Chapter 6: Oasis

Once they left the ferry, the drive up to the cabin seemed endless. He was tired after not getting much sleep the night before and was looking forward to getting a good night's rest at the cabin. Something about the woods, the sound of the pines as they moved in the frosty air, the sound of the birds…there was nothing better to lull someone to sleep in his opinion. Stretching slightly, he tried to focus on the road ahead of him and relax. His body was sore from wrestling with James the night before, and he knew he was lucky to have gotten away with just a few meager scratches. People like James were ruthless; they had nothing to lose whatsoever.

He had acted bravely, but in all honestly, Jacob was just glad that both of them had lived to see the morning. He would never forget the hungry gleam in James' eyes. He was obviously unhinged and had no qualms about risking his life for revenge.

"We're almost there."

Renesmee looked up, frowning. "We're in the middle of nowhere," she mused.

He watched her simple, yet exquisite features turn dark as she scowled at the scenery.

"It's nature," he argued with a shrug.

She turned her frown toward him.

"It's the middle of nowhere."

He chuckled. "That's the idea. Isolation."

"Great," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"You'll like it."

"We'll see."

"Sorry, Princess. Charlie's orders. We needed to get out of town," he explained patiently.

"Must you keep calling me that?"

"Must you use words like 'must' to start a sentence?"

"Pardon me for not being born in a barn," she finally huffed.

"I wasn't born in a barn! I just don't speak like I'm from the 1920s. Out of curiosity, did you go to a boarding school in Switzerland?"

She snorted, propping her sock-clad feet up on the dash of the car.

"No. I went to a normal high school, just like everyone else."

He gave her a skeptical glance. Renesmee huffed and slapped her knees.

"All right! I went to St. Peter's School for Girls. Happy?"

"I'll be happy if you tell me you all danced around in short little skirts."

"Are you perhaps a twelve year old stuck in a man's body? Goodness," she growled.

"Perhaps, yes," he replied to mock her.

"Do you have to make fun of everything I say? You're so sweet one minute, and then the next…"

"What?" he asked curiously, looking over at her. He watched her closely, only glancing at the winding country road when he had to.

"Just…you make me crazy."

He snorted again, a satisfied rumble sounding in his chest.

"Yup, well…I tend to make most women crazy. Crazy for me…"

"You're insane."

"You like it."

"Ass," she muttered.

Jacob barked a loud laugh, shaking slightly.

"Do you kiss your daddy with that mouth, Princess?"

"Just shut up. I'm sure we can drive the rest of the way there without talking. All we do is argue about pointless nonsense."

"Fine, fine."

"Can you just drive?"

He snickered at her behavior, shaking his head at her. As annoying as her huffy attitude could get at times, he had to admit an inescapable attraction to Charlie's granddaughter.

"Grumpy, are we?" he asked, grinning.

She bit her lip and looked sideways at him, shrugging. Her façade of having everything under control was steadily crumbling.

"If you had someone out to kill you, wouldn't you be?"

They pulled up to the rustic mountain cabin an hour later.

It had been an hour of silence. Comfortable, yet still silent. He could tell she was afraid and was starting to feel bad for her, until they opened the front door and she opened her mouth again.

"So this is it…my home for the next…how long?"

He dropped his bag in the entry way, breathing in a breath of the fresh, pine-scented country air. "However long it takes. Why the hurry? It's beautiful up here," he said, throwing open the curtains with a flourish.

With a big cloud of dust, the plaid curtains slid open, revealing a large, open backyard, which overlooked a lake.

"It's my uncle's fishing cabin. We come up here for…guys' nights," he admitted with a shrug. He watched as Renesmee looked around skeptically, her face letting on to her feelings.

"It's um…cozy?"

He opened another set of curtains, feeling his annoyance with her grow. How could someone so utterly gorgeous be so…irritating at times?

"You know, maybe I wouldn't call you princess if you didn't act like one."

She dropped her matching travel bags in the hallway with a thump. "I don't act like anything! I said it was cozy!"

"Yeah, well, you said it with that little 'eh!' to your voice, like you were being a snob about it."

"I am not a snob!" she huffed.

"Says who? Your butler?" he yelled from across the room. He could feel his heart start to pound in his chest. This girl and the things she said just sometimes ate at him.

"I've never had a butler in my life!" she screeched.

"No, but you had a maid, didn't you?"

Renesmee's jaw clenched, and Jacob shook his head with a knowing smirk.

"Knew it," he quipped.

"Angela only came on weekends!"

"See, I knew it. I knew someone like you would have a maid. You are a princess, whether you want to admit it or not," he grumbled, brushing past her on his way to the kitchen.

He flipped the lights on, bringing the tiny log cabin's kitchen into a warm glow. If Renesmee hadn't been so angry with him, she might have normally appreciated the quaintness of the tiny mountain home. However, Jacob had her too riled.

I should have known, she thought. Someone like that…I should have known. No matter how good looking he is, someone, somewhere is sick of his shit.

"You know, as a cop, shouldn't you be more focused on…oh, I don't know, protecting me?"

"As you wish…" he trailed off.

She made a disgusted sound and crossed her arms, following him out of the kitchen.

"Do not quote the Princess Bride and think I don't know!"

Jacob gave her an annoyed glance and walked over to the cabin's windows overlooking the lake. The dark, billowy clouds in the distance made him nervous.

"Storm's coming in. Time to hunker down."

"Hunker down?"

He nodded as he walked over the fireplace, checking their supply. "Yeah. You know, getting ready for the storm? Staying in? Hunker down. We're low on wood…I'd better go chop some."

She giggled, following him over to look at the fireplace. "Chop wood? What are you, a lumberjack?"

"Listen, we don't have heat in this place. The only thing we'll have is the heat from the wood burning stove. There's the fireplace, but that only provides heat in this room. Now, do you want to freeze when this storm comes in? Because I sure don't," he grumbled, moving past her.

"Fine," she sighed.

"Don't go anywhere…I'll just be out back. You shout if you need anything, okay?"

She nodded, giving him a saucy glare. "Where would I be without my lumberjack?" she joked with a playful smirk.

"You like it," he countered back.

She rolled her eyes, feigning annoyance for what felt like the millionth time that day, as he left. Her hands searched her pockets for her cell phone, but she remembered that he had turned it off for her safety. Looking through the back door's small window, she watched as he walked to the side of the house and paused at the woodpile, surveying the stack of wood remaining. He disappeared, only to return with an axe. He began expertly chopping wood, and she took the time alone to explore.

The cabin they were staying in was small, but homey. She had to admit, watching Jacob out in the Canadian backwoods had done wonders for her imagination. Her lumberjack comment had been purely in jest. However, ever since that comment had slipped from her mouth, she had been thinking about nothing but Jacob dressed as a lumberjack. Yeah…low slung jeans that hang off his ass, no shirt, perhaps something flannel wrapped around his waist? Oh, and sweat. Sweat is good, too.

Her mind was instantly flooded with images of a tan, sweaty Jacob chopping wood in the blistering summer heat, droplets of sweat rolling down his sinewy muscles…stop!

She knew it was wrong to think of Charlie's partner that way. It was wrong to think of her hired protection that way. He wasn't hers to fantasize about; when this whole thing was over, they would both go back to Seattle. He would go back to working as a cop, and she would go back to…what?

Frowning, she walked through the main room of the house, observing. It was a pretty little cabin; the entry way led to the main room, which was an A-frame overlooking the lake. Although small, it boasted a large couch and a fireplace, and beside it was the open kitchen with a tiny table for eating. On the other side of the living room was the solitary bathroom, which was connected to the tiny mud room and laundry room. There was a narrow staircase that led up to the loft, which Jacob had mentioned had a bedroom.

Would he let her sleep in the bed? Or would he expect her to sleep on the couch? Her lips pressed together in a thin line as she thought, trying to gauge how she thought the night would play out.

Of course he'll sleep on the couch. He certainly won't want to sleep with you, she chided herself. Sleeping with Jacob. Would there really be any sleeping if she was to actually sleep with him?

I have a dirty mind, she thought with a smirk. Gazing out the windows at the lake below, she took a deep breath. Although the tiny cabin was a bit musty, overall, the air up here was exactly as Jacob had said – clean, fresh, pine-y. It was quite relaxing, actually, and was definitely something she would have enjoyed, had she not been running for her life.

Movement in the background caught her eye. Inhaling, she caught sight of Jacob, still outside and chopping away at the woodpile…shirtless. The crisp, late Fall air seemed to have no affect on him as he raised the rusted axe into the air, bringing it down with one hard swing. The log split in two with a crack, making her jump. He paused and yanked out his undershirt that was tucked into the back of his jeans. Wiping his brow, he tossed it on the ground and kept at his work, chopping and stacking.

I shouldn't be watching this, she told herself.

She walked back into the kitchen, pulling the plaid curtain back to look up the winding driveway. This was clearly a cabin used mainly for fishing retreats; it was secluded and private. What were the odds of James finding her here?

Looking up, he gave the sky above a worried glance. The clouds and color of the sky weren't fooling him; a storm was coming. While the cabin offered a safe hiding place with some seclusion, he didn't much care for the idea of being trapped up there. When it snowed in the mountains, it snowed hard.

His gaze shifted to the nearby window, surprise registering on his face when he saw the curtain flutter back into place.

Was she watching me? he thought with a smirk. He took his shirt the was tucked into the back of his jeans and wiped his brow, secretly hoping he didn't smell too bad after chopping wood. Girls like Renesmee…didn't seem like they would like a smelly man.

You shouldn't be thinking about what kind of guy she likes. She's not for you.

It was true. He could tell by the fancy digs and expensive looking clothes that Renesmee had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth. The little comments Charlie had made throughout the years about his daughter's hoity toity husband were finally coming back to him.

Jacob knew the family that Charlie's daughter Bella had married into. The Cullens were a prominent family in the area, due to the wild success of their popular restaurant, Forks. He knew the family was originally from Forks, Washington, not far from his hometown of La Push. There, everyone had heard the Cullen name at least once. A rare sports car spotted at the gas station? Probably the Cullens. A large donation to the Christmas fundraiser? The Cullens were at it again.

When you're rich in a small town, everyone knows it when you sneeze.

Jacob had been surprised to find out that Charlie's daughter was married to a Cullen; each time he had met her over the years he had known Charlie, she seemed very down to earth and kind – simple, even. She wasn't the type of girl he had pictured being married to one of the richest families in Washington.

With Renesmee, it seemed to go either way. She didn't make as big of a deal as he thought she was going to about running away to a mountain cabin with him. She didn't seem to mind being deep in the woods without her cell phone and five star dining. Of course, she had made a snooty comment here and there, but they weren't that bad. He mainly just enjoyed ripping into her about it. He felt bad for teasing her, but she made it hard to resist. However, sometimes the expressions she made and the things she said were too hard to pass up without a 'princess' comment or some teasing.

I feel like I'm in fifth grade and I'm teasing the cute girl I have a crush on.

Grinning to himself, he began stacking what he had cut. He hoped it was enough for at least the night, because the temperature had dropped several degrees in the short amount of time he was outside.

Walking inside, he navigated through the house with a huge stack of logs in his arms, dumping them next to the wood burning stove. The black, dusty looking stove separated the kitchen from the living area, and he hoped between that and the fireplace, that would be enough. He had only been up to the cabin once during the cold season to ice fish as a boy, and all he could remember was being cold.

He hoped that was not the case tonight.

Renesmee was sitting on the couch, staring off into space. Her large, doe-like brown eyes were wide and glassy as she sat there.

"Everything okay?" he asked, stacking the pieces up.

She nodded, pulling her sweater around herself tighter.

"Sure," she muttered. "You look worried, though. Is it…going to snow?" she asked, her voice tinged with worry.

He shrugged, trying to downplay the huge clouds that were rolling in over the lake.

"Might get some snow, yeah. No way to tell for sure."

"Is there a weather station we could check?"

He smirked to himself, digging his lighter out of his pocket. "If you go into town, sure. But if you want to stay here, there's a radio in the kitchen somewhere."

He watched her face for a sign of disgust, but she simply nodded and stood. She walked over, pulling the curtain to the side again.

"It's going to storm, isn't it? A big snowstorm?"

"Maybe," he muttered, cracking the pieces of wood apart to make kindling. After building a fire, he made his way into the kitchen to check on their food supply. The last time they had eaten was hours ago in Vancouver, and he knew both of them would start to get hungry soon. Opening the cabinets, he smiled to himself as he began to get things in order.

"What are you doing?" she asked, pulling her sweater around herself as she walked over.

"Making you the Black Family special recipe," he answered, waggling his eyebrows at her.

Renesemee blushed a little, looking away.

"Looks like a can of Ragu sauce and some garlic powder."

"You'd be right," he said with a cough, starting the water. He glanced at her sideways as he put the water on the stove with a flourish. He grabbed the tattered apron from the hook near the pantry and tied it around his waist.

She giggled at how ridiculous he looked.

"Well, family recipe or not, I'm cooking you dinner tonight."

"Hmm, I don't remember the last time someone cooked me dinner," she mused, sitting down at the counter.

He glanced at her again, raising one eyebrow. "Haven't you had a guy cook you dinner?"

She shook her head. "No…I mean, Mike was all about going out all the time. You know, see and be seen?"

He shrugged, stirring the sauce on the stove. "I guess. Don't see the point of that, though. Who cares if you're out to dinner?"

She shook her head to herself and leaned over the counter. "Other people, I guess. I never cared for it. So…do you cook a lot of girls dinner?"

He smirked up at her. "Why? Jealous?"

She mimicked his smirk back. "I never said that. Just making conversation. People like it when you ask about them. People like talking about themselves in general…."

Jacob shrugged, stirring the boiling water and checking the heat. "I 'spose. I don't know. Just…not a whole lot to talk about in that regard."

Renesmee swallowed, waiting for him to elaborate. Glancing at her again, he licked his lips and stirred the Ragu. "I…ah…don't have time for dates, and…girlfriends. It just doesn't really work out well when you're a cop."

She nodded. "One of the main reasons Charlie and Renee didn't work out."

"Yeah, he'll bring her up once in a while."

"Seriously? He brings up my grandma?" Renesmee asked curiously.

He nodded. "Still has a little picture of her up on his desk."

"He does?"

"Do you think…"

"…that he never got over her? Yeah. I do. He always asks me about her when I come home from visits," Renesmee answered, finishing his sentence. She liked talking about Jacob and finding out more about him; the only things she knew so far was that he was a smartass and a cop.

"Charlie is…oh Charlie," she laughed, shaking her head.

He snorted, breaking the pasta over the boiling water. "Why do you say it like that? That, 'oh Charlie.' He's not exactly ready to be turned out to pasture. He's a great cop and…and one of the best guys on the force. Trust me, you want him on your side."

Renesmee shrugged. "I guess. He's just always been my quiet, bumbling old grandpa that always wanted to take me fishing, and then out for burgers. That's just him, though. It's what we always expect with him. There aren't any surprises or pretenses with him. He's got an armchair older than me. It's just so…Charlie."

"He's a really brave guy; you shouldn't put him down like that," Jacob replied, opening the jar of sauce. He poured it into a skillet, turning up the burner. She watched him stir it carefully, spreading it around the pan.

There is something so sexy about a man cooking dinner for me… she thought.

"I'm not putting him down. He's just…I think of him as my old grandpa, you know?"

"I guess," Jacob replied with a shrug.

She sat at the kitchen counter, watching as he stood on the other side of the pot. The water rose a boil, cooking the spaghetti as they both looked on, a comfortable silence settling between them.

Renesmee rested her chin on her hand, watching as the water bubbled. She thought back to when Charlie had been shot. She was just a teen at the time, and his injury had worried her mother to death. She remembered being pulled out of school to go visit him in the hospital, and Bella had almost refused to leave his side. Charlie had taken it like a champ, claiming he would have done it all over again in a heartbeat, since it had saved the life of a young police rookie. Frowning, she looked up at Jacob.

"You're the rookie."

"What?"

"I said, you're the rookie," she repeated. "You're the rookie who Charlie took the bullet for, aren't you?"

Jacob's facial reaction was her answer.

"I knew it."

"You didn't know crap," he replied, rolling his eyes.

She put her hands on her hips and huffed, and her eyes widened as he did the same thing. "Are you mocking me now?"

"Looks that way, huh, Princess," he muttered under his breath, continuing to stir the spaghetti.

"I hate you," she grumbled, shaking her head.

"The feeling is mutual," he spat, flicking the burner off. He glanced at her sideways as he strained the finished pasta, moving it to the sink.

Renesmee glanced out at the lake, effectively ignoring his hissy fit. The sun was setting, and the cabin was getting dark. She didn't see many lights, so she stood up and grabbed a match, lighting the candle that sat on a shelf.

"You can put that on the table…the overhead light is out."

"Fine."

Their answers to each other were short as he finished up preparing their dinner. They were both annoyed and clearly making each other crazy.

A few minutes later, he tossed a plate of spaghetti down in front of her. He sat across from her at the table, scooting his chair up to the table with an annoyed grunt. They avoided each other's eyes, both of them stiff with a fierce stubbornness not to relent.

She carefully stabbed the pasta, twirling her fork in a circle. It wrapped perfectly around her fork, allowing her to place it in her mouth. Jacob looked up, watching her with another cocky smirk.

"You seriously eat your spaghetti like that?"

She repeated the action, her hand clasping her napkin in her lap to keep from slapping him.

"Yes, I do."

He snorted.

"How would you suggest I eat it?"

He leaned back in his chair, raising an eyebrow. "You eat spaghetti like you just don't care who's watching. You eat like you aren't ever going to get another bite…but I supposed you can't do that if you're out to 'see and be seen'," he replied haughtily.

She dropped her fork against her plate with a clatter. "I told you I didn't care for that. I couldn't care less who sees me eating."

He was silent again, shoveling a large bite of the messy food into his mouth. He met her eyes over the table, crouching over his food. He was daring her to laugh, and she knew it.

Renesmee burst into laughter, shaking her head at him. "You're ridiculous."

He shrugged, wiping his mouth with a chuckle. "It's how we eat the Black Family Recipe, what can I say."

"It is, um…pretty good," she agreed, taking another bite. She allowed her selection to get a little messier, attempting to mimic him.

"There ya go. That's right. Just eat. Don't worry about getting it all perfect. Just eat it."

"Do you see what I'm doing?" she laughed. "I'm getting there."

Jacob smiled smugly as he watched her eat. He sipped his water, glancing out at the storm. He wanted to keep Renesmee from worrying about the storm he knew was coming; it might have been something about his Native heritage, but he almost swore he could feel the storm coming in his bones. The last thing he wanted her to do right now was worry.

"So you like it?" he asked as a distraction.

"I'm eating it, aren't I?"

He snorted. "Right. I guess princesses wouldn't eat anything they didn't approve of."

"Would you stop that?"

"Stop what?"

She glared at him, and he glared back.

"You know, you look like an angry kitten when you do that."

"Do what?"

"That thing where you…try to be scary."

"I am scary."

He snorted again. "Riiiight. About as scary as a kitten, like I said."

"You're no better."

He leaned back in his chair, making it creak. "I can be very scary when I want to be."

She scoffed. "I bet."

He smirked to himself, pushing his heap of pasta around on his plate. "But you do like the food all right? We'll probably be eating it for breakfast."

She shrugged. "It's fine. Beats Spaghetti-Os."

"What?"

She laughed to herself, shaking her head. "It's what Charlie always used to feed me when I came to visit."

"I see. Yeah, that seems like the Chief."

She paused for a moment, thinking to herself. "You know, I'm actually not a princess at all. I'm really down to earth."

"Sure. I bet."

Renesmee took another bite of her pasta, chewing thoughtfully. "Actually, Mike used to chide me for not being as stuck up as he thought I should be. He always was a mooch. I think he only liked me because of my family…I can see him trying to ride my father's coattails and coast through life," she mused.

Jacob burst out laughing, smacking the table with his large hand at her words. "You're serious? I don't know what's funnier – the fact that he was a mooch, or that fact that you knew."

She shrugged nonchalantly. "He was decent company."

"Riiight."

"No, really!"

"So what qualifies a guy as decent company?"

Renesmee bit her lip, choosing her words carefully. "He was nice. He never hit me or yelled at me, or anything awful. Nothing like the stuff you…read in bad romance novels or anything like that," she said.

Jacob chuckled. "So?"

She sighed, using the tip of her fork to make zig zag designs in her sauce. "So nothing. It wasn't some great romance. We came together out of…"

"Boredom?"

She scowled across the table. "Well, I was going to say convenience, but…out of respect for him, I won't. He wasn't a bad guy; we hardly ever fought. Some of my friends put up with a lot worse…but Mike was decent."

"Sounds like a prince. He never hit you and he could make decent conversation with your parents, it sounds like. That's worth dating someone for four years?"

"Well, no…" she stated slowly. "He liked to go places and do things with me, and he was always up for something fun. Don't get the wrong idea…"

"He was nice, then?"

"Yeah. He was a good guy. Fun to be around. I mean…we dated practically all through college, so…we got to know each other pretty well."

"How was the sex?"

She coughed, her eyes bulging out. "What?"

He chuckled. "You know? Bumping uglies? Doing the nasty? How was that? I mean, you talk about the poor bastard like he was one of your best girlfriends. How was he in the sack?"

Renesmee giggled nervously, twisting her napkin in her lap. "Why would you ask that?"

"Humor me."

She shifted uncomfortably, looking anywhere but at Jacob. "He was…fine, I guess—"

"Fine?"

"Fine."

"I want to fall asleep just listening to you talk about it," Jacob said with a snort.

"You're a real smartass, you know it?"

"Better than being a dumbass."

"Wow, your really do spend too much time with Charlie."

He huffed a little at her comment, crossing his arms.

"You know, you're awful judge-y for someone who asks a lot of questions, yet has still not answered his share."

"What do you want to know?"

"I guess we're on the topic of exes."

Jacob looked down at his place. "When I have time to date—"

"That's crap," she said, interrupting him. "If you wanted to, you'd make time for a girl."

"How could you possibly know that?"

She grinned. "I've learned that if a guy wants you badly enough, he'll do anything to make it so."

He rolled his eyes, taking another bite. She watched him chew, the wheels in his brain almost visible.

"If I had time for a girl, she'd have to be so literally smoking hot explosive that it would be worth going a day or two without seeing her…touching her."

Renesmee felt a chill go up her spine at his words. He pursed his lips as he thought, and then nodded.

"Yeah, she'd have to be worth it."

She stared across the table at him, her eyes wide. He stared back with his calm and almost determined gaze. Renesmee swallowed, breaking their eye contact and returning to his food.

"Is it okay? The food, I mean?"

She smirked to herself, not making eye contact with him.

"It's great, actually. You cooked for me though…"

"So?"

"So I must be worth it."

There you have it! So, I'm a horrible person because it's been so long between updates and I didn't get to your reviews, but I had a bit of stuff to deal with in real life. Job drama (thankfully my job is safe!) I bought a car, and I got engaged! So yeah, a LOT has been going on. Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoyed it!

As for the 'action' - next chapter, we'll see some of that hott Jake/Ness action I'm sure you've all been craving : )