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"Ness! What's wrong?" Jacob yelled as he approached her collapsed body, she was sobbing.
"My mother's alive!" she exclaimed, tears pouring down her face, but she was still smiling. The statement took Jacob off guard, and he looked at her, his head cocked in confusion.
"Nessie, what do you mean?" he asked crouching down next to her, he thought she was going crazy.
"Do you smell that? Jake, tell me you smell it? It's her scent!" Nessie said pointing to the air around her. Jacob took a sniff, there was a hint of a familiar scent there, but he couldn't say it was Bella's. So many times, especially after she died he swore he smelled her, but it would just be someone with a close scent, and not his best friend.
"Ness," he said his voice trailing off.
"And it was her! I saw her! With her brown hair, and she was pale, and her eyes were golden- Jake, she's alive! I've got to find her!" Nessie said standing up, determined to figure out where she went from this dead end. She walked over to a loose brick in a wall and tried jumping up to reach it, but her attempt was futile.
"Nessie, stop," Jacob said and hugged her. Nessie broke down in his arms.
"I know I saw her, I wouldn't make this up," she said looking up at him.
"I know you wouldn't, but honey, it wasn't her. I'm so sorry," Jacob said and kissed her head as Nessie tucked her face into his shirt.
"It was Jake, it was her," Nessie said. She brought her hand up to his cheek and replayed what happened. Seeing this, Jacob's doubt wavered, the short glimpse did look like Bella, but there were so many people out there who did.
"Come on," he said and they began walking back to the street.
In silence, they ended up back at the hotel, but neither of them wanted to go in for the night. Nessie who had been tucked under Jacob's arm all night walked away from him and headed for the beach that was not too far away. Jacob followed in silence, consumed by his own thoughts.
He knew that Bella was dead. The idea had been hard enough for him to accept years ago that he didn't want to have to re-convince himself. But the image Nessie showed him had him asking himself if he was wrong. The scent was so Bella, she smelled of freesia and lavender, and the scent Nessie had smelled was that to a tee, but it was impossible. And while Nessie did not get a good glimpse at the person who ran, if it wasn't Bella, it was an extremely close look alike. She was the same size and shape as the Bella Jacob knew and loved, and had the same hair color, but that's all he could say for sure.
But what Jacob knew for sure was that it would only end up hurting Nessie and him more if they tried to pretend that she was alive, when they both knew she wasn't. She couldn't be.
He plopped down on the sand as Nessie kicked off her shoes and with determination walked to the waters edge. She let the ocean rush past her ankles, and the smell of the sea hit her in the face, but nothing could replace the scent of her mother. She had never been more sure of anything in her life than she was right now. Her mother was alive, and she would do what ever she had to find her, even if it meant risking her own life all over again.
She kicked the water before retreating back to the beach where she sat between Jake's legs, his arms holding her tight.
"I knew I felt like I was closer to them here," she said into the night, the stars glistened in the sky. Jacob sighed. He didn't want to hurt Nessie anymore, but to pretend that her mother was still alive would only end up hurting her in the end more so. He kept his mouth shut; maybe tonight would be the night to let her dream of what a perfect scenario could be.
"Jake?" Nessie asked, looking up at the stars.
"Yes?" he responded and pushed some sand around with his feet.
"Could you tell me a story, one about my parents?" Nessie asked. Jacob had known her mother since she was a baby, and knew her father when they started dating. Nessie also knew that Jacob had vied for her mother, but she was okay with that mostly.
"Which one would you like to hear?" he asked and pushed some hair gently behind her year.
"When she was turned."
Jacob sighed again, remembering his pain as Nessie was born and he watched Bella become a vampire. While he now accepted the Cullen's and their ways, knew Bella was still Bella, and was forever intertwined with Nessie, the pain he felt in those moments was so intense it was unforgettable.
"Well your father and I had never gotten along…ever," Jacob began and Nessie got a small smile on her face, she was only all too well aware of that fact. "When your mother became pregnant with you, we were as close as brothers because we agreed on one topic, we didn't want you in the picture. You were a monster, still are I say-"
"Hey!" she said playfully smacking him and they both laughed.
"And we were convinced you would take away the thing we cherished most, your mother. For weeks we watched you bruise and break your mom from the inside out, and we were defenseless. Ness, to be honest, we hated you, but your mother knew you were just growing and needed room, that you weren't trying to hurt her, that you weren't a monster either.
"After she drank some blood, which apparently satiated your temper, even then, she was feeling better than ever since conceiving you. Until she went into labor. To say it was an emergency birthing wouldn't be enough. You were dying inside her and all she could focus on was getting you out alive. The birth was disgusting, sorry, but it was. I mean your dad had to bite down on the placenta, I couldn't look, and when I heard you crying I couldn't look either. I was ready to throw you out the window. But your father handed you to your mother, and you bit down on her, then I was doubly ready to throw you out the window, hoping you'd hit a few branches on the way down."
"You know you really do have a violent side to you," Nessie teased at his vivid descriptions of his original hatred towards her, she had heard this story before.
"You changed me kid, but anyway getting back to the story. So you were carted off, and Bella lay there dying, and your father took syringes of his venom and pumped them into her system like this," Jacob described, making a needle with his finger and sticking it into her wrist. "And that was the end of the human Bella. I couldn't bare to stand there and watch her so I left, and then I saw you. I was going to kill you but when I looked in your eyes, you changed me. I saw our future and we were to never be apart. You were the only thing that would keep me whole from then on, and I loved you with every ounce of my being, and then I realized how your father felt for your mother, something I was never able to understand before. And I realized what I had was so, so much better." Jacob finished. The last part was more for himself, it always amazed him how much he was able to love Nessie.
She sighed contentedly.
"Jake, do you know why I love that story?" she asked intertwining his fingers with hers. "Because it shows how my mother was always right, and it made you and my father bond and become civil if nothing else, and it shows how just seeing one thing, a face, can change your entire world." She was referring to the person she saw earlier on the street.
Jacob squeezed her tight.
"Nessie I want it to be your mother more than you can imagine," he said and kissed her hair.
"Don't worry Jake, it is her, she's still out there," Nessie responded, and they spent the next few hours staring up into the starlight of the night.
***
Jacob had not slept well the night before, images of Bella and Edward and all the Cullen's surrounding him. It was amusing to him how much he had detested them, and how his entire opinion changed with just one girl.
He had gotten little sleep, and the sun was just lighting up the sky when he decided it would be the perfect time to phase and go for a run. He left a short note for Nessie saying he'd be back soon and left the room.
Walking towards a thicket of woods he removed his clothes and phased. He smelled the air for any human presence, there was none.
Running was the only thing that could block his thoughts out; it was just him and his paws hitting the ground rhythmically.
Except the crunch of the ground below him, there was absolute silence. Pushing himself as hard as he could, Jacob ran to the forest's edge and turned back, headed home to Nessie.
"Jacob." The voice was soft but strong. Jacob stumbled to a halt, tripping over himself. His heart stopped as he looked in the direction of the voice. From behind a branch, Edward, dressed in a black robe stepped out into Jacob's view.
Without realizing it himself Jacob phased back to his human self. He was in complete and total shock.
"Edward?" he managed to get out. "But how? I thought, we thought, you're supposed to be dead…. Nessie was right!" he exclaimed with joy.
Edward had not aged; everything was as perfect about him as it was 20 years ago. His eyes were darker though now, it wasn't the black of hunger but a black of loss. He stood there, completely still.
"What's wrong?" Jacob asked rushing over to Edward.
"Jacob, you and Renesmee have to get out of Italy, now."
"What do you mean? Nessie has to see you! She thought she saw Bella last night, and it must've been. What about Carlisle and Esmee? Are they alive, Blondey and Emmett?" Jacob said, opportunities like this, like the dead coming back to life didn't happen.
"That was Bella, and yes they are. But you can't be here, you must leave. It was so stupid for you to come here, what were you thinking? Go get her and leave, don't let her know you saw me," Edward said and put his hood up and went to turn. Jacob grabbed him by the arm.
"What do you mean? We can't leave, your alive! She has to see her family! Do you know what its been like for the both of us?" Jacob almost screamed at him.
Edward shook his head at him.
"I lost my daughter too Jacob, but I know she is living a better life than what her mother and family are trapped in. take her and leave, now, don't waste anytime, the Volturi must not be alerted," Edward responded hard and cold.
"A better life? We've been on the run ever since that day! Look at all my memories, look at everything we had to do," Jacob said recalling them and letting Edward hear them.
A snarl emitted from his throat and without a seconds notice he flung Jacob against a tree.
"How could you let my daughter do this? Do you not love her? Have you no respect? I should kill you." Edward threatened, his forearm pressing into Jacob's throat.
"Do you think I wanted this life for her?" Jacob screamed at him. "I'd do anything to give her everything you could've, but this is what it has become. Edward, what ever your problems are, we can fix them. Run away with us, we can go anywhere. Just make her family whole again, please!" Jacob pushed his arm away from his throat.
"I can't change anything no matter how badly I want to. Just Jake, promise me you'll leave today, this morning, get as far away as you can and don't say anything to her. Please."
"I won't lie to her," Jacob responded.
"Just leave," Edward said and turned to head back to wherever he came from. Gone again, forever this time.