Chapter 5: Two Can Play That Game (revised)

**Two Can Play That Game**

The coast flew by in a blur, as Jacob took the turns to get back to Forks. He, unlike Ness, was successful in reaching home without the inconvenience of being stopped for a traffic violation. Somehow Jake knew in order to win Nessie, he would have to play her game. This realization had made him extremely uncomfortable and conflicted. There was nothing to resemble a game in the devotion he felt toward her.

On this late July day, the sun peaked subtly through the trees sending shards of light on the driveway at the Cullen residence. It wasn't a usual thing for Edward to have gone speeding off with a shape-shifting wolf in the passenger seat, so it was assumed that he would have traveled far. Although not able to 'see' clearly with the wolf pack, since the induction of Jacob and his pack to the family, over the past seven years, Alice had begun to see them, the more she understood them.

Since the transformation was ruled more by circumstance and energy as opposed to emotion now, the times when they would disappear would come and go. This is to explain that once in a while, Alice would catch glimpses of Jacob in his human form in different circumstances. It was at this point, while polishing her nails with Renesmee that she got hint of the vision. This was one of those times, because Jacob was with Edward, and Edward was clear for her to see, she wasn't shocked that she caught a glimpse of both of them at the sea shore not thirty miles out and the fact that they were returning was puzzling. Why would he have gone through the charade of taking the car in the first place? Alice mused.

"What is it Alice?" Renesmee asked, inspecting the customary blood red she and her aunt placed on their toes.

"Jake is on his way back with Edward."

"Jake... Wait, Jake is with Daddy?" Renesmee asked, almost upset. "Why?"

"Damned if I know. Jake's with him remember. I don't know his purpose..."

"Oh right, you only catch glimpses of Jake now."

Renesmee hesitated before her next question, but decided to ask it anyway. "Do you see me at all?"

"No. But don't give up, maybe once you've fully matured and your nature is predictable…then maybe."

Renesmee wasn't convinced.

"Well, I'll be on the driveway waiting for them," she called out over her shoulder already heading out the window.

It was here that Jacob saw her, as he pulled up the forest drive slowly. She was standing there, like a sculpture of Aphrodite, tapping her bare foot against the pavement. The fire red Ferrari drew nearer, negotiating the sharp curves of the driveway like a jungle cat. The canopy of the forest seemed to shadow his approach, and the light that did filter through the high and low branches bounced off the red of the paint sending flashes through the trees. It was almost as if Jacob were prolonging her anticipation to speak to him. Her arms folded.

By this time spectators had gathered above the terrace at the windows of the second floor looking out over the driveway, expecting something, unsure of what, but still expectant. Affected by the vague sense of the unease of the approach, Renesmee lifted her head ready for whatever her father would hurl at her. After yesterday's vow of disowning at the first sign of broken virginity, no holds were barred. She felt she had the right to say whatever she wanted to now.

She couldn't wait any longer for Jacob and his slow pace. She walked down the driveway to meet him at the car door. Seeing her approach, Jacob leaned back in the driver's seat looking almost defiant.

"She's pissed at you," Edward commented, watching Renesmee walk down the driveway instead of 'flitting'.

"Now why in the world would she even have the right to be upset with me?" Jacob asked mockingly.

Edward's eyes shifted to Jacob, noting his tone, and the difference in his disposition and the direction his thoughts were heading in. "She's upset because you left yesterday and didn't return until now," he warned.

"Humph, thanks for the heads up," Jacob smiled, pulling up the rest of the driveway, past Renesmee, coming to a stop at the foot of the stairs. At his ease he opened the door as if she hadn't been standing there for minutes waiting for him to exit the vehicle.

Renesmee glared at her father. "You warning him won't do any good," she said in a cool even tone.

"Hey Ness," Jake said casually.

"Hey yourself… What do you think you were doing, running off like that without any explanation, leaving me to the sharks, and then not even coming back?" She demanded.

"We're vampires, not sharks, if you don't mind." Edward said mocking his daughter which received him a glare and a roll of her eyes.

Jacob on the other hand ignored the fact that she had spoken and walked into the house, leaving her standing there and Edward with a suppressed smirk on his face.

Puzzled, she ran in after him. "Hey Jake, what gives?"

"Nothin," he said looking around intently for something or someone, Nessie couldn't make out which. "Hey, is Seth here?" He asked, knowing full well Seth was already on the Res.

"No, he's not here. You haven't answered my question."

"Oh, well thanks. Guess he's at home. I'll just see him when I get there," he muttered out loud for her benefit, and turned heading for the door, where Edward stood. Jake tossed him a sly wink and held the smile that was threatening to break his mask, at bay.

"Hey, don't you want to hear about my trip? I was gone for a year!"

"Sure, sure," he said knowing she would know he was blowing her off. "Alright, well, I gotta go. I got lots to do before school starts. I'm sure I'll see you between now and the start of school at least once or twice."

"Wait, what? At school? That's weeks away!"

"Yeah, I have to see Carlisle and Edward about some stuff before the start of classes. Plus I gotta get ready for rush week too. I kinda wanna know what houses are the best. I got some work to do."

"YOU are going to rush?" Nessie said full of disbelief with a scoff.

"Yeah, that reminds me. Hey Alice, wanna come with me shopping, maybe tomorrow?" Jake spoke as if Alice were right next to him knowing that she would hear him and respond from wherever she may be, even if it were out in the woods, although he knew she was upstairs. He could hear her.

Alice appeared as if by magic at the foot of the stair.

"Always Jake! You know all you have to do is say the word."

"California?" he said with a sly smile.

Renesmee's eyes got wide as if she were going to explode.

"You wanna go to California to go shopping?" Alice said in shock.

"You can drive there, if I can drive back."

"Wait, you want to go shopping... with Alice? In CALIFORNIA?" The words hung in the air unanswered by anyone. "Well, I'm coming." Renesmee said finally in protest.

"Hey Emmett, you got clothes already?" Jake asked ignoring Nessie.

"No," he scoffed, "Dude, when did you turn into such a girl?"

"Oh, my bad, Rosalie dresses you, doesn't she?" Jake asked tauntingly.

"Fine, I'm in." He said with a gruff.

"Kid, why don't you and Emmett drive down with Rose? I've already got shotgun in the Porsche!" he said laughing while simultaneously slapping Alice a high five.

"Have I died and gone to an alternate reality?" Renesmee asked in an exasperated tone.

Jacob took advantage of the moment of silence. "See you tomorrow sis, you too kid. Let's go at say midnight so we can get there after morning rush hour."

Nessie mouthed the word 'sis' in disbelief. Since when were they best friends?

Alice nodded in agreement, "I hate traffic. We can do LA first and hit Frisco on the way back up," she suggested. "The guys in Frisco may be queer, but they have the best taste in clothes this side of New York."

"Sure, sounds great, I'll see ya later," he said kissing Alice on the cheek and bounding off toward the wood, stripping his shirt off for Renesmee's benefit. He knew she would be watching. If she wanted games, he would do his best to play along.

"Daddy!" he could hear her yell as he was about to shift to his wolf form.

"Daddy, what did you say to him?"

"Nothing…he wanted to talk about school, ask me a few questions, and go for a joy ride since Bella hasn't offered in a long time." He said shifting the spotlight. Edward only felt a little bad about picking words out of their conversation to mislead his daughter.

"He knows he is free to take my car any time he wants to." Bella said floating down the stairs. "I'm starved," she said in the next breath, "take me to dinner?" Edward smiled Bella's favorite crooked smile and swooped his wife up in his arms and out the door in a blur of movement.

"Auntie, what the hell is going on around here?" Renesmee asked.

Both Rosalie and Alice looked at each other and back at Nessie and shrugged.

During the trip if Renesmee received three sentences from Jacob, she was lucky. It seemed the entire trip was spent laughing with Alice and asking Rosalie for her opinion. 'Since when are Jake and Rose friends? He's just doing this to piss me off,' Renesmee found herself thinking more than once during the day. She had tried everything to get his attention: talking to him as if nothing was wrong, that didn't work. She tried getting upset and very nearly making a scene. She received her first sentence from him then, 'Renesmee, please, control yourself. Don't make a scene like a child.' That made her livid.

So she decided to ignore him for a few hours. He didn't even notice. She tried apologizing before they headed up to San Francisco and asked if they could ride together and talk it over. She received her next sentence. 'Don't be silly; there's nothing wrong, I'm not mad. You have nothing to apologize for.'

In San Francisco, she asked to take a picture with him. He shook his head 'No.' and walked away. She tried, 'I'm so happy to see you Jake, won't you at least let me show you?' He simply took hold of her wrist in a grip that would have caused an ordinary human unbearable pain, and deftly moved her aside from him with a threatening look that warned her not to touch him.

This was the first time ever that she felt out of control. He was always her Jacob from the day she was born and laid eyes on him. But this man who held himself with such control away from her, she had no idea what to make of it. It was something she had never encountered before and was beyond upset about it. She was sad. She was worried. What if he could free himself from her? Would she be able to free herself of him?

Jacob drove the whole way back with the speed of a demon, and would have gotten pulled over if the cop could have caught up to catch him. Alice laughed and clapped her hands when the flashing lights receded into the background. Jacob just looked over the wheel with a smug look on his face.

"So do you wanna tell me what's going on here?" She asked.

"It's Renesmee," he sighed.

Alice waited, because everyone knew that already.

"Did Edward tell you what she did, or suggested the other day in the woods?" Jake asked.

"No, he just left in a big huff after having made the declaration about Nessie and her virginity."

"Yeah…" Jake said and sighed, "She wanted to…you know, get busy right there in the woods."

"Oh…it makes so much more sense now."

"It's not just that, she's so overboard. It's not like I don't want to, at all, it's just that it won't mean anything to her, and she means everything to me. I don't want her like this. It's supposed to be her and I forever, you know?"

"So this whole thing is what?"

"She has the classic 'cheerleader syndrome'," Jake said almost laughing. "She's easier to play than she thinks."

"Oh, so you make her want you, but then what?"

"I don't know, but I know that if I roll over and play puppy dog, she won't respect me… I think it's gotta be a whole long thing… like she has to fall for me on my terms, but I have to make her want me on hers..Does that make any sense?" Jacob seemed more like he was trying to convince himself of something he only partially believed.

"Why don't you just talk to her Jake?"

"What good does talking do when you're crazed?"

"True, but just try. I think in the end it may be better."

"You may be right…"

They drove for another hour in silence before he spoke again… The sun was rising on their right glaring over the vast empty plains.

"I remember how it felt to be passed over by Bella" Jacob said again at length.

It was minutes before he spoke again… "If that happened again… I don't know. I think I would take a few tries at killing myself," he said grimly.

Alice let a few more minutes pass to see if he would say anything else, when his silence was too thick, she spoke, "I don't know what to tell you Jake. I always had the vision of Jasper. But I do know that if you aren't true to yourself, you won't be any happier with the result than if you bent to her will and lost. You are a wonderful friend Jake. If you change that, you will lose yourself. I don't want to see you go through that either."

Jacob let that sink in for the last hour of their journey. Upon reaching the house he was decided. Alice was right; at least about the part of not being true to himself. He decided he would talk to her; he just wasn't sure how the conversation would go.

He flew up the driveway and skidded to a stop in front of the garage. Rosalie was right on his tail.

"Thanks Alice." He said cheerfully seeing her on the other side of the car hands full of shopping bags.

Renesmee seemingly in a daze walked from Rosalie's Maserati toward the house.

"Renesmee," he called in a throaty, authoritative voice he had since adopted since taking charge of a pack, "come with me."

She looked up at him, halfway surprised he was addressing her, and halfway subjugated to his will; silently, she followed him.

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers. You inspire me. Keep reviewing, and I'll keep writing. I'm feeling the need for some steam between these two… what say you?