AN: I'm back and it took entirely too long…I apologize. Here is the very beginning of my new story. Enjoy and feel free to give me a review: Hate it or like it?

Prologue

Run! Jacob, run! Everything you need is in her backpack! Bella's words were twisting and smashing and slamming themselves against the walls of my mind. I ran on and on and on. Hour after hour after hour. I didn't stop to breathe, to think, to see if my brothers were alive. I only ran. And ran.

It took all of my skills to block my mind from the telepathic wavelength that connected me to my brothers' minds. But I did it for her. I ran for her. I breathed for her. For the little girl clutching onto me and sobbing breathlessly. The echoing cracks, screams, and snarls of rage that I heard as I was escaping the battlefield continued to play in my mind even after I was several hundred miles away from the scene.

I didn't allow myself to unblock my mind. Not yet. Not until I was on a different continent. Not until I was sure I was far enough away that I could take a break and see if the Italian bloodsuckers were chasing me and my little girl. It wasn't until night engulfed us and dawn approached before I halted my progression at a small stream of water.

My acute senses could easily pick up the smells and sounds that indicated there was a town a few miles from us. I glanced around as my trot slowed to a complete stop. The forest around us was much different than what I was used to. I didn't know what types of trees were surrounding us. It was then that Bella's parting words grasped me again. Run! Everything you need is in the backpack! Renesmee must have understood that I wished to phase because she slipped off of my shoulders and dropped to the ground gracefully. She stood there with red-rimmed eyes, splotchy cheeks and knotted hair. She sniffled several times without speaking a word as I trotted a few feet away from her.

I phased quickly and untied the pair of shorts from my back leg. I pulled them up and came around the side of a big tree-trunk with my arms opened. Renesmee bounded across the short distance faster than a bullet from a gun with her beautiful, bronze hair blowing in the wind. She leapt into my arms and buried her head in the nook between my neck and collarbone. She whispered with a catch in her voice, "Mommy and Daddy…they're…they're…"

"Hush, baby girl." I hugged her tiny body even closer and rocked softly, "We don't know anything yet. We're going to take the backpack your Momma gave us and we're going to go somewhere else for a while."

"H-Here you go, my Jacob…" Her voice was soft and wobbly as she pulled the small pack off of her shoulders and handed it to me. I held her with one arm while my other arm was occupied with the backpack. It took me a moment, but I eventually found a section of grass and a small tree to sit under. It was a few yards from the gentle stream and I was contemplating drinking from that stream, because I was absolutely weakening from lack of water, after I looked at what Bella had left for us.

My jaw dropped as I pulled out a stack of crisp one-hundred dollar bills. Silently, I counted the bills that were tied together with a rubberband. Forty bills tied together. I was holding four-thousand dollars in cash in my right palm. Growing up completely poor, that was more money than I had made in my entire life. Hastily, I pawed through the rest of the pack. I whispered in awe, "Holy shit…"

There was pile after pile of one-hundred dollar bills. Dozens of bundles of cash. Four-thousand dollars per bundle. I took a deep breath as I noticed Nessie was watching me with big, beautiful brown eyes. I dug to the bottom of the backpack and found a slip of paper with a name on it. A place. A city. Rio de Janeiro. Beneath that were several envelopes with names scrawled across them in Bella's handwriting. Jacob. My name was on a letter. Further down, I found a thick envelope with multiple fake ID cards and passports. I whispered, "I know where we're going to go, Nessie. We have to go now, so let's find a store. We'll buy you a hairbrush and…get me some clothes. Then we're going to get plane tickets."

Nessie sniffled quietly and the sound caused pain to go through me. I cuddled her tiny body closely in my lap and said, "I know you're hurting, sweetheart, I know. I wish I could take the pain away, but I know that I can't. But I can promise you that I'm going to take care of you."

I pulled back and stared into her innocent eyes and touched my fingertip to her heart-shaped face. I was looking at the definition of perfect. She was my little girl. And I had to protect her. Keep her safe for the rest of eternity. Try my best to make her happy for all of eternity. I whispered, "Would it make you feel better if I told you that I won't ever leave you? Never. I'll stay right by your side as long as you want me to."

Her eyes filled with the sheer of tears before her tiny, child-like lips began to tremble. She spoke in a lost voice, "Do you promise?"

I held up my pinkie finger and solemnly said, "I pinkie promise, Renesmee. I'll take care of you forever. A pinkie promise is very serious."

She copied my action and held up her little fingers. Then, she wrapped her pinkie around my own and whispered, "When will I get to see everyone again…?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and answered honestly, "I'm not sure, sweetheart. I'm not too sure about anything except that we need to keep moving. I'm going to keep you safe until…until I can contact somebody in Forks."

I walked through the forest on two legs for now with a set destination in mind. Rio. Bella wanted us in Rio. In South America. I cradled Nessie against my chest and felt a determination override all of my fear and uncertainty. No matter who was dead, who was hurt, who was chasing us or where we had to go, I had to keep Renesmee safe. And happy. I had to make her happy. Because her pain was inexcusable.