A/N:

Look at the date of this chapter. Anyone who remembers? ;-)

Title: Origins: Destiny in the Mountains

Author: MarieCarro

Beta: Alice's White Rabbit

Pre-reader: BitterHarpy

Genre: Family/Supernatural

Rating: NC-17

Summary: Emmett Brian McCarty never had much in life, but growing up poor didn't stop him from enjoying life and all its pleasures.

However, always seeking thrills most often means it will end badly, and one day, while hunting for game in the mountains, Emmett meets his destiny. Canon. ExR

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

EPILOGUE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21st 2008

I pretended I didn't hear Nessie sneaking up behind me because even though she'd gotten a lot better at being quiet and moved pretty much as silently as any vampire did, her heartbeat was a dead giveaway of her approach. I liked to play along though, and that was probably why she always went after me when she wanted to play.

Her arms were suddenly around my neck after she jumped up on my back and hung on tight.

"I'm under attack!" I exclaimed. "Quick! Someone … anyone! Help me!"

Nessie laughed in delight as I spun around, and she held on for dear life. Not that I would have ever allowed her to be tossed off. In that case, I would have caught her before she could have hurt herself.

She loosened her grip and jumped down to land on her feet, which wasn't too far down anymore. At two years old, Nessie looked more like an eight or nine-year-old, and she was only a foot shorter than her mother now. "Uncle Em, guess what?"

"What?"

"I asked Dad if I can go in the Jeep with you and Aunt Rose, and he said yes!" she said excitedly, and then climbed up on the back of the vehicle where Jasper's Ducati was strapped down.

Edward came out through the front door, carrying one end of his old leather sofa, which we were going to donate now that we were moving, while Bella held the other end behind him. "You're not standing on the back, Ness," he cautioned. "I said you'll sit in between them if you want to ride with them."

"But Dad—" Nessie started to complain, but Bella locked eyes with her daughter, and I took a huge proverbial step back from the conversation. I wasn't about to involve myself in disciplinary conversation between mother and daughter.

"Listen to your father, Renesmee," she said sternly. "Or you'll ride with us."

"Fine," Nessie replied defiantly with an attitude like I expected most kids her physical age had but I suspected was actually Nessie's terrible-two's phase I heard all children went through. However, now, my angel stepped in.

"Don't take that tone with your parents, Nessie," Rosie said and lifted her down from the Jeep. "They're only looking out for you."

Raising Nessie had become sort of a collective family matter, even though Edward and Bella always had the last word.

Nessie hung her head in shame. "Okay, Aunt Rose." She ran over to her parents and apologized, and once they were satisfied she was sincere, they allowed her to return to us.

Jacob came running down the porch steps and scooped her up before she reached us though, and Rosie grimaced slightly. He'd been living with us, almost full-time, since Nessie was born, and while the two of them got along where Nessie was concerned, that was the extent of their relationship.

"Just wait until you've grown up," he said as she smiled widely at him. "You can ride with me on my Harley."

Edward groaned. "Don't give her any ideas, Jake. It'll be a long time before Bella or I ever allow that."

"A really long time," Bella echoed in agreement.

Carlisle and Esme exited the house with Alice and Jasper in tow, and then they locked it up, the steel shutters lowering over the glass wall to protect it. "We're good to go," he said, and all of us got into our vehicles.

Bella hugged and kissed the top of Nessie's head before she allowed her to climb up in the Jeep with us, and then she got into the passenger seat of Edward's Vanquish. Her Ferrari had already been shipped to our new house, and Edward had decided to sell the Volvo as it was a few years old now.

Carlisle and Esme drove off first in the Mercedes, taking the lead, then Alice followed in her Porsche, and Edward after her. We made up the tail with Jacob on his bike right behind us.

"Are you excited about the new place?" I asked Nessie as we got out on the freeway, but the girl had gone strangely quiet. She shrugged noncommittally, and Rosie immediately picked up on the signs that something was wrong.

"What is it, sweetie? Something bothering you?" She grabbed Nessie's hand, and put it on her cheek as we'd realized Nessie preferred communicating that way when she was uncomfortable. "We're all going to be there with you," Rosie answered Nessie's unspoken question. "School can be scary, but you'll do fine. I promise."

I understood then what was worrying my little niece.

Because of her appearance, we had decided to take the chance and enroll her in elementary school in our next town because the advancement of her aging had slowed down considerably the last couple of months. We were still going to keep a close look to make sure no one got too suspicious, and we could easily claim to have sent Nessie to boarding school if she didn't want to continue, but we'd all agreed she needed to start learning to socialize with humans. The only one she'd ever been around was Charlie, and she didn't have to be as careful around him as he was sort of, kind of, in on the secret even though he still didn't exactly know what we were.

"You'll ace school, Nessie," I encouraged. "You're already smarter than most humans put together."

"But that's what scares me," she said, abandoning the silent conversation she had with Rosie. "What if I slip up and do something weird? Everyone will think I'm a freak."

Rosie and I exchanged uneasy looks.

"You'll just have to prove them wrong then," I told her, and then leaned down as if I were about to whisper a secret in her ear. "And if they still dare to mess with you, come to me and I'll make them think twice." I winked and she giggled.

Disaster effectively avoided.

We all knew we eventually would have to really explain to Nessie about the workings of being an outcast Cullen, but it was better if it came from her parents instead of us.

As the journey toward our new hometown continued, I taught Nessie a few car games to distract her from her nerves, and it became the craziest round of "I Spy" I'd ever played because we could all see so much more than humans could.

I looked over at Rosie next to me, and she was relaxing back against the seat, her elbow casually resting on the top of the door. A small, almost imperceptible, smile played around her lips as she listened to Nessie chatter away, and my dead heart clenched with the love I felt whenever I was looking at her.

Had someone told me when I was a kid that I would one day be married to a real life angel, I would have laughed in their face, but there was no arguing with them now. She was sitting right beside me, so cold toward others, but I knew her heart was filled to the brim with love she yearned to bestow on the most precious gift one could be given. She was feeling so much, yet she didn't always know how to let it out, and so she turned it in on herself.

With the addition of Nessie to our family, I had started to see a new side to my wife even I hadn't seen before but knew I would have if we'd been able to have kids of our own. She smiled more, was overall more relaxed, and appeared to be, if I dared say it, truly happy for the first time since I met her. It didn't matter Nessie wasn't ours because she was still a child Rosie could allow herself to fully love.

Being lucky was an understatement when talking about the fortune I had of being in her life because when Rosalie did let someone in, and she gave them love, she loved passionately. It was only one of the reasons why she and I worked so well together. We balanced each other out.

She was solemn where I was playful. She was sensitive while I wasn't easily offended. She was cautious, and I the opposite, unless I was given a good reason. We were both fiercely protective of those we loved, and we would fight for them without hesitancy. Complete opposites and a match few would believe worked, but we met in the middle, and for us, it was perfect.

We'd been together for over seventy years, but it had somehow felt like the blink of an eye. I would always look forward to the next seventy years with her, and the seventy after that. Because after all, she was my angel, and the destiny I found in the mountains.

A/N:

Okay, so naturally, the date of this chapter was Twilight's premiere in theaters, worldwide! 10 years before I started posting this story, too ;-)

So, for fun, if you went to the premiere, what was your experience?

I'll start, I remember literally shaking in my seat from excitement. The buildup to watching the movie became so much greater than the movie itself because I think a whole lot of you know that I found the movies rather disappointing. They had their golden moments, but they were few and far between.

Now I want to dedicate this part of the AN to my wonderful team of gals who've helped me on this.

First, to Jamie Michelle Mitchell aka OnlyInValhalla who kind of became my "sounding board" in the beginning and helped me with everything that concerned Emmett's time in Tennessee, as she's a Tennessee girl herself! Her knowledge was invaluable for this! The story, literally, wouldn't be the same without her.

Next to my pre-reader, Stephanie Smith Busbin aka BitterHarpy. She helped me find mistakes easily overlooked so that the flow of the story was so much better.

And lastly, to Sally Hopkinson aka Alice's White Rabbit, my lovely beta. I couldn't have asked for a better one for this story. She was always happy to help with whatever I needed, and she's so educational and patient with me when I make stupid mistakes since English isn't my first language.

Thank you so much, girls! Love you!

Of course, I also want to send out a huge thank you to you; my readers and reviewers! Without you, I wouldn't have been writing in the first place!

Don't forget to keep a lookout for other installments of the Origin series, if you'd like to read my interpretation of the Cullens' stories. Put me on alert, and I'll see you then!

Until that time,

Stay Awesome!