A.N:

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews:) Some of you wanted to know if Nessie was wearing a shirt under the hoodie in the last chapter, and Yes, she was. Just thought I'd just make that clear in case more of you wondered about that;)

Anyways, back to the chapter (I've been real good I must say, giving you three chapters in four days! Wont be able to keep that up though, sorry. But enjoy:)

Oh, and this chapter goes to Obsessedwithtwilight for reviewing each chapter of this story more than I can count. You're spoiling me girl!

Resolve

I guess I must have dozed off on Jake's couch. When I woke I didn't want to open my eyes, it felt far to good to stay right where I was. According to the sounds of the bugs swirling outside, it must be night already.

Jacob had popped out a while ago to phase and talk to the pack. I didn't know it would take this long. I'd snuggled up on the couch watching TV, waiting for him to come back, and I must have fallen asleep. He'd been gone for quite a while.

Before he left I'd called my parents again to tell them I would spend this night here as well. At first they'd objected.

"Why?" I'd asked "He shouldn't have to be alone when his father's in the hospital"

"He can come and sleep here" my dad suggested.

"Dad. Seriously. Two months ago you had no objections to leave him home alone with me for two weeks. He slept in my room almost every night and you know it. Why are you so against this now?"

My dad didn't answer immediately, but I think I knew. I dropped my voice to a whisper so Jacob wouldn't hear from the other room.

"It's not like we're doing anything." I hissed, forcing back my embarrassment "why is everyone so obsessed with this? It's funny that my parents are the one who's nagging about it"

He'd left out a low sigh then.

"All right. Let me talk to Jacob."

"No, you're not giving Jacob another talk. You've talked to him twice already and he's not stupid. And we're not doing anything. Did you notice how that became subject again? Seriously dad, his father's in the hospital!"

I was using that for everything it was worth.

My dad surrendered.

"Fine, fine. I believe you. You can stay." He accepted but didn't sound happy. "But you're coming home tomorrow, okay? There's school on Monday."

"Sure dad, thanks. Love you"

"Sleep tight"

"I will."

I smirked to myself in the darkness. I liked sleeping here. And the couch was surprisingly comfy. I wished Jacob could be here though.

As my thoughts became clearer and not so clouded with sleep, I noticed a few things were out of place. The couch was comfy, too comfy, and it smelled like Jacob. There was no sound from the TV but I could hear someone breathing heavily real close. And the familiar, even heartbeat I knew so well. I opened my eyes, and stared right into a wall. I was laying in Jacobs bed, the sheets halfway tucked around me. And when I turned around, he was sleeping steadily beside me. He must have carried me in here when he came back. His alarm clock showed 1 am.

I was temped to wake him. Here we were, all alone, with permission even. We had the house to ourselves. My face felt suddenly very hot in the darkness. What if I did wake him. And what if we continued what we had started this morning.

Would that be okay? Was I even ready for that? Yes, my mind said automatically. It was a big step, I tried to tell myself. A huge step. Was I really ready for us to be there? Yes, my mind said again, with no hesitation.

I felt like it should be some kind of hesitation, but there wasn't any. Wasn't it normal to hesitate and be unsure about this kind of things? I thought it was, but I couldn't find any insecurity in me. This was Jacob. How could I possibly doubt anything with him? I'd known him forever.

He would probably excuse himself over and over, though. Whenever he did something new, something we hadn't done before, something he wasn't sure whether I was okay with or not. I would have to talk to him about that. He really should stop apologizing everything when he really didn't have to.

I'd told my dad we weren't doing anything. And we weren't. Then. But if we were to, I really wouldn't feel guilty about it. Whatever we did was our business, no one else's. We weren't stupid, and we didn't need to be observed with hawk-eyes.

I looked at Jacob, but my resolve to wake him up faltered. He looked so peaceful and content, laying there beside me, snoring a little bit. I smiled. I couldn't ruin that image. He probably was tired. He'd had a stressful day. And it was late, I guess.

I crept closer to him and rested my chin on his shoulder. It could wait. He murmured something incomprehensible and subconsciously wrapped his arm around me, holding me close to him. I fell asleep like that, wrapped under his arm.

When I woke, Jacob was already awake. I was resting my head on his arm, and he was looking at me. He kept stroking my arm with his fingertips. As soon as I opened my eyes, he leaned down to kiss me good morning.

"Hi" he whispered as he pulled back. I touched his cheek. Hi.

"This is the second morning I wake up to find you sleeping next to me" he said. "You're going to make me spoiled."

I don't want to leave, I told him.

"Good"

He rested his head on top of mine, and we just lay there for a few minutes. Maybe it was about time for me to tell him. Before he did it again.

"You know, you don't have to say you're sorry all the time" I whispered.

"I do?" He sounded surprised.

"You do when you're afraid you've crossed a boundary. Don't think that you have to apologize anything "

He looked down at me. I could see he knew I was referring to what had happen the day before.

"I'm just afraid that I will. Cross a boundary. Do something you're not comfortable with"

"Well, I'll make a deal with you. If you do something I don't like, I'll make sure you know."
"How?"

"I'll kick you in the gut"

He laughed.

"No wonder why I'm being anxious to cross boundaries"

I leaned forward and kissed him, and he cupped my cheek with his hand, holding me there. I pulled back just a few inches.

"Relax. I'm not going to kick you" I teased "There really isn't any boundaries to cross"

My eyes widened a little bit as I realized I'd just said that last thing out loud. But it was true, I guess. He looked at me for one second, before he leaned down to close the distance between us and press his lips to mine.

It was soft and it was heaven and it was filled with promise and anticipation. I was just thinking about what I'd been thinking last night and what we could do about it, when he shifted beside me. He drew me closer to him, so that I would be laying on top of him. But as he laid back he realized the bed was too small, and we ended up tumbling around on the floor.

"Ow" he exclaimed, his whole body vibrating with laughter.

He'd landed on his back with a pretty significant thump. I started to laugh as well when I saw his face; it was filled with confusion and amusement by his own miscalculation. I had landed on top of him, and the covers were all mixed up around us.

"Are you okay?" I asked, my voice shaking with silent laughter.

"I've had worse" he answered truthfully, as he moved his hands up to wrap them around my neck. Then he pulled me down towards him, and placed his lips on mine. As our laughter faded, the kiss became more sincere. His hand moved to each side of my cheek, and he buried his hands in my hair. I was just wondering where this might lead us, when I heard two pairs of footsteps approaching the house outside.

I broke free from the kiss. I knew Jacob heard it too, because he grumbled slightly with annoyance.

"Why does this always happen to us lately?" I asked him, and sat up. This was the third time in twenty-four hours we'd been interrupted right in the middle of something.

"I promise you" Jacob said as we heard a knock on the door. "one day I'm going to go caveman on you and carry you up in the mountains where no one knows where you are so that I can have you all to myself".

I giggled as he got up from the floor and went to open the door. I made the bed and made sure I looked presentable before I got out in the living room. It was Paul and Rachel. I greeted both of them.

"We didn't disturb you two, did we?" Paul smirked. With his super-wolfy-hearing he knew exactly what they'd walked into.

"Not at all" I smiled a little too brightly "We were just sitting here playing cards"

Rachel was oblivious to the whole exchange of course, and couldn't seem to get why Paul started snickering.

They had spent the night at Paul's place, after visiting Billy. They didn't stay long, Rachel just wanted to make sure Jacob remembered to pick up Billy from the hospital. I could see Rachel eyeing me a little bit; she certainly hadn't expected to see me her this early in the day. I guess she put more into me staying the night than she should, just like everyone else seemed to be doing lately.

After a few more highly indicating comments from Paul, and a snickering "Have fun", they left. Jacob turned to wrap his arms around me.

"I guess I should leave to pick up dad. It's nearly elleven"

"Do you want me to come or do you want to go alone?"

He kissed my forehead.

"Of course I want you to come. But I think this time maybe I should go alone. Get to talk to him a little bit"

I smiled "Of course"

"There's going to be a bonfire tomorrow night. You'll come, right?" He sounded suddenly worried.

I shuddered as I remembered the last time I'd said no to a bonfire. It had been the night I was attached in Port Angeles.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world"

"Mom, dad, I' leaving now" I called out to the empty living room.

I went into the hallway, and sat down on my knees to look through the chest of drawers there. In less than two seconds both of my parents were standing beside me, watching me stumble around on the floor.

"What are you doing, Nessie?" my mom asked.

"I'm looking for my raincoat. Alice said it was going to rain tonight."

It was Monday night, and I was already late. I had been up at the main house saying goodbye to Alice and Jasper before they returned to college. I was supposed to meet Jacob in La Push five minutes ago to go with him to the bonfire. And with my slow pace, I was going to be a lot more late than five minutes.

A purple raincoat appeared in the corner of my eye and I looked up to see mom holding it towards me.

"I have it here, Nessie."

I grabbed it and grumbled a little at my own sluggishness. I saw my dad fight a smile as he listened to my thoughts. I stood up and pulled the raincoat on, taking a quick look at myself in the mirror to find out I looked dreadful. My hair was already messy from running from the main house, and my facial expression was annoyed.

"You look beautiful, honey" dad leaned down to stroke my hair. "Have a good time tonight and don't be too late"

I wont, thought quickly. "Bye" I blurted out to both of them before I hurried out the door. I hated to be late. It made me feel even more slow.

I ran through the forest as fast as I could. It took a while before I noticed that I was not alone.