Second chapter! I'm so glad ya'll like this! I own nothing recognizable, and please review!

"Sissy Leah? Are you okay?" Kelly asked me, walking up to me. Her tiny arm was in a sling, and she was supposed to be playing with the other kids in the playroom.

"I'm fine, Kelly," I said, picking her up when she held her good arm up to me. "Do you want me to read you a story?"

She shook her head, then touched my forehead. "No. I want to know why you look sad."

I flinched when she touched my head, which was throbbing. "I just have a little headache. I'll be okay."

"Why don't you go see Dr. Cullen? He makes my aches go away," she said, nodded insistently.

"No, I know how to make my aches go away. Do you want to play with the other kids or read?"

She thought for a minute, then asked to be let down so she could go play with the other kids. I sat down in the corner and massaged my temples, keeping my eyes on the kids and my mind on the headache I'd had since the night before, when I'd seen Embry off. It was torture, not seeing him. At least when we'd been busy we could still see each other at least once a day. There was not a day that had passed since we imprinted that we hadn't seen each other. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since I'd seen him and I was already going nuts.

After work, I got a ride home from Jacob and sat on the couch, jittery as hell and needing something to do. When Mom got home ten minutes later, I asked to borrow the car, then I went to the Cullens' place. Bella let me in, saying Rosalie was a bit busy at the moment, so she and I talked a bit until Rosalie came down the stairs.

"Hey, Leah," she greeted with a smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for something to do," I admitted, biting my lip.

"Well I was just about to come and pick you up," she said, reminding me of our plans.

"Damn, I forgot. I've had a lot on my mind today."

"Well let's go and you can tell me what's been on your mind."

We'd planned to go to the caterers to choose what we would supply at the baby shower. We went out to her car and drove a good several miles away from the house before she started her interrogation.

"What's going on?" Rosalie asked, sounding concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Embry's out of town and I think I might be losing my mind," I said, subconsciously reaching up to rub my aching head.

"You sound like Jacob when Nessie went to Alaska for a weekend," she laughed, making it hit me.

"Damn, I'm an idiot," I said, mentally kicking myself. "It's the imprint. I forgot how sick it makes you when you're separated from your imprint."

Rosalie laughed harder, shaking her head. "I will never get you wolves and your issues."

I shrugged, supposing she probably wouldn't. "Well, that's being a wolf. I'll never get how you vampires' bodies work. Sleep is a wonderful creation, I think."

"Whatever. Why sleep when you can have more time to-"

"Don't finish that sentence, please," I said, catching the innuendo in her tone. "And for your information being immortal gives you more time for everything. I happen to like the idea of sleep at the end of the day. I mean, I have forever. Why not sleep when I want? It's not like I'll run out of time."

"So you and Embry have or haven't…?" she trailed off, glancing at me knowingly.

She must have spent more time with Emmett today than usual. I just refused to imagine what he could have done to put her into this perverted-chatty-mode. "You, dear, have sex on the brain."

She giggled like a real teenager, then sighed. "I guess. But seriously, Leah, have you?"

"No," I said loudly. "Change of subject, please."

"Why not?"

"That's not dropping the subject, Rose."

She huffed, then glared at me. "Tell me why not."

I laughed out loud. "You're impossible."

"Tell me!"

"Fine!"

She smiled, the turned back to the road. "Okay, I want details."

I groaned, then looked for the way to say it simplest and get the least amount of questions. "Well, neither of us are ready yet. We're taking our time with some things in our relationship, and he wants to wait until we're married."

"Religious thing? I didn't think you two were religious."

"We're both not-really-practicing Lutherans. Religion is not the reason we're not having sex. Also, I know religious people that didn't even wait until they were engaged. The reason he wants to wait until we're married is because he thinks it's possible that I could have a baby, and he doesn't want to risk having a kid out of wedlock."

"Aw, that's so sweet," she said, getting her 'girly girl' voice. "It would be so amazing if you could have a baby."

"Not you, too." This was getting old.

"You don't want to have a baby?" Rosalie actually sounded let down.

I sighed. "You know I do, but I've accepted that I can't. He's so confident and optimistic about it that I don't want to hurt his feelings by shooting it down, but I don't want to get my hopes up. And anyway, if I were to have a baby, me and you probably wouldn't be friends."

She looked at me, an incredulous look on her face. "You think I wouldn't want to be your friend if it turns out you're not infertile? Do you really think I'm that vain and petty?"

"It's the reason we became friends in the first place," I shot back. "Excuse me for thinking you'd be disgusted at me."

"Disgusted, no," she reassured, losing the anger in her voice. "Jealous, yes. You'd let me hang around, wouldn't you? If you were to have a baby?"

"Yes, Rosalie, I'd let you hang around. I wouldn't have a baby and not let my best friend see it." I laughed at her ridiculousness.

She smiled an odd, half smile. "Best friend?

"Well, yeah, tied with Emily, but you get it."

"Funny. I'm best friends with my natural enemy."

The hilarity of the situation hit us both at the same time, and we laughed for a long time. In fact, we laughed until we pulled up at the caterers. We went inside to the counter, where we were greeted by the owners.

"We're here for the Young-Uley baby shower," I said, when they asked how they could help us.

"Ah, yes, I have the samples you wanted here." The woman pulled out a large box of things and we sat at a table, going through them. I thought about what Emily might like, then made the decisions accordingly. "Would you like chocolate or vanilla for the cupcakes?"

"Definitely chocolate," I said, and the woman made notes. "Emily's main craving has been chocolate, and most of the attendees love chocolate."

After finishing making plans, we went back to the Cullens' place. Esme had made dinner for Nessie and Jacob, and had made enough for an army, so she offered me a plate as well. I stayed to eat with Jacob and Nessie, and before I left, Jacob pulled me aside.

"You okay, Lee?" he asked quietly.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, not really wanted to deal with him in my current state of insanity from Embry withdrawals.

"I mean, Embry's gone until Saturday night," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "It sucks when your imprint is so far away from you."

I nodded my head in agreement. "Yeah."

He gave me a sympathetic look. "So are you okay?"

"I've just had a headache since he left," I said with a shrug. "No big deal. Apparently it's just in my head."

"Okay, well, call me if you need anything," Jacob said, holding his arms out for a hug.

I gave him a hug and kissed his cheek lightly, in a sisterly gesture. "Thanks, Jake."

I drove home and turned in early, my headache having worsened. The next day was even worse, and the pain had spread from my head down my shoulders and back. I also had a dull ache starting in my chest. I just wasn't myself and the kids noticed it. I called Jacob and asked him if the physical pain was normal, and he said yes. No reassurance, no hopes that it would go away. The pain was going to be there until Embry came home. After the failed phone call with him, I went to bed after taking a pain pill. I slept fitfully, and the next day, Jayne tried to send me home because of how haggard and exhausted I looked.

"Honey, you need some sleep," she said, crossing her arms. "Take a sick day."

"No," I insisted. "I'm fine. I won't get any sleep and I'd much rather work than sit at home with nothing to do."

"Well maybe you could go home at lunch," she said, looking as if she didn't believe me.

"I'll be fine, Jayne," I said, picking up my uniform. "I promise."

I wasn't, though. I was good at hiding it, but I was aching all over. I almost considered leaving, but I didn't want to. I was being extremely stubborn, and I hated to admit that the reason I was in so much pain was because I missed my boyfriend. If there's one thing Leah Clearwater hates, it's admitting she's upset over a boy.

I'd borrowed Mom's car to go to work, and I drove straight home. Mom offered me food when I got home, but the idea of it made me nauseous. Instead, I showered and went to bed really early, dreading the idea of another whole day without him. He wouldn't be able to get in until late the next evening, and he would be exhausted and go straight home, so I couldn't see him until Sunday. I didn't want to risk using the mind connection and distracting him from something important, but missing him was wearing down on my heart and mind, and I thought I was going to go insane.

At one point, the pain, the exhaustion, and the missing Embry all teamed up on me and I ended up crying myself to sleep. I was simply overwhelmed, and even though I knew he'd be home soon, I felt helpless. No words can describe it, but imagine having your heart ripped out and mutilated, then sewn back together and put back in. Now imagine that happening over and over again. That's only a fraction of what I felt.

I woke up in the middle of the night to footsteps, then a foreign weight on by bed. A voice broke through the darkness and softly whispered, "Leah."

I opened my eyes and looked up at the figure, then sat up and threw my arms around the person suddenly sitting on my bed. "Embry!"

His arms wound around me, holding me close and not letting me escape. "I missed you so much, Leah…"

"We're never going that long apart ever again," I said to his chest, trying not to let any of the overwhelmed tears escape. That would literally put a damper on our reunion.

"Never," Embry agreed, kissing my head.

I lifted my head from his chest and put a hand on the back of his neck, pulling him to me for a kiss. And this was none of those sweet and gentle kisses, nor were they the Mommy kisses I'd forbidden him to give. We kissed intensely, holding one another closer still and eventually falling back onto my bed. It had been too long, and I didn't mean just when he was in Seattle. We'd barely had time together for over a month, and this was long overdue. After we'd successfully bruised our lips, we pulled back only enough to talk.

"You're home early," I said, noticing it for the first time.

"I missed you too much," he said, shifting closer to me over the covers.

"Get under," I said, trying to pull up the covers. "How are you home early?"

He stood up and kicked off his shoes, then slid under the covers to lay next to me. "My last test was rescheduled to earlier this afternoon, so as soon as I finished I checked out, got in the car, and drove straight to La Push. Charlie was up and he let me in."

I could barely contain my grin. "The last few days have been torture."

"I know," he groaned, kissing me spontaneously. "It was painful. Let's never try that again."

"Deal. Next time you have exams, I'll come with you. We'll make it a vacation."

He smiled. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He kissed me again, his lips moving against mine relentlessly. We kissed for a long time, until Embry yawned against my neck while kissing trails up and down my jaw and collarbone (strange but true facts: that was the furthest we'd ever gone, and I've spent far too much time with perverted-Rose).

"Go to sleep," I laughed, stroking his cheek.

He yawned again, then pouted. "But I've missed you."

"I'll be here in the morning," I said, kissing his jutted out lip. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he said, cuddling close to me before falling deeply asleep.

I smiled at him lovingly, then closed my eyes, falling asleep as well.

A/N: Reviews, please!

~Sidney