Renesmee's POV-

I ran through the woods at full speed, not really knowing why I was running. Despite the fact that I was running impossibly fast, my eyes took in every detail of my surroundings and my ears picked up every noise of the forest. I kept running, rushing past multiple streams and a herd of deer.

I could hear laughter from up ahead, and I followed the sound. Soon enough, I came to a clearing. I don't remember ever seeing it before, but it almost seemed too beautiful to have been made up by my imagination. Standing in the middle was my parents.

They were holding hands and staring at me lovingly. I slowed from my run to a slow stroll and made my way toward them. They smiled at me as I approached, and I couldn't help but smile back. When I was almost to them, my mom took a step forward and grabbed my hand. She pulled me into a tight hug and I took in the relaxing coolness of her touch.

She didn't speak, but she didn't have to. Her love radiated from within her, and I could feel it. I pulled away and watched as my father stroked my mom's cheek lovingly. My mom leaned her face into his touch and smiled, closing her eyes. She opened them a few moments later and stared at me.

"Thank you, Renesmee." They both whispered.

I let out a soft chuckle in response to my thoughts and ended up waking myself up in the process. It was very sunny, and it took my eyes a few moments to adjust to the uncomfortable light. When they did, I took in my surroundings.

The light was shining in through a gigantic window at the edge of the room. The walls surrounding it were a light lavender color and classy black and white photos took up the wall in front of me. The room didn't look familiar and I became a little alarmed. I calmed down when the memories began coming back to me. I was in Alice's room, I remembered. She brought me up here last night after she insisted that I stay.

Seeing as it wasn't an uncommon occurrence for me to fall asleep against my mom, I didn't take much notice to the ice cold statue I was currently leaning against until I heard him chuckle.

"Good morning, Renesmee." He said. Upon hearing this, my eyes focused the rest of the way and I took in the rest of my surroundings. I looked up at him and he was smiling down at me. I noticed that I was practically on top of him, and readjusted myself so I was sitting up. I rubbed my face, trying to be casual about hiding my blush. I could tell it didn't work though by the smile on his face.

"Morning" I said sleepily. "What time is it?" I asked, after looking around to check the time on my phone and remembering that I didn't have it.

"A little after seven. How did you sleep?" He asked me. I thought about his question. I didn't remember having any nightmares, so that must mean something. It was probably the best night's sleep I'd gotten in the past month.

"I guess I slept pretty well. I'm sorry you had to stay with me the whole night. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you." I said, honestly. He chuckled, and shook his head.

"I would have stayed anyway. I'm glad you slept well." He said, simply. I saw his eyes shift toward the door and he sighed quietly. I was going to inquire as to why, but the next second, my question was answered when Alice came bounding in the door.

"Good Morning!" She sang, and skipped over to the bed. Alice gave my father a look and he raised his hands as if to surrender.

"You don't have to tell me twice, Alice." He responded to her and then turned to me. "I'll see you in a few minutes. What would you like Esme to prepare you for breakfast?" He asked while he stood up at an almost human pace.

"She doesn't have to make me anything. I'm not really that hungry." I lied. I really didn't want to inconvenience them more than I already was. Did vampires (other than my mom) even know how to cook? Highly doubtful. Alice was looking at me trying to hide a smile.

"Alice!" My father hissed. Then it was her turn to raise her hands in surrender. I could tell this whole mind reading thing was going to be a little annoying.

"You know I can't control where my mind goes. If you don't want to hear it, get out." She said, pushing him toward the door. He allowed her to.

"I still don't know what to tell Esme." He said simply as he was being pushed.

"Is french toast okay, Ness?" Alice asked me. French toast was actually one of my favorites.

"You guys don't have to make a fuss over me. An apple or banana or something would be fine too." I said. Alice closed the door after she had pushed my dad the whole way.

"Oh hush! French toast it is." She said. I'm sure my dad heard it, and went to tell Esme. I didn't say anything else about the topic. "So I looked through your stuff, I hope you don't mind—I think it'd be easier just to find you something of mine. You might be a little cold in any of your clothes." She said casually. I chuckled. This was another one of those fusses I didn't want them to make, but I figured it would have the same outcome as the whole breakfast situation, so I decided to save us both time and just go with it.

"Okay. What do you suggest?" I asked. She smiled, and she seemed a little surprised at my lack of resistance. She pulled me toward her closet. She opened the double doors and turned on the light switch before entering completely. I followed behind her and was amazed, but not necessarily surprised at how gigantic her closet was. I won't go into detail, but it was hands down bigger than her actual bedroom.

"Let me see. Your style is more cute and trendy. What about this?" She asked, grabbing a few different pieces from around the room and laying them in front of me. She grabbed a pair of maroon tights, a long sleeved dress that was mostly cream colored, with some small maroon designs on it, and a pair of brown boots.

"I love it!" I commented, and she clapped her hands together.

"Perfect. Well, I'll leave you to get ready. Your hair already looks flawless, and you really don't need any makeup. As soon as you're ready, just come downstairs and hopefully we'll have your breakfast ready." She kissed my cheek and then exited the room.

I got dressed relatively quickly. I felt like a robot, doing precisely as I was told, but I had never been in a situation like this where I wasn't completely comfortable. I looked myself over in the mirror. My hair looked pretty good, as Alice had said, and the outfit looked cute. As soon as I was done examining myself, I walked downstairs.

At the bottom of the stairs waiting for me was my father. He smiled as he saw me approach, and I blushed as always.

"You look very nice. I was hoping Alice wouldn't go overboard. She lives for this kind of stuff." He explained, and I smiled. In response to hearing him speak to me, Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper, who were sitting in the living room, called out a synchronized "Good Morning".

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, my dad led me in the direction of the kitchen. I probably could have found it myself, but the gesture was nice. When I walked in, Alice was sitting across from Esme at a medium sized island in the middle of the beautifully modern kitchen. She patted the seat beside her, and I walked over, sitting down.

"Good Morning, Dear." Esme said, smiling at me. She looked like she was almost finished with the french toast, which looked exquisite.

"Good Morning. Thank you for the breakfast." I told her. She shot me a dazzling smile, and reached to playfully hit the back of my hand.

"It's my pleasure. Believe it or not, I love to cook. I'm just glad there's finally someone here to enjoy it." She explained. She finished up my breakfast and set it in front of me. I thanked her and immediately began eating. Now that I was actually sitting here, I realized I was starving.

I heard my dad chuckle from beside me. He was now seated in the chair on my other side, watching me intently.

"What?" I asked, once my mouth was clear of food. He was still smiling, but he shrugged as if it were nothing.

"Nothing." He replied simply. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I don't believe you for a second, but I'll drop it." I replied. This time, he and Alice both chuckled. Esme set a glass of milk in front of me and I thanked her. I wondered to myself why they had food and beverages in their house if they don't eat human food. They seemed pretty surprised when I showed up, so I don't think they were expecting me.

"Renesmee, I have some questions for you." My dad told me. He looked hesitant, and my stomach churned at the possible questions he could ask. "You don't have to answer them, but I am very curious." He ended, looking up from my food to meet my eyes.

"Okay. Lay it on me." I said, taking another bite of my food. His crooked smile emerged, and he looked like he was searching through his head for what to ask first.

"Could you tell me what led up to your little 'scheme' last month?" He asked. I thought for a little bit about how to answer.

"Well, I'll start with saying that I have always wanted to meet you—even when I was really really little, probably only like one or two. I started asking about you when I was five, but it wasn't until I was fourteen that she actually told me about you, and even then, it was the bare minimum. She wouldn't even tell me your name." I explained. He looked pained, and I considered stopping. I could see that my words were hurting him. When I hesitated, he looked and me and offered a slight smile.

"So if she never told you about us, how'd you find out?" He prompted me to continue. I sighed, but then smiled a bit as the memory came to me.

"Well, since she wouldn't tell me, I started asking everyone else. After asking for a while, I was able to smuggle some information out of Aro. He was really hesitant at first. He told me that your name is Edward, and that was the extent of the information that I could get out of him for about a year." I chuckled at the next part. "I never gave up on asking him. After a while, he gave in, so I learned almost everything from him. About ten days before my birthday, I had finally given up on ever getting the opportunity to meet you guys. I knew that my mom would never ever approve. I was really sad, so I went to talk to him about it because he'd understand better than anyone. He came up with the idea to send my mom away and bring you to Volterra, and helped make it happen." I finished.

"Sounds to me like you have one of the most powerful people in the world wrapped around your finger." Alice commented. I chuckled, and shrugged. I couldn't deny the truth in her assumption. Aro would do anything I asked him to at this point.

"Can you tell me more about your childhood?" My dad asked. I nodded and tried to think of what I could tell him.

"Well, it wasn't much of a childhood. I grew extremely fast. My mom's pregnancy only lasted a month—I mean, well I guess you'd know considering my birthday was last month, and all." I babbled. He smiled at me adoringly, and I got back to my story. "Anyway, well I stopped growing when I was seven, but by the time I was five, I looked like I was fifteen. As far as my actual experiences, I was a pretty happy kid. I was pretty spoiled. Nobody ever had the opportunity to spend time around any kids, so everyone adored me." It was crazy to think back that far. I remember when Alec and Jane would argue over who got to read to me. That was obviously a long long time ago.

"I was homeschooled when I was younger. I've never really had that much experience with being around actual people." I admitted. Alice looked sympathetically at me. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I've had experience with people. I wasn't like locked up in the castle or anything. I'd go out fairly often, but most of the time, my mom would be with me, so we couldn't go out when it was sunny. I think some of the only times my mom wasn't with me was when I went to my piano lessons. She would make up excuses so she wouldn't have to take me." I added.

"When was your mother changed?" Alice asked. I was pretty sure that was another question of my dad's but he didn't want to ask.

"When I was born. My delivery, I guess you could call it, wasn't normal by any means. I wasn't born like a normal baby. I had to rip my way out of my mom's stomach. If she hadn't been changed, I would have killed her." I admitted sadly. I knew it wasn't my fault, that was just the way it was done, but I still felt bad. I was glad she hadn't been alone when I was born.

"So you were the one who changed her?" My father asked.

"No. I'm not venomous. My mom has a theory that only male hybrids have venom, but it hasn't been proven. It was Aro who changed her." I explained. "He was very intrigued at the fact that he couldn't read my mom's mind, and thought she'd be a good asset to the Volturi. She didn't go there asking to be changed. She just didn't want me to be alone and didn't know where else to go." I added. Once again, the guilt that I felt practically knocked the breath out of me. My mom loved me so much, even before I was born. I missed the loving, caring mom that I had before all of this, but I already love the Cullens. I didn't know what side to chose.

"Believe it or not, Jane was the one who put up the biggest fight. She felt threatened that her power didn't work on my mom. Obviously, she's over it now. My mom never had any reason to be afraid of Jane, seeing as Jane's power was useless against her, so she and Jane became friends. Before that, I'm not sure Jane had many friends. She says its because everyone is afraid of her, but now I'm thinking that it may just be her personality." I was still mad at Jane. I may be confused about everything else, but I was not confused about Jane.

"She seemed pretty protective of you, Ness." Alice added. I shook my head.

"That's because my mom is her best friend, and she was used to protecting me. I have a feeling she was only ever nice to me for my mom's sake. She didn't want to lose her only friend." I added, bitterly. My dad chuckled at me. "It's not funny. She almost killed you after that first day. No, actually, I take that back. She almost killed you after the first few words you spoke to me." I thought back to the sarcastic comment he'd made at my attempt to introduce myself.

"I'd be furious too if I ever heard someone talk to you like that. I'm ashamed at myself for being so horrible to you. I'm—" He began, but I cut him off.

"I know you're sorry. You don't have to apologize." I told him, but he didn't look settled.

"I feel like I should though. My actions were inexcusable." He said. I rolled my eyes. Alice took my empty plate from in front of me, and stuck it in the dishwasher.

"Well, luckily or maybe unluckily for you, I'm not my mom. I forgive you." I said, hopping off my chair and hugging him. He seemed a little surprised at first, but quickly wrapped his cold arms around me, hugging me back.

"Aww, what a tender moment between father and daughter." I heard Emmett comment from the doorway.

"You're such a buffoon. You ruined the moment." Rosalie told him. I felt and heard my dad chuckle at them. He pulled away from me, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.

"It's okay, Rose. I don't think anything could ruin this moment." And with that, the line between right and wrong became even more blurry. As much as I missed the mom that I used to have before everything went down with that ball, I don't think I could bring myself to regret my actions—not when I was so perfectly content in the present.

Author's Note:

So, when I was planning the chapters, I was going to post this one in a back to back post (like this on Saturday and the next on Sunday), but I sort of blanked and didn't have time to write both, so I hope this will do for now.

I'm pretty sure the next chapter is long. It will contain the phone call and more action ;)

Please review. Goal is 575. Some ideas…

1. Thoughts on the chapter

2. Predictions

3. Questions (not anonymous)

4. Unrelated: Suggestions for the next story I should write. It'll be Twilight, Bella/Edward.

Until next time, Taylor