Chapter 1
Disclaimer – I do not own Twilight or any of the characters featured in this story.
"I can't believe we're going to Africa!" Renesmee squealed as they boarded the plane.
"Yeah, we can hunt anacondas and tigers!" Emmett enthused, a few seats down.
"Emmett!" Bella hissed. They were on a public aeroplane. Though it was first class. The air steward came around to offer champagne, and stared agape as she took in the Cullen family's beautiful faces. She looked almost relieved when she saw Jacob's not so beautiful face in comparison to the vampire family he was sitting next to. The air stewardess said nothing, so Jacob gratefully reached out and took a glass, before giving the woman a 'get-out-of-here-now' grin. She did so dutifully, though she looked like she might be hyperventilating in the back. Bella sighed, she wasn't used to people gaping at awe, at her. Well, she smiled, she had forever to come around to the idea. She wished she had taken a champagne glass so she could knock it with Jacob's. She looked over to him and back to Renesmee, sitting two seats down next to Edward.
"I know." Rosalie sighed too. "Who invited the dog?" She sneered, and Bella tried to correct her mistake, but Edward stopped her.
"Jacob is Nessie's guest. Be nice, Rosalie" Jacob snorted. They all looked down to him.
"Rosalie! Be nice! There's something that will never happen" Rosalie huffed.
"Not to you anyway" her nose wrinkled as she looked away. Esme next to her intervened.
"Be nice. You wouldn't behave this way to any other guest, and we all have to get along for the next few weeks." It sounded like kind words, but all of them could hear the warning behind them. Carlisle, next to her, backed her up.
"Remember, we can't just go our separate ways, we all have to stick together, this is unknown territory, and some may feel threatened by us" Carlisle's words would have confused any nearby humans listening, but everyone understood his words. They couldn't come back with less of a family than they came with. They all listened to the safety information, but they'd heard it all before. Edward knew they had very little chance of any of the described emergencies happening, and its not if they were some fragile humans. They could skydive without safety equipment and simply walk away. He had wanted to try skydiving, but couldn't find anyone who would take him sans safety equipment. Flying a plane was one of the only things he had no experience with. He made himself a deal, if the plane crashed, he'd learn how to fly. He snorted as he realised that may be the one thing he never does. Bella looked at him quizzically, but he shook his head. She still listened intently to the safety instructions, he smiled as he realised that sometimes she still thought of herself as 'breakable'. The phrase was slightly more applicable now, seeing as her newborn strength had worn off. He remembered her expression when Emmett had finally won an arm wrestling match. The memory took him all the way to take off, until they were in the air, and the long journey began.
"I'm going to go to the toilet" Jacob said, getting up from his seat.
"Ugh, announce it to everyone, why don't you?" Rosalie hissed. He smiled, and cupped his hands. Bella looked on quizzically until he started speaking.
"EVERYONE. I AM GOING-" Bella, embarrassed pulled him back down.
"Jacob! You can't do that!" She was mortified, so spoke in whispers. Jacob simply grinned.
"Bells, unless you want me to embarrass you further by peeing myself, you better let me up" Jacob said. She didn't know if he was bluffing.
"Fine" he shrugged and grabbed his drink, wincing slightly in concentration.
"No! Go NOW!" She pushed him out of his seat and kicked him into the aisle, laughing all the way. Nessie was laughing. Her look silenced her.
"Kids" Edward rolled his eyes next to her. She laid back against the chair, exasperated. Bella closed her eyes, and to anyone else it would have looked like she was sleeping, if such a thing were possible. Instead she thought about how stressful this trip might be, and if she would end up being the one who got them all to go home early. She didn't want to be a spoilsport, but she wasn't sure how much fighting she could put up with. A noise broke her from her reverie. Her eyes flipped open and she looked to where the noise had come from. It was Alice, her face wide eyed and panicked. Bella had barely noticed her, she hadn't said much since she had gotten on the plane. That was probably due to the fact that Jasper had gallantly taken a seat in second class, as there were no more places in first. Rosalie had tried to force Jacob to take the seat, and getting in a few comments about how that would be a step up for him, but Renesmee had been sad enough that Jasper had volunteered. Bella looked back to see them all watching Alice, and her changing expression. Bella recognised the vacant look that told her Alice was scouring the future. Quickly Alice's face changed and she grabbed Rosalie's hand and pulled her up.
"Rose! Come now!" The two ran off down the aisle at infuriatingly slow human pace, and Bella watched them disappear into the cockpit.
"Uh, I don't think they're meant to go in there" Bella said, looking around to Edward. He looked confused, then sighed, his head in his hands.
"Stupid, stupid Jacob" he moaned into his hands. What had Jacob done now? Renesmee looked even more worried than Edward did.
"What's Jacob done!" She half screeched. She was frantic now, bouncing in her seat as she tried to see over the seats for Jacob's tall form. Carlisle, asked Edward more calmly.
"Edward." He waited until Edward faced him. "What has Jacob done?" In his wise, calm voice, it was hard not to think that nothing was wrong, and that everything was fine. Then Bella realised it was Jacob, and the mortifying despair kicked in again.
"Has he wet himself? Oh, I shouldn't have doubted him. Now they're probably moping it up right now, and Alice and Rosalie are preventing a scene. Oh, but the stewards will know. Oh no!" Bella's head sunk into her hands, mimicking Edward's previous moment, as she felt the internal blush that would never come.
"It's slightly more serious than that love" Edward whispered to her. Bella rose up from her hunched position.
"What?" Nessie looked worried. They all did. Edward sighed before revealing what he knew.
"Jacob has somehow managed to incapacitate the pilot. Alice and Rosalie are trying to steady the plane" Edward hunched again, in despair and tragedy.
"But none of them have a pilots licence!" Esme whispered, looking around worriedly.
"I know. That's why Alice took Rosalie, if anyone has a hope of figuring it out, she will." Nessie was about to break into tears. Bella automatically put her arm around her. Renesmee started bawling.
"Shh. We don't to cause a scene" Carlisle's words were not harsh, but they knew the solid implication behind them. No one could find out about this.
"Is everything alright here?" It was a male air steward this time, he seemed less surprised by the magical beauty that the entire family held, the other stewardess must have warned them.
"Yes, my granddaughter just gets a bit scared on planes" Esme lied casually to the attendant. Her eyes widened as she looked back to Carlisle and then the attendant. "Could you take me to second class? I need to get my son Jasper" the steward nodded and Esme shot a look back at the family. They watched her go with sad eyes.
"What's happening?" Renesmee sniffled, drying her eyes on Bella's shirt. Bella tucked her into her body tighter.
"It's not good news. The plane is slowly heading downwards, they can't get it to steady" as soon as Edward said this they felt the plane declining. There were a few worried gasps from the passengers around them, and Edward thought of the deal he made to himself earlier. Maybe he would have to purchase flying lessons when he got back.
"What's going on?" Japser was coming back now, with Esme behind him. She looked just as distraught as before.
"I'm going to get Jacob" Bella couldn't stand not knowing anymore. She got up, Renesmee gripping onto her tee-shirt. She carefully unhinged her and whispered 'I'll be right back'. No one else apart from Edward registered her movements, they were too involved in what Edward was explaining to them again. Bella managed to get out of the aisle and moved towards the cock pit. She took a sly look behind her before entering the cock pit. And inside it was chaos. Alice and Rosalie were rushing about, pressing buttons and shouting to each other, red lights pulsing everywhere. Jacob was curled up in the corner, next to a door which she presumed was a toilet, for which he mistook for the passenger loos. She looked on wide eyed as the scene continued without anyone noticing her. It was two minutes before Jacob saw her wide eyed panic and stood up. He had been sitting a long time, she could tell by the clicks made by his bones.
"Jacob what is going on?" Bella shouted above the chaos. Jacob looked exasperated then started shouting too.
"I don't know! I mean, one minute I was using the loo, the next I walk out and this guy sees me and has a complete fit, I think I scared him, and he's old..." Jacob stopped and panted, he was out of breath. Or maybe in their panic Alice and Rosalie had turned off the oxygen. She couldn't tell. "Also he got up and started shaking his finger at me and I panicked..." he looked sheepish and turned away "I tried to get out so a pushed the loo door out the way – just to clear the door – and it accidently hit him, then he fell and now he's in the toilet..." Jacob slumped back down again.
"You beat up an old pilot! An old man!" Bella stood gobsmacked. She couldn't believe any of this.
"Hey it wasn't my idea to stuff him in the loo! I wanted to take him too one of the air people, he was starting to become conscious again, then Rosalie slammed open the door, and it hit his head..." Jacob looked exhausted. From behind Bella she heard Rosalie growl.
"Don't try to pin this on me, dog. This is all you!" She rushed frantically about, popping buttons while Alice manically turned the steering wheel. Bella started thinking ahead.
"But what if you do manage to land this plane? What will you say? How would you know something was happening?" Bella wished she could scour the future, to see what would happen.
"God, they're going to think we're terrorists!" Jacob cried, trying to push himself deeper into the corner.
"Vampire terrorists? There's a bad combination" Bella said. Alice barked a laugh before continuing with her pressing.
"I can't see into the future, Jacob's involvement makes it too hard, and I can't concentrate while doing this!" Her black inky hair was a blur as she streaked to the other side of the cock pit and pressed a button. It was the wrong button. There was a whooshing noise then a hole in the wall appeared, sucking anything lose with it. Jacob slid across the room and it took Bella all her strength to keep him there. Alice, so close to the open window, couldn't see at all, her eyes were closed by the force of the wind. Rosalie unhooked her arm and slid across the room to help, trying to find the right button. Just before her hair went out the window, she slammed a button down, which closed the window. All was silent for a few seconds. Then there was a noise. They froze as they heard the door opening. The three vampires' hearts would have leapt out of their chests if they were beating. Jacob's was. When they saw the familiar blonde hair, they all relaxed.
"Guys, what is going on? Your emotions are crazy in here- oh." Jasper froze as he saw the situation, the panicked faces, the fear in their eyes, the flashing red buttons.
"The planes going down?" They all nodded. "Well, make an announcement, people need to get out of here before we crash. You can't save it now" he looked at the pressure reading before continuing "the plane is too low. We have to get out of here – now." Jasper closed the door and they all stared at each other, the shock clear on their faces. Then Jacob got up. He grabbed the microphone and started speaking in a husky voice.
"Excuse me, this is your captain. I'm sorry to announce there has been a problems with the plane, and you will all have to jump. I don't know if there are enough parachutes-" Rosalie grabbed the microphone off of him.
"What are you doing!" Her voice was scathing.
"Well, I can't tell them were taking over the plane can I?" As soon as Jacob finished speaking, there was screaming throughout the plane. Oh dear. The air steward's burst into the room. They looked dumbstruck at the gathering.
"Don't just stand there! Get the parachutes! This plane is going down!" Alice shouted at the frozen staff. More squealing came from the plane.
"Turn OFF the microphone, for the love for God!" Bella screeched. Jacob obliged, flicking the switch. The stewards were gone, making arrangements for the passengers.
"We have to get everyone out!" Rosalie said, rushing out into the aisle. The Cullens were already standing, ready to go. Jasper must have told them the plan. As soon as they saw them, they rushed to the door.
"What about the other passengers?" Bella screeched. They ere going to open the air lock.
"They'll be fine" Alice looked confident. She looked over at the despairing passengers.
"Bella if we don't get out of here we'll be arrested! It might look strange if you live out your entire hundred year sentence!" Edward shouted in her ear. She nodded. She couldn't let that happen to any of her family. She took a deep breath, and Carlisle opened the air lock.
"QUICKLY, GO!" You could barely hear him over the rush of air. Bella understood. People would go out of the door if they weren't quick enough. She grabbed Renesmee and tucked her into her arms. She followed her family out one by one, until it was only her left. She took a deep breath, tore her gaze away from the crazy happenings on the plane, and threw herself into the unknown.