Author's Note; Hey guys! First story here. Hope it satisfies. I'm really excited about it. I apologize for any errors, it's late and this was just a cute little one-shot I decided to type up. Enjoy, and review. (:
Your Number One
"3-2-1... Ready or not here I come!"
I turn away from the corner she made me face while I counted, and started down the endless hallway. This game would be so much easier if this house wasn't so damn big.
I check all the downstairs rooms, the obvious places; behind doors and shower curtains. Not to mention all of the other impossibly small hiding places a 9 year old girl can fit in. Well, she looks 9 anyway, and she's more intelligent than your average teenager. God, she's growing so fast. But as Carlisle predicted, it has slowed tremendously. It seems as if it were ages ago when she was on my back, clutching my fur, afraid of the evil, red-eyed bloodsuckers that were standing before us, when in reality it had only been one short year. I shudder at the memory.
No luck in the closet. Damn. She's good at this game.
I started up the stairs. As I was walking through the hall, a misshapen lump under the cover of Nessie's bed caught my eye. Ah hah!
I sighed a long dramatic sigh. "Oh, I wonder where Nessie could be?" I thought out loud.
She shifted under the covers.
I yawned. "All this looking is making me tired. I think I might rest up for a second on this large comfy bed. I'm sure Nessie won't mind…"
That's when I started tickling her. The sound of her laughter was music to my ears. Never failed to make me smile.
She peeked out from under the covers. An ear to ear grin that made her brown eyes sparkle was plastered on her perfect, pale heart-shaped face.
"Gotcha." I smiled and winked at her, helping her sit up.
"Took you long enough. I was starting to think you forgot about me." She giggled as she smoothed out her long, curly bronze hair.
"Never." I was grinning like an idiot. God, she was beautiful.
"You know, Jacob, you're not very good at Hide-and-Seek."
"Well, we can't all be clever like you. Although hiding under the covers is kinda obvious, don't ya think?"
"Still took you forever to find me." She smirked, and hopped up out of the bed. "Let's hunt."
"Whatever you want." I agreed.
She grabbed my hand, practically pulling me down the stairs. Always so eager. Hunting was her favorite. We always made it a competition, seeing who could catch the most elk the fastest. I always let her win.
We made our way out the door, down the nearest wood, and across the river. She waited patiently while I hid behind a far away tree, ridded of my clothes, and phased. I walked to her, and she stroked the soft fur on the top of my head. I licked the side of her face and she giggled.
In the short span of thirty minutes, Nessie had sucked down two elk and I had only gotten one, on purpose of course.
"I'm better at this game too." She smirked at me when I returned to her again fully clothed and human.
"That you are, kiddo." I said, smiling at the ground. I looked up to see her stopping and sitting down in the grass beside the riverbank. I joined her.
We sat in comfortable silence for a moment, then Nessie prompted me with a question.
"Jacob, why don't you date?"
Her question caught me off guard. Well, this was new. "Uhm, what do you mean?"
"Ya know. Dating. Like people do on TV. They're always kissing and going on dates and stuff. Why don't you do that?"
I wasn't sure how to answer her. Of course I've never told her about her being my imprint. Edward, Bella, and I all agreed that she was too young.
Huh. Dating? The thought has never crossed my mind. Ever since Ness- Hell, ever since Bella, dating has never been a priority of mine. Nessie has always been my number one priority.
"Well, uh, I- I don't know, Ness. I've just never really had the time, I guess." There. That was a good reason.
"Why not?" I sighed. Always so curious.
"Um, well most of the time I'm busy doing wolf stuff, you know. With the pack. And I've got you. I spend most of my time with you, so there's really no point in dating to me."
She looked at me skeptically. "I wasn't always here to keep you busy though. What about before I was born? Did you date then?"
"N-No not really." That wasn't necessarily lying. I mean, Bella and I never really dated. "What brought this up, Ness?"
"I- I don't know. I've just never seen you with anyone…" She trailed off. "So, you've never had a girlfriend? Never been… in love, or whatever?"
Shit. I knew this was coming. Well. I have to face it sooner or later.
"Er, well…" This was weird. "Before- before you were born, like, a really long time ago, I- I thought I loved… your mom." There. I said it.
"Y- you were in love with my mom?"
"No! No, Ness. It wasn't like that. I-I thought I was, at the time. But I wasn't."
"Well, what made you think that?"
Damn it. I'll have to hear Edward bitch about this later.
I sighed. "Okay, um… So, like I said, a really long time ago, when you're parents first started dating there was an, uh, accident." I paused.
"An accident?"
"Yeah, uh. You see… Alice, being the overly annoying psycho she is, (She playfully rolled her eyes at my smart remark.) decided it would be a good idea to throw your mom an eighteenth birthday part. And Bella got a paper cut and started bleeding, and at the time, Jasper wasn't as controlled as the rest of your family, so he went a little crazy. It caused a big ol' mess, and your dad decided it would be a good idea if he left you mom."
"So… Daddy left Momma?" There was hint to surprise in her voice.
"Yeah.. For a little while. Your mom was really upset. I spent the most time with her. Ya know, tried to keep her mind off of Edward. It killed me to see her so upset. Then, there was the whole werewolf ordeal, when I first shifted. I had to stop talking to her for a while until she figured it out, but that's beside the point. I guess I just spent so much time with her, we got so close, I thought I was in love with her."
Man, I'm glad that's over with.
"Oh." I gave her a moment to let it sink in. "So, how did they get back to each other?"
"Long story short, your mom tried out cliff jumping for the first time by herself and almost drowned, but I saved her. Alice had a vision, thinking she was trying to kill herself, so she told Rose, Rose told your dad which resulted in your dad wanting to kill himself… He went to the, uh, Volturi. (She cringed at their name.) Thinking they'd kill him. Alice and Bella went to Italy to save him. Happy ever after."
"Wow. I never would've thought…" She was relatively calm about all of this. "So, you're not in love with my mother?"
"God, no, Nessie. We're just buds. Like me and you." I gave her a reassuring smile.
"Oh. Okay." He face fell a little.
"What's the matter?"
"N-Nothing. I'm fine." She flashed me her pearly white teeth.
"Not jealous, are you?" I nudged her playfully.
"Nooo." She stated matter-of-factly. I wasn't buying it though.
"Don't worry, Ness. You'll always be my number one."
She looked up at me through her long thick eyelashes. "Promise?"
"Cross my heart." I kissed the top of her head. "C'mon let's head home."
She yawned. "Piggy-back ride?" I offered.
She nodded. I squatted so she could climb onto my back and wrap her arms and legs around me. She nuzzled her head against my neck just like she did when she was a baby. I quickly ran her home to her room, knowing how sleepy she was, and laid her town onto the bed. She was exhausted. I kissed her forehead.
"Sweet dreams." I whispered in her ear.
"Jake." She whispered before I stepped out of her room. "You're my number one, too."