A/N: I decided to finish this story. I've been sitting on this for a long time. I have LOTS more of this story but I had a change of heart about it. I'm going to go back and re-read and possibly re-write a lot of this. I might continue on to the sequel but honestly looking back, this story contains a lot of the clichés that I don't like reading in fan fiction.

The chapter is based a couple of weeks before Christmas.

Chapter 11 – Noticed

JPOV

I wanted to slap myself when I realized what just happened. I didn't even do it on purpose. I looked at her. No, I'd looked at Nessie twenty thousand times in her lifetime. This was more than a look, so much more. I got lost in her. It took everything I had just to look away.

We were just sitting on the couch watching 'A Christmas Story' with Bella and Edward. I'd seen it more times than I could count. We watched it every year around this time when I was growing up.

My thoughts were elsewhere, though. I was staring out a window watching the snow fly by. Nessie had grown so much this year. It worried us all, though we hid our concern well. Using whatever magical formula Carlisle had come up with, he determined her to be fifteen about a month ago, two years older than she was just three months ago. She looked more like seventeen to me, though.

Up until this point, I still saw her as my little Nessie; the girl who raced me through the woods, the girl who liked to be read to at night. I had barely registered that she was maturing other than to worry about it. She'd always been beautiful, but it wasn't until this night that I actually noticed the change in her… and in myself.

Nessie was cuddled in a blanket between her parents on the sofa. She broke the silence, laughing at something in the movie I hadn't been paying attention to. My eyes moved from the window to focus on her. Somehow I'd never noticed the change in her smile. Perhaps I'd subconsciously never allowed myself to notice. It felt like my heart stopped beating. The way her pink lips curled upward, the way her eyes glimmered as they slightly squinted, it was so gorgeous. Stray hairs from her pony tail danced around her face.

I sat staring, mesmerized, for a long moment. I never even consciously made the decision to stare at her, but I couldn't bring myself to look away. I didn't realize I hadn't taken a breath until my lungs betrayed me, taking a deep influx of air. That's when her eyes met mine. I couldn't look away, though. All I could do was stare. Her cheeks became rosy and a tiny smile crossed her lips.

Snap out of it, Edward said, intruding my mind.

I shook my head, trying to bring myself back to reality. "I'm going to get some air," I said, rising from my chair.

Nessie made a move to get up as well, but Edward gently pulled her back down beside him. From the way their eyes locked it was safe to assume they had a mental conversation. I hoped she wasn't getting into any trouble. If anyone should have been in trouble, it should have been me. Nessie had stared at me plenty of times, all of which I tried not to notice, but this was the first time I'd ever seen her as anything more than a little girl.

I wandered to the balcony outside my bedroom, a place I rarely ever used. Edward was standing beside me before I had a chance to sit down.

"Take a walk with me?" he asked.

I was surprised he even bothered asking rather than demanding. "Sure."

I followed him to my shop. I plopped down on the sofa, ready to get the lecture over with. I took a moment to gather my thoughts, figure out what I was going to say to him.

"Don't apologize, Jacob," Edward said sincerely. "I know you almost as well as you know yourself. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of things you don't know about me, though. We all knew Nessie's childhood would be brief. Five years, seven years, no difference when you're immortal. I'm not upset with you. If anything, I'm sympathetic." He chuckled.

"Sympathetic?" I asked.

He laughed again. "I can't imagine dealing with everything you've had to deal with from my daughter. She's put you through a lot lately. That alone reveals a great deal about your character."

I shrugged. Sure Nessie said a few things that weren't exactly kind, and she did make me uncomfortable pretty often, but I never thought dealing with it all was a big deal on my part.

"She's been traipsing around in almost nothing for months trying to get your attention. And yet you see this new Nessie when she's curled under a blanket in pajama pants, your sweatshirt, and a ponytail," he continued.

"Edward, you know how much I respect you, right?" I asked.

"Yes, and I know you'd never do anything I didn't approve of. All that stuff. I know, Jacob."

"It's not like that, man." I wanted to tell him that I couldn't even imagine kissing her, but deep down inside I knew that wasn't entirely true. A large part of me was against it, but to say that no part of me could even think about it would be a lie. Bella was the only person who could get away with telling Edward a lie.

"You sure about that? Come on, Jake. I'm not that big of an ass hole. You can be honest with me."

I just shrugged. This was all so new and I wasn't entirely sure how I felt or what I thought. I hadn't had time to think it through.

"Just make me two promises," he said.

"Let's hear 'em."

"Well, I would tell you not to pressure her, but I'm pretty sure you're going to be the one getting pressured. So, one- please don't move her far from us… at least not any time soon."

I opened my mouth to speak, but he raised his hand to stop me.

"Two… please, Jacob… this is all I'm asking of you." His face twisted into a grimace. "Please just wait until you're married before you… copulate."

"I promise." I could definitely keep these two promises. Only a teeny tiny part of me could even fathom kissing her.

The night brought with it a thick blanket of snow. It was still coming down when Nessie, Emmett, and I headed outside to build a massive snowman the next morning. I tried to concentrate, to think of anything but her, but I couldn't. She was all that existed to me.

I made a very conscious effort not to stare or do anything out of the ordinary. I was hyperaware of every movement she made and every time she touched me. It was difficult to maintain my 'nothing's changed' façade when she kept doing things like moving my hair out of my face.

It seemed too soon to have these feelings for her.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the story. If you like it and really want the sequel, let me know. If I get any interest, I might go through with it. In the meantime, go to my profile and check out my new J/N fic! I started writing Fairytales before I really started reading fan fiction. I've definitely done more than my fair share of fic reading over the last year and I feel much more confident about my newest story… so check it out! It's called Maniacal and is an AU Post-Breaking Dawn fic.