Disclaimer: All characters and things associated with The Twilight Saga belong to Stephanie Meyers and Summit Entertainment. This writing is for pure entertainment only.
Summary: First in my own series set after Breaking Dawn. Set seven years after Breaking Dawn. After unforeseen circumstances, Renesmee Cullen is gone, but can her family bring her back and does she even want to be found?
CHAPTER 24
Jacob slowly opened the door to the room that Renesmee was resting in. He was hesitant about waking her up if she was asleep, but he had to check on her. He was relieved when he opened the door and she was sitting up on the bed, with her knees pulled up closer to her, her eyes staring out the window.
"Ness?" Jacob asked softly, closing the door behind him as he entered.
Renesmee turned to face him, her blonde curls falling over her shoulder. She could tell her roots were growing out; she would have to dye her hair soon or risk that same strange color locks her father possessed. "Yeah?"
"How are you feeling?" Jacob eased himself onto the bed next to her, unsure if he should touch her, he gently patted her back, almost awkwardly.
"You mean for a druggie?" Renesmee snorted, laughing slightly at herself as she shook her head.
"You're not a druggie." Jacob told her. "None of this…was in your control…"
"Well…I did take the stuff." Renesmee said.
"To help save your family." Jacob reminded her, and then nudged her a little. "You'll be okay. You're strong."
"You think?" Renesmee looked up at him, her mischievous grin on her face as she pushed Jacob down on the bed and began kissing his neck.
"No..not in here…Ness…" Jacob did all in his power to pull Renesmee off of him. He knew the Cullen's had good hearing.
"But…I am not going through a withdrawal right now. Who knows how sane I'll be in a few hours?" Renesmee joked.
Jacob laughed as she allowed him to sit up. "There is nothing more I want…then to be with you…but right now…"
"I know, I know…"crazy-druggie half-vampire-girlfriend-who-could-break-your-neck" over here." Renesmee pointed to herself. "Sex could be dangerous."
"Not to mention the house full of vampires…" Jacob teased back.
"Oh right…they can hear better then Charlie used to…" Renesmee said, but her smile faded as she said Charlie's name.
"Speaking of…old living arrangements…" Jacob started.
"I don't really want to talk about it." Renesmee stood, pacing the room a bit. She felt fidgety, no doubt a side-effect of the withdrawal.
"Well…we kind of need to." Jacob told her. "I mean…right now…you can't really be alone."
"No shit." Renesmee glared at Jacob, a hand on her hip. "Is it hot in here?"
"No hotter than usual." Jacob told her, noticing she was starting to sweat a bit. "Nessie, maybe sit down?"
Renesmee nodded, plopping herself down on the bed next to Jacob, laying out and closing her eyes.
"We can talk about this later, Nessie…" Jacob stood. "When you feel better."
"No. No." Renesmee shook her head, opening her eyes. "I'll be fine. It will pass."
"You sure?" Jacob asked.
"Yeah." Renesmee nodded, sitting up again. "But there isn't much to talk about. Like you said, I can't be alone right now."
"So what are you going to do?" Jacob asked.
Renesmee shrugged. "I guess…stay here for a little. I know I don't really have any other choice anyway…they aren't going to let me leave right now." She motioned to the door, indicating she meant all of the Cullen's.
"It won't be so bad…" Jacob said, a half smile on his face. "Your family doesn't suck as much as you think."
"I guess I'll find out…" Renesmee sighed, standing up and stretching before kissing Jacob on the forehead and then moving toward the door. She needed to get out of the little room for a little bit.
Esme, Alice, and Rosalie were already upstairs in the spare bedroom closes to Bella and Edward's; the spare room that would be Renesmee's bedroom. Esme and Rosalie were already busy measuring the walls for furniture while Alice sat on the floor, quickly flipping through a magazine, looking for things to order for her niece's room.
"Do you think she will want to be so close to Bella and Edward?" Rosalie asked.
"She doesn't have a choice." Esme said. "We can't put her downstairs…"
"Plus she is the only one who sleeps anyway." Alice reminded her blonde sister.
"Still…right next to your eternally teenage parents? Doesn't sound like fun…" Rosalie said, tossing the tape measure on the floor next to Alice.
"She will have to make it work for now." Esme said, glancing down at Alice and the magazine in her hand. "Alice…she does have stuff at Charlie's…"
"And I am sure it was wonderful furniture…for Charlie's taste…but he wasn't exactly Martha Stewart." Alice said.
"Still…if Renesmee wants to bring that stuff here she is welcome to. We should ask her before we order much of anything." Esme said.
"Yeah…what if she doesn't plan on staying here long anyway?" Rosalie asked the question that had been on everyone's mind. The question no one wanted to ask.
"Of course she would stay." Esme said.
Rosalie raised an eyebrow. "Well…for now…she has no choice. She needs Carlisle to keep an eye on her…but when she gets over this withdrawal thing…why would she stay?"
"Because we are her family." Alice said. "We are all she has…"
"She has Jacob." Rosalie said. "I mean, I don't want her leaving anymore than anyone else, but she does have other options. She barely knows us…"
"She will get to know us." Esme said. "And when she does, she will realize she wants to stay."
"Come on, Esme…I mean you have known her way longer then I have and I can still tell she isn't fond of us…" Rosalie said.
"She takes a while to warm up." Esme said. "That's all."
"Well, then we better start working on her. If she walks out, it would devastate Bella and Edward." Alice said.
Esme nodded. "We just have to make her feel at home. Starting with asking her if she wants her old furniture here…"
Alice huffed and rolled her eyes, clearly not satisfied with what Esme was saying but knowing she had no choice; Esme was right in this particular instance. Alice just hoped Renesmee was not as sentimental as Bella was when it came to keeping old, outdated, cheap things; like that terrible red Chevy Bella used to have.
Carlisle, Jasper, and Emmett all sat silently next to each other on the long couch in the Cullen's living room. Emmett's hands head was in his hands, as if he were trying to wrap his mind around anything, while Carlisle's were covering his mouth, occasionally wiping down his face as if to snap himself back into reality. Jasper sat still, as a statue would, reading the emotions of Carlisle and Emmett.
"Can both of you stop beating yourselves up?" Jasper finally asked. He could feel it; Carlisle was guilty for not figuring out what was wrong with Renesmee sooner, for keeping Renesmee from her family, for Charlie's death, for everything. Emmett felt guilty for allowing Renesmee to take the venom, for taking his niece to the Volturi, for almost getting them all killed. The thing that Jasper didn't get is how either man thought everything was entirely their fault.
"Renesmee has a long road ahead of her…" Carlisle said.
"And we put her on it." Emmett added. "Why wouldn't we beat ourselves up about it?"
"Because it's not your faults." Jasper said. "Both of you did what you thought was the right thing for this family…you tried."
"I know it will take a long time for you all to forgive Esme and I for what we did…" Carlisle sighed. "But I am sure, someday, you will understand…"
"Believe me, everyone does." Jasper said, and he meant it; he could read everyone's emotions and even Bella and Edward were no longer angry at Carlisle and Esme.
"Anyway…you two kept her alive…Rosalie and I almost killed her." Emmett punched himself quickly in the head. "Shoulda known better."
"No one knew the effects the venom would have on her." Carlisle reminded Emmett.
"Still…" Emmett shrugged.
"It doesn't matter." Jasper said. "She is alright. Renesmee is one tough kid."
Carlisle laughed a little. "She certainly is…but right now, she is also vulnerable." The gears in Carlisle's head shifted from upset grandfather to doctor automatically. "With the vampire in her…even the little bit she is…her personality is much more addictive then a human."
"Why is that?" Emmett asked.
"It's in our nature to be addicted to things…blood, sex…give it years to develop right…its what we are." Jasper gave a small little grin.
"Jasper is right." Carlisle said. "We are easily addicted because our lives depended on it; that drive for more of whatever substance we think makes us feel alive…"
"So Renesmee is going to be on a super, huge withdrawal?" Jacob asked, slowly making his way out into the living room.
Carlisle looked up at the wolf and nodded. "She will need to be monitored…extremely closely."
"Shouldn't be too hard…if we can keep her here." Jasper said.
Jacob snorted. "That alone will be difficult enough. Trust me, Nessie is used to doing what she wants."
"Well, it is a must." Carlisle continued. "Renesmee will have to be weaned off of the venom. Taking her off it completely would be too risky…especially with the strength she has. It could get dangerous."
"Wait, so we are going to put more venom back in her?" Jacob asked. "But it almost killed her…"
"Yeah it did." Emmett nodded violently.
"It's the only way to get her off of it for good…without destroying her." Carlisle said. "A little a day…less and less each time…it won't kill her. I will monitor her, and Jasper, I will want you around her a lot…to control her temper and keep her calm."
Jasper nodded. "That won't be a problem."
"She won't be able to finish the school year out." Jacob realized; knowing it would crush Renesmee to be kept away from her friends that long. He could tell she felt bad enough cutting them off the past few weeks, but with so much happening, she had no choice. He also wanted her to try and get some normalcy back in her life, and school was normal for her; now Renesmee did not even have that.
"I will have Esme call…figure that part out. We can't worry about any of that now." Carlisle said. "We need to focus on Renesmee."
Jacob nodded after a moment, taking a deep breath. He knew Carlisle was right; Renesmee's life would be a little more complicated for a little while longer before anyone could help her start to pull the pieces back together again.
Edward and Bella made their way outside to the front porch of the house. Edward, knowing everyone was now safe and things would be okay, wanted to talk to Bella about everything that had gone on and what was in store for them.
Edward gently took Bella's hand, leading her to look out over the woods that surrounded the secluded house.
"How are you doing?" Edward asked, softly.
Bella seemed to stifle a bitter laugh. "How do you think I am doing?"
"Fair enough." Edward nodded, looking forward. He remained silent for a moment and then cleared his throat. "It's all going to be okay, you know."
Bella turned toward her husband. "How can you say that? Edward, the daughter we thought we lost seven years ago is back in our lives for a little less than three months and we have practically gotten her killed how many times?" She motioned back toward the house for emphasis. "Nessie is never going to forgive us."
"That's not true." Edward told her. "We have eternity to make this right with her, and we will."
Bella sighed, shaking her head. "Things just got so complicated so fast…"
Edward pulled Bella in close to his body, kissing her head slightly. "When has life with me every not been complicated?"
Bella looked up at her husband. She knew what Edward was doing; he did it here and there. He was blaming himself for turning Bella, for damning her to an eternity with him, and she hated when he did that. "I don't regret a single second of every being tied to you, Edward Cullen. Don't you start thinking any differently."
Edward just nodded, but remained silent.
Bella sighed again. "What if Renesmee doesn't want to stay here?"
"She has to. At least for now." Edward had heard Carlisle's thoughts earlier, about how Renesmee had no choice but to stay. "Carlisle needs to keep an eye on her."
"But it doesn't mean she has to stay under our roof for him to do that." Bella said. "And Renesmee seems pretty determined to get as far away from us as she can…"
"She has nowhere to go." Edward said. "And she is our daughter. We are not going to lose her again, I promise you."
"I couldn't bare it." Bella admitted. "Not again. Not when I know she is alive now. She can hate me forever, as long as I know she is safe."
"She isn't going to hate you forever." Edward tried to assure his wife.
"You don't know that…" Bella sighed.
"Yes I do." Edward caught his fingers under Bella's chin and lifted her eyes to meet his. "Because you are impossible to hate, Mrs. Cullen."
Bella smiled a little at Edward's comment. Despite the fact that she was still upset with everything that had gone on with Renesmee, Bella could always find relief, comfort in Edward. "I guess we will see…"
"Yes we will." Edward told her. "Nessie will get used to us again, Bella. We just have to give her the chance…we have the whole summer to change her mind…"
"If she decides to stay." Bella reminded her husband again.
"Well, her choices are very limited at this time…" Renesmee's voice was loud, coming from behind her parents.
Both Bella and Edward turned to see Renesmee leaning against the open doorframe of the front door, her arms folded across her chest and her hair pulled up in a loose ponytail. She looked frailer then the first time they had seen her, but much better then she had a few hours ago.
"So…uh…looks like I'll be sticking around…for a little…" Renesmee kicked imaginary dirt off the steps, careful to look at her feet instead of her parents.
Bella stood, shocked at the calm demeanor Renesmee was giving off; almost as if the girl were shy.
"So…um…I could probably use some help…moving some stuff over from Charlie's place…" Renesmee slowly looked up, making eye contact with her parents. "I'm not sure how long I'll be…you know…messed up…or going through withdrawal…or whatever…but I feel good now. I'd like to move some stuff before I feel like crap."
"Sure." Edward nodded. "I'll go get Emmett. I am sure he would love to help."
Renesmee gave her father a small, grateful smile, as he walked past her and into the house, leaving Bella and Renesmee on the front steps alone.
"Uh…look…" Renesmee said to Bella, after a moment of silence. "You should know…I don't…I don't hate you." Renesmee took a deep breath. "I mean…I don't particularly like you…but I don't hate you." She looked away from Bella, running a hand through her hair, flipping her bangs up over her head in a messy style that resembled Edward's. "That's all I can give you for now."
Bella nodded slowly unable to hide a small smile, understanding how much Renesmee struggled to just say that. She would take that much from her daughter, for now, if that was all Renesmee could give her. "That's more than enough."
Renesmee laughed a little to herself and then just nodded at Bella, turning back into the house.
Bella stood outside for a moment longer. She knew Renesmee had a long summer ahead of her, and that even after that, the entire family had a lot to work on. So many things had been lost, so many memories destroyed, so much disillusion since they had all thought Renesmee had been taken from them. Now that they were back, the Cullen's were going to have to work hard to be the family they once were; the family they had been when Renesmee was the highlight of everyone's day.
THE END