A World Full of Strangers

Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use.

Chapter 2: Deliberations

As we walk home, at human pace, hand in hand, Edward and I discuss Carlisle's proposal. Of course he had been aware that Carlisle had been mulling it over for a few weeks. But he had respected Carlisle's right to contemplate the matter without any interference from the rest of us.

"It will be weird going to high school for a second time," I remark.

"You'll get used to it," he shrugs. "I can help you play the role the first time around. By the time you get to the fourth time or so, it becomes much easier. Arguably however, it also gets more boring."

"How many times have you gone to high school?" I ask curiously.

"In the past hundred years?" he says. "Oh, about twenty or so, I've lost track. I haven't always played a high school student. Sometimes I've gone to college. College is harder though because the limit is three or four years and move on. It's difficult for me to pass as anything older than twenty-one."

"Well, hopefully we will have all the same classes," I say wistfully.

"It would probably be better if we didn't, at least for the first year," he replies. "You are going to need to remember at all times that you are my foster sister and not my wife. But it will be even harder in a year or two when Renesmee joins us in high school, especially for her."

"Because she will be your sister?" I say. "That might not be so hard."

"It's not the family relationships that will be so hard," he says. "She hasn't spent very much time with humans at all. And the deception that she has had to practice is almost nothing. In fact it's been mostly along the lines of withholding information, rather than outright lying. And she can't touch anyone else's face.

But I am going to have to get used to hearing all those boys drooling over her in their thoughts, not that they won't be drooling over you too. It's just that I already know that you are perfectly capable of rebuffing persistent suitors. I'm glad that I can pass as her blood relative. It will give me a better excuse when I go into protective mode."

"As if you will be the only one," I say rolling my eyes.

"Her big 'sister' Rosalie is potentially a bigger problem," he agrees. "But at least she can't read thoughts."

"Well, at least Renesmee is used to boundaries with Charlie and the Quileutes," I reply. "And at least her skin is closer to human temperature. We still won't want any school nurses putting any thermometers in her mouth. And she can eat human food."

"But she is going to have to pretend that she only knows a fraction of what she does know," he says. "And sometimes that's the hardest."

"You seem pretty sure that we will be moving," I say.

"There isn't a single person who was sitting in that room who is not ready to move tomorrow," he replies. "In fact if it wasn't for the need to say goodbye to Charlie, then we probably would move tomorrow."

"Why did Carlisle begin by claiming that Renesmee should have a choice?" I ask.

"He feels sorry for Jacob," he says simply. "The whole imprinting thing has been a very interesting line of research for him. And he probably knows more about it than the Quileutes themselves do now. But he knows that our reasons for not giving her a choice are all sound. And he will never go against Esme."

"Esme would really be that torn up?" I ask.

"You have no idea," he says. "Of the difference that Renesmee has made to her. Except for me, Esme maintains the strongest parent-child bond to Renesmee. Rosalie is the same. Because you have been so generous in allowing them to take part in raising our daughter, they have both become much happier. Rosalie no longer has any regrets about the choice that Carlisle made for her."

"I'm glad about that," I say quietly. "I guess that I understand better now why Jacob's imprinting has been such a touchy subject with them."

"They aren't just bothered by the wet dog smell and the need to keep all that human food on hand," he admits. "They have only been as nice to him as they have been for your sake, even Esme."

"Do you think that Jacob will follow us?" I ask.

"He'll fight us leaving first, not literally, but figuratively," he grimaces. "And he won't fight fair. His first line of attack is going to be through Renesmee. But I don't think that he can win that way."

"I thought that imprinting meant that the girl could not resist," I say puzzled.

"Renesmee is not a Quileute," he explains. "No wolf has ever imprinted on an outsider before, so this is a whole new paradigm. Renesmee is part of a coven, which is much more tightly bond in some ways than a human family. Because we never age, there is no sense of someone growing up and going off on their own.

"And we are one of the most powerfully connected covens that we know of in the world. We are probably more deeply connected than Tanya's family. And without Chelsea, there is no way that the Volturi would live together so peacefully."

"What makes us different from Tanya's coven?" I ask.

"With the exception of Alice and Jasper," he says. "We are all tied together by venom and in the case of Renesmee, by blood. The only thing that might cause Renesmee to leave us is if she thought that Jacob could be her mate. The mate to mate bond is the most powerful of all."

"But she doesn't feel that way about him," I finish.

"She can't because she's too young," he says. "Physically, she is fifteen. Emotionally, she's closer to ten. She's more mature than the seven-year old that she really is, but not even an adolescent yet. I have to admit, that I've been paying closer attention to the way that human children think recently.

"I wanted to know what the differential might be between physical and emotional development. All you have to do is speak with her for a few minutes, and you know that the intellectual difference is about the size of the Grand Canyon. That's one of the reasons that we've been visiting those dreary malls. Carlisle suggested it so that we would have something to measure Renesmee's emotional development against."

"But if he knows this, then how could he even suggest that she stay here?" I ask.

"He was really thinking of the Charlie option," he says. "But it wouldn't work unless Jacob moved in with him anyway. But looking further down the road, how does Jacob plan to support himself once Billy passes away? And what kind of a life would Renesmee have on the reservation? She would be trapped there, just as we all are here.

"And the reservation is not exactly the most intellectually stimulating environment. Her mental faculties surpassed Jacob's long ago. He needs to try harder to keep up with her, or sooner or later, no matter how great his devotion is, she will get bored with him. But I suspect that he was never much of a student anyway."

"And despite how he feels about Jacob's feelings, Carlisle is eager to move on for his own sake," I say.

"Yes, Carlisle grows unhappier every month that passes that he has to be away from working as a doctor," he says. "The only way for him to practice medicine is among humans. And from what he has discovered about Whitehorse, a doctor with his level of skill and expertise would be greatly appreciated."

"But how much will it hurt Renesmee to be away from Jacob?" I persist.

"Less than it will hurt him. Jacob is neither her family nor her mate," he replies. "Carlisle has tried to discover what would happen to the object of imprinting if they are separated from the imprinting wolf."

"And?"

"The only instances that he found were cases where the imprinting wolf died first," he says. "In the beginning, the widows were utterly devastated, but in time they dealt with it. But once again it is difficult to tell because being that they were old, they didn't survive their husbands for a very long time . . . "

Edward stops speaking mid-sentence and I know that Renesmee must be close by. She had gone out earlier to run (literally) to Charlie's place for some Grandpa time. I believe that Jacob also planned to be there.

"Is he with her?" I ask.

"No, she's alone," he replies. "She's thinking about how happy she is that everyone is home together. She's thinking of a new piano piece that she wants to play for Rose."

"Nothing about Jacob?"

"Only in the back of her mind," he says and grimaces. "He promised to teach her how to ride your old motorcycle."

"Over my pile of ashes," I mutter, borrowing one of Rosalie's old phrases.

"No problem," he grins. "They don't give driver's licenses to seven-year olds."

I roll my eyes. According to Renesmee's "birth certificate" that was forged by J. Jenks years ago, she should be about eleven. However Jacob was driving before he was of legal age.

"Hi Momma! Hi Daddy!" calls out Renesmee happily as she walks into the house.

She is so cheerful that I am glad that she doesn't know anything about the family conference. That would spoil her good mood quickly enough. I will never get used to how beautiful she looks. Her pale skin has a faint rosy cast that makes it glow. Her eyes are an exact copy of my own former chocolate brown eyes. Her long curls shine with a rich bronze color, the same as Edward's. and of course her lovely facial features are all Edward.

She is lithe and slender. I have always been sorry that she could not take dance lessons. Carlisle believes that she may have reached her full height, but she only about five feet one inch tall, three inches shorter than me.

While children are usually about half way between their parents height, which would give her another seven inches or so to grow, he also told us that there may be a height gene somewhere back in either of our family histories that would account for the difference. And she still has a good three inches over Alice. It would not be impossible for them to be sisters.

"May I go over to see Auntie Rose and everyone now?" she asks now. "Aunt Alice promised to do my nails."

At Carlisle's request, we had encouraged her to go over to see Charlie earlier, so that we could talk privately.

"Of course, honey," says Edward. "I believe that they are waiting for you right now as we speak."

Renesmee gives us a brilliant smile.

"Aren't the clothes that Aunt Alice brought for me from Paris awesome?" she asks for the tenth time. "I just wish that I had somewhere to wear them."

"You can wear them when you visit Grandpa or Jacob," I suggest.

"I know," she sighs. "I just feel bad because the kids on the reservation don't have nice things the way that I do."

"I'm happy that you are such a compassionate soul," says Edward proudly. "Your Grandma Esme has taught you well."

"And I'm glad that I've never had to deal with the clutter that all of the gifts that your aunts and uncles keep bringing you would create in the house," I add. "Think of all the lovely things that you've given them over the years when you outgrew with them. Sue and Billy have told us many times, how much the children appreciate your generosity."

She gives us another little smile.

"I want to go now," she says. "Will you be coming over too?"

"In a bit, dear," I say.

After she leaves, I turn back to Edward and ask, "What was she thinking?"

"She was wishing that she had friends other than Jacob," he replies. "It's funny. She's different from Claire in that. Claire is completely content that Quil is her best friend and that she spends so much time with him. But then of course, Claire goes to school and has friends there. And Quil has a good job in Hoquiam working for a landscaper."

"You can't help harking back on that unemployment issue, can you? Much as I like Jacob," I admit. "I know how I am going to vote tomorrow."

"Don't feel bad for Jacob," he says. "If he follows us and Renesmee is in school all day and has homework, maybe he will finally get a job. It would do him good at any rate."

"He might run around the school all day," I suggest. "In his protective wolf mode."

"Or not. If that's the case, he likely to get shot," retorts Edward. "He won't be in Forks anymore. When they see wolves in northern Canada, especially enormous ones, they shoot them. No one up there is likely to consider him as a protector."

Despite her desire to get out in the world and meet people, I still don't think that Renesmee will give up Jacob so easily. But this time, it's going to have to be Jacob who has to choose. There is so much of life that Renesmee has yet to experience. And bright and inquisitive as she is, I doubt that she will be satisfied with life on the reservation. It is time for her to enter the wider world.