A/N: This might not be a real interesting chapter, but I really hope that you guys can enjoy it! :D

Please check out Cassia4u! Her stories - especially the most recent, will leave you stunned out of your mind, no joke! It would be greatly appreciated if you did!

Sorry about the long update, I've been very busy with a lot these days, and since the school musical, I haven't been getting home until 9:00PM at the earliest! I'll try to be quicker next time!

Lastly, Unstoppable by Rascal Flatts doesn't exactly fit this chapter perfectly, but I couldn't come up with anything better! Although, It's truly an amazing song, so I would love it if you listened to it!

Okay, that's about it for today! Happy reading, and thank you, especially all of you dear reviewers who I didn't get to thank, you mean the world to me! :D

Chapter 3: Unstoppable

Manhattan, New York, July fourth.

I sighed, crossing my arms over my stomach, hugging myself to - hopefully produce more body heat. I frowned, wishing that I might've worn something thicker than a thin sweater tonight. You might have thought that the temperature could rise a few degrees because of the compact bodies crowding the Hudson, but you'd have guessed wrong.

Fireworks boomed overhead, different colors sparkling and fizzing through the night sky of the country's Independence Day. I watched the lights flicker and flare solo, my family having their own little celebration at Emmett and Rosalie's house. The next day after my arrival in LA, Alice was already "loaning" me some of her clothes because we hadn't gone on our shopping spree yet. It felt like I'd only just gotten there - which was exactly the case - and was already having to leave to spend the fourth of July weekend with our family in Manhattan. All had been going well, I'd had my share of babysitting Jaden while the adults over twenty one went our for much-needed drinks that they'd been longing for since they'd had him . . . Or at least since they'd last gotten a baby sitter. Emmett normally just watched him most of the time because Rose hadn't needed a bodyguard since retirement - and Nahuel certainly didn't want one. Watching someone kick a civilian's ass when he could have had the satisfaction of doing so himself would have hurt his ego.

I huffed, thinking back to earlier tonight.

"Good job, sweetheart!" I heard Rosalie compliment Jaden in the other room. I turned off my iPod doc, getting off the bed of one of their many guest bedrooms to see what the family was up to.

I smiled as Jaden giggled, applauding himself for whatever he had done. A quick glance around the large living space, modern and baby proofed, told me that us three were the only ones home. "Hey, rose," I smiled at my aunt, who was still engrossed in her son. She shot a brief smile to me before making a funny face at Jaden, causing him to giggle. "Where is everyone?" I asked, plopping down lazily on the couch.

"Emmett and Alice are out getting some sparklers for later tonight," she answered, poking Jaden on the belly. His laughter filled the air again. I sighed, grabbing the TV remote, flipping through the TV channels. "Hey, Renesmee?"

"Yeah?" I asked, my eyes still on the TV.

"There's something that yo -"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Emmett burst through the door, his voice booming through the room. Two large boxes were stacked up in his arms, the top one threatening to tip, teetering in his arms. Alice stepped out from behind him, carrying nothing but her Prada purse.

Figures, that she would maker her brother carry it all.

"They had a lot of crappy ones," Alice explained, a slight pout pulling down her features.

"Eh, we did alright," Emmett contradicted, setting the boxes on the mahogany dinner table.

Alice rolled her eyes, clearly not agreeing with that argument.

Rosalie started again. "Renesmee, there's -"

"Hey there, little man!" Emmett cheered, grinning at Jaden, interrupting his wife for the second time.

Rose huffed, in a hurry to get her statement on the table. "What I -"

Knock, knock, knock.

She was cut off once again by a knock on the door. "I got it," Alice murmured.

I shook my head, motioning for her to continue, her eagerness causing me to grow interested too. "What is it?"

"Hey!" an all-too familiar voice called, causing a chill to shiver through my bones. I paled a bit.

"That is what I was trying to explain," she whispered, shooting me an apologetic glance.

I didn't answer, turning to face Nahuel, the young model whose career Rosalie managed, who barged in like he owned the place - which is probably what he thought. I grit my teeth as he took the seat next to me on the sleek black leather couch, throwing his arm onto the back of the seat behind me. "'Sup? Been too long."

I scooted further away from his side, which he'd not-so-subtly pressed against my side, his cologne so intoxicating that it took all I had not to gag. He only moved closer, his arm coming forward to rest on my shoulders. The contact sent a shock through me, jolting off the sofa, scowling down at him.

"Aw, don't be like that," he murmured, sounding almost like a coo.

I ignored him. "Rosalie, why didn't you tell me?" I accused, facing my aunt.

"I tried to!" she cried, her hands fluttering as if in need to something to grasp onto.

"Ouch! No, buddy, we don't pull hair," Emmett scolded Jaden.

"Emmett, please! Shut up for two minutes!" Rose chided her husband, her violet eyes glinting of chilling ice.

Emmett bit his lip awkwardly, embarrassed. He picked up his son, his embarrassment all but gone. They were soon out of the room.

Rose rolled her eyes, turning back to me. "I tried to say something earlier, but -"

"Why is he even here in the first place?" I interrupted, not sparing any feelings that might be hidden behind Nahuel's cloudy ego.

"Who says that I can't?" Nahuel chimed in, his tone trying to grab my attention.

I wasn't swayed.

"Renesmee, please, don't start this now. I know you don't really like him, but if you'll please just listen to me, and maybe give him a chance -"

"I don't want to give him a chance!" I interrupted, my voice a sneer. "We've been through and through this. I don't like him - at all!" I exploded.

"But you will." Nahuel's voice came up again, causing me to whirl around to face him. He grinned, showing a row of clean, white teeth, clearly unaffected by my weak jibes.

"Let it go! I will not subject myself to some pathetic, little emotionless fling!" I snapped, my nostrils flaring.

"It's not emotionless. Babe, if you only knew -"

"Save it," I barked, turning on my heel for the door.

"Renesmee, please, let's just talk this through," Rosalie tried to reason. I could hear her rising to follow me.

"I'm going out," I muttered, not turning to face her.

"Well, don't be out too late! We're going to start fireworks soon!"

"I won't be there. I'm going to the Macy's 4th Fireworks."

"What? No, please, just -"

I hadn't heard the end of her reply as I stepped outside, my phone already in hand to call a cab.

"Whitlock?" a familiar, deep voice asked from behind me, interrupting my reverie. My eyebrows furrowed, wondering why I'd heard my uncle's surname. I took longer than necessary to turn around, doubting the possibility of the voice.

He was a dark, hooded figure with his fists jammed into the pockets of his jeans. The muscular form towered over me, his build shocking me more that it should have. My thoughts flickered to my jog in LA. There was a slight doubt in my mind that told me that I was hallucinating - for real, this time - but when a brilliant white smile lit up the shaded face, all of my doubts slipped away.

I was unable to help the smile that crept onto my lips. "Jacob," I clarified for myself.

The grin widened. "You seem down . . . I've been watching from a distance. Seemed like your head might explode, so I thought that I might come in to save the day," he admitted sheepishly.

I laughed, shivering from the evening air. "Well, I don't know how to thank my hero, then, so any suggestions would be great." I chuckled.

"Oh, I'm sure that I could think of something." He grinned. "So what's a girl like you doing watching fireworks alone on the fourth of July?"

My smile fell when he said that. I turned away, shuffling my feet while I averted my eyes from his questioning ones, my one drifting to a small, gray pebble on the ground.

When he spoke this time, his tone was more gentle, concerned. "Nessie?"

I didn't do much more than look up at him, scrutinizing his face with a raised eyebrow. "I didn't know your name," he explained, a bit sheepish, but didn't dwell on it. "I gave you a nickname in my head . . . If that's okay, I don't wanna be creepy or anything . . ." I shrugged before he nodded, asking again. "So are you okay?"

"I'm . . . I'm fine," I murmured, hardly believing myself.

"Liar," he accused. I wrinkled my nose. "I'm an actor; you'd think that I would know a lie when I see one."

I huffed, knowing that he'd be relentless otherwise. "I had a fight with my family."

"Doesn't sound too complicated," Jacob guessed.

I shook my head. "My aunt's been trying to set me up with her client for the billionth time, not seeing that I'm not interested." I rolled my eyes.

A smile hinted at his lips. Did he think that this was funny? "So, um, what's wrong with him, then . . . If you don't mind me asking?"

I sighed. "He's conceded, doesn't give anyone less pretty than himself the time of day, and only tries to get into my pants, not even realizing that you have to weave your way into my mind, let alone my heart, fist," I murmured, sounding like a cliché.

Jacob nodded, thinking that over. "And so here you are; a lone girl in a crowded place in a big city. A lot of things could happen, you know," he pointed out.

"Like meeting a world-famous actor for not the first, but the second time? Yeah, I'm terrified," I chuckled, rolling my eyes.

He grinned. "So what are you here for?"

"I just told you."

"No, I mean here-here, New York."

I shrugged. "Visiting family. What about you?"

"I had some business to do for work," he grinned.

I smiled back, turning back towards the fireworks. I could tell that the finale was beginning to start, one being set off after another. There wasn't much more to be said, unspoken words mingling between us like in the car, hanging in the air like bait on a lonely fishing pole. Every few seconds my eyes would flicker in his direction, finding that he'd been doing the same thing. Every time, no matter how repetitive, I'd blush a deep crimson, biting my lip so hard that I thought that it might bleed. I turned away.

As the last few fireworks exploded into the clear night sky, I, much to my dismay, noticed a young couple, perhaps early twenties, was wrapped up in a tight embrace, giving one another a passionate, spontaneous kiss as the very last firework burst, the letters U.S.A. forming in red, white, and blue.

I stared for a moment before I naturally turned to Jacob again, whose expression held the same awkwardness as I was sure mine had. I cleared my throat, my eyes drifting down to my feet. "I uh . . . Better call a cab," I murmured, patting my pockets for my cell phone.

"Um . . . You need a ride?" Jacob asked, a reminiscent tone hinting in his voice.

I chuckled, looking up at him. "If you wouldn't mind, then please."

He grinned. "Come on." He gestured for me to follow him.

I obeyed, following close behind as he wove us through the immobile crowd.

"So, um, do you always come home to a mansion?" Jacob Joked as we drove at a slow rate through Rose and Emmett's neighborhood.

I rode in the passenger seat of the small rental car that Jake had until he left New York. It didn't have quite the right presence about it, not enough character for Jacob. Everything about him had energy, radiating a vibrant vibe that just made everything and everyone feel like they were in the right place. I think that's why I had such an easy time seeing him in his little homemade car and low-profile house, and such a simple family life; it suited him well.

I rolled my eyes. "I already told you, it's my uncle's house. Same with L.A., that's my aunt's house."

He raised his eyebrows. "Why were you at your aunt's house?"

"What, I can't visit my aunt?"

"No, no, I mean, you don't normally leave your house guest alone," he corrected, looking over at me with one hand on the wheel.

I shrugged. "I live with my aunt in the summers. Her husband is overseas most of the time, so I keep her company during the summers."

He nodded, processing that for a moment. "So where was she when I dropped you off last time?"

"Drunk," I admitted honestly, chuckling.

He didn't return the light gesture, shooting me an incredulous look. "What?"

"She went out for drinks with her girlfriends," I explained, shrugging. "She hadn't done it in a while, I could tell because she was so antsy to tell me, not that she ever holds back anyway," I laughed.

He huffed, nodding, relief flooding his face back to life. He looked over in my direction, a new smile lighting up his features. I smiled back as he spoke. "So, you must have some pretty awesome parents if they let you fly around the country," he mused, a look of awe on his face as if he didn't already get to do that himself.

My smile slid right off, his words like a dagger plunging right through my chest. "Um . . . Yeah, my grandparents give me a lot of freedom," I mumbled, my eyes flickering down to my hands, which were now fidgeting and fiddling with anything within their reach.

I felt his now concerned gaze on my face, seeming as if it might burn right through my skull. "Your grandparents?" he pressed.

I bit my lip, not looking up to see his reaction. "Jacob, my biological parents are dead - they have been since I was five."

Silence.

I could feel the car slow to a stop, catching Jacob's hand put the vehicle in neutral out of the corner of my eye. I risked a glance in Jacob's direction, quickly looking back down when I caught the sympathetic glimmer in his eyes, grief mirrored in them.

I swallowed, a hand suddenly resting on my shoulder. I turned to face Jacob, gritting my teeth when I looked at him, not wanting to break down in front of him. "My mom died when I was twelve. A drunk driver hit her hand my dad's car . . . My dad has been paralyzed from the waist down since . . . My mother was killed instantly," he murmured, his voice thick and grief-stricken. His hand reached up to wipe away a tear that I hadn't even known had fallen.

I stuttered. "I-I'm so s-sorry . . . I-I -"

He shook his head, clamping his large hand over my mouth. "No. Don't, please, just don't say that you're sorry. You didn't do it. I didn't do it either, so neither of us should worry about it, and I'm not saying that I don't, but I shouldn't. I try to take things in stride, tell myself that she's the one who helped me get this far in the first place. I've learned to live with it and you should too." He removed his hand.

"I've lived with it my whole life."

"No, you haven't. I can tell just by looking at you that you haven't let it go."

"They were on a plane to come back to me! I'm the reason that they were on it anyway until that retarded pilot crashed it!"

"And if they weren't on the plane?" he challenged.

"Then they'd be alive!"

He allowed that, shrugging. "Maybe. But what does that do for the other passengers? The others who lost their lives? Their families?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. When I didn't reply, he continued. "That plane was going to crash regardless, as sad as it is, it's true. Your parents just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like mine were -"

"Because of me!"

"No, don't see it that way!" he tied to reason. "Look, did you fly the plane? Did you have control? No. I felt the same way for years, but realized that I had absolutely no control of the situation. You know where they were going?"

I shook my head.

"They were on their way to pick me up from Embry's house. I kept thinking that if I hadn't given them reason to be on the road that day, that they'd have stayed at home so that reckless drunk driver could have driven into the ditch instead. Maybe Mom would still be here, Dad might still be walking, but I had no control of it. I still hurt over it, and I always will, there's no way around it, but you just have to look at it in a different light."

I shifted in my seat, looking away from him. I didn't look up as his car door opened, slamming less than a second later. Before I knew what was happening, my passenger door was swung open, Jacob's hand pulling me out of the vehicle and onto my feet.

I leaned back against the car, avoiding his careful gaze. His index finger was under my chin, tilting it back up, forcing me to look him directly in the eyes. "But no matter what light you see it in, any light is better than pushing it into the darkness, Nessie," he murmured.

I swallowed back the sob that built up in the back of my throat sniffing. His warm arms pulled me forward, nearly engulfing me in a warm embrace. I rested my forehead on his well-developed chest, the tears that had been brimming in the corners of my eyes finally spilling over, soaking his dark sweatshirt.

I considered his words, trying to see a brighter side to it, but could only see nothing but the sad, lonely little shadow that I lived in, a bubble, perhaps. My life not entirely a lie, but how I came to existence being a complete secret, keeping who I truly was hush, hush for my father's sake, honoring his words as if they were a last wish, successfully keeping me from the public.

It would seem like a simple thing to abide - but I couldn't help but choke on the words that bunched up in my throat, no sound coming out when someone would ask about my family; what do your parents do for a living? How many siblings do you have? You seem like a nice girl, I would love to meet your parents. All such simple questions causing me to stretch the truth so that I wouldn't add onto my parent's perished reputations.

I began to wonder what Dad would have said if I had been exposed. What if I had wanted to go into the same career field, follow in his footsteps or something of the sort? Would he have still kept me in the dark, giving me the 'normal' life that he had always dreamed of giving me? Or would he change directions. Deciding that I should chase after whatever I wanted, thinking that happiness might work differently than he'd thought?

Jacob let me sob into his chest, one of his hands stroking my curls. Once I was done, he allowed me to catch my breath. "You good?" he asked in a gentle voice, his eyebrows raised hesitantly.

I nodded.

"I will walk you inside then."

I grabbed his arm, shaking my head. "Just . . . Give me a minute, I don't want them to seem me with wet cheeks and red-rimmed eyes," I explained.

He nodded, giving me a moment. Once my features calmed down, Jacob assuring me that the redness was gone from my face, he guided me forward, his hand resting on the small of my back. He gave me another breathtaking grin while I reached for the door handle, about to grip onto it when Jacob suddenly stopped my hand.

I looked up in confusion. "What?"

Jacob smiled. "You still haven't told me your name - for the billionth time, I might add."

I chuckled lightly. "Renesmee."

He looked thoughtful. "It fits. It's unique . . . But I still like Nessie." He grinned, winking.

I laughed as he started back towards his car. "Keep in touch! You know where I live!" he called before getting into the rental and driving off. (A/N: "You know where I live!" - that sounds like a rapist in an alternate universe.)

I smiled, shaking my head as I pushed open the door.

A/N: Thanks for reading! :D Review?