Chapter 5: Reunited

Nessie

I felt like I was about to have a full blown panic attack. My heart was racing. I started to feel sweaty. I tried to breathe as deeply as I could and that did little to relax me.

I felt the gentlest of nudges inside of me. For a second that was enough to distract me from the pure anxiety that I was going through. It was the first time that I felt him move. Maybe he was picking up the pure panic that was surging through my body right now. Was that even scientifically possible?

They were still staring at me. Shit. Damn. Fuck. There was no escape now. Not with my car currently being handicapped the way it was. I had to admit that was a clever move. I never would've guessed that my aunt Rosalie of all people would know enough about cars to inflict this kind of damage to mine.

I slowly unbuckled my seatbelt. I paused for a minute with my hand on the door handle. Don't be a coward. It was time for me to face the music. I opened the door and stepped out slowly. I felt like I was walking toward a policeman that was about to arrest me rather than my own family.

Silence. I could've heard a pin drop. My mom looked me down from head to toe and then without warning she grabbed me into a hug so tight that I could barely breathe.

For a minute I seemingly forgot why I'd been running away. I realized just exactly how much I missed my mother's hugs. Even though she was almost crushing me against her ice cold body I didn't mind it in the least. I hugged my mom back.

Though no words were spoken I was fighting tears the entire time. "We have a lot to talk about young lady,"

Uh oh. This was it. The moment that I'd been fearing. "and you're not getting away so easily," she added.

"Fine but can you at least fix my car, first?"

"No because then you might try to run away again," aunt Rosalie as she smiled. "So how about this. You come with us and then I will fix your car later on?"

Damn. I calculated my chances of just running away again. Maybe I could still make a run for it.

"You won't be able to get away so you shouldn't even try," damn it! I'd forgotten about my aunt Alice's uncanny ability to predict the future. Probably because she'd never been able to see my future. I wondered why that changed.

"You can see her future?" mom asked her as if she had heard what I was thinking.

"Yes. I don't know. But somehow I can see her future now," she confirmed.

I decided that my best course of option at this point was just to give in."Okay. I'll come," I said. Though I knew didn't have a choice in the matter. They'd force me by all means necessary if they had to.

So I agreed to go with them. I didn't think that it was possible for my anxiety to increase but I was proven wrong. Once I got into the back of that car I felt like my heart was going to jump right out of my chest. My baby surprised me by kicking up a storm. It was a strange but not unpleasant sensation.

Out of the corner of my eye I caught my mom staring at me while we were in the car. I found it slightly unnerving that she didn't even blink. It was so unnatural. She looked at me like she couldn't believe that I was really here. For the first time I could actually see the shadow of emotional pain behind beneath the surface. I couldn't help but wonder just how much pain my death had caused her.

She reached over and gently stroked my ice cold skin with her fingers. I resisted the urge to jump away from her icy fingers. It was definitely going to take me awhile to get used to such coldness again.

The whole ride was silent. That was a blessing for me because I right now I felt as if there were butterflies as well as a hyperactive baby inside of me right now. I was sure that if I had to speak right now I'd just die.

We pulled up to a house that was actually familiar to me. I'd driven past this vacant house many times before. It was commonly believed that nobody owned this house. Other kids used to make up stupid stories and say that it was haunted. Kind of ironic now that a coven of vampires lived here.

I took a deep shaky breath before getting out of the car. I froze in place. If this were just a bad dream now would be the perfect time to wake up all warm and cozy in my bed.

My grabbed my arm and pulled me along gently. "It's okay," she said. Well might as well get this over with. My heart pounded hard as my opened the door.

There they all were. They were all standing around waiting for me. For a second I forgot how to breathe as they all stared at me. Though intellectually I knew that my family hadn't changed physically over the years it was nonetheless still a shock to see them now looking exactly the same as they did thirteen years ago.

Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. It was my father. It was strange to see my father still looking like a teenager. Physically he didn't look older than me at all. I never realized just how much I looked like my dad now all the way down to my hair color. An outsider would guess we were twins. If I were born a boy I'd probably look exactly my dad. He smiled like he was holding back a laugh.

Without saying a single word he hugged me. Actions spoke louder than words though. It was as if I could feel his love for me pouring into me. My daddy. "We have a lot to discuss young lady,"

Oh right. Cue the anxiety attack. I was so not ready for this conversation. I was so anxious that I felt like I was going to be sick. My heart pounding. My baby was kicking repeatedly. Then out of nowhere a wave of calm washed over me. Even my baby calmed down.

"Oh Nessie!" grandma Esme was the first one to break the silence. She hugged me tight. "Grandma," I muttered. Grandma Esme was possibly the best grandmother I could ever ask for.

Next thing I know grandpa Carlisle is also hugging me. Then my aunts and my uncles quickly followed suit. Though for a second I felt uncle Emmett was going to crush me to death. Had he always been so big?

"Can't breathe,"

He loosened his hold on me. "Sorry kid I didn't mean to crush you. I just really missed you that's all,"

"We all did," grandpa Carlisle said. "and we have a lot to talk about but first I would like to talk to you privately Nessie,"

"Okay?" I was a bit confused by this. Why would my grandfather want to talk to me privately? It's not like it really mattered anyway. The whole family could hear anyway. Maybe it was just to give me a sense of privacy.

"I'm sorry Renesmee but I'm very concerned about your health right now,"

I furrowed my eyebrows together in confusion. "My health? What's wrong with me?"

"Sit down please," he said. I obeyed. "As you know I've been a doctor for a long time,"

"hundreds of years in fact,"

He smiled. "Yes. Hundreds of years. Which means that I have seen patients with just about every disease that you can imagine. Patients that are HIV positive have a certain scent undetectable to humans,"

I felt like I was going to pass out. "Are you saying-"

"I'll need to do a test to confirm but I'm sure it'll just reinforce what I already know,"

"How can that be? I mean I-"

"There are many different ways one can get infected but one of the most common ways is through sexual intercourse. I can hear your baby's heartbeat so I know you've been active,"

I felt the blood drain out of my face. I could literally just die right now.

"I'm going to come up with a treatment to help you but you should inform your boyfriend,"

"I don't have a boyfriend. Truthfully grandpa I don't know who the father is,"

"What do you mean by that?" he asked me.

"I apparently got drunk at a party a few months ago. Although I don't really understand how. I only remember drinking soda and then I don't remember anything after that,"

My grandfather suddenly looked very worried. "Did you report this to the police?"

I shook my head. "No. Why would I do that?"

"There is no easy way to say this Nessie and I'll need to do a pelvic exam to be sure but I think you may have been raped that night,"