As ever, thanks to my fab betas, Whitlocked & Angelz111457,

I can't believe how painless they have made this whole thing for me.

Also my co-bloggers over at Twi-sted Edbrella, Nikki & Dani, for their suggestions, willing ears and encouragement.

Thanks to everyone who continues to follow the story and review, it means a lot!

The past couple of chapters have been filled with revelations, what will the fall-out be? Read on and find out!

Disclaimer: The characters & back story are owned by Stephenie Meyer, no copyright infringement intended.

Chapter 17

Nessie PoV

My whole body sagged and I sank onto the nearest step. Blood rushed through my head, deafening me with the sound as my heart thudded furiously in my chest. I was unaware of anything other than these sensations and Rose's words echoing in my ears, until she appeared at the bottom of the stairs, a horrified look on her face and the phone held against her chest.

Rose's lips were moving now, but I had no idea what she was saying to me. I pulled myself up with my fingers that were still gripping the handrail, tightly enough to turn my knuckles white. Spinning quickly, I darted back up the stairs to my room. I could hear Rose following quickly behind me, but couldn't face speaking to her right now. I slammed the door behind me and hauled the chest of drawers from the wall next to the door, across to block it, silently thankful for my unnatural strength as I leaned back against the chest.

I knew that Rose could easily force her way in if she wanted to, but even as she knocked and pushed the door open an inch until it stopped, I knew that she would recognise my desire to be alone and respect it. I was right. She spoke a quick apology and reassurance, told me she'd be downstairs if I needed her and closed the door again.

Alone now, I realised that none of the physical reactions to the shock had eased. My heart still thumped, the blood still rushed in my ears, my breathing was laboured, and I felt numb as my memory replayed the last words I'd heard of the conversation over and over.

"Jake loved Bella."

I suddenly realised that I was facing the large mirror. I looked at myself. The glow I'd had earlier had certainly disappeared, my face was a pasty white colour; I'd never seen myself so sick-looking. Now that I'd paused, slowly my heart-rate lowered and the deafening sounds in my head faded to silence. Unfortunately, the numbness also subsided, and as it did, my heart felt as though it had cracked straight down the middle.

My lower lip began to tremble, then the tears began to flow from my eyes, slowly to begin with and then like rivers down my cheeks. My distress was quiet at first, but built rapidly until loud, gasping sobs escaped from my mouth.

I crossed to the bed and threw myself onto it, curling up into myself. My knees were pulled up, my elbows and forearms pressed tightly together in front of my chest and my hands covered my face. My body was holding itself tightly together, whilst on the inside, everything that I'd imagined was so secure and unbreakable, fell apart.

Bella. My mother. The man I thought was my soul mate had been in love with my own mother?

I felt my face contort further, twisting from upset into disgust. On top of everything else I felt stupid. How the hell had something so important passed me by? Obviously everybody else had known about it all along; not only that but they'd all kept it from me. I couldn't believe that not a single word of this had ever been mentioned, and it dawned on me that this probably wasn't just down to chance. They'd kept this from me, all of them. The anger surged through my body afresh every time I thought about it. I couldn't believe that everybody that I respected, nearly every single person that I cared about, had conspired to keep something so huge from me.

The range of emotions flashing through me now left me exhausted. Hurt, followed by disappointment, disbelief, then anger, fear and vulnerability, then it started over; there was no respite.

After some time, I felt removed from my body, almost as though I were hovering somewhere above myself. I was vaguely aware of the loud, ragged sound of deep sobs, but it no longer seemed connected to me. I felt vaguely dizzy and lightheaded, almost as though I were being rocked gently. Emotionally there was nothing anymore, just a strange numbness. It was different from the numb disbelief I'd experienced earlier when I knew I should be feeling something; this time there was just relief that I was no longer feeling anything.

I had no idea how long I stayed like that for, but after some time I felt myself being scooped up and shifted slightly. I forced my puffy eyes open and found my face only inches from Nahuel's. His eyes were uncomprehending and filled with worry as they took in my face.

"Ayun, what happened?" He spoke quickly and it was obvious he had no idea; either he hadn't run into Rose on his way up or she hadn't told him anything. I had no idea how it was possible that I was still crying after all this time, but the tears still flowed down my face. A sob escaped as I opened my mouth to speak. I reached up frantically and almost grabbed at his face as I placed my hand there. I was aware that he was the only person I had any sort of bond with, who I didn't feel some kind of betrayal from in all of this. I was eager to share my distress with him, hoping that by imparting what had happened, my feelings in the matter might be halved too.

I watched his face through the blur of tears, but his eyes never left mine. As I got to the part where I heard Rose says that Jake had loved Bella, his mouth dropped open and his eyes widened. I slid my hand down from his cheek and clutched at his t-shirt, desperate for something to ground me. I felt him hug me tightly to him and in that instant, I was grateful that he'd made the long journey from the south, looking for me. To imagine what it would have been like to discover this without having a single person to turn to was awful. I had no idea what I'd have done.

Nahuel didn't say a word. I was unsure if he was too shocked by the information or too overwhelmed by how distraught I was.

Nahuel held me until the storm within me had passed, leaving me exhausted. His was just the presence I needed; he was quiet, not making any attempt to try and draw any words from me before I was ready, but offering enough hushed words of comfort to soothe me. I was uncertain how much time had passed, but by the time the worst of my tears had subsided, we were lying face to face on my bed, his arms still wrapped around me, loosely now. Every so often he would lift his hand and stroke it gently through my hair in a gesture of comfort and I would feel myself relax a little more. I'd kept a grip on his t-shirt throughout, needing to anchor myself to something; gradually though, I loosened my grip until my palm lay gently against his chest, my fingertips moving up and down in small, absent-minded movements.

"How did you know I was up here?" I asked, my voice a whisper thanks to my hoarse throat from the hours of crying.

"I could hear you when I got off the boat. Rose tried to stop me coming up but I pushed past her." He gently wiped a lone tear from my cheek with his thumb.

"She didn't tell you what was wrong?"

"I didn't wait to find out. I couldn't bear hearing you so upset."

A small, sad smile played on my lips at his confession. I turned my head to look back over my shoulder at the door. It was closed but the chest was pushed into the room, I'd been so wrapped up in my heart breaking that I hadn't heard him forcing his way in. I turned back to face him.

"Thank you," I whispered. His smile echoed my own.

"You're welcome, Ayun." He leaned forward and softly kissed my forehead. A sudden spark ignited as his lips touched my skin. I closed my eyes as the sensation travelled down through my body, making me shiver.

When I opened them again, Nahuel was gazing at me with an intensity that sent another lighter shiver through me. The atmosphere had changed perceptibly between us now; the attraction that we'd both been fighting caused the small space between us to almost crackle with electricity. Suddenly, I didn't want to fight it any longer. I'd been let down and lied to, by every other person that I cared about. Right now, all I wanted was to feel loved and wanted, and Nahuel was capable of giving me that.

I moved first, leaning my face toward his, slowly. He inhaled sharply as he realised what I was going to do.

"Ayun, I don't think—" I placed a finger on his lips, cutting him off, my eyes imploring as they looked into his.

"Please?" I edged closer to him, aware that I sounded as though I were begging, but I didn't care. He had the power to give me what I wanted right now, and I was going to do my best to get it. I looked at him and could plainly see the internal struggle in his eyes. I moved my finger from his mouth and replaced it with my lips. He didn't respond for a moment, but when he did, it was without any trace of hesitancy. Everything between us that we'd been working to suppress bubbled up and boiled over in that one kiss. Our lips moved hungrily together, parting to allow our tongues to entwine deliciously. The pain in my heart was forgotten and a whole different set of sensations affected my whole body. I became aware that I was letting out low moans as we kissed. I pulled back, breaking the contact our mouths had, took in the hungry look in Nahuel's eyes and was unable to resist, quickly moving forward to meet his lips again.

We were both reacting with urgency now and our hands began to explore each other. My fingers moved through Nahuel's hair, holding him close to me, and his hands cupped my face. My whole body was reacting to his touch. I was aware that my nipples had hardened as his arm brushed my breast, and it felt like a fire had caught between my legs. I pushed Nahuel onto his back and rolled over to straddle him, without breaking the kiss. He groaned loudly as I settled onto him, feeling his hardness straining inside his pants, only the layers of fabric between it and my increasingly wet centre. I gasped as I felt him pulse against me and couldn't resist grinding against him in an effort to relieve some of the desperate ache that I felt.

I sat up for a moment, my breath coming in gasps as I looked down at Nahuel lying beneath me, dishevelled and looking sexy as hell for it. He held onto my hips, then ran his hands up higher, slipping under my t-shirt and up over the skin of my waist. My whole body was tingling from his touch. I bent forward to kiss him again, the movement causing his cock to press against me in exactly the right place and we both groaned together. His hands were roaming all over my body now underneath my t-shirt. I lifted my mouth from his enough to allow me to peel my t-shirt off quickly, leaving just my bra on. Our mouths met again and he rolled me back over so that he was lying between my legs. He paused to remove his own t-shirt, the feel of his bare skin against mine causing me to cry out slightly with intense pleasure as he lowered himself back onto me, sending me deeper into the place where we were oblivious to everything but each other.

"Nessie." It was barely a whisper, but it was enough to break the spell. My eyes snapped open and my head whirled toward the open door. Jake stood there, his hand still on the handle as he took in the scene before him.

A/N: Sorry Jake fans!

So was it what you expected? Inevitable from how Nessie has behaved so far or did you expect her to take the news in her stride more?

How would you urge Jake to react to this one? Poor boy :o(