Soft and wet. Something soft and wet poked me in the ribs. I didn't want to get up from my peaceful slumber, one I badly needed after three consecutive runs of the forest perimeter, but the nudging and poking refused to cease.'Unggh,' I grunted. Was it morning already? Jeez, time flies by, especially when you don't want it to. I opened one eye and took a peek. Seth hadn't phased out yet. That was odd - he always preferred to sleep in his human form.

'Hey, what's up? Why you gone all wolf at this time in the morning?' I asked.

Seth pointed his muzzle towards a piece of paper on a table in the corner of the room. Sunlight was copiously flowing through the windows, forcing me to blink multiple times as my eyes slowly adjusted themselves to the light. I got up and stretched myself and looked around to identify exactly where I had been sleeping. I was on a large, beautiful, clean bed, complete with feather down quilt - which unfortunately reeked of a sweet scent which I had grown all too familiar with. I was sleeping on a bloodsucker's bed. Great. Something really bad must have happened for me to land up here. I must have been out like a corpse yesterday to not notice someone carry me from the porch into this room! Well, I did sleep like a log. Still, the smell didn't wake me up, so I must've really been out of it. Wonder who must have been the one who carried me...Must've been Esme or Carlisle. One vampire mother hen, and the other an extremely compassionate vampire doctor. Two completely unstereotypical vamps. Sometimes, I couldn't help but admire them. They were the most kindest, sweetest and nicest couple I've ever met in my entire life. As bloodsuckers, anyway.

'Anyway,' I turned to Seth, 'what happened?' I took the piece of paper to see that it was a note from leech number three:

All of us except Renesmee are out hunting. Seth was interested in seeing us hunt and will leave as soon as you wake up. I expect Leah will tag along within a radius of a mile to ensure her brother's safety. Please take Renesmee to the beach. Her tool kit is on the topmost shelf of her cupboard. I expect her to return in the same condition as we left her.

Take care (meant for her)

Edward Cullen

'You want to go see them hunt?' I asked. Seth nodded. Sheesh, he was a bigger leech-lover than I had turned out to be. 'Fine. Do whatever you wish.' I replied, irritated. I personally was looking forward to spending a day alone with Renesmee without having the blonde bimbo breathing down my neck, but I liked spending time with Seth, who was a younger brother to me. Anyways, on such a nice bright day like this, none of the vamps could venture out and mingle with humans without being discovered, so I guess it was up to me to entertain Nessie.

I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth - not that I really needed to. I hadn't eaten any processed food for quite some time. After taking a leak and the day's ablutions, I went out to fix some breakfast as there really wasn't a need to hunt while surrounded by perfectly good food. But to my surprise, a plate full of bacon and eggs had already been prepared. I gobbled them up as quickly as I could.

Seriously, I thought, for people who do not eat, the Cullens are sure good cooks.

I found Renesmee in Bella and Edward's cottage reading some Tennyson. Just a few months had passed and she already looked like she was four. 'Hey Nessie,' I cooed. She looked up with those warm, chocolate brown eyes of hers and I felt affection and pride for her rushing through me. My Nessie was so smart and intelligent, just like her mother. She would grow up to be an extremely blessed person.

'Good morning, Jake,' she replied, her voice sounding like bells ringing. A gleam entered her eyes.

'Want to go to the beach?' I asked, already sure of the answer.

'Yes,' she nodded eagerly. She really seemed to like the surf and sand. I suppose that since I had grown up with the package, I was now immune to its beauty. I felt bad for almost never noticing La Push.

Nessie was already dressed in shorts and a tee. I figured that the shorts I had on me would suffice. I packed a few towels, water and biscuits in case she got hungry. If she wasn't interested in human food, there were plenty of birds on the way. I put her in the car with all the protective gear, strapped her in place with the seat belt and made sure that the airbags were working. I was driving a bright red Hummer 3, gifted to me by the Cullens on the occasion of me suddenly becoming Nessie's 'guardian'. On the way to the beach in La Push, I reminded her how to behave with humans. Sometimes in moments of extreme thirst, she seemed to forget that she wasn't allowed to drink human blood.

'Nessie, we'll be going to the beach. We'll stay on the shore until we want to go swim. There'll be plenty of people like Grandpa and Mrs. Clearwater. So no biting!' I joked with her.

Renesmee rolled her eyes and I smirked at her. She gave me a playful punch and we both burst out laughing. As I reached the beach, I took Renesmee out and unloaded all our stuff. I selected a nice shady spot, put out the mat and gave Nessie her tool kit.

'Jake, do you want to help me make sandcastles?' she asked in her beautiful soprano voice.

'Of course,' I replied. I took a bucket full of wet sand and turned it upside down. Nessie overturned a few more buckets and we began clipping the edges on the grooves to make towers.

'I want a little moat around it too,' said Renesmee. Helpless to her charms, I dug a little moat and went to fetch some water while Nessie collected weed and shells to decorate the castle. As I walked towards the sea, I caught some wolf scent. I looked around to spot someone from Sam's pack, I couldn't see anyone. Shrugging it off, I took the bucket filled with water to Renesmee and she poured it into the moat and put a few plastic crocodiles in it.

'Hey, Nessie, whose castle is this?' I asked playfully. 'Ours, obviously,' she replied, 'You helped me build it, and anyway, who's going to fight off all the nasty crocodiles?' She giggled. 'You naughty little girl,' I laughed too and kissed her forehead.

'Race you across the beach!' she challenged me.

'Sure, I'm ready. I'll give the signal. On your mark. Get set. Go.' I said and we zoomed off or more like she ran and I just sauntered.

I blinked my eyes. I saw Quil suddenly appear right in front of me.

'Hey, dude,' he said and gave me a shoulder-to-shoulder. 'What's up? How come you're here?'

'Just hanging out with Nessie. The rest of the Cullen clan are out hunting. Where's Claire?' I said.

'I was just swimming. Claire's making mud-pies on the other side. D'you wanna join us?' he replied.

'Cool. Nessie and I just came and we were making sandcastles. Actually I'm supposed to be racing her right now. We'll join you in a couple of seconds.'

'Sure, anytime,' he said. I grinned at him and called out to Nessie. My voice carried far across the wind.

Nessie was waiting with her hands on her hips for me at the so-called finish line, which was the beginning of the sea. 'We were supposed to race!' she exclaimed. 'I know, Nessie, but I just bumped into a friend of mine,' I explained, 'He's with someone who's just around your age. Want to play with her?' I asked. Nessie considered that for a moment and said, 'Hmm…That would be quite interesting considering the amount of contact I have with humans my age.' 'Which would be...nil.' I stated. 'Yes,' she replied laughing at me.

'So let's go and meet Quil and Claire,' I said. 'Sure, I'm ready,' she said.

After packing all our things, we moved to the other side of the beach and found them waiting for us. Quil helped us with our things and introduced us to Claire.

'Hey, guys. Renesmee, this is Claire. Claire, this is Renesmee.'

'Hi,' Claire waved shyly, standing behind Quil. 'Hello,' greeted Renesmee shyly, even though she wasn't hiding behind me. I was shocked. Nessie was always confident in front of everyone and to whoever she spoke, even when all the covens came to bear witness and resided in the house. Now she was shy in front of a little three year old girl!

'You can also call her Nessie,' I offered.

'Hey, do you want to play with my Barbies?' asked Claire, 'I've got them with me right now.'

'What's a Barbie?' asked Nessie. 'My dolls,' replied Claire, 'This is Astronaut Barbie, her name is Samantha and this is Barbie teaching, her name is Cassie.'

'Hello Cassie and Samantha,' greeted Renesmee. Claire wiggled the dolls' hands and mouthed, 'Hello Nessie. Do you want to dress us up?'

'Sure,' said Renesmee, her eyes sparkling with excitement, 'Let's make little houses for them.'

While Nessie and Claire were busy making houses and playing with the sand, I decided to catch up with what was happening, 'So what's going on with y'all? Any new developments?' I asked.

'Nothing much, except that Sam and Emily's marriage has been shifted to three months ahead of schedule.' grinned Quil mischievously.

'Why? What happened?' I asked.

'Oh, nothing much...just that they're expecting their little bundle of joy after three-quarters of a year,' Quil smirked.

'Wow! That's great! Pass on our congratulations,' I said, astonished at the news. Leah hadn't mentioned anything earlier when I was dozing, had she?

This conversation reminded me of a similar one I'd had with Quil, way back before I'd come to know about Bella's pregnancy on this very beach, where I'd asked Quil to date some girl his age till Claire grew up. I couldn't help but have a smile slowly spread on my face. Noticing this, Quil asked, 'What you thinking about?'

'I was just thinking how people change with circumstances,' I replied. Imprinting radically changed my perspective on life and the things I valued the most. I could not fathom how I lived before Renesmee's birth. Just like Quil had said, it was as if nothing else existed.

'Yes,' he nodded thoughtfully. 'It does. Especially with people who can show us the better half of life when we can't see it,' he added, motioning towards Claire and Nessie. Both of them seemed to be enjoying themselves with the dolls, although I knew that Nessie was actually too mature to be playing with them. It was nice to see her acting her age for once.

I looked at the slowly darkening skies and shoved my hands into my pockets. Quil noticed this and thumped my shoulder. 'Hey man,' he began slowly, 'I think I know what's wrong.'

'Really?' I snarled. It was funny how I could suddenly change moods; but Quil already knew about this habit of mine.

'Yeah, I do. Renesmee's growing up so fast that you feel like she's passing you by, but at the same time, she isn't growing up fast enough for you to hold her.'

I was stunned. How did he know that? Quil was silent for a while, and so was I. Finally, as the clouds came rolling in, he said, 'You'll get better in time, trust me.' The loud giggling of our girls filled the silent, still air in shrieks and bursts.

Singularity