Author's Notes: back to regularly scheduled programming! Things heat up in this chapter. Plus Edward gets all awkward. Mega thanks to all reviewers: MiissColly, vampire_GURL_299, Sara, blackcat05, la-la-la-45, atwimom, Emmalee, julia, and emma!


Disclaimer: The Twilight saga and all characters therein are the creation of Stephenie Meyer. No profit is being made from this fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended.


Chapter Six

Imprinted

Shrugging off the memories of the awful human party, I tried to focus on something other than the way Abby Ullman looked at Jacob. So, I did the work for Jasper, running through the Interpol lists of missing people, and set the final result printing. I had tons of paper, and I would need it. Jasper's well-trained eyes would be able to see and remember any patterns in the list.

Next I checked my email. PeuChen91 had not written back. This set off a vague note of alarm. I sent her a new message: "Do you mean the hacker Mendel? And where are you? Are you all right?"

Meanwhile, Devi and Silvius were in our D&D chatroom. I was happy to see them; they were totally removed from my life. There was no drama there. Our conversation scrolled down my screen.

Morphette: you guys know where PeuChen91 is?

Devi: no

Silvius: fighting monsters with some other group?

Morphette: traitor! lol

Devi: you find more about Mendel?

Morphette: nada

Devi: i did. You won't believe this. the cyberterror division of the French police have a file on him. They're sure he's based out of South America. Apparently he stole a huge amount of data: DNA records from the criminal databases in Europe.

Morphette: weird!

Silvius: maybe he's cloning human beings

Devi: or creating a super race, acha

Silvius: maybe he's a Nazi

Morphette: guys, what if PeuChen's involved? I hope she's okay!

It was all very strange… and I felt almost the way Jasper had described. Like there was something there, something my intuition was telling me, but that didn't make sense yet.

Still, tracking Mendel could only be a good idea. Over the next hour I wrote a program to ping me whenever an unauthorized connection tried to enter medical records at the world's centralized databases: the EU Cooperative health care system, the National Health Service in Britain, all of them. Maybe this Mendel was a doctor. Maybe there was something significant to his name. If he made a move on anything medical-related, I would know about it.

I stood up to close the window – I liked to keep the room cool, it helped my computer run faster – and some instinct made me freeze. I stared out into the darkness. The wind ruffled the fine hairs on my arm.

I took a cautious sniff.

Wolf. Fantastic.

I slammed the window down, knowing he would hear it, hoping he would stay away. The anger from earlier was back with a vengeance.

I turned off the light, too. Maybe he would just run around in the woods.

As I sat in the darkened room in a run-down house, completely alone, I could understand why no one had wanted to restore it before now. There was a definite creepy vibe. The house had a voice of its own, groaning with every shift of the wind, and micro-drafts whistled through the walls. It was like the house was alive.

Quite unlike its former inhabitants. I wondered what they'd seen and thought in their last moments. This had been the master bedroom; did the vampire take the parents somewhere else? Or did he feast on them right here, killing them as they slept in this very bed that I sat on now?

I hoped the vampire had been quick about his business. If he'd eaten all three of them, he must have been hungry… but one full grown human was enough to fill the dead veins of a vampire. Three seemed excessive.

I really, really hoped that he hadn't toyed with the family.

Why am I even thinking about this? I wondered. It doesn't matter. It's ancient history. As pointless as wondering if the cat played with the mouse.

Outside, the gentle padding of four paws turned into two human feet on the grass.

Great. He's coming in. I sat on the edge of the bed, back straight. I had no idea where this new reluctance came from; up until now, Jacob and I had been like peanut butter and jelly. A perfect blend. Conflict between us had seemed impossible.

Stupid Rochester. I was starting to wonder if imprinting only worked with the pack nearby, on the reservation, the land where it all started. Nothing between Jacob and I had been quite right since we moved. Now, I feared seeing him. I didn't know what my jealousy meant, or how he saw me, or why there was this new energy insinuating itself into our happy days.

My body was tense as a high-voltage wire when Jacob stepped in downstairs. He was barefoot, I could tell. His steps were slow and steady up the creaky stairs.

I swallowed hard. What if Jacob was only meant to protect me until I was grown up and independent? What if he was too homesick to stay here? What if… if he'd kissed Abby? The prospect of him kissing some human girl was enough to make me want to curl up, or punch something.

My head fell forward, straining against my rigid neck.

Jacob was in the doorway just like I had been at that dumb party.

"Ness," he said, his voice breaking slightly.

I was silent.

"Are you okay? What are you doing here in the dark? Edward told me that you were upset…" He stepped forward – he wore only jeans, with a bare chest – and knelt in front of me.

Looking into Jacob's face in the darkness, I was overcome. I didn't care what he thought of me. I needed to tell him how I felt.

I seized his bare shoulders with my hands and poured out everything, venom and love and questions and regrets. It was a broken dam, a river of thought that crashed into his mind, and his muscles tensed and he gasped.

It was all there for him to see. The strain since moving to Rochester. The uncertainty, the possessiveness, and most especially the inadequacy. That I wasn't lovable, because I wasn't that fairy-tale princess who needed rescuing. That I couldn't compete with the inevitable future: that he would be paired off, and there I would remain, Renesmee Cullen, Odd One Out.

Jacob jumped back out of reach. His breathing was fast and I waited, stock-still, for his reaction to catch up with him.

The air was heavy. Like my thoughts were things, still strung out between us. I wished I knew what was in his mind.

"Jacob, say something," I finally pleaded aloud.

He stepped toward me. "Nessie, I… Okay. First. Those girls at the party? Do you really think I would even consider – those girls! The two of them together have the IQ of a turnip."

A choke of a laugh escaped my throat.

"And that I would ever leave you, or… or ever could. I couldn't. You know that, Ness. You and me are together forever."

My hand touched the smooth muscle of his shoulder. Are we?

"Yes!"

I don't like feeling this way about my best friend.

"We're not best friends," Jacob said.

My heart squeezed into a dreadful, slow beat. I lifted my hand away from his shoulder.

"Best friends don't think about each other all day, every day," he said. "They don't feel physical pain when they're apart. They don't share everything… everything."

Somewhere outside, a coyote howled, alone under the cold starlight.

"Best friends," Jacob whispered through the darkness, "don't do this." He threaded his fingers through mine.

I stopped breathing. What…?

"Best friends," he continued, "don't do this." He leaned his face forward, so close to mine that I could feel the heat shimmering off his skin, and the smell of pine and fur and musk… an intoxicating rich, masculine scent that made me think of fires and caves and animalistic shapes in darkness… "Is this what you want?" he asked. He was unsmiling, his mouth a hard slash, but his eyes were bright.

Yes. My thought was more of a moan.

Our lips met, crashed together. I melted forward into his arms. His kiss was heated, earnest, and the only true thing in the world. My reactions poured out through my palms as my hands roamed over the smooth bare skin of his arms, his chest, his abdomen. He leaned forward further and I pressed myself up against him, leaving no room between us. I shuddered as his lips moved along my jaw and down to the hollow of my throat.

"Oh, Jake," I sighed aloud.

"Ness…" he whispered, a hiss that tickled against my skin. He pushed me backward and we rolled into an embrace on the antique bed. I ended up on top, my head resting on his strong chest, my hair fanned out into his hand as he supported me. His other hand made soothing circles on the small of my back.

For a long time we just laid there, drinking in the change. I felt molded to him, as though Renesmee Cullen were a puzzle piece that only fit with Jacob Black, curve for curve, edge for edge.

Jacob?

"Yeah?"

What does this mean?

"It means I've waited way too long to do that."

You wanted to?

"Like you wouldn't believe."

The thought of him fantasizing about me sent a shiver down my spine; I pressed myself impossibly closer to him.

Edward must have known…

"He hates me," Jacob said with a laugh.

I smiled. Do you think the rest of my family is going to be weird about this?

"They're expecting it. Alice has been downright annoying, trying to get me to make some kind of move."

I giggled. How like Alice. But I don't understand. I recycled through a lifetime of memories. Us playing catch, cooking together, playing board games, working on cars. Him, carrying me on his shoulders, walking on First Beach. Building sand castles. Him, helping me tie my first pair of shoes. Like a big brother. Us competing in a video game, teasing, racing through the forest, hunting, taking down a pair of grizzly bears. Like a friend. How long have you wanted to kiss me?

I felt, rather than saw, his smile in the darkness. His arms tightened around me. "You're right, about how things changed away from Forks. Back there, I was what you needed me to be. Your guardian and friend. But here, it's like there's freedom to change those roles. I… it was on your birthday that I really felt it. You walked in wearing that dress, the way it clung to you… and those heels made your legs look…" He broke off, as though shy.

My heart went into overdrive. He was attracted to me.

I guessed that lying next to him, arms entwined, made my mind pretty much an open book. Everything I felt and wanted, he could see it. I suddenly realized how… easy, how good… this might make certain activities.

Jacob's laugh was a low rumble in his chest.

Oh, drat. I pulled away. "Eavesdropper!" I accused him.

"Hey, you thought it."

"I'm glad you think I'm pretty," I said, curling back into his arms.

"Not pretty. Beautiful."

I wanted him to run his hand up and down my spine and I'd barely formed the wish when he did. I purred. I purred? Sheesh. I'm easily placated.

Jacob laughed.

Is this what imprinting really means? I wondered. My memories were infused with a new meaning, a new possibility. Have you always known that this would happen? I was surprised at the accusatory note in my thoughts.

"No," said Jacob, a little too quickly. "I mean, I'll always be what you need me to be. If you didn't want this, I'd be happy – more than happy – to just be your friend, your guardian, whatever. We have a choice, you know." Yet, there was uncertainty in his voice that echoed mine.

But all of your pack, the ones who've imprinted, its always ended up like this, right? Sam and Emily, Paul and Rachel, Jared and Kim…

"Yeah, I guess it has."

So we don't have a choice. I wasn't sure if I liked this idea or not. On the one hand, laying in Jacob's arms, I couldn't imagine anything better. I was fevered with his presence. My own body had a very definite idea about what it wanted from Jacob.

On the other hand, though… I didn't like the idea of inevitability. It was like having a marriage arranged from birth. I wrote computer programs, outlined the pathways, ordered the functions, all laid out from conception. A computer program did what it was told. It had no free will to do anything else other than follow its creator's instruction. I didn't like feeling as though I were programmed to love Jacob and no other, to fall into an automatic marriage with him.

Mendel, I thought suddenly. Genetics? Predestiny?

Jacob listened to my train of thought. "I don't know, either," he said softly. "I think we should just… take this slowly. After all, we have forever."

That's what worries me. I slid up so that I hovered above his face. My body lifted with every deep breath he took. His hands held my waist in a firm grip.

I couldn't help it. I closed the distance between us and kissed him, sighing into his mouth, totally content.

Later, I remembered to grab the missing persons list for Jasper before driving home. Jacob rode with me. "Stay at our house tonight," I said.

There was a guest bedroom on the second floor, next to Carlisle and Esme's room.

"Edward's not going to like the thoughts I'll be having about you."

I grinned and touched Jacob's hand. Serves him right for listening.

"He won't like the dreams I hope to have, either."

Yeah, well, life's about to get more difficult for my dad.

Jacob grinned back at me.

We pulled into the drive of the big Victorian house and Edward was already waiting for us on the porch. His arms were crossed and I could see the scowl on his face. His eyes tracked us carefully. The only thing missing from the picture was a shotgun in his hands.

I waved big as I drew the Jaguar into the eight-car garage.

Jacob's staying over, is that okay? I thought as we walked toward Edward. My dad's eyes narrowed in on the way Jacob's hand lingered between my shoulder blades. I was positive he could read the change in our mental climate. And so what? I thought.

"Of course, Jacob, you're more than welcome," Edward said. "I'll tell Bella to open up the guest room for you."

"Thanks, Edward," said Jacob. They stood facing each other for a few tense moments.

Dad, don't be weird, please, I thought.

Edward's eyes cut to me. I could almost read his thoughts, too, and they were along the lines of "Don't try anything funny, young lady."

His mouth quirked. I was right.

"Oh, hey, Jake," said Bella, popping her head out the door. "Nessie? Are you okay? Alice said…"

"I'm good, yeah," I said. "Just… overreacted to something. Dumb humans."

"Love, would you make up the dog bed – I'm sorry, the guest room – for Jacob?" Edward said.

"I can just sleep on the porch, you know, guard the door if you'd prefer," Jacob said.

"Oh, honestly," said Bella, rolling her eyes. "Ness, why don't you do it? I'm sure Jacob prefers your scent to ours."

"Especially on my sheets," said Jacob.

Edward growled. I giggled.

Inside, we saw Rosalie in the dining room with Emmett, playing a card game. She sniffed. "Oh, it's the teenage werewolf. I thought I smelled something."

"Good to see you, too, Blondie."

Upstairs, the door to Carlisle's office was open and he was at his desk, reading some medical journal. He glanced up and, seeing me with an armful of spare blankets and Jacob trailing behind me, he smiled slightly before turning back to his work.

Edward hovered like a mosquito as I said goodnight to Jacob. I purposefully guarded my thoughts from the memory of The Kiss, and our conversation, and kept myself in the moment. I hoped Jacob was doing the same.

Jacob took my hand. "Goodnight, Ness." His thumb rubbed a small circle on my palm.

I knew my face was alight as I wished him a good sleep.

As soon as the door was closed, Edward said, "Can we talk to you for a minute before bed, Nessie?"

"Sure. Who's we?"

"Your mother and I."

I gulped. Great. A talk. I'd had these before. The worst had been the "facts of life" speech when I turned seven. Edward had been so embarrassed and Bella so reticent that, after several attempts, they'd foisted the task onto Alice and Rosalie. They discovered that I already knew the facts of life, thank you very much, and instead of getting too serious about it, we'd spent the evening taking magazine quizzes on things like "Your Kissing Style" and "What's Your Bedroom Personality."

My results had been "sensitive" and "direct", respectively.

Edward headed for the rooms he shared with Bella, and in their sitting room I found my mother, standing still as a statue. They didn't bother acting too human in this part of the house.

"What's up?" I said, sitting in an armchair.

Edward touched Bella's hand and pulled her down to sit next to him on the pale blue sofa. "We just thought it was time we talked about dating."

"Oh." I raised my eyebrows. I wasn't going to make this easy on them.

Bella looked a bit more understanding, but she glanced at Edward before saying, "Honey, we know that you've been grown up for almost ten years now. It's just that you have a long, long life ahead of you, and we want you to know that there's no rush. For anything."

"I think it's best if you don't date anyone until you're eighteen," said Edward.

My jaw dropped. "What!"

Bella looked at Edward again, nervous. "What he means is that you shouldn't feel any sense of urgency."

"About Jacob?"

Their stares told me yes.

"Oh, whatever, Dad. You know about imprinting. And like Mom said, I've been grown up for a decade."

"Not according to the law."

"The law? Does the law cover vampire-human hybrids with accelerated growth rates?" I was feeling a little huffy. I didn't like being forced into things, and found myself defending one evil, imprinting, from another, my father's set of rules.

Edward said, "I think it's best if Jacob – who, by the way, is thirty-three years old – just remains friends with you for now. You're only sixteen."

I spluttered, trying to form my indignation into a coherent thought. "Oh… Oh! Mom, how old were you when you guys started dating? Huh?"

"I was seventeen," Bella admitted.

"And how old were you?" I asked Edward.

"He was one hundred and seven," Bella supplied.

"Some age difference. And she was my age," I said, pointing at my mother.

"Sixteen isn't what it used to be!" Edward said.

"Give me a break."

"She's right, darling," Bella said with a soft touch on Edward's arm.

Edward leaned forward, looking very serious. "Renesmee, you know we just want what's best for you. I want you to take your time and decide what you want. Don't feel like you have to… run off and get married, or anything."

"Like the two of you did?" I couldn't help saying.

"Now, we love Jacob almost as much as you do," Bella said. "He's one of the family already. But just because he's imprinted on you," she said the word like it bugged her, "that doesn't mean you have to be romantic right away. Or ever."

This was touching a little too close to the exact thoughts I'd had earlier. I'd better end this conversation before I started remembering about the rest of my night and Edward really blew his top.

"Okay," I said softly. "I know that. I just… things are what they are, you know? And I'm not going to elope with Jacob. I promise."

"You'd better not. Alice would never forgive you," said Bella. Edward smiled, too, undoubtedly thinking of the things Alice had planned for my eventual wedding party.

I kissed my parents goodnight and waved to Carlisle in his office on my way to the third floor. I was in my cutest set of pajamas in a flash – a satin chemise and pants set – knowing that I would be seeing Jacob in the morning. But as I lay in bed, trying to sleep as the sun edged up in the east, I wondered in what context I really wanted Jacob there for me every morning, ever after.

As I drifted into sleep, all I could decide was that my body said one thing (yes) and my mind said another (wait).


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