Standard Disclaimer, I don't own Twilight or any of its characters. This Chapter takes place approximately twenty years after Breaking Dawn.

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Choices

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"What is her deal!?" Renesmee snaps angrily as she storms into the main house where Rosalie and Esme were currently looking over some magazines, searching for ideas on how to decorate the new house.

Rosalie and Esme both look up at Renesmee and then share a look with each other. One that they had shared many times over the past twenty years. It looked like Renesmee and Bella had been fighting, again. Rosalie gives a slight nod to Esme, knowing that in this situation the other woman would probably handle it a little better.

"What's wrong dear?" Esme asks.

"It's her! She just… she doesn't get it!"

"Get what?"

"Anything! She's just so… Urrrrggh! She's so infuriating sometimes!"

Esme and Rosalie exchange another look. "Renesmee, look at me." Esme says, her voice isn't forceful, it rarely ever is but there is a motherly order to it that always impressed Rosalie. It demanded respect and obedience without crossing any lines or being patronizing. "What doesn't she get?"

"That I want more from this life than to be someone's soul mate! I want to actually live, I don't need someone to complete me, I'm complete all on my own! I'm not half a person, I'm a whole person!" Renesmee all but snarls.

"Sorry…" She mumbles quietly. Getting angry at Esme or her Aunt Rose wouldn't help anything and on most issues she knew they could see her side of it. They got it, they knew where she was coming from. Her father always sided with her mother and Jacob's opinion was… skewed.

"It's okay sweetheart. We know you're upset but would you care to expand on that a little bit, tell us what's going on?" Rosalie asks.

She stops and takes a moment to calm herself down, thinking about her mother's reaction when she had told her was getting her angry again. When she finally trusts herself not to snap at them she speaks. "I… yesterday I told Jacob that I didn't want to date, that I loved him but it wasn't romantic from my side. He seemed a little hurt at first but then kind of relieved you know… like something finally clicked into place for him. I told him that if he wanted to leave that he could, that he was free. We talked for hours after that you know, about everything, about what led to this, what we both wanted in life."

Renesmee smiles but both Esme and Rosalie can see it's a sad sort of smile. "He's thinking of going back home to La Push and spending the last couple of years his father has left with him, and I think that's great. It's not fair that I ripped him away from his father. And me, I think I want to get a little more involved with school stuff. Maybe join a club and make some friends. You know, be as normal as I can and not have to be constantly worrying about what Jacob is thinking or how he feels about it. He thinks that kind of stuff is lame, school clubs and things like that. And I know that we have to be careful, I get that, but if Carlisle can be a doctor then why can't I be a cheerleader or on the volleyball team or on the homecoming committee. I'm alive, but I want to live, I want to have all of these experiences, otherwise what's the point in all of this."

Esme nods her head, "Of all of us, you are the best equipped to fitting in with the humans. I don't see why you can't do all of those things and more."

"Exactly! But my mom, she doesn't get it! She's all, "How can you send him away, you're his entire world, you two are made for each other?" And I'm just standing there thinking that the only reason he's here is because he literally belongs to me. He doesn't have a choice, if I say jump, he has to say how high. If the imprint didn't freaking brainwash him into being happy there is no way he would actually enjoy this life, it's not him. He needs distance from us, especially from me. So that he can finally start to live his own life, make his own decisions. The imprint… it makes it impossible for him to make his own choices because it forces him to always consider me and while I have loved having him in my life… if I fall in love I want it to be my choice… not because some mystical bond tells me that we're meant to be. I want to choose who I end up with, if anyone, and I want that for him too. He didn't choose me, I'm not his choice, mom was his choice and then by some sick joke of the universe he got her daughter as a consolation prize. That's not love, that's twisted. It's not fair to him or me or anyone."

"You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you?"

Renesmee nods her head. "For a long time now."

"And you are of course correct, neither of you should be forced into a relationship that maybe neither of you want." Esme says consolingly.

"Really, because according to my mother I may as well have destroyed our family!"

"She didn't say that did she?" Rosalie asks, sounding angry.

Renesmee shakes her head. "No… but it's like she took it personally that I didn't want to be with him, you know, romantically. Like I was doing it to spite her or something."

"Of course she did." Rosalie scoffs, rolling her eyes.

"Rose." Esme reprimands her before looking back to Renesmee. "Your mother and Jacob have been friends for a long time, I'm sure she just… hoped that you two might find happiness together."

"What choice does he have in the matter? If it's what I wanted then he would have to be the perfect boyfriend, lover, husband, if it's what I want then he has to do it." Renesmee says, "That's why I could never fall in love with him... no, I am. I am in love with him" Renesmee smiles at them, but it looks heartbroken like she's falling apart on the inside.

"I love him but I could never ever be with him. Jacob… he's everything that I would ever look for in someone to love. He's kind, he's brave, and he's gentle and I can see you rolling your eyes aunt Rose." Renesmee says with a soft chuckle. "I know you two have never gotten along and probably never will and that's okay. You both kept it civil around me and I appreciate that, I'll miss him when he leaves… even thinking about it right now hurts worse than I ever imagined… and I could have easily spent forever with him… if it weren't for the imprint. How's that for irony, the thing that's supposed to bind us together for all eternity is the one reason I could never be with him. Ha!" Renesmee barks out an incredulous laugh as the tears begin to pool around her eyes.

"I love him… but I will never know if he has ever loved me. The imprint gives him no choice, but I have always wondered, I still do… if it weren't there… would he have ever chosen me?" She asks, her voice cracking.

Rosalie gets up and wraps her niece in a hug who is shaking, trying so hard not to cry. "I'm so sorry sweetheart, I know this is tough on you and my feelings for Jacob aside, I think you're doing the right thing. You're trying to put him first and that's what love is. You said he looked relieved when you told him you don't hold romantic feelings for him, I think that's it right there. I think he finally feels like he has a choice. I think you're doing the right thing for both of you."

"It hurts and I hate it, but I couldn't live with myself if I forced him to stay. And he would too, he'd be anything I asked him to be. It's not right… I hate it… but it's what's best for him. And maybe someday… who knows?" Renesmee whimpers.

"Rosalie is right dear you're doing what you feel is the right thing for the both of you. You've both been through a lot together but this is still your life. You have to make the decisions and live with the consequences so I'm going to say this, and it will be hard for you to hear sweetheart, but it needs to be said." Esme says softly, gently tugging Renesmee away from Rosalie so that she could look her in the eyes.

"If you're going to let him go, if you're doing this to give him choices, then you have to let him go completely. You're paths may cross again but if you do this, it won't be right or fair of you to pull him back just because you'll miss him. You're paths may cross again someday but if he is able to start a life away from you with someone else, you'll have to accept that." Esme says softly. "Because with the imprint, you could. He could find someone else, fall in love, start a family, and he would leave them in a heartbeat if you asked. So if you're letting him go, you have to let him go and it has to be with the assumption that it is going to be forever."

Renesmee just nods her head, trying so hard not to cry. "I know…" She chokes out before finally breaking down. Esme wraps her in a tight hug and Rosalie comes up behind and runs a comforting hand up and down Renesmee's back.

"It's okay dear, it's all going to be okay."

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I don't know, as far as imprinting goes that would always be something I would worry about. Do they love me for me, or are they only there because of magical impulse. I think as time progresses and Renesmee matures that whole concept will kind of horrify her. I'm sure that many people disagree with me but that's kind of my take on it. I mean there's Jacob, someone she's known her whole life and that she truly cares for and even loves, and yet he's only there because he's magically bound. I think Renesmee will eventually force a split for his sake and hers. I also think that Renesmee will be different than Bella in that the supernatural world holds little interest for her. She grew up strange and surrounded by the supernatural. I think that what she'll want and crave is normalcy, so she and Bella clash over that, because Bella chose the supernatural world over a human one and she doesn't see the appeal of normal. Bella and Renesmee love each other, obviously, but they tend to disagree fundamentally and so they butt heads over things. So when it comes to motherly advice, or she needs to vent, for that I think she would go to Esme or Rosalie.