Reunion

"I believe I speak for the rest of the family when I say we're sorry for not telling you any sooner. Your parents wanted to be the first to congratulate you on your first birthday." Grandmother Esme explained.

"Hard to believe it's been a whole year…" Momma sighed nostalgically, as she continued to hold me. In a way, I think she was still a little sad that she wasn't there with me for the first few days after I was born. Instead, she was going through her transformation.

It was supposed to be a fact that vampires couldn't have children. However, it was discovered that female vampires cannot reproduce while the males can. No one would tell me much- just that no vampire man had ever thought, or had the control (whatever that meant), to give a human woman a child. My father did, though, and it nearly killed my mother to give birth to me. If Daddy hadn't bitten her right after I was born and turned her immortal, Momma probably wouldn't be with us today.

I lifted my head from the crook of her neck, looking up at her, and then at Daddy. I touched Momma's face, picturing how I woke up earlier and they weren't there, or at Carlisle's.

"I'm sure Jake told you where we were, Nessie." my mother commented.

"Yes, but she doesn't believe we were really hunting." Daddy stated after hearing the rest of my thoughts. He possesses the ability to see, read and/or hear what the people around him are thinking. I never really had to use my power when I was with him. My father is the only one who could both see, feel, and hear what I was thinking without having to touch me. The only mind he couldn't read was my mother's- unless she let him…

Momma's power is very strong, but also very subtle most of the time. Vampires with powers similar to hers are called shields. With my mother, it is because she can mentally block certain powers of other vampires- like my father's- and stretch her shield out to protect the minds of multiple people as well. Though, like Daddy and Aunt Alice's special abilities, Momma's gift also has its limits; her mood can still be affected by Jasper, and she can still see the pictures I project whenever I touch her.

"Hey Mrs. C," Jacob greeted Grandmother Esme as he crossed the front lawn to where the four of us were located. His eyes rested on my parents and a smile spread across his face once more. "Edward. Bella." he nodded to them. Momma and Daddy are the only two in my family that Jacob addressed to by their actual names all the time.

"Nice to see you again, Jake." my mother replied.

I saw Jacob cast a knowing glance at my father and Daddy nodded. My brows furrowed at the exchange. Maybe this was part of what they were all keeping from me.

"There will be no guessing, Nessie." Daddy remarked, hearing my thoughts. I just smiled at him and shrugged innocently.

Jacob leaned over toward me and my mother, whispering quite loudly in my ear. "Have they said 'happy birthday' to you, yet?"

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. He sounded like a child asking if it was safe to take some cookies out of the forbidden cookie jar. The second I nodded at him, he swept me out of Momma's arms, spinning me around in the air as he shouted: "Happy birthday, Nessie!"

I laughed as Jacob placed me in Esme's arms and she gave me another hug.

"Yes. A happy birthday, indeed." my grandmother added as she laughed along with me.

"Thank you, Esme." I said out loud, as she put me down. "Thank you, Jacob." I smiled up at him and he ruffled my already untamable mop of curly red hair. Momma always said I inherit a little from both her father and mine, when it comes to my hair. It's curly like my Grandpa Charlie's, and it is the same color as Daddy's. As I'd grown older, my mother also pointed out a few times that it was wild and messy, but in a "tragically beautiful" way- which is very much like my father's mane as well.

Speaking of- I walked over to Daddy and wrapped my arms around his legs like a child of my age would do… Technically, I was only a year old. However, I grew faster than the typical human- another trait that came with being a half breed. Daddy looked down at me, smiling.

"I'm afraid that pout you learned from Alice won't work this time, little love." my father said almost sympathetically. "You'll have to wait until we get to the clearing."

The clearing had been a place where my family always went to play games or simply fool around. It was like another large backyard that we could go to, where we didn't have to refrain from showing our vampire abilities for the sake of not getting ourselves discovered. I grinned widely and took a step in the direction of the clearing.

Jacob grabbed my hand. "Everyone else has to be down there first, Ness."

I, then, realized the complete silence in the house behind us. The rest of the family was no longer inside. It was likely that they'd left while I was preoccupied with my parents and Esme.

"Wait here and let us have a head start," Momma said as Daddy took her hand. "We'll all be ready with your surprise by the time you and Jake get there." At that, my mother grinned with a wink and she and my father took off. Grandmother Esme followed close behind. Jacob and I waited for a few agonizingly long seconds, only the sounds of nature kept the silence less lengthening…

He looked down at me, one of his dark eyebrows raised. "Race you?"

We made it to the edge of the clearing, just a few yards away from where the trees opened up, when Jacob stopped me- his wolf form blocking my path. His ears perked up as if he was listening for something. Then, he nudged my shoulder with his nose; I understood and turned around, facing away from him. There was a rustling sound and a slight decrease of the unmistakable body heat behind me, and then a pair of warm hands covered my eyes.

"'Kay, so everything's ready, but you need to close your eyes…" he murmured.

I huffed in irritation.

"C'mon, Nessie- just bare with me for a sec, it's supposed to be a surprise." I could tell he was smiling as he spoke. I obliged to his request and closed my eyes. When he was sure I wasn't peeking, I felt his warm hands lift me up by the waist and he carried me the rest of the way.

The familiar scents of my family weren't the only thing my senses could pick up. The natural, outdoorsy smell of the Quileutes had grown more profuse than for it to just be Jacob- some of his pack must be here. I could faintly hear their heartbeats. There were more guests, though; I could smell them. Each scent was familiar, but I couldn't quite place who any of them belonged to. Jacob slowed to a stop, still holding me in his arms.

"Alright, Nessie," he whispered in my ear. "You just open your eyes in three, two, one…"

"SURPRISE!" everyone shouted as I opened my eyes. And I mean everyone.

Our family's assumed cousins, the Denali coven, were there- and so were our other friends: the Amazon coven along with Huilen, her nephew, Nahuel and (surprisingly) his three half sisters. I was also a bit astonished to see Leah Clearwater- the only girl member of Jacob's wolf pack, who wasn't too fond of me, my family, or any vampires for that matter- but I figured she was there just to watch her younger brother, Seth. Seth had come to like me and the Cullens, he'd become friends with us before Jacob even completely warmed up with my father and his siblings. Quil, another one of Jacob's friends, was there, too. They were all smiling- well, most of them, anyway- and came up to me, giving a bunch of hugs, kisses, pats on the head, all the while wishing me a happy birthday. Then, I somehow ended up back in my mother's arms.

"So, what do you think?" she asked, gesturing to the scene. The center of the clearing had been set up for what would seem to be a rather large campfire, not yet lit since it was around mid-morning. Lying around it, in a circle, was a bunch of logs for people to sit on. Just behind it was a small pagoda tent made of white satin and lace with pretty floral embroideries. Tiny solar lamps that had been stuck into the ground surrounded the tent, and inside was a long table with a cloth similar to the fabric of the pagoda thrown over it. Pink rose petals were scattered all over the table, as well as a few stacks of presents. At first glance it all looked fairly simple, but I thought it was very pretty.

"It's beautiful," I said out loud. My voice sounded a little timid due to the bashfulness I was feeling from being the center of almost everyone's attention. Daddy always told me I got my shyness from my mother.

A few people chuckled at the sound of my tiny voice, and I felt a sudden wave of love and confidence that I knew had to be Uncle Jasper's doing. I looked over at him with the same crooked smile I inherited from my father and he grinned back. Alice was bouncing lightly next to him with excitement in her eyes. She glided over to me and placed a sweet, yet chaste kiss on my cheek.

"I'm glad you like it, Nessie." she said gleefully. I should have known Aunt Alice was responsible for the whole setting. What with her exquisite taste and all…

"Thank you, Alice." I touched her face, thinking about how beautiful everything was and how much I appreciated it.

"You're very welcome, sweetie." she replied.

I looked around at all the cheerful faces again, and then I thought of something. Why would a campfire be set up if it was clearly still day time? Was everyone planning on staying until it grew dark? After hearing my thoughts, Daddy answered me.

"Yes, these people came here to commemorate your time of physical change. In a decade or so, you'll reach full maturity and you won't be aging anymore. Though your birthday will always be a special day to us, we just wanted to make the best of your few years of growing up."

"That's why your father and I planned to spend the entire day celebrating your birthday." Momma finished.

"Us, too," Emmett and Jacob exclaimed at the same time. The rest of my family laughed at their whining. Seth and Quil were laughing, too; Leah just rolled her eyes.

"Right," Momma replied, snickering.

"Besides," Tanya, one of the members of the Denali coven, spoke up. "I'm also a little intrigued to see just how much these young changeling friends of yours are like the feared Children of the Moon…"

"Is that a challenge?" Seth raised an eyebrow, a devilish grin forming on his face. If there's one thing he and the rest of the pack couldn't resist, it would be a competition.

Leah elbowed her brother almost harshly, and Seth winced. "Aw, come on Leah," Now Seth was whining. "A little, friendly game of skill couldn't hurt."

"I didn't come here under any intentions to be friendly," Leah snarled. "And we don't have to prove anything." She eyed Tanya with hostility burning in her eyes.

Tanya shrugged. "I was just curious, though I can understand how overwhelmed you must feel, being a tad outnumbered."

"Ha!" Quil scoffed. "If you want, we can settle this with some competition- wolves versus vampires. Think that would put your curiosity at ease?"

"Quite decently, yes," Tanya replied with a playfully wicked smile. "How do you think you would fair at hunting, next to the rest of us?"

"Oh, I think we can handle that." Seth answered amusedly. This time, he elbowed his sister. She looked at him, and then at Jacob.

Jacob was surprisingly calm and collected with the whole interaction. "Why not?" he said in a care-free tone. I was actually becoming excited to see this.

Leah took a deep breath and let out a frustrated huff. "Fine." she mumbled.

"So, a hunting competition, then?" Daddy asked, looking in my direction for approval. I nodded anxiously and everyone else murmured in agreement.

"Excellent," Emmett smirked, cracking his knuckles together. It sounded more like a tree being snapped in half to me. Never have I come to underestimate my uncle's strength, nor did anyone else who was smart- or at least had common sense.

"Alright," Carlisle stepped in. "Our coven and the wolves know these woods better, so we will go first and do it in rounds; this area is growing a bit overpopulated with elk, anyways… Jacob, you and your pack will be split up into pairs and have your own contest first. Both pairs will get to hunt twice. Whoever wins the first round will hunt against Emmett and Rosalie, while the other pair will get a chance in another round against me and Esme. We'll see what happens from there."

"Sounds fair enough," Jacob commented. "But the hunting range can't be any further than the first dozen or so miles around the perimeter of the clearing. No paranormal powers allowed." He leered pointedly at Uncle Jasper, Aunt Alice, and also my parents.

"I told you I can't foresee anything past your pack of mutts." Alice muttered almost sourly.

"Either way, keep any extra powers to a minimum- nothing besides the typical abilities that all of you have." Jacob concluded.

"Fine," Momma agreed. "Then, none of you wolves can use your telepathic connections to help each other."

"Say what?" Quil asked in disbelief.

"Bells," Jacob shook his head at my mother. "It's not exactly something we can turn off whenever we want to…" Another interesting quality about the Quileute werewolves is that, as a pack, all of their minds are connected to one another when they're in their wolf forms- so they can hear and/or see each other's thoughts.

"I'm well aware of that, Jake," my mother replied. "But I'm sure you've learned to ignore certain thoughts over the past couple of years. It's just a small precaution I'd like to make, so none of you can cheat."

"Pfft, like we'd need to…" Quil smirked.

"Alright, then," Jacob threw his hands up in surrender. "No pack telepathy. We can deal with that."

"So, how is this hunting game done?" Kachiri, one of the three members of the Amazon coven, asked.

"How about we start on opposite edges of the clearing and have our hunting parties meet where they intersect, in the middle?" Momma suggested.

"Sounds good," Jacob nodded. "And the first pair to come back with the biggest catch wins."

"I suppose Renesmee will be the one to determine the winning teams?" Huilen spoke for the first time with her heavy foreign accent.

Carlisle and I both nodded. With everything being said, the hunting games finally began. As instructed, Jacob's pack split up into teams of two; he and Seth against Leah and Quil. The first round started and, while Jacob and the others were hunting for their catch, I decided to reacquaint with the rest of the guests.

The Denali coven was the first group I went up to. It consisted of Tanya and her two assumed sisters, Kate and Carmen, along with their partners, Garrett and Eleazar. Tanya was a little odd to me. She liked me, but she didn't show it as much as the rest of her coven did. Tanya acted the same way around my mother, though I always thought it was because they didn't know each other that well. Kate and Garrett were fun to be with. However, I was wary about touching Kate. Like Uncle Jasper, Aunt Alice, and my parents, Kate had a unique power of her own- one that could bring any vampire to his knees. She was like a walking lightning bolt. A single touch could send huge, electrifying jolts through the body. Still, it was something that couldn't be completely turned off. Garrett had no problem touching Kate because he was used to it; when Kate was relaxed, her skin would be on a low degree surge, so Garrett eventually grew immune to the shocking sensation. The rest of us still kept a safe distance, though.

"It truly is a pleasure seeing you again, niña linda," said Carmen as she pulled me into an embrace. She and her husband, Eleazar, are the Spanish couple in their coven… that much could be proven by just looking at their light, olive toned skin.

I touched Carmen's face, picturing the last time we met. I was much smaller then, but I remembered how quickly she had come to like me. She, Aunt Rose, and Zafrina (of the Amazon coven) would always walk or carry me around throughout the several weeks they stayed with my family during their previous visit. However, unlike that first gathering, this was a much lighter and happier one…

Carmen smiled at the memories I showed her and lifted me into her arms. What was with everybody holding me today? She caught my thoughts, from the other times I'd been picked up since this morning, before I completely removed my hand. She laughed.

"Would you rather I put you back down?" she asked humorously.

I bit my lip, thinking of what my father had said- about how my years of growth were limited- and then I shook my head in reply. Carmen laughed again. Her partner, Eleazar, stood close by and shook his head at the undeniable mirth his wife was already emitting.

"Ay caray, mi amante, you are a woman of near senseless alacrity." he murmured.

"And so says the old guard of the century…" Carmen remarked playfully, and then looked at me. "Pay no mind to him, little one. Change is something he has yet to grow completely used to, even though he's had many decades to do so."

"I've no ill will toward change." Eleazar argued. "However, I do feel wary about this new alliance. These wolves may not be the Children of the Moon, but can we truly trust them?"

I reached toward Eleazar, silently asking him to step forward. He did, and no sooner had I touched his face when he smiled down at me hesitantly and took a step back.

"I know they are your friends, and I realize your father concluded last time that the wolves here are not the same as the true species. I'm just being cautious, as we immortals are not the only adversaries toward the wolf-men…" His voice became quiet near the end.

"What do you mean?" my father asked, as he wondered over to where we were.

Eleazar looked at Daddy with guarded eyes, and then Daddy's curious expression turned serious. He was listening to Eleazar's thoughts. And from what I could already tell, it wasn't a topic that either of them wanted me to hear. After another few seconds, my father blinked and looked at me with an assuring smile, but I could tell something was bothering him.

"It's nothing you need to worry about, Nessie." he insisted.

My lips puckered as I eyed him carefully.

Daddy chuckled. "Honestly, little love- it's nothing… Why don't you go say 'hello' to the rest of our guests?"

I gave him another suspicious glance, and then had Carmen set me back down, so I could do as my father requested and greet everyone else.

Zafrina, of the Amazon coven, was the only other guest that had a special ability. It was a power that I'd favored most, the capability to create illusions. Zafrina could make large groups of people see whatever she wanted them to see. During her previous visit, she showed me all kinds of beautiful places that she'd been to, and some that neither of us had yet to have seen for ourselves. Her features- as well as those of her assumed sisters- were tall, athletic, and "a bit daunting" as Grandmother Esme once said. True, the Amazons' physiques would appear quite wild, but I found them to be fascinating- especially Zafrina.

The other two, Kachiri and Senna, greeted me quietly when I approached them. Zafrina, who was in the middle of a hushed conversation with them, turned and smiled brightly at me. Her grin was big, like a Cheshire's- creepy to some people- but it had no affect on me. I engaged into a silent communication with her, both of us exchanging pictures and memories of what we remembered and what had happened during the time we were away from each other. Then, she showed me a memory that occurred only a few days ago when her coven met up with Huilen and Nahuel, along with Nahuel's three biological sisters: Malen, the eldest of the three, followed by Lican and Nulpi.

All of them were half breeds, like me and Nahuel, and they all looked somewhat similar to their older brother- dark brown skin and eyes, thick black hair- except the youngest one… Nulpi had much lighter skin than the rest of her siblings; it was more olive toned, like Eleazar and Carmen, only darker (closer to the shade of Huilen's flesh, or the Amazons'). She was also definitely the smallest, but with the longest hair. It was more of a charcoal shade, next to her brother's and sisters' ebony black locks. I was immediately curious about her, and Zafrina sensed it. She urged me to go over and ask, since I'd yet to greet Nahuel's group. When I did, I found out Nahuel's sisters didn't speak English very well.

As it turned out, Nulpi's mother was American- a world scholar that had set out to study histories of some of the world's rarer tribes, that is until she met Nahuel's father... It was saddening that Nahuel, or any of his sisters, never got to know their mothers. I hadn't the slightest of what I would do if I suddenly lost my momma. But before I could dwell on these thoughts any further, I heard the heavy gallops of Jacob and his friends approaching. I watched as Carlisle and Esme moved further up front to make a better observation on who would make it back first.

It was actually fairly close. Jacob and Seth made it back first, though it was Leah and Quil that had the biggest catch. It was my decision to make, and Jacob did say the first to come back with the biggest catch, so I declared Leah and Quil the winners of the first round. Jacob wasn't too happy about that, but still, it was his rule.

The next round was won by Leah and Quil, as well. It was them versus Uncle Emmett and Aunt Rosalie. Like Jacob, Emmett didn't except his loss as gracefully; it's a good thing Jasper was there to calm him down… Carlisle and Esme lost to Jacob and Seth in the third round. However, it was the fourth round when the Cullen family proved themselves. My mother's keen eye and my father's speed allowed them an almost easy victory against Leah and Quil, as well as Jacob and Seth in the fifth round. Leah and Quil insisted on being included in at least one more round, since they had only lost once, so they were given a bonus round against Alice and Jasper. The Cullens won that hunt by a landslide.

And so, the hunting games continued. In the end there had been a total of fourteen rounds. Four of these rounds went to the Cullens with Momma and Daddy in first place. In a very close second place were the Denali coven and the Quileute wolves, both teams tied (much to their dismay)… And of these two teams, Garrett and Kate, and Leah and Quil were the ones who won the most rounds. Third place went to Nahuel and his aunt Huilen, though Nahuel lost one round being partnered with one of his sisters- I believe it was Nulpi. His other two sisters, Malen and Lican, didn't win their hunt, either. However, Zafrina's supposed sisters came in fourth after winning one round against Carmen and Eleazar.

When it was all over, a total of twenty-eight catches was divided evenly for the losing teams to dispose of properly. Since my parents came in first, the Cullens were the winning coven and didn't have to help (Carlisle and Esme still offered their assistance, though). The rest of us stayed behind, in the clearing, along with the rest of the winning pairs from the other teams. We talked some more while waiting for everything to be cleaned up, joking around and laughing; I think I might've even saw Leah smirk just the slightest bit as we all pretty much fooled around.

It was early in the afternoon once we were all reassembled. I was with Zafrina again, watching more beautiful pictures she provided for me. Grandfather Carlisle was talking with Nahuel and his coven while the rest of my family also continued to socialize with the Denali.

"Nessie," someone called to me. It was Jacob. His group stood close to each other, away from the other vampires, as he walked up to me. Zafrina tensed a little when he came closer, not fully used to his strong dog smell.

He looked down at me with almost a sad kind of smile. "What do you say if we visit your grandpa for a while?"