So I honestly didn't think I would add to this story, but during a grueling week of midterms, this poured out last night out of sheer exhaustion. (I can't resist the urge to write when I'm tired. It just must be said!) Anyway, I can't stand the thought of Jake not being happy, but I wanted to stick with the theme of Bella's part, so this is the hopefully happy medium I came up with. :) Hope you like.

From the moment she is born, he can think of nothing else.

Her happiness is his happiness and her safety his only priority. His life doesn’t matter anymore, except to please her. The tiny smiles that light up her face when she sees him, the way her hands grope to tug on his hair, the giggles that come so freely as he makes funny faces at her, the way she sees the world. He knows how she sees the world because she shows him, her alarming ability so easily on display.

He would die for her, and he can think of no stronger love than that.

He thinks too much, though, for after that thought nags at his brain, another occurs.

He would die for her mother, too. He would have died for her mother a million times over, and almost had. What did that mean, exactly?

Did he love Nessie more? Did he love her so deeply only because she was Bella’s child, the only piece of her he would have that was completely his, the only piece of her that would love him back?

It isn’t what he thought imprinting would be like. It’s worse.

It is no free will, only agonizing obsession, confusion, and too much time.

Renesmee grows and is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen (next to her mother). He notices, as she reaches maturity, an almost jealous look steal into Bella’s eyes every now and then. It becomes more frequent the more overt Renesmee is in showing her affection for him. It is the affection, the kisses, which Bella so forcefully withheld all those years ago. (Not that long.) Bella’s eyes say that they are her kisses. He feels almost smug.

He realizes, quite suddenly, that he can still read her like an open book, and her statue of a husband is still clueless. Typical bloodsucker. And then he realizes how unhappy she is, and it makes him unhappy. But Nessie is happy; shouldn’t that be enough?

He realizes that he still has some control after all, even though it is still because of Bella. (Will anything in his life ever not be because of Bella?) He is still powerless to leave her and to leave the part of her she gave to him, Renesmee.

So he marries her and makes Edward’s words true. Son. His inner sixteen year old self still shudders at the utter weirdness of that statement. Time has really made him no fonder of the leeches, but it has made him better at hiding his hostility.

More years go by, and still nothing changes, except that Jacob sees Edward finally notice Bella’s melancholy. He also suspects that Edward knows why.

Nessie is unfailingly jovial, always at peace with the world, always finding joy in the simplest things. She doesn’t complain, even though he sometimes sees her give her mother searching looks, trying to understand the pain behind her eyes.

And then, Jacob gets it. Renesmee chooses to be happy.

He understands that his happiness, imprint or no imprint, is a choice and he has wasted time in this sterile, cold, Cullen house. Bella’s whole life is wasted time, and he doesn’t want to be like that anymore.

Imprinting does not equal happiness, he sees, but it does equal love. He loves his wife, he would die for her, but he is not happy. So he makes the choice.

Jacob chooses to be happy; he chooses Reneesme, not . And he chooses to forget Bella. Well, not forget, but consciously move past.

Renesmee is surprisingly happy to leave with him, and he wonders if she has been waiting for this all along. It makes him love her more when he realizes she actually understands him, too, just like he understands her.

The farther away they get, the more he finds Jake again, all sunshine, warm soda, earth, summertime.

For the first time, he really lets Renesmee see him, the boy her mother fell in love with, and he is surprised how little her mother crosses his mind. It doesn’t mean he loves her any less, but it does mean he is stronger than mythical monsters and supernatural beings, and for that, he is finally happy.

Review, please?