Bella and Esme wasted no time after that wrapping the precious child in her special blanket, the one Jake had given her for when she got scared and he couldn't be there for her. Every time it was washed, he would come over so that his wolf could roll around on it and leave his scent there for her.

Nessie curled up on the back seat of the car in tears thinking that Jake hated her now. She was certain she'd never see her favorite face again.

Jake had phased the minute he hit the tree line. He ran until he was actually feeling as if he'd come home. Running up to the house he could see just beyond the woods, he recognized the scent. He had come home. He was in La Push at the reservation.

He nosed at the door. It opened and Seth poked his head out. "Jake! What are you doing here?"

Jacob just nudged Seth as if telling him something. The younger man nodded. "Gottcha. Need clothes."

The wolf nodded and trotted back to stand on the ground. Seth reappeared in the door moments later with an old pair of sweatpants. Jake took them gently in his teeth and headed into the woods, coming back what seemed to be seconds later.

"Thanks, Seth. What are you doing here?"

"Checking up on your dad. He got the flu a little while back and I've been helping to keep an eye on him so that he doesn't come down sick again."

"Thanks for looking out for him."

"Now back to my question. What are you doing here?"

"I needed some time away from all of that mess."

"What about Nessie?"

"She'll be fine. She has her family to look after her." 'And whoever that guy was,' he thought bitterly.

"There's more to it than that, man. I've learned to read your expressions. But if you don't want to talk about it that's fine. I'm here when you decide to."

"Good. But I really want you to go up there and keep an eye on things for me." At the look that crossed Seth's face, Jake sighed. "I know that her parents and all can take care of her. I just feel better having some of my family up there with her. Someone I can communicate with without all of them knowing. And take Leah with you. She needs a change of scenery."

"You got it, boss. How often do you want us to make sure that we're phased to contact you?"

"Every couple of days. If something's really important, one of you can make the run back and tell me."

Seth nodded and set off to find his sister and tell her about Jake's newest orders.

Meanwhile, Jake walked into the house to see how his father was doing.

Not four hours later, Leah and Seth were in wolf form and heading north. 'I wish I knew what bug had crawled up Jake's butt.'

'Not our place to know. Besides it could be that he got tired of Blondie cracking all those dog jokes. I never did understand how he could put up with that leech.'

'Sis, you know that there's more to this story. I, for one want to know what made him leave Nessie like that.'

'I'm telling you, Seth, don't ask questions that you're not ready to hear the answers to. If they want to tell us, they will. Until then, we just do as we were told and watch over the bloodsuckers.' The two ran for a long time in silence.

Bella was amazed to see the two wolves come out of the forest. She hadn't expected to see Seth and Leah.

She took out some of Jake's clothes for Seth and a few things that they had bought just for Leah. The two of them got dressed and walked up to the house.

"Jake sent us. He wouldn't tell us what happened but he thought it would be a good idea to have us here for some odd reason," Leah explained.

"Where's Nessie?" Seth asked.

"She's in her room, crying because of that big lug. I don't think she's stopped crying since the night she went into the city with her friends."

"Can I talk to her, Bella?" Leah could hear Nessie crying now. She worried about the little one. After all, she was still just a kid and if Jake had hurt her, Alpha or not, Leah was going to teach him a thing or two.

"You can try, Leah. I'll be grateful if you can get through to her."

Leah headed into the house and followed the salty scent of tears to one bedroom on the third floor. She knocked softly. "Nessie, can I come in?"

"I guess," she sobbed quietly.

Leah walked in. "Want to tell me why Jake ran back to La Push but sent Seth and I up here to watch over you?"

Nessie gently lifted one hand and touched it to Leah's face, showing Leah the whole night. "Jake hates me," she whispered after it was done.

"Jake could never hate you, Nessie. He adores you."

"He saw my eyes. I'd had human blood. It disgusted him."

"Let me see if I read this right. You think he hates you because you drank human blood?" Nessie nodded. "But I'd be willing to bet that he didn't know anything about the events of the night. He probably smelled the guy's scent on you from the blood and thought that you'd used the trip with your friends to cover up you seeing some other guy. Typical Jake. He always runs off before he has the whole story. And he talks about me being messed up in the head."

"Leah, I want him back." Her voice sounded kind of weak from the crying. "I want my Jacob back."

"Give him some time, sweetie. He'll come back. He can't help it. He's been there for you since you were born. Just give him some time to pull his thick skull out of his butt."

"You can't tell him about what happened. He'd never understand." She had just about bolted up out of the bed.

"Don't worry, Nessie. I'm not going to tell him. I'll let Seth be the one to report to him when it's time. I promise that I won't tell him a thing."

A knock sounded softly at the door. "Can I come in, Renesmee?"

"Yes." The patriarch of the family walked into the room and cautiously approached his granddaughter.

"How do you feel today?"

"Tired."

Carlisle nodded. Leah decided to ask her question. "Carlisle, how much did you tell Jake the other night?"

"He didn't give me a chance to tell him what had happened. I had mentioned that something had happened to Nessie and then he burst into the room. He doesn't know the whole story."

She turned back to the young woman on the bed. "See? I told you. He probably smelled the guy on you because of the blood and freaked. He didn't even stop to ask any questions. He probably thinks you were seeing someone behind his back."

"Did he say how long he would be gone?" Carlisle's question threw Leah off.

"Sorry, Doc. He didn't say. Why?"

"I was hoping he'd be back for the trial."

"What trial?"

"Nessie's. We're trying to settle with the man's family but they insist she has to go to prison for what happened. They make it sound like she lured him into the alley in order to kill him." Nessie's head bowed in shame.

Leah caught her chin. "Renesmee, listen to me because I'm only going to say this one time. YOU DID NOTHING WRONG. He attacked you. He would have committed the most horrible crime on the planet against you if you hadn't defended yourself. You are a brave and beautiful girl. And trust me, no matter what lawyers that family hires, Doc here can hire better. I'm sure of it."

"But I killed him. He's dead and it's my fault."

Leah wrapped the teary-eyed girl in strong and caring arms. "Poor Nessie. I'll have Seth tell Jake about the trial. I'm sure he'll come back."

Nessie shook her head. "I don't want him told. I don't want him to feel an obligation to come back. I want him to come back because he wants to. Besides he doesn't want me anymore. And now I'm going to be locked up for the rest of my life." She threw herself back to the bed, sobbing once again.

Leah sighed and left the room with Carlisle. "Has she been like this since Jake left?"

"Yes. She cries and cries and then nothing. Alice, Rose and Bella take turns going in and getting her in the shower every morning. She doesn't do anything. It's even a fight to get her to eat anything. And she hasn't hunted."

"She won't hunt?"

"No. She says she just doesn't feel like it without Jake here. That it's something the two of them do."

"Emmett's built kind of like Jake. Why won't she go with him?"

"She won't even talk to Emmett. When we brought her home that night, Emmett walked up to her. She screamed and hid behind Bella and Esme. I found out later why. Her attacker could have been Emmett's twin."

"That sucks for Emmett. I'm sure that bothers him more than he'll admit."

"That's putting it mildly. But we can't even mention his name in her presence."

At the foot of the stairs, Leah and Carlisle parted ways. Heading outside, Leah threw back her head and screamed.

When she finished, she turned to Rosalie standing beside her who nodded. "I know how you feel. I wanted to tear the bastard apart myself. When Carlisle told me that our girl had taken off his head, I was proud of her for defending herself. But then I saw what this whole situation was doing to Nessie and my opinion changed. But now, I want to kick Jake's ass for bailing on her that way."

"Amen," Leah said, glad that she wasn't the only one.