CHAPTER 34 - A SWIM UNDER THE MOON

MESSAGE: The storyline was slowly turning into Thomas and June's love story, when it's really Renesmee and Jacob's, so this is a chapter to keep it in.

Please review this chapter if you like it. Any encouragement would be helpful.

Jacob

June took two sleeping pills before she finally fell asleep. I'll have to take the couch if I didn't want her to see a gigantic wolf snoozing on the first floor in the morning.

When I came downstairs, Bella, Nessie, Edward and Alice had drifted to the living room, except Esme, who I could hear refilling the refrigerator for me in the kitchen. I'll have to thank her when she came out. Edward and Bella were reading an encyclopedia I bought from last year's book sale up in Alaska. Alice examined the room's structure in distaste. And Nessie was holding a framed picture she took with me and her parents last summer in Jamaica on a family vacation.

She looked up to me and grinned. Helplessly enchanted by her magic as always, I grinned back.

I made my way to the couch and settled beside them. Bella and Edward gleamed at me, and I did the same, and Nessie wrapped her hands around mine. My already warm hands felt warmer by her touch.

Esme emerged from the kitchen. "Jacob, it's all done. I've also piled some vegetables on the kitchen table so you can use them for dinner later," she informed.

"Thank you so much, Esme," I thanked politely. She was always so kind to everyone in her surrounding. It took me a while to get used to it at first, but her unusual kindness was something to love. Even though I wasn't part of her family, she still treated me like one. And it sure was nice.

"You are as much part of our family as we are yours, Jacob," Edward answered my mind.

Creepy vampire. He looked away with a huge smile on his face.

"You know," Nessie murmured, taking my attention. "I feel bad for them. Tommy and June, I mean."

I frowned. Bella brushed her arm across my chest to comfort her.

"Me too, honey," she admitted. "Me too."

That reminded me. While we all listened to Tommy and June's conversation from the outside, I had no idea what they exchanged, because their conversation was in Chinese. My knowledge base did not involve Chinese interpretation.

"You're not the only one, Bella, Emmett, Jasper and Alice didn't understand either," Edward added and then explained. "He was telling her what happened that night when his family died, what he went through as a vampire, and then he told her to leave."

I snorted humorlessly. "I understood that part much."

Somehow June and Tommy's conversation brought back some old memories. It took a moment to realize the reason. Bella and Edward went through the same pain 8 years ago. He left her in Forks to keep her safe from his world and ended up breaking down her soul completely. We hadn't talked about it since Nessie was born, but those memories still lingered.

Tommy had done the same damage to June that Edward once did to Bella. June wasn't like Bella, of course, but from the way Jasper frowned at her pain, it was easy to tell she was devastated.

Edward frowned at my memory, and I dismissed it immediately.

Nessie touched my face. Her desire for quality time compelled me to leave the house, if June wasn't sleeping in my room upstairs and I have to watch over her.

"Bella, Alice, Esme, what do you say we watch over June while Nessie and Jake take a walk?" Edward suggested, picking through my brain again.

"Actually, I'm heading back to Jasper, gotta help him keep an eye on Thomas," Alice rejected.

"I could watch June," Esme offered.

Edward looked at Bella. They shared silent grins.

"Sure, no problem," she agreed. Edward's grin grew.

Nessie immediately rose from the couch and walked around me to hug her parents then Esme.

"Thank you," she murmured and added. "We'll be quick. 30 minutes or so."

Bella sighed. "I'll give you 1 hour, okay?"

Nessie's smile grew wider. She impulsively bent down to hug Bella again.

"Thank you, Mom."

Edward rolled his eyes. "Don't I get a hug, too?"

"Of course." And he did. "Thanks, Dad."

Alice left the house before us. She was eager to get back to Jasper and help him with Tommy. I hoped everything will be all right for his sake.

When we left the porch, Nessie pulled her hand out of mine, and before I knew it, she met me swept off my feet. I was instantly in her arms, and I was completely impressed and amazed. I burst into a peal of laughter at the glorious strength exhibited from her arms. I was twice her size and probably twice as heavy, and yet she carried me like I was merely a large backpack. She was so strong, so powerful, and so excessively exquisite.

"You swept me off my feet," I mumbled.

She laughed with me.

"Is that a bad thing?" she wondered.

I shook my head. "No, it's an impressive thing."

She giggled.

"Then you better prepare to be amazed, cuz I have an idea where I wanna go and I'm gonna carry you there."

"Whoa!"

Her arms moved so fast there was no way to see what she was doing until my body swung 10 feet up in the air. I could see her bend her body as I fell down toward her. The glamorous hair shined as a sudden gust of wind blew it across her back and shoulders. When I fell into her back, she bounced her feet to keep my body from throwing her off balance, and ran her arms around my thighs at the same time, clenching them perfectly around her waist.

I giggled, completely amazed by her perfection.

"You better hold on tight, little poodle," she teased, and then ran into the dark forest. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and neck, careful not to wrap too tightly.

It began to snow by the time she jumped agilely up toward a thick treebranch. She reached it with her arm and threw up further up before our excessive weight became too much for it to balance. Everytime she released one arm to grab a tree branch, she clenched to my leg with another arm. Her feet kicked us further up with little effort.

By the time we stopped on a branch that looked thick enough to manage us both, we were three stories off the ground.

"You're heavier than I thought," she breathed.

"You want me to get off?" I asked, half-teasing.

Her eyebrows creased together, but her grin did not fall. "Don't you dare." she warned.

I smiled. She jumped into the darker depths of the forest, holding me onto her all the time. The darkness wasn't enough to cloud her sight, or mine. Even in human form, my eyes were highly improved. We flew through the forest with her jumping from one tree branch to another, always moving forward to make sure our weight didn't become too much. Every time we flew, she grabbed one of the branches above to push us forward. I could feel us missing the trees by inches. And all I could do was observe the gracious movements of this wonderful creature. The snowflakes fell down on us as we flew and stuck to our heads and shoulders before they melted into our pores. I found myself smiling at the occasion. It was like everything fell into place in this exact time. It was all meant to happen on this night. The moment could not be more perfect. And most importantly, she could not be more perfect.

We were out of the woods after around 15 minutes. Landing on the snow 20 feet from the forest, we reached a small, round frozen lake. It continued to snow.

I jumped off Nessie's back and inhaled the cold fresh air in through my lungs. The faint smell of water and icy cold brushed across my face. I was instantly peaceful as the silence touched me; all worries lifted off my shoulders - not that I had much anymore after my dad's passing last year. Even though I was sad, and endlessly in pain at the time, there was one person who saved me from that dark depth.

Nessie walked down the snowy ground until she reached the icy lake and then turned around to look at me. Her face, her flowing hair and her beautiful brown eyes flashed at me through the darkness. It was like she was glowing. So beautiful, so seductively graceful, and so absolutely perfect. I tried to breathe, but it felt like a choke.

"How'd you find this place?" I asked, hiding my breathing disorder.

"Last year, Uncle Emmett showed me this place when we went hunting," she admitted.

She unwrapped the homemade bracelet, put it on the snowy ground, then she raised her arm and, before I could make out what she was doing, she slammed on the thick ice. It made a cracking sound the same time it made a huge circular hole, the freezing water splashed upward as Nessie's hand and the broken ice pieces sank in under.

I was utterly impressed with her strength and observed in admiration before she took off her shoes and socks. When she moved on to her jacket and blouse, I realized what she was doing and my respiration froze. My heart pounded as loud and fast as a car engine, and my blood pumped with more heat than usual. I didn't think it was possible. How was that possible? It didn't bother me that I had no answer.

The snow ceased when she removed her pants. My eyes froze in place and examined every feature of her beautiful body. So sexy, so beautiful, so perfect. My head started spinning, like the world itself was spinning around me.

Edward and Bella will probably kill me when they find out how I observed their daughter, but I didn't care.

Clear moonlight suddenly burst through the night clouds and shone down on her. Her pale skin flashed a clear white color. It was almost like her skin could reflect both to sunlight and moonlight. Someone as beautiful and perfect as she must be a goddess.

She flashed a smile at me, making her even more beautiful.

"Join me for a swim, please?" she asked and moved a finger.

I walked toward her as if my feet were bound by countless ropes. Every step I took, my heart jumped impulsively faster, and yet I felt peaceful. She had control over my entire being. I was hers.

I stopped about 7 feet away from her and automatically took off my clothes, dropping them on the snowy ground.

Nessie smiled as her eyes examined my boxer shorts.

"'Burgundy red', sexy," she complimented.

I gleamed. She touched my shoulder, jumped up and kissed me. Then she turned around and dove into the ice-cold water.

I laughed for a short second, and then took a deep breath, held it and jumped in.

The darkness underneath the ice was much thicker than I had expected, the surface was only slightly more luminous, and the water temperature was much lower than I anticipated. It wasn't enough to freeze me, though. I tried to see through the darkness underneath to find Nessie. It was too thick, though. I couldn't see to make out anything, but there was another instinct that I trusted. More than my heightened senses, more than the wolf in me.

I swam further away from the open hole, following the magnetic pull that guided me through the darkness. The intense pull increased and I knew I was in the right direction, so I reached out with my hand. Then another hand touched mine. There was no other way to describe the completion brought by her touch.

Suddenly I could see her much more clearly. Not really with my own eyes, more like with my inner eye. It was like she used some sort of magical power for me to see better.

She leaned in and kissed me, and then swam in another direction, pulling me with her. I swam willingly with her toward another side of the lake, keeping close to the iced surface all the time. When my lungs began to burn, I knew I had to breathe and there wouldn't be enough time to make it back to the hole, so I unwillingly released Nessie's hand and turned to the ice above. As my head turned up, water began to fill in. Blowing out the burning air to distract the impulsive water, I focused all of my strength on my arm and punched open the thick ice and grabbed the edges to pull myself up. As soon as my nose came out of the water, I took in the cold fresh air that relieved my lungs.

Nessie came up right after me and took in her breath. Water dripped from her long hair strings and yet she was beautiful.

She touched my face. Sorry I forgot to crack another hole.

"It's okay, it's not your fault. Besides, we're breathing now, right?" I assured her.

She placed her hand on my shoulder and pulled herself up. I lowered my head to kiss her.

She pulled back after a few seconds. Her smile gleamed brightly with the reflective moonlight, and touched me again. Follow me.

I dived in after her. It was much easier to see her now, like the moonlight was glowing through the ice. Nessie did not swim in another direction, instead she swam around me. Her legs, arms, and body twirled around swiftly as she swam like a mermaid: I observed with full attention as she danced. Her eyes focused on me the whole time.

Nessie ran her fingers through my hand and asked me to dance. I ran my other hand through hers to show her my acceptance. Her lips lit up in a huge grin.

Music played in her head. Her warm hands drew me toward her and twirled me around in a circle. It didn't bother me that she was the one leading or that we sank deeper into the lake; I was having too much fun dancing with her. Nessie reached out with her free arm and leg to make a swinging move. Occasionally we went up to the surface to catch fresh air, but otherwise we remained mostly underwater.

She pulled away her hand and swam as she twirled around alone, dancing as gracefully as a blue-tailed mermaid. Her arms and body moved gracefully like a ballet dancer, even her long legs stretched with her toes. It was impossible to believe that there will ever be another creature as graceful as she. It was like she was sent to this world to make everything good and pure. Her magic was irresistible.

If there really was a God up there, then I was utterly grateful to him for sending down this angel to me. And to Bella, and Edward, and everyone else. She made Charlie, Seth, the Denalis, and even Tommy love her in no time. She was the most exquisite creature, ever.

"Wow, you're so amazing," I complimented when we came up to the surface again.

She grinned. "Thanks, you're not so bad yourself." Then she reached up to touch my soaked hair. "Almost time for a haircut, I'd say." Her hand moved down to my chin. "And maybe a shave."

I smiled hugely. "Yeah, I guess so."

Her hand moved slowly down my neck and my shoulder, and finally my chest.

Then, she reached up to kiss me. I automatically put my arm around her waist to assist her.

This time, she kissed more tenderly. I started to crave for more, it felt too good.

But even though I wanted her as much as she wanted me, I had to keep up the good boyfriend character for both of us. And that meant knowing when and where to put boundaries, even though it would make me anxious.

I pulled away before I could have second thoughts.

"We should get back now," I suggested in a reluctant voice.

She frowned, but nodded agreeingly. "Yeah, you're right." Then she smiled grimly. "Hey, would you say no to a little bet on the way home?"

I grinned. "Oh, bring it on."

We climbed out of the freezing water and held each other's hands while walking back to where our clothes lay waiting.

"Okay, we'll each find a prey on the way home. The biggest size wins, or if one of us catches a prey then the catcher wins. Oh, and if I win, I get to do your hair."

My eyebrows creased together. "And if I win?"

She smiled stunningly. "You get to decide activities on our next date."

I laughed.

Her body was still soaking wet when she put on her clothes again, but her advanced temperature will dry out the waters by the time we got back to the house. I ran straight into the dark woods, hid behind some thick trees, and made sure Nessie wasn't looking before taking off my underwear and phased.

Nessie waited by the lake with my clothes in her arms. When I came out of the trees, she took the shorts out of my mouth. "I'll carry these until we find a prey. C'mon, don't want you to fall behind."

With that, she darted into the forest with me trailing behind her. Her glorious hair blew like delicate silk, it was hard to focus on the hunt.

We sniffed the whole way to find a prey. When the fragrance of a stag reached my nose, I ran away from my girlfriend to follow the trail. The prey made a break for the escaping route, but I caught him before he could run 10 feet and sank my teeth straight into his neck, breaking it fast and easily. Then I followed my scent back to Nessie, with the stag in my mouth. Surprisingly enough, she waited for me, her lips lifted in a huge smile. It took a second to notice the dead stag laying a few feet away from her.

Comparing its size with my dead stag, it looked 1/5 larger.

Oh, crud.

"I win," she declared victoriously. "I get to cut your hair and shave your stubble."

I laughed - or rather, barked. It didn't matter who won, as long as we were both having a good time. While Nessie drained the stags, I took my clothes to hide behind some trees to phase. By the time I came out again, she was done.

She checked the watch and informed. "We better speed back to your house if we're gonna get back in time."

I nodded agreeingly and held out my hand. She stared at me for a short moment with a smug expression. Then, before I knew it, a force moved my body and then I was on her back. Her impressive speed and agility sent a giggle straight up my throat.

"We do have to get back in time, and you're only half as fast in human form, so it's better to let me carry you," she explained, but it was easy to recognize her teasing tone.

I didn't mind at all. It was satisfying to see her smile.

It began to snow again before she broke into a run. We were back at the house within 10 minutes. Bella and Edward waited at the door. Their faces lifted up into gleaming smiles.