First Light

Edward is pulled away from Bella by an unexplainable force during their honeymoon, but he promised that he would find a way to return. So for eleven long years, she waited on Isle Esme, alone but for their child – the daughter they didn't think they could have. But now, it's time to go home.

AN. Yeah, so, writing fanfiction and college don't mix very well. It's summer now but I'm not making any promises about updates. I've got a job and a billion scholarships to apply for.

Preview to all reviewers.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I do not own them but am grateful for the opportunity to use them in the unleashing of my own imagination.

Rating: This story is rated T for mild language and possible scenes of sensuality.

POV: This chapter is written from Jacob's point of view.

Chapter 3: Imprint

"Somebody's been here." Seth said as we pulled up to Charlie's house. I nodded smelling the air as I stepped out of Seth's beat up old truck. There was something about the unknown scent, well, scents actually. There were two. One was extremely familiar although I couldn't quite place it. The other was strange, also kind of familiar but different – sweet, though not overwhelmingly so. I frowned as I tried to figure out what I was smelling.

Meanwhile, Seth dug in his pocket for his house key and then opened the door. We were both surprised to be greeted by two cardboard boxes, a suitcase, and a rocking chair, which were sitting against the wall in the foyer. I knew these items. I'd helped pack them and move them to the attic when Seth had moved in to Bella's old room. But what were they doing here?

"Charlie?" Seth called out. "I'm home! Jake's with me."

"Oh, hey boys." We both turned to see Charlie's legs at the top of the stairs. The upper half of his body was blocked from view by another large box which teetered dangerously in the police chief's arms. I dashed up the stairs and caught the box just as it threatened to throw him off balance.

"Woops! I got it, Charlie." I hoisted the box up onto my shoulder and carried it down the stairs for him.

"Thanks Jake," he replied, following me down. After I put the box down with the others, I turned to see him rubbing his shoulder. Charlie wasn't weak by any means, but he was pushing sixty now and his shoulder had been bothering him a lot since he got shot a few years back. Sue had been trying to convince him to retire but Charlie loved his job and he loved helping people, so he stayed in. Still, he wasn't supposed to be lifting anything heavy when he didn't have to. So the question was, why was he getting all of Bella's old stuff out?

I frowned as I looked at the old stuff. No one had heard from Bella in eleven years, not since she'd left for her honeymoon with that bloodsucking leech. It still angered me to think about it. She was surely dead by now. Even if she still walked the planet, she was dead. He'd killed her and I'd been powerless to stop him. After the rest of the leeches disappeared, we all knew what had happened. What a bunch of cowards. They'd run off instead of accepting the consequences of breaking the treaty.

When Charlie married Sue and Seth moved in to the house, I'd volunteered to pack Bella's room. Charlie hadn't wanted to do it. He was clueless as to what had become of his daughter. So I'd done it and it had been like a funeral. I didn't cry or let myself dwell on what could have been. She'd chosen this. She'd turned her back on me and chosen him, chosen death. So I packed away everything that had once been a part of her, said my goodbyes, and closed the door on that life.

I'd tried not to think about her at all over the past eleven years, but she still crept into my thoughts especially at Charlie's house, or the beach, or any other place that we had spent a lot of time together. It helped that Sue redecorated but the memories still popped up all the time.

And now Charlie had dragged all of this junk back out. I stared at it and felt a thousand different emotions boiling up inside of me. I latched onto the one which I was the most familiar with – anger. Anger at her, at him, at myself.

I started to growl softly until Seth put a hand on my shoulder to snap me out of it. Luckily, Charlie seemed oblivious to it. He'd moved into the kitchen and was getting a glass of water. We followed him.

He set his glass down and turned to look at us. It was then that I noticed an odd light in his eyes that I hadn't seen in a long time. He was smiling widely and he seemed almost… younger.

"You boys aren't going to believe who showed up today." He said, grinning widely.

"Oh yeah? Who?" Seth replied, grabbing an apple of the table and hopping up to sit on the counter.

"Off." Charlie said, smacking his step-son lightly upside the head. Seth just grinned and jumped down, finishing off his apple in two bites, core and all.

Meanwhile, my mind had gone into over drive, putting the pieces together. The scent, the boxes, Charlie's smile… "Bella?"

"Yeah! How'd you know? Guess the boxes gave it away, huh?"

"Wait, Bella's back?" Seth said, excitedly.

My mind was still reeling. If Bella was back then surely the bloodsuckers were too… and Bella was one of them. Only, she'd come to visit Charlie today. And her scent didn't smell like a vampire. Of course there was that other scent with her but that didn't smell quite like a vampire either. It was sweet but not that sweet. What did this mean? And what were we going to do now?

"Yup. She showed up this morning, out of nowhere. Surprise of my life. And there's more. Seems I'm a grandfather."

That snapped me out of my thoughts. What…? Seth had been about to say something else but that last bit of news had apparently dumbfounded him as well. He looked over at me as though I held all the answers. I just shook my head. I had no clue. As far as I knew, vampires couldn't have kids.

"Bella's got a kid?" I asked Charlie. He nodded.

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen. Named after all four of her grandparents. She goes by Nessie though. Ten years old. Sweet as can be. Just like Bella was at that age."

After about a minute of silence in the room, Seth decided to show some semblance of tact by offering his congratulations. "That's really great Charlie." He laughed. "Or should I say Gramps? Ha! You really are an old man now."

"Oh yeah I'll show you 'old man." Charlie took a playful swing at his step-son which Seth easily avoided. They both laughed. I sat down at the table and rubbed my temples. This couldn't be happening. She was supposed to be gone. I wasn't supposed to have to see her again. I wasn't supposed to have to choose.

It had torn me up after the wedding. She was going to be a vampire and I had to decide whether or not my love for her over-powered my hatred for them. If they changed her, then they broke the treaty and we could kill them. But could I kill them? Could I kill her? I told myself it wouldn't be the same, that she would already be dead and I'd only be killing a corpse. But I'd never really convinced myself of that.

When they all vanished, I'd almost felt relieved. They were gone so I wouldn't have to choose. But now she was back and soon the whole pack would know. I'd have to choose sides and I didn't know if I could. And now she had a kid. I didn't understand that at all. I needed answers. I needed to talk to her.

"So they're back?" I said, breaking into Seth and Charlie's conversation which I'd lost track of.

Charlie scratched the back of his neck before answering. "Yeah well, it's only Bella and Nessie. Seems Bella hasn't seen Edward or the rest of the Cullens since the honeymoon."

My head shot up. "What!" He left her? He took her away, changed her into a monster, got her pregnant, and left her? What kind of a sick, bloodsucking, backstabbing monster was he? I knew this would happen. He left her before and now he's left her again.

"Now Jake, don't go jumping to conclusions. I thought the same thing at first but Bella says it's not like that and I trust her."

"What did she say?"

"Apparently he got some sort of call one night that freaked him out. He said he had to deal with something and told her to stay on the island they were at where it was safe. Something about 'them' not knowing about her and wanting to keep it that way. He promised to come back only he never did."

I stared at him. "You're not seriously buying that, are you Charlie? It's totally farfetched. Who's 'them' and why didn't Bella come home or at least call someone. It sounds to me like he was looking for an out and came up with a stupid excuse to abandon her. He left her before and now he's done it again."

"I know it sounds sketchy Jake but Bella insists that he didn't want to leave, that he was genuinely scared. Besides he made sure she was provided for. Left her access to his money and property." He sighed. "Listen Jake. If things did happen the way she said… chances are Edward's dead."

I scoffed at that notion. The only thing that could kill a vampire was one of my pack or another vampire. I stopped at that thought. There were other vampires out there, some who wanted the Cullens dead. Like those Volturi the Cullens were talking about. But they knew about Bella so they couldn't be the 'them' Edward had mentioned. Still, there had to be others. The Cullens weren't like other vampires and their differences might turn anyone against them. Was it possible that the Cullens really were dead? And if so, what did that mean for Bella?

Things weren't quite adding up still. I needed to go talk to her and find out the truth. Whatever she told her Dad would have been edited to leave out the supernatural. Surely she knew more than she had let on.

"Jake? You listening, son?" I looked up at Charlie.

"Yeah."

"Look, Bella thinks he's still alive somewhere. Whether or not that's true, I don't know. But just promise me you're not going to try to convince her otherwise. Let her hold onto that belief as long as she can so long as it's not messing up her life. We'll try to get her to move on if we have to but right now just leave her be."

"It's been eleven years, Charlie." Seth said. He was sitting on the counter again but Charlie didn't seem to notice.

"I know. But she's got a daughter to raise and she seems to be handling things pretty well right now. She's done well for both of them on her own. So, let's not interfere."

I nodded. Bella loved the Cullens. If they were dead, she'd be devastated. I thought back to how she'd been after they'd left all those years ago. She was a mess. I never wanted to see her like that again. If that meant letting her believe they were alive when the facts said otherwise… so be it. Of course, I still didn't have all the facts. I needed to see her.

"Charlie, when were you planning to take her stuff to her?"

"Tomorrow morning. Why?"

"Would you mind if I went ahead and took it all over there tonight? I want to go see her anyway."

"Yeah, that's fine. Go ahead. Just remember what I said, Jacob."

I nodded and got to my feet. "Can I borrow the truck, Seth?" He nodded and tossed me the keys. "I'll head over now then. See you later, Charlie."

Charlie grunted in response and Seth hopped down off the counter to follow me. We grabbed the boxes from the foyer and loaded them into the bed of the truck, closing the cover over top to keep the stuff dry. Just as I was about to leave, Seth stopped me.

"You sure this is a good idea, Jake? What if she's a… you know?"

Yeah… I knew. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. But I had to get this sorted out. I looked at Seth seriously. "Alert the pack. Let them know what's going on. But don't move in unless I call for backup. Bella won't try to hurt me. I trust her."

Half an hour later, I found myself standing in front of the Cullen house. For having been abandoned for eleven years, the place looked great. I assumed that Bella had a cleaning a landscaping service come out to fix the place up before she got here.

Stopping for a moment, I took a deep breath exploring the scents in the air. I immediately picked up on the two scents I'd smelled at Charlie's house. One I knew was Bella and the other I had to assume was her daughter. What I didn't smell was vampire. Bella's scent was still entirely human. The other smelled mostly human as well but sweeter, like I'd noticed before. Was it really possible to have some sort of human/vampire hybrid? I was about to find out.

Feeling better now that I knew Bella was still human, I approached the door and knocked. I was still nervous. What would she say? Would she be happy to see me?

"I'll get it!" a small, yet beautiful voice called from inside. Those three words sounded almost musical to my ears, like bells.

A moment later the door opened. I didn't see anyone at eye level, so I looked down and what I saw nearly made my heart stop. I know I stopped breathing. I felt like I'd had the air knocked out of me and then, all of a sudden, there was this warmth inside me.

I crouched down so that I could see her better. She was beautiful, an angel, a tiny fairy with golden hair and dazzling green eyes. She smiled and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I would do anything to make her keep smiling.

"Hi" she said softly in the same melodious voice I had heard before. "I'm Renesmee Cullen. Who are you?"

Cullen.

I was startled out of my daze by that one word. Cullen, vampires, Bella, Renesmee… This was Bella's daughter… Bella and Edward's daughter. I looked at her again. The warmth was still there. I didn't want to look away. What was this feeling? Did I just…? No… it can't be…

She was waiting for an answer. The smile was leaving her face and she was starting to look worried. No wonder. I was staring at her like a maniac. I needed to pull myself together. I wanted her to smile again.

"I'm an old friend of your mom's." I finally said, after convincing my vocal chords to start working again. "Is she here?"

"Jake!" I tore my eyes away from the little angel in front of me to see Bella coming up behind her. I stood up as Bella swung the door open all the way and rushed towards me. I smiled. It was good to see her. Opening my arms I caught her up in a big hug.

Bella laughed and hugged me back. "Oh Jacob, I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Bells." I put her down and stepped back so I could look at her. She looked different, older, though not that much. She was still beautiful. She looked more mature too. But it was something else… I couldn't figure it out.

I looked back at the little angel, then between her and Bella. Bella noticed my interest and drew the girl forward to stand in front of her.

"Jake, this is my daughter, Renesmee. Nessie, this is my good friend Jacob Black."

"Pleased to meet you," the angel said.

"It's good to meet you too." I shook her hand and then I knew.

Bella looked different because I perceived her differently. I no longer saw her as a love interest. There were no romantic feelings when I looked at her. No… now I saw her as a wonderful friend, a sister, and the mother of the most precious little girl in the world, my Nessie.

I gulped as Bella invited me inside. She was going to wring my neck when she found out.