The Consequences {Jacob Black}

Chapter CXXXI

I was cold when I woke up, the cold air blowing around me. I gripped my blankets tighter, wrapping them around me so that I could fall back asleep. But the pillow that I had been laying on had chilled when I lifted my head. I groaned. "Trying to go back to sleep?" I jumped upright as soon as I heard Jake's voice in the darkness.

"I was cold; my heater left me," I whimpered. His laughter boomed out in the darkness and suddenly I was surrounded by warmth. "Where'd you go?" I asked as he shuffled me around and settled me against his chest. He yawned loudly.

"The Cullens and the witnesses were at the border line," he replied, pulling a blanket up around my shoulders. He smiled at me sleepily, his teeth white against his tan skin and the darkness of the night. "The witnesses have aligned themselves with the wolves, not the vampires." I sat up, shocked. We were going to work with vampires? Like real vampires? "Well, kind of," he began as if privy to my thoughts. "They won't tie themselves to the Cullens as long as the Cullens tie themselves to Bella and Edward," he explained. "Carlisle won't disown his son; it's his son, you know?"

No, I didn't know. I was seventeen-years-old with a werewolf boyfriend and a hybrid niece. I did not have a son or any children for that matter. And if I had my way, it would be a while before we had kids. "You're tired, huh?" I asked when he began blinking to keep himself awake. He yawned in response. "Good night, Jake," I whispered, leaning up to kiss his jawline and then his lips. "I love you."

He blinked again and tried to focus himself on me. His head smacked down against mine but not enough to hurt me. "Love you too," he grumbled, but the words were barely distinguishable among his gentle snores.

Even from the front porch, I could hear Sarah sounding from her place in Jake's room. Maybe my hearing was getting better with all the time that I spent from the wolves. I doubted it, but I could dream. "I know Sarah; I got to take care of our boys," I yawned, stretching my jaw like a cat. I rubbed my face against Jake's bare chest. "I'll get a better handle on it. Promise." I swear I heard Billy laughing inside the house before I fell asleep.

Jake was still asleep when the whistling of the birds and the morning light stirred me from my sleep. Was it right for someone to look that amazing in the morning? Jake's head was tossed to the side, his skin glowing like amber in the morning sun. His lashes looked like smudges of coal against his cheeks as his chest rose and fell with the gentle rhythm of his breathing. I extracted myself from his arms, listening to him groan and grumble and fighting his strength. "Good morning," Renesmee said when I walked into the house. I greeted her in return.

I started coffee for my dad and Billy and then turned my attention to the little sprite next to me. "Hey Ness?" She turned to me with a quizzical look on her face. "I was thinking that maybe you and I should go take a walk. We need to talk about some things." She looked a little frightened that I wanted to talk to her about things. She was probably afraid that I was going to ask her to leave; I knew the look. "Grab your sweater," I said, watching her scamper off while I searched the house for some of Jake's sweatpants that I could wear.

Finally, we started on our walk. Nessie laughed at Jake's snoring when we passed him on the front porch, the happy kid that she was shining in the early morning. "You know, Nessie, I've done a lot of things in my life that I'm not exactly proud of," I whispered when we far enough away from the house. "And the way that I talked to you when I first met you was wrong," I admitted. "I shouldn't have been as harsh to you as I was."

"I understand, Ryanne," she said quickly. "My mother wasn't telling me the truth. I wouldn't have said something to you like I did if I had known the truth."

"That's not the point, Nessie. I shouldn't have said the things that I did; it was wrong of me to do the things that I did. I said that you weren't a part of my family and that you didn't have a right to tell me that I was your aunt or to call me Aunt Ryanne." She looked a little pained as she remembered the words that I had said, the words that had been meant to hurt a little girl that I didn't know. "All of that was just so beyond wrong, I can't even tell you, Ness. You didn't ask for your mother to fall in love with your father or for your father to get your mom pregnant. You didn't have anything to do with that. And I was so mean to you."

"Ryanne, I really do understand. It's not always about what you ask for. I mean, you didn't ask to be my mom's sister," she tried to counter.

"Nessie, this isn't about your mother. We're talking about you and me. I should have at least given you the chance to show me your personality. But I know you now, Ness. I know that you are more like me than you will ever be like your mother or your father. I'm really sorry about what I said. Because the truth is that I am your aunt, Ness." Her face fell a little but her eyes lit up. "You are mine and Jake's niece, Nessie. He said it yesterday. We're glad that you chose to come and live with us, not be with your mother and father. I know that Dad is too. Or, Grandpa I guess. But you are a part of our family and we will do everything that we can to protect you."

"Thank you Auntie," she said. She stepped closer to me and wrapped her tiny arms around my waist, giving me a gentle squeeze. Or at least, what she thought was gentle. I flinched a little when her arms constricted too much. "Sorry," she said, dropping her arms.

I flopped down in the sand and rested my head in the grains. I knew that it would take a little while for the sand to come out later that night. But something told me that Jake would be more than willing to help, especially after all the stuff that had gone on in the last few days. "I think it's unfair that I'm the only one who doesn't get super strength out of this whole ordeal," I groaned. She laughed and rested behind me. "You know that you shouldn't have left, right?" I asked after a few minutes of listening to the waves crash down on the sand.

"I was worried. Mom said that the Volturi would be coming after you guys because I was here. She said that you guys would probably be killed. I — — I love you guys, Rye. I don't want any of the guys hurt. You're my family," she whispered. If I had been here when Bella came by, I'm pretty sure that I could have stopped her from thinking that she should leave. "I didn't want to go."

"That's thing about girls like us, Ness," I said, resting my hands on my stomach. "We think that we can fix everything, even if it hurts us." I turned my head to find brown eyes staring at me. "I've done a lot of things because I thought that it was better for my friends and family. I put up with your mother, let her move in on Jake, let her control my life because I didn't want my dad to know how bad it really was for me. I thought that Jake would be happier with Bella than he would with me. I actually encouraged that relationship. And all these months later, look at where this got me? I hurt myself because I wasn't willing to stand up for myself, you know?" She nodded. "We're better off if we try to take care of things and make ourselves happy at the same time, you know?"

"Is this your way of telling me that I shouldn't have left?" she asked me, a smile on her face. "Because I figured that out already." I laughed at her, at the apologetic look on her face.

"You know that Jake called you his niece?" I said after more time in silence.

"I thought I heard that; I just thought it was an accident," she replied.

"Oh Nessie, we don't ever say things that we done mean. We might say things that we regret or feel bad about saying later, but it's never an accident," I laughed.

"Thank you, Ryanne." I nodded. "We should get back home. I can hear shouting at the house."

Great; that's always a good sign.