The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter CLIII

"What was that?" I asked of him.

"I don't think it's the greatest idea for her to come and live with us," he repeated.

"What's with the sudden change of heart?" I asked. It was only a few weeks ago that he was saying that he wanted to be the parent in her life, that he wanted to help raise. "You were all ready for it a few weeks ago."

"I love her, Ryanne. I do; but she's a hybrid. She's not all human and she's not all vampire," he said. I nodded. "I think that if we keep telling her to pick between the two worlds, she's going to get confused and hurt."

"So you want her to be around?"

"I bought a house," he said. I frowned and balked, trying to figure out where this jump came from. "I bought another house, I should say. It's in the forest, closer to Seattle. What if we switched off weeks or months or something?" Jake and I had talked about it multiple times over the last few weeks and yet, somehow sitting here listening to him say it made me a little mad. There was no real rhyme or reason as to why I was angry at him. It was just because he'd said it. So I swallowed my urge to growl and snap at him and listened to what he was saying. "If we do this, maybe we can teach her to embrace both sides of herself."

I nodded slowly, looking out the glass wall and pondering his words. "Week by week is too much moving. No kid should feel like they have to move back and forth every day," I said after a few moments silence. "And if you're going to take her, it should be long enough for her to adjust each time. And adjust well." Emmet was nodding along with me. "If you and Rosalie were to take her for a month, I would expect her to call my father every weekend and she would need to be there for Sunday dinners at least twice in her time with you."

"I think we could agree with that," he said. "Rose and I just want what's best for Nessie."

I nodded in understanding. "You know, for a meat head, you're really not that stupid," I said. His laughter boomed through the bedroom and his cold hand reached out to ruffle my hair. Great; just another thing that I'd have to deal with when Jake came back later.

"And for a puny little human, you're pretty cool," he replied. "And no matter how much it sucks to admit it, you've done a good job raising her." I smiled at the praise. "And if you ever tell anyone that I said this, I'll rip out your vocal cords."
I chortled. "I'd like to see you try," I said, thinking that Jake kill him before he hurt me.

"But I think that you've done a better job raising her than Bella and Edward would have done," he said. "I mean, between Bella's whining and Edward's tendency to sulk, it would be more than a little dangerous for them to have raised her." I laughed at him then. "So... After the Volturi...?"

"I'll talk to her. I'd like for her to spend some time at home after all of this is over. But I can talk to Jake about you guys having weekends with her for the next little. She deserves to have time to adjust to a normal existence." I raised my eyebrows when he didn't say anything back to me. "You know, there's one major reason that I think it's important that she gets to spend time with you guys."

"And what's that?" he laughed.

One look at my face made him somber though. "One day, Jake and I will die." He started shaking his head like he was going to argue with me. "We don't know what's going to happen with Nessie, but I think that the vampire side of her will make her immortal. So, I have to prepare for that. She came to us and wanted to be away from her parents. But what happens if she is immortal, you know? And then when all of us are dead, she wouldn't have anyone to go to. That's the only real reason that I was so okay with you guys wanting to form a relationship with her."

"You're a weird one, you know that, right?" he asked me.

"I don't understand what you mean."

"You're the only human I know that would take things as well as you do. You think about everything, don't you?" He was laughing at me, but I chose to take the compliment for what it was worth.

"Yeah, she does," Jake's voice boomed from the doorway. "And you were just leaving." Emmet shot him a bored look, but got up off the bed and walked out the room without another word to me or Jake. "You could have called for me," he said the moment the bedroom door was shut.

"There was no reason to. He wasn't going to do anything," I replied.

"You didn't know that."

"If I felt threatened, then I would called for you to come and help me," I countered. "Besides, he wasn't here to threaten me. He was here to talk to me about Nessie." Jake seemed to perk up a little pit at that. I reiterated our conversation so that he knew what had been said. "It's the best solution for her," I finished. He nodded slowly.

"Ryanne!" Nessie bell voice sounded just as Jake was about to open his mouth and say something. I sighed, but looked at the little girl. "You should see what's going on down here." She took my hand in one of hers and Jake's in the other, using her strength to start pulling us down the stairs. Jake followed, shooting me a look that was full of regret. "Look at this."

Bella was standing out front with one of the girls from the Alaska clan, their eyes glimmering gold from their recent hunt. Edward was writhing in pain from her touch, but it didn't spur Bella into any action. "She can't do it to mom; she keeps trying and it's not doing anything." I didn't understand what that meant, but the confusion must have been evident on my face. "Dad thinks that Mom might have a special power or something," she said excitedly. I was instantly on edge. Did she want to come back to her parents? Had all the plans that Emmet and I had just made gone down the toilet in less than an hour?

Sure enough, Bella had some kind of shield that they believed would protect us from the rest of the Volturi. My problem came in trusting my sister to take care of me and my wolves. I didn't just have some witnesses and a family that felt like they could protect themselves. No, I had wolves and imprints. I had friends and family that I truly cared about. I couldn't bring myself to be okay with relying on Bella for anything.

"They should be here any day now," Jake said when we were sitting in our room that night. I had vented all of my anger and distress over the fact that I was going to have to put the lives of the people I loved the most in the hands of my sister. In the hands of Bella Swan, arguably one of the most selfish and manipulative people on the planet. Jake had his arms wrapping around me, his hands squeezing and tugging at the tension in my shoulders. I think that he wanted to ease his own nerves by getting rid of mine. And I was putty in his hands, leaning against his chest and letting him support all my weight. "We have to be prepared for anything."

"Can we come up with a plan for what we're going to do when Bella doesn't come through?" I asked him, lolling my head back against his shoulder. He smiled and laughed, but the sound wasn't at all at ease. "You know that we can't trust her, Jake."

"I'm not saying that we have to trust her."

"Well that's good because I don't." He sighed and pulled me back tight against his chest. I was falling asleep, allowing the warmth and safety of him to wash away the last of my agitation. "What are we going to do?" I asked of him, knowing that I wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.

"Don't I always make things work?" I nodded sleepily against him. "Then just trust me, baby girl. I'll get it all taken care of."

"And you'll be safe," I added.

"And I'll keep you safe," he amended. Any other day, I would argue with him and tell him that he was being stupid. But I was just so damn tired. I felt like the energy was being drained from me. All the stress of waiting was driving me to the point of insanity.

And what was worse, I had a terrible feeling about tomorrow.