It's Been a Lifetime Waiting

A few days later in March, when Veronica shuffled downstairs for late breakfast, she noticed that Esme was running around cleaning. Everyone that went to high school was already at high school and Emmett was food shopping, leaving only Lucas in the kitchen.

“What’s going on?” Veronica yawned, sitting down on a kitchen stool.

Lucas turned around from where he had volunteered to make Veronica’s breakfast to smile weakly.

“The word from the bird is tomorrow Jacob’s pack arrive,” Lucas announced softly.

“Oh,” Veronica sighed.

Lucas sent his friend a sympathetic look before placing a large plate of friend eggs, bacon and sausages in front of her.

“Thanks,” Veronica said gratefully, Lucas just nodding.

Ever since the letter had been sent from Aro, all it seemed everyone had been doing was waiting. Just...waiting. It made Veronica quite agitated, if she was honest, and she found herself wishing that the Volturi would just hurry the fuck up. And while Veronica got irritated, Emmett got irritated, and it spread across the whole family. The arrival of their shapeshifter friends would be a welcome change.

“You haven’t eaten anything,” Lucas commented.

Veronica snapped out of her thoughts, realising that she was just pushing the food around with her fork.

“I’m not hungry,” Veronica grumbled.

“Now that’s just whack. What’s your tale, nightingale?” Lucas frowned.

Veronica giggled softly, missing just talking to him alone.

“I think it’s finally catching up with me how dangerous all of this is. I really could die when the Volturi arrive. They should kill me for being a human and knowing your secret,” Veronica sighed.

“Now that does not razz my berries, chick. You listen to me, Roni – we will not let them hurt you. With Bella’s shield the only weapons that can hurt us from them are disabled, so you are safe. And besides, Emmett would get you out of there like heels on fire,” Lucas said supportively.

“They have a tracker,” Veronica pointed out.

“Did I not mention I’d kill the tracker before he got your scent?” Lucas smirked.

“I guess not,” Veronica laughed.

“That’s the Roni we love. Don’t let the Volturi rattle your cage, doll. They’re not worth it,” Lucas said warmly.

“Thanks. I feel a bit better now,” Veronica smiled.

“No sweat. Now eat before Emmett gets back with the food shopping. He’ll know if you haven’t eaten,” Lucas said firmly.

“True,” Veronica chuckled.

*

The Cullen family and Veronica were waiting on the front porch for Jacob’s pack. Although it was a Friday, Carlisle had pulled everyone out of school and taken the day off work. This was important.

“Baby, you seem tense,” Emmett murmured in Veronica’s ear, pressing her firmer against the porch railing with his crotch against her ass.

“Just thinking about my possible looming death,” Veronica commented blandly, not reacting to his come-on.

The Cullen family snickered.

“Lucas mentioned you’d had a 180 flip in opinion. Did he tell you we’d shred them before they’d even come close to you?” Emmett chuckled.

“Well he said you’d get me out of there, but yeah, words to that effect,” Veronica nodded.

“Then relax, you’ve got nothing to worry about with the pack getting here. All they know is that we need their help because the Volturi are coming to see you, they don’t know why or much about you, but they’re coming anyway. It’ll be okay,” Emmett whispered.

“You sure?” Veronica sighed.

“Mmhmm, relax,” Emmett repeated.

Veronica frowned, not able to just drop her nerves like they had. Emmett smiled slightly and leant his head down, pressing slow, soft kisses into the side of her neck. She bit her bottom lip, tilting her head to the side to give him more access.

“Not the time or place, Emmett. They’re close,” Edward grunted.

Emmett groaned and nipped her neck gently, before standing up straight. Veronica pulled his arms tighter around her, resting her head back on his chest for reassurance.

“I can smell them already,” Rosalie sneered.

“Rose, be nice,” Bella warned.

Rosalie just scoffed, making Veronica raise an eyebrow. There was something Rosalie hated more than human girls in the family? That was shocking. Then Veronica saw them. 5 horse size wolves and an auburn haired girl in a dark blue hooded jacket, hood pulled up. Bella and Edward ran forward, pulling the girl into a hug, drawing a small smile onto Veronica’s lips. Seeing a family openly love each other always warmed her heart.

“Please change in the forest, not in front of Roni,” Carlisle announced.

The largest wolf, russet coloured, seemed to nod before walking into the forest surrounding the house, the rest of them following him. Bella and Edward walked up to the house, the girl behind them.

“Hi, I’m Renesmee! You can call me Nessie though,” the girl said cheerfully, holding out her hand.

Veronica looked at it for a second, shocked at how lively the girl was in comparison with her parents, making the family chuckle. Emmett released his grip on her but she still stood still, but eventually shook it, smiling a little.

“Veronica. Call me Roni,” Veronica replied.

“She’s pretty, keep her Uncle Emmett,” Renesmee grinned.

“I plan on it,” Emmett chuckled, wrapping his arms back around Veronica’s waist and kissing the side of her head.

“Shit, she’s tall,” Veronica heard a voice laugh.

Turning her head to the side, Veronica’s eyes widened at the sight of four topless deeply-tanned heavily-muscled guys and one deeply tanned girl. They were all extremely tall.

“And hot too. Fuck, why do you get all the hot ones, Emmett?” a boy with the palest tan frowned playfully.

Veronica blushed deeply.

“Natural charm,” Emmett chuckled.

“Roni, meet Jacob, Leah, Seth, Embry and Quil. Guys, this is Veronica, well, Roni,” Edward chuckled.

“Nice to meet the girl that’s causing all the trouble,” Jacob smirked.

“Another human girl in the supernatural world,” Leah commented monotonally.

Veronica raised an eyebrow at her, earning one back. Jeez, she didn’t need another supernatural creature with instant-hate mixed in! Edward snorted, making Veronica blush

“Loosen up, sis. This’ll be fun,” Seth grinned, nudging the tall girl with his hip.

She just shrugged, bored.

“Fuck, you guys make me feel normal size,” Veronica said randomly, lifting her head to look up at them slightly as they walked up onto the porch.

“I like you already,” Embry smirked.

“Thanks, I think,” Veronica laughed.

“Come on, let’s get inside,” Esme smiled.

The 5 wolves, 1 half-vampire, 8 vampires and 1 human walked back into the house, Veronica glad that Emmett had sat in an armchair so she could sit on his lap. These shapeshifters took up so much room!

“So what do the Volturi want with Roni?” Jacob asked, looking at Carlisle.

“They found out about her gift through an old friend of mine and want to see it for themselves. Apparently,” Carlisle sighed.

“Her gift?” Leah scoffed.

Veronica stiffened slightly at the disregard the wolf girl was showing her. Emmett frowned and Edward just chuckled.

“Don’t make Roni mad, seriously,” Lucas warned.

“What’s your gift?” Embry asked the human girl.

Veronica was slightly surprised, so used to people talking about her rather than to her. But she smiled, a hint of danger creeping into it.

“My scream is a paralysing sonar. It’ll pierce your eardrums and leave you writhing on the floor in pain. And I’ve practiced so that if I’m angry enough I can cut off your senses because of the pain it causes. And I’m only human now so I can imagine it’d only get more powerful when I’m turned,” Veronica said smugly.

Jacob’s head shot towards Edward, and Edward nodded. Well that was fast.

“What?” Seth frowned.

“Does that not remind you of two small irritating Volturi members?” Jacob grunted.

The pack members thought about it for a minute, before their heads shot up in realisation.

“The two munchkins with the twisted gifts?” Seth gasped.

“Jane and Alec, yeah,” Bella chuckled.

The wolves and Renesmee looked confused.

“What do they have to do with you?” Embry frowned at Veronica.

“Jane and Alec are my ancestors. They’re my family, if you will,” Veronica added.

“Sucks for you,” Quil snorted.

The pack burst into laughter, the Cullens laughing softly. Veronica just grinned. She was so used to the horror and grimaces that her family revelations usually produced that it was refreshing for someone to find it funny.

“So when do we get to reunite with our favourite power-hungry leeches?” Jacob yawned.

“Any time in the next week. I can’t tell though, because of you guys being here,” Alice explained.

“So we’ve got to find something to do for the next week?” Seth pouted.

Suddenly, Emmett grinned wickedly.

“Babe, don’t you have to work today?” he asked innocently.

“Fuck, yeah. The Iditarod,” Veronica cursed, leaping up from her chair.

Her boss at The National Geographic had asked her to take photos of the starting ceremony of the Iditarod, and it started in less than an hour. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Lucas, Emmett and Edward all shared a smirk.

“Oh we sooo have to go,” Jasper snickered.

“That’s not funny,” Bella frowned.

“No, it’s not,” Rosalie nodded.

Everyone sent her a strange look. She grinned.

“It’s fucking hilarious!” Rosalie giggled.

“What’s the Iditarod?” Jacob scowled, realising that it wasn’t a good thing for them.

“You’ll see,” Emmett smirked.

“I’ll get my press badge and camera...meet you outside?” Veronica smiled.

“You bet,” Emmett grinned.

Veronica laughed and pecked his lips, before running upstairs.

*

“Hardy fucking har,” Jacob growled.

The 15 of them had just reached the centre of town, where the dog teams and the mushers were getting ready to go.

“I thought you’d feel more at home!” Emmett gasped mockingly.

Leah punched the burly vampire in the arm, only earning laughter from the Cullens.

“I bet if you had your own team you could win by miles. We could make serious money in this,” Rosalie said with as much of a straight face as she could.

Again the Cullens laughed, including Carlisle and Esme.

“Shut it blondie,” Quil snapped.

“Make me mutt,” Rosalie smirked.

“Now now, settle down Rose. Give the pack time to fit in. They’re out of territory so they’ll need to piss up some new trees,” Edward scolded playfully.

Jacob raised an eyebrow coolly before pressing his lips firmly to Renesmee’s. Edward stiffened, Jasper and Lucas stepping in front of him to stop him attacking. Jacob pulled away from the young girl, who’s eyes were wide in shock but had a small smile on her lips.

“We’re even,” Jacob shrugged.

The pack all whooped, causing a lot of spectators to look their way.

“I’d better get to work. Save me a spot?” Veronica said suddenly, looking up at Emmett.

“You know it,” Emmett nodded.

“Love you,” Veronica murmured, pecking his lips.

“Love you too,” Emmett smiled.

Veronica smiled back, before walking towards the teams.

“You are so whipped!” Seth snorted, earning laughter from everyone.

“When you get daily action too, I’ll accept that,” Emmett shot back.

Seth scowled. Emmett just grinned.

Veronica nodded her greeting at the journalist covering the story from the National Geographic (who she actually recognised), and walked towards one particular team that had a wide range of dog colourings.

“Hey, I’m from the National Geographic, mind if I take some photos of your dogs?” Veronica asked politely, holding up her press badge.

“Of course not. Can I see the photos after?” the man asked warmly.

“If you write down your address or a fax number I’ll send you a copy of the article myself,” Veronica smiled.

“Sounds good to me!” the man chuckled.

Veronica nodded her thanks, before walking back to the dogs. They were all so beautiful, all so unique. She ruffled behind a couple of their ears, snapping shots of pairs, fours, eights and then the whole 16. She walked to the front of the team and crouched down, taking a few long photos, including all the dogs and the sled.

“Here you go,” the owner smiled, handing her a slip of paper.

“Thanks,” Veronica said warmly, tucking it into her back pocket.

Then she noticed the race was about to start, so she walked backwards and crouched so she was leaning right up against the barrier.

“Welcome to the 37th annual Iditarod. This year we have 71 mushers and their dog teams, so keep your eyes peeled. Everybody to their starting positions,”

Veronica brought the camera up to her eyes, zooming in slightly so the front dogs filled the camera frame.

“5...4...3...2...1...and they’re off!”

As the dogs started moving, Veronica snapped a stream of photos, grinning at the results. She knew at least one of this last group would be used for the front cover of the next issue. She stood up and brushed the thin snow off her jeans, looking for a way over the barrier from here.

“Would you like some help ma’am?” a man asked, roughly in his 40s.

“If you could clear a small space for me, I’ll jump over,” Veronica nodded, not particularly wanting his hands on her, even though she knew it was an innocent question.

The man chuckled, motioning people to step back as he himself did. Veronica held her camera tightly with one hand, placing the other on the barrier, and jumped, swinging her long legs over. Luckily she landed perfectly, without tripping or falling.

“Thank you,” Veronica said politely.

“No problem,” the man nodded.

Veronica smiled and walked through the crowd till she got back to the 14 she had arrived with.

“What did that dog owner give you that you slipped in your pocket?” Emmett immediately asked, frowning.

“His phone number so we can have hot kinky phone sex while you’re hunting,” Veronica said sarcastically.

The family and the pack snickered as Emmett narrowed his eyes, not amused.

“It was his address, so I could send him a copy of the article with his dogs’ photos in,” Veronica explained.

“And what was that man at the barrier saying to you?” Emmett pushed.

“You’re impossible! He was asking if I needed any help getting over the barrier,” Veronica chuckled, rolling her eyes.

“And you said no, right?” Emmett asked firmly.

“Leave her alone, Em!” Alice giggled.

Emmett just grunted, wrapping his arms round Veronica so her head was resting on his chest.

“You are too overprotective for your own good,” Veronica chuckled, looking into his eyes.

“I have to be with you looking as fine as you do,” Emmett retorted playfully.

Veronica shook her head in amusement and leant her head up, pressing her lips to his in a soft kiss. But Emmett seemed to have other ideas as he looped a hand behind her head, deepening the kiss as he moved his lips hungrily.

“Are they always like this?” Quil snickered.

“Mmhmm,” Edward said bitterly.

“You’ll probably want to stay in the town for an hour or so more,” Jasper added.

“Why?” Embry frowned.

The pack noticed that Veronica and Emmett had disappeared.

“Are you serious?” Seth chuckled, eyebrows raised.

“Don’t you even think of doing what they’re doing until you’re 21,” Bella warned her daughter.

“So that’ll be in...6 months?” Renesmee retorted.

“Actually 21. Not enhanced 21,” Edward corrected.

Jacob growled lightly, earning laughter. All they had to do now was kill some time before going back to the house, and kill some time till the Volturi arrived...