A/N: Special thanks to jkane180 for guest-betaing this chapter while EssatheTwerp21 is out on her honeymoon. Congrats on getting hitched girl! And of course, thanks to DeeDreamer also!

Chapter 23 – Torsion

NPOV

We took our time getting back to the house, spending a while sitting on my hood in the empty subdivision. I wasn't ready to go back yet. Jacob and I were apart for much of the day, and I wasn't used to it. I needed to get my fill before having to sleep in a separate bed from him and limiting my thoughts and conversations to things my father and family wouldn't object to.

"Were you upset earlier…about me and Kimber?"

"No, why? Did you do something that would upset me?" he asked, playing with my hair absently.

"No, we were just sleeping. She was coiled around me like a cobra, that's all."

His cheeks had a tinge of pink as he said, "It was sort of beautiful. Not Kimber, I mean, she's okay and all…but I mean…her all pregnant and you two cuddled together…it was like living art or something. Just beautiful."

I smiled. He was too fucking cute. "That's sweet. And Kimber is beautiful, too."

He half smiled, laying back on the windshield and pulling me with him. "If you say so."

I'd worried that Jacob would be jealous – or worse, pissed – at the scene he walked into. He knew I was attracted to her, and I prayed he didn't get the wrong idea. Sure, Kimber was gorgeous – and would become a stunning vampire in a couple of weeks – but her rounded belly was anything but a turn on for me. Maybe one day, if Jacob was okay with it, we could let our attraction lead to something, but not now.

With that little issue resolved, it was time to get to more important matters.

"Jacob, can I ask you something?" I asked hesitantly.

He turned to face me. "You just did," he joked.

I punched him in the arm playfully.

"Ow!" he yelped, rubbing his generously proportioned bicep.

"I'm serious," I said apologetically. I turned my head to face the sky. Coward.

"Ask me anything."

I swallowed, trying to get the huge knot in my throat to go down. My heart raced and Jacob responded by squeezing my hand.

"What's wrong?"

I saw his body shift beside me, but I couldn't look at him. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "What um…did you and my mom talk about?"

I felt like it wasn't any of my business, but I had to know.

"You and me mostly. The money thing, too."

What a vague answer…Maybe he didn't want to talk about it.

"And you guys came to some sort of resolution?"

"I think so. Alice isn't going to shove shit down my throat anymore…and I learned some things."

I turned to face him finally. "Alice wasn't the only one at fault. I really am sorry for being so selfish and inconsiderate."

His large hand stroked my cheek. "You're not allowed to apologize anymore. I love you. We were irrational, and it's to be expected. It'll take time for us to learn how to deal with each other's…less desirable traits. We've got to learn how to communicate when we're angry or irritated, learn when to part ways for a little while. Because, unfortunately, no matter how much I love you or how perfect you are, you're bound to piss me off from time to time. Likewise with you. And that's normal." He had to be the most amazing man in the world. He kissed me then, lightly on the lips, warming my heart.

"Did my mom tell you all that?" I asked suspiciously, smirking.

"How'd you know?"

"Only my mom could look at something so emotion-driven and break it down into something logical and reasonable," I replied lightheartedly.

He kissed me again. "Doesn't mean it's not accurate or that I believe it any less. Truth is, we don't know shit about being in a serious relationship or sharing so much of ourselves. We know that we love each other more than anything, but it takes more than love for two hot-headed people to have a healthy, happy relationship."

I nodded in agreement and rolled onto my side so that our bodies were facing each other. He pulled me closer to him. "You're absolutely right…or my mom is," I added with a light laugh.

"You should talk to her. She's pretty knowledgeable about all this relationship stuff." He gestured between the two of us.

"Yeah, and all these years I thought my parents waited until I was asleep to argue." His hand skimming across the small of my back was making it difficult to focus on our conversation.

"She said that they argue sometimes, but not often. No one's perfect. You come pretty damn close, though," he said with that sexy, charming smile of his.

"I love you," I murmured as his lips pressed to mine.

And to think, this amazing man was all mine for eternity.

Sunday went by in a blur. Everyone was making arrangements for the move. We would be staying in a house my family lived in several decades ago until they were able to close on a larger one. They purchased the Douglas house prior to Alice and Jasper – and obviously my mother and I – joined the family.

It would be even more temporary for Jacob and me. He was already looking for a job online. Jasper fudged his resume a bit. Jacob was smart, but his work history was slim. He knew a lot about working on cars, and he hoped that his mechanical knowledge would help him land a job on one of the oil rigs near Juneau.

With a little coercion from Mom, Jacob agreed to let them help us get started on our own – only because he didn't want me to go without anything since it would probably take a month or two for us to get on our feet otherwise. As long as I had him and an occasional blood meal, I didn't need anything else, but he didn't see it that way.

I took it upon myself to find a few houses that were for rent near UA. I didn't want him to feel obligated to choose something lavish and more expensive than what he could afford. There was a little ranch house that I absolutely fell in love with. It had a modest yard, master suite with a garden tub, and a big kitchen I could use to cook meals for my incredible man. Even though we were renting, I still wanted to find something just right since we'd probably be there the whole time we were in college.

That's when it started to feel real. Jacob and I would be living together. Alone. We would have our house with our kitchen and our bed.

My stomach flip-flopped. Are we ready for this?

Ready or not, there was never a doubt in my mind that we would be living together one day, and I absolutely loathed being away from him, so why not? To hell with human conventions; he was the love of my life, and we would get past anything that came at us. Besides, now that we'd spent so much time together, it would be impossible to live apart.

Later in the day, Mom and I spent a good deal of time talking about relationships. I felt like Jacob and I were at a good place, but that was to be excepted. Things were still new and exciting. Once the novelty wore off, it could become much different if we didn't learn the basics of how to compromise and communicate with one another. Even though her advice was helpful, I knew that having it wouldn't mean we would never have arguments, especially considering how hot-headed we could get.

Neither of us had ever been in a serious relationship before and, thus, knew nothing about how to cultivate and nurture one. Jacob had helped take care of his father growing up, so that helped him learn how to put someone else's needs above his own.

I, however, had been catered to hand and foot my entire life, never having to consider anyone else's feelings, needs, or desires. Anything I wanted was mine. Even when I was going through puberty and being a complete bitch to everyone around me, they still obliged…so long as it didn't involve me leaving the house. If I wanted to watch a movie on the big television in the living room, whoever was watching it went somewhere else; if I was PMS-ing and craving king crab legs, someone would willingly drive to the ends of the earth to find them for me.

Jacob called his dad and a few of the wolves back home. Apparently Dad didn't trust them and wanted to make sure they wouldn't go ape-shit over having a half-vampire on their land. Just as Jacob said, they were fine and really excited for him regardless of my lineage.

Dad loaded up a few pieces of luggage with all the camping essentials we would need and drove us to the airport in the wee hours of Monday morning. I turned my body toward his when he came to a stop at the drop-off area. He wrapped both arms around me and squeezed tightly.

"I love you," he mumbled into my hair, taking in my scent one last time before our separation. "I'll miss you."

It felt good to know that my father would miss me in my absence. Every other time I'd been apart from him was on less-than-pleasant terms. We still had a ways to go in building a healthy relationship, but at least we were trying to reconcile.

Tears pricked my eyes. What the fuck? "I'll miss you too, Dad," I choked.

"Renesmee, what's wrong, honey? Are you crying?" he asked as he pulled away, examining my face carefully.

I swatted the tears away. "Nothing, I'm fine. I don't know why I'm all emotional. It's not like I won't see you in a few days." And only recently did I think I'd actually look forward to seeing him at all.

"Don't be nervous. Everything will be fine, sweetie."

Sweetie? I left that one alone. "Love you," I said, placing a quick kiss on his cheek.

My stomach was in knots the entire flight. I'd flown countless times, so I knew it wasn't some sort of motion sickness. I tried to curl into Jacob's side and fall asleep to no avail. Between the nausea and being nervous as fuck, it wasn't going to happen. No matter what I tried – reading, listening to music, watching the in-flight movie – the nausea persisted. I'd never experienced anything like this before. But then again, I'd never been so nervous in all my life.

As if I didn't feel horrible enough, the plane started going through some turbulence, and I knew I was going to lose my breakfast. I pushed past Jacob and bolted to the bathroom, spilling the contents of my stomach just as I reached the toilet.

Jacob came to check on me and asked to come in. I told him I was fine and to go back to his seat. My stomach settled significantly after vomiting. Today was not the day to be sick and disgusting-looking. I was supposed to meet his father and sister in a few short hours, and as I checked my reflection, I realized that I looked about as hot as I felt. Great.

When we landed in Seattle, I took a while to get myself together in the disgusting public restroom. I wasn't at my best, but I looked a lot better than I had eight hours ago. After I finished touching up my makeup and brushing my teeth – ignoring the gazes of strangers washing their hands – we picked up our rental car and began the three hour drive to Jacob's hometown, La Push.

The long ride was a curse and a blessing. On one hand, it sucked to be stuck in the car for so long when I didn't feel too great; on the other, it gave me time to get myself together before we got there. The queasiness and unease were gone, but I was still left with a raging case of butterflies.

The scenery whizzing by the car window was nothing like the places I'd been before, yet it seemed oddly familiar. We'd lived in the east for a long while, and before that, we lived in Canada. The dreary weather was a given anywhere we lived, but things were so much more lush and green in Washington. It felt peaceful, calming even. There was no traffic or chaotic, cosmopolitan areas, just the occasional small town.

The GPS on the dash of our rented Maxima said we were fifteen minutes from our destination when the speedometer began to creep closer and closer to ninety. Jacob turned down a winding side road that even I would have slowed down on and kept his foot pressed firmly against the accelerator. At first I thought it was excitement that had him in a rush, but his eyes were tense and he was gripping the wheel so tightly that his tan knuckles were white.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine. I gotta piss, that's all," he replied, not taking his eyes off the road.

"You're lying," I said flatly. It was blatantly obvious. His rigid posture and the nervous tone in his voice were dead giveaways.

"I'm just ready to be there." He whipped around a curve in the road at seventy miles per hour. The police car that was tucked behind some trees went unseen until it was too late. Blue lights flashed the second we flew by. Jacob didn't slow down, though.

"FUCK!" he roared.

"Jacob, you have to stop! You can't outrun the cops in a fucking six cylinder Maxima!" I shouted.

He banged his head back against the headrest and growled, muttering obscenities. I'd never seen this side of him; angry, yes…but there was something else there, too. Worry? Nervousness? It's just a ticket; what's his deal?

Jacob fished his license out of his wallet and rolled down the window. "Ness, will you look for the registration and insurance? I think it's in the glove box," he asked gruffly.

I rifled through the stack of paperwork we'd been given at the Enterprise counter. I was still recovering from in-flight nausea and had paid zero attention as the woman behind the counter explained the documentation.

"License and registration, please," a low, gravelly voice asked. "Jacob! Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. How ya' been?" Whoever the officer was didn't elicit the same level of enthusiasm from Jacob.

I turned my attention to the conversation. It seemed like the polite thing to do.

"Pretty good, I guess. You in town for a while?"

"Nah, just a few days," Jacob replied, not doing a very good job of masking his disinterest in the conversation.

"Well, that's too bad. Your dad said he's coming down with something. You got a friend with you?" the officer asked, crouching down so he could peer through the window at me. I politely met his gaze with a small smile.

"Yeah, um. This is, uh…Ness. Ness, this is…Charlie."

His eyes were a mirror image of my own. Not just the color, but shape and all. He stood there absolutely dumbfounded for a long moment, staring at me as if he'd seen a ghost. I couldn't take my eyes off him, either. His mouth tightened the exact same way my mother's did when she was anxious or upset about something.

My inhale got stuck in my throat when I finally realized what was going on. I knew my mother had known Jacob before I was born, quite well actually. Jacob had never lived anywhere other than La Push, so naturally Mom lived somewhere nearby. But she never once in my entire life mentioned living relatives. Not a single one.

My eyes flicked down to the silver name plate on his chest. Swan. Charlie Swan. He shared the same last name that my mother had before she married my father. The only reason I knew this was because of the disgusting role-play games my parents would act out when they thought I was asleep. Miss Swan was the naughty pupil, and Mr. Masen was the strict teacher. It made my stomach wretch just remembering it. Ugh. They were both pretty humiliated when I asked them where the name Swan came from, but they explained it anyway.

So many things ran through my mind. My heart was racing and the nausea started coming back. I was too taken aback to form words – neither in my mind nor aloud – so I grasped Jacob's hand and let him feel my emotions. Shock. Confusion. Nervousness. Excitement.

"Well, Chief, are you giving me a ticket or just a slap on the wrist?" Jacob asked nonchalantly, breaking the silence.

Charlie snapped out of his reverie with a slight head shake. "Yeah, um, slow it down, Jake," he said, slowly moving away from the window. "Have a good one."

I watched Charlie sit in his car through the side mirror as we pulled back onto the road. He was staring off into space, probably feeling about the same as I did. He suspected something, of that I was certain.

For the second time that day, I cried. My parents always did what they thought was best for me, but did they honestly think keeping me away from my human family was best? Could they not make one exception to the rule and allow one person to know our secret? Not even the whole truth, just enough of it so that we could keep in touch. Perhaps having a human in my life would have given me some semblance of normalcy and helped me better understand my human side.

Jacob hadn't spoken since we got back on the road. It pissed me off because he knew how I was feeling, and I was somehow supposed to pull myself together in the next fifteen minutes before we arrived at his dad's house. Once he noticed the tears, though, he tried to console me.

"Ness, baby, don't cry." He was trying to come off as soothing, but he wasn't fooling me. I could see the tension behind the façade.

"Who is he?" I asked in a broken voice.

He stiffened. "I…You…It kills me to say this, but this is something you'll have to take up with your parents."

"So you know who he is, and you won't tell me anything? I would never do that to you, Jacob. Never. I've kept quiet about your willingness to follow my dad's stupid rules, but this is important. Please, Jacob. They'll never tell me anything, and from the way you've reacted, I can guess that you know they're going to be pissed at you about this anyway. Please just tell me…I have to know," I broke off in a broken whisper.

I heard his heartbeat quicken. "You're putting me in a really tough position. This is something far beyond me, and I'm not so sure I should be the one you hear it from."

At this point, I knew he was someone important; otherwise Jacob wouldn't have made such a big deal about it. I would find out, even if it meant using unfair means. I truly hated to put Jacob right in the middle of what I was sure would be a huge argument with my parents, but I needed to know now. My parents would never tell me anything, and Jacob's resolve was already faltering. This could be the only chance I had.

"Is he an uncle of mine?"

"Ness," he grumbled.

"Grandfather?" I pried.

He didn't have to respond aloud because his body said it all. He swallowed hard and released a sharp breath.

"Look at me," I pleaded.

He didn't speak when he turned his head away from the road momentarily. Defeat was written all over his expression.

"I have a biological grandfather?" I asked softly, mainly to myself. The butterflies in my stomach were really worked up now. More tears fell, but they weren't from sadness. I was happy. So happy. Even if we couldn't tell him our secret, I had to know him.

The downside to all this was that the wedge between my parents and I – the one that only recently began to work its way out – was shoved right back where it had been. It disgusted me that my mother completely abandoned her own father. Maybe her mother as well, who knew?

I straightened myself out and took a deep, calming breath. "I have to see him again. He's family, Jacob. Damn my parents. I'm capable of making my own decisions," I said with an edge of finality.

He sighed in resignation. "You have to call Bella and Edward first."

I leaned over the arm rest and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. "I love you."

"Love you, babe," he replied with a quick kiss in return.

Jacob visibly relaxed as we drove past a rustic sign that marked the border of La Push. A contented smile appeared and the tension around his eyes evaporated. The car slowed as he gazed appreciatively at various landmarks as they passed. Most of them looked old enough to have been there long before he was born. He seemed so genuinely happy.

"You know, this is the first time that I've actually wanted to be here in years," he said as we pulled down a gravel drive.

I swallowed the growing lump in my throat and watched the front door crack open. A tall, dark-skinned woman pushed a wheelchair across the threshold. My heart sped considerably. I wasn't expecting to meet anyone other than his father until later in the evening at dinner.

I wasn't ready for this. What if she hated me? What if she held what happened all those years ago against me? My parents told me that Billy, Jacob's father, was one of the kindest people I would ever meet and that he would accept me regardless. No one made mention of anyone else though.

The faces of the pair on the porch mirrored Jacob's – sheer happiness.

He squeezed my hand and brought the back of it to his lips chastely. "Calm down. They'll love you, I swear."

The impression I left his family with today would be everlasting. I straightened my shoulders, buried my insecurities, and got out of the car.

God, please let them like me.

A/N: Reviews will receive a teaser in reply. Thanks!