One year later

It was summertime again. After being apart for almost a year, the family was finally coming back to the big house.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I had grown quite a bit in the past year. I was just about Momma's size. Daddy mentioned that I might not grow quite as much next year. I smiled at myself when I thought of what Alice will want to buy for me when she saw me. Not only was an entire new wardrobe on the list, but custom made bras too. I was almost Momma's size in that aspect too.

There was certainly one consequence about growing so much that I was happy about. These days, when I went out with Jacob, people didn't look at him like he was a creep. They actually believed that we were out together without being related.

"Nessie, are you almost ready?" Momma asked me through the bathroom door. I looked at the clock. Oops. I'd taken longer than I thought. Probably because I was in a daze thinking about Jacob again…

"Yes," I replied.

"Well hurry up then, your father is almost out the door." Momma said. I smiled. He was definitely looking for a little race. Excellent, I loved a bit of competition. I dashed out of the bathroom and out the front door in a matter of seconds. Daddy was already about 100 yards away. He looked back at me with a mischievous smile and disappeared. I shot after him, even though I doubted I would have a chance against him. A few moments later, however, I had a glimmer of hope. In the distance, I saw a huge, reddish-brown wolf galloping toward us. I beamed as I ran toward him and jumped on his back. He shot toward Daddy, almost taking the lead before we jumped over the river and into the meadow.

"Cheater!" Daddy shouted at both me and Jacob. I jumped off his back so he could go back in the trees, change, and wrestle Daddy properly. Momma showed up then, shaking her head.

"Unbelievable," she said, laughing. I laughed too; it was hilarious when Daddy and Jacob wrestled like this.

"DOGGIE PILE!" I heard shouted from behind me. I turned around to see Emmett, Jasper, and Carlisle running from the house. All at once, they jumped on Jacob and Daddy. Alice, Rosalie, and Esme ran out of the house too, but the paid little heed to the foolish doggie pile. They went straight toward me and Momma. For a moment we were both enveloped in hugs and squeals and greetings of all sorts. The guys finally finished their wrestle fest and came to hug us too.

"Hey, Jasper," Emmett yelled while still holding me, "catch!" he hurled me through the air and Jasper caught me. Ignoring my protests, Jasper threw me high into the air and back to Emmett. Both of them were roaring in laughter as I squealed.

"Fear not, fair maiden, I shall rescue you!" Jacob yelled. While I was in mid-air, he dashed over and caught me. I laughed out loud and hugged him.

"Hey," Emmett yelled, "that is cheating!"

"Whoa," Jasper said, looking at Jacob and me hugging, "are you like a twosome now?"

Jacob and I looked at each other. I didn't really know if I wanted him as a boyfriend or not. It did seem like we were a couple sometimes, but I liked thinking of us as friends a little better. We both smiled back at Jasper and just shrugged.

"Weird," Jasper shook his head, "Cute, but weird."

"Well c'mon, weirdo's!" Esme yelled to us, "Let's go inside!"

We spent the entire morning catching up with what we had all done in the past year, rolling in laughter at all of the crazy stories everyone had. We were still trying to calm down from Emmett's last story when Jacob's phone suddenly buzzed.

"Hey, Seth, what's up?" he answered. As Seth spoke on the other line, Jacob's face became gradually more worried. When he spoke again, he almost looked scared.

"Ok, Seth," he finally replied, "I'll tell them. Yes, both you and Leah keep watch until I get back. Yeah, I'll leave right away. Bye." He hung up his phone and looked back at us.

"Seth said he smelled vampires passing through La Push. Neither he nor Leah recognized the scent. He's worried that they may have caught their scent too."

"That is certainly a problem," Carlisle said. "It is very likely that they would want to be rid of any wolves that crossed their path. You'll want to leave immediately."

My eyes popped. Some wild vampires wanted to fight Jacob's pack? What if Jacob got hurt? How could I let him go and get himself hurt? Jacob looked at me warily, as if he didn't want to leave either.

"Nessie, can I talk to you for a minute, please?" Momma pulled me up from where I was sitting and walked me upstairs. Once she walked me into Daddy's room and shut the door, however, I started crying. I tried to keep quiet enough so that no one downstairs could hear, but that was impossible. Momma brought me into a tight hug.

"Shh, Nessie, it's okay. It's okay," she tried to soothe me. But I was too scared. I was scared of what some wild vampires would do to Jacob. I knew very well how horrible strange vampires could be. My family, of course, was very civil, and I remembered all of the kind covens I had met before. The trouble was, I also remembered those terrifying vampires that wanted to fight my family. The Volturi. I still remembered, even though I was only about 6 months old, how quickly they disposed of Irina. I remembered how passionately Caius asked for our deaths. I remembered Jane trying so hard to hurt us. I knew then and I knew now that evil vampires could kill us all if they had the mind to. Thinking about all of this didn't help my crying.

"Nessie, Nessie," Momma said, "you need to calm down."

I told her I was scared for Jacob. I didn't want to let him go and get hurt or… or… I started crying harder.

"Nessie, it'll be ok. He just needs to go and help Seth and Leah keep watch."

I asked what would happen If the vampires attacked.

"Nessie," she told me, "if he didn't go to help, that may be a problem. But if he leaves now, all of this can be over and done with."

I told her she couldn't know that.

"Baby, wild vampires hardly ever travel in big groups. There'll be three at most. Things will be evenly matched."

I was still skeptical. I asked if Daddy could go with them… and Carlisle… and Jasper and Emmett. She sighed, but nodded and took me back to the other room. Daddy obviously heard what I wanted, because he indicated to the other guys to come with him.

"Yes," Emmett smiled. But I didn't pay much attention to him. My worried eyes were only for my Jacob. He walked over to me and hugged me.

"It'll be over soon, Nessie," he whispered in my ear. "I'll come back to you as soon as I can. I promise," Somehow, when he said that to me, it gave me hope. I was able to let go of him after that. Maybe it was just because I wanted to hear it from him. I was still a little anxious, but I decided that I wanted him to take care of his pack. Besides, Daddy and the guys would keep things safe. I waved to them as they ran out the door.

"Geez," Alice said behind me, "You certainly inherited the worry gene, didn't you?" I turned around and scowled at her.

"Oh, hush, Alice," Rosalie said, "this just means that it's time for a chick flick," she smiled at me.