A/N: This isn't the best chapter I've ever written but it needed to get out of the way.

It also isn't as long as the others but it's still long compared to most.

So without further ado here is chapter 26. Enjoy.

Bella's Point of View

I knew the instant that Jacob walked in the door, more like busted through the door that it wasn't going to end well. All that we had worked for, keeping Ross in the dark, had vanished. As Nessie walked towards a trembling Jake wolf, I wanted to pull her back. She wasn't what he needed at that moment. Although most of his anger was directed towards Ross, he was still upset by Nessie. She had chosen Ross over him and he didn't know how to feel anything but anger.

Once he growled at Nessie and Edward grabbed her, I approached him slowly. I didn't have an ounce of fear in me as I walked over to him. I reached out and touched his shoulder, running my fingers through the thick fur, and it seemed to relax him a little bit. I continued to run my fingers through his fur and managed to back him out the door slowly, inch by inch.

When we got outside it took every bit of self-control I had inside of me not to beat the crap out of him. "Jake are you calm?" He hesitated for a moment before nodding his head. "Can you change? Are you able to?" He nodded twice but didn't morph. "What's wrong Jake? I've seen you naked before and it doesn't bother me. I want more than a nod and a shake here and there. I need you to me, just me."

He turned and darted for the forest. A few minutes went by before he walked out in human form, his face long and upset, in a pair of gray sweatpants that were actually big enough to reach his feet.

"Happy now," he stated sarcastically with his arms raised in the air.

"Did you have a bag in the woods," I asked confused. When he phased his clothes had been torn to shreds in the process.

"Yeah. I ran here with it on my back."

"You ran here from La Push?"

"Yep," he said popping the last letter and rocking back and forth the balls of his feet. He was extremely graceful for such a big lug.

"Why?"

"Because I knew that you guys were out here but I wasn't sure exactly where you lived and I knew that I would be able to catch your scents somewhere and I followed them to your house."

"Why? Why did you come here? You should have known that this probably wasn't going to work out in your favor. When we left Forks we weren't on the best of terms."

"I just wanted to see Nessie for Christmas. I thought she might like the gesture."

"And what about Leah, your WIFE!" I emphasized the last word, almost yelled it.

"She wasn't happy and she is probably still mad at me. I just didn't expect to come here and see Nessie making out with some random guy."

"His name is Ross and they go to school to Jake. They have been dating for a few months and they love each other. You should have known that this was going to happen eventually."

"Yeah eventually," he yelled at me. "She's only 7 years old Bella. I just don't understand it. How could you let this happen?"

"I let it happen because this is what she wants. I fell in love with a vampire and it's the path that I chose. I wanted her to have the option to love who she wants to love, no matter what species he is."

"But he can't protect her. Not the way that I could. Or the way that Edward protected you."

"No but she can protect herself. She doesn't need anybody to protect her."

"Yeah I guess so. She is a strong little girl."

"And you are so lucky that I don't beat the shit out of you. Because of you she is gonna have to explain everything to Ross and not everybody is as welcoming to the mythological world as I was."

"Then he can't handle the truth and that's his own problem."

"Isn't your whole life dedicated to making Renesmee happy?"

"That's what the legends say but they also say that Nessie and I are supposed to be soul mates."

"I guess Leah imprinting on you vetoed yours to Nessie. Maybe because Leah is a female her emotions are stronger. Do you have any idea how upset Leah must feel right now? The whole thing with Emily and Sam and now this. No wonder she kept it a secret from you for so long. Jake, she has seen you mourn over Renesmee and me. She has put up with a lot from you and you need to apologize and appreciate her more."

"But…" he tried.

"But nothing. You and Leah are married now, you said 'I do' and you can't go back on that. Now that you've made one girl miserable, try not to upset the others."

Jake looked at me like he was going to cry but he was holding it in. I had known him long enough to know that much. I felt like crap because nothing in this situation was going to turn out well. I needed to make Jake feel like crap and Nessie would be heartbroken because Ross is the one that she loves and he loved her. But now everything was messed up and everybody was miserable.

"Jake," I whispered putting my hand on his shoulder. "I think that you should go home to your wife. And until Ness decides to call you I think it would be better if you stayed out of our lives. I think that it's the best for everybody." He looked at me and there were tears coming out his eyes. He nodded sadly before kissing me on the cheek and walking towards the forest. "I love you Jake. You know I always will."

"I just wish that love was enough," he said hanging his head and running, morphing in mid step. I sat down on a rock and listened to my surroundings. Nessie had finished telling Ross everything and Edward sounded like he was approaching me.

"Hey," he said sitting down beside me.

"Hey," I said flatly.

"Is he gone?"

"Yep," I stated choking up a little bit.

"It's going to be alright Bella. Ross will come back."

"Yeah but when? Will he tell anybody what he saw? Will Nessie ever forgive Jake? I want her to be happy more than anything but being away from Jake for this long is killing me. I hate to bring it up to you because I don't want you feeling like I regret anything that I have done to bring me to this point. Jacob is my best friend and I want him in my life."

"Then why did you send him off?"

"Because I wanted to protect Nessie." He looked at me strangely. "I also wanted to protect him from Renesmee," I admitted. "If she got her hands on him or looked at him the wrong way it could have been the end of Jacob."

"Would that be such a bad thing love?"

"Do you have any idea how much that would hurt Nessie? If she ever did anything to Jacob, even on accident, it would destroy her."

"True," he said wrapping his arm around me. "Ross won't tell anybody. He is confused right now and he's trying to wrap his head around everything. He knows that we kept this a secret for a reason and he knows to keep the secret too. He's a really great guy and I hope that he comes to his senses soon."

"But he is coming back?"

"Alice has been flickering again. He keeps changing his mind. She can see him and then she can't. And if she can't see him that means that he is with Nessie. All we can do is hope that it won't be too long because Nessie is going to be miserable."

"I understand how she feels," I stated sadly remembering when the love of my life left me. I was broken and I felt like I couldn't function.

"I was hoping that memory would have disappeared when you became a vampire."

"What can I say? I still remember almost everything from my human life, even the bad things. If it weren't for the bad things that happened to us we wouldn't be where we are now. Because we went though that it made us stronger."

"You really believe that?"

"Yes. Everything happens for a reason and us being apart helped us. Everything that happened with Victoria and the Volturi keep us together. The struggles that two people go through always makes them stronger."

"Well I would love to keep talking but Ross is about to leave and I need to give him his car."

He kissed my forehead and went to the front of the house. I followed him but stayed behind a little bit to watch the exchange. I just wanted to make sure that Edward wasn't going to hurt him. Every time somebody even threatened to hurt Renesmee he went into protective father mode. Ross came out of the house and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Hold out your hand," Edward demanded as calmly as he possibly could. I knew that he was trying very hard not to do something rash. He put a set of keys in Ross' hand and closed Ross' fingers around the keys. Ross shivered a little bit from the touch and he looked frightened, even though he was trying to stay composed. "This is all yours," he said. "We tried to fix your car but we couldn't." Of course Edward only said that because we all planned on buying him a new car and his old car went straight to the junkyard after we got his stuff out of it. "It's a present from all of us because I know that you will come back."

"Don't hold you breath," Ross snapped at him. Little did he know we didn't actually need to breathe.

"That's my daughter Ross and you are lucky that I'm not ripping you to shreds right now. What I suggest you do is go away now before I do that. You got it," Edward screamed. I hadn't heard him yell or scream in a long time and I hated seeing his face when he yelled. He really looked like a vampire when he did that, cold and scary. He didn't like to yell unless the situation called for it but this happened to be one of the times where it was needed.

As I watched him go down the driveway I walked over to Edward and put my hand on his shoulder. As soon as I did that I saw Renesmee fly out the door and down the driveway. I had never seen her run so fast and she soon disappeared into the forest heading for the street. I looked at Edward and we took off after her.

When we found her she was near the end of the driveway, next to the road, curled up in a ball, crying and yelling Ross' name. I felt my heart break for her. She was devastated. Edward and I sat down next to her and I rubbed her back and Edward massaged her head. She continued to cry and whimper, occasionally saying Ross' name in a whisper. I saw flashes of when Edward left me while I was trying to take car of Nessie. She was torn into pieces because Ross had left her.

Edward and I didn't say anything to her the entire time and we just let her get out everything that she needed to get out. I felt like I wanted to say something that Alice saw Ross coming back but I knew that being quiet right now was the best thing for her. She probably didn't even want us there but there was no way that I wasn't going to be with her. She knew that too which is why she didn't say anything.

After a few hours of crying, she finally fell asleep. I lifted her gently off of the ground and carried her to the house. Edward and I tucked her into bed and stayed with her the entire night. Although she was in a deep sleep the memories of the day repeated in her head continuously all night.

Ross' Point of View

Where was I going to go? What just happened to me? Was all of this true? I didn't know what to think as I drove down the street. This car was amazing I had to admit. I can't believe that the entire family bought me a car. It was hard for my dad to even buy me a simple thing like a card and this family that I hadn't known more than 6 months had bought me a car.

I was at a stop sign and trying to figure out which way to go. Would I go right or go left? Where could I go now? School was out for winter break so I had a few weeks to figure out everything. I guess that I could stay with my brothers until school started again. I put my left turn signal on to head towards Syracuse. Then there was somebody in my passenger seat.

"We need to talk," the big man said who sat in my passenger seat. I nearly had a heart attack because it was Jacob. He looked like he could barely fit inside of this tiny little car. "Let's go get something to eat. It's on me."

"You eat real food," I asked frightened. "Or am I the meal?"

"I'm the wolf here, not the vampire. Now let's go pick up something okay? You and I have some things that we need to talk about."

Once we were at the restaurant, just an old school place I liked to go with burgers and fries, it seemed like we were alone. There were only a few other humans around us. Wow, humans. I was hanging out with people who were human. I still needed time to figure all of this out. What would happen if Nessie and I were together long enough? Would I need to be changed into a vampire? Would we last that long or would those scary vampires in the black robes kill me? Is that why they have been more than secretive lately?

"You need to stop asking yourself questions," Jacob stated blankly.

"I said that out loud?"

"No but it is written all over your face."

"So what did you need to talk to me about?"

"What just happened? Do you want to know more about me?"

"A little bit. I guess the curiosity is going to kill me eventually and this is probably going to be the only time that you and I can talk."

"I'm a shape-shifter, officially. But most think of me as a werewolf. Now I didn't choose this life, it comes to me through my heritage. I've been this way for about 8 years now and the reason that I became like this is because of people like the Cullens. My mortal enemies are vampires and we are created to kill each other."

"Then how do you have the relationship that you have with them?"

"Bella and I had become really great friends when Edward left her a long time ago. I was there to pick up the pieces and put her back together. I loved her so much and I wanted to be with her. But she had this pull towards him that couldn't be changed. After everything that happened with us when he left, she and I remained friends and we had an agreement not to hurt each other. If I hurt any of the Cullens or my pack then I would feel horrible and Bella and I wouldn't be friends anymore. When she got pregnant I was afraid for her. Renesmee was growing rapidly and nothing had ever been heard before of a human and a vampire having a baby before. Nessie almost killed her mother, several times, but when she was born, Bella was changed into a vampire.

From the moment that I saw Renesmee I knew that I loved her. I have this pull to her that is hard to explain to others who don't know all of the legends of my tribe. But basically her and I are supposed to be soul mates. She is the one that is perfectly made for me."

"Then why aren't you with her," I asked intrigued.

"My wife Leah is like me and she possess the same feelings for me. It's hard to explain but she and I are meant for each other too. Nessie doesn't feel anything like that for me. We love each other but not in the way that she loves you. I guess that she is more of a vampire in that way. Maybe because she is a hybrid she can resist what I want her to be. We have yet to figure that one out. But I wanted to let you know that I know what it's like to lose her. You don't ever want to go through that."

"But she kept everything a secret from me. I don't know how I am supposed to handle that. I don't know if I can be with someone who has lied to me about everything."

"She couldn't tell you. The Cullens need to put on a façade that they are something other than what they are. They lead a different life than others of their kind. They don't hurt humans. They try to be as human as they possibly can be and Nessie is the closest to human as any of them. She is a lot like you because she can sleep, she can cry and she has more human emotions than the rest of them."

"They don't sleep," I asked curiously.

"No they don't. They can't sleep, their bodies don't change at all, they don't age and they have super human powers. Edward can read minds, Alice can see the future, Jasper can manipulate emotions, Bella can shield anybody from mental attacks and Nessie can show you her thoughts and memories."

"I saw Nessie's when she showed me what they were. I was confused at first."

"There is a lot to that family that you need to understand. It is unusual for that many of them to be together. Usually others of their kind travel in 2 or 3 and they are more of family then most. They love each other no matter what and there is no way to break their family up."

"I understand that they had to hide everything from me but I just don't like being lied to. She told me that her real parents died in a fire, that her real name was Vanessa. I feel like I don't even know her. I don't know what to do."

"Like I said you don't want Renesmee out of your life. She is a beautiful person inside and out and you are so lucky that she loves you in the way that she could never love me. If I were you I wouldn't let her go."

"I just need some time is all. I need to sort through everything."

"I understand that because it is a lot to process and it is a lot to understand."

"So Edward reads minds," I asked with disbelief.

"Yeah."

"So that's why he always looks like he is staring a whole right through me."

"That would be why."

"Why are you helping me," I asked after we were finished eating.

"What do you mean?"

"If you love her so much, why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because my main goal in life is to make her happy and you are what makes her happy. She is a wonderful person Ross and I want you to take care of her."

"But what am I supposed to do? If we are together for a long period of time and I age and she doesn't am I supposed to be one of them? Are they going to change me?"

"That's a decision that all of the Cullens discuss with each other. Bella wondered the same thing and she wanted to be changed. Edward wanted her to stay human but there was no way that was going to happen."

"Thank you Jake, I appreciate everything."

"You're welcome Ross. I just want her to be happy so you better not hurt her. If you do hurt her I will come after you."

"I needed somebody to talk to."

"Also," he said giving the money to the waitress before she disappeared. "You can't tell anybody any of this. It's supposed to be kept a secret for a reason and you knowing is dangerous enough."

"What do you mean?"

"Did Nessie show you the black cloak guys?"

"Yes."

"Well they kind of have a say over everything in the vampire world. You just need to be careful."

"Great now I have them chasing me."

"Don't worry about it because the Cullens will protect you. Trust me on that."

"Do you need a ride anywhere? I just got the car and it needs to be broken in."

"Unless you want to give me a trip back home to Washington then I'll be all set."

"I could if you wanted me to."

"You're willing to give me a ride all the way back to Washington," he asked astonished.

"Well school's out for winter break and I've got no where else to go so yeah I guess I would be willing to do that. It takes quiet a while to get there and back and it will give me an opportunity to think and ask you some more questions."

"In that case thank you and I'll pay for gas and stuff like that."

"I have a little bit of money."

"Yeah but I have more than you do put it that way. Just relax about it okay. We'll switch off driving so that we don't get too tired. We should be there in about 2 days."

"Sounds good to me. Perfect road trip," I said sarcastically. Who would have ever guessed that Jacob and I would be driving to Washington all by ourselves?

When we showed up in Forks it was an interesting sight to see. Jacob was driving and we drove up this really long driveway that looked like the Cullens driveway in New York. When we got to the end of the three-mile driveway we were looking at a beautiful house.

"Where are we," I asked.

"The Cullens house. I figured you might want to get a good nights sleep before you drive back and I know they left their furniture here so you'll be able to sleep good tonight."

"How much money do they have," I asked. I probably didn't even want to know.

"Put it this way. Carlisle has been a doctor for nearly 300 years, Esme is an architect on the side and Alice can see the trends of the stock market and just about every kind of betting there is."

"So in other words, way too much."

"Exactly. Do you want a tour of the house?"

"No it's alright. I think I might stay here for a little while. It might be nice to explore a little bit anyways. Figure out where Nessie was born and everything. It might give me a different outlook."

"Sounds good. I'm just going to take off."

"Do you need a ride?"

"No. I managed to get to New York on foot so I think I can manage to get the few miles down the road. But I'll come check up on you. Feel free to go into town and grab some food. If I know the Cullens they managed to sneak a credit card into your wallet."

"Thank you Jake."

"No thank you. Good luck with everything. I hope that it works out for you."

"You really don't though."

"I just want Nessie to be happy and you are what makes her happy. Don't think anything different than that."

I nodded at Jake as I turned my back on him and walked into the monstrous house in front of me. They always did things big but it seems like when they moved to New York their family had grown. I caught a few peaks of Ann, Carrie, John, Alex and a few others I had never seen in the house next to them. Where they all vampire too? What was with this family? Half of the population would be vampires by the time that they moved away. How often did they move to keep up the charade?

I couldn't keep asking my questions because all they were going to do was get me into trouble. I didn't like being away from Nessie for this long and it was starting to hurt. The surprise of everything that just happened and everything I just found out was starting to drown away and I was beginning to realize what my life was like without her or her family in it. I walked around the house and searched all of it. Even with all of the furniture covered in plastic you could still figure out whose house it was.

I went upstairs first and looked in all of the bedrooms. With the amount of high-end furniture in here I could start my own furniture store and make a great living out of it. How was I going to stand being in school and seeing them all day? Nessie and I sat next to each other in Spanish and we were partners for a lot of the projects. How were we going to be able to work together? Would she hate me by the time that I returned? I didn't want to think of her right now because I would hate the image that was left inside of my head.

I could imagine her laying in her bed, curled up into a ball with her family laying with her and watching over her. Her hair would be all tangled and she wouldn't care about what she looked like. Her beautiful brown eyes would be red and puffy from crying so much and I didn't want to think I did that to her.

After a great night's sleep from being so tired and the fact that I was sleeping in Nessie's old bed, I decided that I wanted to go and explore where she had essentially grew up. I wanted to know as much about the Cullens as I possibly could from the people that knew them the best. Maybe these people didn't know them the best but it was worth trying anyways.

I went to Forks High School and looked through all of the awards on the walls. The Cullens were the only family to have all their kids graduate with 4.0 GPAs, so they must be extremely smart. It must have something to do with the fact that they couldn't sleep. Or maybe it had to do with their age. I never even asked how old all of them actually were. I knew that Carlisle was over 300 years old and if that was any indication then I was kind of worried to find out about the others.

None of the Cullens were involved in sports but that was probably so that they wouldn't get anymore necessary attention. But I knew that everybody in this place probably thought that something was up with this growing family.

"Can I help you with something," an older woman stated to me.

"No I'm just visiting."

"Ah, the Cullens."

"You know them," I asked questioningly.

"Yeah, extraordinary kids they were. Their parents were absolute dolls."

"Do you know much else about them?"

"Their father's a doctor and their mother is a stay at home mom that does interior designing on the side. They graduated about 7 and half years ago."

"And you still remember them?"

"Like they were here yesterday. They all made quite an impression on this school. I wonder if they are all still together."

"Yes they are," I said before realizing what I just said.

"Oh that's great to hear. Is Isabella still around?"

"Yes she and Edward are still married. They have a beautiful little girl."

"That's great. I was worried about her after her father died."

"What happened to him?"

"You must be a new friend because she doesn't like to talk about it. Her father was the chief of police and he dedicated himself to serving the community. He was a great man but when you have the type of job he had then things happen. He died in the line of duty around 6 years ago. After that Bella and Edward left to go off to school and nobody has heard from them since. She finally gave her dad's house away to a friend of hers from high school and I don't think she'll be coming back anytime soon."

"That's a sad story."

"Yeah but everything with the Cullens is a sad story. I just hate that things had to end for her that way. I hope that she is happy."

"She is."

"So how do you know them?"

"College friends. I was up here and I wanted to find out where they grew up and what everything was like for them. They are very secretive of their past."

"They are secretive period. They didn't open up to many people while they were here. Bella was one of the only ones that they talked to."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

I walked out of the high school and into the pouring rain outside. Why did it have to be so rainy and miserable here? Is this what I needed to show my emotions to me? I got into my car and traveled around the town and went to the grocery store. Just like Jake had said they had managed to slip me a credit card when I wasn't looking. Perhaps while I was asleep because apparently they had nothing else better to do at night then to find out things to do for me. I appreciated everything that they did for me but I didn't know what to do about Nessie.

I felt like an asshole. I had made the one person that I truly love in the world miserable because I overreacted about everything. After a week of laying in her old bed and thinking of everything that had happened, I decided that I needed to go home and fix everything that I had broken. I needed to ask all of the questions that I was asking to myself and hopefully get the answers that I wanted to hear. I needed to know everything that was involved with this before I started to think that I could ever be with her again.

Although I loved her I didn't know if I could handle knowing everything that I knew. The Cullens were vampires and her parents were the same age that she was. I wanted to hear the whole story with nothing being left out. I needed the answers to everything and I wasn't afraid of the black-cloaked vampires that Jake had warned me about. If I even knew a little bit I was in danger of them so why not know everything so I could understand it.

The ride home was longer than the ride up to Washington. Last time I at least had somebody to talk to that I could talk to about everything. I just needed to talk to somebody and since I could tell anybody anything about the Cullens, Jake was my only ally in all of this. Which seems strange to me but like he said I am what makes Nessie happy and if it weren't for that he and I wouldn't have even talked.

The supernatural world would grow on me possibly but it would take sometime to get used to. I would need to go into this slowly for my sake and for Nessie's. I didn't want her to get her hopes up that I would become what she wanted me to be incase everything didn't work out. I wanted to be with her, I knew that much, but I didn't know if I could look over everything that I knew now. I didn't know if I could be who she wants me to be and I didn't know if the Cullens would even let me anywhere near her.

I tried to contemplate who would be the first Cullen I could talk to. I was trying to go over in my head all of the possibilities and I decided that Bella would probably be the most reasonable about this. She had been human when she met the Cullens so she could probably relate to me better than anybody else. She had chosen the life that she was stuck in so I figured that talking to her before I talked to anybody else would be the best idea.

A/N: Please review for me because I really love to read them.

They give me a lot of inspiration. All of the comments I usually leave here I'm changing to my profile so if you need an information regarding my story it is all there now.

I also put a poll up because I'm planning on changing the name of my story to Crimson Crescent. Please vote there. I appreciate it.

I am absolutely estatic with the response that I've been getting for this story.

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