Thanks for the nice reviews everyone! As I always say, they make me smile :)

And yes, Nessie is aware that she is Jacob's imprint. I've read other stories where they don't let her know until her awkward hormones start taking over and things get complicated. Nessie is a smart girl. She knows that Jacob's going to be around forever in all sorts of roles in her life. Currently, she's too young to have those romantic feelings yet. She just knows she needs to be with him or it's just not right.

Chapter 14

With her hands on my face, Nessie showed me a picture of a Seth as a large, gangly teenage boy with large dark eyes cooing and smiling at her as she giggled with delight. Then she showed me a sandy-brown wolf jumping in front of Jacob, who was in human form. The wolf was blocking Jacob from a petite pale-white girl with long dark hair wearing a man's button-up shirt. She took Seth down with a crunch. I gasped at the scene and I could feel Nessie's anxiety. After that she showed me a happy vision of Seth in wolf form racing Nessie through the woods. She must have been small, because the wolf towered over her, but she was keeping up with him easily. The scene shifted to Seth talking about me to Nessie and Jacob. His eyes twinkled and his smile gleamed as he said "I love her." The last vision was Nessie's view of how she saw Seth and me together. We were both wearing huge grins and had our arms around each other. Every time Seth looked at me I would blush. I didn't realize I blushed that often. We looked like a couple in love. Nessie removed her hand. I could feel a single happy tear roll down my cheek.

"The first vision was the first time I met Seth. The second was when my mom found out Jacob imprinted on me…she was pissed," she giggled, "Seth got in the way, but he healed quickly," she assured me. "Mom felt so bad. If she would have bit him it would have been fatal. And toward the end there…what he said…I may have revealed a little too much. I'm sorry," she smiled sheepishly.

I gave her a reassuring smile. "That's alright. It was nice to see." We hadn't exactly said those words to each other, but I knew it to be true. Now, I wouldn't be such a coward the next time I had that overwhelming feeling to say those words to him.

"What time is it?" I looked around the food court to find a clock. Nessie looked at me and smiled. Being a fellow member of the imprint club, she knew why I was asking.

"Yep, me too. I've been away from Jacob for too long. Let's get out of here." Nessie grabbed her arm loads of bags and I followed her out of the mall.

*******

As soon as we walked into Seth's house, Nessie breezed by Seth on her way towards Jacob and gently touched his face. His eyes widened with excitement as he marched over towards me.

"She showed you what she can do?" he asked as he pulled me in for a light kiss. "And you didn't faint?"

I tilted my head to the side and gave him a mock glare. "No, I didn't." I softened my expression. "It was pretty cool actually."

"What did she show you?" he asked excitedly.

"She showed me the first time she met you and her mom taking you down when you were protecting Jacob from her," there was a giggle and a loud guffaw from the other two in the room.

"Yeah, that hurt like hell," Seth said rubbing his shoulder. I kissed it as far up as I could reach.

"And some other stuff that we can talk about later."

"Oh really," Seth said as he glanced over in Nessie's direction. She pretended she didn't see his stare while she sifted through the bags I carried in.

*****

We drove separately from Jake and Nessie and I took advantage of the time alone to ask Seth a bunch of questions before entering the house of vampires. I didn't want to ask Nessie these questions in fear I would offend her.

"Should I be careful around Bella? She seemed a little frightening in Nessie's vision?"

Seth laughed, "No, Bella's harmless. What Nessie showed you was the only time Bella has ever hurt anyone. She was going after Jake and I stepped in to save him. He was pushing her limits. She was a newborn vampire at the time and, believe it or not, she handled herself really well. Besides," he continued, "if she did ever hurt anyone, she would torture herself over it for decades." He looked over at me with a reassuring smile.

"What about Edward? Anything I should know about him? Is he as harmless?"

"I think he's like 112 years old. He's had a lot of practice at being harmless. He's a pretty cool guy," Seth patted my hand. "Oh yeah I almost forgot," he gave me a timid look and slowly said, "He can read your mind."

My jaw dropped and I let out a little gasp. After all I've learned, I would think I wouldn't be surprised anymore. "Well, that's embarrassing," I muttered to myself.

"What do you have to be embarrassed about?" Seth asked with a smile.

"Oh, I don't know," I looked down and blushed as I played with the zipper on my purse. "Maybe all the thoughts I have about you when you're near me."

"Oh…that. Your heartbeat and your breathing give you away there. I don't need to read your mind to know what you're thinking," he said in his husky voice that makes my insides turn into a gelatinous mess. I could feel my heart start to pound in my chest. "See…there you go," he perked up his tone. "I can only guess what you are thinking now."

"You're bad," I groaned as my cheeks burned.

"No, but I can be Tala," he returned to his seductive tone. My mind started to wander again, but I cut my thoughts short.

"Stop that!" I giggled as I swatted at Seth playfully. "I'm going to give Edward an earful if we don't get my mind out of the gutter." Seth's laughter filled the truck as we made the trek up the winding drive way to the Cullen house.

Kittens. Kittens playing with a ball of yarn. I was trying my darndest to keep naughty thoughts of Seth out of my head as we all headed up the porch steps. I also didn't want the Cullens to know I was still a little frightened to meet them. Puppies hopping around and gnawing on bones. Puppies…dogs…wolves…Seth standing in the woods bare-chested with his shorts riding low on his hips…"dammit!"

"What?" Seth asked. I didn't realize I swore out loud.

"I'm just trying to clear my mind," I whispered which I knew was pointless with the werewolf and half-vampire ears walking in front of us.

"Don't even bother. If he hears something he doesn't let on," Seth laughed. "It will be ok."

"My dad's good at minding his own business for the most part," Nessie added.

Nessie opened the door and we all walked in. The house had a sweet pleasant scent and I inhaled deeply. I looked over at Seth. His face was scrunched up and nostrils were flared. "You guys have to visit more often. I need to get desensitized to that smell," he said to Nessie and Jake.

"Just when I thought I was used to Jake's scent, in walks another wolf to double the stench," a wind chime of a voice appeared out of nowhere.

"Bella!" Seth said softly grabbing a pale figure in for a hug. When they pulled away from each other I was able to get a good look at her. Bella was about my height, but much more petite in her features. Her skin was a creamy pale-white and flawless. Her thick brown hair hung down beyond her shoulders. Her eyes were a golden brown and were accented by thick, black eyelashes that brushed her cheeks when she looked down. Bella didn't look old enough to be Nessie's mother, but more like her slightly older teenage sister. She rubbed Seth's shoulder with one hand, obviously remembering his injury, and gave him an apologizing look. I watched in admiration as she and Seth spoke briefly before she introduced herself me.

Bella turned to me and held out her hand, "You must be Seth's Tala. It's nice to finally meet you." I extended my hand for a handshake and, even though I was forewarned, I gasped a little at her ice-cold touch. Old Quil's description was true. She was cold as ice and hard as granite.

I instantly gave her an apologizing smile. "I'm so glad to meet you as well. Seth speaks kindly of you and your family," I instantly felt stupid for saying that. That's a normal thing to say, but in the presence of vampires it was like saying 'Seth says you're not dangerous.' I heard a soft chuckle from my other side. I turned to see another breathtaking, pale-white teenager with messy, bronze-colored hair standing beside me. His eyes were the same color as Bella's. He seemed to appear out of nowhere, but he was far enough away that I wasn't intimidated. I suddenly remembered what Seth had told me about Edward. Crap, he heard the 'not dangerous' comment.

"I see Seth told you about my ability," Edward said as he extended his hand. His voice was just as beautiful as Bella's, but more masculine. "I'm Edward. Don't worry; I'll try my best to block your thoughts." He gave me a warm smile and slightly tilted his head. He glanced over at Seth and Bella talking and very softly said, "And if you would like to work on your ability, I would be willing to help." My head snapped in Nessie's direction and I glared at her. I hadn't thought a single thought about that matter, so she must have told him.

Nessie gave me an apologizing look, silently pointed to Edward, and then gestured like she was picking things from her head.

"Yes she did, but she didn't mean to. I won't say anything to anyone else." Edward kept his voice low.

I gave him a nervous smile and whispered, "Thank you." Edward gave me a slight nod.

"What are you two talking about over here?" Seth was suddenly by my side eyeing me suspiciously.

I gave him a big smile. "Nothing. I'll tell you about it later." Seth's eyebrows perked up and he glanced over towards Edward. Edward held up his hands gesturing he wasn't going to say a word.

"Come on you guys, I made you dinner," Bella's voice chimed, summoning us to the dining room.

Dinner was wonderful. Bella was a great cook. She made us lasagna with homemade bread sticks and a wonderful Caesar salad. Of course, she made enough for a small army since the two big guys in our group could devour a whole pan of lasagna each. Other than the fact that Edward and Bella didn't eat or drink anything during dinner, it was as if everything and everyone was normal. It was as if the whole mystical world of legends, vampires versus werewolves, didn't exist. The conversation was easy and it felt as though I had known each one of those people for years.

The Cullens filled us in on the rest of the family. Although I heard most of it from Nessie earlier in the day, it was fun to see Seth's excitement when they filled him in. I could tell he truly was interested and cared about each member of their family. They also notified us that they were going to move soon from their current location in Alaska to another residence in Canada. Nessie was teaching Jacob French.

"I sound like a dork," Jacob groaned. "I don't sound all elegant and pretty like you do when you speak French," he told Nessie.

"I think it's cute. I'll at least teach you how to say your favorite foods," Nessie teased.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Jacob said with a mouthful of cheesy pasta.

"What about you, Tala? Have you traveled much?" Bella asked from across the table.

"No. I went to school in Seattle and that's about it. I haven't been out of Washington since I was a kid," for some reason I felt embarrassed by my lack of travels in the presence of world travelers.

"Seth will have to bring you up to Canada for a visit then," Edward smiled kindly. "It's similar to Washington's climate but the wild life is remarkably different. I think you would enjoy it."

"Thanks," I looked at Seth and he was nodding enthusiastically.

"Geez Seth, it's not like we haven't invited you many times before," Bella laughed at him.

"Well, I didn't want to come by myself and be the third, well actually, the eleventh wheel," he said bashfully looking at me out of the corner of his eye. "Now I won't be." His bashful look made me melt and I felt a warm smile cross my face.

"Seth's gotta girlfriend," Jacob chanted softly. "Ouch Ness!" I looked over and Nessie was throwing bread and Jake.

"Renesemee, please, we have company," Edward said calmly in a fatherly tone with a smirk on his face. Bella giggled beside him.

Sorry - this is was an awkward place to stop, but if I continued the chapter would've been twice as long (I know there are a couple of you who would have like that). So...if you review and tell me what you think, maybe I'll post in another two days or so!