Here is the birthday party chapter. Enjoy! ;)

Standard Disclaimer Applies

Chapter 2 - Gratitude

Previously:

I took a deep breath and made my way to the back porch, I paused as I took another breath and stepped outside to my friends and family...

As I stepped outside, everyone gasped. My mom looked like she was about to cry, if she could, my dad looked proud yet quite sad. Aunt Rosalie and Alice looked impressed with Aunt Alice's work, Uncle Emmett and Uncle Jasper just looked... well there was no other word for it; protective. Grandpa Carlisle looked proud and Grandma had the exact same expression as Mom did. And then there was the pack. The imprinted guys just looked a bit shocked, whereas the non-imprinted, well their jaws were hanging off of their skulls and their eyeballs looked like they were going to pop out. At least half of them were drooling, and Jake. Jake was doing the exact same thing, but it was much more satisfactory when he did it.

I smirked, and everyone suddenly shouted; "Happy Birthday!" My smirk turned into a grin as I walked out to the table where a giant pink cake was waiting, it was one of those cakes that belong in a wedding. It had three layers and candles all around the edge of the bottom layer. All my family and friends stood around the table, waiting for me while Jacob came up to me and took my hand. As I looked up at him and smiled, I felt the butterflies return to my stomach again.

"You look beautiful, by the way, Ness," He smiled back at me, I blushed and looked back at everyone to see my dad giving Jake the death stare. Daddy? I thought, directly at him, Stop giving Jacob death stares. What's he done wrong? He raised his eyebrows at me and then sighed, giving up. When we got to the giant table, everyone started to sing 'Happy Birthday' to me. Once they had finished I made my wish and blew out they candles.

"Okay, boys, the food is on the table, go eat!" Grandma said, and all of the pack ran to their seats and dug in.

"So, Ness, what did you wish for?" Jake asked as we wandered over to our seats.

"As if I'm gonna tell you Jake," I said as I took my seat and he took his, "Anyway it's a secret, and if I do tell you, it won't come true, will it?" Actually, the real reason I wouldn't tell him was because I wished that if he ever found out I loved him, he would love me back.

"Fine, but I will find out eventually. Now, come on, let's eat. I'm starving!" He said while staring at the food and licking his lips. I couldn't help but stare at his lips, and I also couldn't help that I had such a vivid imagination. "Ness? Hey, Nessie? Hello? Earth to Nessie!" Jacob was waving his hand in front of my face.

"Hmm.. Yeah? Sorry, just um... thinking?" It came out as more of a question than a answer. "Sorry, yeah let's eat." He smirked at me and went back to his food. As usual I only ate half of my food and Jake ate the rest. Once all the guys had their food and ate the cake, my family came over with all the wrapped presents.

"Nessie, it's present time!" Aunt Alice said, rather enthusiastically. Emmett and Jasper placed the presents on the table and went to stand by everyone else. Jake then handed me the first present. It said on the label, it was from Grandpa and Grandma. I ripped off the paper, to see an average size box. I took the lid off of it to see a leather journal and a manuscript. I picked up the manuscript and studied the cover, it said it was the original manuscript for Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

"Oh my god! Is this really it?" I asked Grandpa Carlisle, nearly jumping up and down in my seat.

"Yes, Nessie, it is. The original, my father knew the owner of the original Globe Theatre and was given it as a present because Shakespeare was his favourite playwright." He answered, smiling. "And the journal was the playwright's himself, he started it in 1593 and finished it in 1595. This I acquired at a bookshop in London soon after I was made a vampire."

I jumped up out of my seat and ran over to them, giving both Grandma and Grandpa a hug, "Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa! It's more than I could've ever asked for from you," I thanked them and then went back to my seat and Jacob handed me another present. This one was from Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper, he handed me a rather small black box. I opened it to find a silver vintage necklace inside, it was a thin chain with a locket hanging off it. There was a floral pattern on the face of it, and on the inside was a picture of my family and me, that must have been taken a few years ago, because I looked about twelve in it.

"It was my mothers, during the civil war. I inherited it when she died, and we thought you should have it, so it could remain in the family," Jasper stated, looking down on me, lovingly with Alice at his side.

"Wow... thank you so much guys. It's an honour that you would choose me to be able to have it. Thank you," I could feel my eyes starting to water and took a deep breath, "You got another present for me Jake?" I asked Jacob, smiling at him.

"Yeah, here you go, Ness," He answered, passing me a flat parcel. I opened it up to find various fake IDs, all of them had my picture on them but with different names that you could get 'Nessie' from.

"We thought it was appropriate, as you are of age now and you'll need them later." Aunt Rose told me, while Uncle Emmett was grinning at me from behind her.

"Thanks you two, I'll be sure to use them sometime soon." I said to them, while flashing a grin. Jake then handed me the last present, it was small rectangle box. I took the lid off to see a set of keys in it.

"Um... What are the keys for?" I looked at my mom and dad with a questioning look, assuming they were from them.

"Well, why don't you go have look out the front if you want to know?" Dad answered, smirking. The pack raced out to the front while Jake and I just walked out, when we got out there the whole pack was stood there frozen, gaping at something I couldn't see because they were all in the way.

"Hey, guys? Move out the way so Nessie can see, it is her present, you know," Jake said before he shoved the guys out of the way so we could get past. As soon as he got to the front, he froze as well.

"What are you all looking at? Jeez, guys you look like you've imprinted all at -" I froze, as I took in what I saw in front of my eyes. A silver, Bugatti Veyron was sitting in my driveway. "OH MY GOD! Is- is that for me?" Dad nodded, and I screamed, I ran over to him and mom and gave them hugs, thanking them over and over again. I turned back to my new car to see the guys all over my car. Most of them were at the front with hood up so they could check out the engine, while Jake was in the drivers seat checking out the interior with Seth. I went over to them and sat on Jake's lap, leaning against his chest. When I sat down I thought I heard his heartbeat speed up, but I shook it off, thinking I was hearing things. But that didn't stop the butterflies returning.

"So are you having a good birthday so far, Ness?" He asked me, while wrapping his arms around me.

"It's amazing, Jacob. I can't wait to open your present though," I said, looking up to his gorgeous face.

"Who said I was getting you a present?" He asked, playfully, grinning at me, "Don't worry, Ness, you'll be getting it later." While winking at me, he kissed my hair, "I think the guys have a surprise for you though."

"What? What is it? Please tell me Jacob," I asked him, knowing he normally can't say no to me.

But before Jacob could answer Seth said; "Don't you say another word Jacob Black! I don't care if you're Alpha or not, you are not ruining Nessie's surprise. Okay?" Jake nodded and gave me an apologetic look. Seth walked round to our side of the car and helped me out and then pulled a black piece of fabric out of nowhere. "Now, Nessie, you have to put this blindfold on now, and then we'll take you to your surprise."

"Fine Seth, but if this turns out bad, you will never be wanting your birthday to come." Seth laughed off my statement and put the blindfold over my eyes. As soon as everything went black a warm hand slipped into mine, Jacob? Is that you? I asked the person with my gift.

"Yeah, it's me Ness, don't worry. It's nothing bad, it's gonna be really fun!" He answered giving me another reassuring squeeze. The butterflies just got worse. Jake guided me over to some sort of vehicle and helped me in. I heard the others get in and the vehicle started to move. I leaned on Jake's shoulder and I replayed my dream from last night again, I sighed, thinking; If only he felt the same way... Jake's heartbeat sped up and I suddenly remembered that I was still touching him. I quickly sat up and I felt my cheeks heat up. Oh my god, did he just see that? What if he doesn't feel the same way? What if he thinks it's too awkward to be friends anymore? Before I could ask myself anymore questions I felt the car pull to a stop. Jacob took my hand again and pulled me out of the car. Someone untied my blindfold and pulled it off.

"SURPRISE!" I blinked and saw we were standing right in front of a nightclub, I realised what their present was and grinned at them.

"We wanted to do something special, so we thought what was more special than taking you out to your first club?" Embry said, and I noticed that all the non-imprinted had come plus Quil.

"Thanks guys! This is a great present," I said, smiling at all of them. "Shall we go in?" They all nodded and walked to the door. The bouncer didn't bother with asking for IDs for the guys as they were giants, but when it got to me he put his hand out to stop me.

"ID please?" He asked me, I could tell he was trying to keep his eyes on my face rather than my body, but he was failing. I heard Jake growl next to me, but not loud enough for the bouncer to hear. Jake handed me one of my IDs that he had in his pocket and I handed it to the bouncer. He nodded, gave it back to me and let us past.

We stepped into the club to see bright lights flashing, a bar on one side of the club and a DJ on the other. The dance floor was packed with people grinding against each other, laughing and just generally having a good time. I could see that all the guys had wandered off to flirt with some 'hot' girls, only Quil and Jacob were left standing with me.

"So... you guys want to get a drink?" I asked them, breaking the tension.

"Yeah, sure Ness," Jake answered, "Let's go," He led us over to the bar and held out a chair for me, I smiled at him and sat down in front of the bar.

"So, what'll it be?" The bartender asked us, while keeping his eyes on me.

"Um... three shots of tequila, please," Quil answered. The guy pulled out three shot glasses and filled them to the brim with the tequila. "How much do we owe you?"

"It's on the house," He said, winking at me. I felt Jake tense up beside me and I looked up to see him glaring at the bartender. He quickly turned away from Jake's death stare to serve some other people.

"Come on, down it on three," Quil said, grinning, I picked up my shot and him and Jacob took theirs, "One, two, three!" We all downed them in one. The tequila was okay, and as it went down, it kind of burned my throat, but not in a bad way. So I ordered another three shots for us and we downed them again.

"Thanks for bringing me, guys. I'm really having fun so far," I told them, smiling.

"It's okay Ness, and I'm glad you're having fun, the guys will be relieved about that," Quil laughed. He then shifted his gaze to just above my head and his expression changed from amused to threatening. "Can I help you?" He asked someone. I turned around to see a man standing there, he looked about twenty, he was quite tall, but not as tall as my Jacob. The man had blonde hair and blue eyes, he was quite a large build and you could tell he worked out. Overall he looked like a nice guy.

"I just wanted to ask if you wanted to dance?" He said, looking right at me. It can't hurt, I mean maybe if I did, Jake might get jealous or something. I thought to myself and I decided to take a chance.

"Sure, why not?" I answered, then I turned to Quil and Jacob and said; "I'll be back in a bit guys, okay?" Quil looked nervous for some reason and Jake was glowering at the guy. He then looked at me and nodded, I saw something in his eyes when he looked at me. It couldn't be what I saw in my dream... Could it? I got up and followed the guy to the dance floor.

"So, what's your name?" The man asked me.

"It's Nessie, what about you?" I questioned him, it felt a bit awkward talking to this stranger. The only guys I usually talked to was Jacob, Dad, my uncles, Grandpa and the pack.

"Nessie... It's cute, suits you," He said, smiling at me, "I'm Jack," By that time we had reached the dance floor and we immediately started dancing. Jack put his hands on my hips and started grinding me, I felt a bit uncomfortable doing that with him, but I just ignored it and kept on dancing. I forgot all about Jack after a while and just got lost in the music, I was having an amazing time, I felt like I didn't have a care in the world.

But that was until Jack turned me around and started to lean in to kiss me, "Jack! Stop, I like you but not in that way. I'm sorry, but I like someone else." I told him and tried to push him away.

"Aw, come on Nessie, don't be like that," His words were kind of slurred and I was surprised I didn't notice until now that he had been drinking. He kept on leaning in and I tried to push against him but he was too strong. His lips were about a centimetre from mine when suddenly he was gone. I looked up to see Jack on the floor with a bleeding nose and Jacob was standing in front of me, shaking.

"Are you okay?" He asked me, still shaking, he looked as if he could phase at any moment. I quickly nodded and he took me outside, I wrapped my arms around him and cried on his shirt. He stroked my head and stopped shaking. "Why are you crying Ness?"

"Because he nearly took my first kiss from me, I don't want anyone to do that except for..." I trailed off, afraid if I told him, he would hate me.

"Except for who, Ness?" I couldn't speak because I was too nervous so I lifted my hand to his cheek, I showed him the fantasy I accidentally showed him on the way here with my gift. I heard his breathing hitch and I took my hand away instantly and ducked my head down so he couldn't see my face. Jake put his finger under my chin and lifted my head up so I had no choice to look into his beautiful eyes, I was surprised by what I saw in them. I saw love. His eyes were bursting with love, and I knew then, that love was for me and only me. Jacob slowly leaned down and pressed his soft lips to mine, it was better than all of my fantasies put together and more. It was the most perfect first kiss ever. In that moment when he touched his lips to mine, I could feel all the love and joy that he had in the kiss. I put my hand on the back of his neck and the other in his hair and pressed my lips to his again. This kiss was more passionate than our first and there was lust in it as well. Our lips moved against each other in sync, his tongue traced my bottom lip and I granted him entrance. We explored each others mouths and tasted each other. Jacob tangled his hand in my hair and put his other hand on my hip. After what seemed like days rather than minutes, we broke apart to breath. Our breathing was ragged as we looked into each others eyes.

"Nessie, I love you," Jake stated, as he kissed my lips again, softly.

"I love you too, my Jacob," I laid my head upon his chest and he wrapped his arms around me.

"Do you wanna head back home Ness?" He asked me.

"No, not yet, I can think of other things that I'd prefer to be doing right now..." I looked up at him and gave him a mischievous smile. He grinned at me and leaned down to kiss me again. Hmmm... I could get used to this...

So what did you think of it? Just to let you know I'll probably be updating every couple of days and I'm aiming for 35 chapters (at the least) in this story. PLEASE REVIEW! I want to know what you think, and if you have any ideas, please PM them to me.

Thanks for reading :)

mollyybabyy xx