The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter CXXII

"Jake!" I screamed again. He was by my side next then a minute later.

"What's wrong? What's going on? Who's here?" he asked quickly. His nose was lifted to the air, testing it to see what he could find. "Why is she here?" he demanded when he picked up Renesmee's scent.

"I don't know; you said to call you if anything seemed off and this seemed off. I haven't had a chance to talk to her yet. I just finished talking to my dad when she showed up," I explained. His arms dropped over my waist, obviously having decided that Renesmee wasn't enough of a threat for him to be bothered with at the moment.

"You told your dad everything?"

"Mostly," I shrugged.

"Damn it, Ryanne!" he shouted in his quiet whisper. "You should have told him everything. He deserves to know about all the shit that his daughter has done."

"I told him most of it, Jake. I just don't want him... I don't know, Jake. It just seems wrong to do that to him," I admitted. "Bella was his daughter once."

"You're not protecting him by downplaying the things that happened, Annie. If you don't tell him, I will," he threatened. Maybe that would be the easy way out. Maybe I could have Jake tell him and then I would have nothing to worry about. "Let's get in the house and find out what the spawn is doing here." If she was going to be staying, we should probably find another name for her that wasn't the spawn.

Jake pushed me into the house in his gently gruff manner. I followed him willingly to where Renesmee sat on the couch, across from my father. If it was a normal child, I would be laughing at the look on my father's face. He was pressed as far back into his arm chair as physically possible, his eyes wide as he stared at the little hybrid. Jake kept a firm hand wrapped around my arm. I still pulled insistently towards the couch and took a seat next to her. "Why are you here?" Jake growled.

"Ignore him," I said, nestling back into Jake's side so that he would know that I was still keeping with him. "He's always been a little rough around the edges. But how did you get here, Renesmee?"

"I ran," she whispered, her soft voice tinkling like a bell. "My parents went out hunting and I took the chance to run while Dad wasn't home."

"Why?"

She hesitantly extended a hand towards me, pausing to first look at me and then at Jake. Both of us nodded, her hand rested on mine. "Your aunt is lying to you, Renesmee. We were such great friends. The Pack has changed the way that she thinks about things," I could hear Bella saying. Her brows were furrowed and I felt a kind of confusion in a brain that wasn't mine. "I know that you showed her our conversation, but she just used that against you."

"Bella that's enough," Edward cut in. "You want her to be a part of your family then you have to be honest with her. You and Ryanne were never really friends," he explained. "Your aunt chose a different path in life and that's the end of this conversation." Nice; short and sweet and completely unhelpful.

"Your aunt, my sister, has taken everything from me, Renesmee. She took Jacob, she took my family, and now she's trying to take you. Everything is just a game to her, a competition that she wants to win. She doesn't care about you, sweetheart," Bella promised her. My gaze swiveled to Edward who shook his head at whatever thoughts I'd had about hurting my mother. "We're going hunting." Bella rose and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "We'll be back in a few hours. Stay with Carlisle and Esme."

Renesmee removed her hand from my skin and looked up at Jake. "Show him," I prompted. Jake flinched when her cold hand touched his forearm. His eyes misted over as he was lost in the thoughts that weren't his. "So you didn't believe your mom? And that is what made you run away?"

She shook her head and pressed her hand to mine again. Carlisle appeared before my eyes, his body young but his eyes old and wise and tired. "Your mother and your aunt have always been different from one another, Renesmee. They just have different ways of thinking, of acting. Your mother has always been attached to what she wants. She will do whatever she can to make sure that the things she wants happen. It's both a blessing and curse. Your mother is determined and more than a little stubborn," Carlisle explained to her.

"What they each have told you is very true, Renesmee. When they were children I'm sure that the two were closer than they are now. But they aren't children anymore. Charlie kept your aunt here with him and Renee took your mother with her. They grew up in different worlds and grew apart. Ryanne learned how to make friends and be around people. Bella learned how to occupy herself. But Ryanne didn't lie to you," Esme said, appearing behind me, well Renesmee.

"So my parents lied to me. Dad knows that it was not the whole truth," a bell voice muttered. "I... I have to go."

She removed her hand and moved to show Jake, who was growling and muttering under his breath as her hand came in contact with him. Dad was staring at the group of us, probably wondering what was going on. I jerked my head to the kitchen, rising to leave Jake and Renesmee on the couch. "She's special, Dad," I muttered. "She can show you her memories, her thoughts. She was showing us why she left the Cullens."

"Why did she leave?" Dad asked, suddenly curious.

"Because Bella lied to her. She doesn't deserve that, Dad. Bella told her that I was their best friend, that I would love her because we were best friends. She just feels betrayed. The only parents that she has ever known, in her like four months of living, have been letting her live in a fantasy world, Dad. And now she gets to see that nothing is as she said it would be. It hurts, Dad. That's all," I replied.

"So what would you like me to do, Ryanne?" Dad asked. He could see through me easily, like I was nothing important.

"You've raised one daughter before," I said, leaving the sentence hanging.

Dad took a little while, being a little slower when I wasn't explicit with him. "You want me to take her in? To take care of her like she was my own daughter?" He laughed a little harshly. "I'm too old to raise another kid, Rye."

"Dad, she's not normal. She'll age quicker and you can be done. Besides, she is kind of your granddaughter," I said, trying not to sneer at the word.

"Kind of," he replied with a laugh. "What about keeping her safe? Something is coming after you and Bella, right?"

"Well...not exactly," I muttered. "They're coming for Renesmee. They think that she's an immortal child. There was a few vampires centuries ago that wanted kids so desperately they turned kids into leeches. But kids can't control their impulses and the deaths became too many. Someone thought that Renesmee was one of them and called for help. They're coming after her, to kill her and the Cullens for allowing such a monster to be created," I explained. "Jake will talk to the guys, make sure that you two are safe. If she's going to be here, you're going to be in even more danger. That is, if you're going to keep her."

"Of course I'm going to keep her," he snapped. "I can't just let her go back to your sister if she doesn't want to. That's the whole reason I kept you in Forks with me."

"Come again?"

"You didn't want to go to your mom's, ever. I kept telling you to go with her, but you refused. Eventually I had to tell you that you could stay here with me. You and Bella chose who you wanted to live with. Bella wanted to go and live with your mother. You had no desire to be anywhere but here." I smiled at him. "And when I did try to make you, your mother called me and said that you were miserable and crying and Billy would have to deal with Jake who was miserable and crying. It was easier for all if I would just keep you here with me." I laughed. "And if trust be told I wanted you here."

"Dad, Renesmee needs someone who will help her grow up, someone to raise her the right way. I can't be that, but you can," I explained.

Dad pulled me tight against his chest and hugged me close. "I'll keep the little monster, but we need to find another name for her."

I laughed, interrupted by Jake's deep rumble. "We're calling the little monster Nessie, like the Loch Ness Monster," he laughed, his hand on Renesmee's shoulder blade. "She's not a threat; I've seen it. She's going to get used to eating human food and stop feeding all together," he said with a pointed look at the little girl. "And we're going to keep her safe."

"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much."