The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter CXLI: Jacob's Point of View

"You want to do what?" I coughed.

"Keep it down," Rosalie snapped. "We won't be going anywhere until after this mess with the Volturi is over," she explained. She turned away from me and faced Nessie. "We'd like for you to come with us, Nessie. That is, if you want to go." The little girl looked up at me with questions all over her eyes. She was probably trying to figure out how to tell them that she didn't want to go. "And if your family is okay with it."

"I'll have to talk to everyone. Renesmee is our responsibility," I said sternly. But even as I said it, I couldn't help but think that this was a great idea. How many times had we said that Nessie needed to know the vampire side of her? She needed someone there that could help her control herself, teach her about what her vampire half was doing to her body. And no matter how much I hated the blonde and the brute, I couldn't help but think that maybe Nessie would be happy living with her aunt and uncle. I sighed. Annie might not like this idea, though. Nessie was a part of our family. She was more than just a responsibility. She was my niece, my family, someone that I'm supposed to protect. "Let me talk to her family about this."

"We can work something out, like a custody arrangement," the blonde continued to press. Her voice dropped down to a whisper that I almost didn't hear. "Bella and Edward won't be allowed around her, around you Nessie, unless that's what you want. We're not even telling them about where we're going. If they want to see us, it will have to be at one of the Cullen houses that we own."

How could they possibly be certain that they were going to be able to protect her? They couldn't; the mind reader would find out. "Details can be worked out later," I said instead. There was no need to put an end to something that could actually be good to her. "But this is not the time."

As if on cue, Bella returned from the bathroom with a smile on her face. "You know, there's this family owned bakery just down the street from here," Emmet began. "They've been there since Rosie and I met. People say they make the best cupcakes. Maybe we should head down there, Ness." Being the little sugar monster that the girls had turned her into, Nessie readily accepted. She wrapped a hand around Emmet's larger, dead, cold one. Rosalie actually cracked a smile as she followed behind them.

And Bella? Well Bella Cullen snapped into step beside me, watching her daughter and family walk towards this little bakery. "She looks good," Bella finally said. I just nodded. It was probably for the best that Annie wasn't here. I could hear her angry voice in my head right now, yelling at Bella for all the things that she had lied about. And the stench rolling off Bella made me absolutely sure she wasn't human anymore. "She'd be happier living with her parents, you know?" she spat.

"Maybe," I said, trying to keep the peace so that I could avoid getting her angry and phasing. "But she's happy with us. And since it's your daughter, isn't that what's most important? I mean, isn't that the whole thing with being a mom. You just want her to be happy."

"I want her to be happy with her family, Jacob. Don't you understand that?""She is with her family, Bella. And she's happy," I said. I could hear Nessie up ahead, telling stories about the last time that she and Annie had made something in the kitchen. I was kind of surprised to see that the leeches were listening with rapt attention, laughing with her whenever she said something funny. "You didn't even want kids. I don't understand why you're so ridiculous about all of this."

"Having a kid actually changes things She's a part of me and Edward," she said quietly. There it was. I don't even think Bella realized what she had said. She wasn't putting Nessie's best interest in front, but holding tightly to her daughter because she wanted a piece of Edward. Everything was about him. "I see the way you look at her," Bella said. I narrowed my eyes and took deep breath, thinking of Annie and the fact that she would be waiting for me. "She could have been yours, you know. If you had just listened to me when I told you I was getting married."

"I don't want your daughter, Bella. She's my niece."

"We could have worked something could have been a family. You still would have seen her, been a father figure in her life," Bella continued.

I glanced up at Nessie and her family, making sure that they weren't going to do or say anything that I didn't want her to hear before I stepped in front of Bella and stopped her. "You are unbelievable," I hissed at her. "I don't want you; I don't want your daughter. The only thing that I want from you is your sister. I don't know how else to say this to you but I don't love you, Bella. You are selfish and manipulative and just an overall bitch." She looked like someone had stabbed her through the heart. It was about time that it hurt, about time that she realized what she was. "There will never be anything about me that loves you, Bella. Ever. You know, Annie always says that she's the bad sister, the sister that isn't worth it. But she was wrong. You are everything that you sister is not. You are self-centered, rude, conniving, and not worth my time."

I turned back to where Nessie was standing with her aunt and uncle. Emmet was trying to keep her distracted while Rosalie regarded me with pitying eyes. I wasn't sure whether she was pitying me or Bella though. And despite Emmet's attempts to keep Nessie's attention, I knew she saw me and my anger. "Nessie, say good by to your family. We're going home," I said. The little girl nodded and stepped into a hug. Emmet's arms engulfed her and pulled her tight to his chest. Rosalie nodded at me like she understood exactly why I was making her niece leave.

"Thank you for giving her some time with us," she whispered to me before she took Nessie into her arms. "We'll go and get cupcakes another time," she told the little monster.

"Wait!" Bella shouted when Nessie moved to me. "Why don't you come home with me and your aunt and uncle? You can spend the night tonight and we'll take you back to the Reservation tomorrow?" She wrapped her hands around Nessie's wrists. The pain shined in the little girl's eyes.

It was hard to remember just how young Renesmee was sometimes. She'd had to make so many adult decisions in her short life and she handled everything so maturely that I tended to forget that she was only physically nine-years-old. She looked at me with desperation. I wanted to help her, I really did. But she had been taught by us to stand up for herself, to be strong and independent. She didn't need me. "I want to go home with Jacob, Mom," she whispered.

"You are my daughter," Bella said.

"I am, but I don't want to go home with you," she replied.

Emmet wrapped his meaty hand around Bella's wrist and pried it away from her. She struggled against him but after a few moments, she released Nessie, who scrambled to my side. "Next time you want to meet with us, she doesn't come with you," I said, jabbing a finger at Bella. Rosalie nodded and said goodbye to her niece, even managing a nod and another thank you to me.

Nessie didn't speak the entire drive home. I tried to start a conversation a few times, but she gave me short answers and turned to stare out her window. I knew that I needed to talk to her about her aunt and uncle's offer, but I wanted to talk to Annie about it first. So we sat in silence until we pulled up to the house. "I'm going to the beach... Is that okay?" she muttered. I nodded and told her to be home in half an hour. I watched her petite form walk away and disappear around the bend before I walked into the house.

Darkness had begun to fall over the Reservation. Dad was out and about with Charlie. Rebecca had gone to hang out with Emily in the hopes of learning her carrot cake recipe. And the girl that I had longed to see since I left that morning was curled up on the couch underneath the quilt that my mother had made ages ago. A small carton of ice cream was in her hand, the spoon digging through the substance. Suddenly, she brought the spoon to her mouth with a satisfying smile. "What are you doing?" I laughed.

"Cookie dough," she said around her full mouth.

"You are digging through the ice cream to find the cookie dough?" She nodded, putting the carton and spoon on the coffee table. "Why did you just by raw cookie dough at the store?""Because I wanted cookie dough ice cream," she said simply.

"But you're not eating the ice cream."

"You don't know that," she shot back with that little smile I loved so much. I dropped to the cushion beside her and curled around her. "How did things go in the city today?" she asked.

No time like the present. "So... we need to talk about something really quick." She sighed and leaned back against my arm.

"Here comes the other foot," she muttered.