All Grown Up: The Story of Jacob and Renesmee Part I

ABC's

Chapter 2: ABC’s

Edward

As I lounged on our sofa with my wife and daughter watching one of our favorite documentaries, a wolf howled and yipped from outside. In an instant Renesmee was off the couch and out the front door of our cottage.

"Midnight!" Bella reminded her from my lap.

"I know!" came the exasperated reply from outside.

I watched through Jacob's mind as he greeted her by nudging her shoulder with his nose. He straightened up and she hugged his tall leg.

"I missed you today," she said into his fur. He whined in agreement.

She scrambled up his side and took her place on his back.

"What are they thinking?" Bella asked twisting around to look at me.

"They are glad to see each other as always..." I let my voice trail off, she knew there was more.

"And?" she pressed.

"He's...pleased at her choice of attire today," I said putting it as delicate as I could.

She raised her eyebrows at me.

"It's time isn't it," she said more of a statement then a question.

An out loud acknowledgment of what we knew would come sooner or later. It was obvious to both of us she was no longer a child, and we were now parents of a teenager.

"Yes love, I think so. She looks like she's 18, and thinks like she is as well."

"What have you been hearing?" I looked at her skeptically, she knew I was listening to their thoughts very closely lately.

Partly to make sure there were no intentions of "hanky panky" as Bella had put it, before we'd given their relationship our blessing.

Bella had insisted I only tell her things of a need to know nature. I knew she wanted Nessie to be her little girl for as long as possible.

"Really, I want to know now. I suppose I can't ignore it any longer."

"They are both careful with their thoughts around me, but I don't think they realize how far away I'm able to hear them. They have the normal teenage thoughts, as abnormal as they and their relationship are. Jake wonders if she would let him kiss her. She in turn thinks about what that might be like. Sometimes she thinks he's going to. He'd never try though." I laughed softly.

Bella scowled at me.

"Don't make this worse for him!" she scolded me, "He's already terrified of you."

Jacob was probably more afraid of me then any boy had ever been of a girls father. Because he knew if he had one improper thought I'd know about it and put a stop to it before he even had a chance to finish it.

Bella sighed. "I guess we should tell him shouldn't we, give him the green light. Is she really ready?"

When Renesmee was a baby we'd made is clear to him that he's not to express anything more than platonic feelings to her until we feel she's reached the appropriate level of maturity. He agreed, and I knew he would never overstep his bounds until her mother and I felt she was ready. Not just because he knew I'd rip him limb from limb if he dared, but because he wanted what was best for her.

"Yes, I do think it's time, he's been incredibly patient," I stroked the side of her face. "Don't worry yourself. Some of their thoughts are actually very sweet."

"Really?"

"Each one thinks the other couldn't feel the same, that the other couldn't possibly feel so strongly. But they are both wrong. Rather like us during our courtship."

She smiled at me, remembering and turned back around pulling my arms tighter around her.

Jacob

I was deep in thought as I ran in wolf form, with Nessie on my back, headed to her favorite hunting spot. Her face was pressed against the back of my neck, her long arms wrapped around it.

She would turn seven in just a month. Carlisle was still tracking her growth, now he measured her once a week. Her growth had slowed considerably in the past year, and now for the first time in her life she'd gone five weeks without gaining so much as a millimeter.

I had known from the day she was born that she would be the love of my life. I wasn't sure when that day would come, but now it seemed like it was here. As she got older she'd started to hug me tighter and longer, looked a little more excited to see me. I'd started looking at her differently too. Of course she had been a beautiful baby, then a beautiful child. But now...she was just beyond what I had even dreamed she'd turn out to be. She had grown up, but I would wait until her parents gave me their blessing.

It was harder to control my thoughts now around Edward. When I came to get her tonight she was looking amazing. Faded jeans, a halfway zipped up hoodie with a tank top peeking out. Probably not an outfit another guy would have drooled over. But because it was just so her, I loved it. As she ran out of the house and bounded towards me I found myself being glad she wasn't wearing a bra for our hunt tonight.

A B C D E F G! I thought to myself so that Edward wouldn't throw me in the river. I often thought kids songs to myself, loudly, just to fill up my head with something. I moved my eyes to Nessie's flawless face. Surely he couldn't fault me for loving the sweet brown eyes he had fallen in love with himself, Bella's eyes. I really hoped he hadn't been listening.