excuse. Yes it was my job and my obligation, but I could have and I should have been preparing and building a life for Nessie and me.

I spent the trip in silence. There was really no point in talking to Edward about it, he knew what I was going over in my head anyway. When we arrived home, I thanked him for the ride. I was getting ready to leave when he stopped me.

"Jacob, would you mind stopping by tomorrow? I would like to talk to you about something, but I need to talk to the rest of the family first."

"Sure. What time?" I could never tell since they didn't sleep. I just hoped he wouldn't say the butt crack of dawn.

"About 9. And Jacob, everything will work out as it should. I have no doubt about it." He smiled and went into the house.

I ran home. Seth and Quil were waiting for me.

"So did you find her?" Seth jumped to his feet as soon as I opened the door.

"Yeah. She is right where Jasper said she'd be. She seems to be doing well." I smiled slightly, although I knew it was wrong for this to make me feel better. "She's missing me something bad."

Seth patted me on the back. "Of course she is."

Quil leaned back on the couch as I sat in the recliner by the door. "So what's the plan?"

I sighed. "Well as far as when she will be home, I agree now that we have to let her make up her mind. I hope it won't be long." I looked at them both and leaned forward placing my elbows on my knees. "In the meantime, I am going to need your help. I want to make some changes. I have to start to plan and build a life for Nessie and me. I want to get a home for the two of us. I need to get my own steady income. I just don't know how I'm going to fit it all in."

My Dad came wheeling into the living room. "I couldn't help but overhear son. I think I have an idea. Let me make a few calls."

I was stunned. And then I was pissed at myself. I was wishing I would have grown up and started thinking these thoughts a long time ago. If I had been on top of everything, I would have already had a house and money in the bank when Nessie and my relationship progressed. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I took the guys out to patrol so Dad could make his calls without me hovering. When I got back, he was grinning from ear to ear.

"Did you get good news?" God I hoped so because I could really use it right now.

"Yes I did, but I can't tell you yet. I do need you to take me with you when you go see Edward tomorrow though. I'll fill you in then."

"Dad, what's going on?" I felt completely left out of the loop.

"You have to wait. We still have some loose ends to tie up." He smiled and wheeled himself into the kitchen. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Nope."

"Good then make me dinner." I laughed and went in to fry us up a couple of burgers.

I could hardly sleep with the events of the day running through my head. Now that I knew where Nessie was when I closed my eyes, all I saw was her there. I wondered what she was doing; if she was in one of the businesses. Most importantly where she was laying her beautiful head and if she was dreaming of me. Then to top everything off, my Dad and Edward being all cryptic; it made me feel like I was blindfolded and standing in the middle of a really crazy circle of people. I finally fell asleep, but it seemed like seconds later that my alarm was going off.

I showered and got dressed. Dad was already dressed and ready when I came into the living room.

"Let's go," he said as he wheeled himself to the door.

We didn't talk at all on the drive over, but he had a stupid looking smile on his face. As I pulled to a stop in front of the house I looked at him.

"You better be careful not to cough up feathers from that canary you swallowed." I laughed, got out of the truck and helped him into his chair. Before I could get him into the house, Charlie's cruiser pulled up behind me. He got out and had the same stupid grin on his face.

"Morning Jake." He walked past me, put his hands on Dad's chair and wheeled him into the living room. I stood there on the porch for a second and then shook my head and entered the house.

When I got to the living room, I was kind of taken aback by what I saw. Charlie had wheeled Dad to the end of the large white couch, where he was setting next to Bella. Edward was next to her, with Jasper on his right. The Pixie was on the floor at Jasper's feet. In the chair beside me was Esme and Carlisle was behind her. She reached up and grabbed my hand. I looked down at her and she smiled up.

"Good Morning Jacob."

Emmett was standing behind the long couch and Blondie was behind him with her arms crossed. And finally, scattered around the room was my pack. Every single person in the room had the same goofy grin on their faces.

Carlisle motioned to the other chair in the room. "Have a seat Jacob." I crossed and sat, half expecting something to come jumping out at me.

"Ok, I give. What's up?" I looked right at Bella. I knew she would be my best chance for letting me in on the secret.

"Billy why don't you and Dad start?" Bella looked at them and smiled.

Dad and Charlie looked at each other and Charlie motioned for Dad to begin. "Well after you got home and told the guys what you wanted to do, I got an idea. It doesn't seem right, all the work all you boys do to keep us safe, so I contacted the other elders and I have a business proposition for you. They want to offer you Frank Long's old garage at the edge of town. We will give you guys all the Reservation mechanic work and you can also take in private work too. Sue is working on grant money to help to equip it and get it fixed up. Well then I called Charlie." Dad pointed to Charlie for him to take over.

"As I'm sure you have heard Jake, the city of Forks is having money problems like anywhere else. Well the city controller decided last month that we can no longer keep a mechanic on staff full time. So we were going to be looking for someone to contract out to take care of the city vehicles. After Billy called, I got in touch with him and he agreed to contract with you. There should be enough work to put all these other knuckleheads to work too."

I couldn't believe it. It was the first sun break I'd seen in a long series of black clouds.

Bella smiled at me. "Wait Jake, that's not all." She looked to Carlisle and Esme.

"Jacob, as I am sure you remember, it is a tradition in this family that we provide private residences for the individual pairs." Carlisle smiled at me. "Well, Edward has informed us that it is time to start on said resident for you and Renesmee."

"What?" I wasn't sure what I was hearing.

Bella came and knelt in front of me. "Jake the family wants to build you and Nessie a home. We've found the perfect place. Far enough away from our cottage not to cause my darling husband any grief, and right on the edge of the Reservation."

"But doesn't that land belong to someone else?" I knew the property was large, but I wasn't sure how large.

Carlisle laughed. "We own all the 250 acres here Jake. We bought it when land prices were cheap. Our property actually comes within a half a mile of the treaty line."

I was in a daze. In a five minute period I had become a business and a homeowner. And the one person I wanted to share it with wasn't here. She filled my thoughts then, and I became excited of the possibilities of the life we could have together.

"I'd like to get with you this week and work on the plans Jake. You tell me what you want, and we'll get it all worked out." Esme looked almost as excited as I felt.

Bella jumped to her feet then and grabbed my hands pulling me up. "So do you want to see the spot neighbor?" She was pulling me towards the door, but I stopped. I turned and looked back into the room.

"Thank you. All of you. I promise that I will work hard and do everything in my power to make Nessie happy and give her a good life." I was fighting back emotions that seemed to be spilling out of me left and right these days.

Carlisle came up to me and took my hand. "You are our family. Don't you ever forget that. Now go see if you like the spot."

Bella, Edward, Jasper, Alice, Emmett, the pack and I took off running parallel with the creek. We had been running for about five minutes when we slowed. Up ahead of us was a clearing that hugged the bank of the creek. I looked to back to Bella.

"So what do you think? Perfect huh?" She was pretty proud of herself.

"Yes it is." I saw Nessie here. I suddenly had a vision of what our house would look like; Nessie and I setting next to the lake and maybe, just maybe, our children playing in the yard.

"Would you like a minute?" Edward placed his hand on my shoulder. I nodded and everyone left.

There was still about six inches of snow on the ground, but I had been by this spot plenty of times over the years. I stood by the creek and just let my mind drift to her.

"Can you believe it Baby? Our life is going to be great, I promise." I took a deep breath and then followed behind the others.

The next few days, the pack and I spent our time running patrols and working on the garage. It had three bays, two of which had operating lifts. It needed to be painted and there were no other tools or equipment. Sue told us she would have news on the grant money soon and in the meantime, we would all pool what we had from our own personal tool boxes.

On New Year's Eve, the pack and I had been invited over to the main house for some football in the snow and dinner. Esme and I were going to go over house plans. I was really looking forward to that. I had a vision of what I wanted and Nessie had told me over the years what her dream house would be. I refused to let it look like a Barbie house though. I drew the line at pink doors and shutters.

Since I was working on the plans the teams were uneven, so I sent Seth to go and ask Sam if he wanted to play. We had been designing the house most of the day, and Esme looked at her watch suddenly.

"Oh my, it is 4:30 already. I better get some dinner started." We had been working at the dining room table. I stood up and stretched, as Esme headed into the kitchen. Suddenly the doors to the back yard flew open and Seth was standing there with a huge smile on his face. Everyone else was pushing behind him to get into the house. He walked over to me and put both hands on my shoulders, looking directly into my eyes.

"Nessie just called me." I started to shake. "Jake she wants to come home."

I hugged him and then pulled back. "Is she on her way?"

Edward laughed behind him and hugged Bella.

"She plans on coming up for the day tomorrow. She is working two jobs and wants to give them notice before she moves home."

I smiled. Two jobs. That's my girl. Then something hit me.

"Seth you told her what happened? That I wasn't talking about her right?"

"Yeah, that is why she called me. She was afraid you were still mad at her. She has to work tonight, or I think she'd have been on her way by now." Seth looked down then.

"Where is she working?" Seth wouldn't make eye contact and Edward let out a quiet growl.

"She didn't want me to tell you, but I don't think it is any big deal. She's working as a cocktail waitress at some place called the Starlight. That's where she is tonight, but she also is working at a movie theater."

Jasper stepped forward. "The Bagdad?" he asked.

"Yeah"

Jasper just smiled and shook his head.

Alice ran forward to stand in front of me. "I have a great idea."

"I love it" Edward said behind her.

"Why don't we all get dressed and surprise her. We can be there in plenty of time."

I smiled and nodded my head. I'd see her tonight. She'd be in my arms tonight. I looked at my pack. "You guys want to come?"

They all had imprints they wanted to spend the evening with expect for Seth. So they went home, and Seth and I were escorted upstairs to shower and get ready. When I was done with my shower, Alice had set clothes out on the bed for me. I swear she has a hidden closet full of clothes in my size. I put on the black jeans, and white t-shirt. I pulled on a black pair of cowboy boots and pulled my hair back into a pony tail. I slid on the black sports coat and headed downstairs. Seth and the rest of the family were waiting for me. I looked at the clock and it was just before six.

Seth and I got into the Volvo with Edward and Bella, and the rest of the family piled into the Escalade. We were all laughing and reminiscing the whole drive. It was the best I had felt since before Thanksgiving. By the time we got into downtown, we had formulated a plan to help me be one hell of a romantic guy.

We got into the Hawthorne district at 11:45. We had driven around for a while, killing time to put the plan into place. We parked several blocks away from the Starlight and we could hear the music from where we parked. Edward stopped and we all looked at him.

"She is so happy. She is excited to see us."

We walked to the open door of the bar. The bottom half of the windows were painted black, but the top half was clear. We looked inside. Jasper held up Alice so she could see. There she was. She looked adorable. I had to concentrate on breathing so I wouldn't pass out. She was passing out champagne and she went to stand at the edge of the crowd as the countdown started.

"Go get your girl." Seth smiled at me and I made my way through the crowd. I saw a man come and stand behind her. She was smiling and talking to him. As the countdown ended, I was close enough to hear her say Happy New Year and the man behind her hit his champagne glass to hers just as I grasped her waist.

I turned her to me and lifted her so her face was even with mine. "One year down and infinity to go." I kissed her and she wrapped her hands around my neck and pulled me to her and her tears hit my cheeks. I pulled back and she smiled at me. "Sorry Baby, but I couldn't wait."

"Thank God." I set her down on the floor, but she didn't release her grasp around my neck. She pulled me to her and the whole room disappeared while through her hand on my cheek she sent me, I love you. I love you. I love you.

I pulled back and smiled down at her. "How long until your shift is done? There are more people who want to see you."

She looked around me and talked to the man who was standing behind us. "Brian, I'm taking my fifteen."