Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. Ya'll really make my day!

DISCLAIMER: Stephenie Meyer, along with Little, Brown and Company, owns all the rights to the Twilight Saga. I own nothing and profit nothing from this story.

Over the next month and half, Edward and I came to an understanding more or less. I went to La Push to hang out with Sam and Jacob, separate from each other of course. And then Edward would complain and lecture me on the dangers of my actions and company. That would follow with me ignoring him and making plans for my next trip to La Push. We went through this cycle at least twice if not three or four times a week all through the summer.

As the weeks passed, I grew dependent on my days in La Push. It was a getaway for me and I loved it. I watched Jacob rebuild his Rabbit some days, and others we spent on the beach. We started to build a great friendship. Most days it was easy to forget that Jacob was two years younger, because of his responsibility for helping Billy out. I started to notice that Jacob was possibly starting to form more than friendship feelings for me. I ignored any of his subtle advances and would bring Edward up more than really needed.

As much as I enjoyed my time with Jacob, it was my time with Sam that I lived for. We continued to go back to the youth center on a regular basis. I usually stuck with the girls doing art and crafts. Sam persuaded me into playing a game of dodge ball one day and I left La Push with an injury. And it wasn't from the ball or even one of the boys, no it was from me. While trying to throw the ball with all the force I could at Sam, I dislocated my shoulder. Sam banned me from any physical activities from that point on. I happily agreed. Edward was even more annoying after finding out.

Sam and I spent time together besides with the kids, though. I grew to learn almost everything about Sam. He liked eating nuts but not if they were in his food, like cookies or brownies. He loves the color brown and strawberries are his favorite fruit. I also knew that he was a werewolf, but he didn't know that I knew. I sort of thought that he would have talked to me about it by that point about his extra curricular activities. He didn't and I would be patient and wait until he was ready.

Spending time with Sam was wonderful. He was a really a great guy and I honestly didn't understand why he was single. After I prodded one day, he talked a little bit about his high school girlfriend, Leah. She seemed like a nice girl and I didn't know why he broke up with her. I'd met her a few times over the years that I came to Forks during the summer to see Charlie. I remembered that she was even beautiful then.

One thing that did bother me was that Sam never let me meet his friends. I figured that Paul and Jared were the other two members of the wolf pack with Sam. I wanted to be involved in all parts of his life that I could. Some days it hurt that he would exclude me from that important and large part of his life. I knew that sometimes he would change our plans to make sure the other two weren't around.

It was the Sunday before my birthday that I found myself heading down to La Push. School had me not visiting as much as I had been over summer and I was anxious to get down there despite the planned agenda. Sam had constituted that Sunday would be the day that we would commemorate the awful day that was my birthday together. He was planning out the whole day and I was quite frankly worried. I pulled up to his house in my truck around ten o'clock. He was sitting on the porch waiting for me with a huge smile. He helped me out of the truck and pulled me into a timid hug. I had noticed that Sam would often stop himself from touching me unnecessarily.

"Happy early birthday, Bella," he said into my ear.

"Thanks, Sam."

"Are you ready to celebrate?" He asked releasing me.

"No, I hate acknowledging my birthday. And I hate presents and I despise surprises. And for some reason you insist on all three."

"Well, you are going to be a good girl and go along with everything I say, right?"

"Sure, sure."

"You've been spending way too much time with Jacob. You even talk like him now." I was getting really sick of hearing things like this from all the men in my life.

"Funny, he says the same thing, that I spend too much of my time with you. And then Edward says that I spend too much time in La Push with the both of you. So, do you know what I do?" He shook his head like a toddler just caught with its hand in the cookie jar. "I ignore all of you."

"Fine, I get your point. I'll shut up now and be a good boy myself. Are you ready for surprise number one?"

"No, but I'll do it anyway."

"You are so frustrating sometimes, Bella. But whatever, I need you to wear this," he said holding up a blindfold.

"Excuse me?" I did not like where this was possibly going.

"You can't see the surprise until we get there."

"You're the frustrating one, Sam. Give me that stupid thing. Never mind that I can't walk on two feet with two eyes."

He put it on me and walked me to his truck. We rode for about ten minutes before stopping. Sam then guided me out and down a path.

"Are you taking me into the woods for some tribal sacrifice?" Sam laughed out loud at me.

"No, not this time at least. We're almost there. Just trust me." We walked just a minute more before I could hear the ocean. That confused me. "Okay, we're here." He took off the blindfold.

"Oh," I yelped. We were steps away from the cliffs.

"I promised to take you cliff diving and either weather or tourist have kept us from it. And today is perfect. It is a little cold, but we'll get you warmed up after we jump."

I really wanted to jump, but actually looking down at the jump then, it looked a little scary.

"You still want to do this, right?"

"Yes, I do. It just looks a little higher from this view."

"You'll be fine, Bella. I'm here. If you want we can jump together."

"Yes, I want to do that," I said looking down again.

"Take off your shoes and socks. The rest you can change afterward."

"But I don't have anything to change into," I said taking off my socks and shoes.

"Sure you do, I brought a ton of towels with us and then I have extra clothes for you at my house."

"Sam, your clothes would swallow me whole."

"Then it's a good thing they're not my clothes then," Sam said pulling off his shirt. I couldn't help but to stare at his beautiful chest just as I did every time I had a view of it. He quite possibly had the best abs I'd ever seen.

"Ready," he asked smirking. Damn, he caught me looking…again.

"Yep," I said looking back at his face.

He pulled me to his chest and wrapped his arms around me. I put my arms around his neck, stretching to reach. He chuckled at my difficulty and lifted me up. In automatic response, my legs wrapped themselves around his torso. I didn't want to let to ever. It was like we fit perfectly together.

"On three, okay?" I nodded. "Alright, one…two…" He never said three because he was jumping us off the cliff. I screamed out of fear, but it quickly turned to excitement. Mid jump Sam yells at me, "Breathe in!"

I sucked in a greedy breath. A second later we hit the cold water. Sam quickly pulled us to the surface. I held on to him tightly and took another deep breath.

"So, what did you think?" Sam asked as he swam us to the shore.

"It was great! Can we do it again?"

"Sure, let's get back there and go."

We climbed up and jumped two more times before Sam made us stop. Apparently, it's a bad thing when you can't stop shaking or chattering your teeth. He wrapped big towels around me. As he drove us back to his house he kept me close to his side, with the warmth radiating from him. There we headed into the house to dry off and change. I went into his room to change my clothes. I looked up at the wall and smiled at the picture. It was the wolf painting from my first day at the center. He framed it and put it up on the wall in his room. I loved seeing it there, knowing that a piece of me was there and with him.

"How you doing in there?" he called out.

"These are a little big, Sam." I said coming out of the room.

"Yeah, you're a bit smaller than Kim is."

"Who?"

"Jared's impr- girlfriend."

"Oh," I said wishing I knew these people.

"What's wrong, Bella?" I shook my head. He pulled my face gently into his hands. "Bella, please tell me." I sighed not really wanting to answer.

"I just wish I knew these people. I know you spend a lot of time with them and I wish I could get to know them, too."

"Bella," he sighed, "if you really want to, then you can meet them."

"Really?"

"Yes, when do I ever deny you anything?"

"Well, there was last week when I suggested that we make the boys get involved in the arts and craft time at the youth center."

"Yeah sorry, but I'd really like to keep my man parts where they are. And that wouldn't have happened if I made a group of middle school boys decorate a box with paint and glitter."

"And that proves that you do deny me sometimes."

"Fine, I only deny you if your request have potential harmful effects to my man parts. Anything else, I would be happy to oblige to."

"Whatever, it was just a suggestion."

"Yeah a bad one, baby." We both froze. I was having a mini freak out that he called me 'baby' and he clearly didn't mean for that to come out. "I'm sorry, Bella. I don't know why I just said that. It just slipped out."

"It's fine, Sam. Don't worry about it," I said. Actually I was thinking I kind of like him calling me that. If felt right, which was weird. I thought that I'd learned to control those stray thoughts about Sam a month and half prior.

After we stood there awkwardly for a minute, Sam fixed us a nice, simple lunch. Then we stayed in for a Jane Austen movie marathon. We watched Pride and Prejudice and then Sense and Sensibility. I knew that Sam wasn't exactly enjoying the movies but the thought behind him picking them was very sweet. Plus, for me watching him squirm in his seat while enduring the movies was bonus entertainment.

After the movies finished, Sam took me to a small café called Stewart Gray Restaurant . I argued against going out for dinner, complaining that he was spending money on me. Sam simply and wordlessly picked me up, put me in the truck, and put my seat belt on. I did end up enjoying the meal. How could I not with Sam seating across from me? We rode back to his house so I could get my truck and head home.

"Before you leave, I have one final surprise for you."

"And that would be?"

"Your present." I looked at him annoyed. He just smiled. "It's not expensive, in fact I hardly spent any money on it at all," he said handing me a small box. "It's just something small."

I tore off the paper to reveal a wooden box with amazing carvings. On top was a wolf carved and on the front side was my name. I knew this was his way of tellling me about his wolf status. And with that I felt incredibly happy.

"It's beautiful, Sam. Really it's completely incredible. Where did you get this made?"

"Billy Black carved it for me. Wood isn't my medium of skill. I do better with leather. Open the box, Bella." I opened it and found an unbelievably beautiful bracelet in it. It was woven leather and on a thicker piece was some writing in Quileute.

"What does it say?" Sam gave me a sly smile.

"I'll tell you another day. Do you like it?"

"Like it? I love it, Sam! It's the most extraordinary thing I've ever seen. Can you put it on me?"

"Sure," he said tying it on my left wrist. He looked up into my eyes. We were so close I could feel his breath. I wanted so badly to lean forward and kiss him in that moment. I think he felt it too. After looking at my lips he leaned in and placed a small kiss on my cheek. I felt disappointed, but I instantly chastised myself for that thought. I'm with Edward, I shouldn't be kissing other guys. "Happy birthday, Bella. I hope you enjoyed it."

"Thank you, Sam. For everything today, it was perfect."

"My pleasure. Be safe driving home. I'll talk to you later. Good-night, Bella."

"Good-night, Sam." Riding home I felt even more conflicted than usual. I wasn't sure how much longer I could ignore the growing feelings I had for Sam. I did know one thing, it would be very hard for Alice to top the day I just had on my actual birthday.