Hey all! To celebrate New Year's Day and the end of what was, for me, a pretty shit year, here is a double-length chapter! I hope you enjoy.

Jake was right: Kevin doesn't take the breakup well. But Nessie is surprised to find that aside from feeling sorry for him and sort of bored now that she has no one to make out with, life goes on as usual. She ends up spending a lot more time with Will and Lizzie. Over the summer, Will hit a growth spurt and his skin cleared up and suddenly he's actually really cute, in sort of a red-headed mop-toppish way.

About three weeks after she breaks up with Kevin, Will invites her over to his house for pizza and movies.

"I always liked Hot Fuzz," says Nessie as the credits are rolling. "And Shaun of the Dead. I still really wanna see Spaced."

"Hey, I have Spaced on Blu-Ray!" says Will excitedly. "Maybe you can come watch it this weekend!"

"That would be awesome!" agrees Nessie. "Does Lizzie want to see it too?"

"Dunno," says Will carelessly. "I don't think she's into Edgar Wright stuff as much. Hey, I also have this really cool series of shorts called Look Around You, he worked on those. They're like, fake-science documentaries."

"Sounds good!" says Nessie, standing up and stretching. "I have to go take a pee break. Be right back."

They get through half of Look Around You. Nessie sinks lower and lower into the couch cushions, and Will sinks closer and closer to her until they are practically in each other's laps. And then, so naturally that Nessie doesn't even think to question it, Will twines his fingers loosely through hers. His hands are nice and soft—cool, compared to Jake's and warm compared to her family. His thumb traces circles against her palm.

"Are you really upset about breaking up with Kevin?" he asks her, looking down at their hands. It is sort of an unexpected question, and sort of not.

"No," says Nessie honestly. "We weren't really that serious, so..."

"Huh," says Will. "He sure thought you were."

"I didn't know that," says Nessie, which isn't completely true. Why would he have been so dictatorial toward her if he didn't feel strongly? "Anyway, what does it matter?"

"It doesn't," Will assures her quickly. "I just wanted to know if it was bugging you. Because I...well, actually, Nessie, I really like you. Like, a lot."

"You do?" Wow, she didn't see that coming, but it makes sense in a way. And she likes Will, too. He is uber-cute these days, and he's always been so nice to her. "Well, I...like you too," she says shyly.

"Can I...kiss you?" Will asks.

"I'm gonna taste like Diet Coke and Doritos," warns Nessie.

"Me too," says Will, smiling. Then he leans forward and presses his lips softly to hers. Nessie kisses him back, and she pulls her hands away from him because she's so distracted by kissing that she's worried she'll slip him a vision by accident. That would be awkward. It's impossible to really let go, kissing a human. There's so much she has to hide.

"Well," says Nessie several minutes later. "Does this mean...are we going out now?" She mentally cringes at how clueless she is. She's a high schooler, and she fits in much better now than she used to, but she still feels removed from all the things that are normal to teenagers. It's probably because of her family. Or maybe it's because she really is only five and a half. Maybe she's just weird. But Will would never judge her.

"If you want," he says. "I'd really like that. I've had a crush on you for a while, actually."

"Oh!" says Nessie. "I didn't realize that." Rosalie was right: Nessie is terribly unobservant. She doesn't even notice the things that are under her very nose.

Will is far from possessive or jealous. Even Jake likes him, the few times they meet.

"He seems like a good kid," says Jake over the phone one night.

"He is," says Nessie happily. She is still coming down from her most recent makeout session. Kissing Will is awesome! Different from Kevin, of course. Will is a lot less demanding, too; everything with Will is so easy and uncomplicated. "He was the first person at school to make friends with me, you know."

"I remember," says Jake. "I'm really happy for you. Man, I remember what all that lovey stuff that used to be like. It's pretty great. Way to go." Used to be? That sounds almost sad. Nessie sits up and stares out her window into the darkness.

"Hey, Jake?" she says slowly. "When's the last time you had a girlfriend?"

"Wow," Jake says. "Um...god, at least since I was fourteen. But I mean, it wasn't serious. It was like, this summer thing."

"I didn't know that," says Nessie softly. "How come you don't date now? You're really cool and stuff. I know you could date if you wanted to."

"Well," says Jake, "I guess I was preoccuppied. I didn't want to have to decide between having a girlfriend and being there for you."

"But we hardly ever see each other anyway. There's no reason you couldn't still have a girlfriend. Or..." a thought occurs to Nessie. "A boyfriend? If you're into that?"

"Um, no," says Jake, laughing. "Come on, Ness, you really think there's a chance I'm gay?"

"Well, no," says Nessie, her cheeks reddening. "It's just, I never hear you talking about girls. It makes me sad! I get to have a normal life, and you're stuck with all that pack stuff and you don't even get to, you know...be all canoodly."

"'Canoodly'?" Jake echoes, and she can hear the grin in his voice. "To be honest, I wouldn't want to upset you."

"Why would that upset me? You shouldn't worry about that," says Nessie very firmly. "I feel so selfish, now! Like, I take up all your extra time on the phone, and you don't get anything out of it!"

"I get plenty out of it," protests Jake. "You know I love talking to you, even if I can't see you."

"Yeah," says Nessie. "Hey, Jake? If I told you that I would be happy for you to a girlfriend, would that make any difference?"

"It might," says Jake thoughtfully.

"I just don't like the idea that your life has to be limited because of the wolf stuff. It's not right!"

"Well, actually," says Jake with barely-suppressed excitement, "guess what?"

"What?"

"This month will mark the official five-year anniversary since we've last had a leech. We'll be able to dial back the wolf stuff a ton. I'll be able to focus on school more! And I'll be able to visit you way more often, too. Maybe even every weekend!"

"Oh my god, Jake, that's amazing! Plus, you'll have time to get a girlfriend!" Nessie doesn't know why she's so fixated on this idea. It just feels terribly unfair that she gets to have as many boyfriends as she wants and Jake is stuck in Forks all alone, doing boring grown-up stuff. He deserves to have a little fun, too.

"You really wouldn't mind if I started dating?" asks Jake suspiciously.

"Nope!" answers Nessie. "I'd be happy for you!"

"Well, it has been kind of a long dry spell," says Jake with exaggerated reluctance. Nessie giggles. If Jake gets a girlfriend, they can go on double-dates and stuff! It'll be so fun!

"I'll think about it," says Jake. "It's been a long time since my life was normal enough for something like that. I guess it would be kind of nice to just feel like a regular guy for a change."

"I think so, too," says Nessie, glowing. "Just make sure she's as awesome as you are. Well, okay, that would be impossible. But make sure she's almost as awesome as you are."

"Right on," says Jake.

The minute the wolves hit the five-year mark, everyone but Jake, Quil, Seth and Leah stop patrolling. Quil, of course, volunteered to keep phasing so he can stay young for Claire, although not because he's waiting for her to become romantically viable. In fact, Quil has a long-term girlfriend, one who both adores and is idolized by Claire. It's more about not wanting to squander a single year. After all, men already tend to die younger than women. As morbid as it is, Nessie can understand. If she had to face the possibility of Jake dying before her, perhaps by several years—well, she'd do almost anything to avoid that.

To celebrate their new freedom, the wolves all have a huge bonfire at the beach, and Nessie tags along. She sleeps over at Emily and Sam's house, and the next morning Jake shows up before she's even awake.

"Rise and shine!" he sings into her ear, cutting off her dream—not that she minds. Jake is better than any old dream. "I'm taking you to Port Angeles for breakfast!"

"That's a little far for breakfast," points out Nessie, yawning and stretching.

"Well, it's a special occasion!" he says."We're gonna spend the whole day there! Or maybe we'll go all the way to Seattle! Or maybe we'll…I don't know, we can do anything! I don't have to patrol for three more days! It's been forever since I've had three days off!" His good mood is infectious, and soon Nessie is giggling right back. She yanks a brush through her hair and then wads it up in a low chignon. She brushes her teeth with a spare toothbrush in Sam and Emily's bathroom, throws on the spare dress she brought, and hops in the Rabbit with Jake.

"It's so nice to see you this happy," Nessie says, settling back and looking over at her best friend. His fingers are tapping out the beat of the song on the radio and his head is bobbing along. He has a perma-grin. Jake with a perma-grin is too wonderful; Nessie is almost positive that Jake's perma-grin could cure tuberculosis.

"I'm thinking about letting my hair grow back in," says Jake.

"You're still going to be phasing though, aren't you?" asks Nessie nervously. If he doesn't phase, how can he ward off old age and stay with her?

"Of course I am!" he says, reaching out to punch her jokingly in the arm. "And it's not like the length of my fur is directly related to the length of my hair, although if I grow my hair out my wolf fur will be sort of unmanageable. But that's only if I plan on fighting! If there are no leeches around, I can just phase every now and then and just like, run around the rez, you know? It wouldn't matter how poofy my fur gets!"

"Well," says Nessie, "I for one would kill to see you with long hair. I've only seen pictures, but it was a sight for sore eyes, I'll give you that."

"I don't know," says Jake, "I guess maybe I feel like I can…sort of reclaim my life, you know? For six years now it's been nothing but leeches and wolves and taking orders and giving orders. I just want to be normal again. And a part of that…well…" He looks at Nessie out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes?" prompts Nessie.

"Well, you remember that conversation we were having a few weeks ago? About how I haven't had a girlfriend since before the wolf stuff started up?"

Of course she remembers. Her father read about it in her mind. He almost never reads her mind when he can help it, but according to him she was "shouting it at him". Then he told her mother, and both of them lectured her for an hour about how Jake should only ever have eyes for her. Contrary to their wishes, this only cemented her desire to see Jake happily paired off: after all,she's not gonna date him. He's Jake! Jake is wonderful and perfect and awesome and funny and cool and understanding and interesting, but he's also…well, he's Jake. Jakes are not for dating, not if you're a Nessie. And it is so totally unfair that he should stay single forever just because of her. It would be all her fault! And making out is so fun! How can she deprive him of that?

"Yeah, I remember," says Nessie.

"Well, I sort of…met someone," he says carefully.

"Ooh, really?" asks Nessie. "Who is she? Is it a girl from the rez?"

"It's a girl from one of my classes. Actually, it's Mandy. From my history class. Remember? I've told you about her."

"Yeah, totally," says Nessie. "Are you going out?"

"Well, I was thinking of asking her out. I wanted to run it by you first, though." Oh, that makes Nessie feel uncomfortable. He shouldn't have to run it by anyone, least of all her. Wasn't Jake the one who told her that relationships like that are unhealthy?

"Well," she says, "you don't have to do that. If you like her, you should ask her out. And you don't need my permission or anything."

"Thanks," says Jake. Nessie thinks he's teasing her, but when she looks at his face she realizes he's completely serious. "I really mean it," he says. "I see the way Emily and Sam are…and my sister and Paul…and I just. Wow. I got the good one." Nessie laughs. "I mean it!" he says. "You're the most generous person I've ever met, Ness. You want me to be happy, and you don't want me at your beck and call. You really want me to be myself. Can you understand how amazing that is for me? After so many years of having to be what other people want me to be?"

Nessie fiddles with a loose thread in her seat and wraps herself up in the scent of Jake and Rabbit.

"I never expected an imprint to feel like this," he goes on. "Everyone says an imprinted wolf will be whatever his imprint needs him to be, and that always sounded like bullshit to me. Like I would just be forced to turn into whatever you want. And maybe it is like that for other people, but not for us. You've never made demands on me. It's just not who you are. Even if I didn't have the imprint, I would still want to be in your life. You just bring out the best parts of me. You make me so happy."

Nessie is silent. She doesn't want to speak and break the glorious feeling Jake's words give her. But she does reach one hand out and rest it against the nape of his neck and think, Well, damn, Jake. I love you, too.

Two nights later, Jake informs Nessie over the phone that he's asked out Mandy and she's agreed to go on a date. This surprises Nessie not a whit, since Jake is the awesomest human being of all time, ever. Who in her right mind would say no to him?

Nessie doesn't meet Mandy until after midterms are done. Mandy and Jake are both twenty-one, and Nessie knows it won't be fun for them to hang around a couple of seventeen-year-olds, especially not if one of the seventeen-year-olds is actually six. But Mandy comes to the rez several times while Nessie is there, and it's actually pretty nice to have another female to talk to when she and Charlie are eating over at the Blacks'. Mandy is working toward certification in teaching high school science, which means she has a ton more school to get through. Nessie doesn't even know what to go to college for. Her dad wants her to consider attending a music conservatory, Juilliard at the very least although Curtis would be better, unless she wants to go abroad, which she can do now that Jake isn't so tied down to the rez. Her singing voice might actually be good enough for it, but she hasn't settled into anything yet.

"That's fine," Mandy assures her. "You have plenty of time. No one knows what they want to do till they at least get out of high school. Hell, even I'm not sure if I'm going to follow through on this teaching thing. I don't actually like kids very much."

"Kids?" says Nessie. "I thought you were going to teach high school."

"Well, same difference," says Mandy, laughing, but then she notices Nessie's hurt look. "I don't mean you, obviously. You're very mature for your age. I just mean other teenagers."

"Huh," says Nessie. She watches Mandy and Jake together for a while. Mandy is very pretty. She has really smooth tan skin and a shiny light-brown bob and gray eyes, and she's constantly smiling. Jake has his arm around her now, and they look comfortable and relaxed. Nessie tilts her head to one side. It's weird to see Jake so familiar with someone who's not her. Not bad or anything—and Mandy is really cool—but weird.

"Huh," she says again.

Nessie and Will plan to go to the junior prom together, of course. They're even nominated for prom king and queen, although so are Edward and Bella, and Alice and Jasper, and a few other couples. But Will seems to take the nomination as a sign that he has to be totally romantic and get everything right, and then he gets Alice on his side, and soon Nessie is swept up in things too. They will share a limo to prom with Nessie's parents and aunt and uncle. Alice even goes so far as to buy Will a tux and get it tailored to fit him. He runs track, and he is quite nicely built, and Nessie is pleased to see how well he wears the penguin suit. Then Alice hustles him out of the way and takes Nessie dress-shopping in Vancouver.

Right now they are trying to decide between three very different, very expensive gowns. Beside Nessie is a deep burgundy silk sheath which skims her narrow frame and clings becomingly to her modest—but perky!—breasts. Underneath that is an eggplant-colored mass of chiffon with a gigantic skirt. Nessie looks in the mirror and smiles at Alice's reflection.

"I like this one best," she says. She is wearing a lovely blue silk gown with cap sleeves, an empire waist, and a split skirt overlay that is positively dripping with beaded embroidery. Alice nods, beaming. The dress costs two thousand dollars, which isn't even pocket-change for the Cullens.

"I like it too," says Alice. "Now we need to figure out the shoe situation. This dress has a very Edwardian vibe—oh, don't give me that look, I meant the period, not your father—and I think it would be a serious misstep to just stick you in any old strappy heels. But we don't want it to look costumey, either. I'm thinking vintage Dior pumps. And you'll have to wear silk stockings, of course, none of this Spanx foolishness. I know of an online boutique that sells gorgeous full-fashioned stockings. Oh, we'll have to get you a garter belt, too, to hold them up! And your hair, what are you going to do about your hair?"

Alice stands behind her niece and starts arranging her curls right there in the dressing room. "I'm seeing a sort of Pre-Raphaelite thing where it's swept back from your face but left mostly alone. This dress has a great neckline, though, would it be better if your hair went up?"

Nessie tunes out her aunt. Alice is tons of fun to shop with, but her enthusiasm for the subject leaves Nessie far behind. She's sure that whatever her aunt decides will be perfect.

"Nessie?"

"Will? Oh my god, you sound awful! What's wrong?" It is the morning of prom. School let out for the summer only yesterday, and Nessie's prom date sounds like he swallowed a cheese grater.

"I have strep," he croaks. "I think I picked it up over finals. I'm so sorry, babe, I can't go to prom."

"Oh," says Nessie quietly. This is awful! Alice has everything planned to a T. And Nessie was really looking forward to seeing her parents let loose at school. This will make the first school dance they've ever graced with their presence, and they're only going because Alice threatened them with bodily harm if they skipped. And it's not like Nessie cares about being prom queen or anything, but she does care about seeing all her friends dressed up. "Well…that's…I'm so sorry, Will. How awful!"

"I think you should still go, though," he says. "You can go without me."

"Oh, Will," says Nessie half-heartedly, "I couldn't do that!"

"Please, Nessie?" says Will. "I'd feel like such shit if you couldn't even go just because I got sick."

"You don't want me to come make you some soup or something?"

"And get sick yourself? No thanks. You just go have fun, babe." Nessie doesn't point out that she is, as far as anyone can tell, physically incapable of illness. Will doesn't know anything about vampires and their weird immune systems.

"Well…are you sure?"

"Yeah," he says. "Hey, babe, I really have to hang up. I'm sorry. I just feel like such crap."

"Okay," says Nessie. "I love you. Get better!"

"Love you too," he says, and hangs up.

Perfect, thinks Nessie. She isn't mad at Will—it's not his fault he got sick—but prom won't be nearly as much fun without her date.

A little before the limo shows up to take Nessie and her family to prom, there is a knock on the door. Her makeup is finished (Alice outdid herself again) and her dress is buttoned and her silk stockings are hooked to her six-loop garter and her hair is almost done. She is in her room with Rosalie, having her hair organized, when she hears a familiar deep voice in the entrance hall.

"Hey!" shouts Rosalie at Nessie's vanishing form. "Come back, you're hair's not done!" But Nessie is already barreling down the stairs, her short silk train sweeping every step. And there he is, talking to her mom and dad in the foyer.

"Jake!" cries Nessie. "What are you doing here?"

"Will called me," he says, lighting up when he sees her. She leaps down the last six steps into his arms. He twirls her around and sets her gingerly on the marble floor. "Hey, you look nice!"

"Why did Will call you?" asks Nessie.

"Well, he said when he told you he couldn't come you sounded really upset, but you were too nice to say anything about it, and then he asked if I would be willing to take you instead so at least you don't have to show up alone."

"Aww," teases Nessie, "how sweet of you to take in poor little ole charity-case me!"

Jake punches her in the arm and she punches him right back.

"I couldn't find a tux last-minute," he says. "I have a suit that sort of fits…"

"No worries!" chimes Alice, appearing at the top of the steps and holding a garment bag. "Emmett says you can borrow one of his. It'll be a little short, but I can let out the sleeves and legs real quick before we go." Is it just Nessie or does Jake's face fall a fraction at the idea of wearing a vampire's tux? But Jake doesn't say anything about it.

"Be right back," he says, taking the garment bag and marching off to the bathroom to change. He reappears five minutes later, and the tux really is too short for him, and it pulls across the shoulders, but with a little finagling Alice can probably make it work—

Then Nessie catches sight of Jake's expression. He looks like he's going to be ill. He might as well be wearing a hollowed-out tauntaun. He's gotten used to the smell of the Cullens over the years, but Nessie can imagine wearing a suit saturated with the scent all night—well, that can't feel good.

"How do I look?" asks Jake. Alice clucks over the amounts of exposed ankle and wrist he's showing, but Nessie holds out a hand to stop her aunt.

"You know what?" she says. "Never mind about the tux." Alice turns to her with a horrified expression and even Jake protests weakly. "No, I mean it!" she says. "There's no dress-code. Why don't you wear what you wore over here?"

Alice tries to cut in again, but at that moment the limo pulls up outside. She looks from Nessie to Jake, clearly torn.

"Alice," says Nessie, "you go ahead. Jake and I will come soon, okay? You planned everything perfectly. Go enjoy it! We'll take his car."

Nessie parents arrive to second Alice's protestations, but then Jasper appears and suddenly everyone feels much more easygoing.

"Well, okay," says Alice, walking out to the limo with her husband. "See you there!" she calls over her shoulder.

"See you in a few minutes, sweetie," says Bella, kissing her daughter on the forehead. She looks even lovelier than usual, all dolled up in midnight blue satin. Nessie watches her family climb into the limo and drive away.

"Okay," she says, turning back to Jake. "First things first. You need to go change back into your street clothes."

"Are you sure?" asks Jake. "I can wear the tux. I won't complain. I just want you to enjoy your prom."

"I'll enjoy it more if we're both having fun," says Nessie decisively. "Scoot!"

Jake concedes, and when he comes out of the bathroom again he is back in his normal clothes. Nessie looks him over seriously for a moment. He has made good on his promise to grow out his hair; already it swings around his ears, shiny and soft and inky-black. His dark blue jeans are clean—that's good. He's wearing leather work boots, but it could be worse; usually he doesn't even wear shoes. At least he put on a nice crisp white button-down; his tan skin is positively glowing in comparison. He looks really handsome. In fact, thinks Nessie as she looks down at herself, he makes her look out-of-place.

"Be back in a sec," she says, and then rushes off to her room.

She comes back down fifteen minutes later, and Jake does a double-take. Gone is the expensive gown. Instead, Nessie is now wearing a very mini lime-green Mod dress with long, fitted sleeves. In place of the silk stockings and Dior shoes are a pair of banana-yellow tights and turquoise leather boots that hit just below the knees.

It doesn't look anything like prom-wear. But even Alice can't complain, seeing as she bought Nessie the dress and the boots.

"Wow," says Jake. "You look fucking rad, Ness! Hey, what are those for?" He eyes the pair of heavy scissors Nessie swiped from Esme's sewing room.

"I want you to cut my hair," Nessie says. "Just chop it all off. I want a bob for my junior prom. You're growing your hair out, I'm hacking mine off!"

"Um, are you sure?" asks Jake nervously. "I don't know if anyone's ever told you this, but hair takes a long time to grow back."

"I know," says Nessie, pressing the scissors into his large warm hand. "My mom's out of the house. I already tied my hair back and braided it; all you have to do is cut it off below the rubber band. Easy."

"Oo-kay," says Jake, following Nessie into the bathroom. He lifts the scissors and then pauses. "Last chance," he warns.

"Go for it," says Nessie.

And then he does. A heavy braid hits the bathroom floor with a thud. Jake pulls the rubber band from the nape of Nessie's neck and then scrabbles his warm fingers through her hair, messing it up. Nessie shakes her head as hard as she can and laughs gleefully at the lightness of it. She feels like her head might float away. Her curls corkscrew down to a blunt line at her jawbone. She parts it on the side and sticks a daisy in it from one of Esme's flower arrangements.

"How do I look?" she asks, twirling for Jake.

"You look pretty goddamn spectacular," says Jake, offering her his arm.

"You don't look too bad yourself," she says.

Nessie's relations are in an uproar when they see her short hair and her un-prom-like attire, and Alice immediately turns on Jake. But Nessie insists that it was all her choice, and eventually they settle down.

Nessie's classmates are understandably confused about who Jake is. He isn't Will, which earns Nessie her share of catty looks from people who don't realize Will is merely sick, and not being cuckolded. Jake is also clearly not a high school student, and only a handful of her friends have met him before. But being with him makes the evening perfect. He is a comically bad dancer for someone with such inhumanly good reflexes, and Nessie matches him, flailing about and doing all sorts of spins and kicks that clear a safety-zone around them on the dance floor. Nessie's dad has to step in and warn her not to dance any more aggressively than the humans around her, lest she reveal too much to their tender human eyes. Nessie grumbles a little, but gives in.

By the end of the evening, after Alice and Jasper have accepted their prom crowns, Nessie has to admit that this was the best prom she could have hoped for. Jake keeps reaching out to play with her hair. "It's so weird," he says, "seeing you with short hair. But I love it. I think it looks perfect."

"Yeah," jokes Nessie, "of course you think that. You cut it yourself!" From across the room Alice frowns at this statement. "Hey, Jake," says Nessie, "a bunch of us were going to go out for ice cream, but ice cream is for babies. Wanna go hang out? My parents suspended my curfew for tonight, I think they want the house to themselves. And they won't care what I do, as long as I stay with you."

Jake looks thoughtful. "Okay," he says. "I know where we can go."

Where, Jake? Where? Actually, this isn't meant to be a cliffhanger (it would be a lame one anyway). But I had to cut it off here because the next bit is too long to fit into this chapter. Please forgive me. It's the new year!