I've been overwhelmed by the number of people who have read my story already, thanks for taking the time and feel free to review. (I now understand the requests for reviews that author always put, they definitely encourage the creative juices to flow!).

I have several chapters ahead written already, so please bear with me in getting them posted here. It's important to me to have a beta look over them for me to make the story the best I can for all of you.

As before huge thanks go to my friends Nikki and Dani for reading through my draft chapters, encouraging me to carry on and also for humouring me while I bounce a LOT of ideas off them ;o). Also the fab peeps at Project Team Beta for taking the time to look through my writing for me and not making it too painful (so far!). Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it :o) x

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters, they belong to Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter 3

Renesmee PoV

"I swear Carlisle, she was right there, trying to look in through the window!" You could see the adrenaline beginning to pump through Jacob's body again as he recounted the tale of the morning's events to my family. He'd been stalking up and down the room in front of us ever since we'd arrived at my grandparents' house ten minutes earlier.

As Jake pressed the button to end the call to my father on his phone, he looked up at me impatiently. "Nessie, go get dressed, we need to go." I was so concerned by the serious note to his voice that, for once, I agreed without an argument and headed back across the hall to get ready.

Now I sat on my grandparents' large, soft sofa, leaning back casually, as an earnest discussion of recent events went on around me. It had apparently now been decided that I could be present while they discussed the big secret. My family had a nasty habit of treating me as a child and trying to shelter me. I could, in part, understand this; despite my physical appearance and mental abilities being the same as that of a young adult, the fact remained that I had only been born eight years previously. This caused my family certain psychological conflicts, not least when it had come to my changing relationship with Jake. It was as annoying as hell to me though.

I started to fidget as my annoyance grew. Everyone was still dissecting what had happened with Jake this morning, but as of yet, not one of them had even bothered to discuss with me exactly what was going on. The only information I had so far was what Jake had told me earlier, and by the charge in the air, I was starting to think his explanation fell way short of accounting for the whole situation. Gradually my annoyance began to turn to anger until, finally, an aggressive growl escaped my lips. The room fell silent and every pair of eyes turned to focus on me.

"Renesmee? Are you ok?" My mother crossed the room quickly, yet smoothly, from where she'd been standing during the discussions. She sank down onto the sofa next to me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. The anger quickly faded at her touch, but my feelings of frustration remained; as much as I tried to fight them back, tears quickly welled up in my eyes and escaped in tentative streams down my cheeks. It all came out then; all of the emotion I'd been bottling up for weeks since Jake started acting so strangely that I knew something was wrong, everything that had been bubbling away since this morning, when I discovered Jacob the wolf snarling above the small dark-haired girl who I'd never even seen before. I opened my mouth to speak, but all that came out was a strange wail. My mom pulled me to her and I didn't resist, nestling against her familiar cool, hard body as she made soothing sounds and stroked my hair.

As soon as my tears began, Jacob had flown across the room to my other side. He could never bear to see me upset and my grief would echo in his own face whenever anything bothered me. The connection that we shared was strong and as soon as he was beside me, I would feel better just for having him close. Today though, something was different. Whether it was because the cause of my upset involved him, or if it was because our relationship was facing some kind of unknown threat, I couldn't be sure. For some reason though, having him so close at this moment was having the opposite effect that it should and this in turn made the tears flow even more freely. If there had been one constant that I could rely on all through my life it had been Jake and the comfort he brought me. Of course my family were totally dependable, their love for me, as for each other, completely unconditional just as it should be within families. Jacob brought something else altogether to my life. I'm not sure if it was something that I could even describe, it was so fundamental to my existence. To find now, in this moment so charged with emotions, that something had changed; that his arm around my shoulders wasn't the cure-all that it usually was, completely threw me. I didn't fight it though; I let it all wash through me until finally I felt empty. I sat, my face still buried in my mom's shoulder as gradually the tears stopped coming and my jagged breaths slowed.

I raised my head and peered out through swollen eyes. I noticed that everyone had tactfully left the room, leaving me alone with my mom and Jacob. Both had their eyes fixed on me, full of concern and questions. I lacked even the basic energy needed to speak and just shrugged before resting my head back on my mom's shoulder. After a moment I managed to find my voice, croaky though it was, "I need to know." I paused, swallowing before continuing. "Please tell me what's going on." I raised my head once again and looked into Jacob's worried eyes. "Please," my final plea coming out as a whisper. I raised my hand and placed it on his cheek, using my gift to show him all my memories of the events that had been causing me to worry for the past few weeks. I showed him scenes right up to today, stopping short of letting him see my confusion when his presence had no effect on me only fifteen minutes earlier.

Jake's beautiful face was filled with anguish as he watched, guilt in his eyes as he realised what he'd been putting me through by trying to protect me.

"Bella, you were right." I moved my hand from his cheek and he turned his eyes to my mom. "We should have told her right away."

"Jake," her voice was soft. "It's not that long since I was like Nessie, remember? Look at the mess it caused when Edward went and left me, rather than talking to me about how he felt and what was going on." They shared a meaningful look that lasted more than just a moment and I could tell that both were remembering that time. Of course I knew my parents' history together and I also knew that Jacob featured in it too; I did sometimes wonder though, at moments like this, whether there was more to the whole story than I had been told. I shook my head to clear it; this wasn't the time to be adding to my uncertainties.

I sat up and my mom turned slightly to face me as she took both of my hands in hers. I looked at her face, beautiful and preserved forever as her eighteen year old self. "Nessie, you remember Nahuel from the time the Volturi came?" I shuddered involuntarily as I remembered that day. I was already mature enough to realise the severity of the danger that we were all in and sense the anxiety that everybody around me was feeling. I pushed the scene out of my mind, choosing instead to focus on an image of the dark-skinned young man, as everybody celebrated after the Volturi's retreat. He had been incredibly subdued whilst the melee continued around him. Eventually all of our friends drifted away leaving just him and his aunt, Huilen, behind with my family. I didn't see him again after that, as I'd fallen asleep. By the time I awoke the next morning, they had headed south again, returning home. I had heard nothing of note of him since then, although I was aware that Carlisle had stayed in touch with the half-vampire and his vampire aunt.

"Yes," I replied. I already knew that this was about Nahuel, Jacob had told me that much.

"We knew when he met you here as a child, that he must have been aware that you were the only female of his kind that he knew of, other than his sisters. You were only a little girl, but he knew himself how quickly you would grow, just as he had. Your Dad and I had guessed that at some point there was a strong possibility that he would come looking for you, Nessie. Apparently, until Alice warned us that Nahuel was about to do what we had long suspected, the idea had never occurred to Jake." She smiled and threw an affectionate look over at my boyfriend who rolled his eyes and managed a half smile. I smiled in spite of myself, the familiar feelings for Jake returning and my own peace rising as I saw him looking a little happier.

"So what did Alice see exactly?" I was confused, knowing that Alice was unable to see half-immortals such as myself, Nahuel and his sisters.

"She could see enough of your Dad and me to hazard a guess at what the problem was. When she then concentrated on seeing Huilen, she was able to see her, proving that she was now alone. She'd sensed Nahuel's fascination with our family when they came to help us. Apparently he'd never settled the same after they returned home. When he'd decided to come back here, his aunt was more than a little upset. Huilen had always done her best for him and she was hurt at the way he developed this…" she paused searching for a word that fit "…obsession, firstly with our family, then, as the time grew closer to when he knew you'd be reaching maturity, with you."

I heard a low snarl to my left and looked up to see that the smile had definitely left Jake's face. His brow was furrowed and he sat tensed. I reached out my hand and placed it on his shoulder; it had the desired effect and he returned to the present, relaxing slightly. I turned back to my Mom. "Alice could see all of this?" She shook her head.

"No, she only saw Huilen on her own, but as soon as Nahuel left with his sisters, Huilen got in touch and warned Carlisle."

"And then everybody else found out, except me," I stated flatly. She squeezed my hands gently.

"Honey, we had no idea it would get this far, we thought we'd be able to solve this whole problem before you even had to know about it."

I looked her straight in the eye. "Did it even occur to anybody that I might have liked to get to know Nahuel as a friend? That maybe I wanted to meet somebody that was the same as me?" I could feel both pairs of eyes looking at me intensely, until the doorbell rang, breaking the tension