"Let every nation know,
whether it wishes us well or ill,
that we shall pay any price,
bear any burden,
meet any hardship,
support any friend,
oppose any foe to assure the survival
and the success of liberty."
John F. Kennedy
Give me love like her,
'cause lately I've been waking up alone,
Paint splattered teardrops on my shirt,
Told you I'd let them go,
And that I'll fight my corner,
Maybe tonight I'll call ya,
After my blood turns into alcohol,
No, I just wanna hold ya.
Give a little time to me or burn this out,
We'll play hide and seek to turn this around,
All I want is the taste that your lips allow,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love.
Give me love like never before,
'cause lately I've been craving more,
And it's been a while but I still feel the same,
Maybe I should let you go,
You know I'll fight my corner,
And that tonight I'll call ya,
After my blood is drowning in alcohol,
No I just wanna hold ya.
Give a little time to me or burn this out,
We'll play hide and seek to turn this around,
All I want is the taste that your lips allow,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love,
Give a little time to me, or burn this out,
We'll play hide and seek to turn this around,
All I want is the taste that your lips allow,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love,
My my, my, my, oh give me love.
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover,
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover,
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover,
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover.
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover,
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover,
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover,
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover (love me, love me, love me).
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover (give me love),
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover (give me love),
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover (give me love, love me),
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover (give me love).
My, my, my, my, oh give me love,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love,
My, my, my, my, oh give me love
[Break]
[Hidden track "The Parting Glass"]
Of all the money that e'er I had
I've spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done
Alas it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
Of all the comrades that ever I had
They are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that ever I had
They would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call
Good night and joy be with you all
A man may drink and not be drunk
A man may fight and not be slain
A man may court a pretty girl
And perhaps be welcomed back again
But since it has so ought to be
By a time to rise and a time to fall
Come fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
Good night and joy be with you all
~Give me Love~
Ed Sheeran
"Billy, would you like a drink?"
He smiled, nodding. "Do you mind?"
I gave him a smile as I got him a beer, and I shook my head. "I should be trying to get you healthier."
"I'm in a wheelchair," Billy said. "Healthy is long gone."
I shook my head. "Jacob would disapprove."
He smirked. "Jacobs not here, is he?"
I rolled my eyes, pointing my finger at him. "You're evil."
He really is.
He's not that bad.
Actually, he's kind of a cute.
Are you going to leave Jacob for him?
Uhm, no.
Why?
He is one fine piece of ass.
I don't think I've even seen his backside.
Well I have, and it's rocked my mind.
Urgh.
I'm so horny.
Okay, what am I listening to?
It's your true self, Anna, just embrace it.
I'm scared.
Like really, really scared.
Jake had basically abandoned me for the day, and considering that it was forks – there wasn't' much to do apart from being depressed, and well do puzzles. And to be honest, I wasn't the sort of puzzle type of girl – mainly because I wasn't a ninety year old that had arthritis and a husband named Frank that was balding and owned a recliner.
Well, not yet.
Maybe Jake will change his name to Frank.
Frank Black.
I would fuck Frank Black.
What has happened to you in the past twenty four hours?
I went to horny camp.
It was amazeballs.
Okay, shut up now.
I'm trying to act normal.
"How have you been, Anna?" Billy asked causally.
Trying not to strangle vampires.
Becoming obsessed with your son.
Buying gnomes and putting them in random peoples gardens just to freak them out.
You know, the usual.
Maybe you shouldn't mention the fact that you're a raging psychopath.
Yeah.
I guess that wouldn't make the best impression.
I sighed, cocking my head to the side. "Is it unappreciative to say that while living with vampires and dating a werewolf, I'm bored?"
Billy chuckled. "Washington is boring."
I smiled. "No, watching a Shakespeare movie is boring – Forks is just like being dead."
"You kind of just get used to it after a while," Billy joked.
I smiled.
It was weird to think that only mere months ago I had been oblivious to what Forks would bring, and it be honest it was kind of scary to think that in the small amount of time I had inhabited Forks it seemed my whole life had completely and utterly changed from the dull and at often times bland life that I was living to this life where I actually had a boyfriend.
It was almost mind boggling that something, a life, could change that much in such a short amount of time. I felt anguish overcome me as that sentence ran through my head: changing in such a short amount of time.
Renesmee was now the size of a large toddler, maybe even a four year old.
Everyone was terrified, really, and I couldn't not be – she was growing at a rate that would have her an old lady in not even two years. Both Bella and I had stated our worries to Carlisle, who although seemed stoic and calm, I knew he was freaking out as much as we were – how could he not? Nessie was intoxicating, and every moment away from her was like a drug addicts re-introduction to reality.
It was shocking how attached I had become.
I didn't want to become this attached, for gods sakes, she wasn't going to around for long. I didn't want to become attached to Bella, either, yet it seemed that we had fallen back into our friendship which had existed throughout the years as we grew up. Even Edmund and I had formed a mutual understanding, and it seemed that he was finally starting to open up to the fact that Collin had imprinted on his daughter.
Still weird, if you ask me.
I glanced out the window, sighing at the rain yet even in this gloomy state that seems to forever encase forks in a constant flooding of rain, I couldn't help but think it was beautiful. The trees were alive unlike anything else in this place, thriving and vibrant – their leaves like shining emeralds beneath the drops of rain.
Lately, it seemed, I had even started to appreciate the dirt.
I know – it seems the dirt would be a weird thing to appreciate. Yet whenever I felt it crumble beneath my toes, whether that be when it was mixed with rain to create the squishy mess that was mud or if it was soft enough so that when I walked atop it, it felt as if I was bouncing on the soles of my feet.
God, you have so gone soft.
I have not.
You have.
Is that a bad thing?
Ask me in ten years.
My newfound appreciation for … Forks and La Push had been puzzling at first yet I soon realised where it had come from. I would be living here one day, right? I was preparing myself for a life in La Push, a life that consisted of dirt and trees and rain. I was preparing myself for a life with the Quileute's, a life with … Jacob.
Surprisingly, I had thought that when I would be faced with 'settling down' and subsequently being thrust into a life of suburban dullness, I had figured I would resent the person who had made me do this. I had figured that my soul mate, the person I would deem right for me, would understand my aversion to 'settling down' and thus would steer clear of perfectly cut lawns and white picket fences.
Yet the idea of spending the rest of my life, even if it was in La Push, with Jacob wasn't frightening to me – I didn't feel this aversion to having children, or even living in a three by two, toys strewn throughout the house in a disarray of domesticated happiness. I no longer needed to have my perfect life, my future, set out for me in dot point form, telling me where I would go, what I would do.
I was perfectly content to just have one thing assured within my future: Jacob.
To be perfectly honest, I didn't care about much else – sure I wanted a career, sure I want to see the world, yet I felt as if I would be perfectly fine just sitting here for the rest of my life. Surprisingly, I didn't feel guilty about that either – I didn't feel guilty about wanting to stay here with Jake and throwing away a future which I'm sure wouldn't make me half as happy as Jake ever could.
"You're quiet," Billy said with a smile.
I rolled my eyes. "This is me being tired, Billy – you've just seen the really awkward Anna up until now."
He chuckled. "Have you decided about what you're are going to do in the next couple of months?"
I blanked.
What was I going to do?
I shrugged. "I don't know – hang out with Jake."
Billy smiled, before he tried to cover it up as he nodded. "Good, good."
I cocked a brow. "What was that Billy?"
"What was what?" He asked coyly.
I rolled my eyes. "C'mon, you looked like a guy with diabetes in a sugar factory."
He laughed. "Well, I am a guy with diabetes."
"We are not changing conversations," I said, smiling. "Please tell me?"
He shrugged. "I- I'm just glad you're not leaving."
My eyebrows furrowed. "You wouldn't really miss me that much, would you?"
He smiled. "Oh, you're lovable Anna."
"I know," I said without hesitation, and he laughed. "But seriously, why don't you want me to leave?"
He looked up at me, with those black eyes, and sighed. "Because when you leave, my son will follow."
I didn't know how to respond. I didn't know how I could justify his son leaving him, because I knew that I would be leaving – maybe not soon but I'd have to – Next year will be a time where I'll be looking a college and I know that I'm not going to be going to Port Angeles community college. I looked to the ground, before I looked up to him.
"I'm sorry, Billy," I said, smiling lightly.
He shook his head. "I'm being silly."
"You know, we'll come back here," I said, talking about the future in a way I hadn't even talked about to Jake. "Jake can't be away from the pack for too long – maybe I'll even go to Seattle."
"Do you think you would?" He asked, cocking a brow. "Honestly?"
I bit my lip. "Washington is a good college, I guess."
"But you had other preferences," He guessed.
I smiled. "Kind of."
He smiled. "Well, maybe Jake might learn a thing or two."
I laughed. "I couldn't teach Jake anything."
"True," He said with a smile. "Not about maths, at least."
I couldn't help the giggle spill from my lips. "Of course not about maths."
"You can teach him a lot of things, though," He murmured. "You already have."
I smiled. "You're so sweet, Billy."
He scoffed. "Now c'mon, we're gonna watch some baseball."
I climbed the porch steps, and I ran a hand through my hair as I opened the door – dropping my bag on the floor. Jake hadn't called me yet, like he promised he would when we were at Billies house, seeing as I was meant to meet him on the beach. So I just figured that I would go back to the house and pig out on chocolate and make fun of Emmett.
You know, the usual.
"Oh, my god," I said aloud, as I walked up the stairs. "You won't believe what I saw of the way here – a bloody squirrel and a deer, like, mating? I don't know- is that even possible?"
I had gotten used to living with Vampires, I have to admit that, seeing as now instead of waiting to be face to face with one of them when having a conversation, I usually just spoke to myself and would get a reply from one of them.
However, Edmund still freaked me out.
Not getting a reply from anyone, I went into the living room where I saw them all standing.
Jacob included.
"Jake?" I asked, my eyebrows raised. "I waited for three hours for you at your Dads house – you can't just up and leave me like that? I thought we were going for a walk on the beach."
No one replied, and I cocked a brow. "Guys? What's wrong?"
"The Volturi," Alice moaned.
"All of them," Edmund groaned at the same time.
My eyebrows furrowed, confusion coursing through me. "The what?"
"We told you about them," Bella murmured.
I cocked a brow, before nodding. "Oh, right, vampire police – what about them?"
"Why?" Alice whispered to herself. "How?"
Are they just ignoring you?
I think so.
"When?" Edmund whispered.
"Why?" Esme echoed.
"When?" Jasper repeated in a voice like splintering ice.
"Did no one just hear that I saw a squirrel and a deer mating?" I asked, my eyes scanning around the room. "For gods sakes, what is wrong with all of you?"
I looked to Alice, yet her eyes didn't blink, but it was as if a veil covered them; they became perfectly blank. Only her mouth held on to her expression of horror. "Not long," she and Edmund said together. Then she spoke alone. "There's snow on the forest, snow on the town. Little more than a month."
"Why?" Carlisle was the one to ask this time.
Esme answered. "They must have a reason. Maybe to see . . ."
"This isn't about Bella," Alice said hollowly. "They're all coming—Aro, Caius,Marcus, every member of the guard, even the wives."
"The wives never leave the tower," Jasper contradicted her in a flat voice. "Never. Not during the southern rebellion. Not when the Romanians tried to overthrow them. Not even when they were hunting the immortal children. Never."
I feel a bit out of the loop.
"They're coming now," Edmund whispered
Who? The wiggles?
Oh, please, the wiggles wouldn't be coming to town.
Yeah, we would have got the email.
"But why?" Carlisle said again. "We've done nothing! And if we had, what could we possibly do that would bring this down on us?"
"There are so many of us," Edmund answered dully. "They must want to make sure that . . ." He didn't finish.
"That doesn't answer the crucial question! Why?"
I felt anger consume me, and I grabbed one of the books – slamming against the wall. "Listen, your not talking to me, I don't know what's going on – tell me, please."
Bella looked to me, her red eyes almost glistening with … tears. "The Volturi are coming for us – we're, they're- they'll kill us."
"Go back, Alice," Jasper pleaded. "Look for the trigger. Search."
Alice shook her head slowly, her shoulders sagging. "It came out of nowhere, Jazz. I wasn't looking for them, or even for us. I was just looking for Irina. She wasn't where I expected her to be. . . ." Alice trailed off, her eyes drifting again.
She stared at nothing for a long second.
And then her head jerked up, her eyes hard as flint. I heard Edmund catch his breath.
"She decided to go to them," Alice said. "Irina decided to go to the Volturi. And then they will decide.… It's as if they're waiting for her. Like their decision was already made, and just waiting on her. . . ."
It was silent.
Do you understand any of this?
Nope.
Nup.
Well, they seemed to be a bit weird about it.
I don't know when Jake moved over to me, yet he did – I could feel his own warmth radiating from him, and his arm wrapped around me, pulling me closer to him. I looked up to him, completely and utterly puzzled. "Jake…"
His lips went down to my ear. "You need to leave."
I cocked a brow. "Jake, wha-"
"She won't leave, Jake," Edmund said.
Rose sneered at him. "Are that all you pre-occupied by? We are at war!"
"War?" I asked, my voice cracking.
Jake shook his head. "Anna doesn't need to be involved – she's already done enough."
"Bella needs her-"
"Bella doesn't need anyone anymore!" Jake hissed, throwing his hand up. "Anna needs to be taken care of, she's human!"
No shit, Sherlock.
I put my hand on Jakes chest, and I looked up at him. "Calm down, Jake, let's just- let's just figure out what this is."
"Can we stop her?" Jasper asked, getting back to the conversation.
"There's no way. She's almost there."
"What is she doing?" Carlisle was asking.
I remember Irina.
She was one of the women at the wedding who I so envied, and I had thought that they were mascots for plastic surgery. She was beautiful, purely and utterly beautiful, and I couldn't understand why someone like her – family of the Cullen's – would endanger them by informing the Volturi of Nessie.
"Think of what she saw that afternoon," Bella said in a low voice, interrupting whatever Emmett was beginning to say. "To someone who'd lost a mother because of the immortal children, what would Renesmee look like?"
Everything was silent again as the others caught up to where Bella was already.
"An immortal child," Carlisle whispered.
Edmund knelt beside her, wrap his arms over both of them.
"But she's wrong," Bella went on. "Renesmee isn't like those other children. They were frozen, but she grows so much every day. They were out of control, but she never hurts Charlie or Sue or even shows them things that would upset them. She can control herself. She's already smarter than most adults. There would be no reason. . . ."
Edward and Bella whispered to each other while the rest of the family looked on in horror. "We fight," Emmett suggested calmly.
"We can't win," Jasper growled.
"You can try, can't you?" I asked, my eyes trained on Nessie – the little girl who had become so much my own in the past months.
Bella looked up at me, meeting my eyes and I knew she was thinking the same.
"Well, we can't run. Not with Demetri around And I don't know that we can't win," Emmett said. "There are a few options to consider. We don't have to fight alone."
The words couldn't not come out of my mouth, and I realised how vicous they sounded – how venomous they sounded. "We don't have to sentence the Quileutes to death, either, Emmett!"
"Chill, Anna. I didn't mean the pack. Be realistic, though—do you think Collin or Sam is going to ignore an invasion? Even if it wasn't about Nessie? Not to mention that, thanks to Irina, Aro knows about our alliance with the pack now, too. But I was thinking of our other friends."
Carlisle echoed me in a whisper. "Other friends we don't have to sentence to death."
"Hey, we'll let them decide," Emmett said in a placating tone. "I'm not saying they have to fight with us."
I cocked a brow. "You really think they woiuld want to stand up to the police of vampires."
"Volturi," Edmund sneered before he clutched at his head. "God, what is that!?"
My eyebrows furrowed. "What?"
"Th-that static!" He said. "I can barely hear anything."
I shrugged. "I can't hear anything."
"If they'd just stand beside us, just long enough to make the Volturi hesitate. Bella's right, after all. If we could force them to stop and listen. Though that might take away any reason for a fight. . . ."
"Yes," Esme said eagerly. "That makes sense, Emmett. All we need is for the Volturi to pause for one moment. Just long enough to listen."
"We'd need quite a show of witnesses," Rosalie said harshly, her voice brittle as
glass.
Esme nodded in agreement, as if she hadn't heard the sarcasm in Rosalie's tone.
"We can ask that much of our friends. Just to witness."
"We'd do it for them," Emmett said.
"We'll have to ask them just right," Alice murmured. I looked to see her eyes were a dark void again. "They'll have to be shown very carefully."
Jakes arms tightened around me. "We can leave now, Anna."
I looked up at him. "This is my family – I can't leave them."
I turned back to everyone, my eyes trained on them before my eyes went onto Edmund – wondering what was with his static comment. Yet as soon as I thought of that comment, the memory of what Edmund had said once entered my mind:
"I can't really read your mind, Anna, it's like static."
Heres another chapter for you all,
YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! NEARLLY 900 REVIEWS! AHAHAHAHAHAH
Also, this may seem a bit confusing but I promise everything will make sense soon. And I just finished my exams, so basically heres my gift to all of you! Please enjoy it!
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