A/N: Hey guys! Hope you enjoy this nice little Jacob/Nessie fic. I don't own anything, Stephanie Meyers does.

Thwap! Thwap! Thwap! Thwap!

The football mad a hollow, rubbery noise as it pounded over and over into Jake's hands has he tossed it side to side, stalling. We were standing maybe a half-mile away from each other in the middle of a field. I was waiting.

Thwap! Thwap!

"Are you planning on throwing it anytime soon? Because I have an accelerated growth rate, so I literally could be a year older by the time you man up and throw the ball." I planted my hands on my hips. Even though we were so far away, I kept my tone normal. He still heard me. Just as I heard him when he scoffed and replied:

"Well, see, Ness, that's the thing about being a werewolf, I don't have to worry about the inconveniences of silly things like aging."

"Not even a real werewolf." I mumbled to myself, finally hearing him chuck the ball towards me. I jumped up and caught the ball, literally hitting the ground running. That was the rule if you wanted to play with Jake. You had to work fast, because he wasn't a quitter, and after you turned two, he didn't let you win. You had to work for it. So I did.

I turned and ran full speed towards the tree line, already hearing him whooshing over the grass behind me. My adrenaline spiked as I sensed the chase, but I spurred myself even faster, just getting to the goal line when…

"Aaaargh! Jake, are you kidding me?! I totally had this one!" He had hit me fast from behind in midair. I felt his arm sling across my waist, pulling me into his body as he landed hard on his other arm, making sure I felt none of the impact.

"Obviously, you didn't." He smirked down at me. I groaned and threw my head back, pounding it into the grass and leaving a small indention in the earth. I drew my right had up, smacking him on the arm, but lingering, transferring images of me running off the field defeated and sobbing, never to speaking to him again. He laughed in my face before rolling off of me.

"Lies! You wouldn't do that to your best friend. Or your mom's best friend. Or your step-grandmother's surrogate werewolf son. Or the alpha of…." He went on listing the multiple connections he had with me, but I barely heard. I was too busy clenching and unclenching my hand, feeling a little tingly and somehow sad where his skin used to be, but wasn't now. Missing his weight on top of me.

Which, I suppose, is to be expected. Earlier, when I'd been baiting Jake, I'd been kidding. I had stopped aging about a year ago, and with my final real birthday had come the flood of information. About Jake and his place in my life. Or, my place in his, I guess?

It's hard to decipher. But I'm his imprint. I know, gives you goose-bumps, doesn't it? I mean, it does to me. Which brings us back to the heart of the matter. When they'd told me he was my soul mate, I'd almost been upset.

I mean, this is Jacob Black, we're talking about! He'd held me when I was born! He'd changed my diapers, for God's sake! And now they were telling me he was the love of my life? But, in true Jake form, he'd known exactly what I needed.

"Listen, Imprint…It's a harsh word. Not all imprints have to be romantic. It could just be that we're going to be best friends, and that's all. But that's completely okay, Nessie, as long as you're happy. Just, don't worry about it. We don't have to change anything about how we hang out or the way we are. We have a good thing going, here." I had smiled and cupped his cheek, replaying all my favorite images of us together. They weren't romantic.

They were things like us catching dinner. Or him teaching me how to build motorcycles from the ground up. Or me making him his favorite cookies, hitting his hands with the wooden spoon when he tried to steal dough from the bowl. Us playing football, or having races, or watching the Super Bowl and the World Series.

But that had been then. This was now. I don't know when it started to happen, but one day, he'd given me a hug, and I hadn't wanted him to let go. Ever. Ever since, he's all I could think about. I woke up thinking about Jake, spent the day with Jake, went to sleep thinking about Jake, dreamt about Jake. But somehow it wasn't enough anymore.

But here's the thing. Seeing as I was, quite literally, raised by a pack of wolves, the normal Renesmee would just march up to him and say, "Hey. I think I'm in love with you." And be done with it. No muss, no fuss. But the thing was, Jake had been right. We had a really good thing going. A great thing, really. And he, himself, had never referred to feeling anything romantic towards me.

All he'd said was, "Not all imprints have to be romantic." Did that mean that he wasn't interested in me like that? Or that he was, but was hiding his feelings? My mind whirred until I finally registered what was in front of me. Jake was sitting up, waving his hands in front of my face and saying my name.

"Earth to Nessie? Ness?" he snapped his fingers in front of my nose before I batted them away, rolling to sit up, myself.

"Sorry. I totally zoned out." I laughed at myself, watching relief wash over his face.

"Good. I was worried I'd taken you down too hard, for a minute, there." I searched his face, looking for something, anything, to tell me how he felt about me. But all I saw was his joking smile and the thin veil of the slightly manic over-protective attitude he had towards me.

"Not likely, furball. I'm made to last against your kind." I hopped up onto my feet and groaned when I looked at where I'd been sitting. "Jake! I was only like, three inches away from the goal line! If I sneezed I could probably roll the ball in!" He stood up and pretended to polish his fingernails on his tee-shirt.

"What can I say? You're getting better, but there's just no way you can beat The Machine."

"You're The Machine?!" I scoffed, waiting, waiting, waiting, until finally… Yes! There it was, a break in his focus. He tilted his head slightly to scan the forest behind me, and I seized my moment. I bent to scoop the ball off the ground, twirled out of his reach, and hopped the three inches over the rope we'd set up as the goal line.

I threw the ball down and my hands up, champion style, turning around to see him trying to frown, but laughing instead.

"GOAL!" I yelled in his face, knowing it bothered him a little to let someone else win, even if it was just me. I did a little dance in a circle around him, trailing my fingertips along his arms, sending him the feeling of my satisfying victory.

"Satisfying victory? Ness, you totally cheated." I did a little shuffle-step in front of him, still celebrating.

"It still counts." I sing-songed to him, twirling around. Making a big mistake. Because as soon as my back was turned, Jake had swooped me up in his arms and "tackled" me again. He held my hands down over my head with one hand and went for my tickle-spot with the other.

"It still counts. I'm so awesome cause I totally cheated and I'm Renesmee and I can't beat The Machine in a fair game." His voice was high pitched as he tried to mimick me, wiggling his fingers against my rib cage. I twisted against him, trying my hardest to get my hands free, or my legs, or something. I finally got my legs around his waist, but I couldn't budge him. I'm only a half-vampire, and he's a full shapeshifter. He trumps every time.

"Ugh! Ha…Okay…fine! I…cheated…and you…win." I admitted between gasps of laughter. His fingers stopped instantly. He wore the most beautiful smirk on his face, so proud of himself.

"At least you admitted it." He said, looking down at me. He seemed so happy. It hadn't even registered in his head that he was pinning me down, with my legs wrapped around his waist, in the middle of an abandoned field. It had definitely registered with me. With me and the warm, buzzing sensation that had decided to move into my stomach whenever Jake was around. Did that mean he really didn't want me? That he could sit here so nonchalantly with me wrapped around him? I curled my fingers around his where they rested about my head.

What are you thinking? His smile faltered a little, probably taken off guard by my serious tone. He shook his head and looked down at me.

"That I'm really lucky I get to hang out with you." I almost rolled my eyes. It was so Jake. Just the simple, unvarnished truth from my best friend. And he really meant it. I could tell.

"Why? What are you thinking?" he asked, smiling down at me, still playing. I smiled back, but even I could tell it was half-hearted.

"Let me up." He was off me immediately, but frowning. He reached down to pull me to my feet.

"Are you okay?" I tucked a stray hair behind my ear as a reached for the football, avoiding his eyes for a little bit longer.

"Sure, sure." I said, having adopted his phrase at the age of three days old. "I think Esme's making brownies, though. Want some?" He nodded, but his eyes still told me he knew something was up. I stepped a bit closer to him, reaching up to sweep my thumb across his jaw, sending him the feeling of being alright and the thought of brownies. Predictably, his stomach grumbled immediately.

I laughed. "I'll race you back to the house." I said, already beginning to jog backwards. He grinned at me and followed. I let him be neck and neck with me for a while, but I always win our cross-country stuff if he's in human form. I got ahead by a few inches, which is a lot for us, and jumped up, landing on the porch with a thud seconds before him. I heard applause from inside and pretended to take a bow just as Jake picked me up and twirled me around, celebrating with me. He's always on my side, even in competition. As long as I'm fair.

I followed him inside, watching him scarf down an entire tray of brownies before coming up for air. I ate mine slower, not enjoying the taste as much as he did, but also just looking at him. After his tenth brownie, he looked up at me to ask me something, and I noticed he had a melted chocolate chip smeared all over his top lip. I snorted into my milk and he frowned.

"What?" He asked, completely innocent and bewildered. I shook my head as I leaned forward to wipe his lip with my thumb, sending him a picture of how he looked with chocolate all over it. He was grinning at me as he watched me lick the chocolate off my thumb, but his face went suddenly serious and pale when he focused on something over my shoulder. I looked back to see my father standing behind me.

For an instant, I thought I saw something pass between them, but then it was gone and I knew I'd just imagined it.

A/N: Well? Thoughts? Comments? Reviews? I would like that…