Year Six, Chapter Fifty-Two

Jake's 22nd Birthday

Renesmee's Point of View

It was Jacob's 22nd birthday. I know no one in the family really celebrated anyone's birthday anymore, except for mine, but I always gave Jake a gift each year. This year I had a whole day planned. With a little help from J. Jenks, I got my Jacob, well I got us, tickets to a football game. The Patriots were playing the Denver Broncos just two hours away in Foxborough, MA. I was hoping that I could get tickets to a game that the Seattle Seahawks were playing in, but they were not in the Playoffs this year.

The game did not start until after 8pm tonight, so I made us dinner reservations at a nice restaurant in Boston, beforehand.

Jacob loved the meal, I made sure the restaurant, I choose, gave huge portions, which he, being a werewolf, loved. He actually ate his entire meal and most of mine, since human food was not my favorite. I knew I wouldn't eat much, so I only ordered things that I knew Jake liked. His birthday fell on a Saturday, and Jake and I had gone hunting as usual, that morning anyway.

When dessert came I slipped his present down next to his slice of chocolate cake. I had wrapped the football tickets in a slightly larger white rectangular box, tied with a simple red bow, so he would not be tipped off as to its contents too soon.

"What's this?" Since I had kept the football game a surprise for him, I think he assumed that the dinner was his present.

"Your birthday present of course." It was funny watching the confused look on his face, as he was trying to figure out what was inside the box. He was shaking it, holding it up to his ear, trying to listen for any clues as to what was inside.

"Oh, just open it!" I half-screamed/half-giggled just a bit too loud. He started laughing with me as he undid the bow and opened the box. Seeing the tickets he had the reaction I was hoping for – utter joy, amazement, and excitement. I then decided to tell him all of the plans for the evening.

The game would probably not get over until after midnight, and a two hour car ride home was not advisable at that time, adding in the fact that I had been warned it was a common occurrence with Patriots games that it would take about an hour or more just to get out of the stadium and back onto the highway. I reserved for us a nice hotel room for the night and we could drive back home in the morning.

The room I got was actually a suite, with an extra large Jacuzzi in the bathroom. I had talked to the hotel management and arranged for the rooms water heater to be turned up to the highest it would go, so Jake and I could enjoy a nice hot soak. With our higher than average body temperatures normal hot water just didn't feel hot to us. It took a bit of convincing, and money, and some personal injury waivers I had to sign, saying we would not sue the hotel if we got burned, (not that that was even possible) but with Mr. J. Jenks help, again, it was all arranged.

The game ended up being a little boring. The Patriots won 45 to 10. It was not even a fair match, it was more like an execution. After the first quarter the Broncos seemed to resign themselves to their defeat. The stadium, which had been packed in the beginning, since it was a sold out Playoffs game, ended up emptying out around the third quarter. The game was pretty much over by then anyway. Add to that how it was freezing, technically it was below freezing that night, around 20 degrees actually, and the mass exodus made perfect sense. Jake and I didn't mind, but I could see that all of the humans around us that were left, well the sober ones, were shivering from the cold.

Not wanting to seem like there was something strange about us, and giving me a good excuse to get closer to Jake, not that I needed one, I cuddled up next to him in my seat. We stayed at the game till its end, just cuddling, talking, kissing, and just enjoying the alone time. It was hard to get any privacy, at home, with my entire family always around, especially my father.

I had learned, during my relationship with Nahuel, that even though my mind would sometimes wander, my father would not say anything to me or try and stop my . . . less than innocent thoughts. But by the expression on his face I could tell he was more than a bit bothered by them.

One day, when my fantasies had truly gotten out of control he took off on a LONG run. I felt horrible; after he returned he came and talked with me. My father had let me know that he didn't want me to feel bad about anything, my thoughts and feelings were natural. Nevertheless I did try back then, and now with Jacob, to limit them, and control my thoughts when home. I am sure Jake did the same, so it was nice now to just be able to let go. I liked thinking of Jake and I, I liked fantasizing about us, and I loved recalling romantic incidents between the two of us.

It's hard to have a full and meaningful relationship if you are not allowed, through your own choosing or not, to think of the other person the way you want. It's similar to being handcuffed and trying to play the piano, you could do it, sort of, but it's not going to sound as good.

"Did you do all of this?" Jake asked me as we entered the suite.

"I wish I could take credit for this, but it looks more like Aunt Alice's handiwork." But that can't be, she and Uncle Jasper were still out searching for Nahuel's sisters. Without her being able to see either of us, she would have had no way in knowing I had planned this.

The entire suite was decorated with hundreds of red roses, and rose petals were sprinkled on the bed. In the entryway table lay a bottle of champagne, two flutes, a bowl of strawberries and an envelope. It did look like her handiwork, maybe someone in the family told her, on one of her "check in" phone calls.

As I was looking around, while Jake read the note, I saw that the Jacuzzi had also been filled with bubbles.

Whatever he saw seemed to amuse him, because he started laughing a bit and mumbled something like "baby crazed vamp".

"Huh? Jake that's not why I got the room." I didn't want him thinking I just brought him here so I could get pregnant.

Okay, so I had another reason for getting the hotel room, than just a place to sleep, a much more enjoyable reason. Jake and I had discussed things and we agreed that our first time together should not be at home, with my parents nearby. That would be just too weird, a hotel or cabin somewhere far away was preferable but we had not made any definite plans yet. And I did not want to bring it up tonight with Jake either. He was as freaked out about my fertility deadline as I thought he would be. If anything happened tonight that would be wonderful, but I didn't want to push him, so I just had planned on letting whatever happen, happen. But I was ready now, mentally and emotionally, if it did. And I was pretty sure he was as well.

"No, I know honey." He said passing me the note. Aunt Rose . . . of course.


The night, the entire night, ended up going just as well as I had hoped. Jake loved the dinner, the game, and the hotel room. I thought Aunt Rose's overboard extremism would have put too much pleasure on him, or us, but once we got over the initial shock and relaxed we really appreciated all she did. The bubbles in the Jacuzzi were the perfect buffer we needed, although the Champaign remained unopened. And Jake must have woken sometime in the middle of the night and finished off the strawberries.

Everything was perfect. I was so happy I was able to give My Jacob such a wonderful birthday.

When I opened my eyes the next morning, I saw the Jake was already awake. And he looked ravenous, but not for food.

"How are you feeling?" he half asked as he began kissing my neck and working his way down and over to my shoulder.

"Ha, ha, ha," I chuckled. That tickled. I mean it felt really good too, but it still made me laugh.

"You're not in too much pain are you?"

Pain? "Jake, I'm completely fine, super fast half-vampire healing over here, remember."

"Mmmm, that's good. Because I have a few things I thought we could try this morning." He said as he moved his lips down to the inside of my elbow, and pulled me on top of him. Wow, what had gotten into him this morning? Whatever it was I was very thankful.

Eventually we managed to call for some room service so Jake could eat breakfast. I knew we needed to return home soon, but we both kept finding more enjoyable things to do besides getting dressed to leave. We were going to order some lunch but the hotel staff reminded us we had a late noon checkout. They did however recommend the restaurant in the hotel.

As I looked over at the nightstand, by the bed, I saw the time.

"Jake, we need to leave, checkout is in 36 minutes." I said as I began to get out of bed to finally make my way across the room to grab our clothes.

"I think I can work with that," he said pulling me back to bed, with a huge grin on his face.

Jake could not stop smiling all morning. Or though lunch, or on the ride home. Not even during the awkward conversation when I had to call my mom and let her know she would need to start shielding Jake and me when my father was around.

"So are you ready?" I asked Jake.

We were about five miles from home and I just sent my mother a text to let her know we would be in my father's range soon. That was a slight problem. My father could read our minds from about three to four miles away. My mother's shield did not come close to extending that far. So for the next few miles we would just need to think of other things – for a few minutes anyway, just in case she was going to shield us and not him. We knew, no matter how much he loved her, my father hated having her shield over him. He said it felt like he was being blinded.

"Ready!" he replied. Time to distract ourselves from thinking about last nights, and this mornings, activities.

"So . . . um the game was interesting." Why was it always the one thing I shouldn't think about right now was the only think I wanted to?

"Sure, sure. I am pretty sure that it was the worst game I have ever seen. I mean the Patriots are amazing but it was just so unfairly matched. I mean how did the Bronco's even . . ."

"Jake, I'm sorry I can't do this. Can you pull over?" I asked with my gift. After he did I began again, out loud. "I don't want to talk about that horrible football game. And I really don't want to spend the next decade avoiding thinking about you . . . us. What we did. It was wonderful, and magical, and was nothing to be ashamed of. I don't want to have to hid from him."

"Nessie . . ." he just sighed.

"Look at it this way, the sooner he hears what happened the sooner he can start getting use to it. And I'm not so naive that I think it will be fine right away, in fact I assume that it will be pretty bad, for all of us, for awhile, but that can't last forever, can it?"

Jake didn't say anything, so I started taking again. "Look if you think it's a horrible idea, and don't want to do it, then I'll go along with you. But what if something goes wrong? Won't it be worse if my mother's shield slips, or we think she is shielding us and she isn't even home, or they come home and we are in the middle of something and she doesn't know she needs to get her shield up, or what happens when she has class and my father is at home, or . . ."

"Honey, it's okay. I completely agree. I don't like the idea of having to constantly watch my thoughts or look over my shoulder, or make sure Bella is nearby to get to be with you. I've already had one incident where I thought she was shielding Edward and later found out she wasn't even home. Even though everything worked out I do not want to go through that again."

"Alright then, how would you like to do this? He probably already heard about Aunt Rose's involvement in the hotel room, so my father most likely assumes what happened between us, if he didn't already that mother needs to start shielding us. This won't be a complete shock to him." I had three ideas which I shared with Jake. We could:

1) call my mother and have her take her shield down now and just think freely about last night, letting my father hear us all the way home,

2) have her leave it up and think about last night so my father hears us only until we get under her shield,

3) not reveal anything in our thoughts now but talk to my father when we get home, about our decision, while my mother's shield is still up."

"I think we should call Edward and let him know what we are thinking and ask him what he prefers, this is going to affect him too, sweetheart."

"I guess you're right. We should not blindside him. Here goes." I said as I began dialing my father's cell phone.

To say that my father was shocked at our decision was a bit of an understatement. But he saw our point and a variation of option three was decided upon. He wanted a little time to get used to our new relationship status. Jake and I were able to distract ourselves until we were close to the house where my mother had her shield up around us.

Once we parked the car and entered the house our plan was to talk to my parents right away but we were accosted, first by my Aunt and Grandmother. Well I was anyway, I'm not sure they even noticed Jacob was in the car with me.

"Welcome home honey. Are you thirsty," my grandmother asked me. Just by the look in her eyes I could tell they all new.

"Is that what you wore? You should have let me dress you. It was such a special occasion, Nessie," Aunt Rose huffed.

"Did you have a good time?" Grandma Esme asked.

"So everything went as well as we hoped?" My Aunt Rose seemed a bit possessed. She was the one with the whole seduction plan, I just wanted to let Jake have the best birthday possible.

"Thanks, I hunted yesterday, Grandma. I think I look fine, Jacob didn't have a problem with my outfit, Aunt Rose. And 'Yes,' I had a good time and everything was good. I will talk to both of you more in a bit, but right now Jake and I need to talk to my parents. Excuse me, please." I quickly answered each of them before slipping away as best I could. I didn't want to be rude, but I also did not want to put this off, and loose my nerve, or my train of thought. And Jacob was still waiting patiently for me by the door.

Once I escaped my female relatives and made my way to my parents, with Jake, my father informed us that he needed a couple more days to prepared himself, and for us to settle down with our thoughts a bit. Luckily my mother thought she could keep her shield up, continuously, for that long.

My father was handling this better than I could have imagined. Of course he had not heard much of anything yet. Currently he was pinching the bridge of his nose, but quickly dropped his hand when he saw us eyeing him. I knew he was uncomfortable with . . . things but he was trying to not make it too awkward for us. I don't think I even heard him growl at Jake, once. But then again, it was not like last night's events came as a giant surprise to him. He knew we would be together – eventually.

In the future, if anything was too much for him, he decided he would either ask my mother to raise her shield, himself, or he would remove himself from the area. But he did ask, and we agreed, that for a little while anyway, whenever we were intimate, we would text both my mother and father asking my mother to raise, her shield. That way it wouldn't matter if she was home or not, and no mistakes would happen. I just wondered what he meant by "a little while". I didn't get an answer, so I guess we would just have to wait and see.

"Well, I guess that's it then," my father said as we finished discussing everything, "Bella why don't you help Renesmee. I think she needs to go find her welcoming party. You left them rather abruptly, darling and they are clamoring for details at Esme's house. I'm sure your mother can keep them under control."

Yikes!

"Oh, alright." I was not particularly looking forward to this, but after just facing my father how bad could two ladies be? "Jake, I guess I will see you later." I said giving him a kiss before turning to head over to my grandmother's house with my mother.

"Jacob, let's talk." I heard my father said to him just as I closed the front door. Damn! I knew things were too good to be true. But there was no point in my going back. He wouldn't hurt Jake and whatever my father wanted to talk to him about, clearly he did not want to say in front of me. He would get Jake alone eventually, if I stopped him today. I'll just have to ask Jake what they talked about later tonight.


Jacob's Point of View

"So you survived Rose and Esme's inquisition I see." I smirked to Nessie as she entered our bedroom.

"Yes, they were more than a little interested to see how . . . um, your birthday went."

"Are you sure they were really asking about my birthday, honey." I knew she was just messing with me, I could see it in her eyes. Rose would want updates on our night together and to see if a new baby would be in everyone's futures sometime soon.

"Whatever do you mean, Jake?" she replied, oozing false innocence.

"Fine if you don't want to talk about it I won't push. I'm sure it was probably embarrassing enough to talk to your grandmother and Aunt about your sex life. Now that you have one." I said embracing her waist and pulling her to me so I could kiss her neck as we talked.

"And don't forget, I can't have a nice and embarrassing sex talk without my mother being there too, after we left you with my dad," she jested. "How did that go, by the way? He didn't hurt you, did he?" she asked eyeing me up and down, probably looking for any signs of a struggle. She knew if anything did happen I would have healed physically by now, but might still show some signs of a fight like a torn piece of clothing or something. She seemed to relax after seeing nothing of the sort.

"Nessie, everything was fine," I chuckled. "Edward knew about the change in me when we came back. I think it happened during, or soon after we did it, for the first time, last night," I winked at her. But was that it? Is this how all guys felt after having sex for the first time? "Something shifted inside me and it's like I regained my Alpha status. I hadn't even realized I'd lost, or it shrunk, or something. Somehow . . . I don't know if I'm really making sense but, I don't know exactly . . . but Edward could hear the change in my thoughts, just briefly before we were under Bella's shield."

"You thought about what we did, during the car ride? Jake . . . ?"

"No, honey. But everything is different now. It feels like I've sorta been asleep, or in a fog, for over a year. Like I was only half awake while you were with Nahuel, or making your mind up between the two of us. Almost as if that Alpha part of me had to shut down or be suppressed for awhile, while you two were together. You know . . . so I wouldn't rip his head off, for taking what was mine. I'm not sure exactly how or why but I just feel like I'm back to my old self again."

It was weird. I just told Nessie that she was mine. I know last time I said something like that, it felt so wrong. I remember wincing in embarrassment, that it was wrong to treat Nessie like that, like a possession. But Nessie was mine, just as much as I was hers. We were part of the same whole, and belonged together. I knew that and now I knew she did as well.

Some of the things I went through with Nahuel and Edward this past year - the fear, anger, defeat, among other things . . . it all felt so ridiculous now. Why did I ever feel like that? Nessie was mine, she chose me, she was always meant to be with me. It seems silly now that I couldn't realize it at the time.

"I know what you're talking about Jacob. You have been different today. You're more like you were when I was growing up. Much more confident, in control, and in charge. Much more the way I love you, the way you are suppose to be." She said as we began kissing lightly again.

"You're right. I woke up the this morning and something felt different. I started feeling like my old self; well like myself from when I first phased. Strong and powerful. All of the doubt, weakness, and indecision was gone." I realized then what it was - I had claimed my mate. All those stupid feelings of self-doubt were gone.

"Hold that thought Jake," Nessie said as I went to remove her shirt, she grabbed her phone, and per our arrangement with her parents, sent them a warning text. Bella still had her shield up for the next few days, but they still might hear something, even with the soundproof walls.


Please review and let me know what you think. I hope you are enjoying the story, things are going to get a little bumpy after this.