Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the book (Sadly)


Chapter 1

Surprise!

Random thoughts flew through my mind, making no sense. The pictures changed every half second, bring a new one to my attention.

I was lying on the bed with my eyes closed. I wasn't really sleeping; I just did it for him.

He wasn't asleep either. His arms were wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

It felt nice, I had to admit. His arms were only a few degrees cooler than I was. The temperature was comfortable compared to all the other people I knew. He happened to notice the change in my breathing as I thought of him.

"C'mon. Wake up," he said gently, shaking me slightly.

I didn't move.

"I know you're awake," he told me. "Get up. . . Please," he added when I still didn't move. He shook me harder.

After a while that got annoying. On instinct, my hand flung out and hit him on the head. "Stop it Jake," I groaned.

"Oh. . . Where'd you learn to hit? Ow," Jake moaned in pain.

"My parents," I said proudly.

"That explains it."

"Explains what?" I asked him.

"You moved your hand freakishly fast. I suppose you got that from your dad."

"Oh, okay," I replied, not sure if that was good or not. "What about my mom?" I asked him curiously.

"That would be the . . . well, the . . . um, the way you hit me. Bells always hits me like that."

"Ah."

To me, it was just a little bit awkward to know that my mom hits my boyfriend. Then again, everything in my family gets awkward. Jake is technically about eight years older than me; my father is nearly one hundred-fifteen; and Jake has kissed my mother. But my family is perfect in every way, including the awkward things.

"Ness?" he asked at my long pause.

"Yeah."

"Happy birthday," Jake said calmly.

"Thanks," I said sarcastically.

"You think it's going to be bad. Name one reason for it to be bad," he challenged.

"Alice," I said simply.

"Well. . . True. I agree with you there."

I sighed at the thought of another party and cringed at the memory of the past ones.

"Might as well get it over with," I mumbled as I rolled out of bed.

I put on the clothes that Alice had given me for the occasion and strolled down the hall. Those five little steps were a bad idea.

"Hey Nessie!" a gruff voice exclaimed.

I gasped and whirled to find Billy in the middle of the kitchen.

"Oh. Hi," I replied.

"Ness!" a new person said.

Confused, I turned to find Charlie walking towards me with his arms open. I hugged him gently.

"How did you know where I was?" I asked him as Jacob walked out of the hall and froze at the sight of his dad.

"Jake," his father said as he rolled closer to him.

"Dad?" he asked, blinking his eyes rapidly as if he thought he was dreaming. He shifted his glance to me. I lightly shrugged.

"Esme gave us the address. She couldn't resist," Charlie answered to my question.

We were staying at a little cottage that Esme had rebuilt so that no one in town would be confused about my extremely fast growth rate. I was a little confused that they just gave us a house to use, but I decided against fighting it when my parents sided with Esme.

"Jake and I were just about to go over to their place," I told Charlie.

"That's fine. Billy and I just stopped by to with you a happy birthday."

"Okay."

Charlie pushed Billy out the door and closed it behind himself. Jake shot me a mystified look. My expression must have been enough, because he didn't ask anything. He walked toward me and grabbed my hand. We walked to the car together and got in. He drove away without a word.


I groaned when I saw the driveway leading to the Cullen's house.

Like every year before it, the trees were covered in lights, glowing like fireflies on a dark night. As we got closer, I saw a group of people standing on the porch, smiling.

Jake pulled up in front of the house and stopped the car. With his eyebrows mashed together, he got out of the Rabbit. I sighed and opened the door, then almost shut it again.

As I opened my door, the eight people standing on the porch started singing 'Happy Birthday.' I could distinctly hear Alice's tinkling voice above everyone else's and Emmett's base voice below.

I sighed once more and got out of the car. I met Jacob where he was standing on the walkway, took his outstretched hand, and started towards the white house.

We got the porch the moment they stopped singing.

"Happy birthday, Nessie!" Alice said enthusiastically as she danced forward to give me a hug. I hugged her back gently and then stepped back. She frowned.

"You're not happy, are you?" she asked.

"I am. I'm just worried about things," I replied.

"What is there to be worried about?" she asked me inquiringly.

"Nothing, I suppose," I responded, not wanting to say my trouble aloud.

"Then let's go have a party!" Emmett boomed loudly as he opened the door.

The inside of the house was covered in silver: silver boxes, silver tablecloths, silver plates, silver bowls. All silver.

The ten of us filed through the door. Jasper closed the door behind himself. I sat down on the couch and pursed my lips. Jake sat beside me, his eyebrows still being forced together.

"All right," I began," Who wants to give me the first present?"

"We will," two people said at once. I looked up and saw my parents standing together. My dad had a tiny silver box in his hand. He tossed it across the short distance and it landed in my lap.

"Thanks," I said as I picked it up. Slowly I unwrapped the small cube. I took the lid off the cardboard box and found a key. I looked up.

"Is it a car key?" I asked them suspiciously.

"I don't you go and find out," my mom said.

I stood up and pulled Jake along with me to the garage. If anybody was going to be excited, it would be him. I walked into the Cullen's garage. My finger found its way to the little button on the top of the key and pushed it. There was a beep and a flash of light in the car corner. I made my way to it and pulled off the cloth covering the form of a car.

Underneath was a sleek, silver car. It was low to the ground and looked aerodynamic. Jake gawked at the car.

"They got you a Lamborghini?" he asked incredulously.

"Apparently."

He shook his head and mumbled something I didn't hear.

I wandered back to the living room. "Thank you," I said when I saw my parents again. "I like it."

"You're welcome," Bella said as she hugged me tightly around the waist. I returned the hug just as tightly.

"You got some cool parents," Jake said as he came back through the door. "A Lamborghini for your birthday! The most I got was a part for a car."

"Open mine and Esme's next," Alice hinted as she dropped a flat box in my hands.

I ripped off the reflective silver wrapping paper off and lifted the lid. Inside was another key. This key looked familiar somehow, as if I'd already used it before. I glanced up at Esme.

"It's a key to the house you've been saying at. It's yours now," she said gently.

"Thank you so much," I said as I slid the key out of the box and put it in my pocket.

Jacob slid to the door. "I'm gonna go take a closer look at your car," he told me.

"Okay," I replied, thankful for the time alone.

He walked out the door and Edward followed after him.

I stumbled to the sofa and sat down. "Mom?" I called across the room.

She came and sad next to me. "Yes," she said as she took my hand.

I didn't exactly know how to answer so I just looked at her.

She studied my face for a moment. "You're worrying about something, aren't you?" she questioned me.

"Yeah. I am."

"What's wrong?" she asked softly.

"It's Jake," I said. "He's been acting really weird today."

"I'm sure it will pass soon," she replied in a very comforting, motherly fashion.

Jake walked back through the door as she said that. I stood up as he got closer and took his hand, twining our fingers together.

"I have a present for you," he said conversationally.

"Okay. You should have given it to me earlier, though. I don't know if it can top a new Lamborghini and a house," I said.

"I might as well give it a shot. You never know. It could top your list for today," he answered shakily as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a little black box.

"You're going to kill the silver theme with your present Jake. You should have wrapped it up," I teased him, smiling.

He forced a wobbly grin.

"What's wrong Jake?" I asked, worried.

"You know I love you, right?" he ignored my question completely.

"Yeah, I know."

He took a deep breath and said "Okay, that's all I need to know." He took another breath.

"Jake?" I inquired, really nervous now.

He ignored me again. He opened the small box and I saw what was inside it. For a moment, I lost all coherent thoughts.

He knelt to the ground, holding a small diamond rind and said, "Will you marry me?"


A/N: Okay. I wrote this a little while ago and I just typed it up today I have a little more left, but it's not a complete chapter to I'll be working on that more. I might not get anymore in today. But I'll do my best. I'll update soon hopefully:)