A/N – For all the readers who loved With Every Beat Of My Heart, but wished that Jake and Nessie could have had have a happy ending, this one's for you. Merry Christmas everyone! (^_^)

p.s. If you haven't read With Every Beat Of My Heart, I really recommend you read that one first - otherwise some of the references in this sequel won't make any sense.

Based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. All Twilight characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

The numbers on the alarm clock sitting on her bedside table glowed an eerie red in the darkness. 23:51. It would be Christmas in 9 minutes, Vanessa thought to herself. Well, technically, it would be Christmas. Realistically, it would still be 'tonight'.

She sighed and rolled over, trying to go to sleep. But it was pretty much a lost cause. Her mind was too awake, rushing with all that had happened today. Life used to be so simple. Why did he have to go and complicate everything?

Vanessa and Jake had known each other all their lives. Her Mom, Leah, had been his Great-Uncle Jacob's Beta - that was, until Jacob had lost the ability to phase. The story of Jacob Black and Renesmee Cullen, the Alpha and his half-vampire imprint, was the stuff of legends around La Push – how he'd imprinted on her as a baby, cementing the Pack's alliance with the Cullens and ensuring the safety of their lands forevermore; how he had fought off the vampire venom, holding on to his love for her as the lifeline to find his way back from the shadowy darkness of death; how undeniably strong their imprint bond had been that an immortal such as she had inexplicably died of a broken heart when her wolf had finally left this world. It was a bittersweet tale of love and loss, and it made Vanessa question why anyone would allow themselves to be subject to a force such as that.

But imprinting couldn't have been all bad, right? Vanessa's Mom had imprinted on her Dad and they had lived happily ever after – well happily up to now anyway. Who knew what the future held, she mused. But judging by how sickening her parents were with each other all the time – Vanessa shuddered - happily ever after probably wasn't too much of a long shot. She was glad they were so in love, but did they have to be so gross all the time? And in public too? The elders never thought that Leah would have a child, but to everyone's surprise, after she had imprinted her cycles had returned – it was as if her body had just been waiting for her to find 'the one'. And then not long after Vanessa was born, Leah had decided to stop phasing altogether, allowing herself to age again so that she could grow old with her soulmate. Uncle Seth was now Alpha, and Vanessa mused how weird it was that her uncle, who was probably as old as some of the ancient trees in the forest, looked no older than Jake.

Jake. Her thoughts drifted back to him again. God, what a mess.

She had been in love with Jake for months now. But they were best friends. She didn't want to risk losing what she already had – some Jake was better than no Jake as far as she was concerned, and if what he was willing to give her stopped at friendship, then she would take what she could get. Vanessa often looked at her best friend and wondered if there was anything more than brotherly affection behind those warm onyx eyes, but if he felt anything for her he was doing a damn good job of hiding it. And so she had kept her feelings locked up, not daring to let them show. She did often tease him though, trying to get a rise out of him, hoping to awaken maybe a small tinge of jealousy somewhere. But he was always so noncommittal about it, she often wondered if she was just wasting her time.

Vanessa and Jake had been put on 'get the beach ready for the Christmas bonfire' duty earlier today, and had been horsing around as usual while they did it. Vanessa was teasing Jake, as she often did, that maybe she'd go to the prom with Rick the quarterback after all and put the poor guy out of his misery since he'd been bugging her to go with him for weeks now. Instead of teasing her back with "You're on your own Ness, I'm not protecting you if those cheerleaders beat you up," like he normally did, Jake went completely still. Then he started to shake and he had a strange look on his face, a mix of anger, confusion, and… like he was trying to hold something back?

"Jake?" she had asked in bewilderment. "Are you okay? I was kidding. Hey– "

"Get away from me, Ness!" Jake had growled through gritted teeth. "NOW." He turned away from her, staggering away from her before falling to his knees a few metres away.

"God, Jake," she had rolled her eyes at him, not realising what was really going on, "You can be such an ass sometimes. I was j-o-k-i-n-g. Jeez, lighten up. I told you I wasn't even going to go to the prom, let alone go with that as..."

"VANESSA," her Uncle Seth's voice boomed as he came running from the edge of the trees that lined the beach, "Move away from him NOW, he's about to pha–" but before Seth could finish what he was saying, Vanessa's eyes grew wide as she saw Jake's body increase in size as his clothes begin to tear and then rip from his body. There was the snapping sound of muscles and sinew as they lengthened and rearranged themselves and then the sickening sound of bones cracking and repositioning. Vanessa had seen wolves phase before, but never like this. This seemed more… brutal somehow, not the graceful transformation that she was accustomed to witnessing. Her uncle's voice broke through her thoughts–

"It's always harder the first time," he explained, seeing the perplexed look on her face. "There's confusion, mixed with fear and whatever it was that triggered the phasing. That all manifests physically as well, so that's why it seems so much more violent. Trust me, it feels worse to the wolf than it looks to anyone watching it," he added with a grimace.

Vanessa looked over to the giant mass of fur and teeth that had just erupted out of the body of her best friend. Jake was a russet wolf, just like his Great-Uncle Jacob whom he had been named after, and Vanessa snorted at the irony of it all. He was hunched over now, facing away from her, and she could see his massive body rising and falling with each pant of air he took. He looked so torn and confused. She started to walk over to him, but Seth stopped her-

"Just leave him be for now. He needs a few minutes to get used to what just happened. At least he knew it was coming, so it wasn't totally unexpected. I'll take him into the forest and teach him how to phase back, and then you can see him again, okay? You'd better bring him a pair of shorts too," Seth said, looking at the pieces of shredded fabric now strewn over the ground.

"Sure," Vanessa replied as she started to pick up the remnants of Jake's clothing. But right at that moment, the giant russet wolf had turned around and was now looking straight at her. When their eyes met, it was as if the rest of the world had fallen away, and all that remained was her and the owner of those deep onyx pools. Vanessa felt like her whole world had just shifted. No, not just her world, but someone else's too. It was such as strange feeling, almost like someone's gravity was now centred on her, as if she was the anchor holding them to this earth. Jake was looking at her with a mix of delirium, devotion and contentment. His tongue lolled out on one side of his mouth in what she thought was an oddly cute wolfish grin. If a wolf could look like he'd just won the lottery, that would be it.

"Oh shit," Seth grumbled. He'd recognise that look anywhere. "Jake just imprinted on you."

And so that was why, hours later, Vanessa was still wide awake, her mind now rushing with all that had happened today. The red numbers on her alarm clock glowed 23:57. She sighed again, not knowing whether to be over the moon or annoyed as hell about all this. On the one hand, the guy she was madly in love with was now her love slave. On the other hand, the guy she was madly in love with was now her love slave. What Goddamn difference was there anyway? But there was a difference, a very important one as far as she was concerned. Vanessa wanted Jake, but not like this. She wanted him to love her of his own free will, because he loved her, not because some ancestral magic had forced a reaction in him.

She had always felt so connected to Jake. Even when they were young she had always been so drawn to him. It was like they were kindred spirits, two peas in a pod, the missing pieces in the puzzles of each other's lives. They'd been inseparable from the day they were born, and so it was only natural that she loved him, as a playmate, as a friend, and then that love slowly grew into something that made her stomach flip somersaults whenever he walked into a room and made her heart ache with longing whenever they were apart. Their closeness had led the elders to often joke that it was almost as if Jacob Black and Renesmee Cullen had been reborn, especially since Jake had always shortened Vanessa's name to "Ness". But it wasn't just their names. Unlike her cousins, Vanessa was pale-skinned with long bronze curls – not unusual considering her father was Scandinavian and she had more of his colouring than her mother's. But Jake looked uncannily like his Great-Uncle Jacob too, with his tall muscled form, strong chiselled jaw and deep onyx eyes. But again, that was to be expected, after all he was the grandson of Jacob's sister Rachel, and a direct descendent of the great Ephraim Black. She loved him so much, and had hoped that one day he would grow to love her too. But that wasn't ever going to happen now, was it? The imprint had pretty much decided that for him. Pow! Right between the eyes, thank you very much. Vanessa sighed again, rolling over to look out the window.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the clock's red numbers had just clicked over to 0:00. It was Christmas. She wondered if Santa Claus was real. If he was, she'd ask him for something to help her make sense of all the chaos and confusion running through her mind.

Vanessa was suddenly aware of another presence in the room. Straining her eyes in the darkness, she saw at the foot of her bed the misty outline of a body. It was a young girl, but she was practically transparent – Vanessa thought that it looked like she was made of water. Vanessa couldn't believe her eyes. She was no stranger to the weird and wonderful – vampires, werewolves, vampires with special powers, wolfy imprint magic – but this, this was something completely different. She blinked repeatedly, not quite believing her eyes. Vanessa should have been afraid, but for some strange reason she felt no fear. Maybe she was dreaming, she reasoned. The water-like figure glided closer to her. When the figure spoke, its voice was soft, like the haunting sound of a winter breeze.

"I am the ghost of Christmas Past," the figure beckoned. "Come with me."

"Nuh-uh," Vanessa shook her head. "No way." She might have been dreaming, but she sure as hell wasn't crazy. "I'm not going anywhere with any ghost."

"Do not be afraid," the spirit spoke kindly. "What I have to show you will go some way to helping you understand the confusion you're feeling."

The spirit touched Vanessa's hand, and she felt an icy coldness creep over her skin from the point of the spirit's touch, spreading over the rest of her body. And then there was the strange sensation of the world around her melting away…

.
.

They were standing on the porch of a modest wooden house that stood overlooking a beautiful lake. Two people were sitting on a swing just to the right of the front door. The handsome russet-skinned man looked to be in his late thirties. He had his arm around a bronze-haired girl who looked to be about seventeen. She was resting her head against his chest, her small body curled up on the seat as she snuggled into him. His long legs rocked the swing back and forth slowly as they sat in companionable silence, looking out over the lake and watching the winter sun slowly sink below the horizon. There was something strangely familiar about this scene, but Vanessa couldn't quite put her finger on it. It felt like déjà vu, as if she'd been here before, but that couldn't have been possible.

"Can they see us?" Vanessa asked her ghostly companion.

"No," the spirit replied. "We aren't really here – we're just seeing a scene from a time long past - a bit like watching an old re-run on television."

Vanessa arched an eyebrow at her companion quizzically. Really? Like watching TV? This really was a weird dream. She was expecting to wake up any moment now, but was drawn out of her thoughts by the voice of the girl -

"It was a lovely day, wasn't it?" she breathed.

"Yes my Ness," the man said, nuzzling his face into her hair. "A perfect Christmas."

Vanessa felt herself reaching up to touch her own hair, as if it were some reflex from a long forgotten past. She hurriedly put her hand back down to her side.

"Too bad it's almost over," the girl pouted.

"But it will be Christmas again next year," he gently reassured her, placing a tender kiss on the top of her head. She snuggled in closer to him and absentmindedly ran her index finger over the strong contours of his chest, evident through the thin fabric of his t-shirt.

"But how many more Christmases w...will there be?" her voice trembled involuntarily as she fought back the hot tears stinging the edge of her eyes. He tightened his arm around her, kissing the top of her head again. His heart almost broke everytime he thought of the inevitable goodbye that would eventually come. He wanted to do more to comfort her, but it was all he could do to not break down himself.

"Are you ready for your Christmas present, Nessie?" he asked, trying to cheer her up.

"I thought we already exchanged gifts this morning at Grandpa Carlisle's house?" the girl asked, blinking away the tears as she played with the shiny silver locket that hung around her neck, the gift he'd given her earlier that morning.

"Well this isn't anything I'm going to be giving you in front of your parents," he grinned, rising to his feet and scooping her up easily in his arms.

"Jaaaaake!" the girl squealed "Put me dowwwn!" she laughed, playfully batting his chest, as he carried her bridal style into the house, the screen door swinging closed behind them.

Vanessa watched as he carried her up the stairs towards their bedroom. The scene she'd just witnessed was so familiar somehow, but… not? Was it because the man looked so much like her Jake, but just older? She walked over and sat down on the swing, feeling the comforting sturdiness of the wood against her back. This was more like it. What she had just seen should have been happening from this angle, from here, on this swing. She curled her legs up under herself and leaned into the armrest. Yes, this was how she remembered it, how she remembered it feeling. Wait, remembered? How could that even be possible? With a jolt, she realised that the two people she had been watching were none other than Jacob Black and Renesmee Cullen. Why was the spirit showing her something from Jacob and Renesmee's Christmas past?

"Why indeed?" the spirit mused in its haunting breezy voice. "What would a Christmas past that belongs to Jacob and Renesmee have to do with you? And why do you feel it's not a scene from someone else's Christmas after all, but more like a long forgotten memory?"

Vanessa closed her eyes. She breathed in the scents and smells of the forest close by, and her senses felt as if they'd been reawakened from some long slumber. She placed her hands palm down on either side of her body, feeling the solid base of the swing's seat and the roughness of the cracked paint on its wooden slats. In the distance, she heard the wind whisper through the trees, and a flock of geese fluttered away across the lake. So familiar. So very familiar. Could this be possible? Could she indeed be seeing a scene from a past life? Or had she just pulled together remnants of all those old tales, which were now manifesting themselves as some strange dream that her tired mind had woven together?

"This is no dream," the spirit told her kindly. "This may merely be a snapshot in time from a Christmas long past, but believe that it is true. Believe that what you feel is real. Know the truth of your hearts' promise. And then understand why you have always felt so connected to him."

The spirit glided in closer to Vanessa and touched its cold hand to her arm. Vanessa felt that strange sensation of the world melting away from her again, as the spirit's haunting voice whispered in her mind "Remember, and then you will understand."

.
.

Vanessa was back in her bed again. Had any of that even happened? Had it all just been a dream? She looked down at her hands and saw the remnants of cracked paint on her palms. If it had been a dream, how did this paint get there? She didn't have time to ponder any further, as another presence in the room made itself known.

It was a male figure, more solid than its predecessor, and almost human-like in appearance. The figure was very pale, and had it not been for his piercing blue eyes, Vanessa would have thought he was a vampire.

"I am the ghost of Christmas Present," he told her. "Come with me."

Before she could respond, the figure touched a cold hand to her arm, and again she felt the odd sensation of the world around her melting away…

.
.

They were standing in the far corner of Jake's small bedroom.

"Same deal as last time?" Vanessa asked her companion.

"If you mean, can he see us," the spirit answered, "then yes it's the 'same deal'. But in this instance, we are not watching a scene from another time. What you see before you right now is in fact happening at this very moment."

"Like live TV?" Vanessa quipped.

"If that's how you'd like to rationalise it," the spirit eyed her curiously, "then yes, I suppose you could call it that."

They turned to look at the scene before them…

Jake was sitting on his bed, working on something that looked much too fiddly for his large hands to deal with, yet his fingers worked nimbly on the obvious labour of love.

There was a knock on the door, and Jake looked up to see his grandfather standing in the doorway.

"Can't sleep?" the old man asked kindly.

"Just working on something I wanna give Ness for Christmas tomorrow," Jake answered as he continued working on his task. His grandfather shuffled in and sat himself on the chair next to the small study desk.

"I hear you imprinted today," the old man began. "Big day, my boy – first time phasing AND imprinting."

"Yeah," Jake smiled at his grandfather, musing how the old man must be over a century old now. He had been one of the original Pack, but had stopped phasing a long time ago. The wolf was still in there somewhere though – it was as much a part of his essence as the air they breathed. His grandfather was still strong for his age and fiercely protective of his family, and Jake's heart swelled with love for the old man sitting before him. He always found it comforting to talk to his grandfather. "I guess. But Ness won't even talk to me now. I don't know it if was witnessing the first-time phasing that's freaked her out, or finding out that I imprinted on her. But whatever it is, it's driving me nuts."

"Why don't you just tell her how you feel?"

"Well I was gonna," Jake began, "but then she started up with that stupid 'I might go to the prom with the quarterback' thing again, and I kinda lost it. I think that might have been what triggered the phasing."

Wait, what was that? Vanessa leaned in a bit closer. Was she hearing things? Jake had gotten mad at the thought that she might go to the prom with someone else? Did that mean he was a little bit jealous? And he felt this way before the imprint had taken hold?

"The first time of phasing is usually brought on by extreme emotional distress," his grandfather explained. "You must have been very angry, Jake, for it to take hold of you like that."

"Grandpa, I love her – plain and simple. And I know it's not the imprint talking. I've always loved her, but I've just been too chickenshi… er, afraid to tell her or to even let it show. What if I told her how I felt and she ran a mile in the opposite direction? Anyway, the way she was carrying on about that Rick idiot, I was sure she had the hots for him."

"Did you ever think to ask her?"

"Are you kidding?" Jake stared at his grandfather incredulously. "Of course not! What did you think I'd say to her – Umm, so, d'ya like me, Ness? 'Cause I like you. And ummm, wanna be my girlfriend? Come on Grandpa, puhleez. She would have just laughed at me."

Paul Lahote looked at his grandson working away on the promise ring for his imprint. He smiled as he remembered a long time ago, someone else making something similar for another girl called Ness. Although, that time, it had been a promise bracelet, which had eventually been replaced by a ring when she got old enough. Paul's heart swelled with love for his grandson. He didn't really understand teenagers these days, but one thing he did understand was the imprint. The wolf gene ran strong in his blood too, and when he'd looked into his soulmate's eyes after phasing for the first time, his life had changed forever. And so too would his grandson's.

"So what's different now?" the old man asked kindly.

"Well Grandpa," Jake sighed, "It's weird, but it doesn't really feel that much different to how I felt about Ness before – how I've always felt about her. Now I just… well, I'm not afraid to let her know anymore. I'm gonna give her this promise ring tomorrow - " he held his palm out to his grandfather, showing him the piece of jewellery which looked tiny in his large russet hand, "–and you know what? I don't care if she doesn't love me back. I love her, and that's enough. It's a promise ring, and it's my promise to Ness that I'll always love her, always be there for her, be anything she needs – whether that's a friend, a protector, and if she'll have me, her mate. I've always felt this way about her, but now it's… stronger somehow. I've always loved her, unconditionally and irrevocably, and the imprint just reinforces that undeniable truth."

Paul got up from the chair, touching his grandson's shoulder gently as he made to leave. He didn't know why or how he knew, but his heart told him that everything would be all right.

"I'm glad you've found each other," the old man smiled.

"Thanks Grandpa," Jake grinned as carefully put the ring into a blue velvet pouch, ready to give to Vanessa tomorrow.

"So," the spirit asked, "Glad you decided to come along with me now?"

Vanessa's head was spinning. Had she heard right? Jake loved her too? And he had always loved her?

"I don't understand," she stammered. The spirit sighed. For a girl with a 4.0 GPA, she could she be so dense sometimes.

"He loves you," the spirit replied gently. "And it's not just because of the imprint. He's always loved you regardless. The imprint just made it… official."

Next thing Vanessa knew, she felt that strange sensation of the world melting away from her again, and she found herself once again in her bedroom. Her head was still spinning from the revelations she'd just witnessed. Jake loved her! And he loved her of his own free will, not because some ancient magic in his genes told him to. She wanted to scream it from the rooftops, the joy bubbling over from within every fibre of her being. She desperately hoped that this wasn't all just some dream.

She was snapped back to reality by a sudden awareness of another presence in her room.

This time, the spirit was so completely androgynous, Vanessa couldn't tell whether it was male or female. It wore a long white cloak, and could have been a handsome female or a particularly beautiful male.

"I am the ghost of Christmas Future," the spirit told her. "Come with me."

"Do I even get a choice?" Vanessa grumbled. And for the third time that night, she felt herself leaving the comfort of her bedroom, as the world around her melted away. She wondered where she'd end up this time…

.
.

They were standing on a beach. The late morning sunlight danced off the clear blue water, like thousands of sparkling diamonds on an ocean of deep blue sapphire. Vanessa dug her feet into the sand and felt the coarse, dry grains rub over the skin between her toes. The heat they had absorbed from the blazing summer sun warmed her skin, and it made her think of her Jake.

Jake. There he was, on the sand a few metres away, sitting on a towel rubbing sunscreen onto the back of a pale-skinned woman. She had her face down, her bronze curls splayed onto the towel in front of her. A diamond band glittered on her left ring finger, and on her other hand, Vanessa recognised the promise ring that she had seen Jake making.

"So," Vanessa turned to ask her ethereal companion, "I'm guessing that this is a future Christmas?"

"Yes," the spirit answered. "That is correct."

"But it's summer," Vanessa protested.

"People do go on holidays," the spirit pointed out. "Especially around Christmas. Surely you didn't think that he wouldn't take you somewhere nice for vacations each year?"

The woman rolled over onto her back as she stretched out lazily on the towel. Jake was leaning over and looking at her tenderly, like she was the most precious thing in the world. The sunlight danced off the russet skin of his strong muscled torso, and she looked at her husband hungrily.

"Ness," he breathed. "My Ness," he leaned down, ghosting his lips along her jawline. He nuzzled her neck, breathing in her delicious scent, and ran his hand down one side of her torso. He stopped his hand at the curve of her hip, and slid it around to cup her firm ass. She arched her back into him as his lips found hers.

He drew his hands away abruptly as the sound of laughter drew closer. Three caramel-skinned children – one boy and two girls – came bundling in, and Vanessa giggled as the kids fell onto the towel with her. Jake smiled indulgently at the four of them, his eyes warm with contentment.

"Are those… are they our kids?" Vanessa asked her otherworldly companion.

"They could be," the spirit smiled. "This could be your future – yours and Jake's – if you want it."

They watched as the children got up from where they had been sprawled on the sand, and ran off to play in the water again.

"Don't go in any further than knee-deep," Jake called out.

"Sure, sure," the boy called out, wading out almost to waist-deep.

"I mean it, William," Jake tried to sound stern, but he knew he was a pushover when it came to his kids. "Come back up to the shallows," he said again, this time his voice echoing with the Alpha timbre. He smiled as he saw William back himself up to where the water was knee-deep. He loved his son, but that kid really tested his patience sometimes. William was a helluva handful now at 9 years old, and Jake shuddered to think what he was going to be like when he hit his teenage years.

"You know he does it to test you," Ness smiled up at her husband.

"Yeah, I know," Jake said. "It's the wolf in him. And our kids have a double dose," he grinned at her, remembering how she'd phased not long after he had, and for the first time in history there had been a double imprint. "It's not so much William I'm worried about, but the girls – If they're gonna be anything like their Momma, when their teenage years hit I'm gonna have a hard time keeping all those boys away from them."

"Oh Jake," Vanessa laughed as she playfully batted his chest, "I don't think you'll have anything to worry about on that front – William's got it all sorted." They watched with interest as their son headed off a couple of boys who had been trying to inch towards his older twin sisters.

"And if that fails," Jake chuckled, "I guess we could just go to high school with them and pretend to be their siblings. On that note," he pondered, "I wonder how long it's gonna be till those kids of ours start noticing that we're not getting any older…"

As Vanessa watched the scene in front of her, she felt such warmth and contentment fill her heart.

"We're… we're so happy," she exclaimed breathlessly. "Could this really be our future?" she asked, turning towards her ethereal companion.

"If you want it to be," the spirit answered gently.

"How will I know if anything I've experienced tonight has actually happened? How will I know that this isn't all just something that I've dreamed up?"

"Because," the spirit murmured, "You will remember. And so will he."

The spirit moved in closer to Vanessa and she felt the icy coldness slide up her arm. For the final time that night, she felt the strange sensation of the world melting away from her. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in her room. But this time she was not alone. All three spirits were there, and together they spoke in unison–

"This is our Christmas gift to you both," they said, each touching a gentle finger to Vanessa's temple. "We return to you and Jacob your memories of all that has passed. Even beyond death, your love has led you to each other in this life. Remember, and understand. And may you finally have your happily ever after."

A rush of images, feelings, emotions flashed through Vanessa's mind. It was as if something was rewinding memories of a lifetime ago and replaying them to her… She was curled up near a gravestone, her will to live now lost as she felt the life slipping away from her body; she remembered longing to hear the beat, beat, beat of her Jacob's strong steady heart, and the unbearable yearning to be held close in his embrace just one more time; and then she was sitting alone on their old porch swing, staring out into the night and wishing that the empty ache in her heart would go away, but not wanting it to because it was proof that what they had shared was real. And then the feelings of despair gave way to warmth, and overwhelming wonderful, wondrous joy. And then something else – an emotion that made her feel as if she were nearly on fire, yet one which she couldn't quite define. It was stronger than love, purer than desire and more powerful than anything she could ever describe. And with a moment of crystal clarity, she knew what she was feeling.

It was the imprint.

Vanessa let the wonderful, wondrous feeling permeate through her body, and finally she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

.
.

The cold morning air tickled her nose as she softly closed the front door and began to make her way over to Jake's house. It was Christmas morning, and Vanessa wanted to be the first person to wish him Merry Christmas. She played with the ribbon on her gift for him, hoping that he'd like it.

She had hadn't even made it off the porch when she saw the tall muscled form of the one she would recognise anywhere. He was leaning against the tree near her front gate and her heart ached with the closeness of him. As she looked at Jake, she felt a pull in her chest and all the feelings came flooding back, along with the memories of the night before. She stopped for a moment, feeling overwhelmed by the intensity of it all, before gathering herself back together and walking towards him.

"Hey," she said as she approached him, trying to keep her voice steady. "How long have you been here?"

"Not long," he answered. "Look Ness, I know you're probably freaked out with the phasing and imprint and all, but I… I just had to see you. I wanted to give you this– " he held out his large russet hand. In it was a light blue pouch, the same one Vanessa remembered seeing in his room the night before.

She slowly unwrapped the pouch, and her eyes flashed with recognition when she saw the ring.

"It's… uh, it's a promise ring Ness," Jake stammered. He looked like he was holding his breath. "It's my promise to you that I'll always be there for you, in whatever way you want me to be."

"Thanks Jake," she breathed, marvelling at the care he had taken in making this. "It's beautiful. Will you put it on me?"

His eyes lit up at her request, and he hurriedly complied before she changed her mind. He held her hand in his, gazing in awe at how perfect the ring looked on her small pale hand and wondering what that meant now. Was she only accepting a promise of friendship from him and nothing beyond that? Or, did he dare to hope that it meant something more? His eyes fell to her body and he noticed that she had a ribbon around her waist, tied in a big bow on her front.

"What's with the ribbon?" he arched an eyebrow at her questioningly. "Some kind of new Christmas girl-fashion thing that I don't know about?"

"God Jake," Vanessa huffed, "Way to ruin the moment." A sudden shyness overtook her, and she fingered the silver ribbon nervously. "Look, I know it's a bit cliché, but… my Christmas present to you is… ummm, me!"

Jake looked like all of his Christmases had come at once. Unable to contain his joy, he lifted her up and twirled her around, before settling her back down on the ground again and folding her into a massive bear hug. As he held her close, Vanessa rested her ear against Jake's chest, listening to the beat, beat, beat of his strong, steady heart and musing how so profoundly safe and comforted it made her feel.

"Ness," he breathed, his body trembling with the emotion coursing through every fibre of his being. "You can't imagine how happy you've made me. I've loved you for so long, ever since we were little, and now finally…" his voice trailed off, a wide white-toothed smile lighting up his handsome face.

"You know," he continued, "I had these weird dreams last night and then when I woke up I could remember everything, clear as day, as if they hadn't been dreams at all but some long forgotten memory. And the weirdest part of all that? The dreams were about my Great Uncle Jacob and they weren't just about him – In the dreams, I was him."

"I know, Jake," Vanessa replied softly, snuggling in closer. "And I was Renesmee, right?"

"H... How did you know? Did you…"

She silenced him with a burning kiss. As her lips touched his, the memories slowly began flooding back, the promise their souls had made to each other finally coming to fulfilment. As the heat of their mouths' caress spread through their bodies, they felt love – pure, overwhelming, unconditional love – It emptied their souls of a lifetime of longing, filling them instead with the promise of all that was to come. They pulled apart for a moment, looking at each other but only truly seeing for the first time, as they marvelled in the miracle that had just taken place.

In the distance, the wind whispered through the trees, and a flock of geese fluttered away across some faraway lake.

Ness," he murmured, "My Ness." He nuzzled her cheek as she breathed in his delicious woodsy scent. In the crisp cold air of this wondrous Christmas morning, they had, at long last, truly found each other.

And the world was as it should be.