I'm sorry but I took so much longer to get this chapter up than planned. I sat up too late trying to get it finished, did a wonderful job, my best chapter ever... So of course I managed to accidently wipe it from my computer somehow. Yay me!

So anyway, back to the cliffhanger... Nessie's attempting to seduce Seth on the clifftop. Seth was on the verge of giving in to her when he spots Jacob watching in horror from the treeline.

Here is the fall-out.

Chapter 17 - The Truth

SPOV

"Jacob" Holy shit! He is going to fucking kill me! He was just standing there, frozen in horror at what he had just walked in on. "Jacob, I'm so sorry. I wouldn't... I wasn't going to..."

"Jacob?" Nessie asked in confusion before turning to look at him. When she finally spotted him, she quickly covered herself and shrieked "Jacob! Go away. Can't you see we're busy!"

"No, we're not busy Jacob! Nessie don't, please!" I shouted at her as she tried to put her arms back around me. "Nothing was happening Jacob, I promise. It was just kissing."

Nessie huffed a little and muttered, "Well it would have happened if he hadn't ruined everything." Jacob clearly heard this and his face dropped even further.

"Nessie don't say that please, nothing was going to happen." I said to her as gently as possible. I didn't want to hurt her, but I knew that rejecting her attempt to take things further would embarrass her. Jacob still hadn't said anything or moved, "Jacob? Please talk to me."

"No Jacob, get lost!" Nessie shouted, suddenly angry. "Why did you have to ruin this? I hate you! I'll never forgive you for this!" Jacob finally came out of his daze, with hurt and rage flooding his face for a split second before he turned and ran, phasing before he was out of sight. I called out to him and tried to follow but was stopped by Nessie's grip on my arm.

"Let go of me, I have to find him and tell him that nothing was going to happen!" I pleaded, trying to pull out of her grip. Unfortunately this was one of the few moments where you realize exactly what Nessie is… a vampire. He fingers dug into my arm, effortlessly keeping me in my place.

"Great! Thanks a lot Seth!" Nessie shouted, tears suddenly pooling in her angry eyes. "I just offered myself to you on a plate and you'd rather go running off after your Alpha? Thank you so much, Seth!"

"I'm sorry Ness, but I have to make sure he knows that this wasn't what it looked like." I tried to explain, but I only managed to make her angrier.

"Seth, this was EXACTLY what it fucking looked like!" she screamed at me, pushing me away at last to go fetch her shirt. I froze in shock, unable to believe she had just cursed at me. She started rambling to herself, "How stupid of me to think that he would want me. Fucking cares more about Jacob that his own girlfriend. Probably only went out with me to please Jacob in the first place. Fucking dogs!"

"Nessie, of course I didn't go out with you just because of Jacob. I really liked you!" I tried to reassure her, but she spun around to stare at me like I'd slapped her.

"You liked me? As in past tense Seth?" she screamed.

"No, of course not!" I shouted back. "I love you Renesmee! I have been so blessed to even have a chance with you! I just think that tonight you were trying to take our relationship somewhere that we were never destined to go."

"What is that supposed to mean, Seth? You'll never want anything more from me that a few kisses? Are you just filling in time with me until you find someone better? Am I not good enough for you?" she demanded. I could see tears pooling in her eyes and it killed me that I was causing her pain.

"No! You are amazing Nessie. It's more like it's me that is filling in time for you! You just… Jacob is… I wanted to wait for…" I so much wished right now that I could just tell her everything, but Jacob's order stopped me from using the words that would explain why this mess was happening. She was looking at me with so much hurt in her eyes that I knew that I had to find a way to break the rules.

"Nessie, I love you and I have loved dating you, but you know that you never felt anything towards me that you should towards a partner." I could tell from the change in her expression that she knew exactly what I meant. It hurt me to have it confirmed, but I had known the truth all along. "You know what I'm talking, don't you? I can see it in your face.

"Now think about it Nessie. Who do you feel that with?" I asked, hoping to lead her to the answer without actually telling her. Jacob couldn't get angry at me for that. After all, that is how he had told Bella the secret about the Cullen's all those years ago.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said softly, like she knew that her words weren't true but wasn't willing to find out why.

"Yes you do! Think back to every moment in your life when you have felt truly happy… who were you with? Who makes you feel whole?" I could see that she understood what I was saying.

"But that is different Seth!" she said. I could see the determination in her face not to accept this truth. "He has always been there. He's my best friend. It's not like that!" Tears had started to run down her face as she spoke and it broke my heart even further.

"Isn't it Nessie? Is it not like that for Emily? Is it not like that for Rachel?" She started to shake her head, trying to deny my words. "Will it never be like that for Claire?"

"Then why Seth?" she demanded. "Why am I with you and not him? Why would he encourage our relationship? Why would he happily send me off on a date with that idiot Lukas?"

"Because he loves you! Because you're happiness is the most important thing in the world." I reassured her. "Whatever you want is what he wants and he'll move heaven and earth to see it happen!"

"But what about you?" she was now sobbing openly, struggling to speak. "Why would he allow you to go out with me?"

"Because he loves you and your happiness is the most important thing in the world!" I repeated to her. Knowing that she would need more than that, I continued. "I really liked you Nessie. No matter how hard I tried to hide it, he knew. When you told him you wanted to go out with me, do you remember how he reacted?"

"He didn't really react, he was really sick at the time. My mum had to come and…." Her words trailed off as things finally clicked into place for her. "But he's my best friend, he's my… he's my…"

"Exactly Nessie," I couldn't help but smile "He's yours!" As much as it hurt me to realize that me and Nessie were really over, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief that everything would finally be how fate intended.

Maybe now I could find my fate.

BPOV

"What time is Renesmee due home?" Edward asked me as walked through the door to our little cottage to find it empty. We'd spent a relaxing night with the rest of the family, watching the boys play on the xbox while I was subjected to hours of talk about shopping shopping shopping. Although I claim to hate shopping, I had secretly begun to enjoy it over the last few years but would never admit it to my sisters.

"I'm sure she wont be long, Edward." I reassured him. "She is only out with Seth; you know he never keeps her out too long. At least we know we don't have to worry about things getting… inappropriate."

"That's easy to say when you've not seen inside his head lately Bella," he answered me with a grimace.

"Really!" I was totally shocked to realize that Seth's thoughts about Nessie were less than pure.

"Come on, Bella. Be realistic, he is a 22 year old man dating a beautiful girl who he is in love with." I was a shocked to hear him defending the boy that was having dirty thoughts about our daughter.

"Yes, but you were the one that nearly ripped Jake's head off when he started to have those kind of thoughts, and he's her soul mate!" I laughed at him as I lowered myself into his lap on the sofa. "Anyway, at least we can trust them that these thoughts won't be leading to anything real anytime soon!"

"Thank goodness for that! As for ripping his head off... I think Seth punishes himself for his thoughts more than I ever could" he laughed, drawing me in for a kiss. As always, the world around us faded away as our passion grew. Before I knew what was happening our clothes were finding their way to the floor. I briefly thought that maybe we should move this to the bedroom if Nessie was about to come home, but couldn't find the urge to do anything about it.

Edward will hear her thoughts long before she got to the door, I thought to myself, running my hands down his sculpted chest. I would never get tired of how amazingly beautiful and sexy my husband was. It was times like these that I was truly thankful that we would have eternity together.

All of a sudden, we heard a loud bang and the foul stench of wet dog filled the house. I was about to yell at Jacob to take it easy on the door when I looked up to find a naked Leah before us panting for breath.

"Leah, what the…" Edward started to shout, but she cut him off quickly, her eyes never leaving mine.

"He's gone… He's leaving… I'm in charge… You have to stop him!" She panted at me, clearly panicked.

Before I could ask her what on earth she was talking about, Edward explained, "Jacob's gone. He walked in on Renesmee and Seth" he growled Seth's name, leaving me in no doubt about what he'd walked in on. So much for our faith in Seth! Edward started pacing in anger, trying to control himself so that he wouldn't run and attack Seth. "From Leah's memory of Jacob's mind, he stopped them in time but…"

"Wait!" I shouted suddenly, my mind going back what Leah had said. "He's gone where?"

"Jacob's gone. He's running again! You have to stop him! Come on!" she pleaded me.

Without thinking, I threw my clothes back on and within seconds I was out the door and sprinting through the forest. I lifted my shield slightly as I ran to shout in my mind at Edward Go find Renesmee and stop her. I'll bring him home.

After a few moments I heard Leah's paws catch up to me. As she caught up to me, she Yipped out a little bark and lead me in another direction, back to where she had last seen him. We soon picked up his trail and headed south.

As we ran I tried not to let myself get into a rage at Jacob. I could not believe that he would do this, that he would run again. I understood how upsetting it would have been to find Nessie and Seth like that, but he had always known it was a possibility. But as always, when times get tough, Jacob just runs. I could not… no, I WOULD not let him put my daughter through what he put me through all those years ago when he left.

This time I was not weak little Bella who would be glad when he showed his face again for five minutes. It's time for some tough love! I'm going to drag him home even if I have to hurt him to do it.

JPOV

I knew it was wrong, that I should suck it up and be there for Renesmee but I couldn't take it. I needed to get away. Leah had screamed at me, pleaded with me, apologized for her brother but I wouldn't listen. It just hurt too much. I had to order her to go home. After she left me, I relinquished my claim as Alpha and thankfully it had worked. I was alone in my head for what felt like the first time ever as a wolf. But no matter where I looked, all I could see was Nessie's half naked body rapped around him and her saying those words, asking him to…

Urgh! I had trusted Seth. He had given me the day to make my decision, but he had still gone after Renesmee the first chance he got. It wasn't even midnight yet and he had already made his move. The worst part was even angry at him, I was angry at myself. Why hadn't I just said no to this at the start? I should have told her the truth as soon as my feelings for her started to change. Now she had given herself to Seth and my stupid childish fantasy about us saving ourselves for each other was ruined. All these years I should have been out being like every other guy my age, fucking anything that moved.

Ignoring my thoughts that told me that I should just go out and do that now, I kept running hard. I knew I was pushing my body to far, but I always recover quickly and the strain on my muscles was distracting me from my real pain.

I noticed that I had crossed state lines into Oregon and considered that maybe I should just keep running all the way through to California and get some warmth and sunshine. Maybe spend a few days on the beach relaxing and forgetting about the real world. But California is too close still, still on the West Coast. It would only take me a couple of days to get to Florida if I stopped to rest a few hours here or there.

Suddenly I picked up a scent of blood suckers and decided that the best thing to cure my heart ache would be to kill some fucking leeches! All that I could hope for now was that when I caught up to them their eyes were red because I don't think I'd be able to stop myself from killing them if they turned out to be Vegetarian. I pushed myself harder, looking forward to the thrill of the attack.

It took me a few hours but I eventually found them just outside a small town somewhere in Idaho. There were three of them lazing around, relaxing like they'd just finished a nice meal. I made sure to stay positioned so that the light breeze wouldn't give me away, stalking them while I worked out the best way to attack. It would be difficult but as long as I caught them off guard, I should be able to kill at least one of them before the others noticed what was happening. Finally one of them, the man, got up to and started to fool around, pulling up a small tree and throwing it off into the forest. The two women watched for a moment before looking away in boredom, continuing their conversation.

Realising that this was my chance, I sprang at him and tore at his throat, ripping at it and trying to disconnect his head from his body. I managed to rip it most the way off so he couldn't scream, but that was pretty useless when the sound of my teeth ripping at his flesh was so much worse. Before I knew what hit me, the two women pulled me off him, laughing as they threw me aside. I landed about 50 metres away, crashing into a tree so hard that it was almost uprooted. Before I had a chance to get to my feet they were on me again. They didn't seem to be bothered about their lost friend and they didn't seem all that eager to kill me. They were only slightly bemused by the giant wolf who had interrupted their rest.

I was fighting with all I have, but with both of them having a grip on me it was hard to do anything. I decided maybe I should cut my losses and just try to escape them, when suddenly I felt the searing pain of a bite on my leg. "Ew disgusting," drawled the blonde in an Irish accent, "He tastes as bad as he smells!"

"What did you expect, Rhiannon?" asked the ginger one. "He's probably one of those wierd shifter creatures we've heard rumours about."

I felt a moment of pride that these vamps from other parts of the country had heard of the pack but it was short lived. I was trying to focus on the fight, but the venom from blondies bite was beginning to effect me. Writhing with pain, part of me was saying that it would make it easier for everyone if I just let them kill me. Then Nessie could be with Seth without having to feel obligated to me. My dad would of course be upset, but he had my sisters still. The pack would be fine. They would have to decide who would take over as Alpha or maybe just leave Leah in charge. Maybe they would move back into one large pack under Sam. They would miss me for a while but everyone would move on. The Cullen's would be happier too as they wouldn't be tied to Forks so Nessie could be with me. They've never been stuck in one place for so long.

But I knew I couldn't really give in. If I was going to die, I would die fighting and hopefully kill at least one of these blood sucking bitches. With renewed energy I kicked out at the ginger one, making her lose her grip for a moment. Quickly I twisted my body, lunging at blondie. I had meant to bite at her but my teeth caught nothing but more of her stench, then Ginger was back and they were both having the time of their lives throwing me around like a ragdoll, taking a nip here and there, not for my blood but to simply inflict more pain. Why, oh why did I decide to take on three by myself? Now that my momentary urge to die had passed, I realised that I wanted nothing more than to live. To go home and fight it out with Seth. Be a fucking man for once and claim what is mine. But now it was too late and I was going to die alone in the middle of fucking Idaho at the hands of two bitch leeches. Would anyone know?

Soon my mind began to blur as the pain of there venom became too much for my body to handle. I felt myself laying on the cool forest floor and hoped that perhaps they had finally left me alone. I must have passed out because I could hear the screaching of metal and screaming in my dream, then all was quiet until a loud sorrowful howl broke through the silence.

No, this is not an attempted cliff hanger! I was tempted, but we all knew that he was being followed and that I would never actually kill our Jacob so it seemed a little pointless!

I hope that all those doubting Seth's character in my story are happy to see that I have made him the good guy after all.

Please leave me a review.

xx