Author's Note: This marks the start of Part II of 'In Search of the Sun'. This part will focus a lot more on the people around Jacob and Renesmee (particularly the Pack), as well as the growth of their relationship now that everything's out in the open. It's gonna be fun =D

And because everybody was nice and patient while I disappeared for a week and a half over the holidays, I'm posting this super-long chapter today. Thanks for bearing with me!

As always, I appreciate any and all feedback, and I will always respond to signed reviews. So please leave your comments using that little link at the bottom of the page! You can do it… I know you can.

Thanks so much for reading, and ENJOY!

~Crit.

Part II

Chapter 26: Give Thanks

Thanksgiving dinner in a household full of vampires and Quileute tribespeople who turn into giant wolves is an interesting affair. Interesting in that it doesn't really exist, not in the traditional way. When she and Jasper returned from their extended stay in the city on Sunday morning, Alice had tried to convince the 'eaters' to at least let her throw some sort of bash, at which they could have a nicely decorated tables and color-coordinated foodstuffs. But after Leah made some snide (yet well-deserved) comment about being thankful her entire race hadn't yet been extinguished, the vampiric party planner backed off and organized a family hunt instead.

For her part, Renesmee was happy to let her family go run in the woods for a while. She decided that, while they obviously would not be participating in the holiday, the pack still needed to eat, and she would eat with them. This was due, in part, to the fact that she wanted to prove to them that she had gotten better at eating human food. Leah in particular had always been very vocal about her disgust with Renesmee's typical liquid diet. She knew it was silly, but she wanted to show Leah that she could fit in with them in all aspects of life, not just some.

It was important to her that she win some more favor with Jacob's Beta. Since Jacob's declaration that he would give up the pack to be with her, Renesmee had been determined to integrate herself more fully into his wolf family. She hoped that, through her actions, he would see that she considered them as important to her as her own relatives, and that she would never expect him to make a choice between them and her. Seth was already like her own flesh and blood, and Embry had always been friendly and open with her as well. But Leah continued to be prickly. Renesmee knew that in reality, it was nothing to do with her, but she figured she would have to be the one to attempt to kindle a friendship with the other woman; Leah clearly wasn't interested in doing the work herself.

And that was how she ended up in the kitchen of the Pack house on Sunday afternoon, up to her elbows in steaks and marinade, meticulously following Esme's cooking instructions. She'd decided upon steak, figuring it was far enough away from the traditional Thanksgiving fare that nobody would think she was trying to celebrate a holiday they all objected to for very valid reasons. That, and it was something she could handle swallowing, and she had a bit of practice making it. Esme had included instructions for Garlic mashed potatoes, which Renesmee knew would make the wolves laugh. She had a premonition of Seth chasing Emmett around the yard, trying to ward him off with garlic breath. Combined with a gigantic salad, she figured the spread would impress.

She was turning the raw meat over in the shallow baking dish full of sauce and spices when she felt a familiar presence approaching her from behind. She couldn't explain how she always knew when Jacob was approaching; he could be perfectly silent when he wanted to. She just knew. As he got closer, she breathed in deeply and realized with a smile that she could smell him beneath the scent of the food all around her. She closed her eyes and inhaled. Jacob smelled like cedar wood and wet earth warming in the sun, as well as shampoo and detergent and something musky and masculine that Renesmee assumed was just him. All the wolves smelled strongly to her, but Jacob was by far the best.

She relaxed backwards into him as his arms snaked around her waist, pretending that she was still focusing on the food. This was one of her favorite games that they played at home: one of them would be cooking, and the other would sneak up from behind and see how long it took to distract them from their work. Jacob was easy to get. One light drag of her fingernails across his chest and he'd have her on the floor. She was a little bit more disciplined.

This time, she knew they couldn't play out the scene the usual way, so she simply pretended he wasn't there. Jacob knew what she was doing, and set about sliding his hands slowly upwards, until his palms were resting against her ribs, just below her breasts. Renesmee didn't give in; she grabbed another steak, plopped it into the marinade, turned it, placed it on the plate beside her. After a few repetitions of this process, Jacob tightened his grip slightly and growled in her ear. She couldn't help it… her resolve cracked, and she laughed and turned her head to look at him over her shoulder.

"Did you need something?" She asked, straightening her face into what she hoped was an impassive expression. Jacob leaned in again and nipped her earlobe lightly before pulling back. Renesmee chuckled. "Use your words, Jake."

"Why are you doing this to me?" He said in a low, seductive voice. "You know I can't resist you when you're making me food."

"Ha! That's your problem, buddy," she said, turning back to the steaks. "I'm just trying to provide for the family. I assure you, the only person here who's attempting to be sexy is you."

"So I'm sexy, am I?" Renesmee had to laugh again at the note of satisfaction in his voice.

"I said you were trying to be sexy, not that you were succeeding." With another, more vehement growl, Jacob spun her around and pressed her back into the counter, bringing his face down to meet hers. Suddenly, she felt a lot less like teasing him. Giving in, she closed the distance between their lips, letting herself go limp in his arms. Jacob held her up as he kissed her thoroughly, and they stayed that way until his hands began to wander.

"Jake," she murmured against his mouth, "My parents…"

"Don't care," Jacob said briefly. "Want."

She groaned reluctantly. "We promised." Jacob's hands stilled, and he leaned his forehead against hers.

"Okay. I know. I'm stopping." He was breathing more heavily than usual. Renesmee couldn't help but be pleased by the effect she had on him, even in the midst of her own frustration.

"What's up with you?" She said, trying to sound light and care-free. "You've been fine the past few days, and now with less than a day left to go, you lose it?" She flicked a finger under his chin and gave him a brief kiss before unwinding herself from his grasp. "I thought you were more patient than that."

Jacob raked a hand through his hair, making it stick up on end. It had started to get shaggy while they'd been away, so Alice had given him a trim the day before. It was everything Renesmee could do not to swoon as he unintentionally messed it up. He looked good enough to eat. "So did I," Jacob admitted, looking irritated with himself. "I don't know, maybe it's because I've been in wolf form so much since we've been here. My instincts are closer to the surface or something." He shrugged and leaned back against the counter. "Sorry for attacking you. I didn't mean to when I came in here."

"Hey, I'm only sorry we had to stop," Renesmee said, going back to her cooking just so she'd have somewhere to put her hands other than on Jacob. "I hope you'll do it again, once we're back home."

Jacob wore a scowl on his face, which Renesmee couldn't think of a reason for until he said, "That might not be the best idea, considering we'll have Embry, Seth and Leah with us, and the kitchen is in the middle of the loft." She groaned loudly.

"How long are they staying again?" Jacob laughed humorlessly.

"Too long." Renesmee moved to the stove and took the lid off of the potatoes that she'd boiled earlier. She picked up the pot and carried it to where Jacob was standing, setting it down in front of him, and handed him the potato masher.

"Here," she said, "Vent some frustration."

As predicted, the garlic-and-vampire jokes were abundant at dinner. Between the five of them at the table, they managed to consume everything Renesmee had made: twelve good-sized steaks, two huge serving bowls of salad , and an entire sack of potatoes, mashed and blended with enough garlic to knock Dracula on his bottom. Jacob ate his food with the usual amount of gusto, and Embry and Seth spent most of the meal making noises that were borderline inappropriate. Even Leah complimented Renesmee on her cooking, and she seemed to be sincere. All in all, it was a success.

After dinner the boys, led by Jacob, got up and offered to clean the kitchen, leaving Renesmee and Leah to sit awkwardly with each other. Leah tried to get up and load this dishwasher, but her brother and Jacob simply pushed her back out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"We're taking care of the ladies," Seth declared proudly. "It's what we do."

Leah rolled her eyes. "Since when?" She muttered, flopping onto the couch with a frown. She wasn't the type who liked to be stuck without something to do, particularly in a situation where she had to be social.

"So," Renesmee said as she sat down opposite Leah in one of the oversized armchairs, "You all packed for New York yet?" Leah stared back at her with one eyebrow raised.

"What do I look like, one of your Aunts?" She replied. It wasn't malicious, exactly, but it wasn't friendly either. "No, I'm not packed. I'm planning on throwing my stuff in a bag later tonight, after my run."

Renesmee knew that Leah had taken up running a few years back. She didn't really understand why the other woman liked to run in human form, when she could go so much faster as a wolf, but then again she didn't understand most things about Leah. "How's the running going?" She asked, trying to sound upbeat without being perky. Leah hated perky.

"Good," Leah said, nodded almost to herself. "I'm not as fast as I'd like to be yet. Still about half of my wolf-speed. I'd like to get up to two thirds, if not three quarters. But my endurance is better. Almost as good as when I go canine… I don't ever really have to stop anymore. So that's something." She'd sort of zoned out while she was cataloguing her skills, and she snapped back to reality quickly with a shake of her head. "Anyway." Renesmee searched for something else to say.

"Um, if you want to, you can use my swipe card for the NYU gym while you're in town. I don't ever use it. They've got a good track." Leah fixed her with a look that was a little bit suspicious, and then her eyebrows returned to a normal, relaxed position.

"Thanks, Nessie," She said with what seemed like a bit of effort. "That's… thoughtful."

"Oh," Renesmee replied dumbly. "It's nothing."

"I mean, I'll probably just run in the park, but anyway."

Renesmee clenched her jaw and attempted a smile. Why was Leah so difficult? Did she have to be contrary to everything that was said? "Whatever you like," she said, trying to stay pleasant. She decided to change the subject. "So, I figured you'd stay in the extra bedroom. It's smaller, so I thought the boys could have Jake's room and you could have your own."

"And I guess Jacob stays with you?" Leah fixed her with an unreadable look. Renesmee suddenly felt very regretful that she'd chosen the subject of sleeping arrangements.

"Um, that's what we thought we'd do. Of course, if it makes anybody uncomfortable…" Leah rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry about that. We'll deal." she said, and then she brought a hand to the bridge of her nose and rubbed it as though she was experiencing a really bad headache. "Look, Nessie, I want you to know that I think it's good you and Jacob are finally together. If I act like I have a problem with it or… whatever… it's not because I don't like you, or anything like that. I can't really explain, just... try not to take it personally if I'm crusty about it, okay?" Aside from the awkward pauses, the entire speech was spat out at top speed.

"I never take it personally when you're crusty," Renesmee replied before she could stop herself. When she realized she'd said it out loud, she felt her eyes go round, and her hand flew up to her mouth. Leah also looked surprised, but then she did something unexpected: she laughed.

"That's the first really genuine thing you've said to me all night," she said flatly, still chuckling a bit. "Keep it up, okay?"

Renesmee could do nothing but chuckle herself and shake her head. "All right," she said, just as the boys bounded back into the room to attack them both with dishpan-hands.

They hung out for another couple hours before everybody began to go their separate ways for the night. Renesmee kissed Jacob goodnight on the porch, thinking it best to do so there, instead of letting him walk her to the cottage and having her parents witness the scene. She strolled back towards her mother and father's house at human speed, enjoying the chilly November air and the cool, clean light of the almost-full moon.

She was about halfway there when she heard a faint, far-off pounding noise to her left. It was familiar, non-threatening, and Renesmee was curious. She crouched low to the ground, allowing her senses to take over, and looked in the direction of the sound. Once her eyes adjusted, she found the source easily.

It was Leah, running along the perimeter. She was far enough off that she probably wouldn't sense Renesmee's presence, occupied as she was with her physical activity. Renesmee opened her ears to their fullest capability and realized that she could hear Leah's breaths, coming out in short, harsh bursts as her trainers pounded against the packed dirt pathway along the fence.

Renesmee followed her with her eyes. The cold didn't affect Leah; she was wearing black shorts and a light long-sleeved t-shirt. The bright white of her trainers stood out against the surrounding darkness of the grounds. Her long, slender legs scissored past each other in a sort of movement that was both graceful and vicious at the same time. Her face was a pained grimace, but there was a ghost of a smile laying beneath it, something Renesmee hadn't ever really seen before. Her expression was an equal combination of turmoil and peace, and Renesmee was struck suddenly by her furious and unexpected beauty.

Slowly, silently, she rose from her crouch and tore her eyes away from Leah, ashamed. She felt like she'd just witnessed something very private and very personal, and as she went back to her parents' house, her mind was full of questions yet to be answered.

oooOOOooo

The next day, Jacob brought Embry's car around to the cottage in the morning so that they could load Renesmee's suitcase in, as well as some extra things she wanted to bring back to the city. She and Jacob would be taking Embry's practical '21 Prius back to the city, while the rest of the pack drove in Leah's '19 Volkswagon Eos. Jacob had tried valiantly to commandeer his beta's convertible, but Leah insisted she'd rather die in a fire than have him and Renesmee infect her baby with their 'nauseating coupling'. Renesmee, as previously ordered, did not take it personally.

After bidding a prolonged and tearful goodbye to her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, they packed themselves into the car and, followed by the rest of the pack, drove toward the compound gates and hit the road.

They lost Leah about forty minutes into the drive. The GPS in Embry's car was connected remotely to hers, and she buzzed in as she flew past them, saying they'd better take up the slack later in the journey, because she'd be pissed if she had to wait on the other end. Jacob told her which finger he was holding up and then informed her that he'd be turning off the two-way. The convertible whizzed out of sight after that, and Jacob and Renesmee were truly alone for the first time in three and a half days.

Renesmee wished her first impulse upon realizing they were by themselves again was to make Jacob pull the car over and have her way with him, but she was too distracted. She couldn't stop thinking about Leah. She'd never spent much time with the other woman, outside of when the entire pack was hanging out, and in those situations Leah usually removed herself either physically or mentally from the group, throwing in a general barb or sarcastic remark when appropriate. She knew there was more to her than that. She could see it, sometimes, but Leah never shared it with her.

And then, last night… Leah had almost been open with her, steps away from friendly, if only for half a second. Renesmee felt like something had changed in her relationship with Jacob's beta, but she was still so far away from understanding that she felt like she'd never get there.

It was clear that she was unhappy. What Renesmee couldn't figure out was, why? She was surrounded constantly by two (sometimes three) of the most wonderful people Renesmee knew. And despite the mild animosity between her and the Cullens, she could tell that Leah didn't actually mind being around the vampires. Was she still just resentful about being taken away from her home? The only thing she'd left back in Forks, as far as Renesmee knew, was her mother. Sue was happily married to her Grandpa Charlie, and they even visited the wolves and the Cullens on occasion. The only other family Leah had, her brother, was with her all the time. That couldn't possibly be it.

One thing was for sure: the boys loved her. Sure, they joked about her unfriendly personality, and sometimes acted like she was a total swamp-witch, but Renesmee could see the respect and affection they all carried for her. Especially Jacob. And, if she was honest, it bothered her. Not because she was jealous, but because she wanted to be in on the big mystery. There was something going on with Leah, and she wanted to know what it was.

Jacob had taken her hand, and she looked down at their joined fingers with a slight frown. "What is it?" He asked, his eyes very obviously not on the road. Renesmee gave him a slight smile and nodded her head towards the windshield. He took the hint and started watching where he was going again, but he didn't let up. "You've been sitting there with this not-exactly-happy look on your face, like you're thinking about that time you tried scrambled eggs again."

Renesmee shook her head, half laughing and half cringing at said memory. "No. Although it's sort of the same level of discomfort."

"Oh. Yikes." Jacob made a sympathetic face. "What?"

She sighed. "Jake, why is Leah so unpleasant all the time? I always thought she didn't like me because of the whole vampire thing, but I'm starting to think now that maybe I've got it wrong. I know there's something I'm not getting. And it's been bugging me."

Jacob kept his eyes on the road, although now Renesmee got the feeling it was because he didn't want top look her in the eye. "I'm not really sure it's a story I have the right to tell," he said quietly. Renesmee frowned.

"I don't want to butt in if it's none of my business. But maybe if I understood her better, I'd know what not to do to keep her happy. Or at least, not so miserable with me all the time." She shook her head. "I mean, I know she has a good time with you guys, sometimes. But she just never wants to be around me."

"It's not you, Nessie." Jacob squeezed her hand. "It's really not."

"I know… she told me. But it only made me more confused." Jacob did look at her, then.

"She told you? What did she tell you, exactly?" That answered that question… Renesmee had been wondering if Leah had said the things she did the previous night because Jacob had ordered her to be nice. She was actually really pleased that wasn't the case. She told him what Leah had said, verbatim, and Jacob shook his head. "Leah," he muttered fondly, a soft smile on his face. He shook it off and turned to her. "Nessie, you might not know how big of a deal it was for her to say those things, but trust me, it's big. She's a really proud person, and for her that sort of constitutes a grand gesture."

"So you really didn't tell her to make nice with me?"

"No." Jacob sounded surprised. "Go figure." He reached forward and switched off the radio. "Okay… I'm going to fill you in on something. Leah might have a bit of a problem with me telling you, but you're a part of this pack, and we all know everything about each other. Maybe if you know a bit about Leah's life, you'll be able to understand her better." He paused. "Do you remember Sam? Outside of us talking about him, I mean."

Renesmee nodded. Sam was the leader of the other pack, the one that stayed in La Push. The pack that stopped phasing when her family left. "Of course I do."

"Okay, and do you remember his wife, Emily?"

That was a bit harder, but after a few minutes of wracking her brain, Renesmee came up with a mental picture of the man she knew as Sam holding a beautiful woman with a scarred face. They were laughing at each other, both of their eyes crinkling at the corners, and it was obvious they were deeply in love. "Yeah, I remember her too."

Jacob nodded. "Well, Sam and Emily are imprinted."

"Oh." Renesmee was startled. She hadn't realized she knew any other imprinted couples. She knew about Jacob's friend Quil and his girlfriend Claire, but other than that the only thing she knew was that nobody else in Jacob's pack had imprinted. Now she thought back on all the memories she could rustle up of Sam and Emily, and found that in each one their love for each other seemed clear and strong and unbending. "That's… kind of nice," she said wistfully.

"Yeah, well… kind of nice if you're Sam and Emily, anyway," Jacob said. Renesmee examined him in profile as he watched the road studiously. He looked upset.

"What do you mean?" She asked cautiously.

"Well, the thing is… you can't control when you imprint. It happens the first time you lay eyes on your soulmate, and you can't avoid it, and you don't know who it is until you know. And even if you're with someone else at the time… it won't matter, because it's so much stronger than anything, any other kind of love."

"Jake, what does any of this have to do with Leah?" Renesmee asked, a bit impatiently.

"It has to do with Leah because Leah was dating Sam when he met Emily. They were in love… they really cared about each other, they had a whole future planned. And then she introduced Sam to her cousin—Emily—and he imprinted and… that was that." He glowered at the windshield as Renesmee sat there, gawking at him.

"So Sam just… left her?" She said when she finally found her voice again. Jacob shrugged.

"He didn't have a choice, Nessie. Emily is his imprint. She's his whole world. There was nothing he could do. He felt awful for hurting Leah, but really… he couldn't have done things any differently."

Renesmee was having trouble processing this information. Sam's imprint had done this horrible thing to Leah. All of the grief and misery she must have felt, brought on by imprinting. No wonder she acted like she hated Renesmee: Jacob had imprinted on her. Leah probably felt like she had taken away his freedom of choice, his independence, his liberty.

Maybe that was what she had done.

She felt sick. She wanted to lean towards Jacob for strength, but with a wave of horror she realized that it was possible he only wanted her because she was his imprint. Without that, maybe he'd be repulsed by her even trying to touch him. He might not even be willing to get in the same car as her. She leaned towards the window, putting her forehead against the cool glass. She had never vomited in her entire life, but she was beginning to think now might be the time to start.

Jacob was talking to her, she realized. "Nessie? Are you okay?" She couldn't answer him; she didn't trust her own voice. "Nessie?" Jacob cursed quietly and pulled the car off onto the shoulder of the road. He quickly undid his seatbelt and was leaning over her in record time. "Shit… sweetheart, you're really pale… I'm calling Carlisle." She reached over and grabbed his cell phone from him before he could hit send.

"Don't do that," she said. He voice sounded tinny and detached in her own ears. "I'm not sick." Jacob was watching her with terrified eyes.

"What is it, then?"

She had two voices battling for dominance inside her head. One was saying that Leah was right: Jacob was brainwashed, he didn't really love her, didn't really care about her, it was all some zombie-imprint-voodoo. The other was screaming that she was making a huge mistake: this was Jacob, her Jacob. She knew him, and she knew that if he said he loved her, he really did love her, and she was just being ridiculous if she thought otherwise.

Except that all those things, her history with Jacob, how he'd always been there for her, always taken care of her, how he seemed to know her better than anyone on the planet… it could all be explained by the zombie-voodoo that was imprinting. Another wave of nausea hit her, and she had to turn her head away. She couldn't look at Jacob right now.

"Nessie, please…" she was dimly aware of Jacob begging her. "Please let me call your family. I'm worried. This isn't normal…"

"J-Jake," she said, almost unable to get his name past the lump in her throat. "What if she's right?"

Jacob just stared at her, looking totally confused. Of course. Of course he wouldn't get it, Renesmee realized… he couldn't. His imprint wouldn't let him think of it that way. "What if who's right?" He asked, bewildered. Renesmee squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't bear to see the realization come into his eyes.

"Leah. I know why she's always been so weird towards me. She thinks the imprint is a bad thing, that it's got total control over you. It ruined her life, and Sam's, and I'll bet she thinks it wrecked your chances of ever having any sort of freedom to live your own life." She took a breath that was more like a gasp. Hysteria was about to set in… she could feel it, and it didn't felt good. "She'd have a point, you know. You're supposed to destroy people like me and my family. And yet, for some reason, you love me unconditionally? Doesn't that seem a bit odd to you?" She looked back over at Jacob. He looked horrified.

"You can't be serious," he said slowly. When Renesmee said nothing in response, his face crumpled into the saddest look she'd ever seen. "Oh, Nessie… no…" She didn't know how he managed it, but somehow he'd lifted her entire body up, and then he was in her seat with her in his lap. She squirmed slightly to try and get free, but his arms were locked around her, and even she didn't have the strength to break through their circle. "No, Sweetheart. That's not how it works…"

"How do you know?" She cried, pushing against his chest. She was trapped, trapped by someone who was trapped. The ugly voice was winning out. "You can't know… everything you've told me, it all makes it sound like you have no choice at all. If that's how it works, how do you know it's not just the imprint making you feel that way?"

Jacob sighed, and she felt his chest heave against her. She was sure it would break her heart. "I used to wonder about that, sometimes," he admitted after a long pause. Renesmee stilled. Was he coming around to seeing her point? The thought of it didn't exactly make her happy. "Even though everything the elders told us points to imprinting as a positive, it's impossible not to wonder about it. Especially when the circumstances are as crazy as with you and me." Renesmee felt one of Jacob's hands snake its way into her hair. He gripped the base of her skull in one big palm and tilted her head gently upwards so that she was forced to look at him or close her eyes. She kept them open. "But that's not how it is, honey. I swear."

"How do you know?" she asked, her voice an unsteady whisper. Jacob gave her a small smile.

"Because when Sam stopped phasing, his imprint faded."

Renesmee was getting awfully tired of having the rug pulled out from under her. "What do you mean? Is that even possible?" Jacob nodded.

"We didn't know it, either. It happened a long time ago, after your family first moved away from Forks. All the wolves, both packs, stopped phasing. With the exception of me, obviously."

"Right… that's why your pack stays with my family," she said. That was obvious… she already knew that. "But Sam's imprint…"

"Gone." Jacob gave her a small smile. "As soon as he stopped being able to phase, his imprint on Emily just sort of… dissolved. The pull that we feel, the need… it was gone, he wasn't influenced by it anymore. It went away when the wolf did."

Renesmee shook her head. "That doesn't prove anything."

"Will you hold on? I'm not done." If she didn't know that he knew better, Renesmee would have sworn Jacob was trying not to smile. "What I'm trying to say is, it didn't matter. Sam didn't feel the pull of the imprint anymore, but he still felt every bit of his love for Emily. None of that changed. They're still together, and they're still just as in love with each other as they day they first accepted the imprint. And so are Quil and Claire, and Paul and my sister. None of the imprinted couples from the other pack stopped loving each other when their imprints disappeared."

"Oh." Renesmee had a sinking feeling that she was about to feel very foolish, very soon. Jacob, to his credit, didn't patronize her or laugh about it. He seemed to recognize the fragility of her current state, so he just leaned in a placed a lingering kiss on her forehead.

"Our imprints aren't an exact science… nobody can really say what exactly they do. But what I think, and what most of us think, in fact, is that they don't create a love for someone. That's not possible… you can't put love where it doesn't belong. You can try, but it'll never feel real. I think the imprint is meant to show us the person who we're really supposed to be with. There's something connected with the wolf gene that acts like a magnet, guiding us to our mate, and it goes so far as to affect the world around us, shift and mold it so that the pathway to the person we're meant to be with is clear for us. I think that's why I cared so deeply for your mom, before you were even born. It's why my dad and your grandpa Charlie met and became friends, why your mother ever even met me. And, as much as it sucks to think about, it's why Sam and Leah were involved in the first place… so that Sam would one day meet Emily and recognize his soulmate. The person that, even after his imprint has long since disappeared, he knows he's meant to be with."

"Oh, Jake…" Renesmee was suddenly aware that she was crying. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to this, all these feelings are so new, and I was too busy loving you to even think about… and when you told me Leah's story, my brain just went in a crazy direction, and I…" Jacob stopped her mad, incoherent rush of dialogue by bringing his face to hers and kissing her softly on the lips.

"Sweetheart, don't be sorry," he said, wiping gently at her damp cheeks. "And don't cry. It's my fault. I should have explained better. And I shouldn't have told you that story without being sure you got it. Look at me." She did as he asked willingly. Jacob's eyes were warm and reassuring. "Renesmee, I love you. I love you. That's not an imprinting thing, it's just two people, one in love with the other. They also happen to be imprinted. But that isn't the point. I love you. If I have to be away from your family starting today and never phase again in order to prove that to you, I will." He ran one finger all the way down the side of her face from her hairline to her chin. "Get it?"

"Got it." Renesmee sniffled, such a silly, human thing to do. She felt ridiculous and undignified. And Jacob loved her. And that was okay. "Please don't stop phasing. You don't have to prove a thing. I understand. I'll try to get my head around it."

Jacob took the aforementioned head between both his palms and shook it very gentle from side to side. "You'd better. It's pretty much my favorite head, but sometimes I think maybe it's a bit too hard."

Renesmee gave him a glare, but clearly Jacob recognized it as the type that didn't mean any real sort of trouble, because all he did in response was kiss her. "Jake," she said when he pulled back, "Think you can let me go now? We really need to not be on the shoulder of the highway." Jacob lifted her slightly and slid out from under her, climbing back into the driver's seat. Renesmee shook her head and smiled; for a big guy, he sure did move quickly. Wordlessly, he put the car back into gear and steering onto the road with his left hand on the wheel. He put his right hand, palm up, on the space between the seats. Renesmee took it in hers, and they spent the rest of the drive in exhausted but relieved silence, holding hands the entire way.

In the Next Chapter:

Renesmee looked up at Jacob, her eyes pleading. "He probably just wants to talk, Jake," she said, trying to sooth him. She clearly intended to let the little twerp in. Jacob tried to keep his expression as neutral as possible. It didn't fool her. She took his hands in hers. "Please don't be upset, and don't do anything crazy, okay? He's my friend. We left things in an awful state… I owe him at least an explanation."