A/N: Hey everyone! Quick note before reading- I added another chapter on Monday, which you may or may not have already seen. If not, I suggest you read that one first! Okay, you may continue…

Renesmee's POV-

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

My eyelids opened slightly and I could see the horrendously bright sun shining into my bedroom. I yawned and picked up my phone from my bedside table to turn off my obnoxious alarm. I saw that I had two text messages from my mom. One was a good morning text and the other was another update on the hybrids. Mom and the others had gained their trust and were now able to start their investigating.

I briefly responded to my mother and checked the time. It was seven o'clock. I guess I could go back to sleep if I wanted to, but the whole point in setting my alarm for this morning was so I wouldn't waste any valuable time with the Cullens like I had yesterday morning. I dramatically rolled out of my bed and on to the floor before crawling over to my mirror. I probably shouldn't have. My reflection told me that I was in desperate need of a shower. My hair was all over the place and my skin lacked it's usual glow.

I stood up from the ground and made my way to the bathroom. I quickly showered and got dressed in a plain white henley top and a pair of black leggings. My hair was still wet and the moisture from the shower stuck to my skin, but I was starving, so I didn't spend much time putting together my outfit. I'd get dressed in actual clothes later.

I made my way toward the kitchen like I always did and got lost in my thoughts. I thought about the fact that it was already Friday and the Cullens would be leaving on Sunday night after my ball. I guess it was my fault for growing so attached to them so quickly. I didn't anticipate it being that hard to say goodbye.

Maybe sometime I could travel to their home to visit. I mean, I was turning a hundred years old in less than three days. It's not like I was too little to travel by myself. I chuckled at the thought. I'm sure Jane, Aro, and especially my mother would disagree. I could always invite them back again! Just kidding. Once mom found out about what I'd done, she'd likely never fall for that trick again.

Another thought occurred to me just then. Maybe when I tell mom, she'll be happy. It has been a long time and—if I've said it once, I'll say it again—I can see that she misses them. I erased the thought from my head. That was highly unlikely. Mom was going to be pissed.

I made my way into the kitchen and came across Emmett and Jasper sitting at the table playing a game. As soon as I walked in, Emmett spoke up.

"Morning, Ness. What are you doing up so early?" He seemed very energetic and I smiled at him.

"I didn't want to waste my day by sleeping in." I told him and walked over to the refrigerator. I pulled out a package of strawberries and another package of blueberries.

"What? There's no such thing as too much sleep. When I was human, every free second I had, I was napping. It was a huge adjustment when I became a vampire and couldn't sleep anymore. That was my favorite activity." I chuckled at him and fixed myself a plate of fruit.

"That surprises me. You don't really come across as a lazy type." I told him, bringing my plate of food over to the table where the boys sat.

"I wasn't lazy. I just liked to sleep. There's a difference." He told me. I looked at Jasper with questioning eyes and he shrugged, a small smile playing on his lips. I began eating my food while Emmett and Jasper were conversing with each other.

"So Ness, I can't help but notice that you seemed awfully comfortable around Ed yesterday." I raised my eyebrows at him, not really understanding what he was getting at. "Not to mention I was right about you being able to convince him to join all of us yesterday." Emmett let out a subtle laugh and shook his head. I was even more confused now.

"I'm not so sure that I'm picking up on what you're laying down." I told Jasper. He leaned back in his chair, smiling to himself.

"I think he's trying to be polite in asking whether or not there's anything going on between you and our brother." Emmett said without any hesitation, catching me completely off guard. I half coughed/half choked on the blueberry I was eating and looked up at both of them in horror.

"Oh my god! What the hell? No! Heavens, no! How could you—What? Oh my god! NO!" I violently shook my head and I could see they were both clearly amused.

"Wow, tell us how you really feel." Emmett commented sarcastically. I elbowed him in his ribs and I was surprised when he actually cringed. "Damn, girl. You got bony elbows." I stood up from the table, shaking my head at them both. Emmett was laughing as I walked away.

"I'm glad you think you're funny because I just lost my appetite." I told him and he laughed even louder. Through his laugh, I could hear Alice walk in and skip over to her husband.

"Morning, Renesmee." She greeted me. I smiled at her and responded quietly, still embarrassed and disgusted by what Emmett and Jasper had brought up.

"So, what's the plan today, Ali?" Jasper asked her.

"I'm pretty sure today Nessie planned to take us hunting." She told him and looked up at me for my confirmation. "At least as of an hour ago that was the plan." She added. I nodded at her. For a while, I had completely forgotten that she had the ability to see the future. I hoped that she wouldn't see anything in her visions about my mother.

"I'm sure Jane and Alec are going to be thrilled when I tell them." I commented. Alice smiled up at me.

"Actually, you'll be pleased to know that they will not be accompanying us today." I repeated her words in my head, making sure I was hearing them correctly. I was shocked.

"Wow, how'd you manage that?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I have my ways." She shot me a dazzling smile and I shrugged. I don't know how she did it, but I didn't really care. I was free! Sort of.

"Well, whatever they are, I'm thankful." I told her. She kissed Jasper's cheek and hopped off his lap.

"C'mon. Let's go get you ready." She said and held out her hand. I felt like I was two years old and still needed help picking out my clothes, but I took her hand and let her guide me to my room.

We walked into my room and as I saw her walking toward my closet, I stopped her. I almost forgot about the pictures of my mom just scattered in there.

"Alice, I don't think I need your help picking out an outfit." I told her. She pouted and dramatically plopped down on my bed. I chuckled.

"But it'd be so much fun! You're like my little dress up doll." She told me. I jokingly furrowed my eyebrows.

"Little? Alice, I'm like half a foot taller than you." I put my hands on my hips. She smiled again and I walked into my closet.

"Are you sure I can't help?" Alice yelled from my bed.

"Yes, I'm sure! I promise you can approve of it before we go." I shook my head as I began searching through my endless hangers of clothes.

"Hey, bring a bathing suit! You might need it." She yelled. I turned toward where her voice came from even though I knew I couldn't see her from where I was standing. A bathing suit? Why? I guess I would find out.

"Hey, do you see me needing a jacket?" I joked, not really expecting an answer.

"No, but I'd discourage you from wearing light colored shoes." She spoke. Again, I have no idea why, but I guess I'll trust her. I threw on one of my favorite bathing suits—it was a two piece. The top was a racerback style had thin horizontal black and white stripes while the bottom was high-waisted and a soft pinkish-orange. I figured that the top was good enough for my shirt. I threw on a high waisted maroon skirt with combat boots. I decided not to wear any jewelry because it would be a pain to keep track of if we were going swimming.

"Okay. What do you think of this?" I walked out into the bedroom and modeled my outfit for her. She smiled and gave me a nod of approval.

"Cute, but before we go, I need to ask you. What do you want for your birthday?" I knew she wasn't kidding, but I desperately hoped she was.

"Alice, you've already gotten me a ton. I don't need anything else." I told her. She gave me a joking annoyed look.

"I got you a couple of things, but everyone else still needs to get you a gift." She told me. "And I'm not really satisfied yet. I want to get you something you'll love!" I groaned. I hoped not everyone else went as all out as Alice did.

"I don't want anything else, Alice." I began to walk toward the door.

"What about a piano? I see you don't have one." She commented. I scoffed.

"Ha! My mother would have my head." I told her honestly, waving her toward the door. She tilted her head.

"What? Why? You were amazing! She should be proud of you." She commented. She looked hurt.

"Well I mean, she is. She just doesn't want us to have one here." I explained. She looked confused, but didn't ask. "Are you ready?" I asked her sarcastically. She stood up from my bed and walked toward the base where everyone else was at. I passed Jane and she eyed my outfit with a disapproving look, but I ignored her.

The rest of the Cullens were ready to go when Alice and I arrived in the base. We headed out soon after that. We ran about 30 miles northeast of Volterra to a heavily forested area that would be sufficient for our hunting needs. At first, they had tried to run slow, expecting that I wouldn't be as fast as them, but they were quickly proven wrong when they found I could easily keep up. A few of them found some deer, but I was holding out for a better prey—-more specifically a wolf.

It took about three hours, but I finally set my sights on a wolf. I was glad I had held out because this one was a giant! I might not even need to drink anything else. I took my time stalking my prey and as soon as the opportunity presented itself, I took him down. My family looked impressed although it wasn't really anything different than what any of them had done. Maybe it was because I hadn't hurt myself. That was probably it.

We hunted for a while longer. The burn in my throat had gone away for the most part after the wolf, but I still took down another deer just to completely be full. Everyone stood around for a minute as we waited for Rosalie to return from catching her meal.

"You know, Nessie, when you said you weren't as fast as a typical vampire, you were really being modest. You're faster—-almost as fast as Ed." Jasper commented. I smiled at the compliment.

"Ehh, I think she may have him by a little bit." Emmett teased. My father let out a dazzling smile and shook his head at his brother.

"Nobody's faster than me." He retorted.

"Ooo, sounds like a challenge to me." Alice added. I smiled. This was the first time that I'd seen the whole family, including my father, actually acting like a family. The way they teased each other out of love made my heart race. I decided to contribute.

"It's okay, Eddie. I can see that you're not up for another challenge after yesterday morning." I stared at my nails, acting like a professional. He smirked at me.

"You wish, Princess. Let's go. Count down, Alice." He told his sister and she gave me a supportive look.

"Okay. 3, 2, 1…G-" I took off as soon as I heard her start to say go. He was a little ahead of me, and I pushed myself until I was running right next to him. I heard him laugh and push himself further ahead. I struggled to keep up, but I didn't want to hear him gloat in my face.

I got lost in my thoughts trying to strategize what I could do, and in the meantime, I lost him. I wasn't sure if maybe he turned or if he was really just that far ahead, but I knew that he was no longer in my sight. I stopped when I reached a beautiful waterfall with a sizable pond beneath it, not sure what to do. Maybe I should turn around. I jumped when I heard a soft voice in my ear.

"I win." He said and I quickly turned around to see my father smiling at me. I crossed my arms and accepted my defeat.

"You may have won this time, Cullen, but I'll get my revenge." I said.

"Revenge?" He raised his eyebrows. "Why do you need revenge? I believe we're even now, Princess." He had a point. Everyone else came running and I was dragged toward the beautiful pond by none other than Miss Alice Cullen.

"This is it! This is the waterfall from my vision." She told everyone. Everyone had decided that they had done enough hunting to last them for a while and we took a break to swim. It was actually a lot of fun. It was fairly warm for October, so I wasn't cold, thankfully. I'm sure one of them would have laughed at me if I started shivering. Emmett found it quite amusing that I had to come up to breathe after a few minutes underwater. Stupid human traits.

There was a lot to do in the little waterfall oasis and I hoped I could remember the way back to show Mom. She'd love it. I watched as Jasper and Emmett cannonballed off the edges of the waterfall into the pond—which looked more like a small lake—and splashed me, Esme, Alice, and my dad.

"Watch it! I'm trying not to get my hair wet." My dad warned them. Now that was a joke. His hair was already all over the place. What did it matter if it got a little wet? I smiled to myself as I thought of a plan. I dove underwater and swam toward him. I'm surprised he didn't sense me coming. When I got to him, I grabbed his foot and pulled him underwater. He opened his eyes and looked at me before emerging to the top.

"Renesmee!" He shouted. I giggled and hid behind Esme.

"Sorry not sorry. Now that I have my revenge, we're even." He gave me an unamused stare, but I could tell that his madness was very shallow. Inside he was laughing like me.

"No. Now you're ahead one." He argued.

"Exactly. That's how it should be. The end." I rebutted and a smile broke through his lips. As he stood there, I could see a tiny piece of hair on the front of his head start to defy gravity and float upward. I burst out laughing and ran a few feet to get my phone to take a picture.

I opened the camera app just to be told that I didn't have any space left. Everyone else got out of the water too.

"No! I just wanted a picture!" I pouted and my dad chuckled, drying himself with a towel.

"Karma's a bitch." He smirked at me. I gave him the same unamused glare he gave me and he chuckled.

"Ha-Ha. Hilarious. Now I can't even take a picture of the waterfall to show my mom." I grew sad. I hoped I could remember how to get here. I likely wouldn't though. We'd been hunting for hours.

"It's okay, darling. You'll find it again." Esme rubbed my back, much like my mother would do when I was sad. I shrugged, and at the thought of my mom, I grew guilty.

"Why do you feel guilty, Renesmee?" Jasper asked. I'm sure he'd been wanting to ask that since he got here. I was surprised he waited this long.

"I just miss her." I told him. I guess that doesn't really explain why I could be feeling guilty. "She's off doing research to learn more about my kind while I'm having the time of my life in a beautiful waterfall oasis." I told him. "She'd love this." I added.

"I'm sure you have some ugly selfies or accidental screenshots in there somewhere. Just delete them." Emmett offered his advice, but it was pointless.

"No way. All of my pictures have a special meaning. I'm not deleting any of them…And how dare you think that I have any ugly selfies." I joked at Emmett.

"If it really means that much to you, I'll draw you a map when we get back. I remember how to get here." My dad added. He tried to play annoyed, but I saw straight through his silly little act.

Edward's POV-

My family headed back to Volterra soon after Renesmee's little freak out over not being able to find her way back to the waterfall. It was about five in the evening when we arrived at the castle. Renesmee had immediately gone off to shower and upload old photos to her computer to make space for new ones on her phone. Meanwhile, Emmett, Rosalie, and I were hanging out in the "base" as they liked to call it.

Alice had said we'd be having some sort of game night and I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to talk myself out of it, not that I really desired to. Emmett and Rose were talking and I was hanging out awkwardly on the love seat opposite the couch they were on.

"I never thought I'd see the day when I could actually admit that I'm going to miss someone from the Volturi." Emmett said. Rose smiled at him. I listened as Rose thought about how Emmett rarely talked about how his feelings. She was savoring the moment. "That girl is something, you know?" He asked. Rose laid her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm going to miss her too." Rose added. I listened as they both thought about Renesmee and how she could make everyone happy just by existing. I can't say that I thought any differently.

Today had been great. For the first time in what seemed like forever, everyone actually seemed like a normal, functioning family. At least, it was comparable to how it had been before Bella disappeared. Even Renesmee seemed to fit right in amongst my family.

She had everyone wrapped around her finger, and she didn't even have to try. Even when she was being annoying, like her little stunt in the pond today, I found her little tricks and sassy comments endearing. I had also started feeling the reciprocal of that.

It had not gone unnoticed that every time she spoke of her mother, she grew guilty and sad. It was hard to tell by looking at her, but Jasper could feel it, so I could tell by reading his mind.

Every time she felt sad, I wanted to wrap her in my arms and tell her everything would be okay. It almost pained me not to, which frightened me to a great extent. It was so bad, I even reconsidered the thought that she could be my mate.

I didn't feel anything romantic toward her, but why else would I be feeling this way around her? My thoughts were quickly, and thankfully shot down when I caught Emmett laughing to himself, thinking about the little confrontation this morning that he had with her.

I didn't have the slightest clue what it could be. I had only just met her, and I already felt like she was meant to be a part of my life.

Author's Note:

Hope you liked the chapter. I know it's kind of the same idea of family bonding, but it's important, I promise!

I know many of you want Bella back right this instant, and believe me, I do too. It's exciting to think about how she's going to react! In fact, I'm still trying to figure it out in my head so it's perfect! (Speaking of which, if you have any ideas, feel free to review…)

I also want to address another situation that's come up a few times. Was it smart for Renesmee to go behind Bella's back? No. But she did. She did so because she's been waiting to meet her family for 100 years. She probably knew she was going to hurt her mother, but after waiting for 100 years, I think her patience ran out. At least she feels guilty. So there you have it… Renesmee is not a heartless monster. She just wants to know her family. Also keep in mind that Renesmee believes that her mother left the Cullens, so she has no reason to think they did anything wrong.

Thanks for all the favorites, alerts, and reviews! You da bomb dot com.

Let me know what you thought of the chapter or if you have any questions/predictions!

Or if you can't think of anything…

Question of the chapter: What's the best prank you've pulled on a family member or friend?