I was able to avoid the majority of embarrassing questions because Aunt Alice hurried in with the news that the visitors would catch our scent and be here in five minutes.

Jake left, but not before giving me a look that let me know that I'd be answering a few questions later.

Everyone else went to their carefully arranged "casual" places, awaiting our visitors.

A couple hours later the visitors had already moved on and I was sitting on my bed in disbelief. How had I avoided the Cullen/Black Inquisition so long? I had no idea my luck was this good.

I did want to talk to my Mom though. Dad? I thought. I knew he'd be able to hear me easily from downstairs. Can you send Mom up, please?

Seconds later my Mom stood in my doorway. "Hey, Honey, what's up?" she asked, though I'm pretty sure she knew what I wanted to talk about.

"Can we have Girl Talk Time?" Girl Talk Time had started years ago. It was the only time I could talk to my Mom, Grandma, and aunts without male interference.

I heard my Dad, who had obviously been listening, open the front door downstairs. This was the normal procedure. He was simultaneously going to get my aunts and giving us some privacy. Aunt Alice usually saw when we were about to have a Girl Time Talk, but she waited for my Dad to get her anyway so that I could have a minute with my Mom alone.

"So, Mom, I guess you know what I want to talk about." I paused. I didn't what to say or what I wanted to ask her or what I should ask her. "What was it like, Mom? I remember everything I can, but I missed the early parts. What was it like right after you realized you were pregnant?"

"Well once we got over the shock…it was…different. Everything. You know that I hadn't exactly planned to have kids, but once I realized I was going to get you, that I already had you, suddenly everything changed. Your father was always my first priority. Suddenly he was sharing that position. In an instant I realized that I couldn't live without you…how could I? You were a part of me…" The look in her eyes made me wonder if she was still seeing the purple walls of my bedroom or if she was seeing something far away. A little more than four years away in the past.

"You did change everything about her," my Aunt Rosalie said from the doorway, Aunt Alice and Grandma behind her. "She wouldn't have been able to fight Edward about anything for so long except that the something they were fighting about was you."

I nodded. I knew that part. "Because I was so strong I was hurting Mom. But that's not something we'd have to worry about in this case…I'm strong."

"Nessie, this all seems rather sudden," Aunt Alice was saying. She would know if it seemed sudden. She would have seen any plans of mine. "What brought all this on? Are you really sure you'd want to do this someday?"

I sighed. "I know it's sudden. And I'm not sure. Like I said earlier, I'm just curious. This is strictly a maybe situation. I just want to keep my options open, but first I have to know and understand what my options are exactly."

Grandma Esme was nodding her head. "I understand your curiosity and concern, Sweetie. We all do. We've been there. Your Mom with you. Rosalie knows especially what a sacrifice it is to have to give this opportunity up. And I had my little baby boy for one day and I know that no matter how much pain it caused me when he died, I would never trade that day with him. I think it's almost like a survival instinct engraved in all women to want to have that little bundle of joy to love."

Aunt Alice added, "But you should be careful when making this decision. I know you have a deadline hanging over your head, but you can't let that affect you. It could cloud your judgment. If you had all the time in the world to do this would you still? Just think about it. I don't want you to make a rash decision because you feel rushed."

"Well…" I began. "There is another thing about my deadline that's been worrying me. Let's say that I decided I did want to do this. I'm worried about what would happen if I was still pregnant when I stopped growing. I mean, we don't know exactly how it works. I know my growing has been slowing so that it will come to a gradual end, but there still has to be a moment when I stop all forms of growth. We'd have to be very careful about the timing so that we'd definitely have enough time."

"Honey, you have two years. I wouldn't worry about that just yet. First, you have to decide if this is what you're going to do," Mom said soothingly.

"Nessie, I know that you know how I feel about this," Aunt Rosalie said slowly. "It still hurts thinking about what I missed, what I can never get. Having you enter our lives has helped tremendously, but it still wasn't the same. Even though I got to hold you so many times, even before your own mother, I could never say that you were mine." She paused with a soft, sad smile. "It's a lot to have to give up. Just consider that."

"Alice, what is it?" I turned to see my Grandma holding Alice's hand as she had a vision.

I knew not to worry because she was laughing when she came out of it. "Nessie, apparently the men have felt a little left out. They want a chance to talk to you. They want a male version of Girl Talk Time." She laughed again.

A male version of Girl Talk Time? What? That would just be extremely awkward. That's the whole point of Girl Talk Time, to avoid that awkwardness.

"Now," she added.

I groaned. "Well, thanks, guys. This really helped. You all gave me a lot to consider. Well, wish me luck. This ought to be interesting."

I didn't exactly hurry as I made my way to my grandparents' house. They were waiting in the front room.

"Hey, uh, Aunt Alice said you guys were, uh, looking for me," I said, already uneasy.

"Hello, darling," my Dad said. "We just thought it was only fair if we got our own version of your girl time."

Uncle Emmett said, "Okay, we gotta stop calling it that. I refuse to say 'our version of Girl Talk Time'. We have to man it up. Guy Chat Time? Eh, a possibility, not that great. Dude Chill Chat? Definitely not. That one's just gay. Maybe—"

"Em, the name isn't our highest priority. Okay?" Dad said.

Which just led to a long and extremely awkward silence.

"Your right, Edward. That was much better then choosing a name. Sitting through awkward silences always is. God, Jazz, make yourself useful," Uncle Emmett muttered.

"Sorry I wasn't being useful," Uncle Jasper retorted. "I hope you don't think that you were in any way helpful. I mean, at least I didn't come up with 'Dude Chill Chat'."

Uncle Emmett picked up Grandpa's favorite chair and playfully threw it at Uncle Jasper's head.

And immediately I felt much more comfortable. The awkwardness evaporated.

"You know, I wasn't so sure it was gonna work," Uncle Em continued. "I thought we had finally discovered an awkwardness even the great Jasper couldn't cure."

"That's enough, boys," Grandpa said. I sometimes forgot that he wasn't their biological father. The looks he occasionally gave them were exactly like some of my Dad's looks. The kinda looks that made you stop dead in your tracks because of the authority behind it.

My Dad caught my eye and winked, obviously listening to my thoughts again.

"Anyway," he said. "I thought we could discuss Nessie's latest idea." I was surprised by how calm he sounded. Almost like he barely concerned. I knew he was faking big time.

"What about it?" I asked, growing confident now that Uncle Jasper had made the atmosphere calm and comfortable.

That seemed to throw them for a minute. I guess they were expecting me to just jump into explanations and plans. I sat silently, waiting, hoping that they wouldn't come up with anything and I'd be allowed to skip this conversation.

Finally my Dad said, "Well, don't you think you're a little young. You're still my baby, Baby."

It took a lot of effort not to roll my eyes. "Daddy, I'll always be your baby. But let's face it. I'm not literally a baby anymore. And I'm running out of time to make this choice."

"So, you don't definitely want to do this?"

"No, just keeping my options open," I repeated my statement from earlier.

There was a long pause. "Sooo…" I mumbled. "Is that all? Am I free to go?"

"I guess so," my Dad replied reluctantly. He probably had more he wanted to say, but, thankfully, he was going to let it wait.

"You know," Uncle Emmett said. "I really don't think you two needed any of us here for that. I don't think we ever need to repeat this little guy chat time thing ever again. No offense, Ness, you know I love ya. But you can keep the girl stuff between the girls as far as I'm concerned."

I was free. No more questioning. I was out of the spotlight,

Well, for now. Jake hadn't gotten his turn yet. And he was the most important one. I had wanted to talk to him about this before my entire family. I just wanted to ask Grandpa if it was possible, but that didn't work out so well.

Even with my worrying, I couldn't stop myself from being excited to see Jacob. My Jacob. I got such a thrill out of that. My Jacob! I always called him that, but it meant so much more now.

I ran to get my aunts. Jake had a special dinner planned for tonight and I wanted to look really spectacular. It was our six-month anniversary of officially dating and he'd been planning for tonight for about five of them.

An hour later I was waiting for Jake to pick me up at seven exactly like he had said. I was wearing a red dress and red heels. My hair was curled and pulled up elegantly.

Jake arrived exactly when he said he would. I was surprised to see that he was dressed as nicely as me. It wasn't every day that he wore a shirt and tie. Or a shirt at all for that matter.

He shrugged when I complimented his outfit. "Well, knowing your aunts I figured you'd be dressed up and I wanted us to match," he said with a laugh.

It didn't matter that I was wearing a designer dress. It didn't matter that Jake had dressed up. It wouldn't matter if this special dinner was just the two of us eating fast food in his garage. It didn't matter that I'd have to explain everyone's discomfort from earlier while I blushed ridiculously red.

None of those little things mattered because I was with Jacob, my Jacob, so tonight would be perfect no matter what.