[BamaFan121s]

Our plane landed slightly ahead of schedule. We retrieved our bags—considerably more than we’d left with thanks to Alice’s shopping excursion—and loaded them into the cars that we’d left in the deck of the Seattle Airport. The ride home was fairly short, considering the characteristic Cullen style of driving and we pulled up in front of the big white house in under an hour.
We’d barely gotten in the door before I was assaulted with urgent pleas from Renesmee to call “her Jacob.”
With a sigh, Rosalie brushed past me on her way to carry her things up the stairs to the room she and Emmett shared. “You may as well go ahead—she’s not going to let up until she sees him.”
Realizing that she was probably right, I took the phone and dialed the familiar digits of the Black residence. The phone was barely through the first ring when a gruff, anxious sounding voice answered. “Hello? Bells?”
“Hey Jake. I didn’t wake you, did I?” It was late in the afternoon, but it had been a long time since Jacob had slept regularly during what most would consider normal hours.
“No, not sleeping…” he trailed off. I could hear his weak attempt to stifle a yawn.
“Uh-huh, sure. In any case, I just wanted to call and let you know we’ve made it home. Renesmee has already been asking for…
“I’m on my way!” Jacob yelled eagerly into the phone, cutting me off mid sentence.
I’d intended to ask if he wanted a ride, but he was clearly no longer on the phone. There was a noise on the other end of the line that suggested he had not even bothered to return the receiver to its cradle. I heard Billy’s voice in the background, confirming my suspicion. “Where’s the fire? Hang up the phone…and shut the door behind you!” In the background, I heard a door slam and a car engine roar to life, followed shortly by the sound of gravel being slung by spinning tires. Then, suddenly, Billy’s low voice spoke on the other end of the line. “Bella? Jake’s on his way.”
I thanked Billy and hung up the phone, turning to my eagerly waiting daughter. “He’ll be here in about fifteen minutes.” A huge grin spread across her face and she turned and raced towards the front of the house. I shook my head in amusement as I yelled after her. “Stay on the porch please!”
“I assume she is going outside to await Jacob’s arrival?” Edward guessed jokingly as he walked back down the stairs. Carlisle followed closely behind him.
I rolled my eyes mockingly. “Of course,” I replied with a shrug of my shoulders. He walked to my side and easily snaked his arm around my waist. He pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head, inhaling deeply as he did so.
Carlisle cleared his throat. “Speaking of company, we’ve just been on the phone with Eleazer. He agreed to visit us within the week to help us try to assess your growing abilities, Bella. Hopefully he will be able to help us better understand these changes with more clarity.”
I nodded in response, but didn’t dwell on the subject long. At that moment, Renesmee’s squeal of delight was followed promptly by the sound of quickly approaching tires on the driveway. I sighed and stepped back from Edward. I reached down to take Edward’s hand and turned to join Renesmee on the porch.
As I walked out, Jacob pulled up in front of the Cullen house in his new-old car—a Mustang, as Edward had said. I was no car expert, but I was guessing it was a 1980’s model. It certainly was not the shiny, fancy model that Edward had no doubt hoped to buy him. Instead, it was a dull, two-toned blue and admittedly looked somewhat dated. But I liked it. It had character and it fit Jacob perfectly.
Without a second’s hesitation, Jacob slammed the car into park and scrambled out agilely. He rushed across the driveway and caught Renesmee mid-air as she flung herself into his arms and gripped him around his neck tightly. She was still clinging to him tightly when he finally pulled her arms from around his neck somewhat reluctantly, forcing her to look at him rather than strangle him. “How was your trip kiddo?”
“It was GREAT Jacob! I got to go shopping with Alice!” She rushed through her words and slapped her hand to Jacob’s cheek with a bit too much force as she began to replay scenes from her trip to him. He grew still and his eyes became unfocused slightly as he watched her recount the events. When she was satisfied, she withdrew her hand and continued speaking hurriedly. “And Aro gave me a new necklace!” Again, another audible slap to Jacob’s face as she assaulted him with another montage of recollections. “And we got to go to the museum with Miss Heidi and see all the paintings and diamonds!” Yet another slap to Jacob’s face. He cringed slightly, but didn’t make any attempt to stop her. Edward and I both snickered, trying to hide our laughter.
This time, Renesmee left her palm on Jacob’s face a little longer. Too long, apparently. The humor of the moment ebbed as I watched his silly, wolfish grin slowly fade, only to be replaced by a worried crease on his brow. I looked worriedly at Edward who bowed his head as he read the thoughts of the duo before us. Jacob’s mouth slowly turned down at the corners until finally, he reached to find Renesmee’s hand and pulled it from his russet cheek. For the first time, he tore his eyes from Renesmee and peered at me cautiously, all traces of humor gone from his features. “Bella? What happened to you?”
“Oh, nothing really. I suppose I just got a little overexcited?” I tired to downplay my incident, but I’d never been a very good liar. Especially not with Jake—he could see right though me. I swallowed nervously and tried to continue with my unbelievable story, “You know, with the traveling and hectic schedule and all….”
“Oh cut the crap, Bella! How about trying the truth?” His voice was concerned, yet stern and demanding. A true Alpha, through and through. He returned Renesmee to the ground and whispered something in her ear. At once, she skipped away. After watching her skip out of sight around the edge of the house, he folded his arms across his massive chest and turned back to glare at me expectantly.
I bit my lip nervously and let my eyes fall. “To be honest, I’m not sure.” He snorted, clearly not satisfied with my weak answer. That made two of us.
Edward cleared his throat. “No, she’s telling you the truth Jacob. She doesn’t know what happened—none of us do, really.”