A/N: I'm so thrilled I finally received reviews for Cross Your Heart 2. Thank you so much twilight1alice and Edward's-Team-You-Go-Girl for reviewing. You have no idea how happy you made me.

I realise that CYH 2 is different from most Renesmee-centred stories out there, but as my Renesmee/Gemma grew up alone and without someone to guide her, it's only natural that she's developed differently than she probably would have, had she been with her family.

Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

By the way, CYH 1 has a banner now made by Mehek18! Check out my profile!

Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga is property of Stephenie Meyer. I'm only borrowing.

4

The evening was fun. I'd never gone out before. As I'd told Esme, the foster families that had taken me in had either been unable to afford that kind of thing or had been too miserly to. And then of course I had always tended to avoid public places as a general rule, even before I had truly known why; I'd been acting on instinct. Tonight, however, I was enjoying myself. Parking the car in one of the suburbs instead of trying to find a parking spot closer to downtown, we slowly walked to the cinema. Esme told me about herself, about how she'd met Carlisle, which wasn't exactly what you'd call a happy story, but she never even once asked me something about myself, and I was grateful that she didn't.

I did tell her a few things, though. I'd told her how I'd once broken a burglar's leg with a well-aimed kick at his shin, which had gotten me sent to yet another family, my foster parents, instead of being grateful that I'd saved them a lot of money, having decided that if I was able to break a grown man's leg, I was also able to break their own children's necks. I'd never have done such a thing, but I'd known that nobody would have believed my reassurances, because I'd been nine at the time (physically, not in actual years; in actual years I'd been two) and no nine-year-old should have been that strong.

Esme was outraged by how I'd been treated, her lovely features twisted with fury, and I had to distract her by telling her how my age had always been a cause for problems, at least as far as the foster system was concerned. I'd always found that quite amusing. I was two years old, at least according to my file, yet I looked like I was nine. A family would expect to get a four-year-old, but the kid showing up was a teenager instead. They'd never figured it out, though. A computer error, that's what they'd always said. A typical human reaction to something they couldn't and didn't want to understand.

The movie we chose eventually was a comedy, and while it wasn't as funny as the title suggested, it was quite an experience, at least for me. This was another aspect of human life I could get used to. We went home after that, not because I wanted to but because I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open even though it wasn't even past nine yet. However, as I'd gotten up so early and didn't go to bed that late to begin with, it didn't really surprise me.

"Are you going hunting later?" Esme asked as we drove through the darkness that wasn't so dark for either of us.

"Yeah, I have to," I said, yawning. "I have to feed more often than you do. If I skip a meal, I get cranky. I'm not a very nice person when I'm cranky."

"Neither of us is," Esme replied, eyes twinkling.

I felt my lips stretch into a grin. "I can imagine. Do you think they'll leave me alone? It's driving me crazy that I haven't had a single moment to myself for three weeks. I have no idea why it's so hard to understand that I need to be alone sometimes."

"I don't know," Esme said, frowning in thought. We turned left, slowly rattling down the narrow path leading to the house. "We've all gotten so used to Edward being inside our minds all the time that it seems pointless. And then of course our senses are so much keener. Having a private conversation is difficult, and we don't keep many secrets to begin with what with Edward and Alice's gifts."

"Yes, I got that." I sighed a little. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that lack of privacy, and, really, I'm not sure that I want to."

"I understand that." Esme smiled sympathetically. "I wouldn't have moved in with us if I were you, either, at least not as long Alice and Edward keep going out of their way to make sure you're never alone. I'd love to have you closer, but I understand completely why you don't want to be."

"Thanks." I breathed a sigh of relief. "For not being disappointed, I mean. Alice keeps bringing it up and whenever she does she looks as if she'll start crying any minute. I hope she'll realise soon that emotional blackmail doesn't work on me."

Esme sighed, but didn't comment on it. She knew her children after all. "I'll talk to them," she repeated after a while.

"I'd really appreciate that."

xxx

Esme dropped me off just at the edge of the forest, having assured me that she didn't mind if I ruined the clothes Alice had borrowed from her, and I waved at her before I disappeared into the trees. I didn't want to return to the house tonight, not even to change. Besides, I still had a spare shirt tucked away somewhere, so I'd change into that and at least save Esme's shirt and cardigan.

Slowly walking through the night and inhaling the familiar scents of the forest, it felt like I had been gone forever. This was my home, this was where I felt safe. I'd never give that up, for nobody. I heard animals scurrying through the bushes, the occasional cry of an owl. The forest was never really asleep, and I loved that about it.

I was tired enough that I was tempted to skip dinner, but as I'd told Esme that wasn't a very good idea if I was to go to school again tomorrow, so I tracked down the herd of deer I'd already decimated to an extent that would make it necessary to change my hunting grounds soon. It wasn't a very neat kill, me being so tired that I nearly tripped over my own feet as I leapt onto the unsuspecting deer's back, which caused it to struggle and cry out in panic before I managed to snap its neck. I spared a second to make sure that I was truly alone, but the air gave nothing away, so even if someone had followed me (and I hoped Esme had them all still wrapped up in that conversation she'd promised to have with them) at least I didn't notice.

I bathed in the river afterwards, the cold water splashing soothingly against my skin as I lay stretched out in the river bed, absentmindedly moving the shirt that I'd worn for dinner about, even though there wasn't much hope that so much blood would come out. I caught a star or two, the clouds having finally disappeared, and even the moon deigned to grace me with its presence after a while. It was peaceful, relaxing even, and it gave me time to think, for once alone.

I still hadn't decided if I'd go back to school tomorrow. As I'd told Esme, that would depend largely on what Edward and Alice decided, and if they tried to rearrange my timetable so they could keep an eye on me, well, then I'd stay here. School itself hadn't been as horrible as I'd expected it to be, but maybe that was because I was part of the Cullen family, and nobody in his right mind would ever bully one of them like they'd bully a kid in foster care with clothes that didn't really fit. The teachers hadn't been unfriendly, either, probably because of the same reason, and then, of course, I'd already seemed to have made a friend. I smiled a little at the thought. She hadn't been afraid of me, hadn't shied away like so many other people almost always that. Maybe she didn't sense that I was different, and maybe she did and just didn't care. Either way, I wanted to see her again, and that desire surprised me, because I'd always been a loner and I tried to get away from my family whenever I could. But maybe that was because they were my family, because they were vampires and Lily was, well, neither. She was normal, and maybe I needed something normal in my life.

I'll decide tomorrow morning, I decided eventually and climbed out of the river, dripping. I slipped back into Esme's jeans and pulled her shirt, which I'd stashed by the river before I'd gone looking for dinner, over my head, then wrung out my hair and tied it together with a piece of my hunting shirt that was ruined beyond repair anyway. I made it home in less than two minutes, having not ventured too far off, and was glad to find that nobody had been in the clearing since I'd picked up my shirt earlier. I hung the remains of the shirt over a branch to dry, then settled underneath the blanket and pushed the pillow into shape. Esme had insisted on both, and I hadn't argued with her, because she'd meant well. My few possessions were now stashed away in a wooden case mounted to the trunk just beside my head to keep them from getting wet. I yawned as I lay down, arms folded underneath my head. I could already feel sleep reaching out for me, and just as I was about to be lost in blissful darkness, the wind, more of a breeze, really, shifted, and it was carrying a familiar scent. Even though I was already half asleep, I rolled my eyes.

My father was watching over me.