The next morning, I awoke in a fog. I didn't usually sleep in very late. Jake had his arms around me and I smiled, not quite differentiating between being awake and asleep. He was still in a deep sleep. I gently pushed a stray strand of hair from his face. That reminded me that I needed to make him cut it, he was getting shaggy both in human and wolf form. My mother told me that he once had long hair that reached a little past his shoulders, but that didn't appeal to me very much. I didn't like the idea of Jake having hair almost as long as mine.

He was so peaceful when he was asleep, I could have laid there for hours and watched him, but instead, I got up to make us breakfast, careful not to disturb him when I got up. Down in the large living room, Emmett sat with Jasper, discussing a game of some sort. Emmett smirked at me as I came down. "Morning, Nes, it's about time you got up, you must have been really tired, huh?" I glared at him and as if on que, my father walked in the room, not that he needed to be in the room to hear Emmett's comment. He hated it when Emmett made references like that to me.

"Can it, Emmett," he said harshly, and Emmett did so. Even with Emmett's perverted comments and consistent need to embarrass me, he was my favorite uncle. My father walked over to me, giving me a small smile. "Good morning, Nessie, how'd you sleep?"

"Fine," I answered cautiously, wondering if he would be making comments like Emmett had or if that's what everyone was thinking. My father's smile wiped clean from his face and he gave me a hard stare. Sorry, sorry! I thought to him, I can't always help what first comes to mind. He just nodded and I could tell by the relaxing of his face that he had let it go. "Where's mother?" I asked, distracting myself by starting up some bacon and eggs.

"Gone hunting with Alice, Tanya, Esme, and Carmen," my father answered.

"You didn't want to go?" I asked, my brow furrowed. That was odd, my mother and father almost always went hunting together. He just shook his head. I wondered briefly if the two of them were having a fight. There weren't usually any secrets in the family, but I let it go.

I let silence fall between my father and I. He turned to discuss sports with Emmett and Jasper, which didn't interest me at all. Just as I was finishing the eggs, I heard Jacob trudging down the stairs. I smiled and averted my eyes to the bottom of the stairs where he appeared. He grinned at me and I heard his stomach rumble. "Hungry?" I asked him, though I already knew that he was. He nodded and took out two plates for us, then fixing us both orange juice. I loaded his plate with eggs and plenty of bacon. Jake ate way more than the average person. He snuck in a kiss on my lips and whispered, "Thanks, baby."

"You're welcome," I chuckled.

We both sat down to eat beside each other. Few words passed between us until I took our plates to the dishwasher. "So,what would you like to do today?" I asked him as I came back to stand beside him. He pulled me into his lap and I wrapped my arm around his shoulders. He shrugged, looking up at me.

"I'm game for anything," It sounded as if Jake were going to say more, but he was interrupted.

Emmett laughed and suggested, "How about some baseball?" I saw my father's smile return, for he knew that Emmett was going to suggest it from the start. Jasper grinned, too.

I felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in my stomach just then and I clapped excitedly like a little kid. "Sounds fun!" I exclaimed. God, Jasper... I grumbled, loathing Jasper's unique ability to control my emotions. I glared at him and everyone laughed. "Cut it out, Jasper."


At the baseball clearing (one we had to construct ourselves especially for vamp-baseball), we had gathered everyone who wasn't out hunting, which included me, Jake, my father, Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, Carlisle, Kate, Eleazar, and Garrett. We split up into teams of four, with Kate and Eleazar serving as umpires. My family tended to cheat when it came to baseball. My team consisted of me, Jake, Emmett and Carlisle. We were batting first.

Carlisle loved baseball, it was easy to tell by the way he acted when we played. He was the first to bat. The first pitch thrown was slammed back, zooming past the infield, only to be scooped up by Garrett's waiting hand. He threw the ball on a rope to second, where Carlisle was sliding in.

"SAFE!" shouted Eleazar with a laugh. Jasper, who was covering the infield for his team, grumbled under his breath and gave Carlisle a grin and a look that said next time.

Jake stood near home plate, ready for his turn, so I laughed and took the bat from him, then his hat. I smirked and put his cap on my head backwards. He smirked and mouthed, "that's so hot," as he stepped back. I gave him a wink and turned toward the plate, my hair flipping down my back in long reddish-brown curls. I may not have been near as strong as a true vampire, but I gained a bit of their strength. Jasper pitched a curveball straight down the middle and not a second later, the ball was gone, flying through the woods. My only worry was that my dad would catch it. He didn't, but he was in the pine forest, hunting it down.

I made it to third before my father threw it, Jasper was braced at home plate. I charged for him, running as fast as my feet would carry me. I collided with him, he had blocked my slide to home and when I opened my eyes again, I was on my back. "You're OUT!" I heard Kate shout. I cursed under my breath and Jasper laughed, helping pull me back to my feet.

As the game continued on, the score nearly always stayed tied. In the last inning, Emmett managed to get two runs in, putting us ahead by one. My father was hitting for his team as the last batter and he hit it. Straight to me. A line drive. I'm not near as non-breakable as my vampire family, but I was able to cleanly catch the ball. My eyes were wide as I eyed the ball in my hands. It wasn't until Jake scooped me up onto his shoulders that I heard my teammates congratulating me.