A/N: So you probably thought I had given up on this first fic of mine, didn't you? Not so, dear readers. It's just that some contests and RL stuff got in the way and drowned out Nessie's voice for a while. Yeah, I know, it's been about seven months or so since I last updated. I feel like I should do a "Previously, on Mars Rising…"

So just in case you don't remember, Nessie was pissed at all the busy-bodies she lives with and trying to escape into her music. She and Jake had a little heart-to-heart; later that night she and Luke had a getting-to-know-you chat. And Dadward called her home…

Chapter 11

Party of Ten

The next week flew by. Luke and I talked almost every day, and he took me to lunch again before my shift at Daisy's on Thursday. I managed to choke down another extra-rare hamburger with a smile on my face, and before I knew it, it was Sunday.

"Happy Birthday to you," Aunt Alice sang, peeking her head around my bedroom door.

I groaned, rolling over and burying my face in my pillow. She chuckled softly and told me to take a shower, get dressed, and come downstairs. I glanced at my watch, which sat on the bedside table. At least she had allowed me to sleep in this morning. It was almost noon, and while I didn't usually stay in bed so late, I was grateful for the extra sleep today. I had stayed up pretty late last night talking on the phone. Sometimes I wished I had inherited my parents' ability to not need sleep, but the truth was that I needed an average of eight hours every night. Today Aunt Alice had given me almost ten.

Even though living in a house full of vampires who never sleep and can hear everything you whisper can definitely have its down sides (like them knowing I was up til almost one o'clock talking to Luke), it also meant that I never needed an alarm clock. I had eight of them.

I wasn't sure what my family had planned for my birthday, but I knew that Aunt Alice had planned everything early to allow me to go out later with Luke. He had been really excited when I had told him we had the evening to ourselves, but I still didn't know what he had planned either. It seemed like everyone had surprises in store for me this year.

I was in and out of the shower fairly quickly. When I came back into my bedroom, I saw my clothes for the day laid out over my neatly tucked bedspread: jeans, a long-sleeved thermal knit shirt, and sturdy boots. It appeared we would be spending my birthday out of doors.

I slipped downstairs to find my whole family waiting for me in the living room. I made my way around the loose circle they formed, hugging each in turn and accepting their birthday wishes.

"We would've made you a birthday cake," Aunt Rose said, "but we know you don't like it, and none of us would eat it, so…"

"Hey!" Jake protested.

"We can pile up some dog food outside for you, Mutt," Aunt Rose snapped back.

Everyone chuckled, more than used to the verbal wrangling between them.

"So, Aunt Alice," I said, bouncing slightly on my toes, "what's on the agenda for today?"

"You'll see," she teased, taking my hand and leading me out to Uncle Emmett's monster Jeep. Everyone else followed, piling into the various vehicles in the garage, Jake squeezing in beside me. He held his hands loosely over my eyes as Uncle Emmett drove, expertly navigating the twists and turns.

All the way there—wherever there was—I kept asking for clues or hints as to what Alice had planned. No one would tell me anything. Not even Jake. Only that I would love it.

After a relatively short drive, which I knew would take a normal person a few hours to travel, we pulled to a stop, and Jake finally took my blinders away. We were at an airstrip in the middle of nowhere, but there was a small plane parked on the runway, waiting for us.

Uncle Jasper and Aunt Rose climbed into the cockpit, and Aunt Alice skipped over to the side of the plane as Uncle Jasper pulled the sliding door up to let us board. "After you, birthday girl," she said, gesturing like a game-show hostess.

The inside of the plane was plain and unfurnished. Obviously we weren't going for a pleasure ride. When everyone was in and seated, my parents each held out two backpack-shaped bundles, one to me and the other to Jake.

"Strap these on," Daddy said.

I fumbled a little as we took off into the air, and he took over for me, deftly locking me into the web of straps and buckles.

"Alright!" Jake crowed, pulling his pack on tightly.

"Um, why don't any of you have…"

"We don't need them, sweetheart," Momma said. "Indestructible, remember?"

"Sky diving?" I asked, my voice sounding smaller than I had intended.

Aunt Alice's brow furrowed for an instant before smoothing out with her smile. "You do like it, don't you?"

"Um… I'll tell you when I reach the ground?"

She laughed softly, patting me on the shoulder.

"Just hold my hand, Ness," Jake said, all smiles.

I took a deep breath and asked, "What gave you this idea, Aunt Alice?"

"Well, it was something you'd never done before, so I thought it might be fun. Of course, I couldn't tell for sure," she added with a mock glare in Jake's direction.

He held his hands up, palms facing outward. She cuffed him lightly on his shoulder, and he pretended to rub it in agony.

Just then Uncle Jasper called back that we were ready to go. We all huddled around the opening, looking at each other.

"I'll go first," Uncle Emmett finally said right before he leapt out into the air, arms and legs spread out to slow his descent.

My mother followed right behind him, angling her body to avoid colliding with his.

"Ready, Ness?" Jake asked, holding out his hand.

I nodded nervously and squeezed his palm tightly. Together we jumped.

I had never felt anything like it.

Running, leaping from tree to tree like a squirrel, exiting the house through the open windows… All of those were exhilarating. But none of them compared to the feeling of the wind rushing through my hair, whipping past my body, holding me up while letting me fall…

I looked over at Jake and saw my excitement mirrored on his face. He almost reminded me of a dog I had seen in a car on the interstate, hanging its head out the window, tongue lolling in ecstasy. I thought briefly that Aunt Rose would've appreciated my analogy.

I could see the earth rushing up to meet us, and Jake reached his hand in to pull the cord on his chest. I did the same, and we let each other go as our bodies were jerked upward as the parachutes billowed out, causing us to drift slowly downward.

I looked over at Jake again and knew that my grin was just as broad as his. Even with my enhanced sense of hearing, I couldn't hear a single sound beyond the wind rushing past my ears. I looked down toward my feet and saw trees surrounding the runway where my family was already waiting for us, shading their eyes from the sun as they watched us dropping closer and closer.

We finally touched down, our legs crumpling neatly under us as we rolled into a standing position. Without any conscious thought, I leapt into Jake's outstretched arms and wrapped myself completely around him as he spun me in circles, tangling us in the parachute cords.

He whooped his exultation, and I couldn't stop myself from joining in.

"Can we do it again?" I asked when he finally put me down so we could untangle ourselves.

"I think she likes it," Momma said drily, winking at Aunt Alice.

"Holy crow! That was a rush!" I responded. "Seriously, when can we do that again?"

Everyone laughed, and Aunt Rose decided that we had time for one more jump. I squeezed Jake's hand excitedly, and he echoed my thoughts with another whoop.

"Come here," my father called, his tone more serious than the others. "Let me show you how to pack your chute."

I watched, bouncing on my toes, as he expertly folded and stuffed the chute back into its pack and then pulled it all out again and made me do it myself. I mimicked his example while Jake did the same, and by the time the plane was fired up and ready to go again, we were seated inside, hanging onto each other's hands again, both of us excited this time.

We got back to the house in plenty of time for me to get ready for my date with Luke.

I changed into a clean pair of jeans and a T-shirt, much to Aunt Alice's dismay. When I explained that Luke had shared that jeans and a tee would be appropriate, she backed off and helped Aunt Rose fix my hair and makeup while my mother looked on, blinking her eyes rapidly from time to time. Even without Daddy's gift, I knew she was thinking something along the lines of watching her little girl growing up before her eyes.

I knew that it had bothered her at first, the speed with which I matured, going from infant to toddler before she had even seen me. And then in the intervening months before the Volturi came, I had aged even more, well into little-girlhood. It was frightening to her, the thought that I might die in only a few short years. But then we had learned the truth of half-breeds like me, and she had made her peace with my growth rate, accepting it for what it was and almost looking forward to the time when I would be a grown woman and able to live my life on nearly equal footing with the rest of the family.

But now it appeared that she was experiencing some of the normal—at least I assumed it to be—mother-of-a-teenager anxiety. For her sake, I almost wished that she were capable of tears. Perhaps it would make this easier on her if she could let her emotions loose.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a wave of calm that stole over all of us. Momma looked toward the doorway and grimaced as Uncle Jasper shrugged and kept on walking. There were times when we all hated the way each other's gifts interfered in the natural order of our lives. But then, none of us were exactly natural, were we? I was usually grateful for the way my uncle used his gift to calm us when he thought it would help, but right then, I almost wanted my mother to be able to embrace this part of her life.

When they finally let me look in the mirror, I couldn't hold back the smile. I was beautiful—my makeup subtle but trendy, and my hair a cascade of curls pinned up on the sides—and I couldn't wait for Luke to see me. I just hoped that he didn't react too… strongly… in front of my parents. I mean, my brother and sister.

I heard a soft growl from downstairs and giggled as I rolled my eyes at my father's over-protectiveness.

"So," I said, turning from the mirror and smoothing my fitted green T-shirt over the hips of my black jeans, "is it time for presents?"

"Yes!" Aunt Alice responded immediately, taking my hand and leading me downstairs, Mother and Aunt Rose following us. Everyone met us in the living room with packages of varying sizes in their hands.

I sat on the sofa as directed by my party planner who said, "Well, I don't have a gift you can unwrap, so I'll go first." She smiled excitedly and continued, "Today's skydiving trip was part one, and on your next day off, I will take you shopping for part two."

Thanking her and giving her a hug, I reiterated how much fun I had had earlier in the day. She beamed and, back in game-show hostess mode, pointed to Uncle Emmett. He stepped forward and placed a medium-sized box in my lap.

I quickly tore the bright blue paper off to see a glossy box with a photo of a professional-looking digital camera. I clapped like a little girl and nodded eagerly when Uncle Emmett promised to teach me how to use it and take me out shooting. Before I could give him a hug, Aunt Alice motioned my mother forward.

She handed me a large package, wrapped in blue just like Uncle Emmett's gift. As I tore the paper from this second gift, it separated into twelve volumes of The Poetical Works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I gasped, holding up my hand to my mother. She pressed it to her cheek and nodded as I replayed the scene when I first read aloud to her. She had been reading me Tennyson's "The Lotus Eaters" as a bedtime story, but I hadn't fallen asleep. In fact, I had taken the book from her and read the rest of the poem to her. She had smiled at me, but I saw the tightness behind her eyes. At the time I hadn't realized that it was nervousness and fear at my too-rapid development. Now it seemed she was giving me that memory, albeit happier for her than before, in a tangible form.

I ran my hands over the spines and noticed that these were not new books. I opened one to the title page and saw the date.

"First editions?" I asked.

She nodded and smiled.

"Momma! They're fantastic!"

She smiled again and said, "I'm glad you like them, sweetheart." She squeezed my hand before stepping back to allow Grandpa to give me his gift.

It, too, was wrapped in sapphire blue, and I sensed that Aunt Alice had coordinated all the wrapping. Knowing her, she had wrapped all of the gifts herself. I tore this paper, too, and opened the white cardboard box within to reveal a little black oval with a silver lion passant in the center. Above the lion was a hand with a heart cut into the palm; under it stretched a silver chevron in base with three black trefoils cut into it. It was the Cullen Crest, passed down from Carlisle to each of his children, and now to me, his granddaughter for all intents and purposes.

"Grandpa, it's beautiful," I breathed.

He smiled back at me and said, "I hoped you'd like it. I decided it was time you have one, too. Happy Birthday, Ness."

I started to rise to give him a hug, but Aunt Alice had already nudged Aunt Rosalie forward.

She gave me a blue package of similar size, and when I opened it, I found a tiny silver heart locket. Opening the locket, I saw miniscule photos of my family: Grandpa, Grandma, and my parents on one side; my aunts and uncles on the other side.

"Thank you, Aunt Rose," I said, still staring at the tiny images of my family.

"It was mine when I was a girl," she explained.

"I will cherish it, always," I told her.

She nodded and made way for my father.

Another small package wrapped in blue revealed another small oval. This one was peach and white, with a woman holding a cup accompanied by an eagle. The detail was amazingly intricate for a piece of jewelry that was no larger than two-and-a-half inches long.

"Who is the woman?" I asked my father.

"Hebe," he replied, "Goddess of Eternal Youth."

Our grins matched, and everyone chuckled along with us.

"It belonged to my mother," he added, and I sobered at once, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. I blinked them back, not wanting to mar Aunt Alice's makeup job.

"Thank you," I whispered fervently, moved beyond words at holding a piece of jewelry that once belonged to the mortal grandmother I would never know.

Daddy leaned down quickly to place a kiss on my cheek and whispered in a slightly choked voice, "Happy birthday, Ness."

"I love you, Daddy," I whispered back, squeezing his neck before he pulled away.

Uncle Jasper was next, smirking as he handed over his gift. It was tiny like some of the others and wrapped in the same sapphire paper. I quirked an eyebrow at his expression, but he only nodded toward the package in my hands.

I made quick work of the wrapping and opened the box to find a silver sunburst pendant with a crescent moon over half of the sun's face, which was a brilliant blue stone. I picked it up out of the box to look more closely and was surprised to see it change to amber. I looked up at Uncle Jasper who chuckled as he saw the new color of the sun.

"What's so funny?" I asked, looking from him to the pendant and back again.

"That color means your emotions are mixed," he said. When I still looked puzzled, he explained, "It's a mood charm, Ness. It changes color with your moods."

And suddenly I knew why he had smirked when giving me my present. This little stone was half of his gift, the ability to sense emotions. It was just too bad it couldn't affect the emotions as quickly as it changed color.

I laughed with my family and thanked my uncle for his unusual gift.

He smiled again, handed me a little card that listed the meanings of each color, and then stepped back.

Jake, who had been standing behind the couch watching me open all of my presents, now reached over my shoulder and gave me yet another tiny blue-wrapped box. I smiled at him before tearing off the paper. This box held a tiny wooden carving of a reddish-brown wolf that appeared to be running. It was similar to the one my mother wore on a bracelet opposite the diamond heart Daddy had given her before they were engaged.

"You made this?" I asked, turning to look at him.

He nodded and said, "I had Seth send me the wood, and I carved it last week."

I looked back down at the little charm, taking in the intricate detail of the fur and the features of the face. It looked just like my best friend when we ran together.

"It's gorgeous, Jake! Thank you so much."

He wrapped his huge arms loosely around my neck and dropped a quick kiss on my curls. I patted his arm affectionately. When he let go, Grandma Esme stepped up and gave me the last gift. It was larger than most of the others, long and slender, but still wrapped in blue. Inside was a simple silver chain, a bracelet of open links.

"I used to wear it when I was a young girl," she told me. "And now I want you to have it to keep all of your charms close to you always. Happy birthday, Nessie."

"Thank you, Grandma; it's beautiful!" Setting it on the cushion beside me with all the other presents, I finally stood and made my way around the loose circle to hug each member of my family. "This is the best birthday ever," I told them. "Thank you all so much!"

When I got to my father, he held out the bracelet with each charm already attached. I smiled and lifted my arm so he could fasten it on my left wrist. Then he tensed, and so did I. I glanced down at the sun/moon charm that rested on top of my wrist. It was black. Unable to help myself, I looked at Uncle Jasper, wishing he would wrap me in his calm so the little jewel would change to blue.

We all heard the truck long before it pulled into the driveway, the rock music pouring from the stereo cutting off along with the engine.

Luke was here. And he was about to meet my parents.

"Relax, Ness," Aunt Alice said, laying a hand on my shoulder. "Everything will be fine."

"Really?" Had she seen it? Or was she just trying to calm me down?

She squeezed my shoulder and said sternly to my father, "Behave, Edward!"

Thanks to wuogkat for staying on me about updating this. She's relentless! (But that's a good thing…) And also thanks to EchoesOfTwilight: my Muse, my cheerleader, my phrase polisher… The list goes on. I am so blessed to have these wonderful women as my friends. :)

And I also have to thank KarenTwilighted (my WonderTwin) and myimmortal (dear friend) for their assistance with the birthday party & gift ideas for Nessie. You have no idea how I agonized over those details.

Since I am participating in NaNoWriMo, it is highly unlikely that the next chapter will be up until sometime around Christmas. Please hang in there with me. I will not abandon this fic. I promise!