Jessica's Happily Ever After?

Sequel to "But Why am I Jessica?"

Please do not read further unless you had read the prequel, want to be confused, and/or don't mind spoilers!

SUMMARY:

Sequel to "But Why am I Jessica?". Follow Jessica on her life after the "happy ending". Real life, her past, a Twilight Saga storyline that will not quit, and everything in between collides as Jessica struggles to grasp the happy ending she has always wanted for herself in this second chance at life.

Chapter 1

[Edward Arc]

"Five Years"

A beautiful summer was coming to an end, but it was ending on a sour note before I left to my freshman year of college.

The bitterness was due to the conversation I had been avoiding having with Edward.

In the Cullen's house, I followed Edward's lead past his family in their living room. I discreetly shook my head to Alice as I witnessed her opening her mouth to call to us. She must have seen what was coming. The only question was, had Edward? It was annoying being limited in my secrets from him. My only real secret was my previous life that no one was aware of.

I marched up the steps in silence behind him. A thick cloud of uncertainty hovered over us. It had been growing all summer. At least, I knew I was aware of its presence.

Edward gravely walked to his bed and waited for me to sit next to him.

"What do you know?" I asked solemnly as I nervously fidgeted my hands in my lap as I sat near him.

"Five years?" The heart break was evident in his voice. I couldn't bear to look at his face as I had been preparing for this conversation. I willed myself to channel my logical side and to not let my emotions dictate and lead me astray from my final decision already made.

"Any longer would look weird! Five year is generous. Think of what people will see when I am 23 and kissing you who doesn't look a day older than 17. We cannot last past then; I am sorry, Edward. I refuse to grow old with someone who will always look young. I want to grow old with someone. I am sorry, I know that is hard to hear. But it is the truth." I took a deep breath to combat the sniffling rising in my nostrils and shut down the tears from forming. Don't you dare meet his eyes, Jessica. It will be your undoing. Keep focused on your hands, if you must!

"What about us getting married?" Edward delivered a low blow and I grew livid.

"No. That is not fair. I told you in the beginning you could not hold me to Alice's vision of the future!" I spoke in a deathly fury putting aside my heartbreak. Edward buried his face in his hands.

"I am sorry. I know you would be happy with being with me as I grew old, but I cannot say the same. I don't want weird looks from people. I want to have kids. I want to spend time with family and friends and not have to hide from them to protect the fact you will never age. Please think of this for me, Edward. I beg you. I will give you five blissful and loving years. Let's enjoy that time and treasure it. We will cross the bridge of what happens next when we get there. But for now, let us have these five years. Okay?"

Edward picked up his head from his hands. He faced his body towards me. He extended his hand to lift my chin to meet his eyes. "If that is what you want, and will make you happy? Then okay…" I pushed back the rising anxiety in me from his despondent tone. He said okay. I take it and don't question it. We have 5 years. Until I am 23. That will be enough. Then we have to go our separate ways.

"I love you, Edward." Edward leaned in and kissed the single tear streaming down my cheek.

"Me too, Jessica." The grief riddled in his voice was unfair. I was still here. We still had time.

[Jacob Arc]

"A Million Steel Cables or Roots?"

It was bound to happen. I foolishly thought fate could change in this world. I just didn't expect it to be forced once we returned from Europe.

...

After I began unpacking from our trip and dividing my clothes for laundry in my bedroom, I received a call on my cell phone from Bella.

"Bella!" I shouted excitedly over the speaker into my phone.

"No, sorry it's Edward, Jessica." I quickly did a double take to make sure I read the caller ID correctly. It was labeled as Bella Cullen on the screen. I was not mistaken.

"Oh, Hi Edward. How's it going?"

"I need you to relay a message to Jacob for us." Edward skipped over the pleasantries usually exchanged at the beginning of a call and that bothered me.

"I am positive Bella has his contact number in her phone. You can call him yourself," I replied stubbornly.

"No!" Edward said too rushed. Because I detected a hint of panic in his voice, I decided to be kind and offer to pass on his message. Wait... he didn't turn Bella, did he?!

I attempted to keep a cool head and try not to assume the worst. Bella assured me before that Edward was making them wait until she was turned before they had sex. And Bella wanted to graduate from college first. There were still three years left for her. I was being ridiculous.

"What can I pass on for you, Edward?" I asked politely. I attempted to offer him a courtesy he had yet to bestow me in this phone conversation.

"It's hard to explain over the phone. Can we...meet up? And I can let you know what you missed out on the last month?" The raw emotion dripping from his voice created a pit in my stomach. Something had to be wrong.

I glanced at the clock on my bedroom wall. It read 11:30 PM. "It's a little late for me to leave the house. If it is urgent, could you make it to my bedroom window to chat? Jacob gets away with it, so I think we should be fine."

"I'll be over in ten minutes." Edward hung up the phone and I spent the next ten minutes letting crazy thoughts whirl into my head of what to expect from Edward Cullen.

Like clockwork, Edward lightly knocked on my bedroom window at his specified time. Probably could have opened that for him. Whoops.

I unhinged the latches and opened the window. Edward's pale face popped in first through my bedroom before the rest of his body followed. His copper hair was the same. His clothing style was the same. His golden eyes assessed my own the same. Nothing looked different about the vampire in front of me despite the fact we hadn't been this close in proximity for over a year.

I gestured for him to take a seat on my bed with my hand as I walked to my desk chair. Once I was settled in, I attempted to prepare myself for Edward's message.

"Hi Jessica," Edward greeted me with the charm of a vampire. His lips attempted to smile, but they could not muster to deviate from the default stoic look on his face he was stuck in since he arrived.

I offered him a closed mouth smile to prod him to get on with it.

"Bella and I...well, we had a kid." Renesmee! "And Bella is now a vampire. It was to save her though." I feigned shock and surprise to a certain extent. I had not expected this event to take place so soon. That was in fact a surprise.

Edward continued to explain what happened from the beginning. I struggled to listen as I felt a slight ringing in my ears. I was being warned I felt. Breaking Dawn's plot was here. But everything was so different. Would the Volturi still come? Would Jacob imprint on Renesmee? Jacob! As my heart began to sink, I dropped a net to catch it. Jacob imprinted on me. ME. It only happens once. Right? Right! Ease up Jessica and don't panic. Bella and Edward can handle this like in the book.

I stopped Edward once he was progressing on the pregnancy specifics. I did not need to be retold information I already knew. "So, you need me to tell Jacob first. He is separated from his pack, so they won't hear his thoughts. But you want me to get him on your side in case the pack decides you guys broke the treaty, right?" I asked Edward despite the disbelief I was having to deal with this now.

Edward's eyes were downcast as he shook his head yes.

"I'll handle Jacob. Please let me know when Bella can have visitors." I smiled at Edward despite my internal need to scream, cry and kick at him for getting Bella pregnant. They were supposed to wait!

Edward walked forward and dropped to his knees before me in my chair. He took both of my hands in his own and graciously thanked me one too many times.

I withdrew my right hand from his grasp and patted his head to assure him it would all be fine despite knowing the hell he was about to embark through. "Jacob will understand, or I will make him."

Edward rose from his knees and chuckled at my confidence. "I should get back. I need to protect them both. I hope you can also meet Renesmee soon. She is something else."

"I am sure she is." Edward stared at me oddly. He was carefully studying me. I felt uncomfortable. I worried he was peeling back the layers that revealed my current calm demeanor was a farce.

"Everything okay?" He followed up to ask when his visual assessment was complete.

"Of course. Jacob and I just returned from a lovely trip. Couldn't be happier!" The false joy was fairly easy to pretend since I was actually feeling it up until Edward called.

"Let me know how it goes with Jacob." I nodded to Edward before he began climbing out through my window. Once he was outside, I proceeded to walk over to shut and lock it. I was startled to see Edward still on the roof.

"Jessica, it's good seeing you again. You look well. I am glad you and Jacob had a good trip." Edward smiled and I felt a calm feeling wash over me as he jumped off my roof.

...

The next day I had a lot on my plate. Packing for my "first" semester at college was the highest priority aside from conversing with Jacob on the Cullen family update.

Jacob was aware of my day being spent school shopping with my mom and Daniel, so we had planned to meet up in the evening after dinner.

When dinner came, I received a text message from Jacob.

"Sorry can't make it. I'll stop by later."

I continued to re-read his message and was caught off guard by his cold and distant message. Am I crazy?

I scrolled through our text history and found plenty of example messages from Jacob where he had to delay meeting up, but his tone of disappointment was always conveyed in a straight forward message or sad faces. I had to be reading too much into it. Making up nothing into something because I was trying to find something wrong with us. I needed to be confident though. Jacob always showed his love for me. And I knew I would see it when he came over later.

I went to bed at 11 PM with no follow up text received from Jacob.

I awoke to a rapping noise coming from my window. I fondled through my bedsheets to pull out my cell phone that was by my stomach. It was 1 AM and I had no new text messages.

I sleepily rubbed my eyes and walked to my window. Jacob was finally here, and I didn't know how to feel.

I opened up the window and allowed him inside. I carefully took in the beautiful face I was just dreaming about. I recalled him looking happier in my dreams when seeing me though.

"I am sorry." His voice carried the weight of a lifetime of disappointment. I was terrified of what he would tell me next.

"I stopped by the Cullen's after Billy told me that Bella had been sick and Charlie hadn't heard from her. I found out about the baby and Bella. Edward said he told you last night." Jacob tenderly mentioned the word baby and not her name. I knew what was coming.

"Yes, I wanted to tell you today."

"So...I saw Renesmee, the baby, and I- god. I don't know how. I don't understand any of this. It was so different, Jessica. Then what happened with you. But I felt the same weight of it. The..."

"Imprint," I finished for him softly.

I mulled over telling Jacob in that moment the truth of who I was and how I came to be here. Why I speculated he could imprint on me after knowing me already for months. But I released the safety net cast around my heart and let it sink to the bottom pit of my soul. It knew the truth. One I could not deny.

Roots could be dug up. Cut out. Thrown away. Or Replanted. It was different for a million steel cables.

[Friendship Arc]

"Defining Friendship"

MOVED TO IT'S OWN BOOK called 'Defining Friendship'. Go to my profile to find it.

Author's Note: I am back! Because I am a nutjob, had a burst of inspiration, and tomorrow off… I am posting this on whim for those who read "But Why am I Jessica?". If you dislike my anticipated plan of splitting each chapter into a continuation of each ending and prefer separate chapters, now is your time to voice so. Also, I scrapped slice of life idea. I have stories for each ending. Each to be slapped with the reality of what actually comes after the "happy endings" we left off in "But Why am I Jessica?". Please let me know you what you think with a review, follow or fave. – Lalaland972