Hey ya'll! Well, new chapter. I'm excited about this, and my beta seemed to like it, so I'm hoping you will too. I don't own Twilight Saga, or anything else you recognize. Review, please.

Christmas morning, I woke up at exactly four fifty-six. I sat on my bed for an hour, bouncing and attempting to occupy myself with a book that I didn't even think about. At six, I decided to go to Emmett's room, since he'd be awake. I tip-toed down the hall and peeked into the open door. Rosalie was on her side, facing away from Emmett, who was sitting up and reading a parenting magazine.

"Emmy!" I whisper-yelled.

"Nessie!" he whisper-yelled back, patting the wide space between Rosalie and himself.

I went to the foot of their bed and slithered up, laying on my stomach next to him. "I can't sleep!"

"Me, either!"

"Well, try," Rosalie groaned, scaring me. I didn't know she was awake.

"Sorry, honey," Emmett said, laughing silently.

"Sorry, Rosie," I said, kissing her hair. "Go to sleep, we'll be quiet."

"Go to your room, please," she requested, sounding like she was sleep-talking.

"Fine," Emmett said. He got up and walked around the bed while I rolled off his side, then he kissed her softly. We made our getaway while she was readjusting to the new space she had.

"Let's go get Jazzy," I said, grabbing his huge wrist and tugging him to Jasper's room. "Jazzy, you awake?" I asked softly.

"Hm?" He groaned a little.

"I take that as a no," I said. "Well, wake up."

He took a few minutes to wake up, in which Emmett ventured to Edward's room and threw him over his back to bring him to Jasper's room. I convinced Jasper to wake up, then we went to our parents' room, Edward walking on his own and me on Emmett's back, like when we were little.

"Mommy, Daddy!" I said softly, crawling up to lay between them. "Wake up!"

My mother sighed and sat up, still half asleep, and my father followed suit, allowing room for the guys to join he group.

"What time is it?" Dad asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Six fifteen," Edward answered from his place at Mom's feet.

"And why does that not surprise me?" Mom asked, smiling nevertheless.

"Because we're awake earlier than last year," Jasper yawned, earning a smack to the back of the head from Emmett.

"I got bored, so I got Emmett, who got Edward, and then we all got Jasper, and now we're here because Rose is asleep and wouldn't be nice to us," I rambled, bouncing.

"We're getting too old for this," Dad said, laughing lightly.

"We were too old for it when Emmett initiated it fifteen years ago," Mom said, smiling widely. "At least we're at no risk to lose our babies."

I grinned. "No, because when I'm Emmett's age we'll still be coming in with all the little nieces and nephews, too!"

"We're going to need a bigger bed, Esme," Dad joked, making us all laugh. "So, did you all want to talk or open presents?"

Guess what the answer was?

Emmett awoke Rosalie, we made a few calls, and soon the troops were in. The Blacks, the Swans, and Alice were all at the house by seven.

"My family celebrates at night, anyway," she said, yawning a little.

We all had a blast opening gifts, and of course I was running on high energy, putting on a show by making it rain wrapping paper. We all had fun with comparing gifts, and I really loved mine; Rosalie, Alice, and Bella had teamed up to get me a few new outfits, Edward gave me a leather jacket of my own, Jasper got me some new writing software I'd been wanting, Emmett gave me a fun-day pass (kind of a cop-out, but a good deal because he pays for everything, and I love my big brother), and my parents gave me several books and a new desk as my 'big gift'. Jacob said I had to wait to go to his house for his present, but he loved the mechanics book I gave him, along with the two dozen homemade cookies I spent hours getting just right for him and Billy.

We had a fun, huge Christmas lunch, and sat around for a while after being stuffed. There was mistletoe everywhere in the house, and someone (*cough*Emmett*cough*) got the bright idea to run around and hold it over peoples' heads, making them kiss in front of everyone. Mom and Dad (of course), Jasper and Alice, Bella and Edward, then he sat down and held it over himself and Rosalie, earning a few catcalls. He then went around the room kissing all the women. Mom pecked his nose, making him get embarrassed, Alice kissed his cheek and then tackled Jasper in another kiss (gross much?), Bella rolled her eyes and he ended up kissing her cheek (which she wiped off), and I let him kiss my nose before punching him in the gut. He ran around for a little while longer, just going over the same people, but got in trouble when he held it over Billy and Charlie and was successfully halted by a stronger fist to the gut. Billy had quite an arm…

Jasper and Alice went to her family's home at about four, then the Swans and Billy decided to go to the Clearwaters' home. Jacob and I chose then to go to his house to get my gift, which I was getting anxious about. At his house, he put his gifts away, then took my hand and led me down to the garage. He put his hands over my eyes and led me in, then uncovered them. I gasped when I saw the maroon-painted motorcycle.

"Oh my goodness," I breathed. "Jacob, did you build this?"

He smiled shyly. "Yeah. The guy at the junk yard said it would run for anything, gave it to me cheap, and I worked on it for about two months. It runs like new now, and the paint job is-"

I tackled him in the biggest bear hug I could manage. "It's amazing, Jacob!"

He hugged me back tighter, lifting me off the ground. "Thanks, Nessie."

"No, you deserve the thanks," I said, letting him go to study my (my!) new bike. "What about my parents?"

"I talked it out with them when I first bought it," he said, smiling. "I've done everything. All you need is your license."

I smiled hugely and hugged him again. "Tomorrow, we can spend all day at the dirt track."

"Deal," he said, squeezing me. "I take it you like it?"

"I love it!" I said, smiling up at him.

He returned the most heart-breaking smile. "I'm really glad you do."

My voice faltered when I said, "You're too good to me."

His smile softened, and he said softly, "No, I'm not. You deserve to be handed life on a silver platter."

I bit my lip anxiously, not used to- but not hating -the serious tone he'd taken. "But if life wasn't complicated, I wouldn't be a good person, and I wouldn't deserve anything."

"You need to understand that as long as I'm around, you're a princess, no arguments." He looked at me seriously from two inches away, his eyes burning holes in mine.

"Well, I guess…" I faltered under his gaze.

"We should get back. It's getting dark," he said suddenly, breaking the atmosphere abruptly.

We rode back to my house awkwardly. What was it with us and these close calls? At my house, we were quiet. We enjoyed each others' company, but not many words were exchanged. We goofed off with my brothers a bit, after Jazz got home. Emmett and Jacob put my new desk together and moved my old one to the nursery, for Rosalie to continue her work as a wedding planner after the baby was born, but keep an eye on nephew dearest at the same time. She liked my old desk better anyway. It had more room for a full sized computer and files, and storage space for books and magazines. My new desk was black and small, with a cute little basket chair and a cork board against the back.

About nine, Jacob decided to head home. I walked with him to the garage, where we talked a little about our plans and when we could go to try for my license. We talked a bit about the events of late, basically a repeat of the usual conversation. Was I over him, was I over it. It was getting a little bothersome, all of his questions, but I soon changed the subject.

"Well, I had a great Christmas," I said, leaning against the door frame.

"Me too," he agreed, smiling softly.

"See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," he leaned against the other side and looked at a spot above my head. "I love you, Nessie."

"I love you, Jacob," I said, smiling and looking up.

Our eyes hit the mistletoe in the exact same millisecond. My gaze dropped to his, which dropped to mine. All of the thoughts that had built in my head over the last few days came rushing back. The close encounters, the fleeting thoughts of kissing Jacob. I had to get away from him before I did something truly stupid.

"Um, well, bye," I said, looking away quickly.

"Um, uh…" He looked nervous as he pushed off the doorframe.

"Uh, t-tomorrow?" I leaned forward to walk away, but bumped his chest accidentally.

"Tomorrow…" He took my waist gently to steady me.

Our eyes met suddenly, his burning with the same intensity I was feeling. Life, memories, everything disappeared. In one wild instant, my body was bowed against his, my fingers tangling in his long black hair. His hands made burning trails from my waist to my hips, pushing me back against the doorframe as our lips met in a frenzied, desperate way. Our kisses were feverish, messy, but filled with some wild emotion I'd never felt before. His burning hands laced behind my back, bringing me impossibly closer to him as our kisses deepened and progressed to full on making out. I arched my back, tilting my head back so much that he didn't even have to tilt his head down to meet my lips, I was already dipped so far back. We didn't speak, just met lips with occasional gasps and sighs. I moved a hand from his hair to his waist, moving it slightly under his tight t-shirt, feeling the hard muscle underneath. He pressed me harder against the door frame, closing all space between us, our lips never parting, though air was becoming an urgent need.

A sudden, foreign gasp made us jump apart, gasping for air. Jasper was standing in the pantry, staring wide-eyed at us. We all looked at each other for a few moments, taking everything in. Jacob suddenly got a panicked look and ran out to his bike and was gone in a second.

"Um, don't tell…anyone about this," I said quickly. I lifted a hand to lift my hair from my now-sweating neck.

"So this is the first time you…?" His hazel eyes were still enormously wide.

"Yeah, and you kinda caught us at a bad time, so don't tell anyone."

"Well, do you want to talk about anything?" He looked highly confused and terrified.

"I don't know." I brushed past him quickly and escaped to my bedroom.

This was bad. Very, very bad. In the last week I'd had several close encounters with my best friend. In the last few days I'd had several less than best-friendly thoughts about my best friend. In the last ten minutes I'd made out with my best friend. This was absolutely positively not good. I flopped down onto my bed, still fully dressed, but wishing I was magic and could put my pajamas on and get under the covers without moving a muscle.

Suddenly, my chest contracted tightly, like someone had wrapped a belt around my lungs and was now attempting to tighten it impossibly. I couldn't breath, and it scared me. I tried to call for help, but I couldn't catch enough breath to manage a feeble whisper. Tears began to run down my cheeks, and I laid still, terrified of moving. Then it was over. I dragged myself up and undressed slowly, my muscles straining by the light effort it took to lift my shirt over my head and replace it with my comfy pajama shirt. I avoided thinking about what had happened, but when I laid under my covers, it wouldn't get out of my head.

My parents found me nearly asleep and wished me goodnight, turning off the overhead light I'd forgotten about. I laid on my back, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling, something Jasper had contributed when they were decorating my nursery years ago. I counted them all, trying to keep the kiss out of my head. That kiss…

I had never felt anything for Jacob, that I could remember. I loved him, of course, but I'd always been sure it was strictly platonic. I would do anything for him, and he for me. I wanted him to be happy, I wanted him to have everything he wanted. He deserved it. He was always there for me. He comforted me in my darkest hour, loved me when I doubted love existed, held me on the sleepless nights that brought only tears. Why did all of this seem different, all of a sudden? Why was I questioning our relationship? I didn't want a romance, I wanted a best friend that would always be there, no matter how badly a stupid boyfriend could hurt me. I couldn't be broken again, I couldn't let things change. I needed him to be there all the time.

So why did I love that kiss? That stupid, messy, irresponsible kiss. I'd been kissed before. As far as kissing went, Nahuel was a pro, and I'd been kissed before him in middle school when everybody experimented with it at break. But Jacob's kissing… It was different. It was raw, driven, rough, and the best kiss I'd ever had. Nahuel was always so boring. It was nice, but it was purely physical, and never escalated to where Jacob and I had been when Jasper walked in. He didn't put any form of emotion in it. Jacob, on the other hand…

Whatever the emotion was, he was feeling it, and so was I. All the way down to the tips of my toes, over every inch of my body, to my innermost person. I could feel it. But now to figure out what the emotion was…

A/N: A little announcement, I go back to school Monday, so my updates may be a little less frequent once that happens. Also, if you haven't noticed, I don't get internet access every other week, which explains why there are only updates every other week. I just wanted to let ya'll know. Okay, now I want a vivid description of the face you made when you got to the Big Moment. Reviews, darlings!

~Sidney