The Flower Moon

Year Eight, Chapter Thirty-Five

Unwelcome?

Jacob's Point of View

Before we leave tomorrow I called an all Packs meeting on First Beach. There were a lot of things we needed to figure out, so we started early in the day and then planned a bonfire with all of our Imprints for later in the night. It would be so much fun, sitting around the campfire, roasting marshmallows, shoving my face full of hotdogs, telling war stories… It had been years since I was around to attend one. I missed the bonfires.

After a lot of discussion the solution to the multiple Packs problem seemed obvious. It was almost stupid in its simplicity. After a lot of back and forth the decision was made that would forever change the lives of everyone on the Makah Reservation. If they agreed that is.

David, Quil, and Embry had all Imprinted on those from the Makah Reservation. So they would move there to live with them. Well Embry was there already, anyway.

David (who was already in the process) and Quil would move to the Makah Reservation to be closer to their Imprints, while simultaneously forming their own Pack of three. Up until the current generation, was a normal Pack size. Without a constant Vampire presence in the area, this seemed more normal than anything else.

Jared agreed to stay on as Alpha in La Push, while training Collin to take over some day, but after what happened with Stephan and Vladimir, Jared no longer planned on retiring anytime soon. The job was too important. It seemed like they had all grown a little too comfortable, too complacent, over the years and needed to step back up to protect the Tribe.

The two Alphas, David and Jared, would be able to communicate with each other between the La Push and Makah Reservations, ensuring that the entire area would be safe from Vampires in the future.

Embry had been married to Colleen for a little while now so the elder council there knew him and were able to get us in for a meeting. They previously hadn't known anything about Wolves, but now that they were going to have three living on their Reservation, they needed to be brought into the loop. It was going to be a touchy topic to bring up. I had a feeling they weren't going to believe us at first and that we would have to give them a demonstration, i.e. - one of us was going to have to phase.

Sam, Billy, Sue, and Old Quil (whom they knew, and was still somehow hanging on by a thread) accompanied us to explain things and bring some level of authority and authenticity to our group when we went there a few days later. Sue thought ahead enough to grab the written history of the Tribe to show them, as well.

All of the Cullens, including Nessie and Felicity, along with Leah and Nahuel, had returned home, to New Hampshire a couple of days ago, as planned. I hated being away from my family but I felt I needed to see this through, and would fly back to them as soon as I was able. Hopefully this wouldn't take long.

The Makah Elders ended up taking the news better than I thought, even if we did end up having to phase to prove we weren't crazy. No one had a heart attack like Sue had been worried about, but there were a couple of fainters. All in all, it went pretty well.

"Argh! This council crap is gonna take me away from Janet," Dave moaned as we were leaving.

He'd been appointed an acting member of the tribal council since he was going to be the Makah Pack Alpha. At the time he seemed thrilled, but I guess he hadn't thought it all the way through.

"No worries," my dad whispered back to Dave as he pushed his grandfather's wheelchair for him. "It's a couple hours once a month, maybe a few more here and there, if someone calls a special meeting like we did. You'll have plenty of time with your Imprint. There mostly during the day, she'll be at school."

No one was sure what exactly to do or say to explain to the rest of the Makah Reservations inhabitants why none of them would be aging any time soon. Their Res was smaller than the one in La Push and three new men, who towered over everyone, would definitely be noticed, but that was a matter for another day, I guess.

The only urgent question I needed to deal with right now was what was going to happen with my Dad. I thought maybe the nurse that Edward had arranged, could change her schedule around and make it her full time job. But even if took care of Billy forty hours a week, that would still leave a lot of hours he would be home alone. The Pack and Imprints already stopped in as much as they could, whenever the Nurse or David wasn't there, but it wasn't enough, and now that David would be leaving, Billy needed more help.

I know he didn't like being dependent on others and thought he could still take care of himself, but the reality was that he couldn't, and his situation would only get worse as time went on. It was either getting him some sort of full time around the clock care, or put him into a nursing home, and he would never agree to that. I think I needed to call Edward.

As I dialed his number I contemplated hanging up and calling Nessie instead, just to give myself an excuse to hear her voice on the phone before she handed it to her father. But that was silly. I'd already called her this morning, like I promised and would call her again tonight before she went to sleep. And I would be home with her, her cuddled in my arms, in our bed together, in a few days.

"Hello Jacob." Edward said, answering the phone. "Is everything going alright? Do the Makah Elders have a problem with the Wolves moving to their Reservation?"

"Hey. No, that's not why I'm calling. That went smoothly. Well as smooth as could be expected. I'm calling 'cause I'm worried about Billy," I replied before relaying to him all of my concerns. He'd probably picked them out of my brain before he and the rest of the Cullens left, but he'd never said anything. So maybe he didn't.

"I assume this means that you have not spoken with your father; or your son, for that matter." I could hear the smirk in his voice. I didn't think this was very funny. What was I missing?

"No, you know Billy. He's stubborn and prideful. He would object to anymore help. And I'm not laying this on my son. Billy is my father; it's my responsibility to take care of him." Or pay someone else to do it.

"Jacob, answer me this... have you spent any time around your father and his new nurse? Is he really so annoyed about her presence there? Has he complained... at all? From what I've seen and heard I believe that he would welcome the opportunity of having Miss Tanner at the house more. And so would she," he chuckled.

What? "Are you sure Eddie? Billy has always hated-"

"Jacob, relax. I didn't just pick his nurse at random. I guess it's time to let you in on a little secret Alice and I've been keeping. We didn't want to tell you, or Billy, in order as to not unduly influence matters, but Alice had a vision last year. Before I go on, let me ask you one more thing... do you like Miss Tanner? In general?"

"I guess. She seems very... professional. She knows what she's doing and seems to be taking good care of Billy. I mean, she's much more competent than the Health Care worker I hired."

"No, I meant as a person in general. What do you think of her?" What was he getting at?

"Um, sure. She seems nice enough, friendly -"

"Loving?"

"Huh? Eddie what are you getting at?"

"Alice saw Billy and Miss Tanner getting married," he laughed through the phone again. Married? "Early next autumn, if I were to guess by the falling leaves in Alice's vision. They are practically living together already. I'm sure that if we just arrange for one other nurse to stop by intermittently, while she goes to work, Billy will be sufficiently looked after. Actually... I can guarantee it."

Hmmm. Alice's vision must have been very clear and unchanging for him to say that with such certainty.

"Jacob, are you still there?"

"Huh? Sure, sure. Sorry. I just wasn't expecting that. Wait how did Alice see this? She can't see Wolves and La Push is always crawling with them."

"True, but she can see around your kind. I picked up on a stray thought I caught in his mind, when we were all together a few years ago, and asked Alice to try and start looking." Then his voice got real quiet and I had to strain to hear him thought the phone. She feels horrible that she missed seeing his health decline last year. If she had we might have been able to put a stop to it before it ever got as bad as it did. But Billy wasn't as clear to her then as he is now. It took some time for her to develop her gift enough were she could see him surrounded by so many Wolves. Please don't mention any of that to her though. She feels bad enough as it is."

"Yeah, sure. I guess it all worked out for the best anyway." If his diabetes had never got so bad, Edward never would have hired her and they wouldn't have met and fallen in love. Huh. My Dad was in love with someone other than my Mom. Weird! But good. It's been almost twenty years she's been gone. He deserved to be happy. "Alice didn't happen to see who we hire to-"

"Of course I did," I heard Alice chirp in the background. While Edward chuckled some more. "I'll email you all of their info."

"Alice has already hired the extra nursing help. She starts tomorrow," Edward informed me.

"Oh well... thanks."

"You're welcome," Alice sang again in the background. Crazy little pixie!

"Well I guess that takes care of everything then. David found a place to live, on the Makah Reservation," I told Edward. "He'll be sharing it with Quil, and we can start moving them in on Sunday. I'll talk to Billy tonight and see about him and Miss Tanner-"

"Her first name is Jill, by the way."

"Jill? So they'll be Billy and Jilly?" I sneered to myself, yet loud enough the Edward picked up on it and started chuckling too. "Right so I guess as soon as she and David and Quil are moved in to their new places I'll fly back home. You're sure Alice saw this happening so soon?"

"Are you betting against Alice?"

"Right, what was I thinking?" I pretended to wonder out loud. If Alice had seen it I was going to go with it. "I'll call you when it's all done and I know when my flight leaves. And tell Nessie I miss her and will Skype with her tonight at the usual time."

"Of course, I'll let her know as soon as she returns from hunting." That explained why she hadn't ripped the phone out of Edward's hands by now.

After hanging up with Edward I prepared myself for a very awkward conversation with my father.

"Hey, Dad," I called as I headed into the house.

Thankfully the actual talk went better than I thought. I had to stay a few extra days than I planned, helping David move out of Billy's, Quil out of his place, and then both of them into their new apartment, then helping Miss Jill Tanner move into my old house, and finally I had to attend one last bonfire. I could have done without that, I wanted to get back to Nessie, and Felicity, but the bonfire was a going away party for Dave, Quil, and me. As one of the guests of honor I couldn't say no. But I did book my plane ticket for a 1am departure. That meant that I was able to duck out early to make it to the airport on time, bringing me back to my Soulmate that much quicker. A little after 9:30, when the party just seemed to be getting going, I said my goodbyes to my family and friends, my old home and life in Washington, and left to rejoin my Cullen family on the other side of the country.

Nessie met me at Logan Airport, in Boston, to pick me up. I missed her so much. This past week without her was horrible. Not as bad as last time, but still pretty bad. The Skype and phone calls helped. But I still missed her. It was like my heart was missing without her by my side.

She didn't look any better. Actually she looked worse… no, more like she was worried. That was strange. I mean I know I felt bad without her too, but now that she was right next to me and I could see her with my own eyes, and not through a computer screen, I felt much better. Her facial expression only got worse as we walked to baggage claim.

We waited in silence while we waited for my bags to appear.

"What's wrong?" I finally asked as we began to head for the exit. Her muteness was starting to make be panic.

"Something... happened while you were gone, and I'm not sure how you're going to take it."

"Is someone hurt?" Who? Why didn't anybody mention anything over the phone? Maybe it was something recent.

"No, no one is hurt." She took a deep breath. It made her slightly more relaxed but did the opposite for me. "It's actually a good thing... if you think about it," she replied before taking another deep breath, and sorta tried and failed to smile. "But I can't tell you here," she said looking around. "Not in front of all these humans."

That wasn't making me feel better. Whatever it was she was worried I would overreact and phase. Great! This was going to be worse than I thought.

We quickly walked to the parking lot and jumped into her car that we'd built together. She avoided the issue on the drive home, instead asking me about Dave's new apartment, Jill Tanner, and the Makah Council.

I wasn't sure if she was stalling or what, but didn't push her to tell me, even though not knowing was killing me. When we were about a mile away from home she pulled over. She obviously wanted to tell me away from her family but be close enough that Edward would be able to read my mind if something went wrong. Crap! How bad was this going to be?

"Come on, let's go for a walk," she said getting out of the car. I had a feeling that whatever she was going to say might make me so upset that I was probably going to phase. If I was still in the car I would destroy the thing, and that would stink. We both put hundreds of hours into this car. It was a thing of beauty, a work of art. But now I didn't care about the stupid thing, now I was more anxious than ever.

After we walked about a mile in the opposite direction of the house, I'd just about had it. I was shaking, trying to not phase just from the sheer suspense of it all. "Alright, Nessie. Just spit it out. Please. I can't take it anymore. What happened?"

"Our daughter Imprinted," she mouthed, barely above a whisper, but I caught it anyway.

I couldn't have heard her right. Could I? "What do you mean, Felicity Imprinted?"

How was it even possible? While she wasn't able to phase into a Wolf she'd inherited some Wolf characteristics. True, it was impossible to tell which ones exactly, since they were the same ones that she could have gotten from Nessie's Vampire side – her strength, speed, accelerated heeling, and heightened senses, among other things.

And who could she have Imprinted on? All of the Wolves, every single one of them Imprinted on someone from the La Push or Makah Tribe. Well, except for me. But no one from the Tribe lived in New Hampshire. Did this happen back in Forks? And she left, never saying anything?

"Well…" Nessie hesitantly started to tell me, "she Imprinted on Nahu-"

"NO," I screamed, partially in disbelief, partially due to my anger. Not him. Anyone but him. How could this even happen? She's met him before, was this some kind of delayed Imprinting? And what was going to happen to Leah. This couldn't happen to her again. Her broken heart barely survived last time, when Sam Imprinted on Emily.

"Jake, relax. You didn't let me finish. Felicity didn't Imprint on Nahuel." she screamed. Oh, thank goodness, I sighed in relief. "Felicity Imprinted on Nahuel's sister, Jennifer."

"Jennifer?" I thought for a moment. A smile came over my face and Nessie relaxed. "Nice. I like her. Why were you so worried about my reaction?" It couldn't be because Jennifer was a girl. Nessie knew I didn't care about something like that. In most Native American cultures Two-Spirit individuals are revered. The news about my daughter being a lesbian wasn't exactly a shock to me. It was about Jennifer though.

"Well... it's Nahuel's sister. I know the two of you don't get along. Now it looks like you two are going to be stuck with each other, in each other's lives, at least a little, for... well, forever."

"I think I already realized that nightmare as soon as Leah and Nahuel decided to become a couple," I chuckled. "Can we go home now?" I'd tried to sleep on the plane but didn't have much luck and now that I had calmed down, was barely able to keep my eyes open

We pulled into the garage just as the sun was coming up.

"So are you feeling better after getting some sleep?" Nessie asked me after we woke up the next morning… err, late afternoon.

While I didn't mind that Felicity had Imprinted on Jennifer, I wasn't too happy to return home and find them already way further along in their relationship than I deemed appropriate for my fifteen month old. So what if she looked like she was twenty-three years old? She was my baby and she would be treated accordingly. At least that was my thought. Apparently I was alone in my thinking.

Everyone else saw how much Felicity and Jennifer loved each other already, and couldn't stand to be apart. Of course they had also had over a week to get use to it, before letting me in on the news. And it wasn't like the two of them had just jumped into bed together. But they were making out on the couch when I'd gotten home from the airport and I kinda flipped out. I was her father. Wasn't it was my job to overreact? At least now I had a better understanding of Edward's point of view regarding my relationship with Nessie.

"Daddy," Felicity screeched, jumping nearly a foot in the air, as I started growling at Jennifer. "Um, your home." She looked like she had been caught stealing candy, and Jennifer seemed worried for her life. Good, she should be.

Calm down. Nessie said to me with her gift. They're not doing anything wrong, they're both adults, and it's not like Jennifer's going to hurt her, or take advantage of her.

I knew that. I just didn't like where their hands were.

Nessie ended up apologizing to them, and dragging me upstairs to bed.

It took me almost an entire month for me to relax. But I eventually calmed down and realized that Nessie was right. My baby was an adult. And, as hard as it was for me to admit, was in an adult relationship.

When Ness was younger I lived in fear that Edward would hear the wrong thing in my head about his daughter and rip my throat out, he almost did a couple of times. I didn't want Felicity and Jennifer to go through that.

For the first time in a long time, possibly ever, David was finally not giving me any issues. I didn't have anything to worry about, as far as he was concerned, apart from the normal everyday worries a father has for their children. He was settled in nicely on the Makah Res, taking his rightful place as Alpha, with Quil as his second, and Embry his third. I thought Embry should have been second, but he didn't mind since he had a new baby and that obviously took up a lot of his time. Dave was happy to be living closer to Janet, who was readjusting slowly but nicely to life at home, even with all of her... changes.

Billy said he and Jill were doing well and had picked a wedding date, for two months from now. Alice had taken over the planning as usual. Neither the distance, nor the fact that she couldn't see over have of the wedding party or guests seemed to stop her, or even slow her down. I even received an official invitation in the mail, which seemed a little strange, since she lived right next door. She could have just walked over and handed it to me, but apparently that wasn't the proper way to do these sorts of things.

"You did at least confirm everything with Billy and Jill?" I asked her when I opened the envelope and saw the date printed. "This says the weddings on Sunday, August 3rd, 2014. Is that what they wanted? I thought I'd heard Jill say something about late fall."

"That's only because she didn't know I could work miracles. And I don't need to sleep," she giggled.

I hoped she was telling me the truth and this was actually what my father and his fiancée wanted. And not Alice being Alice, pushing everyone into what she thinks is best for them.

Even though I'd left La Push, it wasn't for good. I would always have a reason to return - weddings, funerals, births… who knows what else. Since I still had family there I would always be connected to that place, even if it wasn't my home anymore.

My home was wherever Nessie was. Even if I'd never Imprinted on her, if I'd chosen to remain a Wolf, I wouldn't be able to stay there. Just like the Cullens, I would need to move eventually. People would notice how I never aged.

"So what should we do now? We missed our graduation ceremony but we still earned our degrees," Ness asked me the next day as we ran home.

The whole family had planned a big trip up, into Canada this weekend to hunt, but Nessie didn't think she could make it until then, so the two of us decided to go into the forest behind the house, just to find something to tie her over. She really wanted to go with everyone later so today she was fine only draining a few rabbits.

She always seemed so happy after hunting. When she was younger I'd always thought it had something to do with the burn in her throat being quenched, but now I think it's something else. At least partially. I mean I'm sure part of it is due to the fact that she's full, satisfied, satiated. That it's less likely her control is going to slip. But I think it's more than that. More like now her brain has more room to think of other things. Other happier things take priority.

"We could stay at Dartmouth and get our Masters Degrees." I replied. "And then our PhD's. And then start all over again. And Again. And again. We do have forever," I smirked. "I mean, it probably wouldn't be as bad as endlessly repeating High School, like your parents do, but staying in college forever might get a little boring, after awhile. It could end up almost as bad."

"I know." Nessie's formerly happy demeanor suddenly got serious. "And I've been thinking about what David said the night of his birthday party, that we should do something to help people."

I'd been thinking the same thing myself, off and on, the past few months. "I'm not going to need to start wearing spandex. Am I?" I probably looked like I was going to be sick, but was just goofing around. Trying to lighten the mood. It was a little funny to think about dressing up as Wolverine or something. Though the yellow Lycra would show off my abs nicely. That thought made it hard not to start laughing, and a second later I snorted, looked over at Nessie and we both burst out laughing.

"No, no. Nothing like that," Nessie replied after we'd regaining our composure. "But maybe we could get jobs, or volunteer, or... do something that will actually make a difference in people's lives."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. I don't think our engineering degrees are going to help us much though."

"Don't be silly Nessie," Alice chirped, coming to join us now that we'd made our way back into the house. I headed straight for the kitchen. Ness wasn't hungry anymore but I still needed to eat breakfast. "Have you ever heard of Habitats for Humanity? You could build houses for those in need. If you don't want to do that you could work in a soup kitchen, or become a cop, or volunteer with Doctors without Borders, or -"

"Alice what are you talking about? We couldn't do that. Jake and I aren't doctors."

"Not yet," she smirked.

What was that suppose to mean? I mean she couldn't see our futures but she was acting like she did. And a doctor? Could Nessie do that. I mean she was smart enough. But what about the blood? What if she lost control and drank a patient?

"Nessie, just because I can't see you doesn't mean I can't see at all. Are you forgetting that I can see around you, so I see the impact you have on others. And not just you. I think your son has inspired all of us. At least in that no one is planning on returning to High School for quite some time. We'll be more limited in what we can do than the two of you because of the whole sunlight issue, but if Carlisle can do it so can the rest of us."

"You're all going to be doctors?" I questioned in disbelief.

"Don't be ridiculous," she practically snorted. "Although Bella is toying with the idea. She does have the best control, but she's leaning more to becoming a lab technician, for this move anyway."

I didn't want to lose my family again. "You're moving again? I thought now that David was settled in La Push-"

"We all are, you and Nessie are coming too, silly. You finished school, it's time to go. You didn't really think you could stay here forever did you?"

"No, I guess not. But what about grad school?"

"You can still do that, just not here. It would look too weird to the humans. Most of us left, if we all suddenly came back people would start asking questions, and that's never good when humans are concerned. It's just safer this way. I mean you two could stay, if you really wanted to, but we miss you and -"

"We want our family back together," Edward finished for her. He and Bella had just come in a minute ago. I was so glad we weren't splitting up again. I loved Nessie, but I knew she wanted and needed to be with the rest of her family too. So did I.

"We didn't mean to interrupt but we wanted to let you know that we're having a family meeting at Carlisle and Esme's to decide where we're going to live next, if you want to join us," Bella told us.

I looked at Nessie; she looked at me. No discussion was needed. We smiled, nodded, and walked hand in hand, behind Bella, Edward, and Alice to join the rest of the Cullens, our family, around the Doc and Esme's dining room table to determine where we would spend the next part of our forever, together.

The End

A.N. - Okay... so obviously this is the end of the Orbiting Satellites trilogy. What did you think?

Follow Jacob and Renesmee over the next Fifty Years of their lives in the continuation series, picking up soon after we left off – Revolving Worlds - Book One

s/13644235/1/Revolving-Worlds-Book-One