So needless to say, I forgot to give Jacob his Christmas present.

Fortunately his birthday was only two weeks later.

Unfortunately my brain was still a little screwy and so I started my planned surprise 'party' for Jacob by begging Bella to come along too. And then, hey, why not? I got Billy to get Quil Ataera's phone number and got him in on it. Last but not least I dug our old ice skates out of the my bedroom closet and checked the weather forecast.

Everything was ready.

As Dad drove up to LaPush, his two daughters silent in the back seat, the radio buzzed with the cd I had given him. I was tapping the window to the beat of 'Strange Magic' and moping about how completely sick I was at the thought of seeing Jacob again. Isabella was staring at her hands, readjusting the three pairs of gloves I'd found in order to convince her to come. Dad had somehow noticed her slight improvement after sledding with Jacob and me and had given me the job on involving her in the next thing the two of us cooked up. And so I, terrified, had been forced to pick a time to see Jacob, and Bella, depressed and withdrawn, had been manipulated into coming with. Quil, thankfully, was happy enough for both of us. Jacob? He didn't know yet.

I began fidgeting, pulling at my sleeves and adjusting my hair in the rearview mirror until my dad pointed out I was blocking his view. This was a bad idea. Such a bad idea. And it didn't help that we were driving through the woods, that I was planning on spending the entire afternoon out by the woods; I was so keyed up on fear and nerves and not thinking about things t was a wonder I didn't just explode right there in the backseat of my dad's car.

Luckily, when we pulled up Jacob was already waiting on the porch and I was unable to hide whatever weird face I made by unbuckling my seatbelt. Grabbing the plastic bag containing Jacob's presents, I slammed the door open and bounced over to him.

"Jacob!" I glared at him. "Did he tell?"

"Uh..." Jacob took a second to get his bearings. "No... no, I just like... sitting outside."

I rolled my eyes for answer and stepped aside to let my dad and Bella give Jacob a more polite series of greetings and birthday wishes. Soon enough, Quil appeared and my dad went in to say hello to Billy. I wandered over to the side of the porch, trying to see how well the pond in their backyard had frozen over.

"You gonna wish me happy birthday or just yell at me again?"

I turned to scowl jokingly up at Jacob, answering by tossing the plastic bag at his face.

"Happy birthday, you giant freak of a boy." I growled. "It's more than you deserve."

He looked at me uncertainly for a second so I let a hint of a smile leak out. Jacob answered by shaking his head at me and opening up the plastic bag I'd left in the exact condition it'd had been when I'd taken it from the dollar store cashier.

"This is a bag of Hot Wheels cars..." Jacob said, peering into it. "Wait, these aren't even Hot Wheels. This is a bag of cheap Hot Wheels knock-offs."

"Hot Wheels knock-offs, a Santa rubber duck, and a dollar thirty five." I informed him sternly. "And don't spend it all in one place."

"Um..." Jacob stuck his head into the mouth of the bag, trying to see clearly. "Is that a roll of scotch tape?"

I nodded proudly. "It was on sale."

"Gen, you idiot."

"You like it." I teased, giving him a wink. "Now are you coming or what?" I took a couple steps toward the pond and waved my skates at him as he blinked down at me.

"Um... We have to get our skates." Jacob glanced back at where Quil stood, probably trying and failing to get Isabella to flirt with him. "You and Bella head down."

I shrugged and turned to yell for my sister. She quickly turned and followed me down, the look on her face saying she wanted all of this to be done as quickly as possible. What a party-pooper.

"Missing Arizona?" I asked drily, plopping down in the snow as we reached the ice.

Bella followed suit gingerly as I began to yank off my boots.

"Um... No?" She said, turning red as I gave her a skeptical laugh. "I don't mind this."

"Sure, sure." I said, wondering if I should tutor her in lying. I laughed again as I finished lacing the skates: probably best to keep any advantage I have... "Come on. If you're going to torture yourself by living in this climate, you have to at least enjoy the good parts."

"Okay..." My sister replied uncertainly.

I looked back the way we'd come and saw that the boys had yet to follow. With a shrug I stood up and began skating, turning slowly as I waited for the turtle that was Bella to stand up already. I don't know why I waited for her: the second I saw she was standing up I took off, making my way around to see if the pond was the same as I remembered.

It was pretty much the same: a wide but shallow pond that lined the edge of the forest and flooded when the rain came too fast or the snow melted too quickly. There were lots of cattails lining the banks and breaking up the ice into a pattern of circles and cracks and darker ice. I made a note to avoid it and glided back to Bella, noting that Jacob was finally on their way.

The three of us hang around for a bit, a little awkward as we chatted about how long it had been since we'd seen each other and what had happened since the party. Jacob made a comment that I hadn't been messaging him and I found I couldn't look at him. Instead I chose to glare at Isabella, who was eying my reaction very curiously.

"You guys waiting for me?" The ever-smiling Quil had arrived.

As if in response, Bella gave a giant shiver.

Jacob and Quil laughed as I sighed resignedly.

"You need to get the blood flowing, Bells." Jacob said. Isabella nodded, blushed, and took off. I tried to hide as I waved my hands slightly, finding my fingers starting to feel a bit chilly. Jacob smiled at me. "You, too, Genevieve. Come on."

I sighed and followed him to another edge of the frozen pond.

With Quil fixing his laces and Isabella exploring the edges of the pond, presumably thinking back on old memories, I was left with Jacob Black. We skated back and forth a couple times, trailing past Quil on the side of the pond furthest from the tree line. I forced myself to make small talk: what I really wanted to talk about was the fact that Jacob kept placing himself between me and the forest, but I couldn't find the words to describe how that made me feel. Angry? Weak? Flattered?

We'd skated back and forth a couple dozen times and Quil had gone to join Bella by the time Jacob drew up the nerve to reach out and grab my elbow, stopping me. I scowled up at him—I'd been enjoying myself for once—and found myself simply staring at him as he pulled out a small gift from his pocket.

"I didn't give you this at Christmas because..."

"Because I hadn't given you one. But this is your birthday, genius." I held up my hands and moved back slightly. "Still doesn't quite work out."

"Well, what am I supposed to do with it?" Jacob laughed.

I shrugged and looked down, scraping at the ice with the blade of my skate. "I'm sure it would look very pretty on you." I commented drily.

"Oh, sure," Jacob started to snort.

He started to say more, but Quil's shout interrupted us.

Shoving the package back into his pocket Jacob was off and I was right behind him, reaching to stop him. Across the pond I saw my sister, too close to the reeds that broke up the thickness of the ice. I saw the cracks starting to spread out around her. And I saw her staring into space, mouth open in shock... Did that idiot even realize what danger she was in?

"Isa-freaking-bella!" I yelled angrily, dragging Jacob backwards and barely making any progress on stopping him until he slipped and brought me down with him.

Bella glanced over at me and her eyes focused on our two worried faces. She began to move backward and there was a loud creak. She began to fall backward—barely managing to catch herself—but her face was anything but worried. She was back to staring at the random empty space between the trees and the pond.

"Stay here." I ordered Jacob grumpily, carefully clambering to my hands and knees. He started to shake his head and I changed my tune, only wanting to keep his giant form from going any further on the cracking ice. "You're heavier and faster. So go run back for help." I looked over and Quil, who was edging toward Isabella with his hand outstretched. I could see cracks already starting to fan out where the ice felt his weight. "Quil, you too. Get away so I can ease over there."

They stared at me for a second, Jacob's eyes running nervously over my face.

"Be careful, Genevieve." He ordered. Then he half crawled, half skated his way to the edge of the pond and took off running for the house and our dads.

"Stay still, Bella." Quil muttered, his cheerful face finally looking a little strained.

Isabella looked nervously down at her feet, glanced over at me, and then I was finally beside her. For a moment I was unsure what to do; I was safer kneeling but I saw no way to get Isabella off the cracking ice without standing up myself. Finally I just swore and reached out, steadying her as I knelt on the last bit of solid ice I'd seen.

"Iz." I said. "I'll hold you—"

She glanced down at me and then turned sharply to the right, away from me.

"Bella, put your weight on me and edge off—What the hell are you looking at?"

"He-"

"Shut up and do what I told you." I snapped, holding out my arms again and getting more irate as my heartbeat began to pound in my ears. He? Who was he? And why couldn't I see him? I glanced over at Quil to see if he had any clearer idea what was going on. He shook his head at me confusedly and by the time I turned back to my sister, it was too late.

She took one step to her right.

WHOOSH.

"OH, F*** ME." I yelled, peering down at the large circle of water where my sister had been.

"Gen, don't—" Quil said, starting to move closer as he saw me stripping off my jacket and gloves.

"Stay where you are, Ateara." I demanded, sliding forward on my belly, light glinting on the ice and the water and the bracelet covering my wrist. I gritted my teeth, ready to plunge my arms into the water to find my sister, but I was interrupted by a deep voice calling my name.

"Gen!"

"Paul?" I stared. "Paul?

He took a running start, leapt into the air, and smashed through the ice into the water.

"Well, sh**," I muttered just before a wave of water licked my arms and chest.

Moments later two heads popped up in front of me, slick with water and dark against the pale snow and ice. My sister was trembling and Paul was grimacing as he kicked to keep their heads above the surface.

"Grab her." He said awkwardly, lifting her up as if she weighed the same as the gloves I'd thrown away and was now wishing for.

With a groan, I grabbed my sister's wrists and began sliding backwards on my knees. Paul went back under, presumably pushing from behind, and Isabella finally seemed to understand what had happened as she slowly was forced out of the freezing water. Her eyes had just focused on me when Paul seemed to decide he'd had enough of this nonsense and gave her one last shove out of the water, sending my sister tumbling into me and sliding across the ice with me in tow.

We landed against the far bank and lay there, my arms and chest slowly turning to ice and her entire body shivering with cold. It didn't help that my bare hands were wrapped around her soaked gloves where they rested against the cold surface of the pond.

It only took seconds for Paul to reach us again. He scooped Bella up first, cradling her against him in one arm like the world's most morbid doll. Then he reached down to me, glaring at me as I took his hand and let him help me to my feet. I had to step carefully as I followed him, my skates crunching into the snow and threatening to add a twisted ankle to the list of bad things that had happened to the Swan sisters. The distraction meant it took a couple minutes for me to absorb what the uncomfortable sinking feeling in my stomach was trying to tell me. Then it hit me.

He was warm.

The giant of a boy who'd just climbed out of a frozen pond was freaking warm.

Gosh dang it.

What have I gotten into now?