THE REST OF TOMORROW
Chapter 5: Friction Edward's POV For quite some time I heard the murmured, concerned voices of my family drifting up from downstairs. There wasn't a need for me to pay close attention, because I could hear each of their thoughts. Rosalie's were the most prominent, very unhappy that Jacob had allowed her niece to be exposed to such a horrible story of savagery. My sister longed to take matters into her own hands and have it out with Jacob Black, but reasoned to herself that it would only upset Renesmee further. Admittedly, I felt some of the same emotions Rosalie was experiencing, especially when I had neared the campsite, hearing the thoughts of the other boys. I was aware that they hadn't meant any harm and had only wanted to give my daughter the true experience, scary stories and all, but I had still been frustrated. Alice was concerned that Renesmee had a true vision, but as I rested on my side watching my daughter sleep, I felt confident that the dream was a mere product of the excitement of the night. That in combination with all the Smores she had eaten along with Brady's story had produced the nightmare. My eyes drifted from my daughter to the door of her room, and a moment later it opened and my wife moved inside. Bella walked silently to the bed on which I was resting and sat down on the edge, concern etching the beautiful features of her face. "Jacob hasn't come back. I know you said you wouldn't leave her, but I really think he needs to talk about what happened." I focused my gaze past her, listening beyond the house deep into the woods until Jacob's thoughts joined my own. First I fail as a leader and now I've let her down. I should just do them all a favor and leave. Before making any decision to go and speak to him, I took Renesmee's hand and placed it on my cheek. My daughter was in the deepest stages of sleep now, and I felt it safe to leave her while I went to talk to Jacob. As I placed her hand back around her favorite stuffed wolf I looked over at my wife who was now standing at the end of the bed. "I'll try not to be long." After I stood up, I reached out and pulled Bella gently into my arms, feeling the tension in her body melt away at my touch. When she gazed up at me, I lowered my head pressing my lips to hers, "I love you." She smiled at me as I moved away from her and once she had taken my place in the bed next to our daughter, I made my way downstairs and outside hoping I could get Jacob to stay. ~*~*~*~*~ Jacob POV His smell alerted me long before I heard his approach. I wasn't in the mood to talk and hoped Edward would hear that and turn around. Even when he reached my side, standing as still as any statue, I didn't turn to talk to him and tried not to think about anything other than what I had the last time I had gone all Wolf. "What do you think that will do to her?" "I'm really not sure. What good am I doing her by staying? Oh by the way she talked me out of taking her medicine, so you might want to give that to her when she wakes up." My level of hostility was rising, and I hoped I could say something that would make him fight me. He ignored my thoughts and continued on, "Jacob you have not failed my daughter, not by any means of the word. I know how hard it is to say no to her when she looks at you with the same brown eyes that Bella once had. It takes a great amount of control not to give Renesmee anything she wants when she does that. The important thing is that when she woke up you were there to hold her when she needed you the most." "After I scared the crap out of her because I forgot where I was. So do you think she had some sort of vision like Alice?" Finally I felt strong enough to face him and when I did he was looking away, over the lake. "I think what happened tonight was the result of many things. I don't believe she had a vision." "Nessie seemed pretty certain." "Yes, but you have to consider the contributing factors. She was up past her bed time, she had a lot of sugar, and Brady's story," Edward pointed out. Those were all valid points and I felt a little better. "I guess I should let you get back." I wasn't quite ready to return, but was no longer ready to take off. Edward was right. I had a responsibility to Nessie to stay here through good and bad times. Once he had gone I walked closer to the edge of the lake and found a flat rock. I picked it up and cast it out over the water, watching as it skipped six times before it sank into the depths. My mind kept going back to what Nessie had said about the dream, about a dark place. What had scared her was that I had been restraining her, and I wondered if in her dream that same thing had happened. Maybe Edward was right, but I had a gut feeling that this wasn't the end of it. ~*~*~*~*~*~ For the first time since she had gotten sick over the summer, Renesmee had taken her medicine without complaining or crying. If anything, it was as if the events of last nights dream had never taken place. My daughter was happy and very pleasant to be around. She helped me cook breakfast for all of the boys, telling me in full detail every part of what had gone on last night, even talking Jacob out of taking her medicine. When she got to that part she looked down at her feet, and I didn't have it in me to scold her. The only part she didn't talk about was the dream, and that was the only thing that concerned me. Bella had come into the kitchen a few times glancing at me with a worried expression her face, and I knew eventually we needed to try and sit down with Renesmee and talk about her nightmare, but before I could get to that point Renesmee was holding a tray full of food in both her hands heading out to our deck to be with Jacob and the boys. Just as I began to clean up the pots and pans I had used to make breakfast, Bella was at my side. "We'll talk to her about last night," I began but she was already shaking her head. "I know we need to, Edward, but she's happy right now. It's like she's putting on this huge act, but maybe it isn't, maybe my instincts are wrong. Maybe she woke up and realized it was just a dream and she's finally happy." We were both silent and without thought I reached out and turned off the faucet before the water could overflow. "Perhaps the best thing to do for now is to watch her, and let her come to us when she's ready to talk about this." It was very hard not to take control and force Renesmee to sit down and tell us what she saw in her dreams, but forcing her to do anything had never worked before. "Dad, guess what? The man on the Weather Channel said it's going to be overcast, so that means we can go to the park by the college, all of us. I think we should have a picnic." For less than a second I stood looking in to my wife's eyes, then I turned and looked down at my daughter, seeing the excitement in her eyes, and the way she couldn't quiet hold still as she moved from one foot to the other. "Do all the boys in Jake's pack wish to go?" "Well Jake said he would and Seth. I think we should see if everyone else at the other house wants to come too. Can we do that?" Going to the park with everyone in my family was something we couldn't do, and Renesmee seemed to already have figured that out as she agreed that maybe only Jake, Seth, Bella, and I should go with her. I went back to cleaning up the pots and pans, listening as Renesmee asked Bella if they could find a place to go fishing at some point in the week. As much as I wanted to think that my daughter had everything under control, I had to admit that Bella might be right, that she was putting on a brave face. The worst part was that we needed to find time in the next few days to sit down with Renesmee and tell her that it was time for us to move again. ~*~*~*~*~ Renesmee's POV Even though I'm not all that crazy about vegetables, I ate everything Mom put on my plate. Last night showed me that I was doing everything wrong, and that I had to be more responsible for everything than I ever had. If I did that, took care of myself and got all better, then maybe God wouldn't punish me by making me go to that bad place in my dreams. Grandpa Carlisle told me about God, and as part of my studies I had to read the books of the Bible. When I asked Grandpa if he believed in God, he didn't even have to think about it. I'm not sure what I believe just yet because there is so much out there that most people don't know about, but if Grandpa is right and the Bible is right, then if I'm really good nothing bad will happen. "Hey, what's going through that pretty little head of yours?" Jake asked as we walked through the trees. "Just thinking about stuff," he was holding my hand, and when he came to a stop I looked up at him. He had a worried look on his face and maybe Jake was thinking about last night. "I'm just really glad we got to come here and go on a picnic. I'm also glad you and my dad didn't get mad about last night when I didn't take my medicine. I have to be better now." I turned away from him and pulled on his hand and he walked with me again. "I think if I start eating right, and if I don't complain about taking my medicine then I will feel better. If I'm positive about things then my ulcer might go away and I won't get sick anymore." Again Jake stopped walking and I sighed, "I'm not going to talk anymore about that now. We should go back and see what Mom and Dad are doing." When I looked up at him he was frowning. "Your face is going to get stuck if you don't quit that." Jacob sighed and shook his head, "You're something else, do you know that?" Before I could blink Jake had lifted me up and put me on his shoulders, and I laughed as he began to run back the way we had come. "Jacob when we get home we need to get my fishing pole out so we can go to the lake. I think Harvey and Gracie would like some fresh fish." When we got back to the picnic blanket, my mom and dad were putting things back in the big basket. "We haven't stayed long enough," I told them as Jacob put me down. My mom put the container the fruit had been in away answering, "We've been here almost two hours." "We didn't fly my kite," I tried, not wanting the good time to end. "Hey, why don't we go find that fishing pole," Jacob suggested as I quickly remembered that I needed to do things better. "I think they're in the basement." Jake took my hand and carried our blanket while Mom and Dad walked in front of us. "Do you ever go fishing with Billy and Grandpa Charlie?" "Nope, that's something they like to do alone. When I was younger I would go with Quil and Embry." "Did you ever catch anything good?" At first Jacob didn't answer, and I wondered why. My dad chuckled and Jacob growled softly. He didn't like my dad hearing his thoughts. "I almost caught a twelve pounder, but before I could real it into the boat it snapped my line." "I bet that made you mad." "Yep," he said as we reached the car. I got in and scooted over to the passenger side in the back and when Jake was ready he got in next to me, kind of cramped because he's so tall. "Dad, why do I need to wear my seatbelt?" I asked while I strapped it into place. "It's good practice. Most people are required to wear them by law," he answered as he started the car, looking out his window for not even a second before he pulled out. "But we could put it on me if something happened." That had always confused me, and even if it is law, I still didn't get why we had to wear them. "Hey, Nessie, have I ever taught you how to play thumb wars?" I had started to look out my window, but instead I turned to face Jacob trying to figure out how you went to war with your thumb. Jacob took my hand and had me keep my thumb out. He locked his other fingers to mine and explained that the object of the game was to be the first person to pin down other person's thumb. It sounded easy enough, but his hand was huge compared to mine and I was quick to point that out, "Don't you think you will win them all, you have bigger hands than me." "I'll go easy on you." For some reason I didn't like that and when he counted it out I prepared myself. Jacob stuck his thumb as far out of the way as he could while I tried to move mine into some sort of position to get it and pin it down so I could win. My seat belt was in the way, and I wanted to take it off but I knew I couldn't. I saw his arm flex and stuck my thumb back not wanting him to get me, but he had long fingers and a long thumb and his reach was better. My thumb got pinned and I struggled to get it out while he began to count. Jacob won, which was what I liked when we played games. I wasn't at all for him letting me win but it was still frustrating. "Again," I huffed. "We could do hot hands," he offered but I growled a little, and he grasped my hand as Dad warned me to behave. "One two three four, I declare a thumb war." As soon as the words were out of my mouth I got my thumb around his so fast that I wasn't sure how I'd done it. Jacob seemed surprised too as I held his thumb down but he was struggling to get lose and it was getting harder to hold it as I counted to five. I reached four and he got free. Again I huffed getting kind of mad about this sill game. "Again," I growled louder than I had meant too. "No more thumb wars," Dad said as he looked in his review mirror at me. "If you are going to get angry, and be unpleasant then you need to find something else to occupy your time." He was not being fair and I folded my arms across my chest not wanting to look at him or Jacob. As I stared out the window I thought about how I could win. The key was to move as soon as we were ready. That had worked, but Jacob was stronger than me, and it would probably take forever for me to get stronger. Maybe if I ever saw Claire again I could play her. I would have to be careful not to break her thumb, but I think I could win that one. ~*~*~*~*~*~ When we got home, and as soon as we helped get our things inside, I ran over to Jacob who was talking with Seth about something. It sounded important, and I knew about being kind and waiting to talk, but I had a pretty good feeling that if we played thumb wars now I would win. "Sam said they weren't able to find him just like the last time," Seth was saying. Jacob shut his eyes and since they weren't talking I took my turn, "Jacob, I bet I can beat you this time." He stood still not answering me and I grabbed his hand. "Come on, Jake." This time he opened his eyes looking down at me with an expression that I didn't really know. It wasn't angry or even sad just that something wasn't right. "Nessie, I need to phase and talk to Sam. I bet Seth will play," he offered as he bent down and kissed the top of my head before walking past us. "What do you want to play?" Seth asked, but it wasn't the same. I had to be positive but it wasn't easy when other people got busy when I was ready to have fun. "Thumb wars." "Cool, I'm pretty good at that." Needing to get my mind off of feeling suddenly sad, I walked past Seth and went out to the backyard. Me and Jacob were supposed to go fishing, but if he was phasing to talk to Sam, then we might not be able to go and do that. Being strong wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. It hadn't been easy after Jacob left for a long time when Brady got hurt, and every since then it was easy to get sad about things. My mom putting her arm around me as I stood in the middle of the yard looking out in the woods helped me get my thoughts back in order and I leaned against her. The top of my head reached almost where her rib cage began, and I hated that I was still short. Eventually I would get as tall as her, but when was the question. "Did something bad happen at the rez?" I asked, using Jacob's word for the reservation. "Nothing bad, they caught on to an unfamiliar scent, and Sam and the others were trying to find out who it could be." "Jacob said something about last time," I turned and looked up at my mom wondering if she would tell me. She reached down and put her hand on my cheek leaning forward and placed a kiss on my forehead. "There was another time when they ran across the same scent, and they were never able to find out who it was. They're frustrated that who ever this may be keeps getting away." Suddenly I thought of the Volturi, but my mom was already hugging me close before I could even say anything. "It isn't any of them, baby. Aunt Alice has been watching Italy very close, and says it's business as usual there." "Hey cutie, are you ready to go find some fishing poles and worms?" Jacob walked out of the woods and I let go of my mom and ran to him laughing as he tossed me in the air. Going fishing sounded great, but I quickly remembered why he had gone, "Are you sure it is okay for us to go there?" Jacob was holding me in his arms now as we went into the house. "We have a handle on it, so no worrying." That was fine by me. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Bella POV With Renesmee gone, I found my husband up on the third floor in the only room there. It was a guest room, which doubled as a small office. "What do they think is happening?" He had been looking at the computer, but turned the chair around to face me. "Jacob shared his thoughts with me before he and Renesmee left. They don't know who it is and they are fairly certain that it's the same Werewolf that attacked Brady." I thought of that time, when Jacob had gone, and Renesmee went though another phase where she wouldn't communicate verbally. Alice hadn't seen anything from Italy that time either, but why would a true Werewolf be coming around Washington of all places. My husband took my hand and I let him pull me closer and turned sitting down on his lap. "If he has to leave, I'm not sure how well Renesmee will take that." When Edward didn't answer me I turned and looked at him, seeing concern etched in the butterscotch color of his eyes. "What are you not telling me?" It was difficult not to jump to the conclusion that Edward was trying to keep something from me, because from the first time I met him he had a tendency to try and protect me. That hadn't stopped just because I had become a vampire, but I reined in my anxiety, wanting to know what was going on. "Along with what Sam told him, he also shared something that happened when he was alone with Renesmee." Edward shared what she had said to Jacob about wanting to be positive so that her ulcer would go away, but that part didn't raise any alarms. What did worry me was when he shared the part where our little girl told Jacob that she had to be better, but what she meant by that was not all that clear. "So what does that mean?" He sighed and I leaned forward resting my left cheek against his chest. "I wish I knew. What you said this morning seems more valid now. Maybe she's trying to have this positive attitude to cover up what happened last night. If she doesn't talk about it she may end up with another bleeding ulcer." The ulcer hadn't been a result of any one thing, but Renesmee's tendencies toward excessive worry, and keeping everything bottled up didn't help matters. "And the move isn't going to help her either. Edward, maybe we just need to bite the bullet and take her back to the Island until she finishes growing up." There was something about being on that Island that seemed to make all of our problems seem less big, if that was the right term for it. "I wish we could, but we need to try and figure out how to help her through this. I'm not sure running away is the right way." It felt good for once not to be on opposite sides. Edward and I tended not to agree on how to take care of our daughter. I was the one who made Renesmee face things, until recently, and he usually just solved her problems for her. Now I was trying to do the same thing, and that was frustrating. "It's times like this when I miss Reneé. I know she wouldn't know how to deal with this any better than we are, but I still miss her." Before he could add anything, we heard our daughter sobbing, approaching the house. Edward stood both of us up, took my hand and together we flew downstairs and got to her as she pulled the sliding door open. It was then that my hearing picked up two very distinct voices, one I would know anywhere, and one that I didn't all together like, but as Renesmee's cries continued my focus was back on my daughter. What ever Jacob and Leah were arguing about would be their problem for the time being. ~*~*~*~*~*~ Edward's POV For an hour and a half, my little girl cried while Bella and I rested on our bed, doing our best to comfort her. Even as the tears subsided, and she lay with her head against Bella's chest while I ran my hand over her back, Renesmee wouldn't tell us what had happened to cause her to be so upset. Finally she fell asleep, her arm wrapped around Bella's middle, needing that protection and comfort that only my wife could give her. Now that she was asleep, and unwilling to leave Renesemee, or Bella, I reached out with my hearing first. The only sounds I heard were the distant fall of giant wolf paws against the grounds as Jacob's pack patrolled. I didn't want to pry, but in order to help my little girl; I needed to know what had gone on when Leah had joined her pack. Jacob was in his human form on the porch swing, and I shut my eyes as I joined my mind with his. Instead of focusing on his pack, Jacob's thoughts were on the argument, and Leah's harsh words. The only reason any of them care about being here is you Jacob. Yeah it's great you imprinted on Nessie when she was born, and if you ask me she caused it somehow, beyond anything normal for our pack. If you wouldn't have been so blind sided maybe none of this would be happening. Have you even stopped to consider that maybe the reason that Wolf is coming around has something to do with her? Before Leah could say another word Jacob phased, and she wasn't long in following. When he used used his Alpha Command, Leah had no choice but to return to La Push. In all the anger the argument had caused, Jacob hadn't realized that Renesmee had come to investigate and heard everyword of their argument. As I moved away from Bella, she looked over at me, concerned. "I need to speak to Jacob." My wife nodded and I moved around the bed to her side. Leaning forward, I brushed my lips over hers. "I won't be long." While I was ready to go confront Leah on my own, what she had said at the end brought me to realize that she did have a point. More important than that was for Jacob and I to discuss what he didn't yet know, that Renesmee had heard her as well. ~*~*~*~*~ AN: The end of another chapter. I hope you all enjoyed what you read, and my thanks to all of you who stopped by to read and to all of you who have been keeping up with the reviews. Maddy, I do believe that Edward would have many a gray hair with all that is going on with his little girl. Rynnajo, I'm glad you are liking the story and thank you for the compliment. As to your question about Edward being able to read Renesmee's thoughts again, I'm not sure at this point in time. I am working on the two men in Nessie's life kind of having a united front, well at least at this point in the story, so hopefully you don't mind Jacob and Edward getting along a bit better. I think they had started to by the end of BD. Also with Leah, that may have been harsh, but look what she said about Nessie, and I don't think Jacob would have done anything less. I think he'll come around at some point. I'm updating pretty fast, I'm going to try and only do it once a week though, but it's difficult to wait.. Thanks again for stopping by. ~Ella~
Edward's POV
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