A/N OMG! GUESS WHO'S BACK. (It's me :D) So I managed to get the chapter back in working order and overcome hella writer's block to do so. Hopefully, you guys may notice an improvement in my writing. I've been working on it and am trying to up the quality on all my writing in general, but especially on my fanfics,

so enjoy this chapter.

Renesmee's POV

So that was how I found myself standing in the forest with two Cullens. Rosalie and Emmett stood just behind me staring. After a moment I looked back at them, unsure. This was the first time I was presented with the opportunity to live the 'kill-free' life I had wanted and I found myself faced with performance anxiety, despite my thirst.

"Go on." Rosalie pushed, impatience underlying in her voice.

"It's just like regular hunting." Emmett's voice was gentler. "It just smells a little different."

I faced my front again and took a deep calming breath, shaking my hair back and closing my eyes. I relaxed, allowing the burning thirst to bloom in my throat and drag my predatory instincts to the surface. As I stood there the forest bloomed in my senses. I could smell the damp earth and leaves, feel the wind pushing its way past my skin, hear it rustling the leaves, hear the sound of a brook in the distance.

I focused that sense, listening carefully. A heartbeat in the distance that was too quick to be human slowly pushed its way into my focus. My eyes snapped open and I took off after it. I found the deer drinking by a river. I pounced on it before it could start, snapping its neck in one fluid motion, a mercy killing I had learnt when I drank humans.

This close it smelt less than appealing, but I furrowed my nose and bit into the soft flesh at its neck. The blood filled my mouth and it had a distinctly earthy taste in comparison to people, who exploded with a rich honey. I drank until I was full before standing, smacking my mouth to try and dispel the taste.

I heard amused guffaws behind me and looked at Emmett, who proceeded to point and continue laughing.

"You should see your face." He snorted. Rosalie had a smile on her face and nodded in agreement with him.

"You could have warned me." I retorted. Emmett shrugged in a 'what-can-ya-do' way, and I scowled at him. In my head though, I thought it different to be teased in good humour rather than malice.

"Is that all you're going to drink?" Rosalie said, nodding at the half drained dear. I nodded.

"I don't need as much as a full vampire." I added. Rose hummed in understanding.

"So . . ." Emmett started, seeming to have calmed down enough to talk. I raised my eyebrow at him.

"You can't keep skirting around our questions." Rosalie stated at my gesture.

"And why is that?"

"Because it not helping any of us trust you." She stepped closer to me and I bristled.

"Why should I care about you trusting me?" I folded my arms, smirking, and trying to seem calmer than I felt. I wasn't willing to admit out loud just how much I actually wanted to Cullens to trust, and even like me. It was clear in their interactions and simple concern for me, a stranger and a threat as far as they knew, that they were the kind of people I had been hoping to find when I left the Volturi.

"Because maybe we can help you." Emmett replied to my question, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"You're young, Renesmee, and we can give you somewhere safe to stay, if you want." Rosalie added, moving closer to me. I stepped back, not liking being made to feel like a child, even though that's what I was. And in truth, somewhere safe to stay sounded like heaven. Even though I wasn't in physical danger in the Volturi, every action was under scrutiny and I could never relax and be who I wanted to. But staying put the Cullens in danger. There was no doubt that they would probably send someone else in my stead, and I didn't want to be responsible for their deaths.

"We should head back." I said after some hesitation, turning in the direction of the Cullens' home and taking off. I heard them following soon after. There was some form of silent communication going on between Emmett and Rosalie as we ran, probably trying to come up with some tactic to convince me. As we got closer to the Cullen's home raised voices became clear to me. Edward was arguing against my continued presence in the Cullen home.

". . . She's Volturi, I don't care what she is or how old she is. It's dangerous, for Bella, for all of us."

"Edward," Esme's voice was calm and motherly, and it made me frown. "She's scared." My frown deepened at that. "She's clearly running from something and I can't just turn her away." It felt strange to hear someone defend me when they didn't know me. The Volturi wouldn't have stuck their neck out for me without cause, but Esme was doing just that.

"You don't have to open your heart to everyone Esme." Carlisle was about to respond to Edward's comment when they noticed our approach. Carlisle met us at the door, Edward and Esme in tow, and smiled at us hesitantly.

I stopped at the bottom of the porch and rocked on my heels, looking at Esme. "We should probably finish that conversation." I said finally, looking away. Carlisle nodded and turned, leading us into the house.

He gestured towards the L-shaped couch in the centre of the room, and I sat very carefully in the corner of it, facing the crack in the glass from where my head was smacked into it. Someone had taken the liberty of cleaning the blood from it and I assumed it had been Esme.

The rest of the Cullens took their seats around me, with Rosalie and Emmett on my left, and Carlisle and Esme on the adjacent side. Edward had chosen to stand, staring suspiciously at me.

"So," Carlisle started, getting straight to the point. "You said you ran away from the Volturi?" I nodded. "Why?"

I hesitated, my mouth opening and closing several time. The Cullen's had been kind to me . . . most of them, I thought glancing at the cracked glass, but they didn't deserve the fate that would befall them if the Volturi found out I had told the Cullens their plan. Running was dangerous enough, but running to, for all intents and purposes, the enemy would cost them more than their lives.

"I- I can't . . . it would put you all in danger. Especially if the Volturi managed to find me. You'd be killed"

Carlisle looked at Esme beside him, who gave a small nod, then at Rosalie and Emmett, who nodded also. Edward looked to make a protest, but stopped as Carlisle looked at him, conveying something mentally to him, which made Edward huff but he gave a jerky nod also.

Carlisle looked back at me, a soft almost tender look on his face. "We'll do all we can to protect you Renesmee."

I inhaled sharply. Looking around at the faces I saw agreement, and I felt my throat close at the selflessness. Not even when I was a child had anyone in the Volturi made such a gesture for me.

I had a choice to make. I could field their questions like I had been doing before, pretend I didn't want to be accepted here and find a way out. But feeding had made my mind sharper, and Emmett and Rosalie and Esme were brought to mind. For some inexplicable reason they wanted to defend and accept me, something I didn't feel with the Volturi. There I felt like furniture . . . no I felt like a toy. Something to be used. Hell, that was half the reason I was here. Well I wouldn't let them use me. Not against the Cullens.

And like that I had made my choice. I didn't want to be used, and staying silent would've been conceding to it.

"They wanted me to spy . . . on you." The expressions around me darkened at that fact. "I never felt like I fit in there. They were all cruel and mean for sport. I didn't have any friends and no one liked me for me. They liked me for what I could do for them. They liked me to keep me compliant." I went on to tell them of Aro's orders to watch them. To make sure they kept their promise of turning Bella. At her name Edward bristled further, a small snarl coming from him. ". . . but I didn't want that, so I ran." I finished.

"But why run here?" Edward's voice was accusatory, probably thinking I still had some ulterior motive.

"Coincidence." I shrugged lightly. "I caught the first plane out of Italy and it brought me to Seattle. I stole a car and just drove." I left my mind open for Edward, letting him see the journey I had taken to get here, holding his gaze the entire time. His face didn't get any gentler, but the hard glint left his eyes.

"And how were you meant to watch us without being caught. You were in the hall, Aro must've known I'd recognise you."

I looked around the room, my eyes settling on Emmett. Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and concentrated, feeling my body shift and grow until I was a copy of him. A gasp settled around the room and I opened my eyes.

"I was meant to eliminate and take the place of someone close to you or Bella." There was further shock as Emmett's voice came out of my body. Emmett sat in shock at seeing a clone of himself, and for a moment I thought he was afraid, but then his face broke out into a wide grin as he stared at me.

"That's awesome, and incredibly handsome if I do say so myself." He winked. His casual attitude made me smile as I let go of Emmett's form and shifted back to my own. The rest of the Cullens still looked unsettled, and I tried to sit extra still and seem as non threatening as possible.

"And what about your thoughts, hmm? They'd give you away." Edward's nostrils were flared, Aro's plan clearly getting to him.

"As you've seen, I'm quite adept at schooling them." I said carefully. The Cullen's were silent then, thinking on the information I had just given them. I could see Esme and Carlisle looking back and forth between each other as Edward's head snapped up to look at them.

He stepped towards them, infuriated by whatever they were thinking. "No!"

"Edward." Esme sighed.

"We can't trust her! For all we know this could be the real plan, and her being here is just a diversion!" He insisted, and I tried not to be offended by his attitude. I had yet to give him a reason to believe he could trust me, and I had been sent here as a fail safe in case he didn't turn Bella.

"Edward." It was Carlisle who spoke this time and Edward's shoulders slumped in response.

"Fine." Edward sent one more glare at me before he stormed from the house. I turned to Carlisle and Esme expectantly, waiting to be filled in.

Esme smiled a smile at me so maternal it sent a pang through me, and I tried not to let its effects show on my face as a sent a small smile of my own.

"Renesmee," she began, "Would you like to stay here . . .?"

My body froze, but my mind began to race and I was grateful Edward had left. Stay. What did she mean by that? Stay, as in be a guest for the night, or a few days, or indefinitely. My being here already put the Cullens in unnecessary danger, what would my staying here do? The thought of staying with the Cullens shook fear and longing into my core. Even in the short time I'd been here I could see more of a family that I had ever seen in the presence of my own father and I realised how much I wanted to find a niche in their home, but then I thought of what would happen should the Volturi ever discover my presence here. The Cullens would see no mercy and I doubted I would either, despite my heritage.

Seeing the growing conflict on my face Carlisle began to backtrack, resting a hand on Esme's arm in solidarity. "Only if you want to, of course. We wouldn't stop you from moving on if that's what you wished."

I still didn't speak, not wanting to close the door on perhaps my only shot at something close to a family, to the mother I longed to know, but unwilling to be selfish.

"Renesmee," Rosalie rested her hand on my knee in comfort. "Don't worry about the Volturi, or whatever's on your mind. We would like you to stay. All that matters after that is if you want to stay."

I looked into Rose's eyes and at the honesty, for once without an agenda, I felt tears well in my eyes that I refused to let fall and nodded.

"I would very much like to stay."

A/N Yay! I can honestly say I'm as pleased as you are that this chapter is out. I hope you enjoy it. It's not exactly the same as the one I'd written before but it's better so A+. Worth the wait? Why don't you comment and let me know.

Adios