Oh good, you're still here. So am I. I know it's been FOREVER since the last chapter (at least it feels that way), but I'll save you the sob story about classes and tests and friends and blah blah blah. You're not here to hear about my problems, you're here to read the story. So, by all means, read on! (Don't own Twilight)
Chapter 5: She's Alright
When he was a few miles out from the house, Edward slowed to a walk, his feet splashing through the puddles on the forest floor. How was he going to explain this to Bella? How could he look at the woman he loved most in the entire world and tell her that he thought their daughter had been kidnapped by the Volturi? Their worst nightmare was being realized, and he had to be the one to tell her.
Then, a horrible thought occurred to him. What if he was too late already? Once the Volturi had made up their mind, they didn't hesitate much in the execution of their decision. Would they force Renesmee to join them? Or would they kill his little girl like they had originally planned when they had first heard of her birth? Edward took off running again. He had to get his family. They had to get to Italy as quickly as possible. He prayed Alice would see him coming and have the plane tickets ready by the time he got home. He desperately wished flying was a vampiric ability. It'd be much faster than having to go through the airport.
He had only gone a few feet when he suddenly heard his wife's beautiful voice cry urgently in his head, Edward, she's here. Renesmee's safe! You can come home now, my love. Please come home to us. To me. Please, Edward! Please.
Edward's chest swelled with emotion, and the tears he was unable to cry burned his eyes. His baby was home! Safe, alive, and home! Edward ran faster than he ever had before in his entire existence. The rain falling from the sky above barely touched him. All he could think about was getting home to his daughter and his wife, who had sounded quite anxious. Had she been worried about him? As ridiculous as the thought seemed, it was totally characteristic of Bella.
As he neared the house, more thoughts rushed into his head. Edward heard every thought of every single one of his family members at once, and they were pretty much all thinking the same thing, Come home, Edward! Everything's alright, Renesmee's here!
They had all been worried about him, not just his wife. While this life was certainly not something he would have picked for himself, had he been given the choice, the family he had gotten because of it made it all worth while. The worst day of his entire existence had suddenly turned in to one of the best. "Bella!" he called as soon as the house came into view.
**~J/N~**
Bella whipped her head around and she moved from Jasper's embrace to the window again. She could have sworn she heard someone call her name. It had sounded just like Edward. And was that him she saw through the many trees in the forest of Forks? She squinted through the pouring rain. She wasn't sure how much she could rely on her relatively new vampire senses. She didn't want to build herself up only to fall when she realized she was wrong. For a second, she thought she was becoming delusional again, hearing Edward's voice and seeing him when he really wasn't there.
"I knew he'd make it," Jasper said quietly with a smile on his face as he ran to tell everyone that Edward was back.
Bella gasped. She wasn't delusional! Her husband was home, and she saw him coming through the rain that splattered against the window.
In a matter of seconds Edward was on the porch, but before he could open the front door, it flew open and Bella jumped into his arms. "Edward," she gasped, not caring that he was absolutely soaked, or that she was now too. The only thing that mattered was that he was home and in her arms again. "Oh thank God! I knew you'd hear us!"
"Bella," he sighed, kissing her head and holding her close.
Bella pulled away from him slightly and placed her hands against his marble face, looking into his dark eyes. She smiled at him. Without saying a word, they both knew the heartache each had endured that day, and she knew the question he was dying to ask. "She's alright," she told him. "She's upstairs with Jacob right now."
"Jacob?" Edward said, narrowing his eyes.
"Of course," she said, not quite understanding the anger in his voice. "He's been with her ever since he brought her home this afternoon. She was so afraid she fainted when they got here. She's awake now, but I don't think she's ready to face the world yet."
Edward nodded. Of course Jacob had been with her. It was quite literally impossible for him to leave his daughter, but it was an instinct within Edward, nearly stronger than the instinct to hunt, to protect his daughter from anything and everything that could potentially harm her. And that included Jacob Black, even though the rational side of him knew that no one was a better match for Renesmee. He would always worry about his baby, though. He would always want to protect her.
Taking the stairs two at a time, Edward walked the familiar route to his old bedroom. He opened the door quietly, and peeked his head in. He just wanted to see with his own eyes that his little girl really was safe. Peering into the dark room, Edward saw Renesmee lying on the double bed, Jacob's arms wrapped protectively around her, guarding his imprint even in his sleep. Edward smiled a little and his eyes fell upon his daughter's face, a veil of peace covering her as she slept. No nightmares would disturb her tonight. Not in Jacob's arms. He wondered if he should feel jealous, or angry, like he'd been replaced. But he didn't. Edward was too relieved to feel anything but gratitude towards the mutt who had come to his daughter's rescue once again.
**~J/N~**
"Good morning, Jacob," Bella smiled as her friend came downstairs the next day.
"Mornin' Bells," he said flatly, a frown in place of his usual goofy grin, as he jumped off the last step and made his way toward the kitchen, which he had to go through the living room to get to. Most everyone was gathered in the living room, and nodded good morning to Jacob, though they all were dying to ask him how Renesmee was this morning. Except Jasper. He could feel his niece's struggle. Jacob guessed as much and decided what he was about to say would suffice for an answer, though probably not the one they were all hoping for. Truthfully, it wasn't what he'd been hoping for either. "Hey, Jasper? Nessie kindly asks that you stop screwing with her emotions," he said, earning a stern look from Edward and Bella as Jasper nodded quietly. "Don't give me that look, Ed," Jacob groaned, before ducking into the kitchen. "Those were your daughter's exact words. I'm just the messenger."
Bella got up from where she'd been sitting with her husband and looked down at him. "Do you want to talk to Renesmee or Jake?" she sighed.
"You have to ask?" he scoffed, kissing her nose as he raced up the stairs to where their daughter had shut herself off from the world, which now apparently included her family.
"Renesmee?" he said softly, knocking gently on the bedroom door. "Can I come in, Sweetheart?"
"If I said no, would you anyway?" he heard her say.
Edward chuckled. "Probably."
"That's what I thought," she sighed. "You can come in, Dad. The door's open."
Turning the knob, Edward stepped into the familiar room. Renesmee was sitting cross legged on the floor, staring out the giant windows that overlooked the sea of different shades of green created by the forest of Forks. Shutting the door behind him, Edward wordlessly sat down beside his daughter. After a few moments, he leaned back on his hands and sighed. "This would be so much easier if I could read your mind."
His daughter remained silent, still gazing intently at the scene before her. "But I know you well enough to know that something is bothering you, Renesmee," he reminded her. "What is it?"
"It's nothing," she sighed. "You'll probably think it's really dumb."
"Now when have I ever thought that something that was bothering you was dumb?" he asked, with one eyebrow raised.
"Never," she said with a small smile, turning her head to look at her father. "I guess I just don't want you to be disappointed in me."
"Impossible," he smiled, tucking a strand of curly bronze hair behind her ear. "I could never be disappointed in you, Angel. I won't think what you have to say is dumb, and just so you won't have to ask, I promise I won't ever laugh when we're having a serious conversation either. Your Uncle Emmett might, but I won't."
Renesmee smiled, then shook her head and sighed. "I'm a coward, Dad."
"What do you mean?" Edward asked, knowing it wasn't true, but also realizing that she was being completely serious.
"I want to get Olivia just as bad as the rest of you do, if not more. I want her to pay for all the pain she caused Jacob, for everything she's put our family through," she explained. "But every time she gets close, I freeze up. She scares me so bad, I can't even think straight. When she found us in the woods yesterday, I wanted to be brave, I really did! I wanted to find her and put an end to all this, but my legs turned to jello, and my body started to shake, and all I could do was cry. And Jacob had to save me, again."
Edward sat quietly listening to her, longing to reach out and pull her onto his lap so he could comfort her like he had when she was younger. But he knew without having to read her mind, that that was the last thing she wanted right now. So he clasped his hands together in his lap to resist the temptation and listened to his baby's troubles.
"I'm so tired of everyone worrying about me. I hate that I have to be rescued all the time," she sighed. "I wish I was strong like you, Dad. Nothing scares you."
Edward frowned, "You think nothing scares me?"
"Well... yeah," she shrugged. "I mean, you're always protecting someone in our family. You always manage to keep Mom and I safe, which I know isn't the easiest thing in the world to do. You never get scared Dad. If something has to be done, you do it. No hesitation, no questions asked."
"Oh Renesmee," he sighed. "I'm not the hero you make me out to be. There are so many things that frighten me."
"Really?" she asked in shock. Her father, Edward Cullen, was afraid of something? The idea seemed as foreign to her as trying to live without Jacob. Ok, maybe not that foreign, but pretty darn close.
"Really," he sighed. "When I first met your mother, and she was still human, I was so afraid that any moment I would lose control and kill her."
"Dad, that doesn't count," she said. "You could never hurt Mom."
"That's what she always told me," he said. "But then I was afraid that I would not be able to protect her from James and Victoria. When she was pregnant with you, I was scared I would lose her. Then, more recently," he sighed, draping an arm over his daughter's shoulders, and melting when she laid her head on his chest instead of pulling away, "I was afraid that I would lose you. When Alex's pack kidnapped you, and then last night when I didn't know where you were... I've never been so frightened in my entire existence, Renesmee."
"But you never show it," she said. "How do you fight through it?"
"You have to learn how to take your fear and turn it into strength. Let it motivate you," he said, kissing her head. "Believe me, Angel, when the time comes for you to be brave, you will. And no one will be able to frighten you, and no one will need to save you. Though I can't promise they won't try. Your mother, Jacob and I especially."
Renesmee smiled. She hoped he was right. "Thanks Daddy," she said, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.
"You're welcome, Sweetheart," he smiled. "Speaking of Jacob though, that was one sad dog you sent downstairs this morning. What happened between you two?"
Renesmee shook her head. "Nothing," she said, then thought about it and changed her mind. "Well, actually I may have been a little hard on him. He was all over me as soon as we woke up, asking me over and over again if I was alright. It bothered me that he was so worried about me. He doesn't need all the extra stress it causes him. I was kind of disgusted with myself because of that and because of how I acted yesterday, and I just wanted to be alone. I might possibly have snapped at him and told him to go downstairs and leave me alone."
Edward smiled and shook his head. "You are just like your mother. Poor Jacob."
"Where is he? Did he leave?" she asked, an aching hole in her chest at the mere thought. How bad had she hurt him? Had she messed everything up between them?
"No," Edward sighed. "It's going to take a lot more than a bad mood to chase Jacob away, Renesmee. He's downstairs in the kitchen. Your mother is talking with him."
"You didn't want to, huh?" she chuckled.
"Are you kidding? Why would I want to do that when I had the option to be with my girl?" Edward laughed.
Renesmee kissed his cheek and they headed for the door. "I love you, Daddy."
"I love you too, Sweetheart."
"Hey," Renesmee smiled from the entryway of the kitchen when she saw Jacob sitting at the table with her mother.
"Hey," he said cautiously, though his eyes lit up when he saw her.
"We'll just, uh... be at the, um, cottage," Bella said with a knowing look toward her husband, grabbing a pleasantly surprised Edward's hand.
Renesmee made a face. "I so don't want to know," she muttered.
When they had gone, she moved to the table and sat down across from Jacob. "I'm sorry about this morning, Jake," she sighed. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, and I really didn't mean to. I was just so frustrated and I needed time alone to think."
"I understand, Ness," he smiled, obviously relieved to have his fiancee back to normal. "Next time though, will you just tell me instead of biting my head off?"
"Deal," she laughed, leaning over the table and kissing his sweet lips.
