1

Bella was curled up against Edward's chest reading a book. Night had fallen and, although they were both impervious to the cold, a fire crackled in their small cabin giving it a warm and inviting feel. Edward smiled at his wife. "They're coming."

She set aside her book and grabbed a towel that was lying nearby. Edward opened the front door and a huge reddish brown wolf was coming up the path. On his back lay a human figure. Nessie rode the wolf as if he were a horse. Her legs straddled him and her torso was stretched out along his strong back. Her arms lay slack against his sides. She did not need to hang on; he wouldn't let her fall. Her long blonde curls spilled around his neck. From outward appearances she looked to be about 14, but her actual age was closer to 4.

"Hey, Jake," whispered Bella, giving the wolf's cheek a kiss.

Edward pulled the sleeping girl from his back and cradled her. She smiled sweetly, curling up against her father. Edward's mind became full of an image of Nessie and Jacob on top of a cliff. Nessie looked entirely too grown up in the two-piece swimsuit her mom had bought her. Nessie was on Jacob's wolf back. He charged forward over the cliff and they tumbled head over feet into the churning water below.

"What did they do today?" asked Bella.

"Cliff diving," Edward responded, leaving out the details. He was never sure if the images Nessie showed him were depictions of actual events or embellishments meant for a daughter to use to torture her father. He carried her down the hall to her bedroom, slipped off her shoes and placed her gently on the bed. She instinctively curled into a small corner, making herself as little as possible.

Bella wiped the mud from Jacob's paws and let him pad down the hall. He arrived at the door where Edward stood and climbed into the bed next to Nessie. Jacob's wolf form was so large that one of his hind legs dangled off the edge. In a gesture that was familiar from when Nessie was a baby, she grasped one of Jacob's ears, rubbed the rough fur between her thumb and first finger, and drifted off to sleep.

"Let's go," whispered Edward and led his wife back to the front room. "That swimsuit you got Nessie, don't you think it's a bit…much?"

"You don't like it?" giggled Bella.

"I liked the one-piece," he answered.

"The pink one with a picture of The Little Mermaid on it? That one doesn't fit anymore." She pushed her husband down on the couch and crawled on top of him. "You, my friend, have got to face facts. You are the 19 year old father of a 14 year old."

"You mean I'm a 90-year-old 17-year-old who's the father of a teenage 4-year-old," he corrected.

She thought about that for a minute. "I think that's right. Anyway, you're very handsome," she purred.

Their lips pressed against each other. He slid his fingers through her soft hair. Since neither of them slept, they did not need to rush anything. They had all night. So they took their time, stroking each other, lingering on each kiss. Then suddenly Edward pushed her off of him and hopped off the couch. His brow was furrowed and his mouth turned down at the corners. He stormed to Nessie's room in two steps and threw the door open. Jacob turned and looked at Edward through sleepy wolf eyes. Edward grasped the skin on the back of Jacob's neck. "Out!" he snarled.

The wolf allowed himself to be led through the house. Bella sat on the couch, her mouth slack with surprise. She had never seen Edward act this way.

"Daddy!" called Nessie, tagging behind them. "Please!"

Edward opened the front door and gave Jacob a small push through it. Jacob took a few steps into the darkness and then phased to his human form. "I didn't do anything," he protested, confused.

"Renesmee! I can't believe you were having a sex dream about Jacob!" Edward bellowed at his daughter, and then realized what he had said just a second too late. Being able to hear people's thoughts came with a responsibility not to disclose the more intimate details. He had kept Jacob's secrets all the time before Nessie was born. He kept people's fantasies, their selfish thoughts, to himself. But for his own daughter he had just exposed her most intimate dream not only to her mother, but to the subject of that dream.

Nessie looked like she had been slapped. "Nessie, I'm sorry," he said. "That was out of line."

"I hate you," she thought at him and stormed back to her room, fuming. She slammed the door shut.

Nessie could hear her mother following her down the hall. There was a soft tap at the bedroom door. "Nessie, sweetie, can I come in?"

"No!" Nessie shrieked. She threw open her closet and pulled out a backpack she used when she and Jacob went hiking and began throwing some clothes inside.

"Watcha doin'?" came Jacob's voice. He was in a tree looking down, speaking to her through the open window. She imagined he had gone there to watch over her while she slept. He was much too far away for a human to be able to hear him, but Nessie had no trouble, which also meant neither did her parents. She didn't care; let them listen.

"Packing. I want to get out of here. Let's just go."

"Go where?"

"I don't care. Your house, I guess." Ever since Jacob's sister, Rachel, had married Paul, a member of Jacob's pack, Nessie had used her old room for overnights. Billy, Jacob's father, still insisted she have her own room even though Jacob and Nessie always ended up curled together in one bed. "Just away from the spy," she said.

"Your dad isn't a spy. He can't help his ability any more than you can change who you are."

"You're taking his side?" Nessie demanded.

"I'm always on your side, Nessie," Jacob said. "But part of that is not letting you make crazy decisions. Your dad is sorry, so just forgive him."

Nessie threw the backpack over her shoulder. "I'm leaving anyway," she said and began to climb out the open window.

"You're not going anywhere," Jacob sighed. "Just go back to bed. I'll be out here. I'll see you in the morning." Nessie stared daggers at him. Jacob lifted his eyebrows, trying to call her bluff. "I'm not letting you leave. Your place is here, with your parents. And mine, apparently, is out here in this tree." He patted the branch as if it were a pillow.

"That doesn't look very comfortable," she grumbled.

"If I can see you, I'm comfortable," he said and stretched out on the branch.

Nessie let the backpack slip to the floor. "All right," she said, grudgingly. She crawled back into the bed, pulling the covers up over herself. She could still feel her rage and embarrassment about what her father had done. It stung the backs of her eyes, and felt like a fire in her stomach. For tonight she would stay here, but the truth was, she had to get out somehow.