Chapter 20: Home at Last

Nessie's POV

I was running somewhere. I wasn't sure where I was going. All I knew is that I was looking for something. No. Not a something. Someone. My son. I was watching him play at the playground at the park when my phone went off. I'd received a text message from a name I didn't recognize. When I looked up I realized that Jacob Jr. was missing. I couldn't see him anywhere. Not on the slide, the swings, or anywhere.

I started asking all of the other people there if they'd seen anything. None of them saw my son vanish. I started to really panic. I left the playground and looked everywhere I could. My baby was nowhere to be found. I began to scream out his name over and over again. Just hoping by some miracle that I would find him.

My cellphone rang.

"I've got your son," the voice chilled me to the bone. It was Dr. Watson.

I awoke in a panic. It took me a minute to take in my surroundings and realize that it had all been a dream. A really bad dream. A nightmare. My baby was still safe and sound in my belly. The little nudge I felt confirmed it. I cradled my stomach as if to protect him from my nightmare.

"Nessie what's wrong?!"

I jumped feeling startled. Only to realize that it was just Bella.

"Nessie what's wrong? Edward said that you needed me. What happened?!"

"I'm fine. I just had a nightmare. That's all," I felt so embarrassed that this family seemed to always know when I was having a problem. Even when it was something as trivial as a nightmare. I guess when you have a mind reading vampire in the family there were no secrets.

"What happened?"

I massaged my belly as I contemplated how I should answer her question. I eventually decided on the truth. Edward would probably tell her if I lied.

"I was at the park with Jacob Jr. when all of a sudden I couldn't find him anymore. Then I got a phone call saying he'd been kidnapped by the Dr. Watson. The same guy who altered me. I woke up panicking until I realized that it wasn't real," I explained. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause such worry. I'm so stupid,"

"Excuse me what did you just say?" she said sternly. "Because I could have sworn that I just heard you say that you're stupid which you are not,"

"Yes I am stupid. Stupid for freaking out about something that isn't even real,"

"Renesmee look at me," she said. "Look at me," she repeated when I didn't listen the first time. "You are not stupid and I never want to hear you say that again. Do you understand?"

"But-"

"There are no buts!" she continued to scold me. "You just had a nightmare. Every mother's worst nightmare in fact. I would know,"

I could hear the sadness in her voice. I could see the sadness on her face. Of course she would understand. She lived my nightmare. I loved my baby so much already. I couldn't even imagine losing him. The way I had in my dream. The way that Bella had in real life.

"What was it like?" I asked her.

"What was what like?"

"I mean what was it like when you lost me? How did you...cope?"

She took a deep breath. Her eyes look tired all of a sudden. Even now that she'd found me I could see that the pain was still there. Maybe the pain would never fully go away. I hated that. I didn't want to see her in pain. I didn't want to see her hurting.

"There are no words to describe the pain, the anguish, the fear I felt from the day you went missing until the day I found you again," she said. "I didn't know where you were. Who had you. If you were being treated well. If you had been kill-" she couldn't even finish the word without breaking out into tearless sobs.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked,"

"There's nothing wrong with asking a question Nessie. It is incredibly painful. It was painful for all of us. We only had you for a few short months but you changed us in so many ways in those few months. You left a lasting impact on all of us. We didn't even know you were possible. You were a huge surprise to all of us,"

"A happy surprise I hope," I laughed. Then I stopped laughing when I saw the serious look on her face. She hesitated. There was something she wasn't telling me.

"What's wrong? Was it something I said?" Me and my big mouth.

"I might as well you the truth," she said sadly. "You have to understand something first though. When you were conceived we had no idea that you were even possible. You were growing so rapidly. You were already so much stronger then I was. I was only human at the time. It was a very high risk and dangerous pregnancy. I knew the risk I was taking but I was determined to have you,"

"But not everyone was on board," she didn't need to say it for me to understand what she meant.

"Only Rosalie was on my side. Everybody else wanted me to have an abortion. But only because they thought my life was in danger. Only because you were so much stronger then me. You accidentally broke quite a few of my bones. In the beginning you were draining the life out of me because you needed blood. We didn't know that at the time though,"

"Then what changed?" I asked.

"Nobody was going to force me to do something I didn't want to do. Although Edward ans Jacob tried their hardest to convince me to abort. Then one day Edward heard what you were thinking. Then he realized that you weren't a monster,"

I felt a lump form in my throat when I heard that Jacob wanted me gone in the very beginning.

"When you were born everyone realized how wrong they were about you. They realized what I knew all along. That you weren't a monster. Just a baby that had no idea what you were doing. Everybody loved you from then on,"

I didn't say anything for awhile. I wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "Only Rosalie supported you at first? Why her?"

"She always wanted a baby of her own. It's the reason why she hates being a vampire so much. Vampires can't have children. Not us women anyway. That's why she supported my decision to keep you from the very beginning,"

I sighed. I could never be angry at my family for what happened before. They were just scared for my mother's safety. I would've been scared for her life as well. What mattered is that they realized they were wrong about me and they've loved and wanted me ever since then.

Poor aunt Rosalie though. She wanted something that she could never have. Unless...would she consider adoption? My sister was still seriously considering giving up her baby girl for adoption. Would Rosalie and Emmett want to take on a human baby girl? I shook my head. I was getting ahead of myself with my ideas.

Mom looked sad again. "Do you hate your family now?"

"What? No. That's absurd mom. You all love me and I love you. That's all that matters," I threw my arms around her in a tight hug.

She seemed to be frozen in shock. "You called me mom," her voice broke a few times. "You haven't called me that in 12 years," she sobbed.

Just then I saw Edward standing there in the doorway. Even he looked shocked by my words.

"Oh just get over here dad,"

Half a second later the three of us were embracing one another. We were a family. I was finally home at last.

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