"I am sorry, dad...I didn't want to make you mad." Ness said, meaning it.

To be just one year she was amazingly understanding. To say the least.

It was the second time in three days that she had fallen from the tree-house. The unfinished tree house that Jacob had started building for her six-months 'birthday' in our backyard.

To think that at the time it had seemed such a great present.

"It's ok, honey…I'm not mad. But would you please pay attention? You know how daddy freaks out when you get hurt. You aren't unbreakable." I answered, carefully cleaning the still bleeding, small wound on her left knee.

It was not ok and my daughter was far form unbreakable. Strong, yes, but not unbreakable.

"I know…Sorry! Do you forgive me?"

I sighed, shaking my head, and then smiled widely, looking in her eyes.

First, it was impossible not to love her to pieces; secondly it was nearly as impossible to get really angry at her. Third, I had already forgotten what I had to forgive her about…Damn dimples!

"Of course I forgive you, little monkey!" I answered. She threw herself in my arms, forgetting about her knee, which naturally started bleeding again.

"Whoops…" she chuckled, hiding her head on my shoulder.

I sighed. "You are so like your mother!" I shook my head, smiling. Again.

Smiling, shaking my head and sighing were almost automatic gestures whenever I was with my daughter. She amused, amazed and surprised me. Every time.

Nessie was definitely Bella's daughter. Many of her human traits reminded me of my clumsy, adorable, mortal Bella…

Curiously enough, now that Nessie was growing up (fast!), it was getting a bit more difficult to read her mind as well. I could perceive the tune of her thoughts, but not define them. It was like with Charlie, more or less. I guess that the Swans' genes were pretty dominant in her.

"Where has mum gone today?" she asked, moving away slightly, her arms still around my shoulders.

"Hunting with Aunt Alice, Aunt Rose and Uncle Emmet! You know that…She kissed you goodbye this morning, before leaving." I answered, immediately missing Bella more than ever. It always seemed to get worse: anytime she went away, it was physically painful for me to be separated from her.

I resumed my medication, sure that it would not hold for long anyway. Nessie was absolutely unable to stay quiet.

"I think I was still sleeping a bit – she said thoughtfully - And why didn't you go with them? Aren't you thirsty yet?" she asked, delicately caressing the hollows under my eyes, which colour was closer to onyx than topaz.

"A little bit, but I wanted to spend some time with my little girl!" I answered.

I lied.

Sure, I did want to spend time with my daughter, whom I loved more than my own existence, but the truth, the shameful truth was this: "Yes, Ness, I am thirsty, but I did not want to leave you, because the mere thought gives me the creeps and because I'm an over-anxious vampire father!" There!

Still, I couldn't say something like that to my daughter, could I?

"You did not want to leave me alone?" she asked, untroubled, looking curiously at her injured knee.

I always forgot. My daughter really was like my wife in more than just her human clumsiness or silent mind…She was clever. Stunningly so. And she could see through my pretences. I should have seen this coming.

I chuckled. "You know your dad well, don't you?"

She nodded and flashed me one of her killer smiles.

"Jacob says you are a bit too prokettive…"

"Protective, honey." I decided to focus on the linguistic mistake, rather than on Jacob's opinions about my fatherly behaviour. It was pretty unfair and ridiculous, coming from him: he was absurdly apprehensive and possessive, when it came to Ness, which irritated me quite a bit!

I could not deny that this imprinting thing of werewolves had his advantages, too: when Nessie was with Jacob, I was almost 100% sure that my daughter would be safe and taken care of. Almost. But after all, as I had once said, she could have done worse...

The bad thing was that whenever Jacob was with Ness (and I was around too), I felt a pang of fierce jealousy washing through me.

Jacob and jealousy most definitely seemed to be two very interconnected concepts in my existence.

"I think Jacob will be here soon, dad. He promised…I wouldn't be alone!" she said, sounding very hopeful.

I did not like that very much. Oh, what the hell! I did not like that at all.

"I am sure he will, hon. Whenever does he accidentally forget about spending more time here than at his own house?"

"Dad! – she shouted, giving me a very rare reproaching look – I thought you liked Jacob…don't you?"

Difficult question. How to explain her what I felt, when I did not exactly know myself?

"Ah…It's not that, Ness. I do like Jacob, in a way. Most of the times at least… - I added, for truth's sake – It's just that…it's a delicate balance."

"What?" she asked, frowning. We had never openly discussed the natural animosity between werewolves and vampires around the house.

"Well, I can't explain properly. Just be sure about this: I know how much you love Jacob and I respect that…"

Another déjà vu. How many times did I have to go through this 'I-know-you-love-Jacob-and-therefore-I-would-never-hurt-him' thing?

It seemed like ages ago that Bella was crying her eyes out over her best friend and still just a bit more than a year had passed.

"Aunt Rosalie does not like him much…" Ness said. It was a statement, not a question and she was dead on about this. Actually, Rose did not like Jacob at all. Mostly, her thoughts anytime Jacob was in the house revolved around ripping, strangling and punching.

It so happened that at times she was not the only one entertaining these thoughts. Thank Heaven, no-one could read MY mind…

"Your aunt does not like many things, Ness, you know that. But she loves you and would not hurt Jacob either!" I was reasonably sure about this.

"Uhm…I do not understand this thing about vampires and werewolves being enemies…I don't think Jacob is our enemy!" Ness sat down on the tree swing, which Jacob had provided as well.

I frowned in surprise. "Who told you about that?" I asked.

Ah, yes. Naturally.

"Aunt Rose…" was her answer.

I wasn't very happy with my sister right now, but I laughed quietly anyway: it was not very surprising to me that Rose's words had not convinced my daughter. At all.

It was difficult even for me now to believe that we were all supposed to be enemies. What with Seth passing by to visit every other day, with Sam working with Jasper on battle techniques…and Jacob practically living with us…

But nothing could change facts: we were naturally set apart.

However, my daughter was totally fascinated by Jacob and was happy to spend as much time with him as possible. She knew he wasn't family (strictly speaking), she knew he was different and, above all, she knew he loved her to pieces, no matter what. That's why it was just impossible for Ness to see him as an enemy of her family.

Truly, I had to give it to Jacob: he was in earnest. And purely so. He would have gone to any length to protect Nessie and I was sure that she could feel it. He had to look as far from a menace as possible to her.

I quite hated him for not giving me the merest excuse to punch him every now and then…

"Nessie? Ness?" A voice came from inside the house.

Soon enough, the owner of the most annoying voice ever stepped out into our backyard.

Ness kissed my cheek, smiled widely and ran away to literally jump into Jacob's arms.

I had forgotten the most obvious disadvantage of imprinting: whenever Ness and Jacob spent time together, which was very often, my only, adorable, loving daughter stank! Bad…

"Hey! What a welcome! Can I go back and do it again?" Jacob asked, grinning widely.

Well, sometimes he did give me a reason to punch him!

"I wouldn't do that…I might 'jump' on you instead!" I answered, walking to meet him with my hands in my pockets. You could never know…

"Ah! Hiya, Edward. That wouldn't be half as pleasant, I guess…even if I miss a nice wrestling match…"

Don't tell me! I thought.

"What, is Emmet tired of ambushing you anytime he can?" I asked.

I knew perfectly well how much Emmet enjoyed challenging Jacob. Rose was all for it, naturally, but Emmet would not give it a serious go. He loved and valued Nessie's affection too much to even try.

"Hell, no! That's about the only fun I can have around here! Even if he holds out on me…" Jacob said, grinning.

"Don't you have fun with me, Jacob?" Nessie asked, sudden worry troubling her eyes.

Ha…Let's see how he gets out of this one…

"I said 'about', honey!" Flashing, wolfish smile.

Oh, for the love of all that is holy! A mushy werewolf! How worse can this get?

He said 'about'...ugh…

Nessie smiled widely now and Jacob was so pleased with himself, that I felt like throwing up. Their eyes were locked together…O.K.

"Can we go out for an ice-cream, Edward?" the cheekiest werewolf ever asked me, meaning him and Nessie, of course.

He really had no sense of shame.

Nessie turned to look at me so quickly that I almost feared her neck bones would dislocate…She was waiting for my answer with such an excited expectation that all I could say was: "Ok, ok! Out of here, you two! And be careful!".

Actually, I wish I could have said: "No you can't go out for an ice-cream, but you can go to hell right now, dog!"

I looked at my precious daughter being carried away from me by one of my mortal enemies.

I had to punch something!

I felt ridiculous, standing there, watching Nessie being carried around on Jacob's shoulders, both of them blissfully happy. It did not seem to get better or easier with time. Not at all.

I felt completely…completely…Ah, complicated, as usual.

I felt jealous, of course, because my Ness loved another man, (better another male being, for lack of a more appropriate word), as intensely as she loved me. Truly, it was a different kind of love.

I felt worried. Worried like I felt anytime someone I loved was away. At the moment, I felt doubly worried, because my wife was out hunting without me and my daughter was going out for an ice-cream with a werewolf of all people.

I felt annoyed. Annoyed, because I allowed myself to be wound up by something so natural and unstoppable as love. I still saw Jacob just as a werewolf sometimes, which was absurd, after all this time and all the things that had happened. I should have simply seen him as… as part of the family.

Most of the times, however, I felt guilty. Guilty because I knew that I had no real reason to be jealous, or worried or annoyed…I knew, because I could read Jacob's mind. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about how I felt, because it was simply unintentional. And, there was nothing at all I could, or would do about how those two felt for each other either.

What had Alice told me once? 'It's more inevitable than the sun rising in the east.' Yes. 'Inevitable' was the right word…Obviously, you can't fight the sun, can you?

I would know. I am a vampire…