a/n We may hit a double first sometimes, so see if you can figure out the double in this chapter. Should be pretty clear… I hope.

Enjoy!

BIRTHDAY

The whole house was covered in balloons, streamers, and a whole mess of party goods. It was like the party supply outlet had vomited all over Bella and Edward's living room. Upon entering the house, Jacob hadn't been able to make up his mind as to how he felt about it. Bella had descended the stairs and made up his mind for him.

"I said low key, and she shows up with every party item she can find," Bella growled, looking around.

"When's Charlie getting here?"

Bella plopped onto the loveseat and stared balefully up at him. "Soon," she said. "He called and said they were heading out a bit ago."

Jacob grinned. "Excited?"

"For her, yes. For me, no." She scrunched up her face. "I don't have birthdays anymore."

"It's your one year, Bella," Alice said, breezing into the room with a bowl of mixed nuts. "You just have to celebrate this one, then no more." Outside, a car pulled to a stop in front of the house and several doors opened and closed.

"Alice, it's just too much," Bella said, sounding as if she were trying to stay calm. "It's the first time everybody's seen the house, and I'd kind of like them to be able to see what it looks like without party décor covering every surface."

"I don't think it's too much," Alice said, frowning at Jacob. "I wish you weren't here. I can't see right."

"Sorry, Shorty," he said, shrugging and taking a handful of nuts.

There was a knock, then the door opened.

"Here I was worried I wouldn't find the place," Tanya said, glancing over the rims of her sunglasses. "Should have known better." She smiled at Alice, raising an eyebrow. "Shop much?"

Alice let out a huff and went about taking down some of the decorations. "Fine," she muttered. "She's only going to have one first birthday."

Tanya blinked and removed her glasses. She looked at Bella in slight shock. "What did I say?"

Bella shook her head and rolled her eyes.

Five minutes later, the living room looked more along the lines of a normal one year old's birthday party. There was a bit of commotion from upstairs, and then Nessie came racing down the stairs, giggling hysterically as she hid behind Jacob's legs. She looked every part a five year old in her party dress, her hair wild.

Edward came slowly down the stairs, watching her closely through eyes that were slightly narrowed. In one hand, he held a ribbon that matched Nessie's pink dress, and his other hand was held out, open, in front of him.

"Come on, sweetheart," he said, and his voice was pleading. "I know you think it's funny, but you need to finish getting ready."

Then, with no warning, he dodged Jacob and tackled his squealing daughter.

Somehow, she managed to slip out of his arms. Shrieking with laughter, she made her way to her mother.

"Bad idea," Bella said, laughing, as she grabbed her squirming daughter and held her in place while Edward tied back her long ringlets. When he was finished, Bella sat her on her feet. "There. Now you look perfect."

Nessie reached up, holding out her hands, but Bella raised hers over her head. "Nope," she said. Not ready to give up without a fight, Nessie climbed up her mother's body, but Bella picked her off and held her away from any exposed skin. "No," she said, frowning. "You need to get used to talking." She set Nessie back on the floor.

Renesmee stomped her little foot and glared up at her mother. Unsatisfied, she turned to her father, but he just shrugged.

"Can't hear you, darling, I'm sorry."

Her little face scrunched up, and Jacob felt his muscles tense. He hated seeing her upset. It was hard for him not to pick her up and coddle her, but he knew she had to get used to talking if she was ever going to acclimate to the human world she so desperately wanted to know.

As if she were the mind reader and knew what he was already thinking, she turned to look at him. Her big brown eyes were wide and her bottom lip was jutting out. She held up her hands, and Jacob forced himself to take a step back. The longer she stared at him, the more his muscles quivered, demanding his forward movement. Edward could hear the turmoil in his brain, and rolled his eyes when Jacob suddenly reached down to snatch her up.

"You tried," he muttered, heaving a sigh.

Why won't mama talk to me? Renesmee's big brown eyes were troubled.

"Because you can't talk to humans like that, kid," he explained. "She just wants you to get used to talking out loud, like we do."

People don't have to talk out loud to Daddy, she argued. She showed him a picture of Edward and Carlisle discussing some medical journal. Edward was keeping pace with Carlisle's thoughts, and the pair of them were bouncing ideas and theories back and forth with Edward doing all the talking.

"That's different," he said. "Carlisle's a vampire. He can't do that with humans. Have you ever seen him do that even with Charlie?"

Renesmee frowned, and images and ideas flipped through her mind while she tried to decide how best to argue her case. Then she grinned. She showed a picture of Emily, just a few months ago when they'd still been in Washington, just before moving to Minnesota. Emily's face was contorted with pain and Edward was asking her questions—questions she answered with her thoughts.

"That's different, too," Jacob said, rolling his eyes. "Emily knows everything, and she was in a lot of pain. You can't win in this one, you know," he added. "You may think you know how to argue, but you have a lot to learn."

She showed him her response and he laughed.

"What?" Bella glanced over from where she was rearranging the refreshment table. "What's funny?"

Jacob grinned. "Tell her, kid."

"The only person who can out argue me is Mommy," Renesmee said in her high, clear voice.

Bella burst out laughing.

Edward frowned. "I can argue, too," he said, defending himself.

"Yes, but daddy, sometimes you just give me what I want." Renesmee actually smirked at him.

"Hey, I got that thing in your hair."

"Mommy had to help you."

Edward's eyes narrowed. "I would have caught you eventually."

"By then it wouldn't have mattered, daddy." She batted her eyelashes.

Edward blinked and stared at his daughter in apparent shock. He turned to his wife. "I'm not a pushover, am I?"

From her chair, a choked laugh bubbled out of Tanya's lips before she could stop it. She exchanged a look with Bella, and both of them burst into hysterics.

His face took on a hurt expression and he turned his sad face on his daughter. "See? You made me sad." He stepped closer, standing face to face with her. "Look. Sad face."

Renesmee put her little hands on his cheeks and leaned forward to kiss the tip of his nose. "I love you, daddy," she said, smiling brightly.

Jacob knew the look in Edward's eyes, and handed his daughter to him. Edward took her willingly and cradled her in his arms, blowing raspberries on her neck. She shrieked with laughter.

A smile crossed Jacob's face as he thought of the point she'd left out that he'd seen—no matter what, she could always count on Jacob to give her what she needed.

He saw Edward grimace a little when he heard this, and he shrugged apologetically. Edward knew better than anyone how hard he tried to resist giving into her every whim. Sometimes, he could talk her out of wanting something, but when that failed, he turned into putty in her tiny hands.

Renesmee's first birthday party went off without a hitch. Charlie and Sue drove in from their comfy bed and breakfast, and Charlie gave his approval of the house. Seth was there, ready for a hug from his favorite niece. Tanya had driven down with Carmen and Eleazer to give Garrett and Kate a little time alone, and the three of them provided a nice change of pace to the rest of the family. Carlisle and Esme swapped stories with them, and he was sure a few of them would have made Esme blush if she could have. Rosalie and Tanya debated fashion trends with Alice, while Edward and Bella sat on a couch next to Emmett, Bella trying to dare her brother to eat a piece of cake.

All in all, a good night. Especially after everyone left and Emmett went into the woods to throw up the cake he'd eaten.

But a lot of those things would be inconsequential when he looked back on today, years from then.

"Come on, Bella," he whined. "It's only ten."

"And she needs to go to bed." Bella stood with her feet planted, arms crossed, and eyebrows raised.

"It's her birthday."

"Please, mommy?" Renesmee peered up at her mother from behind Jacob's legs. "Please? Just for a little bit?"

"Please, Bells?" he pleaded. "I promise I'll have her down by ten thirty, whether she likes it or not."

Bella narrowed her eyes. "Ten thirty," she said sternly. "Not a minute later." Her eyes twinkled. "But no earlier, either. It is your birthday." And she turned to go back inside, leaving Jacob on the porch with Nessie and her book.

"You gonna keep reading, or do you want me to?" he asked.

She seemed to consider this more seriously than was normal, but she said slowly, "I want you to read it." And she held out the book.

He took it without a second thought, and picked up where she'd left off when Bella had come outside to put her to bed. While he read, he could feel her brown eyes on him, disturbingly calculating and thoughtful. Too much for a little kid. It kind of freaked him out.

After about ten minutes of this, he sputtered to a stop when she suddenly cocked her head off to one side to peer at him more closely.

"What?"

Her head cocked a little further, her bronze ringlets falling all to one side. He could swear there was the hint of a smirk, and her eyes were burning with… something. She looked shockingly like a little vampire baby.

"Hey, creeper, what's up?" he asked, waving a hand in her face.

"Just thinking," she said, and her face relaxed. "How come you stopped reading?"

"Because you were staring at me like a creeper." He shook his head. "It was freaking me out."

"Why do you think I was staring at you?" she asked imploringly.

"I don't know," he said slowly. "Why were you staring at me?"

From upstairs, there was the echo of a dark chuckle. Edward. Whatever was on his daughter's mind, it amused him somehow, and that freaked him out a little more.

Was she about to pounce or something? Was she going to kill him?

"I wanted your attention," she said, her head straightening up. Her big eyes were wide and staring into his, like she was trying to see something.

"Okay, well, you got it." He shrugged. "All you had to do was ask."

"I'm thirsty," she said suddenly.

"For what?" Please say something harmless that he didn't have to go kill.

"Apple juice." She was still staring.

"Okay." So he darted inside and grabbed one of those tiny juice boxes out of the fridge and brought it to her. He even put the straw in for her. He wasn't quite sure what was going on in her head, but he'd kill to know.

She sipped her juice thoughtfully. After a few seconds, she set it down. "How come you went and got my juice for me?"

Jacob blinked. What the hell? "Because you were thirsty," he said slowly.

"But I didn't even ask for it."

"You might have," he said. "And it's not like you were asking for something really hard to come by. It's just apple juice."

"But you always do that."

A frown pulled at his eyebrows. "So?"

She sighed dramatically, rolling her eyes and looking even more like her vampire father. "You always do whatever I want. Even if my parents say no, you always say yes. How come?" Her head cocked again.

There was another chuckle from upstairs, and Jacob understood. Oh, wonderful. And I suppose you're going to leave me to explain this on my own. There was no movement or response, so Jacob took it as an affirmative.

"Because…" He started to explain, but got stuck right away. How was he supposed to explain this? On one hand, she was a little kid who barely knew anything about life and the world as a whole, but who had a very good idea of what went on with a lot of things.

Her tiny world was a place where a stork was just a bird, married people spent time alone, and blood and killing were a dietary necessity.

She was too smart, sometimes, and said things too profound, to really make him think that anyone but Edward really knew what went on in her head.

There was yet another chuckle from upstairs again, and this time, Nessie's eyes narrowed. She glared at the house where she had heard the laugh, and there was a quiet, "Sorry, darling," from upstairs.

Renesmee looked up at Jacob again. "You didn't answer my question."

Jacob heaved a sigh and leaned forward so he was closer to her eye level. "You remember Claire." It wasn't a question, and she bobbed her head, smiling. "You know how Quil always takes care of Claire?" Another nod. "Well, Quil needs Claire to be happy so he can be happy." He stumbled a little over the words. "The first time he saw Claire, he knew he'd be really happy if he could do that."

Renesmee was frowning. "I know what imprinting is, Jacob," she said, looking and sounding a little insulted. He blinked, his mouth hanging open a little bit. She rolled her eyes again. "I heard daddy and grandpa talking about it once. It means Claire gets to grow up and marry Quil."

Blunt. Huh.

"Eventually, yeah, probably."

"But she doesn't have to, right?" Nessie's frown started to fade as the cogs in her little head turned. "Daddy said the imprint gets to make the choice."

"Right." Good God. A heads up might have been nice, ass wipe, he thought venomously.

Renesmee stared at him, not saying anything, for another minute or so. Finally, she took a few slow steps toward him. Her little hands pressed to his face, and he saw the images that she didn't quite have the words for yet.

He watched her train of thought, commenting now and then when he thought it would help her sort through her thoughts. She was smart. She'd figure it out, with little hints here and there.

It took her a whole two minutes, and then it hit her like an atomic bomb.

The thought in her mind wasn't a question, but a statement accompanied by a barrage of images—her memories. Imprint.

He nodded, unable to speak. What if it freaked her out?

As usual, she surprised him by hopping away from him. She sat down in front of him and stared at him again. This time, it wasn't long before she spoke.

"What if I told you to go away?" she asked quietly.

"If you told me that and meant it, I'd go away." He shuddered a little at the idea. It was in no way appealing.

She caught the small movement with her unnaturally sharp vision. "I won't," she promised, and her little voice was solemn.

He smiled weakly. "Thanks." He held out his arms. "I need a hug. Get up here."

She grinned and jumped back into his arms. She wrapped her little hands as far as they could reach and she took a deep breath. He cradled her, laughing when she burrowed into his arms. He watched as she fell asleep, slowly, fighting it the entire time.

Just like her age.

He still had a few years, he told himself. A few more years before she started getting even smarter and things changed. For right now, he could be her babysitter and personal heating pad. That was cool.

a/n Hope you liked this one. Review!