Chapter 27:

You Can't Choose

"Oh my god, they're going to kill me. I think my family is going to murder me Jacob Black" I gasped.

I felt as if I couldn't breathe and I suddenly got very light headed. I couldn't understand what my problem was. My heart knew I loved Jacob Black and my family would be fine with it and if they weren't, well too bad for them but my brain . . . my brain was currently in the process of having a panic attack.

I gasped for breath and closed my eyes as I tried to calm myself down but that only encouraged the images flashing through my brain. I saw images of us fighting, of my family kicking Jake out, Will electrocuting Jake to the ends of the earth, Edward fighting him, our whole family moving away . . . my brain was just spiraling into oblivion with everything that could possibly go wrong. Jacob quickly unbuckled his seat belt and leaned over to where I was sitting.

"Nessie, look at me" he whispered, grabbing my face softly. "Just relax, it's going to be fine, just relax" he said, his endless eyes boring into my panicked ones.

His warm, sweet breath blew into my face as he talked and my brain and body slowly began to calm down. All through that process, he never let go of my face and never stop looking straight at me.

"I'm sorry, I have no idea what happened" I said after a minute, blushing as I looked down. "I'm fine" I whispered.

"Hey, it happens to us all and with a mother like Bella and a father like Edward . . . well, I can totally understand your panic" he whispered, stroking my hair.

"EXCUSE ME JACOB BLACK!" Mom yelled from the house.

There was a crash and then suddenly, the night went still again. I looked worriedly at the house but couldn't help the giggle that escaped my lips.

"Come on, we better get inside" I whispered.

"Are you sure you want to do this" he whispered so softly I barely heard him.

He was smart.

"Yes, I don't know why my brain decided to spontaneously shut down but in my heart . . . I want to tell them" I whispered.

He smiled and quickly leaned in and captured my lips for a second before pulling away. He quickly got out of the car and ran over to my side, opening the door for me.

"You're the most amazing girl I've ever met" he whispered in my ear and I blushed.

He chuckled at my blush as he grabbed my bag and then wrapped and arm around my shoulders. Together, we walked up to the entrance of my house. I couldn't hear anything but I knew they were moving around.

"Here we go, on the path to my death" I whispered as I took out my key and unlocked the door.

I took a deep breath before turning the knob and pushing the door open. Jacob smartly removed his arm from my shoulder just before I opened. We both walked in and were immediately assaulted with the questions.

"Where were you?"

"We were so worried!"

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"What is the mutt doing here?"

"Ugh, he smells horrible"

There was a huge jumble of voices going around but there was one voice that cut through them all. It wasn't that loud but I still heard it apart from everyone else's, and it was far from happy.

"Renesmee Carlie Swan-Cullen, where in the world have you been" My mom said.

Her voice was calm but you could hear the anger behind it . . . the calm voice was always worse that the loud voice, because a clam voice meant she was forcing herself to calm down, which = she was furious.

"Umm . . . the beach?" I said hesitantly but even before the words were out of my mouth, I knew her reaction.

"THE BEACH!" she yelled.

Edward came up behind her, rubbing her shoulders softly as he stared at both of us, his face suspicious. I was already blocking my thoughts but I didn't know about Jake. My eyes flickered to him briefly but by the slight smirk he was sending towards Edward, I knew he remembered.

"Renesmee, you left for the beach more than 8 hours ago. It's past midnight" she said with her eyes closed. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been? I thought something had happened" she said, her voice cracking ever so slightly.

So that was it. That's what I was really waiting for. She wasn't upset about the fact that I had stayed out so much as the fact that I was in wolf territory, which to her was dangerous after what happened last time.

"Mom, I'm sorry" I said sincerely. "I didn't mean too, I just fell asleep at the beach" I said as I went over to her. "I'm really sorry" I whispered again.

"Why is the mutt here?" Rosalie cut in distastefully before mom could say anything else and Jacob growled softly.

"Well what do you want me to call you, a kitten?" she said and I glanced worriedly at Jake.

He seemed to begin shaking, just barely, but then his eyes flickered to me and the shaking stopped immediately.

"He has a name you know" I told her and she flinched back slightly, surprised by the coolness in my answer. "And as an answer to your earlier question, Jacob gave me a ride home" I said simply, trying to avoid the details until later.

My eyes flickered briefly to Jasper and by his face; I could tell he knew that there were parts missing to my story.

"Nessie . . ." Sophie said, glancing suspiciously at Jake and then at me. "Why in the world to you smell so strongly of . . . wet dog . . . you're simply reeking of it" she said and I blushed bright red.

She had caught me.

"Well, that was the other reason Jacob is here" I said as I made my way back to him.

"Oh, there's another reason?" Sophie asked innocently.

I glared at her but she just smiled knowingly. Nothing could get past her.

"Yes . . . and it's kind of hard to explain" I said, my eyes finding Jake's.

He took this as his cue to begin talking.

"Bella, do you remember when we talked yesterday?" he asked her and she nodded. "Do you remember how I told you all about the pack and . . . imprinting?" he asked.

"Yeah, about Rick and Lucia and all that but . . . what does that have to do with anything?" she asked.

We both looked at her and in the next second, her eyes widened as she made the connection. But then, her eyes filled with something else . . . anger.

"You didn't" she seethed suddenly, making her way out of Edward's grip and towards us.

"Didn't what?" most of the family asked but we ignored them.

"Bella, don't you remember how I told you it was involuntary" Jake said. "How, that girl, that one girl, the second you see her, your entire world just revolves around her, you'd do anything for her" he said and I blushed.

Everyone watching had no idea what imprinting was but just listening to the conversation, it quickly clicked in their brain.

"NO WAY!"

"Are you serious Nessie?"

"You have to have better taste than . . . that"

The comments whirled around us but what I was really mostly worried about was my mom and Jake. Mom was currently not in a very peachy mood and she was slowly making her way towards Jake. My eyes flew to Jasper who met my eyes, smirking. I rolled my eyes and sent him my irritation before hurrying over to my mom.

"Mom, come on don't do this" I pleaded.

"Nessie, do you realize what he did, what he feels for you?" she said, her eyes turning to me.

"Yes and I return the feelings 100%. Mom, honestly, I'm 52, this shouldn't be that big of a deal" I said but she just huffed so I continued with my momentum. "Besides, you dated . . . Edward when you were 17 and you were human and you were his singer and look how it turned out so I think I should be able to be with Jake if I want to" I said, looking at her.

She huffed angrily, looking back and forth between Jake and me. The family was deadly silent, watching the exchange. After a minute, Edward came up behind mom and whispered something in her ear.

Her head whipped towards his in surprise but he just nodded. She huffed angrily again before turning back to us. She opened her mouth a couple times but words never came out. The whole family was deadly silent, not wanting to interfere with the already extremely tense atmosphere. After a second, I spoke up.

"Mom, I love him. I know it may seem crazy to all of you but for me, it's perfect. When I'm with him, I feel like I'm complete, like he filled in a spot in my heart that was always missing. I feel loved and protected and it's the best feeling in the world. It may seem illogical and maybe even wrong to you but we can't who we fall in love with" I said, looking pointedly at Edward.

She was quiet a moment longer before her eyes met mine.