A/N: I don't own Twilight!!! Or any characters!!

So… I'm a little pissed off.. SOMEONE decided to copy a few lines from my story and used them for her own story… I'm so furious I was even thinking of not finishing my story at all… But I decided to update because a great idea popped into my head… But otherwise, I'm not happy at all with this.. I would post her username, but I don't want to feed the problem anymore. But I do hope that this doesn't happen to any of you, because I know how awful it is and I wouldn't wish this on anyone…

And to you out there, you know who you are, SHAME ON YOU! =(

Anyway, I hope my anger doesn't show in the chapter.

Chapter 12:

Nessie POV:

I started my countdown today. I had exactly five days left. Five days to do whatever it is I was going to do. But first of all, I had to go get Nahuel. He promised me he'd be my companion for shopping. I had to get stuff for my family, after all.

So when I got changed I did something completely different from what I usually did: I called Nahuel. Huilen picked up after two rings.

"Alo." She said.

"Hi, Huilen." I replied. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine." She said coldly. She had seemed mad with me ever since I told Nahuel about my departure. It was understandable. She was worried about him. "I'll get Nahuel." She dropped the phone for a second and then Nahuel picked it up.

"Hello, Ness." He said. I smiled instantaneously.

"Hi." I answered. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." He said. "I will come pick you up in a second, alright?"

"Sure." I said. "See ya."

I hanged up and proceeded to check myself in the mirror one last time. I noticed my hair was way longer than it had been when I first got there. At the beginning of the summer it had been a little past my shoulders and now it hanged down my waist, almost to my hips. My hair grew faster than a normal person. It was another thing that intrigued my grandfather. He thought that when I stopped growing, my hair would stop as well, or at least grow at a human pace. But it didn't.

I heard the doorbell and went down after grabbing my purse. I opened the door and saw Nahuel leaning against the wall.

"Hey." I said, poking my head out before I stepped outside. He moved over to me and gave me a peck on the lips.

"Hi." He said. I noticed his hair as well. At the beginning of the summer it had been really short, and know it was passed his jaw line. It fell in his eyes when he looked down. It actually looked cute. I had been staring at him for a little while. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing." I said quickly. "I just noticed how long your hair is."

He pushed it back with his hand. "I know." He said. "I need to cut it again."

"But not now." I said. "It looks cute like that."

He smiled. "It does?" He asked.

"Yeah." I answered. "Now, stop talking about your hair and let's go!"

I grabbed his hand and pulled him with me, but he pulled back.

"Hey, hey." He said. "Where are you going?"

"To the town." I said. "Isn't that the plan?"

"Yes, but we are not going by foot, that would be strange." He stated. "We do not live next to it, besides; you are going to get bags, where are we going to put them?"

I thought about it. "You're right." I spotted his car and pulled him along with me to it. He opened the door for me and then got in. We rode in comfortable silence, until we got to town, he then asked me where I wanted to go, since we hadn't really discussed it yet.

"I really don't know." I said. "I mean, I know that anything I get them would be okay. Believe me, that last thing on their mind when they see me again will be gifts."

He chuckled. "Someone has a bit of a high self-esteem." He teased. I smiled broadly.

"Of course." I said. "After all, I am great."

"Of course you are." He said, still mocking me.

I stared at the window and as I did, I started to feel a little tired. I had been skipping sleep lately and it was starting to catch up on me. I could skip sleep for a week, maybe two. But the consequences were no good. Last time I had done this, I ended up sick. Not sick in the full sense of the word, but the feeling was terrible.

"Nessie." Nahuel interrupted my thoughts. "We are here."

"Oh, alright." I said.

As we got out I looked around me. There were little shops all over the place and I couldn't really decide where to go. But that wasn't the thing that caught my attention, what did surprise was that I had never been to this part of town before.

"This is downtown." Nahuel answered my thoughts. "You can find anything here. So we can start looking and see if you find anything that interests you."

I smiled. "You're a doll." I said. He took my hand and we started browsing some stores and the whole morning went away in a blur. I never thought that shopping with a guy could be so fun. Alice had always made it clear that men were not interested in these sorts of things, and maybe she was right, but that day was very fun. When I went into a store full of girl stuff, Nahuel would wait outside, or stand in the back while I looked around. He surprised me a few times, too, when he actually gave a few opinions about what I was buying. But that was only for men's stuff. It actually helped, since I didn't know a thing about what men liked for gifts.

As the day progressed, I started getting worse, though. I was weakening and my limbs hurt. I was even feeling nauseous. Nahuel noticed and we stopped for a while.

"Are you okay?" He asked at one point. I had trailed behind and was walking slower. He caught up with me and grabbed my arm. Then he guided me to a bench and we sat down. He studied me for a few seconds.

"Are you okay?" He asked again, with concern in his voice. I nodded.

"Yeah." I said quickly. "I'm just a little tired, that's all."

"Have you been feeding lately?" He said.

"Yes." I said, wearily. "Why would you think I wasn't?"

"Because you look weak." He replied. I don't know why, but I decided not to tell him about the whole not-sleeping situation. It had become a habit of mine over the years to not admit firsthand what was wrong with me. And I had gotten in trouble a couple of times because of that at home.

"I'm fine." I said. "I feel better already."

"Are you sure?" He asked, not quite convinced. "We can leave if you want to."

"No." I said, waving a hand. "Let's keep going. I wanna get this done today."

He sighed, but didn't say anything whatsoever. I guess he was beginning to accept the fact that I wouldn't always tell him everything. But yet again, maybe he never did.

We went to three more stores and I was done with the gifts. But during that time it wasn't fun anymore. I was feeling worse and Nahuel couldn't mask his concern. He kept asking me how I felt like every two minutes, until I gave him the evil eye and he stopped. We went to the plaza and sat down, but it wasn't much help for me. I would have to get to the house soon.

"You look a lot worse than before." Nahuel said. "Maybe we should leave; being out clearly is not doing you any good." He got up and I tried to do the same, but I didn't have the strength anymore.

"Go ahead, just give me a second." I said. He didn't move. "Go on. I'll be right behind you. Take the bags. He sighed in defeat and did as I said. "Damn it." I muttered under my breath as soon as he was a few steps ahead. I summoned all the strength I had left and somehow managed to stand up, but walking was a whole other issue, for when I took the first step I blacked out.

I woke up some time later in my room in Zafrina's house. I rolled my head and saw Nahuel leanin against the wall. He didn't look very happy, in fact, he looked livid.

"How do you feel?" He asked. His voice tense. He crossed his arms, which only confirmed his anger.

"Uh, a lot better." I said as I sat up. "How long was I out?"

"Four hours." He said, his voice still hard. "Have you been cutting sleep? And do not lie to me."

I blinked. "Um… Maybe?" I said, shyly. He looked very menacing at that moment. I thought he would start shouting in any moment, but he didn't. He never did.

"Why?" He asked. "You must know that it is not a good idea for us."

"I know, but-"He cut me off.

"No buts." He said. "It is very dangerous to do that. It makes you vulnerable. More than we already are. And maybe you believe that this is a safe place to be, but you never know what could happen. We, more than anyone, should try to take care of ourselves. Or do you not know that we are a very good target for other vampires? Not very long ago you experienced that."

That stung. Granted, I had been reprimanded before by my father for the same thing, but no one ever brought up that horrible time with the Volturi. Never. It was like a taboo for us. I hung my head as soon as he said it.

He kneeled next to me and tilted my chin up so I could see him. His face was more relaxed. "Nessie." He whispered. "I need you to be well. I am only saying this because I care about you, but you seem to forget that. You are all that matters to me. There is nothing else. That is why I am always so concerned about you. Can you not understand that?"

"Of course I can." I sighed. "It's just…"

"Just what?" He pried.

"It's just that I thought that the less time I spent sleeping, the more time we would have together." I confessed. "My time here is coming to an end and I want to make the most out of it."

His face went from worried to sad. "Oh, Nessie…" He whispered. He hugged me and tucked my head under his chin. "I know. But you do not have to hurt yourself in the process. I want to make the most out of our time together as well. But we cannot make ourselves sick for it. Your well-being is more important to me."

I felt my eyes water. It was finally coming down to me: we were almost done. I sniffed and he looked at me. He put a hand on the side of my face.

"What is wrong?" He asked.

"It's coming down to me." I sobbed. "I'm leaving. We have less than a week left and here I am loosing time because of a stupid decision."

"There, now." He said softly. "Everything will be alright. We can do this."

"It won't be the same." I countered.

"I am not saying it won't be." He replied. "But we can work something out."

"This can't be worked out!" I said, exasperated. "You live here, and I live in Alaska. There's absolutely nothing we can do about that!"

"It is not like we will never see each other again." He reasoned. "I can visit you."

"No, you can't" I mumbled. He gave me a quizzical look and I looked away.

"What do you mean?" He asked. "Why can I not see you?"

"Because." I started. "Nobody knows."

He was silent for a minute. "You have not told them?" He whispered. His surprise only making me feel worse. "After all this time and you have not said anything? How can you even do that?"

"I'm not saying I'm proud of it." I said. "I didn't say anything from the beginning and as time went by it just got harder and before I knew it, it was too late."

"Too late?" He said, unconvinced. I looked away. "What do you mean too late?"

When I stayed silent, he took it the wrong way. I noticed because of what he asked next and because of the sadness evident in his voice.

"Are you… Ashamed of me?" He asked softly, but clearly hurt. I was shocked and I gave him a surprised look.

"What?" I said. "No! Of course I'm not ashamed of you! How can you even think that?"

He sighed in exasperation. "Well, what do you want me to think?" He said. "You did not mention me to your family. And they are the most important thing in your life, if they do not know about me, nobody does."

He had a point. It would be stupid to deny that, but I couldn't help the feeling in the pitch of my stomach. He had a point, but so did I.

"It's not that simple." I whispered. "There's a reason why I didn't tell them."

He came closer and looked deep into my eyes. "Tell me what that is." He pleaded.

"I didn't tell them because…" I started. But suddenly I felt nervous. I had the words in my head, but they seemed so incredibly stupid. But at the same time they weren't, anyway, he motioned for me to go on and I decided there was no point in putting it off anymore. So what if it sounded stupid? I had said stupid things before and it hadn't been so bad. "I didn't tell them because I knew that if I did, my father would go crazy. I mean it, he would take a plane immediately and taken me home, probably killing you in the process."

I gave Nahuel a tentative look, but I didn't find what I was expecting. I thought he would be angry or something like that, but he seemed… Amused. In fact t looked like he was about to laugh. And he did.

"Hey!" I said and slapped his arm playfully. "I'm completely serious here! I'm not joking!"

He chuckled a few more times and then stopped, but he couldn't erase the grin from his face. "I am so sorry, but that sounded so ridiculous." He said. I slapped his arm again.

"Nahuel, be serious." I said. "You don't know him. He loves, yeah, but he's so overprotective that sometimes it gets ridiculous. He has some sort of problem with the idea of me growing up, and…" I sighed. "It scares me to think of the things he's capable of doing."

Nahuel stayed silent for a minute. Taking in what I had just said. Then he held my face with both his hands. "Your father would never do anything to hurt you." He said. "He is a good man."

"He is." I agreed. "But to him, not letting me go is a good thing. He thinks it's what's best for me. And I don't blame him for it. I know that I grew up way too fast and he couldn't really enjoy my youth, but he needs time. More than what he's had, and that's when you come in."

"If he suddenly realizes that sending me here was a mistake, he'll try to fix it as soon as possible." I explained. "He'll look for the bad influence and take it away from me, meaning you."

Nahuel was staring at the floor by this point. It broke my heart to see how sad he was. And the knowledge that I was the cause for that sadness only made me feel worse. I was beginning to hate myself.

Nahuel looked up. "He knows what love is." He said. "He knows what it is to be in love with someone. And if he knew how much I love you, maybe he would be more understanding. Because I do. I love you, Nessie."

I touched his face. "I know you do." I said softly. By the look in his eyes I knew he felt the same way I did: his intentions were good, but it wasn't enough.

We stayed silent for a while. Nahuel even crawled into bed beside me and I rested my head on his chest. We were completely hopeless. There was no other way to say it.

As I felt the steady rise and fall of his chest I thought about how surreal my life felt in that moment. I was finally in love with the perfect guy, and I couldn't even tell him that. Not because I didn't want him to know, in a way I think he did. I couldn't say it out loud because I knew it would kill me.

I was hurting so much it was unbearable. In one hand, I wanted to stay here forever and live happily ever after with the man I had come to love. But in the other hand, I had the huge responsibility with my family. I couldn't just drop everything just like that. They were home, counting the days to see me. And very deep down, I knew I wanted to come home. I wanted things to feel normal again, I wanted to act like this summer had never happened, I wanted to go back to school with my friends and be as carefree as I had always been. I even wanted to go back to the days when I sat down at home and watched my family move around and stare in wonder at the obvious love that filled the air. I wanted to feel jealous again. But that was impossible.

I would never be jealous of my family again. Not when I had experienced true love myself like this. Maybe I'd be jealous of the fact that they didn't have to hide their feelings, that they didn't have to say goodbye to the person next to them, and most of all, I would be jealous of the fact that they could be together without having to worry if their father would try to tear them apart.

Don't get me wrong. I love my dad, he's truly the best. But I don't ignore his faults. And believe me, he has a lot. And this was one of things I didn't tolerate from him.

I felt Nahuel kiss my head and I tilted my head up. He responded immediately with a soft kiss. "Hey." He said. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." I mumbled. "I was just thinking."

"About what?" He asked, stroking my hair.

"Everything." I replied. "My dad, my family. Everything."

"Oh." He said. He took a deep breath. "And how did that go?"

"I don't know." I said. "My mind is a turmoil right know."

He nodded. "Can I make you feel better?" He said.

"I don't know." I replied. "What do you have in mind?"

"Something." He said with mischievous glint in his eyes. He leaned in and kissed me, softly, teasing. Every time I began to kiss him back, he pulled away just enough to feel his breath in my lips, but not touching. It was driving me crazy. I finally got tired of it and crushed my lips to his. We made out like teenagers and when we finally pulled away, we were both panting.

"Was that any help?" He asked, flushed.

"Uh-huh." I answered. My head was spinning slightly, so I wasn't really paying attention to him.

"Good." He said. Then, something popped into my head.

"I forgot to tell you something." I said. "I noticed how mad Huilen is with me, and she has a good reason, but I want to be able to talk to her before I leave. I really like her."

Nahuel sighed. "Do not worry about Huilen." He said. "She is only worried about me, but she does not hate you. She likes you too."

"Oh." I said, relieved. "That's good to know. But I don't think she'll like me anymore after what I'm about to ask you."

He gave me a quizzical look. "And what is that?" He said.

"Can you stay with me tonight?" I whispered.

Well, here's another chapter!!! It took me very long to get it finished, but with my anger and all, I wasn't in the mood for it. I hope you like it!!

See you next chapter,

Nicky-2890