Juliet POV

"Go tell Carlisle!" I yelled, shoving Seth with all my might. This was Bella's dad! He was family, and although I had never met him, I protected family. "Seth! GO!"

Seth barrelled out of my room. I ran straight to Nessie's and told her what was happening. When I was finished, out of breath, she flopped onto her bed.

"Ness?" I sat on her yellow comforter, resting my hand on her leg. She stared numbly at the wall.

"Can you sleep in here with me tonight, Jules?" She asked, sounding suddenly like the six-year old she was. I nodded and climbed into bed with her. We lay in silence for an hour, listening to the family's voices downstairs. I just held my best friend as she digested what we were faced with.

"Juliet, can I ask you something?" Nessie asked, staring at the wall.

"Yeah."

"Are you gonna grow old and die with Seth?" She sounded on the verge of tears. My heart shattered.

"I can't have both," my own eyes watered up. "Can I?"

"Seth or immortality," she answered. "How can you choose?"

I had to swallow before speaking. "I can't. It isn't possible for a vampire and a werewolf to be together. I feel obligated to choose my imprint. I feel horrible knowing if I do, we'll both die."

"If you chose vampire, you could stay friends," she whispered. "And then you'd both have eternity. But what's eternity if you can't spend it with your love? That's no way to live, pining over what used to be. I can't ask that of you."

I thought about that for a while. I was offered immortality, and eternity. Would dying be easier if I knew it was my choice?

"I look at every sunset," I finally spoke. "I appreciate every single sunset because I know, one day, there's not going to be any more sunsets. Not for me, anyways. My time will have run out and I'll see that day end for the last time. I just hope that… I make the right choice. I hope that on that last sunset, I know it was worth it. I hope I know, in my heart, that I did what I needed to do."

"I hope so, too," Nessie squeezed me tighter. We drifted eventually into sleep, comforted by each other. I held her close, uncertain of the future. Uncertain of myself, even. I was always a girl who knew myself. My choices were made with confidence. I always did what I needed to do in order to get to the next sunset - living house to house like I did, you had to be prepared. Suddenly, I was supposed to be safe. I'd been given the world, but this was uncharted territory. Love or immortality? Or, to further complicate the situation and read past the words, Seth or Renesmee? Werewolves or vampires? Would I, like Charlie, choose? Sacrifice love for family? Give up the steady beating of my heart for the laughter of my friends?

How could anyone begin to choose?

Renesmee POV

The family was tense in the morning. It was so thick, filling the air like the congealed blood that filled your mouth when you didn't stop playing with your food and just drink it.

I sat in stiff silence as the family went over and over what to do, looking at the situation from every possible angle. The problem was a diamond, light bouncing off a million facets. Voices, half baked strategies filled the room for hours but I didn't listen because they all ended the same way.

Charlie was going to die or become one of us.

That morning, Bella crept so gently into my room.

"Renesmee, honey, Juliet," she had sat on the bed, using her most delicate voice. "We're going to keep you home from school today, okay?"

Okay, Mom. Whatever. I couldn't stop thinking about Grandpa. When was the last time I'd hugged him? Told him I loved him? My memory was supposed to be almost perfect. I could even remember the day I was born and a little before that. Why couldn't I remember this inconsequential detail of my life?

It didn't matter, anyways. Grandpa knew I loved him. What point was there to pinpointing the last time and replaying a million times in my head, thinking of how I could do it better if I'd known? That wouldn't change anything.

"Kids, could you lighten up a little?" Edward looked at us from across the living room. Juliet and I were sitting together in silence, deep in our inner monologues. Genuine concern was etched across his face. He was probably used to his ever-optimistic daughter.

It was pretty hard to be optimistic at this point. Unless…

"Hang on," I stood up. "Why are we trying to avoid making Grandpa a vampire?"

"It's no life to live, Renesmee," Edward said. "We couldn't expect you to understand, when this is all you know."

"No offense, Daddy, but shut up," I put my hands on my hips. "Listen to yourselves! You're trying to keep Grandpa alive, for what? To never see Mom again? To constantly live in question of why Mom suddenly changed and abandoned him? To leave him alone until he dies?! There's more to life than fishing! And I'm sorry that you all seem to feel as though you were dealt a terrible hand when you became vampires, except Mom, who has the most sense out of all of you! You have eternity with the ones you love! That's more than others can say. You have forever to watch the world change, to study, make discoveries! To experience a new sunset every single day! Don't you think Charlie would take that? Take health and knowledge and more importantly a life without secrets from Mom? Mom is his life, in case you hadn't noticed, and it's awfully unfair that you'd like to even consider withholding immortality from him! You're all so annoying! 'Oh, I'm a vampire, I have no soul and I'm destined to sit in my stupid shiny Volvo and brood while listening to old music all the time, blah blah!', that's so stupid!"

Tears were pouring down my face now as I yelled at them. "News flash, people. You act like vampires are soulless demons, but I live with eight who I happen to like very much!"

The room was completely silent as the whole family stared at me in shock. Emmett looked like he was trying not to laugh, Esme looked like she was trying not to cry. My dad was worse, though. I couldn't meet his horrified eyes. Instead I looked to my mom. She looked… proud.

My mom's proud look inspired me to lift my chin and gaze evenly around the room, tears no longer flowing. I meant what I said and I said what I meant. If anyone had a problem I'd be willing to take them on.

"Renesmee," my dad broke the silence. "I cannot… begin to tell you how sorry I am that… you think we feel that way. I know that in the past it hasn't been easy to love what we are. Just… Thank you, my Renesmee. Perhaps we should be looking at this from another angle."

"Amazing," Carlisle breathed, looking at me with renewed hope.

"That was a smackdown worthy of Mom," Emmett finally laughed out loud. "She's becoming a real Esme."

As usual, Emmett's comments broke the tension and made everyone laugh. My parents came over and hugged me tight.

"I found out I had a soul the day I saw you for the first time," Edward whispered into my hair. "How could something evil create something so beautiful?"

"I love you, Dad," I said. "You too, Momma."

"It's all going to be okay, Bella," Carlisle said when we broke apart. "Instead of waiting for the Volturi to strike, why don't we bring Charlie here and give him a choice?"

"We could go on vacation to Forks," Bella suggested. "Stay at the old house for a bit… Obviously make sure nobody sees Renesmee. No offense, baby, but I'm too young to have a teenage daughter."

Esme snorted. "You're telling me, Bella. I have seven."

Juliet smiled to herself. She'd obviously noticed that Esme automatically counted her.

"School just started, can we really pull the girls out?" Edward folded his arms. "We can't go swanning out of state at any old time."

"Oh, please," Bella disagreed. "The girls live with incredibly old vampires who know a lot more than their teachers. If they're tutored, they won't miss anything."

"It'll also give us a nice break from Amber," I suggested. Juliet stared out the window, chewing on her lip.

"It's settled, then," Carlisle clapped his hands together. "We're going to Forks to see Charlie."