I don't own Twilight, blah blah blah... The characters aren't mine. Except for Gloria.
And speaking of Gloria.
Answering your question, puppetxlove, The Children of the Moon were being hunted by the Volturi to near extinction in Asia and Europe. Caius is deathly afraid of them, so he wanted to make sure none of them would ever be near him. So the very best explanation I can give there is Gloria's not putting them in danger only because Brazil isn't anywhere near that continent, Caius, the scared one, prooobably won't go around picking fights with every single werewolf in the world. And the Volturi just simply don't have that kind of time. Jake couldn't get a human housekeeper, because they'd be asking questions about Renesmee's rapid aging. Gloria doesn't even understand herself as a supernatural creature, so she's pretty accepting to weird things she sees going on with the little girl.
That's a lame explanation, but that's all I got. XD
Alright! Chapter Four! I almost crumpled this one up and scrapped it, but I let a few people vote on it, and more of them voted to post it. I'm really looking for critique in this chapter, because I'm just a bit iffy with it. Thank you to all my reviewers!
And now. I shut up. Happy reading.
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JPOV
Nessie pranced around the house for the rest of the evening, packing her things and mine, and talking in her adorable sing-songy voices. While I was happy to see her so excited, I really wanted her to calm down a little. I don't know what she thought this would be. A nice pretty vacation or something? Whatever was waiting for us in Forks was neither nice nor pretty, I knew this much for sure. There were a lot of other unanswered questions aside from the Cullens' fall, and I thought the happy-go-lucky attitude was a tad inappropriate.
I had to think about what we were going to tell Charlie. The truth seemed harsh. My dad would beg us to stay. I let out a sigh. And Sue... How could I tell her that her kids' deaths were mine and Renesmee's fault? How can I expect her to ever be civil to us, even though it's what had to be done? I'd abandoned her kids to die to save the daughter of the wolves' long-time enemies. Thinking about it made my stomach turn, but I had to do it. I had to save her. At least Nessie was happy. For now. I can hear her happy little hums and right now everything is alright.
Later that evening, I heard her feet flutter down the stairs and she skipped over and spun around in front of me. She was wearing an orange sundress that did wonders against her complexion, and her hair was up in a curly bun, a few stray curls hanging down in the back. Her estatic smile beamed. It brightened my mind instantly, and all my worries seemed to be so unimportant. As long as my Nessie was happy, of course everything was okay.
"What do you think, Mr. Wolfe?" She posed for me, turning her body to the side and touching her shoulder up to her chin.
"Very impressive, Ms. Wolfe." I took her hand and twirled her, and she let herself out gracefully away, and then twirled back to me again. Her hands rested on my shoulders -- I was still over a foot taller than her, even though she'd been pretty tall... even for a young lady.
She let out a happy sigh. "Get dressed. I want to take you out."
My brows furrowed. "Shouldn't you be getting sleep? We've got a big day tomorrow, and nothing happens before you're completely packed and ready. I don't want to hear tomorrow 'Jacooob, go back! I forgot my favorite shoes! Can't we go back? Please please pretty please?!'" The impression of her voice sounded strange in mine.
She smiled nonetheless. "Done! Everything's done. I packed for you, too. We can just relax and have fun until we're ready to go!"
She sounded like it was the easiest thing in the whole world, but how could I ever refuse a beautiful smile such as that one? Not to mention...That same pretty smile also bites pretty damn hard. "Fun, huh?"
"Yep! Come on, Jake. It'll be nice." Her smile became wider.
"But where would we go?"
"You can start by taking me to dinner."
"Dinner?" I looked at her with disbelief.
"Yeees. Isn't that what people do when they go on dates?" Her look turned into an innocent grin, but her eyes gave her away. Her eyes had no innocence in them at all. I swallowed, trying not to notice. It was hard for me to remember that she was beyond the years even her body projected, so it was a shock awakening when she let me see this side of herself, instead of the cute charade she normally put on when she wanted to be treated like a little princess.
"I'd need to go change." Went to leave, but she grabbed my arm and tugged.
"No, I like that shirt. It's a wonderful color on you."
"My hair-"
"Is fine. Leave it down." Her smile sparkled.
Our eyes connected for a brief moment, and she nodded. I brought my hand up to my chest and stuck my arm out at her, and she grabbed a hold of it. She showed me a picture in her mind of Emmett doing that very same thing to Rosalie once, and I could tell from the thought that she had admired the gesture. Very gentlemanly, if I did say so myself. I led her out the door. I stopped us at the doorstep and leaned over to whisper to her. "You really think my hair looks okay?" She just scoffed.
The restaraunt wasn't much, just a local little 'bar and grill' joint. I was just surprised she wasn't giving me hell about eating human food. Normally, I'd all but have to shove it down her throat. She ordered some kind of serloin, and ate really slow, one small little graceful bite at a time. I did my best to not make a complete pig out of myself, but I still finished in half the time it took her, and it was like I hadn't eaten anything at all. My appetite drove even me crazy sometimes.
She was so beautiful. Even the simplest of her little movements would facinate me. The way she wouldn't touch her elbows to the table... too damn cute.
She set her fork down and wiped her already clean hands off with her napkin. Even that was cute. "This is nice. Why is it... we don't do things like this more often?"
I eyed her suspiciously. "Alright. Who are you, and what have you done with my little Nessie?"
She giggled at me, that cute little smile came again. "I guess I'm just so excited about Forks."
I winced at that. So she did think this was a happy vacation. "Nessie... I don't want you getting your hopes up. I don't know how great of a condition everything is in, and I really want you to be mentally prepared for the worst. I want to make sure you're ready for anything we do -- or don't -- find there."
Her face fell a little, and my heart lept nto my throat. How could I say something to make that wonderful smile go away? She looked at me with big brown eyes. "You think... Forks is even still standing?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. I don't know what to expect at all. That's why I just... don't want you to be surprised when things arn't the way you're hoping they are, okay?"
"I know.." Her eyes trail off.
"I still don't think this is a wonderful idea."
She ignored me, but at least her smile came back. "Let's go for a walk. On the beach. The stars will be pretty."
The stars were pretty. We could see thousands of them, and the sand was perfect. It was a wonderful night and we had our part of the beach to ourselves. There were less tourists in August than any other time of the year. Students were returning to school, jobs were picking back up, and the elderly migrated back up north to spend the remains of the year with their families. It was my favorite time of the year; I was always ready for everything to quiet down and become peaceful again.
My eyes were locked onto my Nessie, but my mind wandered. Edward and Bella would never have approved of me bringing her back to Forks, but so far, no strike of lightening came down from the clouds to smite me yet for approving. Maybe it wasn't so much that she wasn't ready, but that I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready to take down the names of everyone we'd lost that day. I wasn't ready to learn that they were really gone, and never coming back. I wasn't ready to face Sue Clearwater's face after she'd just gone though losing everyone she had, and Charlie... When he really knew that he'd never get to see Bella again.
I watched Nessie go up really close to the ocean and wait for a wave, then run away from it before it had the chance to touch her toes. It was times like these I wanted to always hold onto, and remember them when she got older and no longer wanted to hang around me anymore. I settled myself on the sand, and it wasn't long before Nessie was right there, and she plopped down beside me, leaning against my side. I turned my head down to look at her. "Loch Ness Monsters are supposed to like water." She rolled her eyes, giving me a look from the side. I laughed. "Worn out yet? Ready to go inside?"
I felt her head shake, and we sat there for several minutes, staring out into the horizon. "I don't want this to end."
Neither did I. I wanted to sit and watch her squeal with laughter on that beach forever. "Got to sleep sometime. We're getting up early. I don't want to get caught up by Gloria before we have our chance to escape." I could imagine what her face looked like. Nose probably crinkled at the mentioning of the woman. "You know she'll ask questions, and we'll never get out of here."
I heard Ness sigh. "Jake. What's wrong with me?"
At first, I was confused by the question. "Nothing's wrong with you, Nessie. You're perfect."
Her irritation was almost tangible in the air... almost something that could have choked me trying to breathe it in. "Then why do you have Gloria?" She eyed me, and stood up so she could stare me down. "Jake... what's wrong with me?"
My mind spun, and the colors around me swirled into a blur. Could this really be happening? "Nessie... I thought you knew better than anyone... My heart is, was, and always will be with you."
She eyed me carefully. "But Gloria..."
"Is an adult," I stated matter-of-factly. "Physically and mentally." I realized too late that any other explanation I could have given would have been more acceptable than that one. The little girl's arms crossed.
"Age," she breathed, and it was barely a whisper. I felt it more than I could hear it, her voice ice on my skin.
I grabbed her hand, and took it against my lips. "Nessie, you know you mean so much more to me. Hell, the only reason I have her is because of you."
Nessie took her hand back. Her eyes narrowed at me. "That doesn't make any sense."
I heaved a sigh. There was no way to explain something like this. "You know I love you."
She was starting to get wound up. "Just not in that way, right?!"
I winced at her raised voice. "In every way, Ness! You're just not old enough for some of the ways, yet."
She took in a breath, and from the looks of it, she was trying to calm herself. Counting backwards in her head. It seemed to be working. I started picking myself off of the sandy ground, but a force much stronger than wind hit me, and my back was pressed against the ground. For a second I couldn't breathe, like my lungs collapsed. I felt a small pair of lips on my cheek as my eyes snapped open, and I sat up as fast as I was able. The door had closed behind the girl... no, woman that had just entered it.
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