Thanks to all of you who are giving this a try!

For those who are interested in knowing, this story is rated M for foul language, dark themes, lemon wedges, lemon juice, and eventually, some actual lemons. If you are sensitive to dark themes – at all - please be forewarned, the later chapters in this fic get dark. That being said, there's a lot of romance, angst and even a little humour in here too.

I hope you like it, and please – review.

SM owns Twilight.

JPOV

I pulled out the lunch that I had prepared for us. Nessie sighed as she eyed the sandwiches and salads. I rolled my eyes. It had been a while since we had gone hunting last. We were overdue for a trip. Nessie really didn't have an appetite for human food. She said it all tasted like sawdust to her, dry and flavourless. The good thing about human food for her was that she could survive on it, if necessary. It was a great way for her to sustain herself between hunting excursions. But the longer it had been since we hunted the less appealing human food was.

I really didn't want to hunt right now though. We had so much to discuss.

"Alright," I said "how about sawdust for lunch and polar bear for supper?"

She smiled brightly at me and took a ham sandwich from the pile. I took that as a yes.

We ate in silence for a while, enjoying the view and each other's company. Once we had finished our sandwiches and were nibbling on the fruit I decided to ask her the rest of my questions.

"So, have you thought about what you want to tell your family about us?"

She stopped mid chew. Her eyes grew a bit wider and then narrowed as pursed her lips. Hmmm, it seems like I hit a chord with that one. I could only guess that it had something to do with her father. I think we both knew that he wasn't going to be as accepting of this as some of her other family members might.

I let her think for a minute to sort things out. After a minute she sighed and looked in my direction, she was blushing. Wait, why was she blushing?

"You know, I think he knew… a bit, before we left," she said, her voice a low whisper "I think that's why he was resisting so strongly."

"What?" I asked. She smiled a bit and shrugged.

"It's sort of hard to keep things from him. You know, having a mind reading father doesn't allow me a lot of options for hiding these kinds of things." She mumbled and looked down at the blanket as she spoke.

I blinked, eyes wide and incredulous. What was she saying? That Edward knew she had feelings for me? How is that even possible? We've been here for months and he hasn't seen her since before we left. The only way that could be possible was if…

I looked down at the blanket. I noticed her hands in her lap. She was fidgeting, her fingers twisting together again and again. She was nervous again, and the only thing that could make her feel that way about saying this to me was if what I was thinking was true.

I shook my head a bit, trying to wrap my mind around what she was saying. If Edward knew about her feelings then she had to have been hiding them from me for quite a while. I thought back over our last few months in Forks, from the time she suggested we move out here. She had distanced herself from me a bit, not talking as much or as openly as she had before. There were a few more unexplained blushes and there was also a bit of awkwardness. At the time I had chalked it up to her adjustment to becoming a teenager. I tried to help her as much as I could, and giver her space to think, time alone when she needed it. I knew she was feeling awkward about things, and didn't want to make her uncomfortable. Her father could never give her that sort of privacy, but Bella and I had talked and she agreed with me that Nessie would probably need some time to sort things out for herself. But now that I thought about from this point of view – it was almost obvious.

I mentally kicked myself for being so blind. How could I have missed this? She obviously had feelings for me for quite a while. I was just so caught up in trying to take care of her that I had missed this… because I had forgotten to be her friend. She had hinted at the fact that I was treating her differently a couple of times, implying that I was patronizing her kind of like the rest of her family did. And I was.

I sighed and reached for her hands, placing mine on top of hers. I rubbed the backs of her hands with my thumbs to stop her from fidgeting. I looked up at her face as she continued to stare at our hands.

"Ness," I whispered "I'm so sorry. That must have been so hard for you. I can't believe I didn't figure it out. I'm an ass aren't I?"

She giggled and glanced up at me, her lips twitching up to one side, as she slowly nodded and then looked back down at the blanket.

Well, I guess I couldn't blame her for agreeing to that. I leaned in and gave her light kiss on the cheek, then hugged her.

I buried my face in her hair, so soft and fragrant. "Can you forgive me? I'm so sorry. If I had known… I probably could have saved you months of feeling uncomfortable." I whispered.

She giggled again and pulled away to look at my face. "It's ok Jacob. I really should have been honest with you from the start. You've never kept secrets from me and I haven't from you either. It was harder than I thought, and definitely not worth it. Besides, it's not like we could have acted on it at home without my father breathing down our necks the whole time anyway. In a way I'm glad. This gives us some time to figure ourselves out before having to explain anything to anyone. As for telling my family… well, it's not as though any of this will come as a surprise. I guess we'll just have to be honest with them and hope that they'll understand."

"Yeah, and that your father doesn't lunge for my throat when he hears that you and I are together like this." I chuckled and shook my head thinking about the conversation he had with me about protecting Nessie from the advances of the young men here in Juneau. "He's going to flip out a bit you know. He asked me to protect you from the guys up here, you know, make sure that you were being looked after and not taken advantage of. Considering that he knew you had feelings for me at the time, I'm pretty sure I should heed that as a warning."

I looked up at her and my eyes widened a bit processing her expression. Uh oh, she did not like that one bit. Her jaw was set and she had her eyes closed while she breathed in deeply through her nose, trying to calm herself I guessed.

She relaxed suddenly, her eyes opening and her lips pulled up into a smirk… ironically enough it was the same smirk her father often wore when he thought he had something brilliant to say.

"Well," she said haughtily, "I guess it's a good thing that you do such a great job of taking care of me and that I'm the one making the advances. He never said anything about trying not to let me take advantage of you."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"I'm sure Edward would have a few things to say about that statement, but if you really want to take advantage of me… who am I to argue?" I smirked and cocked an eyebrow at her while her jaw dropped a little and she stared at me.

"Next question." I said, changing the course of the conversation before she decided to act on my not so subtle suggestion. This one was not so serious, but I was dying to know the answer to it. Up to this point I had no clue about what was going on, and how any of this started for her. "I guess I sort of know some of the answer to this one already, but I'm curious to know a bit more. When did you figure it out? I mean, we see each other almost every day. Did I do something different or say something to… encourage you?"

She blushed deeply before looking at the floor. Oh, this I've got to hear. It takes a lot for her soft pale skin to bloom with that much colour. She looked like peach roses… and she was nervous, biting her lip again.

I leaned my head down and peeked up at her from under her hair. She slowly met my gaze and sighed. Her mouth twisted off to the side and her eyes travelled in the same direction, unable to look me in the eye while she spoke.

"It was the night you came over to discuss changing the boundary lines of the treaty with my father," she whispered. I thought back to that night and remembered that she was quiet when I got there, but I figured she was preoccupied because she left right away without saying hi to do something with Alice.

"It was pouring rain and when you came to the door… you were soaked, and your shirt… and the way you smiled at me… I- I was so glad when my father sent me upstairs to see aunt Alice, even if he did do it just because he was upset." I thought my eyes were going to pop right out of my head as I realized what she was saying. She realized she was attracted to me that night, and her father was witness to it. She continued to look at the cave wall after she was done talking.

She seemed so embarrassed and self-conscious admitting this to me. I immediately felt bad for asking. It must be hard to admit and even harder to experience considering her father had been witness to the whole thing. No wonder she needed to get out of there so badly. I know what it's like having to share those thoughts with others. It happened all the time with us wolves, and of course, I had known Edward for a while too. I had years of experience to get over the embarrassment of it though, and she was new to it.

I felt the need to let her know that I wasn't embarrassed about that, nor would I be, if the tables were turned. I was flattered and a bit surprised, but I hope she didn't regret telling me. She hated being vulnerable, especially when it came to acknowledging her feelings.

I gently cupped her cheek in my hand and turned her face so she was looking at me. "You are beyond beautiful when you blush, you know." She bit her lip and the colour in her cheeks deepened slightly at hearing my compliment. "That must have been tough for you… with your dad being there. I know what that's like too. You shouldn't have to feel badly about it." I thought carefully about what I was going to say next. I didn't want to give her the wrong impression, but she should know that I had been caught admiring her before too.

"Do you remember the campfire for Seth's birthday this summer?" She nodded and cocked he head to the side, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "You got there late because you and your family decided to hunt a bit first. We were all there talking and hanging out when you arrived. Do you remember what you were wearing that day?" She nodded and raised her eyebrows as if to say 'so what'. I chuckled and continued, trying to hide a smirk of my own. "You were wearing that black mini skirt thing, a green fitted shirt and a set of 3-inch stiletto heels. I nearly choked on my drink when I saw you… Seth and Paul were laughing their asses off and your father, well, let's just say it was no mistake that he told you to go with your mother to visit with Billy before coming to see me and say Happy Birthday to Seth. If looks could kill…" I trailed off and shook my head as I remembered the way Edward glared at me from across the fire as if to say 'If there wasn't a couple of dozen witnesses here I'd rip your head off'.

Her eyes widened and she shook her head a bit in disbelief. Did she really think I hadn't noticed how beautiful she was before? Didn't she believe me when I told her I wanted to be with her? I guess I hadn't really told her about that… I didn't want her to feel pressured for anything.

I leaned in so that our faces were only about an inch apart. I could feel the heat of her breath wash over my face and the electric hum and pull increase as I got closer to her.

"Nessie," I whispered looking deep into her eyes, "You are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. There was never a chance that I would not notice you. I just didn't act upon it. I had no idea… ."

I closed the gap between us and pressed my lips firmly to hers, allowing some of the passion to seep into it. She gasped a little at the suddenness of my approach and then kissed me back, her desire mirroring my own.

I didn't hesitate to lower her to the floor of the cave this time. I nudged her backward a bit with our noses at the same time as I grabbed her around the waist and leaned into her, laying her down beneath me, maintaining the kiss as my tongue brushed against her lips seeking entrance to her mouth. She parted her lips and her tongue met mine, hot, wet and eager. I ran my hand through her hair, feeling my way through the soft curls from her forehead to her waist.

I planted small, light kisses on her forehead, her cheeks, her nose and then from her chin all the way down her jaw to her ear.

"So beautiful." I whispered and then skimmed my nose down her neck, inhaling her sweet scent. I flicked my tongue out and trailed my way over her collarbone with the tip of it, tasting her soft sweet skin. A shudder ripped through her and she moaned the tiniest little sound I think I've ever heard her make… but it was so beautiful to hear.

I trembled, shaking with a small shiver of my own and made my way back up her neck, planting open mouth kisses this time, as I ran a hand down her side from her ribs, over her waist to the swell of her hip.

I kissed her mouth and she arched her back, pressing herself to me as she locked her arms around my neck and ran her fingers through the short hair on the back of my head.

Without warning, a loud howl ripped through the air, causing the hair to stand up on the back of my head, and my arms to tremble, for an entirely different reason.

We broke apart abruptly and I panted out the confirmation to the questioning look in Nessie's eyes.

"Seth."