Hey All! Sorry I haven't updated sooner. It's been a crazy weekend and I haven't had a chance to write for a few days.
Anywho, here's 10 - Hope you like. :)
Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight or it's characters. But I do own Ivy and all of her greatness.
(Chapter Ten)
I fumed the entire way home, coming up with alternative arguments I wished I had used against Jacob and other things I could have done to him with the water. I was so happy the imprint bond only worked one way because right now I was happy I wasn't some lovesick puppy-dog. I liked having my wits about me, thank you very much.
I slammed on the breaks when I got back to the house, still so angry I almost drove into the closed garage door. I jumped out, slammed the front door, stomped all the way up to my room, and slammed that door too for good measure. It was the perfect amount of teenage petulance. I dove onto the bed and buried my face in the pillows so I could scream at the top of my lungs for a few seconds.
Unfortunately, that trick may work on humans, but not on vampires with their extra sensitive hearing.
My bedroom door burst open and my brothers rushed inside. "Ivy, why are you so mad?" Jasper demanded, sans any preamble.
"Who'd you get into a fight with, Ivy? I'll finish it for you." Emmett added, punching his fist into his other hand and making a small sound of thunder.
"I'll go listen in on them and find out their deepest darkest secrets and post them all over the internet." Edward offered. I laughed despite myself.
I sat up in bed and looked at my brothers. An involuntary shudder ran through me when I thought about how close I almost came to killing one of them. I was so glad they took a chance on me and I took one on them. Jake didn't understand our bond because he had a family of his own - a father and sisters - before the Cullens, I had nothing.
The trio of vamp-boys were still staring at me, waiting for an answer, and I realized that none of them asked about Jacob. "Where's Alice?" I asked.
"She went shopping." Edward replied, his head tilted to the side as he tried to read my thoughts. Then his eyes narrowed in suspicion with just a tinge of anger. "What's going on, Ivy? Why do you smell like Jacob Black?" All three noses wrinkled when I sat up in the bed and pushed the covers away.
I knotted my fingers together nervously. "Well… I have to tell y'all something and you're not going to like it."
"What is it?" Jazz asked, looking more and more perturbed as he read my conflicting emotions.
I bit my lip with embarrassment. This was so not a conversation I wanted to have with them. "Have you ever heard of imprinting?"
Edward's face transformed from confusion to utter astonishment. "You have got to be kidding me!" He yelled, running both hands through his hair until it stuck up wildly like he was insane.
The reaction surprised me to say the least. "What? You've heard of it before?"
"Jacob imprinted on you? Is this some sort of sick joke?" He demanded, pacing the room back and forth in a blur of agitation.
"No, it's not a joke." I said, getting up from the bed to stop him from wearing my carpet down to nothing. "Edward, what's your problem?"
His topaz eyes were bleak. "I'm- I'm just surprised. I thought he might imprint on... someone else. But if he imprinted on you, then she's really lost." He said quietly, half to himself.
My eyebrows nearly reached my hairline. I glanced at Emmett and Jasper, but they were looking at Edward with just as much confusion as I was. "What? Who?"
He ran another hand longways down his face, looking very tired for someone who didn't need to sleep. "It's all has to do with the lost future Alice saw." He admitted reluctantly.
Jasper stood and moved to the window, looking out with his hands behind his back. "She's refused to tell me about it." He said, very troubled that his wife was hiding something from him. "She said it was better not to know."
I crossed my arms and so did Emmett, we exchanged a look and he dipped his head as if to say, 'Go ahead, little sis.'
"Well, me and Emmett want to know." I demanded, tapping my foot impatiently. Which wasn't that effective on carpet, but Ed got my meaning. "We're family and we shouldn't keep secrets from each other."
Edward yelled in frustration. I jumped a mile and clapped my hands over my ears. The sound was a mixture between a gunshot and a lion's roar. "Gah! Edward, what the hell? Are you trying to make me go deaf?"
He put his hands on his hips and dropped his head to his chest, taking a long, deep breath before speaking. "In the lost future, Bella and I got married and she… she became pregnant."
Silence. Deafening Silence.
"WHAT?!" I screamed, my mind whirling in a thousand directions. How in the hell could a vampire get a human preg… you know what? I really didn't want to know.
"We were together. I didn't know it was possible, but apparently male vampires can impregnate female humans." If Edward could have blushed, he would have. "But the chain of events was broken when Ivy arrived because I didn't end up leaving Bella. That future was erased and now, our daughter, who Bella named Renesmee, might never exist." He looked grief-stricken for this child that would never be.
On a side note, what the hell kind of name is 'Renesme' anyway?
"Alice saw everything and then saw it get erased. She wouldn't have told me about it, but I saw it all for myself. I can't decide if knowing is better or not." He sat heavily on my bed. The weight of the world on his shoulders.
I felt guilt pile on mine. Was that destiny truly lost? Did my quest to figure out the soothsayer's prophecy destroy Renesmee's future?
"I'm sorry, Edward. I understand why Alice kept it from me." Jasper said, sitting next to his brother on the bed. "Does Bella know?"
He shook his head. "I don't know if I should tell her."
"Wait!" I said, a thought occurring to me. "Alice saw everything? When you got married, your honeymoon and all that?"
He nodded.
"First off, that sucks. Poor Alice." Jasper and Emmett struggled not to laugh. "Second, if you know the dates and all that, just follow that future and you'll have your daughter."
Edward fell back onto the bed, arms flung out hopelessly. "But I don't want Bella to become immortal. Childbirth nearly kills her and I have to turn her to save her life."
Emmett's loud laugh bounced around the room. "Dude, you can't stop her. We all know Bella wants to join us in immortality. It will be easier for both of you if she was like us. The angst is slowly driving me crazy, think what it must be doing to Jasper."
"You have no idea." Jazz said, wincing and rubbing his temples.
The ancient seventeen-year-old groaned. "I know. It's just-"
"Just what?" I broke in, still reeling from this crazy news, but happy they could save a piece of their future. "Bella can make her own choices. You need to tell her everything and let her decide. Parenthood shouldn't be taken lightly."
Maybe if my biological dad realized that he wouldn't have left me all alone. A jab of bitterness towards the second half of my DNA coursed through me. Jasper looked at me sympathetically but I ignored him. I didn't want compassion right now.
"So, who's this girl Jacob is supposed to imprint on?" I asked, trying to think of anything else.
Now Jasper smiled at me. I'm sure it was because he could feel my wrath towards the teen-wolf. Or the jealousy about the mystery girl (Which I wouldn't admit out loud for all the money in the galaxy.)
"It doesn't matter." Edward said quickly. "He imprinted on you and that's a permanent bond. How are you feeling about that, by the way?"
"I don't like it." Emmett said before I could answer, his dark eyes narrowed. He needed to feed soon, I noted vaguely.
I crossed my arms, a little self-conscious. "I'm a little freaked out, actually. He's in love with me and right now I don't even like him."
"Good." Emmett said happily at the same time Jasper asked, "Why do you hate him?"
"He's prejudiced against vampires." I said, "Well, prejudiced against you specifically." I said, felling the anger boil in me again as his harsh words came to mind. "He said I was just food to you."
Three growls rippled in the room. "That's ridiculous." Emmett said. "If we wanted to eat you, we would have done it by now."
"I know, right?" I said, "He just doesn't get it." I ran my hands through my hair, mirroring Edward's stressed body-language.
Jasper stood and hugged me tightly for a moment. "Do you love him?" He asked quietly.
"Are you kidding?" I said, looking up at his pretty blond head. "I barely know the guy! If he wasn't such an ass I might be able to feel something for him in the future, but right now, all I want from him is an apology with an appropriate amount of groveling."
"I'll kill him for you." Emmett said, cracking his knuckles. It was so loud I thought a tree was falling down outside for a second.
"Thanks, but I'll kill him if I need to." I fell back on the bed next to Edward. "Life is so complicated." I said to him.
He let loose a hearty sigh. "Tell me about it."
I tossed and turned all night. I knew I would regret it in the morning because I was back to school tomorrow, but I couldn't stop thinking about Jacob.
I couldn't wrap my head around this whole imprinting thing. He wasn't in love with me as a human, but then he turns and BAM! he's head-over-heels? It just seemed too crazy to be real. I was torn between wariness and, I'll admit, a tinge of excitement. Which would explain the sleeplessness.
I mean, he was a total babe and he could be really nice and funny. Then again, he didn't like my family. And why did he have to be such a jerk?
I loved the Cullens, the least he could have done was try to see things from my perspective. If he really loved me, he could attempt to trust my judgement. I had proven myself several times over by surviving Victoria's attack and curing myself of vampire venom. No one could deny my strength now, no matter how small I was physically.
Besides, the Cullen's had never done anything to hurt me or Bella. She was here with Edward every other day and I lived here 24/7 without any incidents involving being attacked by my parents or siblings.
My healing abilities helped with the whole accidentally-getting-cut-thing, too.
A few weeks ago, Bella tripped and scraped her knees on the concrete when we were outside watching Emmett fix her truck. I had water on her knee in two seconds, glowing blue before Bella could gasp from the pain. Emmett shot out from under the truck like bolt of lightening at the first drop of spilled blood, but instead of attacking, he ran a mile away as fast as he could.
"Is she fixed?" He yelled through the trees loud enough for me to hear.
"ALL GOOD!" I screamed back.
Bella apologized and blushed for an hour at her own clumsiness, but Emmett and I just made jokes the whole time at her expense. Good-naturedly, of course.
So, the Cullens really were adept in the avoidance of human blood and they hunted animals regularly to keep strong. But, then again, vampires and werewolves were mortal enemies. How could I expect Jacob to get along with my family? Would he truly try to make me choose between them? He didn't need to bother. Right now, I knew which side I would choose.
"Ugh!" I groaned and crawled from the bed. A three a.m. bowl of cereal seemed in order since sleeping was obviously out of the question.
I trudged to the kitchen and found Alice at the dining room table. She gave me one of her cheeky smiles and pushed a full bowl of fruit loops across the table to an empty seat.
I shook my head and plopped down. "I'm not even going to ask."
She giggled. "You should be used to this by now."
"I'm getting there." I said, between bites.
"So, what's keeping you up?" She asked, her head tilted to the side with concern.
"Jake." I said with a huff. "I may or may not have feelings for him besides the anger I'm currently feeling, but I'm worried it's not going to work between us. It's intimidating to know he's in love with me because of some werewolf gene or whatever. It makes me wonder how real it really is…." I had to find a way out of this imprinting thing and give Jacob his heart back. I wanted to know how he truly felt without all the werewolf magic getting in the way.
"You don't think you could return his feelings in time?" Alice pressed.
"I don't know. I mean, I only just met him." I eyed her warily. "Wait, why? Have you seen something else?"
She shook her head, her eyes tightened in frustration. "No. I've tried, but I'm not getting anything for some reason. You're on your own."
"Damn." I muttered, swirling the colorful loops around with my spoon. "What do you think I should do?"
She shrugged. "It's up to you. I do know that the Jacob from our lost future has the potential to be a dear friend to our family. I mean, he imprinted on Renesmee for crying out loud, so—"
"Wait. What?" I interrupted, reeling like I just got sucker-punched.
"Oh. Edward didn't tell you?" Alice's golden eyes were wide with surprise, but not as wide as mine.
"No." I answered, trying not to let my voice shake. "He said it didn't matter because he imprinted on me, but obviously it does. Especially if Edward and Bella still plan on having the kid later on…." I sat back in my chair, deep in thought.
So, Jake really didn't belong with me. I was just a replacement. I had to admit, that stung. I had never been anyone's first choice. The idea was borderline absurd, but Jacob loving me above anyone else had a certain appeal. But I wasn't going to waste my time building a relationship only for him to lay eyes on Renesmee and leave me in his devotion to her.
I sighed, decision made. I had to give him control again. I had to fix this and return the future to its proper path. A ripple of pain echoed in my chest, but I ignored it.
Stupid feelings.
Alice frowned, her hand gripping the table suddenly with enough force to splinter the wood. "Whoa! Alice, you okay?" Her eyes had that far-off look I knew well.
"Alice?" Jasper called out, to no one's surprise. He rounded the corner of the kitchen, took one look at Alice and darted to her side in a flash of blond hair. He gently uncurled her fingers and whispered sweet nothings in her ear until the glazed look faded and she returned to the here and now.
"What did you see?" I asked at once, anxiety spiking.
Jasper gave me a withering look that clearly said, 'give her a second.'
I sat back and zipped my lips.
"I didn't see anything." She said, rubbing her temples like she had a headache. Was it possible for a vampire to get a real headache?
"Nothing?" Jasper said. "The emotions rolling off you were... intense."
She shook her head. "No. I didn't see anything, but I feel like something bad is about to happen."
Great! Just what I needed. Something bad already happened and Alice didn't even get a snippet of Victoria's attack, but here she was with a foreboding so bad she could only feel it.
Just perfect.
"That sucks." I said, Jasper's head whipped around to glare at me. I held up my hands defensively. "I meant, it sucks that she got so upset. Sheesh. Take a chill pill, Jazz."
He just shook his head, clearly not believing me, and turned his attention back to his wife. I scooted back in the chair and retreated to my room to give them some privacy. My afternoon activities for tomorrow taking shape in my head.
Dun, dun, DUN!
This was a fun chapter. I like giving Ivy more interaction with her siblings. (But I just realized Rose needs more love, I'll work on that in the future)
Ivy and Jake are M.F.E.O. (made for each other;) but Ivy has serious abandonment issues. She'll make some big mistakes before things get better between them.
I'm sorry if this chapter felt a bit choppy. It was actually two chapters I decided to put together because the length wasn't good enough for me.
Chapter 11 will be up in the next few days.
-TypeandScribble