Balls to the wall. I'm wicked sorry that it's taken me forever to update! I had typed this chapter out and for the longest time, I thought I'd uploaded it and it turns out that I didn't… Which is awkward. Sorry and enjoy!

Chapter Forty-Four:

The Wise Words of Billy Shakespeare

Once Jake had shifted back into his normal form and had gotten some clothes from his house, the two of us retreated to my bedroom and ignored the calls from my family about apologizing. Jasper even held my arm lightly and looked at me with sad eyes but I just turned away and continued up to my room. We passed Dad on the way, coming out of his bedroom looking rather disheveled for someone who was usually always so clean and cut. I purposefully bumped into him as Jake and I entered my room.

We curled up on my bed, my laptop in front of us as we started working our way though the Harry Potter series. We finished the first movie and while Jacob was changing the disk in my laptop, I went down stairs to get us some snacks. I didn't even make it to the kitchen before I was ambushed by Mom and Alice.

"Renesmee, honey, we're sorry," Mom said, placing her hand on my shoulder.

I walked past her into the kitchen and Esme was standing there spooning sorbet into some bowls. She turned and looked at me for a moment before sticking spoons into the pink frozen dish and handing them to me. I took them without a word and turned around to bring them back upstairs, but all of a sudden, she and Carlisle were in front of me. Their brows were pushed together in a way that was so similar, it was almost like they practiced that look in the mirror together.

"What is it?" I whispered, the cold from the bowls seeping into my skin.

"We just wanted to apologize about earlier, sweetheart," Esme said, pushing my hair away from my face delicately.

I sighed quietly, biting my lip. "We were both out of line in how we dealt with Jacob. It was wrong. We're sorry."

It was hard to stay angry with my grandparents. They'd taken care of me more than my parents had when I was growing up, so I couldn't help but give them a small smile and allow them to hug me.

"It's okay," I said into Carlisle's shoulder, putting the bowls on the counter so I could hug his torso tightly. "It's not really you that I'm mad at… It's-"

"Your father, we know," Esme said, stroking my hair softly before rubbing my back a few times. "Try not to be too harsh on him, though, Renesmee. You know he loves you. He was just trying to do what was best."

Carlisle's arms slipped from around me and I picked up the dishes once again. "Hard to believe that when he socked Jacob in the jaw without a second thought."

I started walking out of the kitchen, stopping in my tracks when Dad was standing right in front of me, a hurtful frown captured on his face. For a second, he looked like he was getting a worry wrinkle, but then I remembered he didn't age so instead, I just stepped around him and continued upstairs where Jacob was waiting, his hands tucked behind his head and his eyes closed.

"I brought sorbet," I said, settling back down in my spot and pressing myself against his warm body. He looked down at me with a smile and I looked up at him, mimicking his action before I gasped. "Oh, my God." I put the bowls down on the night table and carefully turned his face away from me. "You've got a bruise on the side of your face," I said, touching my fingers to his jaw ever so slightly. He winced at what was barely even touching him. "Does that hurt?"

He shook his head. "Oh, this little thing?" He pointed to the nearly black bruise that was capturing his usually extremely sexy and angular jaw. It looked slightly swollen. "Naw. This is nothing."

With one eyebrow raised, I pressed my fingers a little harder into his purpling skin. "Gah," he breathed out. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph." Jacob stared at me with a frown. "That hurt."

"I barely touched you." I took his arm when gave me a skeptical look and softly pressed my fingers into his skin. "That's how much I touched you."

"Oh…" He looked at his arm, than wrapped it around me. "Well, then, just try and not touch it."

I fit myself into his side, resting my head on Jacob's chest. We began the second movie in the series, looking at each other every once and a while. We didn't watch the third one so much as let it play while we were otherwise occupied. It was hard to be otherwise occupied, though, when your partner has a touch sensitive jaw. We were half way through the fourth movie when Jacob looked at me and said, "You know, Cedric Diggory looks like your dad…"

I snorted. "Yeah, and you're the love child of Lupin and Sacagawea."

"Hey, you never know. I could have been the little baby she carried around in her backpack."

"She didn't have a backpack. It was an early world baby carrier."

At that moment, Rosalie and Emmett came bursting into my room. "Oh, my God, Nessie, you'll never believe how much… Oh… My, God!"

"You can call me Jacob."

"Your jaw," she said, her non-existent motherly instinct taking over. She rushed over to him and turned his head to look at the side of his face. Jacob winced when her fingers touched his skin, but then leaned into her palm at the cool feel of her skin. "What happened?"

I tolled my eyes. "Dad punched him in the face."

"Someone had to," Emmett commented as Rosalie took Jacob's hand at pulled him off the bed to drag him down stairs.

I heard my family exclaiming and Mom said, "Jacob, what happened?"

"Ask your husband," Jake sneered and I closed my eyes sadly.

I felt the bed move, then Emmet's arms were around me and I leaned into his chest. "What happened, Nessie," He whispered, rubbing my arms comfortingly.

"Jacob phased in front of Kyle because he was acting like a jerk."

"Jacob was being a jerk?"

"No. Kyle." I opened my eyes and fiddled with the ends of my hair. "He was acting like the literal definition of an ass. Jacob was getting so mad, like really mad, and I think it was because he stopped phasing for so long. Like something that can't be held in anymore. Anyway, Jacob was barking and howling at Kyle and when everyone came out to hold him back, he wouldn't calm down, so Dad punched him in the mouth."

Emmett nodded, but said nothing and only continued to rub my arms. Finally, he said, "I'll punch Edward for you, if you want me to."

I laughed once through my nose, pressing my face into his chest. "As much as I woud like that, Emmett…"

"Yeah, yeah, I understand. I'll just punch him because I feel like it, then."

"You do that."

I closed my eyes again, a tired sigh escaping me. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Not really. I'm really worried."

He hugged me even tighter. "It'll be okay. Don't worry unless you know you have a reason to."

"Can we change the subject?" I whispered, looking at him with sad eyes.

Emmett nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"How was babysitting."

"It was great!" Rosalie said, walking into the room with Jacob following behind her, an ice pack pressed to his jaw. "Lyle is so precious. The entire time, all she wanted to do was clime all over Emmett like a jungle gun and play dress up."

Rosalie sat down on the other side of Emmett. I patted the empty spot next to me for Jacob to sit down and soon, we were all piled onto my bed watching the fourth Harry Potter. For the next couple hours, once we'd gotten to the fifth movie, Rosalie, Emmett, Jacob, and I sat in silence, Rosalie reading the books at hyperspeed along with the movies. We watched the Hogwarts students grow and change, and I found myself thinking about Kyle, about Jake, and about my family. It was right around half way through the sixth movie when I realized I wasn't quite ready to forgive my family and I didn't think I would be for a long time.
~*~

I had a dream that night. I was under water, kicking my legs as hard as I could, trying to swim toward the surface, but no matter how fast I went, instead of getting closer, I just got farther and farther away. I was pushing my arms and legs until they burned, my lungs filling with water as I tried my hardest to breathe.

I woke up gasping for air, wrapped in Jacob's arms with Emmett and Rosalie still on m other side. "Are you okay, Nessa?" Jake asked, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

I gave no answer. I simply mumbled something incoherent and pushed the covers away, running out of the room as they called my name. My feet thundered on the stairs. I saw Claire and Annie sitting on the couch watching reruns of a TV show that I didn't recognize before I flew around the corner, halting in front of Carlisle's office. My knuckles tapped against the polished wood a few times and I waited patiently.

"Come in, Renesmee," he called, the sound of a smile ringing in his voice when I opened the door.

Unlike most times I'd seen Carlisle in his office, he was sitting in the big leather chair I usually found myself in, a book in his hands that he read at the same speed Rosalie read the Harry Potter books. When I walked up to him, he looked up form the book, allowing me to curl up in his lap with his arms wrapped tightly around me. I rested my head on his chest, my ear pressed against the place where his heart should have been beating. When I was younger, I used to take his stethoscope and try to listen for his heart beat, hoping that maybe my family could one day be alive.

"What's wrong, pumpkin?" he said, resting his chin on my head. My arms hugged his torso, searching for comfort. "Another bad dream?"

"I was drowning," I mumbled into his soft, blue button down that smelled like fresh laundry. "I kept trying to swim to the top, but that just made me go down further until I literally couldn't breathe."

Carlisle's arms tightened around me. I felt protected and safe from the dream that was still floating around in my mind. I closed my eyes. Carlisle started speaking very quietly. I recognized his words right away. Helena's speech in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act I, Scene I. "Things case and vile/ Folding no quantity/ Love can transpose to form and dignity/ Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind."

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to push out the memory o the dream. Carlisle kept whispering Helena's soliloquy, until he stopped suddenly. "Renesmee?" I said nothing, only shifting slightly to let him know that I'd heard him. "Why is it that you never talk to your father?" I frowned. "Why do you come to me with your questions?"

"I feel like Edward wouldn't understand," I whispered, addressing my father by his name for the first time in my life.

"I think he'd understand more than you think, love.'

"Yeah, how?"

Carlisle tilted my chin until I was looking at him. "When we lived back in Forks, he had a love problem with your mother and Jacob."

I nodded. "I know, I know, but I just… It's different."

"I suppose so." I let out a shuddery sigh, my head falling against his chest. "Sleep, Renesmee," he whispered, continuing to whisper Helena's monologue into my ear.

I fell asleep almost instantly.
~*~

"What is she doing? Why is she in here?"

I recognized Dad's voice when I suddenly jumped from sleep. I kept my eyes closed.

"She had a bad dream," Carlisle said, who still had one arm around me while the other once held a book he was scanning.

I heard Dad sigh. "Why didn't you come to me?"

Carlisle chuckled once. "I suppose it's because she thinks you wouldn't understand and she is still angry with most of the family, especially you." Dad groaned loudly in frustration. "You can't really blame her, Edward," Carlisle said in a calm voice. "Have you seen Jacob's jaw?"

"Yes, I saw it, but Carlisle!"

"Be quiet, son. She's asleep."

"Not anymore."

My eyes flashed open when Dad found me out and I sat up sleepily. "Good morning," Carlisle said, stroking my hair a few times.

"Is it really morning?" I croaked, my throat dry. Carlisle nodded and I climbed off his lap. "Oh," was the only thing I said before walking out of the office, deliberately avoiding my dad.

"Wait, Renesmee, I want to talk to you. I'm-"

He stopped talking when he realized I wasn't going to turn around. Jacob was sitting in the living room, eating breakfast with the girls, including Zoe, who was wearing a pair of plain jeans and a white long sleep shirt. A gray, zip-up hoodie kept her warm as she spun the tale of her night with Embry. I settled myself next to Jake, starting on the meal that had been set out for me.

"He took me out to dinner at The Rise, which I liked because it wasn't expensive. It was like a regular restaurant, and Embry knows more than anyone that I don't like fancy things."

Embry came in and stood silently behind her. I smiled. Zoe didn't realize he was behind her as she continued. "It was just really nice. He was so sweet and caring… He was polite."

"Do you like him?" Claire asked, grinning when Embry chuckled silently.

"Looking past the fact that we were meant to be soul mates…" Zoe blushed. "Yes, I do. I fell in love when him when all he did was hold my hand because he didn't want me to feel uncomfortable."

He then put his hands on her shoulders and bent down to press his lips softly to her cheek. "I love you, too, Zoe."

Her cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of pink when he held his hand out to her and the two of them walked from the room. I turned to Jacob. His jaw had turned from purple to an ugly shade of green and blue thanks to his fast heeling.

It doesn't hurt anymore," he said when he caught me staring.

"It doesn't?"

He shook his head once. "Naw. Rosalie just told me to keep the ice pack on it and soon, it would get better."

"Since when did you two become friends?"

Jacob looked to the ceiling with a thoughtful expression on his face. "We bonded over the break up." My eyebrow arched. "When you were holing yourself up in your room, Rosalie and I talked. It started with her yelling, really, but after a couple of visits, we learned that the two of us get along really well."

I sipped at my juice. "Oh, well… Oh." He chuckled at my loss for words. "It's weird to think about; you and Rosalie being friends… because of me."

Jacob reached over and took my hand when Dad passed through the dining room. I looked away, feeling his eyes burning into the side of my face as I focused all of my attention of Jacob.

"Hey, why not you and me spend the day together?" Jacob asked me, pushing my hair out of my face. "We can go out, see a movie, have some lunch. We can even go shopping if you want."

I smiled at him softly. "Yeah, that sounds awesome. I'll go get dressed."

He cupped my jaw in his hands, resting his nose against mine. "I love you, Nessa."

"I love you, too," I said, tilting my chin forward and pressing my lips to his with a smile.
~*~

A few days passed by. Three, to be exact, and I was currently wearing out of the outfits I'd gotten when Jacob and I went shopping when my phone started ringing loudly on my nightstand. I snatched it up and looked at the name on the screen.

Kyle.

"Holy shit," I said to myself, feeling my heartbeat pick up as I pressed the green phone button and slipped the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Do you know where the Lincoln Park Conservatory is?"

"Yes."

"Meet me there in an hour. In the green house."

Then, he was gone. Just like that, as if I didn't have an option in the matter. I hung up the phone, slipping it into the pocket of my skinny jeans before standing up. I adjusted my t-shirt that had a burst of flowers and blue on it before tying the laces to my shoes and trotting down stairs. I snatched my car keys from the little hooks by the door and headed to the garage where Emmett was holding up the side of Rosalie's car while she and Jacob were under it, cranking wrenches and talking about where the real problem was.

"Where are you going?" Emmett said, switching hands so he could face me.

"Lincoln Park Conservatory," I said, using the automatic lock on my car. "Kyle just called me and wants to meet there."

Jacob shot out from underneath the BMW to look at me. "What? He did? Do you want me to go with you?"

"No! That's a bad idea… I think I should just go alone."

"What if he does something?"

I rolled my eyes. "That's nice of you to be concerned, but what's the worst he could do? We're meeting in a public place and I'm stronger than him. I can handle myself, but thank you," I said, walking around my car to kiss him quickly before climbing into the Mustang and pulling out of the driveway.

I tapped my fingers nervously on the steering wheel the entire car ride there. My phone rang a couple times. I only picked up when Carlisle called. He was the last one to do so and I knew that when my phone stopped ringing that he'd passed along the message to the rest of my family. A sign on the highway whizzed past me saying that the park was only a few minutes away.

I let out a nervous sigh and pulled off the exit, weaving through cars who didn't seem to notice me before pulling into the parking lot and parking in an open spot. I climbed out and looked around the landscape nervously. My eyes landed on the greenhouse and I could see Kyle standing inside by a brilliant pink flower.

My hands started shaking. Slowly, I started walking across the parking lot and to where he was standing, spinning his car key around on his finger. I stopped in front of him and he looked up from his shoes to stare at me. I stared back, my hands trembling by my sides.

"Hi," he said after too long of a period of silence.

"Hi," I said back, biting my lip.

He let out a short sigh, running his fingers through his honey blond hair.

"Nessie… We need to talk."

Okay, so I hope you liked this chapter. I know it was short, but whatever. REVIEW!