Hot and Cold
Nessie loved the cold.
She liked building ten feet tall snowmen in the yard with her uncles and laughing with her aunts as Emmett tried to lift the snowman into the air without having it tip over.
Her favourite human food, one of the only ones she would willingly eat, was ice cream. She loved sharing that treat with her Grandpa Charlie whenever he visited and letting the cool sweetness slide down her throat.
Nessie loved swimming in cold water. When she was 2 years old, her mother had taken her to a high cliff overlooking the water and told her that it was a very special place. They had jumped into the water together and Nessie had laughed with joy at the sudden icy sensation as her body broke the surface.
Most of all, Nessie loved the feel of her family's ice cold skin when they touched her. Some of her first memories were of being held in cold arms. She loved her Uncle Emmett's hugs – so hard they would have crushed a normal person's bones. She loved her Aunt Rosalie's cool fingers as they brushed through her hair.
She loved the feel of her Uncle Jasper's marble hand patting her shoulder in pride when she took down an exceptionally large prey and she loved her Aunt Alice's cool cheek pressed against hers when she whispered a secret in her ear. Nessie loved walking between her grandparents, holding both their cold hands in hers.
Most of all, Nessie loved the feel of leaning her head on her father's icy shoulder as he read to her while she fell asleep and the ice cold touch of her mother's lips kissing her cheek goodnight.
For Nessie, cold meant love.
Nessie loved heat.
She loved lying outside in the sunshine and feeling the warmth sink into her skin and warm her all the way to her toes.
She loved joining in the doggy-piles at La Push that often gave her the feeling of having two hundred pound heating blankets draped across her back and she loved the warmth of a bonfire on the beach with her friends.
She loved sipping hot chocolate after having a snowball fight with her family in the winter – mostly because it was funny to watch her mother pretend to sigh that chocolate was the one food she wished she could taste again. Although it wasn't as tasty as her usual meals, the hot liquid still felt good and she liked feeling the steam on her face.
Most of all, Nessie loved the heat that radiated from her Jacob. She enjoyed the hot hugs she got from him. His arms around her always made her feel as if the heat went all the way through to her heart. It was never an uncomfortable hot, the kind her mother said she used to feel if Jake had hugged her for too long when she was human, but the kind of warm that made her have safe, warm, and cozy feelings. Nessie loved burying her hands in his warm shaggy fur while he was in wolf form. She loved the lingering heat left by his lips whenever he gave her a kiss. She especially loved the warmth he could create in her heart with just a smile.
For Nessie, hot meant love.
If asked, Nessie wasn't sure if she would have been able to honestly say which she preferred. She considered both extremes as being essential to her well-being and happiness. Nessie never understood why people said you couldn't have the best of both worlds. She daily life swung back and worth between ht two extremities and she loved every second of it.