CHAPTER TWENTY:

'We need to do something about these wolves'

Esme had disappeared into the kitchen in a flash, leaving Seth in the front entrance as the rest of the Cullen's and Jacob followed behind.

As Seth stood there he scanned the room, seeing Rosalie and a small girl sitting on the couch immersed in thought over a book. It was the first time Seth had actually laid eyes on Evelyn and as he did the world disappeared, crumbling around him like sand slipping through an hourglass. He was utterly confused by the feeling until he saw her, bathed in a warm light, and then everything made sense. Blonde hair, green eyes, pale skin. She eyed him, tilting her head and smiled. Seth knew in that moment that Evelyn had just become his whole world. His reason for breathing. She was his everything.

"Oh, no," Edward muttered to himself, staring at the back of Seth's head. "Not again!"

Seth seemed to be frozen in place and the Cullen's moved around him, watching him. Emmett ran his hand in front of Seth's face but he didn't even flinch. He was consumed with thoughts of Evelyn. Nothing else mattered anymore.

"What?" Bella asked Edward, who was now smirking as he took a seat beside Rosalie. Carlisle looked suspiciously between the two of them.

"Edward, what is it?" he asked.

Edward just shook his head looking defeated and that's when Alice gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. Her eyes were wide as she looked between Evelyn and Seth.

"What is it?" Carlisle asked again, now looking between Alice and Edward.

Alice shook her head as well. She pointed at Seth. "You…her….you…how could you…but…no…" Alice couldn't form the words. Rosalie had stopped reading to Evelyn and was slowly starting to come to a realization.

"What is going on?" Carlisle yelled, making Esme jump. "It's okay dear," she said, rubbing her hand along his back.

Alice stuttered. "It's gone, her whole future," Alice muttered. "Just like that, it disappeared. All I can see is wolf!"

Carlisle nodded, finally understanding. "Another imprint?" he quietly asked himself. What were the odds?

"Oh no, hell no! Out, get out!" Emmett roared, for once rising up to his full height and stature, using his body like a shield to block Seth's view of Evelyn.

Edward roared just as loud but with laughter. He couldn't even contain himself for Esme's sake, as she looked at him disapprovingly.

But it wasn't Emmett they had to worry about. He was angry, but he was still in control for the most part. Rosalie on the other hand…

Her eyes seemed to flash red for a second and that's when she lunged, right for Seth's throat. Jake phased in the air, meeting Rosalie with a deafening crunch, repaying the favour Seth had done for him twenty years earlier.

Rosalie smashed into the wall, crumbling the drywall and Jake hit the floor, crushing some of the wooden boards beneath his massive body. Esme cringed. The wolves were not supposed to phase in the house. No one ever paid attention to the rules anymore.

"Auntie Rosalie, you better not have broken Jacob," Renesmee scolded. She was crouched over Jake, running her hands along his fur. Nothing felt broken, but Renesmee had undoubtedly heard the cracking sound as her Aunt and Jake collided. If it wasn't Jake then what had made that noise?

She turned around angrily to look at her Aunt and her mouth fell to the floor. There was a chunk of hair missing from the side of Rosalie's head.

"Run Jake! Go! Move NOW!" Renesmee screamed, pushing his wolf-form with all her might. Things were about to get ugly. Vampire-wolf smack down ugly. Jake scrambled to his feet, slipping on the floor as he bolted for the door, carrying a blonde tuft of something between his teeth. He didn't even wait for Jasper to open the door; he just burst right through the screen.

Rosalie felt her head and then caught her reflection in the mirror over the fireplace. "DOG!" she roared. Even Emmett backed away from her. "Nobody messes with my hair!" she screamed, tearing out of the house after Jacob. They heard snapping and cracking as Rose pelted through the trees in a blind furry.

Edward grinned. "That was brilliant," he said.

"What?" Bella wondered. She didn't see how Rosalie murdering Jacob in cold blood was going to solve anything.

"Jake made Rosalie so angry she completely forgot about Seth. It was a nice sacrifice."

"Jacob's going home dad, he's going to be fine," Renesmee said defiantly.

"That's only if he makes it home," Emmett smirked. Renesmee whimpered.

"Don't worry Nessie, Jake makes it," Alice said tapping her head. "Emmett, you better go get your wife, the pack is threatening to rip her apart," Alice said nonchalantly.

Edward chuckled at Alice's vision. Jake was strutting up and down the border with Rosalie's hair in his mouth, parading it up and down. The wolves were snickering and cheering.

Emmett whisked Evelyn onto his back. "Come on, let's go get mommy," he muttered.

"I'll go with you," Seth said following them. "Maybe I can help."

"You've done enough wolf-boy!" Emmett said sourly. "Stay fifty feet away from my family at all times, better yet, stay on your side of the border. Treaty is off. Carlisle, tell him. I want the wolves off our property, now!"

Carlisle snickered, "You can't fight fate, Emmett."

Emmett looked like he could kill, "Fine, I'll get a restraining order. I'm not having you hang around my daughter 24/7 you creepy, possessive canine."

Edward was rolling on the floor now. He had waited so long for Emmett to get a taste of his own medicine. Revenge was sweet. Emmett threw Edward and obscene gesture and Esme scolded him.

"Emmett Cullen, there are minors present!"

"Don't worry, Evelyn wasn't paying attention, were you honey?"

"No, daddy, I didn't see anything," she lied.

"Good, because that hand signal is for people we hate and we hate wolves, right?"

"Right!" Evelyn said, pumping her fist in the air.

Emmett laughed. But Seth winked at Evelyn and she smiled.

"No, go away," Emmett placed his finger in the center of Seth's chest and forced him back a few feet. Then he stalked out the door after Rosalie.

"Hey, wait up!" Seth called after them. "What if I only come to see her every other day?"

"NO!"

"How about on weekends only?"

"NO!"

"Fridays from 5-9 PM?"

"No, go away mutt! You are not welcome here."

"That's fine," Seth said. "I've got time. Nothing but time."

"That's what you think wolf-boy, just wait until my wife gets a hold of you. Your dead meat."

The Cullen's watched Emmett and Seth bicker all the way through the woods. Edward laughed loudest of everyone. It was good to be on the other side of the complicated parenting thing for once. Let Emmett deal with the imprinting thing for a while and see how he liked it.

Just as he thought things couldn't get any better they got worse. Edward groaned. An image of Evelyn throwing petals down an aisle as Seth walked her to the front pew of a small church filled his head. Alice was gazing dreamily out the window and when she saw Edward glaring at her she cut him out of the vision.

"Alice what was that?" Edward bellowed.

The Cullen's looked nervously between the two of them. Alice looked triumphant and Edward looked murderous.

"Dum, dum, dah, dum," Alice sang lightly to herself, looking at Renesmee. Then she disappeared to the kitchen with Jasper, her head filled with thoughts of wedding cakes, dresses, white linen, and twinkle lights.

"Oh god, please no," Edward sighed grabbing his forehead. "I can't take it anymore."

Bella smiled. "Edward you can't fight fate. Now let's go. Apparently there are some arrangements that need to be made. And if we don't hurry Alice will have it all planned."

Renesmee sat perplexed. "He hasn't even asked me yet?"

"Oh, he will," Alice said smiling from the kitchen. "I just want to be prepared."

Edward chuckled to himself.

"What is it?" Bella asked. "What's so funny?"

"Well Alice's visions can change right? I might not have to worry about Jake anyway. Rose might kill him for me."

"Dad you don't mean that?" Renesmee frowned at her father, who had an unreadable smile on his face. "Aunt Alice?" Renesmee moaned nervously, rushing into her Aunt's waiting arms.

"Don't worry, Ness, he's just kidding."

"How do you know, Alice? You can't tell what I'm thinking," Edward chided.

"I know something you don't!" was all Alice said in reply.

"Am I about to find out what you have been hiding from me, Alice Cullen?" Edward teased.

Alice shook her head. "I'm not sure you're ready. It's too soon."

"Alice, I think this has gone on long enough. You can't keep up this charade forever. I know your running out of ways to keep me out of your head."

Alice pursed her lips. That was very true. And she was getting tired of having to guard her thoughts all the time in case Edward was attempting a mental assault. She shrugged and with an encouraging kiss on the cheek from Jasper she let the vision race to the forefront of her mind. It was of Jake and Nessie. They were older, you couldn't tell by the way they looked but it was obvious in their faces. They were wiser. They sat together on a couch, holding a bundle wrapped in a blue blanket. They were surrounded by gifts and cards reading, 'It's a Boy'. Alice appeared in her own vision carrying a cake that read Masen under the words, 'Congratulations on the Birth of Your Son'.

Edward stood stock-still, looking like he had been slapped across the face.

"So, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen," Alice said, purposely annunciating his full name. "How does it feel to be a…"

"Don't say it," Edward threatened. "Don't you even say it!" He looked like he was about to collapse.

"Breath grandpa," Alice said cheekily, obviously amused by his reaction.

Esme and Bella gasped happily as Carlisle clapped Edward on the back. But Edward looked sick and if he could have fainted he probably would have.

"This parenting thing is getting complicated," he murmured.

"Amen," came Emmett's booming voice as he returned with a disgruntled looking Rosalie and a windswept Evelyn. He pulled his daughter into his arms and slammed the door in Seth's face, who had followed them home like a lost puppy.

Edward and Emmett looked at each other, father to father. "We need to do something about these wolves," Edward stated to no one but Emmett who nodded in agreement.

Shish kabob? Emmett mentally suggested, feeling particularly villainous.

Edward chuckled, "My thoughts exactly!"

THE END