So here's the first chapter to Loving! I'm really excited about it, and I might post more later on tonight. I don't own anything recognizable, and please, please, please review!

Embry was really getting on my nerves. Along with making the dinner reservation at eleven o'clock at night, he was refusing to tell me what he had planned. He'd already told me to take a nap, then to wear my favorite formal dress. Now he was telling me we had to leave at nine. Mom and Charlie knew what he was doing, but they refused to tell me, as did Jacob, Rosalie, Seth, Quil, Emily, the rest of the Cullens, and the rest of the pack. No one was going to tell me.

"Leah, Embry's here!" Mom called, just as I was touching up my lipstick, the last bit of makeup to be applied.

I put in a pair of silver hoop earrings as a final touch, then slid my shoes on and gave myself a once over. I was wearing a deep purple dress, strapless, that went to the floor, with plain silver flats and silver jewelry. I'd loosely curled my chin length hair and pulled it into a pony tail, accented with a silver beaded clip. After all the effort, Embry better be damn happy.

"Coming," I called, picking up the silver clutch Rosalie swore I'd need one day, after cleaning out her closet for Goodwill and discovering it.

When I got to the living room, Embry's jaw was on the floor. He made a strange sound from the back of his throat, then cleared it. "Um…"

"What?" I mumbled, not really seeing the big deal. As he loved to remind me at choice moments, he'd seen me naked.

"Uh…"

Seth clapped Embry on the back. "Dude, that's my sister. Not a Victoria's Secret model."

I slowly turned red, realizing that it was me he was ogling. "Let's just go, Bry."

Embry snapped back into it suddenly, then smiled. "You look unbelievable."

Mom smiled, standing and clapping her hands together. "Picture time!"

"Mom, it's a date, not prom!" I whined, really not wanting to be photographed.

"Young lady, I will take all the pictures I please. I have no idea how anything times out anymore and I want to document it. Now stand together and smile."

We posed through several dozen pictures, because my hate glares at a snickering Seth and Charlie kept ruining them, then we were let out. I pouted the entire drive. The hour and a half drive. When we finally pulled up at the location, it was a dinky little dive, and I was really getting pissed.

"Trust me," Embry said, seemingly reading my mind. "You'll love it."

He led me into the seemingly closed restaurant, and inside amazed me. Thousands of twinkle lights lit the room, which had one table set up for dinner with candles and sparkling cider. There was a line of five people, the waiting staff, and they made no sounds as they led us to the table and began to bring out the food.

"How do you keep shocking me?" I asked, taking it all in. "And why do I act like a total bitch when everything you do is amazing?"

Embry kissed my hand. "You're cranky when you don't know what's going on. I'm trying to wean you off of that because I love surprising you. Happy anniversary, beautiful."

I was still stunned by the setup. "You'd think this was a three year anniversary, not three month."

"Well, I do things big. And don't worry about the cost-"

"How did you know I was thinking that?" I asked incredulously.

"Because I know you. Anyway, the cost was no issue. Jake, Quil, and I helped build this place during the summer when we were fourteen. We needed to stay out of trouble, and after we gave the parking lot at school a little paint job, the principal thought it would be good collateral," he said, pausing while I proceeded to laugh my ass off. "Anyway, we did more than our fair share of work. The owners were really nice and they like us, so when I talked to them about renting out the place they gave it to me for the night for next to nothing."

I grinned widely at him, kissing the back of his hand. "However it came about, it's too much. I like camping out with you in our cave. You didn't have to go through so much trouble."

Embry looked me in the eye seriously. "Leah, I love you, and I love spoiling you. You're modest and simple, but I love treating you like a princess. Let me have my fun, please."

I couldn't argue. "Fine. I love you, too. And thank you. This is amazing."

We enjoyed our dinner, a three course meal, and then we toasted to our anniversary with sparkling cider, kissing over the table after sipping the fizzy drink. After we finished the amazing dessert he'd picked out especially, we left and parked on an overlook halfway between there and home, sitting on the hood of his care. We kissed a bit, but ever since our Big Talk, we'd been going even slower than before, which was pretty damn slow. In that particular moment, it was pretty damn annoying as well.

"Did you like the surprise?" Embry asked, rubbing my bare arm.

"I loved it," I said, putting my head on his shoulder.

He pressed his lips into my hair. "I'm glad."

"I wish I'd done something," I said with a sigh.

He nudged my head up, and I looked at him. "Leah, I don't want anything from you. I told you, I love spoiling you. You're my girl."

I kissed his jaw, then lifted a hand to his cheek. "Okay, okay. Kiss?"

"Kiss." He leaned down and touched his lips to mine lightly.

"Real kiss."

"Real kiss?" Oh, lovely, the concept confused him. "What do you mean, real kiss?"

I sighed heavily, then looked up at him. "A kiss you would give your mother or grandmother is not a real kiss. And trust me, my mother gives me that exact same kiss every day. I don't want to associate kissing my mother with our alone time."

Embry laughed loudly. "I just wanted to keep it light so we won't get too carried away."

My turn to laugh. "It's not like I can get pregnant from kissing you, so why are you holding back all of a sudden?"

He stroked my cheek with the tips of his fingers. "I'm sorry. I was just trying to keep it light and sweet."

"Well you can do that without completely turning a girl off!"

"Okay, well real kiss?"

"I don't know. I think I just want to sit here; maybe we should just go home."

"Leah!"

"I just don't think I'm in the mood anymore."

"I think I'm seeing into the future, like reverse déjà vu."

I smacked his arm. "Shut up, Embry."

He looked at me. "Leah?"

I looked back, a small smile playing on my lips. "What?"

He leaned close to me and pressed his forehead to mine. "Can I kiss you?"

"I don't know. Can you?"

"We have all night. I'm not going to beg." With that, Embry looked straight forward.

I looked over at him, unable to restrain my smile. Our banter was fun, and we wouldn't be us without it. It kept things light, like we liked them, and kept us from getting too deeply into things at times that it wasn't necessary. "Bry?"

He stayed silent, so I put my hand over his. He glanced at me a time or two, but tried to maintain his indifferent façade.

"Just kiss me already."

He turned to me, then leaned over and kissed me softly, slowly reaching out to hold my waist. I smiled against his lips, closing my eyes and putting my hands on his shoulders. It was definitely the best three month anniversary. We drove into La Push in the early hours of the morning. It was the darkest time of the day when Embry dropped me off at home.

"Thank you for everything," I said, reaching over to hug him.

"You're welcome," he said, squeezing me tight. "Goodnight, beautiful."

"Goodnight," I said, squeezing back. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

After a final goodnight kiss, I got out of the car and went into my house, where Seth was asleep on the couch, the main menu of a movie on the TV screen. I turned off the television and covered him with a blanket, kissing his forehead.

After changing into my pajamas, I laid in my bed, thinking back on the night. Merely three months ago I was a bitter harpy bitch that was sadistic and manic-depressive. Now, I was the person I was before Sam and the wolf genes ruined my life, and I really liked being that Leah. The best part was that I was finally in love with the right person, and I could really enjoy being in love, because I knew no matter what, Embry would always be there for me. Date nights like tonight were special, because a lot of the time we were in public or with the pack, the Cullens, or our families. I really enjoyed having Embry to myself like that, and our time that we had together was growing shorter and shorter.

Over the next few weeks, we couldn't spend much time together at all. Two of the weekend nurse's aides got mono -one right after the other-, and I got paid time and a half for working their shifts for four weekends, making my only time with Embry at night and during my lunch break. Embry's semester in online college was coming to a close, so he was spending most of the time he wasn't working studying for his end of term exams. The only time we had to talk was during lunch breaks and at our weekly dinners with our families. Even patrols were spent apart, because Jacob's paranoia had lessened and now there was only one person doing a short patrol a day, and those people were the ones who weren't working or going to school. Our patrols were few and far between, and now they were all spent apart. If we weren't working or studying, we were being sucked into 'family time' or pack stuff. It was getting crazy, like someone up there had it in for us.

When we finally got a chance to spend a bit of time together, it was only for a few days. He had to go to Seattle for a few days before the week of Thanksgiving to take his exams, since they had to be in a supervised environment. Because it was so far away, he was going to be staying in a hotel near the campus. It was a very difficult few days.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked for the zillionth time, folding a T-shirt for him to pack in his duffle.

He smiled to himself, taking the shirt from my hands and packing it. "I'll be fine."

"I just don't want you to be alone in the city unless you're sure you'll be okay." I started matching socks absentmindedly,

"Leah," he said, taking my waist and pulling me against him. "I will be fine."

I didn't meet his eyes, feeling embarrassed. "I'll miss you."

Embry kissed my forehead, wrapping me into a hug. "I'll miss you, too, but then we'll have all week next week."

I nodded against his chest, wrapping my arms around his waist. "I have something for you." I pulled the roll of bills out of my pocket and slid it into his. "It's just a little extra cash for gas or food or something."

"Leah, I don't want your money," he laughed, pulling it back out of his pocket. "Especially not… Two hundred dollars? Leah, are you nuts? I have plenty saved. I'll be fine."

I grumbled, stuffing it back into my own pocket. "You can rent out a restaurant for our three month anniversary but I can't give you some cash for food and gas."

"I have my own money," he laughed, putting a hand on the back of my neck. "I promise I'll be fine. Kiss?"

I pecked his lips lightly, pouting still.

"What's wrong? That was one of those Mommy kisses you forbid me to do."

"I never get to do anything for you."

Embry rolled his eyes, then grabbed my waist again. "Tell you what. When I get home Saturday, I want pizza, and to camp out in the cave."

"Deal," I said, smiling a bit.

"And I want the pizza to be supreme, and I want a whole chocolate cake to myself, and a bed of roses to sleep on, and you aren't allowed to wear more than your bikini." He was joking now, and had begun to tickle me.

"Embry!" I gasped, giggling.

"And you have to say 'Embry is my king' and kiss the ground I walk on," he said, laughing as I fell backwards onto his bed, still giggling from his tickling. "And you need to wear a superhero mask, and a cape, and platform shoes. And you have to dance to disco to entertain me."

I gasped for air, giggling like a maniac while he continued to tickle me. "I get it, I get it!"

He stopped tickling me suddenly, sitting on the bed next to me, staring down at me. "I want nothing from you. All I want is for you to be ready for some serious quality time when I get home. I've missed you, Lee."

I reached up and cupped his cheek. "Get down here, mister."

He smiled and leaned down to my level. "Why?"

"Because I want a proper kiss before my boyfriend leaves me for four days."

He smiled, then kissed me obligingly.

A/N: Reviews?

~Sidney