The characters in this story are from my favorite books, the Twilight Series, by the talented Stephenie Myers, and her copy write of the characters is implied.
Chapter 19: Lock Down
Reluctantly, Jacob and I packed up the tent, got dressed, after Jacob helped dry all the massage oil off of me with a towel. Then we climbed into his mustang and headed back home. As we drove home, he tightly held me around my shoulders, and leaned down and kissed my hair several times. I wrapped my arm around his waist, and pressed my head against his warm muscular chest. We drove in silence, much slower than Jacob would usually drive, and then I broke it.
"Jacob, I love you so much, that it is painful for me to be away from you. I know that I wanted to attend school, to have a normal life, and I have enjoyed school so far, but it bothers me not to know where you are or what you are doing when you are not with me. It's not an issue of trust. I trust you completely. I don't know if I am saying this right, but I need you to be with me every minute of every day to feel whole, and when you are not with me, I feel empty."
Jacob pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned, cupping my head in his hands, so that I could not break eye contact. "Nessie, I feel the exact same way. I feel like I don't have a heart, you have it, and when you are not with me, I feel like I am dying, I promise you Nessie, I am never more than a scream away while you are at school. Most of the time while I am on patrol I can hear you talking to your teachers, and your conversations in the cafeteria. I am not trying to eavesdrop; it's just my wolf hearing. Always know that I am right there for you, even if you can't see me."
"Thank you Jacob, that makes me feel better."
Jacob pulled the car back onto the road, and we arrived home within 5 minutes.
Hand in hand we walked into the house. The entire family was assembled in the living room, and seemed to be in a tense, heated discussion.
"Alice," Uncle Emmett said, "It doesn't matter, its only four and a half vampires, even if they are Volturi, they are no match for the 10 of us."
Dad growled loudly and crouched as though he was going to spring at Uncle Emmett. Mom placed her arms around his waist, so that she was in between the two of them, and Dad calmed under her touch.
"Fine," Uncle Emmett huffed, "even if it only 9 of us, three Vampires, even Volturi are no match for us."
"Would anyone like to tell me what is going on," I screamed, as I grabbed on to Jacob for dear life.
Mom looked at me, still holding on to Dad, and then began, "Alice had another vision. It wasn't very clear again, but it appears that Aro, Felix and Demetri have left the Volturi. She saw them talking with another Vampire who called himself Yohan. Yohan is the father of Nahuel."
Aunt Alice took over where Mom stopped, "It seems that the idea of having a child with their own genetic code was something very appealing to Aro, Felix and Demetri. It appears that the three have been trying to conceive a child with a human since they first met you, but all their attempts have failed because they have killed the women during their attempts. This part is still blurry to me, but it appears that Yohan and his three daughters, all of whom are like you, half human, went to the Volturi. Yohan traded his daughters to mate with Aro, Felix and Demetri, as long as he helped them find you, and capture you, so that you could me the mate for Nahuel."
Through his teeth I heard Jacob hiss, "Nessie, move, I don't want to hurt you, as he began shaking like a tuning fork. My uncles quickly scooped him up, and threw him out the front door before he phased."
I fell to my knees and started shaking. I was too stunned to cry, to stunned to yell, to stunned to breathe. I saw little white dots enter my field of vision, than I felt like I could hear those around me, but they were far away and distant, then I felt my body falling, but I didn't feel it hit the floor.
When I woke up, my entire family was kneeling above me. Grandpa Carlisle was checking my pulse, and Mom had a wet wash cloth which she placed on my forehead.
"Stand back, let her breathe," Grandpa said. Everyone backed up a few inches, except my Dad, who I now realized was supporting my upper body and holding me head.
"You are lucky your Dad caught you before your head hit the floor, this could have been much worse," Grandpa said.
"What are we going to do Grandpa," I said as I tried to hold back tears.
"We are all going to protect you and keep you safe. It will all work out sweetheart. Calm down. Jasper, can you help her," he asked, and then suddenly I was unconscious again.
When I awoke, I am not sure how long later, I was laying across Aunt Alice's bed with Jacob laying about six inches away from me; mirroring the same position I was in. He looked into my eyes, and he looked as though he was fighting back tears himself.
"Nessie, I am so sorry," he said in a tone which was racked with shame. "I should have been there for you, to help you when you learned the news, instead I let my anger take control and I almost lost it standing so close to you. I could have hurt you. I am so sorry. I would never forgive myself if I did to you what Sam did to Emily."
"Stop Jake," I yelled, " I am not mad at you, not at all. I am afraid, but not for myself. I am afraid for my family, and most of all for you." He began to speak, but I put two fingers over his mouth, and continued, "All of you love me so much, that you want to keep me locked up in this fortress of a house to keep me safe. But if anyone of you were killed, especially you, trying to keep me safe, I couldn't live through that."
"Nessie that is not what you should be worrying about right now. None of us are worrying about that. We all just want to keep you safe," he replied.
"Maybe I should just go to them. I love you Jacob, more than my own life, but if I just went away with him, I could protect you and my whole family. I could protect all of you the way you all have protected me."
Instantly, every member of my family was in the room, and they all began yelling different things at me in unison. I had momentarily forgot about vampire hearing.
"Renesmee Carlie Cullen," Dad yelled, "Bella drop your shield right now. I am going to have to monitor her thoughts every second from now on to make sure she doesn't run off and do something stupid. Nessie that would be suicide or a fate worse than death."
"Nessie," Mom squealed, "How could you possibly think your Dad and I could survive loosing you? How could anyone in the family survive that? "
"Oh no you don't," Uncle Emmett yelled, "I am looking forward to a good fight with some Volturi. We never did get to have one when you were little. I am looking forward to kicking some Volturi ass."
I heard a loud smack as Aunt Rose smacked Uncle Em across the back, "Nessie, I am sure that this will all work out. We don't only have us Cullen's to protect you, but I am sure that Jacob already has the Do-, I mean his pack ready to help protect you too."
"You are not going to be selfish enough to make me loose my favorite niece and the opportunity to plan a wedding in one instant are you Nessie," Aunt Alice growled.
Uncle Jasper whispered, "Calm down," and I felt a wave of serenity wash over me, but this time I didn't loose consciousness.
My grandparent's didn't yell, they just both scooped me up into a bear hug. Then Grandma Esme started to talk, "Did your parents ever tell you that they had separated for more than 6 months at one time. It was a stupid attempt on your Dad's part to try to keep her safe from us. The result was that your Mom started doing highly risky things, such as cliff diving. Your Aunt Alice had a vision of your Mom jumping off the cliff and it appeared that she had drowned, when really Jacob had saved her. Your Dad called home, learned that your mother was supposedly dead, and went to the Volturi to kill him. Your mother risked her life, and went to Volterra to save your father, but it was close. It was the single scariest thing I have ever experienced in my life to have thought one of my children was trying to kill himself. I had lost a baby when I was human, but that baby was born sick and died. It hurt like hell, and that is why I tried to kill myself by jumping from a cliff. By some miracle, Carlisle found me, and saved me, and now look at the life I have. Six children, a beautiful granddaughter, and a soon to be grandson. What you are proposing would kill all of us. It would not save any of us. You must promise me that you will never have thoughts of this again."
"I promise Grandma," I said, choking back tears.
I looked over at Jacob, and he had his hands over his face, and was turned away from me. I pushed my way out of my grandparent's embrace and climbed over to where Jacob was now sitting up on the side of the bed. I pulled his hands from his face, and I could see he was holding back tears. He looked at me as though I had stabbed him in the heart. I grabbed his face in my hands and pulled him toward me to kiss me. He pulled back, and half yelling, half choking said to me "Don't ever say anything like that to me again Renesmee. Just hearing you say that almost killed me. Do you get that? Do you get that I can not live without you, it is not just something romantic to say. I will not be able to live without you."
"I'm sorry Jake. I am so sorry, I just wanted to protect all of you," I began to beg all of them, "Please forgive me, I just wanted to try to make things better. I am sorry to upset all of you."
Jake just pulled away from me, stood up, and sat in a chair across the room. He placed his head in his hands again, and just sat there.
"Could you guys give me and Jake a minute please," I asked the group. They left in silence.
Once I heard the door close behind my mother, I slithered my way into Jacob's lap, and wrapped my arms around him.
"Jacob, please forgive me. I love you, more than my own life. Remember that locket that my parents gave me for my first Christmas, I never really knew what it meant until my true feelings for you began to be revealed. I am sorry with what I said, but I would give my life to save you," I said.
"I wouldn't let you Nessie, but I know that I could not live without you either," Jacob said, still muffled because he still had his head in his hands.
"Please Jacob, I need to see your eyes, please let me see your eyes," I begged.
His tears had spilled over, and it broke my heart. I wiped his cheeks with my hands, and then cradled his face in my hands. I looked deep into his eyes, did my best impersonation of an authentic smile and said, "Well I guess neither of us can ever die then. Good thing we are both immortal."
He kissed me, but this kiss was different than any of our previous kisses. I could feel his panic and desperation behind its force. When he broke away, he looked deep into my eyes and said "Forever Nessie, you and me forever, I will accept nothing less."
I nodded, and he crushed me to his chest. He held me so tightly that if I has been a full human it would have left bruises, and he gently rocked me in the chair. We just held each other for another hour, and then there was a knock on the door.
"Sweetheart, Can I come in," Dad said. "While you were sleeping and calming down, the family made some tentative plans for your safety that I want to run by the both or you.
"OK Dad, shoot," I said.
"We all agree that it is safest for all of us to stay here in the main house with the metal shutters shut. There is too much risk for anyone of us to move back to the cabin in the woods right now. That being said, even we vampires do not sleep; there is a need for people to return to their rooms to have their moments of privacy. For that reason, we have ordered a bed which will be delivered today, and Uncle Emmett has begun to put up a partition in the living room to create a new bedroom. This bedroom will be for the both of you, but I still expect you both to behave like the Lady and Gentleman that you are until the wedding."
Dad paused and then continued, "At this point, we also agree that it is best that we go back to homeschooling you just for now. Grandpa Carlisle is sending a note to the school stating that you have mononucleosis. Once the threat from the Volturi you can return to school if you want to, but even at a school full of wolves, it is too dangerous right now."
"Can my friends from school, the ones who are wolves and imprints come and visit," I asked.
"Yes, of course, but they may not feel that comfortable in a house full of vampires, but they are welcomed," he replied.
"I already filled Sam and the rest of the pack in on Alice's vision," Jacob said. "They are stepping up patrols both here and on the reservation. Sue is even breaking the news delicately to Charlie that due to some impending danger, they need to move into her old house in La Push. Your Grandpa Charlie is going to come visit tomorrow."
"For tonight, both of you can stay in you mother and my room. We'll stay on the couch in the living room. Uncle Emmett thinks that he's have your room ready by tomorrow," Dad said.
"Thanks Dad," I said, with an enormous smile on my face, despite the level of danger that we were all currently facing.
Dad sighed and said,"Thank your mother. She reminded me that we spent almost every night together before our wedding, and we were able to behave as a Lady and Gentleman. She convinced me to have faith in the both of you, which I do. Plus she reminded me that I have vampire hearing which she can not shield you from," he snickered as he said the last part.
"So Mom is shielding us again," I asked.
"Only as long as you are with Jacob," he said. "We trust that Jacob would stop you from doing anything which would harm you."
"It's almost midnight, we should pro ably get some sleep," Jacob said to both of us.
"Let me grab my PJ's and I'll meet you upstairs," I said to Jacob, and then I kissed my Dad goodnight as he left the room.