A/N: Again I love all the reviews, please keep them coming! I've been digging deep in my imagination for how each of these characters would respond in this new timeline. Any thoughts sre welcome! Just be nice please, this is all for fun :)
Edward's POV
"Okay, let's get back to things I don't know about. What happened after the battle?" Renesmee redirected us. Jacob and Bella looked at each other, Jacob questioning what she remembered. Bella nodded that she recalled enough to continue the story.
"Jacob was right, kissing him did help me realize I loved him and could see what our future could've been like together, but it still wasn't at all like what I felt for your dad. Even though he had barely been recuperating from the fight for a few hours, I went to see him to…well…break up with him for lack of a better term. After that…" Bella trailed off, letting Jacob tell this part. Jacob cleared his throat awkwardly.
I know she knows I'm a wolf, but does she know much about us? Like our quirks? Jacob asked me while he tried to organize his thoughts. I shook my head no, encouraging him to explain.
"So yeah, I was pretty banged up from the fight. But a great thing about being a wolf is that we heal ridiculously quick. After just a few days, I was physically back to normal. Mentally, though, things were difficult. Another thing about wolves is that we can hear each other's thoughts while we're in our wolf forms. Some members of the pack," he refrained from calling out Leah with Seth close by, "were not as understanding as others. The last straw was," he suddenly stopped and looked to the floor.
We said honesty time here, but I really don't want to tattle on you. I'm not trying to be a jerk. Jacob peeked over at me, nervous to tick me off with the next part of the story.
"It's fine, Bella knows. I told her not long after Renesmee was born." Jacob was relieved, he truly was trying to weasel his way onto my good side.
"Well, my last straw was about the wedding. We got an invite to our house, for me and Billy, with a note from Edward to me. I couldn't face things at that moment, so I took off, phasing to a wolf and running as far as I could over the next couple of months. I needed some time to just…disconnect. Eventually I started making my way back, deciding at the last minute to show up to the wedding." Renesmee audibly gasped at this. "I made it sometime during the reception and had a chance to talk and dance with Bella away from the crowd. At first, it was like a nice moment of closure. But then," he abruptly cut off.
Okay I'm pretty sure it's not my place to say this part to your daughter. Jacob looked as though he might get sick. He did have a point though, this part of the story would be awkward enough—Bella or I should take over.
I can handle this. Bella, thankfully, jumped in. She turned to Renesmee, holding both her hands.
"Sorry honey, this may get even more awkward for a moment." Bella looked as though she would be blushing again if she could.
"How could it get any more awkward?" Renesmee cut in.
Jacob let out an embarrassed chuckle and I ran my free hand through my hair, my own nervous tick.
"During that conversation, it was in ways closure for us both. But, some questions still lingered. At this point, I'd made my choice to become a vampire. That night, Jacob asked when that would be happening, worried it would be that night. I assured him that it wasn't but as the conversation continued," Bella paused, struggling to find the words to say. "I'm always quick to defend myself and my choices, so I was blunt enough with Jacob to tell him that your father and I were going on a honeymoon. And that we planned for it to actually be a honeymoon." Jacob, Bella, and I all waited in uncomfortable silence. It took Renesmee an extra beat to catch on.
What? Ohhhhhh. She snorted. "Okay, so yes very awkward to discuss in present company but—obviously—I know that happened because well…" and she motioned to herself. We all had to laugh at that, she had a point.
"Yeah good point," Jacob continued to laugh. "I only brought it up because, that conversation, I didn't handle it well. It set me off again. My anger was the worst it had been since I first became a wolf. I'm sure more of it was due to jealousy than I'd want to admit. But another aspect was that I was genuinely scared for Bella—I didn't trust that she wouldn't die trying." He and I both shivered that time. "I'm glad to know I was wrong."
So very wrong. Bella thought to me and smirked. I met her gaze and laughed once, then fixed my expression so Jacob would continue, as this was not the appropriate time to linger on that night.
"When I left that night, I ran off again for about a year." Jacob's thoughts were a blur of green, recalling his time as a full wolf.
"After that night, we never saw Jacob again. Any contact we've had with the pack has been through Sam or Seth." I allowed Jacob to say his peace on this.
"Yeah, so like I said, I ran off for about a year after that night. Went full wolf, like I had those months before. While I was physically older and had been through a lot in a short year and a half, emotionally I was still just sixteen. I needed time away from everything. So I ran, basically zig zagged paths through the Canadian wilderness; I wanted to be isolated but close enough that I could go back in case of emergency. Of course, like I said before, there is no actual privacy in our wolf forms; no matter how far I ran, anyone back home could hear my thoughts when they phased. I mostly tried to tune them out and they tried to give me my space, but thoughts don't work that way." I had to hum in agreement at that, if only. Jacob smiled at our moment of understanding before he continued.
"I made it very clear that I needed to know as little as possible about Bella or the Cullens while I was gone, it was too much. I had made up my mind that she would either die or be changed on their honeymoon and I just wanted to accept that. The rest of the pack was really respectful of that, they could feel my pain, so they filtered their thoughts in wolf form: sometimes they talked about things as humans only or warned me and I would phase myself to be out of their heads for a few hours.
"Now, for the following years, I probably only know the 'bullet point' version because I really tried to avoid details. You all may need to correct me or fill in missing pieces. I was shocked to hear about the meeting you all had with Sam just a few weeks after the wedding and it was confirmed Bella had been changed. I assume that was after you were born?" He gestured to Renesmee, but his question was really for Bella and I. All three of us nodded. "Okay, that's what I figured. If it's okay, I'd like to circle back to that whole story later?" Again we agreed.
"By the time I returned home, everyone else already knew about Renesmee. That was quite a shock for everyone. At the time, I was upset for a lot of reasons: jealousy, confusion, fear. Whenever something new happened that wasn't a part of our tribe's histories, it really shook everyone. If we're being fully transparent, cards on the table, I was not happy about it at all. I was mad at all of you and I assumed the worst. I mean, Edward was basically my arch nemesis so I always pictured a little mini him walking around brooding at everyone."
Bella and Renesmee both laughed at that while I rolled my eyes. I wouldn't begrudge Jacob Black the things he thought about my family while battling his broken heart, not now that he had changed his tune.
"I am a mini him in a lot of ways. But, not the brooding." Renesmee reached across to squeeze my hand. "I mean the hair alone, who else in the world has bronze hair like this except us?" She ruffled her hair out.
"So, yeah, that's basically what life was like for me for a while. I wasn't excited to hear you all would be coming back every year, but a part of me was happy Charlie wasn't completely losing you." He smiled at Bella, truly happy for how things had worked out.
"But I was still a teenage boy with a broken heart and damaged pride. So, Seth helped me out and gave me a warning each time before you all came to town. I would either plan a trip somewhere or just head back to the woods for a few days. I knew I could not have handled an accidental run in, I would have lost my mind. And Seth, man is he your alls biggest fan," Jacob rolled his eyes. "He probably spent the first couple years, at least, begging me to clear the air and try to be friends again, the leech lover." It was so strange to hear Jacob use his old insults in such a playful way.
"Well I bet you wished you had listened to me now!" Seth retorted from the kitchen, feeling quite smug.
"You got me there. But I do think I needed some of that time to grow up and get over some things. I was still harboring too much anger about it all, I guess it was my own brand of brooding."
"So why didn't you leave this summer? Seth knew I was coming to stay." Renesmee was confused.
"Well, really that was all about the garage. The other trips had been long weekends, but I couldn't take the whole summer off of work. Also, a part of me wanted to show I could handle it, actually sticking around and not worrying about you all being here. I spend most of my time in La Push, so I assumed it would be simple enough to not ever see any of you. But I guess I was wrong there," He smiled at Renesmee. "And I'm really glad I was."
"Me too," she answered dreamily. Bella and I looked at each other, grimacing at the turn of the conversation. I looked over at Jacob until he finally looked back at me, imploring him with my eyes to bring up the next most important piece of information so I wouldn't have to for him.
Right, I need to explain more to her. Does she know Sam and Emily? I nodded. Does she know their story? I shook my head. Renesmee knew nothing of imprinting, he would have to start from the beginning. He blew out a breath.
"That leads to another really important piece I need to tell you, Renesmee. It's a werewolf thing, so I will explain as best I can, but you can ask me anything." She nodded, her thoughts scared for what was coming next. "So for wolves, there is something called imprinting. From our histories, we thought it was an exception not a rule, but it's been more common with our present pack than it ever was before." He paused, wondering how best to explain, when a memory occurred to him. This was Bella's daughter, why not use her words here? Years ago, he explained it to her too.
"I tried to explain it to your mom years ago, when we were still hanging out. To summarize that talk, it's like love at first sight but stronger. We don't know when, or if, it will happen to any of us, but when we see her we know. It's like our whole world shifts and now there's a new person in our lives who becomes everything to us. And we will be there for them in whatever way they want us, a friend or brother or…" He paused, remembering his audience. "Or more." He finished uncomfortably and waited a beat for her to digest that. I checked her thoughts to see if she was hiding her questions from him.
Love at first sight but stronger? I mean, that makes sense to me in the supernatural world. The way my family loves their partners is definitely stronger than a normal human thing. It tracks that werewolves have their own version. She continued to impress me with her maturity and calm throughout this conversation.
"And so, when I saw you at the diner Renesmee, I imprinted on you." Now, at that, Renesmee gasped. She hadn't let herself hope for that to be true. She assumed the conversation was going in some other direction. Her reaction shocked Jacob as well. "That part surprises you? I wouldn't tell you about imprinting if it hadn't happened with you. And it did, Edward can back me up here. Or Seth. Can't deny it." He smiled reassuringly at her and walked slowly over to where she sat, sitting in front of her.
"Yes it does surprise me!" Renesmee was flustered. "I thought that conversation was going to end in one of two ways. Either one, you've imprinted on someone and your relationship with them is brotherly or two, you haven't imprinted yet, not even on me. And that you would ask to date me anyway and if I'd be okay with that. I barely had the chance to hope it actually happened for us. I mean a werewolf imprinting on a half vampire? Who would think that could happen?" She was starting to ramble, as she did when she was nervous. Bella and I reached over at the same time, placing hands on her to soothe and hopefully stop her nervous word flow.
"No, Renesmee. I can assure you, I don't think I would put a woman in either of those scenarios, not after all I have seen my brothers go through. I truly do care about you and enjoy getting to know you and I hope you will let that continue even after learning all of this."
Renesmee took a minute to reflect on everything. "Okay, so right now it's all so fresh I can't think of any questions. I'm sure I will have them. But at this moment, I believe what all of you have said and while it is definitely a weird scenario, I would like to keep getting to know you." Jacob beamed a huge smile and reached forward to hug her. He had a thought to kiss her when I cleared my throat. Just because I was starting to understand this, it didn't mean there weren't still boundaries here. Especially in front of her parents!
Jacob rolled his eyes at me. Am I stuck with this overprotective act forever? I'll get on your good side soon enough.
"We'll see about that," I retorted. I would not make that an easy task for him.
