The next installment of the three-part Fluffy series. It's the sequel to The Favorite Fluffy, and I suggest reading it first. There should be a third up some day soon. Read and review! Oh, and I don't own.
"Jacob! Where are you?" a lost Nessie called. She and Jacob had been hunting together, but had gotten separated when Nessie was distracted by a few mountain lions. She was terrified, and it was starting to get dark. "Jacob!"
When no response came, she started crying, curling up under a tree. She knew she'd be okay, but being alone wasn't something she liked in her ten- to twelve-year-old-like body. She sobbed into her hands, calling for Jacob over and over. Finally, a rustling came from her left and she knew the scent before she saw the wolf, which gave him about three seconds to phase down and slip into his shorts before her eyes opened.
"Jacob!" she cried, diving at him. She hung off his neck, sobbing into his bare chest. "Where were you?"
"Oh, baby," he sighed, holding her closely. "I was about a mile off when I noticed you weren't behind me. I came back for you but you weren't at our meeting place."
"I-I-I found few a m-mountain l-lions," she gasped through her sobs. She was pitiful.
"It's okay, baby girl," he murmured, hugging her close. "I've got you, now."
Jacob held her and walked back the few miles to her home. She refused to let him go, making him stay with her when she got cleaned up and put on something comfortable and clean. When she was done, Jacob tucked her into her bed, and she buried herself in the comforter, holding Jacob's hand on her pillow. She slept for a while, and Jacob could see all her dreams, which consisted of himself and her in various situations.
When she woke up, she started complaining that her feet hurt. Jacob sprung into action, massaging her feet while she sipped on some hot cocoa Esme made for her. She'd been staying with her grandparents for a few days while her mother and father paid a visit to Isle Esme for a five year anniversary/second honeymoon. Jacob had been crashing with the Cullens to keep her company. At the point in their relationship they were at, he was her best friend. He'd taken her under his wing as she became more adventurous. She was still the boss, as she would always be, but she looked up to Jacob, listening intently as he taught her various things about sports and other things.
"Are you feeling better?" Jacob asked her, soothing the muscles in her tiny ankles.
She nodded, wiping the chocolate foam from her lips. "It doesn't hurt so bad anymore."
He smiled. "Good. Can't have my girl in pain. How can we do anything without using our feet?"
She giggled, then got a thoughtful look on her face. "Why don't you have a girlfriend, Jake?"
Jacob's face turned pink. "Where do you come up with those things, Ness?" he asked, trying to sway her off topic.
She made a face. "Fine, don't answer me."
The day passed and night approached. She insisted he tuck her in before going to one of the werewolves' allotted rooms. He waited patiently outside her bathroom (in which the toilet and sink had been upgraded to a normal size) while she changed and got ready. When she finally emerged in her monkey and banana print pajama pants and button up top, Jacob took her face and tilted it back.
"Smile," he said, demonstrating.
She rolled her eyes and obeyed, showing him she'd brushed her teeth. When he was sure she had, he ran his fingers through her hair to confirm she'd brushed it as well.
"Good girl," he said, smiling.
"Jacob, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of my own personal hygiene, thank you," she said, rolling her eyes but smiling nevertheless. She went to her bed and slid under the covers he'd laid back for her.
He followed her, pulling the covers up and sitting next to her. "I know, I know. I just can't shake the old days, having to re-brush your teeth and wrangle you to get you in your bed."
Nessie grinned. "I'm not a baby anymore, Jake. I only have two years before I'm all grown up."
Jacob smiled affectionately. "Well, you're still a baby to me."
She sighed, looking up into his face. "When will I not be a baby to you?"
Jacob sighed. She'd been trying to start this conversation lately. She knew about the imprint and what it meant (Bella and Edward decided The Talk was a good time for Jacob to fully explain the meaning of the imprint), but she was confused about how his feelings shifted with her growth. "Nessie, you're just a kid. You only need a friend for right now. When you need me in…other ways, then you won't be a baby."
"So why don't you have a girlfriend?" she asked, challenging him. "You know I don't care if you like other girls."
"Ness," Jacob sighed, rubbing his face, trying to think of how to explain it. "Baby girl, you're the only girl I think of, and right now you're exactly that: a baby girl. I couldn't betray you by putting myself in a position of commitment to another girl, though. One day you won't be a baby to me."
"But when?" she pressed. "If we're supposed to be together then why do you act like I'm your little sister? Having a girlfriend doesn't make you betray your little sister. You would only betray another girlfriend."
Jacob buried his face in his hands, exasperated. "Nessie, you know what you mean to me. The reason you're like a little sister to me now is because what you need is a big brother or friend. When you need me to be more to you, I will be."
"What about what I want?" she demanded. "What if I just want to get it over with and grow up? I don't want you to fall in love with me because of some magic spell."
"It's not a spell," Jacob said, chuckling a bit. "It's a natural occurrence. Now be honest with me. If you could grow up all of a sudden -right now- and get it all over with, would you? Would you really want to just be in love with me for no reason?"
She pouted, stubbornly admitting, "No. That would be weird. You're just my best friend."
"Exactly, baby," he said, massaging the place between her eyes, smoothing the wrinkles. "We're lucky. Sam and Emily didn't have a choice, or Jared and Kim, or Paul and Rachel. Quil and Claire are lucky like us. And the reason I don't want a girlfriend is partly because I'm not interested in anyone, partly because I've seen what happens when an imprint comes between a relationship."
"Aunt Leah," Nessie said solemnly. "But now she's happy with Uncle Embry. Did he imprint on her?"
Jacob rubbed his temples, yet again thrown into the question-all world of his imprint. "Yes and no, but that's another story for another time. What I'm trying to say is that you should be happy we have the time we have. Don't try to grow up too fast, baby girl."
Nessie giggled at the irony in his statement. "Too late."
Jacob rolled his eyes. "Are you ready to go to sleep?"
She rolled her eyes, but the yawn that escaped her lips a moment later was a dead giveaway. "Fine."
Jacob readjusted her covers, then leaned over her, kissing her cheek. "Goodnight, Nessie. I love you."
"I love you, too, Jacob," she said, reaching up for a hug.
After he turned her lights off, he left to the room allotted for himself and the other werewolves, if they happened to be passing through. He took a shower and redressed in some clean sweats, then dropped onto a bed and was out soon.
At some point in the middle of the night, Nessie woke up and found herself unable to fall asleep. She knew her family would be able to hear her if she got up, but she didn't care. She stood and carefully tiptoed to her door and down the hall to the wolves' rooms. She followed Jacob's scent and sat on the edge of his bed, staring at him. After a while, he rolled over and his arm hit her side where he was slinging it up onto his pillow. He woke up from the obstruction and was shocked to find Nessie staring down at him.
"Ness! What are you trying to do, give me a coronary?" he asked, catching his breath.
She giggled. "Jake, if the amounts of red meat you've consumed in the last week didn't give you a coronary, I surely didn't."
He sat up slowly, exasperated with her persistence. "What are you doing here?"
She shrugged. "Couldn't sleep."
"So you decided to make me not sleep either?" he teased, poking her in the side.
She shrugged again. "I just got to thinking about when I was little and you'd sleep in my bed with me. I guess I just wanted my favorite fluffy."
Jacob sighed, burying his face in his hands. "Nessie, baby, you've got to see where it would be inappropriate for us to sleep in the same bed."
Nessie pouted. "No."
"I'm a grown man," he tried to explain. "I'm not related to you, you're almost a teenager physically, and it just isn't right."
"Well, if you think of me like a sister-" she pressed, but he cut her off.
"Would it help if I said I don't think of you like a sister?" he asked, desperate for a way out of this argument. She was being abnormally persistent.
Her face fell. "Then how do you think of me?"
He sighed. "Look, you're changing. Your growing up and there are things we used to do together that aren't appropriate anymore."
She glared at her lap. "I know. But I'm still not old enough for you to have feelings for me…" she said in surrender.
Jacob saw her dejection and wrapped an arm around her. "You don't need me to have those feelings for you, yet. When you need me to, I will."
She sighed, putting her head on his shoulder. "But there are still rules and restrictions and time we have to wait." She huffed out a breath of air, then buried her face in his bare chest. Softly, almost inaudibly, she asked him, "Are you still my fluffy?"
Jacob hugged her tight. "Always," he chuckled, squeezing her. "Just not for sleeping. How about I'm your fluffy friend?"
She giggled. "That sounds ridiculous. How about… Friendly fluffy."
He laughed and agreed, then rocked her in his arms for a little while, until she began to doze. "Let's try bedtime again, shall we?"
She agreed in her exhaustion. "Okay. Will you carry me?"
He carried her to her room and put her down in her bed. "Goodnight, baby girl."
"Night Jacob," she said softly, drifting to sleep again. "Love you."
"Love you, too," he said, kissing her head before leaving.
Nessie's last conscious thought was that it was possible she was getting a crush on Jacob. Jacob's last conscious thought was that big changes were on the horizon.
A/N: A little weird, I know, but the last one should explain everything. Reviews!
~Sidney