It is very strange that the worst horror of my life is not being hunted and nearly killed by vampires bent on my destruction, but being taken shopping by my soon-to-be sister-in-law.

"Alice…how about we…" I fumbled around for an excuse. Even my brain is clumsy! "Uh…go to…" Darn our miniscule town!

The pixie vampire crossed her arms. "No way are you getting out of this Bella. You said you wanted your say in the wedding planning, and you're getting it."

I flopped onto the Cullen's perfect white couch and buried my head in a pillow. "Alice, how many times can one human take shopping for flower arrangements and invitations?"

"As many times as I take them." Alice said, grinning at me. "Come on, it'll be fun. Just a few hours in Port Angeles and we can come back, I promise."

I looked at her skeptically. Sometimes I wondered if her power was persuasiveness and not her premonitions. With her words and her adorable, openly happy face, anyone who tried to go against her was a goner. "Fine." I groaned. "But I'm not going to enjoy it. At all."

Alice shrugged. "A beautiful wedding doesn't come without work Bella."

"Work, maybe. Torture, yes."

Suddenly, a large vampiric form appeared beside me on the couch too fast for me to see his entrance. "Mind if I join, ladies?" Emmett asked, smiling at me in greeting.

Alice looked at him confusedly. "Emmett, why would you want to come flower shopping?" she asked, crossing her arms.

Emmett let out a bark of laughter. "Oh, trust me, I don't want to. Just if you guys are going shopping in Port Angeles, I should pick up some more baseballs. Maybe a few more bats, too. Just in case." Emmett said, grinning mischievously. I wondered how many baseballs Emmett had probably lost, and bats he had broken playing the Cullen's favorite sport.

"Can't you get that stuff down at the sports store, Emmett?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Sure, I guess. But I just figured I'd come, ya know, save some gas. 'Cuz we all know if we drive too much global warming will come and kill us all." Emmett said sarcastically, grinning. "Besides, do you not want me or something Bella? Am I not good enough for you now? Or am I too big? Too strong? Too good looking?"

Alice rolled her eyes as I laughed. "Alright, Emmett, you can come." She smiled. "But if you do anything to get between me and those flowers…" she joked.

Emmett placed a hand over his unbeating heart. "I'll swear to never be awesome again."

Alice went upstairs to grab her purse, and Emmett and I went outside to get into the car. "Kid, what was with the questions?" he asked me jokingly.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. We walked down the front steps towards the driveway.

Emmett faked a high-pitched voice that sounded nothing like me, "Can't you get that stuff at the sports store, Emmett?" he mimicked.

"Uhm, I was just wondering." I shrugged. I didn't understand what the big deal was.

"Wow, you're so clueless sometimes, Bells." I shot him a look. He grinned and continued. "Couldn't you see I was trying to save you from being alone with Alice while she has her flower mission going?"

I smiled at him, understanding, and laughed. "I didn't. But I don't think she did either. Thanks, Emmett."

"No prob future-sis-in-law. But you owe me." He joked. "Arm wrestling. You me. No more than a week after you're turned, got it?"

I frowned, thinking of the future embarrassment. "Could I do something else for you instead?" I asked, hoping he would consent. "I'd rather pretty much anything else."

Emmett stopped walking. "Anything?" he asked, turning to me with mischief in his eyes.

I began to answer that maybe I wasn't so sure, but I was cut off my Emmett suddenly scooping me up into his arms. My breath was sucked away as he ran to his Jeep, practically jumped inside, and strapped me into the front passenger seat in less than five seconds.

"Emmett. No way." I deadpanned.

"You said you'd rather pretty much anything else. This is else." He grinned, putting his keys into the ignition.

Alice popped into the back seat, purse in hand, smiling like a madwoman. "Okay, I'm ready to go! Wow, Bella, you're letting us take you in the Jeep? That's really brave of you." She complimented.

I crossed my arms and frowned and Emmett chuckled as he started driving down the long driveway. "Hey Alice, does Bella have to supervise you looking at plants the whole time?" Emmet asked, looking at Alice in his mirror.

Alice looked thoughtful for a sec, contemplating. "No, I guess not. But for part of it at least."

Emmett nodded, smirking at me. "I was thinking maybe we could go do something while you pick out some of the flowers." I crossed my fingers hopefully.

"Okay." Alice said, smiling.

"Thanks, Alice." I said, turning to thank her. "I promise to stay for a little while."

Alice smiled back at me, before turning her attention to Emmett. "Hey, Emmett, turn on some music!"

Emmett grinned, getting his ipod from the compartment under the dashboard. "Whatcha' thinkin'?" he asked, beginning to scroll with one hand.

"I don't really care." She said. "Whatever you feel like."

"Any requests, Bella?" he asked, looking at me.

I thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I can't think of anything."

A broad grin came over Emmett's face. "Okay then, you guys leave me no choice." he said mischievously, scrolling through songs rapidly. His thumb decisively pressed the center button, selecting a song.

As the first computerized notes blasted through the stereo, Alice groaned. "What song is this?" I yelled over the noise before the singing started.

"It's 'This is why I'm Hot.' Edward was ready to murder him a few months ago when he kept listening to it in the house and singing it incessantly." Alice yelled back.

"I didn't sing, I rapped. And I was killer, Alice. If he just listened to something besides 'Claire de Luna' or whatever maybe he could see it."

I smirked as Emmett began bobbing his head. The smirk turned into laughter as Emmett began rapping along to the song, very loudly. "This is why I'm hot! This is why I'm hot!" Even Alice started giggling in the back seat. Emmett began making crazy gangster-like hand motions with one hand as he drove. He pumped a loose hand formed into a "rock on" symbol.

I was still laughing, clutching my sides, when the song ended.

Emmett seemed to be fully prepared, as he practically lunged for the ipod again. In a few seconds, Emmett was singing along and dancing to "Sexyback" by Justin Timberlake. His horrible singing, head banging, and crazy hand gestures made me laugh even harder.

I was relieved and disappointed. Disappointed because Emmett's "performance" had to end, but relieved because my sides hurt from laughing like crazy.

We arrived at Port Angeles around five, as the slightly clouded sun was setting. Alice was ready to go the second Emmett parked. "Come on, Bella! The florist closes at eight!" she pleaded with me. Wasn't eight late enough to give her enough time?

I shot a panicked look at Emmett as he got out of his massive vehicle. "Help me!" I mouthed as Alice took my hand, prepared to lead me to the florist.

Emmett simply stuffed a hand into his jeans pocket and gave a short wave. "I'll be at the sports store. I'll be there in a bit to pick you up, Bells. Have fun." He said, smirking at my torture.

I stuck my tongue out at him as Alice began pulling me away.

I was dizzy from flower fumes. They all smelled the same at this point.

Alice had dragged me around, forcing me to survey bouquet after bouquet of flowers, and sniff each one to ensure they had a scent that was pleasing to humans.

"Uhm, Alice?" I said, nonchalantly as she examined a small wreath of something that looked like irises, "Do you still need me here? I was thinking I might head over to the sports store, maybe see what's taking Emmett so long."

Alice smiled good naturedly at me. "You can go if you want Bella. But promise me one thing."

"Sure." I shrugged.

"You have to love whatever I pick out for you."

I hugged my tiny friend. "I'm sure I'll love whatever you pick, Alice." I released her and started walking towards the door. "See you soon!" I called, exiting the store. Once outside, I took a deep breath, relishing the smell of something non-floral. I remembered where the sports store was, so I headed that way in search of Emmett. I wandered past familiar stores. I smiled lightly when I passed the dress shop I had visited with Jessica and Angela. Had it really been such a short time ago that I'd discovered Edward was a vampire? I looked down at the ring on my finger. It's funny how drastically things change.

The sports store was a few blocks down, past a section of newly built apartments. I purposefully walked past them as the sky darkened into a hazy red.

An odd noise sounded in my ears. Some sort of pulsing rhythm. It occurred to me after a few moments of listening that it must be music in one of the apartments. It got louder and louder, and suddenly, a door opened on the doorstep I was about to cross in front of.

The loud music blared in my ears as three boys-probably between eighteen and twenty- stumbled out of the door, each grasping one or more bottles of beer.

I tried not to look at them and keep walking.

"Hey baby! Wait up!" one of them slurred out.

Great. Another potential Port Angeles disaster.

What kind of a freak was I?

One with a red backwards baseball cap followed me as a I walked forward, and cut me off. I took a step backwards, smelling the beer on his breath. "Hey, how's it goin?" he asked, grinning stupidly.

I firmed my jaw and spoke coldly, trying to be like Edward when he found someone offensive. "Bad. I'm very irritated, and I don't want to be bothered right now, so if you'll get out of my way-" I said, trying to maneuver past him.

"Aw, don't be like that…" he slurred. I heard the footsteps of his friends coming to watch.

I jerked up my hand with Edward's engagement ring on it. "Engaged. Just leave me alone, okay?" I said, moving around him.

"He doesn't gotta know." He smiled, overly intoxicated.

"Doesn't matter." I said, still walking.

He caught up with me and grabbed my wrist. "Come on baby, I'm prob'ly twice the man whoever he is."

"Oh yeah, real convincing. Edward isn't a drunk!" I replied harshly, yanking my wrist from his grip. "Now leave me alone!" I glared. I hoped I was being somewhat intimidating. I walked, quick paced away from them.

The underage drunk didn't know when to quit. "Come on!" he called out, grabbing my arm.

"Don't touch me!" I cried out angrily, ripping my arm from his grip.

Then I gave him a punch in the jaw that instead of breaking my hand, made him reel backwards slightly.

Emmett would have been proud.

His friends advanced forward while he reached for me again, before I had the change to run, a large hand entered my field of vision, yanking my primary attacker up by the collar.

I whipped around to see who had stopped him, and was surprised, yet not surprised at all at the same time. If that makes any sense.

Emmett held the baseball-cap drunk up almost two feet off the ground, and glared into his face.

Emmett was normally an intimidating person in just looks alone, but when he tried?

He looked like a murderous killing machine. Even without the knowledge that he was a vampire, Emmett looked ready to break every bone in his body. "What the heck do you think you're doing, punk?!" Emmett snarled into his face.

The drunk coward whimpered, closing his eyes and trying to shrink away from Emmett.

"Huh? Come on, tell me!" Emmett growled, shaking him.

The guy's friends were slowly backing up. With good reason.

Emmett continued, "You will be pretty dang lucky if I don't break every bone in your body, kid." He dropped him onto the pavement. The drunk landed on his back and tried to scramble away. Emmett leaned down and pressed a hand to his chest, holding him down.

What the drunk didn't know was, Emmett could crush him then and there if he chose to. I didn't have a voice to ask what he would do as I watched dumbly

Emmett leaned in close to his face, and spoke coldly and clearly. "You do not mess with my sister. You got me? Never. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. And trust me, you do not want to mess with a Cullen."

Emmett looked up for a moment, and very quickly, almost too quickly, sprang up and grabbed his friends by the back of their jackets in one hand as they tried to flee. Emmett reached back and picked up the baseball-cap drunk who was still lying on the street. "You know boys," he said conversationally, "I got little drunk a couple times in my day, I admit it. It was a stupid thing to do. But I didn't do anything like this." He looked back and forth at the boys dangling in his hands, "Anyway, you know what my dad always told me?" he casually walked across the street, and onto the opposite sidewalk. "He said the best thing to clear your head is dunking it in some cold water. He did it to me, and now you're gonna get a taste of what it feels like. Since you guys obviously have it worse than I did, all of you should about do it."

And with that, Emmett dropped them over the side of the-luckily for them- low pier.

"And you'd better take a long time swimming back!" Emmett yelled angrily down at them.

I stood dumbly on the other side of the road, watching Emmett. He jerked around, almost seeming to remember me, and jogged back across the street. Emmett quickly wrapped an arm around my shoulders and began striding forward, guiding me away quickly. He still looked incredibly angry.

"Emmett, I'm fine." I said softly as I almost ran to keep his pace.

Emmett clenched his jaw and continued walking.

"Are you okay?" I asked, even softer now.

Emmett didn't respond, and just kept a steely gaze forward.

After a few minutes, we reached a deserted area of boardwalk, and he sat down on a bench. He hung his head in his hands for a moment. I stood in front of him, unsure of what to do.

After he sat in silence for a minute, he looked up at me caringly, "Are you okay, Bella? Really?" he asked, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands.

I swallowed hard and nodded. "I'm okay." I slowly sat down next to him. "You got pretty mad back there." I said quietly.

Emmett clenched his hands and I heard breath hiss through his teeth. "Those…" he trailed off before he continued to expletives. He sighed and looked up at me with an open expression and sincere eyes. "I was afraid." He stated.

My brow furrowed. "How could you be afraid Emmett? You're what, three times their size?" I asked.

"Not for me. For you." He said, looking down again. He paused. "I wanted to…when I saw them, I just…I just snapped. I couldn't help it. I'm really surprised I didn't kill them."

"Emmett…it's not that big a deal," I murmured, "They were some drunk teenage guys, I could have gotten away…" I said, trying to comfort him in my slight confusion.

Emmett took a deep breath in and out before falling into silence. "I bet Rose thought that too." he murmured softly.

It all clicked into place.

"Oh, Emmett…" I whispered, reaching out to try to comfort him somehow. "I didn't remember…I didn't make the connection..." I apologized. Of course Emmett would be even more angry than most. Memories of his wife's "death" must have been horrific for him to think about happening to someone else, especially since Rosalie resented it so much. He probably wished he could have been there to stop Royce and his drunk comrades every time he saw Rosalie's face fall when she saw a small child.

Before my hand reached him he looked up at me. Wordlessly, he reached over and gathered me in his muscled arms gently. I hugged him back as almost as hard as I could, which wasn't very hard compared to his strength. "You're so brave, kid." He murmured. He sighed, rubbing my back lightly. "I'm sorry that happened. Really sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry for?" I asked, pulling away gently. "You were right there for me when I needed you. Thanks, Emmett." I said, smiling softly.

I light grin came across his face before he reached out to ruffle my hair. "Anytime, kid. And I meant what I said, about you, and us. You're one of us now. No thanks necessary." He looked over the water for a second. "Man, all you've been through. Edward's right. You really are a danger magnet."

I smiled, running a hand through my hair to put it back in place. "That was a pretty sweet revenge-dropping them over the pier."

Emmett chuckled. "Yeah, it was pretty good, but that's not the end of it, I'm gonna call the police too."

I nodded, agreeing with him. I didn't want any girl without a vampire brother to get hurt by those idiots.

Emmett pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. "I'm gonna report them real quick." He stated, dialing. I nodded as I watched. Emmett put an arm around the back of the bench where I sat as he made the call. As soon as he was finished, he clicked the phone shut. "Done deal." He said. He looked over at me. "Oh yeah, your hand okay?" he asked.

"Huh?" I asked.

"I saw the bruise on his chin. Musta been one heck of a punch you gave him."

"Seriously?" I asked, incredulously. "I actually gave him a bruise?"

"Yeah, it was already turning black and blue." Emmett said, grinning.

"Yes!" I cried out triumphantly.

Emmett laughed. "I guess you must be pretty happy, since it didn't go so well last time."

"Hey, he was a werewolf. No fair. I'm only human, you know." I joked, defending my failed attempt at injuring Jacob after he had kissed me a few months ago.

Emmett smiled down at me. "Oh trust me, I know. Human danger magnet extraordinaire." He looked down at his watch. "We should probably get back to Alice."

We stood up and started walking back towards the florist shop. After a few moments of silence, Emmett spoke. "Okay, don't think I'm going all sappy, but-" He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. "I love you little sis." He said, disheveling my hair with his hand again.

I smiled. "I love you too…bro." I said, Emmett chuckled at my awkward usage of the word. "Maybe I'll see if I can get Edward to let you listen to hip-hop more often."

Emmett grinned broadly. "See, Bells, this is why we need you in the family..."