Showtime

-JPOV

Here we go.

I poked Nessie in the neck with my snout. She turned to look at me for a second, a little smile playing on her lips. And then we both lunged into the forest at the same time. She landed on my back and I started to run in the direction of the Cullen house.

Time to meet the devil.

I felt Nessie tighten her legs around my waist, and then bury her fingers deeper in the fur around my neck. The movement did amazing things to me, and I couldn't help but think about how she looked when she...

Hey, stop that!

Quil's thoughts pierced through my daydreams, and I quickly snapped out of it. Quil was running on the opposite side of First Beach, near the cliffs; I could see the forest through his mind.

Seriously dude, try to reign it in, Quil warned me, but I could see he was smiling. I' see you've worked out your problems, but still...

Oh, shut it. I thought exasperated. Not one furry moment had gone by yesterday without me getting peppered with dirty comments about my...well...not my fully successful attempt to give Nessie a good time. The fact that I hadn't made her climax that first time had been rubbed into my fur like glue. I'd had my brain shoved with images of how well the other guys had made girls scream and writhe with joy. Didn't exactly help my self esteem, that.

But I'd made up for it with Nessie. Just the look of her on the counter yesterday, asking for more...It was without doubt the hottest experience of my life. I imagined the look of her in front of me, wearing my boxers, her top pushed aside, the feeling of her without a bra...

Whoo! Quil interrupted again. That's hot, but hold it. Seriously.

I snapped out of it and tried to not think about Nessie-related things. I didn't success much.

As I tried to focus on other things, I became aware of two other brains present in our conversation. Seth and Leah. They were out running as well.

Where are you going? Seth wondered, wanting to distract me from my newly found kitchen-experiences.

Back to see her family, I thought. They're coming home today.

Oh, Seth thought, without giving it more attention.

Quil did. Dude! He'd gonna get pissed!

I could see Edwards face appear in his mind, and then heard Seth's brain sort of 'pop' when he realized what Quil meant. Leah said nothing, but I knew she was paying attention.

Tell me about it, I snorted. This is going to get interesting.

I replayed in my mind how Nessie had actually called Edward earlier and told him straight how things were. Quil burst out in amused laughter and I chuckled. That girl could amaze me any day. I accidentally slipped a few glimpses of what had happened later, and received a loud inwards 'HEY' from Quil that made me snap out of it. Man, this was difficult! I couldn't blame Edward if he wanted to rip my head off.

I noticed Seth had tried to back away and not pay attention to our silent conversation. He didn't quite manage though.

I'm out of here now, he thought vaguely towards the rest of us. I think I'll just go back home.

And then his presence disappeared and I knew he'd phased back.

Poor kid, Quil thought after him, and I could see he felt bad for Seth. Quil's thoughts then drifted off to Claire and how he looked forward to seeing her tonight.

Leah snorted.

If you two are going to continue being all mushy, I'm out of here too, she informed us. Everything's clear, she added, just to let me know she wasn't butting out on her patrols. The area was fine. No unwanted vamps.

Hope you don't loose your head, she thought in my direction, and smirked a little as she imagined Edward chasing me around. Then she faded away and phased back.

How considerate. I knew why she really was going out, though. I guess she wanted to check on her little brother.

Seth was...conflicted. I hadn't found out until yesterday, when we'd both been phased at the same time. When my control had slipped, when suddenly everyone knew about me and Nessie, his first reaction hadn't been like the others. He hadn't been amused, or teasing, or grossed out like the rest (Leah being the grossed out). He'd been silent and not happy. And when I focused on his carefully controlled thoughts, subconsciously wondering what was wrong, I'd seen it all.

He liked Nessie. Liked her. My Nessie. He wasn't in love with her, he looked at her like just a friend. But one day he had found himself wondering how it would be like if she looked at him the way she normally used to look at me. He'd noticed how her hair was gleaming in the sun, and how rosy her cheeks were. He'd thought of it as a crush . A tiny insignificant crush that would never happen. And he felt terrible about it.

One reason was that she was my girlfriend. My imprint. Not only me being the alpha, but me being his friend and big brother. Even in a non-wolf, non-pack, zero mind-peeking normal gang, that was kind of against the holy law. You don't look at your friend's girlfriend.

The other reason was that he was her friend too. As she was his. They had developed a close friendship over the past couple of years, and he felt guilty about feeling that way about her when she didn't know and could never know. It wouldn't make a difference anyway, and he knew that.

As I saw all this I realized that it wasn't just her. He wasn't in love with her. What he really wanted was what we had, her and I together. He didn't necessarily want it with her, but he wanted it with someone.

There were several pack members who didn't have someone like I had Nessie, but then again there were quite a few who had. Sam had Emily. Quil had Claire, if on another stage in life. Paul had Rachel. Jared had Kim. Leah was busy being Leah. His father was gone, and now Sue had Charlie.

I had Nessie. His best female friend.

And Seth was left feeling a bit forlorn. Surrounded by and sharing brains with numerous of couples, I couldn't blame him. He'd been terrified that I would be mad at him when I found out. Of course I wasn't. He still felt guilty though, just for thinking about it. I was surprised he'd managed to hide his thoughts for so long, even if they were harmless and completely innocent.

Hell, he'd be better fit to meet Edward right now that I was, with a brain-control like that.

Quil had been silently listening to my train of thoughts without really being aware of it, and now he'd reached the forest behind his home. He was eager to get inside; he would be seeing Claire soon. He let me know he'd scented nothing out of the ordinary and that everything was fine as he slowed down his jog.

And good luck,he added sincerely before his presence disappeared as well.

I had nearly forgotten where we were headed, and now we were nearly there. Of course, my head (which had been nicely occupied with Seth for minutes) immediately filled with images of Nessie in my bed, Nessie naked in my bed, Nessie on the counter...

Oh hell. It should be criminal. OK. Keep control. Keep control. I sincerely hoped we were still out of super-creapy-mind-reading-range and focused on the ground in front of me and my own paws.

I stopped a little ahead of the main house, and Nessie got down. She started to walk in the direction of the house while I phased and changed. I caught up with her easily.

She looked nervous. I honestly couldn't get why she was chewing her nails out. It was a completely natural thing, and both Bella and Edward had expected this to happen. Someday. They'd talked to me about it for Christ sake. Bella had given me the Talk. Not the birds and the bees, obviously, even though that would have been hilarious too.

The thought made me laugh. Nessie looked at me as if I'd just peed on a fine piece of art. I stopped laughing and smiled at her instead. I grabbed her hand as we reached the front porch.

Showtime.

Edward and Bella were both in the living room as expected. Surprisingly Bella walked over to Nessie and hugged her, before she gave me a cold hug as well. This was normal. Edward settled with a 'hello'. He didn't look anything out of the ordinary either.

"It's good to see you" Bella told us both. "We've missed you"

Huh. I wondered what all the fuss had been about. Edward sent me a unreadable look, his jaw clenched. The rest of the house seemed empty. They'd probably fled the scene. Or they were hiding somewhere in the house. You could never tell with vamps.

"We wanted to talk to you about something" Edward said.

You do, do you? Wow, I sure didn't see that coming. How ironic. His mouth almost twitched into a smile. Almost.

I walked over to the couch and slumped down. Might as well get this over with. I looked expectantly at Edward, and he seemed almost amused. Again, almost.

This was going to be some talk, huh.

"Since you are still very young, we wanted to talk to you about what you said on the phone" Edward turned to Nessie. She must have made some witty remark about her age inside her head, because straight after Edward said: "But still, you're a lot younger than Jacob"

Sure, let them continue this conversation inside their heads. That'll teach me a lesson.

Edward's lips turned upwards upward again into the shadow of a smile.

"We knew this would happen eventually" he sighed. "Just not so soon"

That's all? No snapping? No head-rolling activity? Just a sigh?

Nessie could have spared the nerves. She did spare me a trip to Mexico, though, with that little phone call of hers. Edward sent me a sharp look.

"However" he continued " there are a few things we'd like to discuss"

Is there more? I thought sceptically. More than two talks so far couldn't cover? I doubted it. This was more likely to be a replay.

Edward smiled then.

"Maybe" he said. "But still"

Both Bella and Nessie eyed me curiously.

Nessie finally seemed to realize there was no danger, so she walked towards the couch and sat down beside me. As she did, her knee accidentally stroke past mine. The wave of heat that radiated from her made me shiver, and the touch, innocent as it was, brought back memories of her skin against mine.

And then hell went loose.

"That!" Edward burst out, and he was on his feet faster than I could say 'chill'. "That is what I just wont stand!"

He stood, glaring at me. Bella's head snapped back and forth to try and grasp what had just happened.

"I just wont tolerate it! I wont! Not my daughter. Anyone else, but not my daughter!"

I realized Nessie had turned all rigid nest to me. It reminded me of another way her body stiffened, and then Edward was nearly screaming with frustration. He gripped his head between his hands and forced his eyes shut as if I was the one inside his head and not the other way around.

I didn't get why he didn't leave my head alone. He could just butt out. Pull down the curtains, lock the door. It couldn't hurt.

"Believe me, I would, but you keep ringing the doorbell, calling to get in and you're loud!" he growled, his eyes still pinched shut. Bella looked even more puzzled.

I turned to look at Nessie. Even with a horrified look upon her face, she was beautiful.

Edward growled.

"What? I can't even think that?" I burst out, staring at him.

"If you only kept it at that, yes" Edward sent me a scowl.

Jeez, it wasn't like if I was thinking about what we did on the counter, or...

"Will you stop?" Edward tore his hair with his hands, staring at me with wild eyes. "I'm this close...this close to..."

"What's going on?" Bella interrupted, her eyes moving from me to Edward. Luckily, Edward didn't answer.

I looked over at Nessie, who had already turned ten shades of red beside me. While looking at her my brain went numb, and I couldn't help but think about how amazing she was. The whole weekend had been amazing.

Edward literary whined, and I quickly looked away from Nessie. She was not the best way to distract my mind now. I looked around trying to find something harmless to think about.

The table flowers. Nice one. They were red and white. Completely harmless. But then the red color reminded me of Nessie's hair, and I remembered the contrast of her bronze curls as they fell down against her pale, naked shoulders...

Edward fumed with frustration and I swear I could see his fingers twitch. OK. Wrong distraction. The table. Safe. Smooth mahogany surface. It reminded me of the counter. Oh, dear counter.

"Jacob!" Edward yelled, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers.

OK, OK. The pillows. I had pillows. In my bed. With her...

"Jacob!"

Oh come on. Fine. Food. I could think about food. Food was a safe subject. I was hungry. Maybe I would make some food later. I could make eggs. I'd made her eggs. Eggs and bacon. Right before we'd...

"Jacob!"

Holy shit, this was difficult. The rain. It was raining outside. I could hear the water thud against the roof. Water. Waves. Beach. Nessie in a wet t-shirt...

"That's it! Quit it!"

"Hey, I don't do it on purpose!"

This was bloody difficult for crying out loud. It was impossible to stop thinking about her.

"Do what?" Bella whined. Beside me, Nessie was red like the table flower.

"You wont think about this if you want me to let you into this house. Or let her into yours." Edward glared at me.

Nessie popped out of her embarrassment then.

"Let? LET?"

Uh-oh. For a second, I was glad I was not on the receiving end of that anger. Nessie was sitting straight now, and she was visibly fuming with anger. "You can't let me anything! I'm fully mature now and you can't let me or not let me anything!"

"Yes we can, Nessie" Bella said quietly.

"Not when it comes to Jacob! He is my boyfriend, and it's not my fault that you can read his mind." She turned to Edward. "So you can't let me anything based on that!"

"On that part, I actually agree" Bella said, to my great surprise. I looked at her, stunned, but she was looking at Edward.

Edward continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "You wont think of my daughter that way in this house! Not in any house. And if you can't help yourself, I'm going to put down restrictions!" He was literary growling now.

Nessie's eyes shot daggers at the word 'restrictions'. She was certainly not used to having restrictions. She glared at her dad, and right then I was darn glad I was no mind reader, because what she was thinking wasn't nice.

As I watched Edward fret and fume, he oddly reminded me a bit of Charlie. I guess it was because of their somehow simultaneous expressions. The typical Father-Daughter-Boyfriend expressions. I almost expected a vein in his forehead to pop out, or that his face miraculously would turn from pale white to angry red.

Edward abruptly stopped whatever he was saying, sending me a look between amusement and indignation as my comparison distracted him. He looked baffled, and as I watched him I could feel his anger fade. He looked over at Bella, and I could see him realize he was outnumbered.

I guess he was never actually mad before I entered and made him mad. Not intentionally, but still. Guess he didn't hate me, but maybe he didn't like me very much right now.

"I guess you're right" he said sourly.

This was one heck of a conversation.

"Can we go now?" Nessie asked, exasperated.

I turned to look at her, and saw that her blush had faded. Her neck was still a little red though, and the soft skin down her collarbone...

Edward made a noise halfway between a yell and a growl.

"Just go!" he said, exasperated too. He turned to glare at me. "And I swear, if you don't stop...I'm this close, this close to..."

Nessie quickly stood up and grabbed my hands and then dragged me outside.

"I'll be home around 10!" she blurted out. She was halfway running to get us out of there, with me trailing behind. Bella sent me a bewildered look and Edward had pinched his eyes shut again.

Nessie dragged me outside and strode quickly towards the edge of the forest. I wasn't sure if she could see the fun part in this situation, but I certainly could. I was just about to burst out laughing when I heard Bella hiss from inside;

"We didn't even get to tell them to be safe!"

Edward answered in a sour voice.

"Don't worry. They are"

You really couldn't blame me if I couldn't keep from laughing after that.

A.N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews:)