AN: I think this is the end of the story. I have an idea for another story that will involve ALL the characters. So if you read my other stories of Bella and Edward, Rosalie and Emmett, Jared and Kim, Carlisle and Esme then this next story that I plan to start soon will include ALL of them! (Yes, and Nessie and Jacob too). So for that story I'd like a beta (I haven't had one if YEARS), so if you're interested in beta-ing my story, PM me soon.

Thanks for the reviews!

Can't Stop This Thing We've Started

Chapter 7: My Way Home is Through You

"It's two weeks, Nessie. You can handle two weeks," Bella said to Nessie who was pouting on the plane.

"Can you?" she countered eyeing her mom, who was holding tightly to her dad's hand. Edward smirked slightly. Bella pursed her lips in irritation.

Bella rolled her eyes. "We need some family time, just the three of us. And I don't think asking for two weeks out of the year is a big deal."

Nessie sighed. "No, I guess not." Still, she really really really missed Jacob. It was almost painful.

"Nessie the plane just took off. You saw Jacob twenty minutes ago," Bella said.

Nessie decided that ignoring her mother seemed to be the best plan. She stared out of the window moodily. The green scenery was being left behind. Goodbye, Forks. Goodbye, Jacob.

"Come on," Bella put her arm around Nessie's shoulders and pulled her to her side for a hug. "It will be fun. I promise," she kissed the top of Nessie's head.

It would be better if Jake were here, is what Nessie really wanted to say; but she held her tongue. Two weeks never felt so long.

"Why don't you get some sleep, you're probably very tired," Bella commented. Nessie eyed her mother suspiciously. Bella brushed her thumb over Nessie's eyelids, willing her to sleep.

"Why am I tired?" she asked slowly.

"Well, you snuck out of the house with Jake last night so I doubt you got any sleep."

Nessie froze. "I did not." Liar, liar.

Bella raised her eyebrows. "Don't lie, you know its pointless."

Nessie looked out the window. "I'm sorry," she muttered.

There was silence.

"Okay, fine, I'm not," Nessie admitted.

"Hmph, that's what I thought," Bella said smugly. Edward sighed.

"Okay, let's stop this now. No more complaining. We're gonna make the most of this vacation," Edward said sternly, cutting off Nessie who was about to retort. Nessie frowned and decided to try to sleep. She might as well.

But she couldn't.

She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep, but it wouldn't come to her. She kept thinking of how for the past nine months she spent every night sleeping with Jacob. Not a night went by where he didn't eventually crawl into bed with her after a patrol. He was always there when she woke up. Now she was dreading sleep, knowing that he wouldn't be there when her eyes opened. She frowned feeling very upset with herself. Could she get any more pathetic? Did she really need a guy to help her sleep? She shouldn't need to! But she did. Admitting that to herself throughout the entire plane ride only made Nessie more depressed. What a bad day.

She felt bad about dreading the next two weeks. She was supposed to spend quality time with mom and dad and instead she felt as if she'd only be miserable the entire time.

Nessie wished she could at least pretend to be happy, but her dad would see through her mask so fast that it would be pointless to even try.

The plane was landing after what seemed like they had been on the plane for a week already...

----

Nessie bounced in her seat as they drove back to Forks from the Seattle airport. It had been the longnest vacation ever. Of course, Nessie had some great moments with her parents; it wasn't as terrible as she thought it would be, but she missed Jacob so horribly that she couldn't help not sitting still. She sat in the back of her dad's Volvo, her leg jumping up and down with nerves.

They had extended their vacation by two more days on her parents request. They seemed to be enjoying the mother-father-daughter time thoroughly. Nessie couldn't disappoint them so they called home to tell them they'd be coming home late. They hadn't given a specific date or time so they could surprise them.

Nessie really wanted to surprise Jacob.

She visualized his face over and over when he saw her again. She grinned. She was so excited.

She was also tired as hell.

She had barely slept at all while on vacation. Her mom and dad tried to calm her down by singing her to sleep one night. That was embarassing - she was too old to be sung to sleep. But when she finally had fallen asleep; she was thankful that her parents were desperate enough to force her down that path. Although she begged them not to do that for a second night.

She'd finally get to fall into - what she hoped - the deepest sleep of her life.

Jacob.

"Nessie, you're making me anxious," Bella laughed at her daughter.

"S-s-sorry," she bounced up and down. She missed the lovely green landscape. She had missed home, so much.

She wanted to meet up with Jacob - spend the entire day with him and then tomorrow hang out with her family who she missed a great amount too.

"Are we there yet?" Nessie asked. Once the words came out of her mouth she realized how childish it sounded. But didn't care, she knew her parents were probably thrilled at the question; their daughter acting like the eight-year-old that she should be.

"Soon, Nessie. About fifteen more minutes," Edward smiled at her through the rear-view mirror.

"Faster, please," Nessie urged, staring intently at the passing green. It was all pretty much a blur they were driving so fast.

Finally, they could hear home. They could hear Esme exclaim that she heard their homecoming and how everyone rushed to the front porch to greet them, welcome.

As they pulled up the drive and in front of the house, Esme was already at the door and pulled Nessie into a big hug.

"Oh, Nessie, we missed you so much!" she cried into Nessie's hair.

"What about us, mom?" Edward faked being upset.

"I missed you two as well," Esme amended. She squeezed Nessie a little too hard.

"Nana, please!" she giggled. Esme pulled away and kissed her cheek. Before Nessie could catch her breath she was passed on to the next family member. Nessie didn't see who grabbed her, but eventually could tell it was Alice who lifted her up - which was odd since Alice was much shorter than Nessie. From Alice she was pulled into a nice, gentle hug by Jasper. From Jasper she was yanked up about a foot into Emmett's arms.

"NESSIE! I gotta show you this funny thing I found on the internet -" Emmett crowed.

"Emmett, let her go," Rosalie complained, pulling Nessie down to the ground and hugging her with just as much strength as Emmett. Once she let her go, Carlisle walked over with a perfect smile on his face and hugged Nessie. It was the best hug, Nessie thought. It was with just the amount of pressure. She could actually breathe going into her grandfather's arms.

"I feel very unloved," Edward said watching the families exchange of Nessie.

"Two weeks is too long," Esme said, giving Edward a side hug and kissing Bella on the cheek.

"Only because Nessie came with us," Edward said slowly for confirmation

"We've never been apart from her for that long before," Alice defended. "And, I hated not being able to see any of you while you were away, even in my visions," Alice pouted.

Nessie looked around, hoping Jacob would just appear. She couldn't expect him to just know. She decided to call him as she was being dragged inside and thrown into a chair in front of a computer with Emmett leaning behind her clicking away on the mouse and typing at super-speed on the keyboard.

"Watch this!" he ordered.

Edward shook his head and took Nessie's bags upstairs to her room. Bella stood behind watching along with them. Nessie laughed hard at the video Emmett showed her. It was pretty funny.

"I knew you'd love it," he beamed. "I also saw this awesome movie -"

"Emmett, take it slow. She's not leaving again tomorrow," Bella giggled.

"Really?" Emmett stood up and eyed Bella carefully. "You're not gonna take her away from us, again?"

"Trust issues, Em?" Edward called from the other side of the room, he found his families reactions amusing and absurd.

"It'll only be once a year," Bella said.

Emmett scowled.

"Uh, can I use the phone?" Nessie piped up. Everyone stared at her, looking disappointed.

"Are you leaving us again, Nessie?" Alice's eyes got rather large. Nessie hated that look. It always made it hard to refuse her aunt.

"I don't know," she said quickly, jumping to her feet and racing to the phone before Emmett could throw her back into the computer chair. She yanked the cordless phone out of it's base and raced up the stairs to her bedroom, shouting, "I'll be back soon!" She closed her bedroom door tightly and quickly dialed Jacob's phone number.

After five rings, Billy finally picked up.

"Nessie! When did you get back?" he asked.

"About two minutes ago," Nessie thought back. Yup, all that happened too fast.

"Ah, well, Jake's not here."

Nessie's heart fell. "He's not?"

"Nope, sorry. I haven't seen him for a few days now. I don't even know if he's come home to sleep at all," Billy said.

"You don't know where he is..." she hedged, praying for an answer.

"I'm sorry I can't help you -"

"No, no, it's fine. If he comes home can you tell him -"

"No problem, Nessie." Before Nessie could thank him, Billy hung up. It was a little abrupt and made Nessie feel slightly hollow.

She frowned and sat on her bed. Ah, she missed it. It was the best, most comfortable bed in the world. She fell back and smelled the sheets. They had the faint scent of Jacob, which made her smile and sniff the material even more.

Dad, can you hear Jacob's thoughts at all? she asked.

"No," she heard him say.

Nessie felt like throwing herself a pity party. Poor Nessie. She hadn't seen Jacob in almost seventeen days. What was a half-human/half-vampire girl to do?

Find him!

But as she looked out into the heavy rain which seemed more like hail, now, she thought against it. Who knew where Jacob could be? He could have been out of the state for all she knew.

Well, he must have talked to Esme and found out that they'd be coming home later and was too frustrated with waiting that he -

- That he, what?

Nessie couldn't think of what he could have been doing right now. Maybe he was with Seth. She sighed and really hated the fact that Jacob didn't carry a cell phone with him. He claimed that it was fruitless when he morphed into a wolf, he couldn't exactly pause mid-way to answer the phone. Plus, it could easily fall out of the pocket of his pants that were dragged at about a hundred-miles an hour through a heavily wooded forest. It was just very unrealistic.

The voices of her grandparents and aunts and uncles and parents were making her eyes feel heavy. This was how she fell asleep a lot when she was younger; listening to her family talk. It was relaxing and felt like home. She was so glad to be back in Forks.

Her eyes closed completely, sleep finally pulling her under after threatening to for weeks...

Much later that night, Jacob was running back home when he picked up a very familiar smell. It smelled like Edward's Volvo. His heart beating eratically in anticipation, he rushed by the highway following the scent that led him right back to the place he hoped it would: the Cullens. Nessie's scent hit him like a ton of bricks and he quickly turned back into a human. He jumped into his pants and ran up the steps and through the front door.

"You could have told me when you were coming home!" he snapped at the occupants in the living room. Before he let them explain themselves he was already up in her bedroom.

He froze once the door closed lightly behind him.

There she was.

Sleeping.

An angel.

His angel.

A wave of peace passed over him. His heart had been missing the entire seventeen days. He hadn't felt right. He wasn't Jacob, he was only the shell of Jacob. Now, he felt as if he was complete once again. Her glowing, sleeping figure was taking away all his breath. He didn't dare blink, afraid that she'd disappear if he took his eyes off of her for even a mili-second. Her breathing was even and Jacob thanked Bella and Edward for bringing her home in one piece. She was exactly the same. Just like the night before she left when he held her in his arms under the stars...

He made his way over to her bed slowly, testing to see if he was really dreaming. He hoped he wasn't dreaming because than this would turn into a nightmare. Just when he thought she was in his grasp she'd fade away...no, he wasn't having that.

He reached out and touched her arm. Ah! She was real. She was Nessie. He sighed in relief. He climbed into her bed which was just as much his, and pulled her close to him. She stretched in her sleep and rested her head against his bare chest.

Oh, this was all he wanted. Was that too much to ask for? To have the woman you loved more than anything in the world to sleep on your chest? Jacob didn't think it was a difficult request.

He had missed her so much. It was insane. He was insane. He actually thought he had lost his mind more than a few times...so did Seth and Leah. Well, they wouldn't have to complain anymore. No, they would still complain probably.

Nessie nuzzled closer to him and he breathed in her fresh scent. Glorious.

"Hi," he heard her beautiful voice. His breath hitched.

"Hi."

She pressed her face into his hot skin. She brushed her lips against his chest and held onto him tighter. He had a firm grip on her waist; conveying that he wouldn't let go of her soon.

"I saw a pyramid," she said.

"Oh? Was it cool?" Jacob thought that was a pretty lame thing to ask.

"Yep, very cool." She was exhausted. Her body was weak and struggling to make any real movement.

"Did you sleep much...?"

"Barely any at all. You?"

"None," he confessed. He was just as tired, if not more. He wanted to fall asleep badly, but didn't want to stop the conversation. He needed to hear her voice badly. It was like a drug to him.

"Sleep, for me, right now, please."

He was asleep the second the words left her mouth. When he opened his eyes again it was bright and sunny outside, a rare occurance in Forks. He was in Nessie's room and he frantically looked around for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

He was about to call out for her in panic when his question to her whereabouts was answered as she skipped back into the bedroom with a tray full of all of Jacob's favourite foods. She placed it in front of him and he looked at her in shock. The woman he loved presenting him with food was like a dream.

"Eat with me?" he asked taking a strip of bacon. Nessie scowled but took a bite of the bacon that Jacob offered to her. She chewed and decided that it wasn't that bad.

Once Nessie swallowed, Jacob seemed to give himself permission to dig in whole-heartedly.

"I missed Esme's cooking," he said with his mouth full.

"Didn't you come by at all?" Nessie frowned.

"Well, I did, three days ago. You know, the day you were supposed to come home. But no, not since you left," he said. Nessie felt guilty about staying longer.

He brushed her cheek. "Don't worry about it, as long as you had fun. That's all that matters," he shrugged.

"I missed you every minute," she promised him.

"I missed you every second," he countered. She grinned and kissed his lips that were full of food.

"Ew!" she squealed. Jacob grinned and took another large bite. Nessie watched him chow down his food with incredible speed. She had missed him so much that it was still kinda hard to believe that she was back home with Jacob. She rested her head on his shoulder while he finished his breakfast.

Home, sweet home.

R/R!