1. Obligation

Jacob's POV

I was sitting downstairs in the living room watching football with Emmett when Renesmee came down the stairs. Each time I looked at her, I marveled at her stunning beauty. It seems like just hours ago, when she was just a tiny baby and she always wanted me to hold her. So innocent and so sweet, but as I looked at Renesmee now, it was clear she was obviously no longer a child. She was seven today, but her body and maturity was that of an 18 year old girl. I swept my eyes casually from her head to her feet, I couldn't help it. She was so beautiful. She seemed to notice my casual examination though and she looked down at the ground, embarrassed. I stood up from my chair and went to her side at the bottom of the stairs.

"Happy Birthday." I said pulling her into a hug.

"Thanks." She said a little shyly.

I felt her stiffen and I automatically released her. I looked at her face, to see if I had done something wrong, but she wasn't looking at me. She was looking towards the doorway at Edward and Bella.

Bella was at her side in a flash pulling her into a hug. "Happy birthday, baby! I can't believe you're all grown up already."

"Thanks mom." Nessie sounded slightly embarrassed from all the attention.

After Bella let go of her Edward pulled her in for a hug. "Happy birthday. My little girl is all grown up." His voice was off a little, like if he could cry, he would be right now.

Nessie didn't say anything; she just put her hand against his cheek. "Always." Was all she whispered as she pulled her hand back. He smiled softly at her and put his arm around Bella.

"So you wanna go do something? We could go to the river or something." I asked her casually.

Again she put her hand on my arm instead of speaking. The image I saw in her head was when she was a little girl, taking a ride on my back like a horse. It was a request. I laughed out loud and I heard Edward chuckle beside me. I grabbed her hand and we ran out the back door. She stopped by the edge of the woods to let me go and phase. We were out of Edward's range though and I almost thought about pulling her in the woods with me, but then I was immediately ashamed. She just reached maturity! I told myself over and over again.

I came out of the forest as a wolf, and her beautiful deep brown eyes lit up. I was about to lay down so she could get on easier, but she gracefully hopped right into place on my back. I took off almost as fast as I could and I heard her sweet laughter. It was just giggles at first but as I sped up so did her laughing. I took sharp turns to bounce her around a little and her girly screams intensified with her undying laughter. I felt her pull back on my hair after a while and I came to a quick stop. A little too quick though, her body went forward and she had her arms wrapped around my nose to keep herself on. She pushed herself back up into a sitting position than hopped off my back.

She had a huge grin on her face as she looked into my wolf eyes. "Thanks Jake. That was really fun!"

I really felt an urge to talk to her, to hold her and tell her how much she meant to me. Without thinking I phased quickly and after it was already too late I heard her gasp. She turned around with inhuman speed and covered her eyes.

"Oh crap, sorry Nessie. It's just natural, I don't even think about it. Sorry." I said pulling on my shorts.

"It's fine." But her voice was a little extra shaky.

I reached out and gently spun her back around to face me. My emotions were overwhelming me and I couldn't help but reach out and touch her cheek. "I've been waiting a long time for this."

"For what?" She said a little cautiously.

"To finally be able to tell you everything about how I'm really starting to feel about you."

Her gentle features became an expression of confusion. "Jake, I already knew how you felt." She pushed her hand against mine, which was still on her cheek. The vision of us talking about a year ago popped into my mind. It was when I had told her she was my imprint.

"I know, but the feelings then were purely to keep you safe and ultimately for your happiness. Now, it's more Nessie. I loved you, but now I really feel like I'm in love with you."

She looked me in the eyes without speaking long enough to make me nervous. When she noticed my obvious discomfort she looked down and started to speak slowly. "Jake, you know that I love you too, but what if it's just because of this imprinting thing? How do we know we're really in love at all?"

I dropped my hand from her face like she burned me. I imprinted on her. Aren't imprints supposed to feel the same way? What was wrong? I thought we were supposed to be soul mates. She should want to be with me the same way I wanted to be with her. Why was she fighting it? Surely she had to be fighting her feelings. It must have been obvious on my face that I was hurt and confused because tears filled her pleading eyes.

"Please Jake. I'm not trying to hurt you. I just…"

"What?" My throat was thick and the words came out a little harsher than I intended.

She took a deep breath and then went on, "I just don't want it to feel like we have to like each other just because you imprinted on me. The only reason you were around me at first is because of the physical pain and the feeling that I belonged to you, or you belonged to me or whatever. We never got a chance to fall in love, it was just you loved me and everyone expects me to love you back. I don't think that's fair to me. Do you see what I'm trying to say?"

I felt like I had died. No worse, it felt like I had been cut off from my life supply of oxygen. I couldn't breathe without Renesmee and here she was telling me she didn't think imprinting was fair? "No, I don't understand."

I didn't really realize I was crying until Nessie threw her arms around me. "Jake, please don't cry! Let's just keep it the same way between since when we were younger. Before…the…uh…hormones kicked in! I just want to feel like I have a choice to fall in love with you. Not an obligation."

"Nessie, I…I need a little time to think about what you've told me. Can you find your way back to the house?"

She touched my cheek with just her fingertips and showed me that her speech was not intended to hurt me and cause me suffering. I smiled softly at her before turning around and started running, phasing in mid lunge.

Author's Note:

Hi! So this is my first fanfiction!

I'm not sure if I should continue this story or not, so any reviews would be greatly appreciated!

Let me know what you think of the story! Please Review!