Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight (SMeyer does.) Sometimes I wish I did, though. $$$$$$$$$$$$

*APOV*

My eyes shot open as I heard the front door slam. Jumping out of bed, I ran out into the hall as fast as I could, not caring that my eyes were barely open.

I looked to my left and saw Matt helping Alisa walk down the hallway. He had a bag flung over his shoulder, and I suddenly realized what was going on.

"Hey!" I called out as I ran toward them. "Wait up!"

"Aria," matt said as soon as I caught up with them. "Go back to sleep. We'll be fine, don't worry."

"Why the hell didn't you guys wake me up?!"

"We thought you'd want to sleep and go to work," Alisa replied before stepping on the elevator.

"You think that stuff is more important to me than the birth of my own nephew?" I asked in disbelief.

"I dunno," she shrugged

"Well, I'm going to be by your side," I crossed my arms. "The whole entire time."

"You sure you wan to come? You're looking kind of rough this morning," Matt chuckled.

"Psssh…… since when have I ever been vain?"

"Since always. And nice pants," Alisa chuckled.

I looked down at my pants. Crap.

"I didn't know you liked Star Wars!" Matt laughed.

"Uhhhhh," I began. "Can I go back and change real quick?"

"Aria!"

"Alright, alright!" I held up hand up, only to have Alisa squeeze it as hard as she possibly could in pain as a contraction hit her.

Maybe I should have stayed in bed.

*EPOV*

"She's three hours late. Where the hell is she?!" I paced my office, running my fingers through my hair.

"Calm down," Kevin replied. "Maybe she overslept or something. Have you tried calling her?"

"Yeah, I have. And I keep getting her voicemail."

"That's weird."

"Oh my God...... What if she was in a car wreck?!" I exclaimed.

"What? She doesn't even drive a car! For the last time, calm down!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just, I don't know. I just feel really-"

"Protective of her? Yeah, I know. You've told me that 5 times already," he said.

I scowled.

"Let's change the subject. So, are you going to bring Aria to my wedding?"

"Guaranteed she's not dead, yeah," I mumbled under my breath.

Kevin turned to look at me.

"Holy crap," he said in disbelief. "I only have 4 days of freedom left. What should I do for my bachelor party?"

"I dunno," I shrugged. "Is Tracy giving you rules?"

"Rules?"

"Yeah. You know, like, 'No strippers, no drinking, no hookers.' That kind of thing."

"I'm pretty sure no hookers is always a rule," he started laughing.

"You know what I mean."

"Hmmm…… nah, she hasn't given me any rules. So don't mention anything to her, okay? Maybe she just forgot about it."

"Kevin!" Tracy bursted through my office door. "Honey, I've been looking all over for you. I want to talk to you about your bachelor party."

"Dammit!"

I decided to walk home from work that day. Yeah, it took me half an hour, but it gave me more time to think.

I started to wonder where Aria was, and if she was okay. I hoped that she didn't think I was crazy for leaving her 7 voicemails on her phone. But I was concerned, and I had every right to be.

I guess.

See, this is what was just so hard about not being in a relationship with your imprint, and them not knowing your secret. You either had to try your hardest to not be overprotective of them (which was extremely difficult), or if you were, then you had to constantly find excuses to keep them from thinking that you were an obsessive stalker, which usually didn't work.

Either way, you got screwed. The only solution was to tell your imprint the truth, which is about a zillion times harder than it sounds.

I kept thinking about that- telling Aria the truth. It tumbled in my mind over and over again. But there were always those 'What If's' that stopped me.

What if she thinks I'm crazy?

What if she doesn't believe me?

What if she hates wolves?

What if she becomes scared of me?

What if she doesn't want to be around me anymore?

And then there was the whole 'made for each other' thing. Sure, Aria and I are perfectly compatible, but imprinting puts a whole lot of pressure on her, too. I didn't want her to feel like she had to be with me, just because I imprinted on her. I wanted her to be with me because she wanted to, out of her free will.

Ugh, this was so complicated.

Most of the time, I hated imprinting. I hated everything that it did to me.

I hated how it made me want only Aria.

I hated how it took away my choices.

I hated how, because of it, I'd been depressed out of my mind for 7 years.

But at the same time, I loved it.

I loved how I only had eyes for Aria.

I loved knowing that Aria and I were perfect for each other.

And most of all, I loved how it made me feel everytime I saw Aria smile, or laugh, or even look at me.

When I finally reached my apartment building, I saw a young woman walk onto the elevator. Immediately, I felt so relieved, because I knew that it was Aria.

I ran onto the elevator, and it was just the two of us.

"Long time, no see," I said as I pressed the button for my floor.

"Embry!" she exclaimed, hugging me. "Oh, crap." She let go. "Are you mad?"

"Why would I be mad?"

"Because I totally just skipped work today, and I didn't even call! You see, my sister went into labor this morning, and I didn't have enough time to call, well, I forgot actually, but I was at the hospital all day and-"

"Aria," I interrupted her. "It's okay. It really is."

"So you're really not mad?"

"I was more concerned than mad."

She knitted her brow in confusion.

"You were concerned about me?"

I nodded. "You didn't show up at work; you weren't answering your phone. I didn't know what happened to you."

"Oh," she looked down at her feet in embarrassment. "I should have just called you."

"Yeah. So, I take it that your sister had her baby, then?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yep," she grinned.

"Congrats! Boy or girl?"

"A little boy named Max."

"That's a good name."

"Yeah, it is," she nodded. "Hey, Embry, do you want to come over? I'll cook some dinner for us."

"Of course!" I almost yelled in excitement. "I mean, that'd be great."

She laughed. "Okay."

The doors opened to the 8th floor, and Aria started walking off.

"Nice pants," I commented.

She turned around to stick her tongue out at me.

"This is, er, really good," I lied, taking a bite of what I assumed was spaghetti.

Aria turned to face me, frowning. "You don't have to lie. I know it's not that good."

"I'm not lying."

She gave me a look.

"Okay, well, I've had better spaghetti before, but this is still good."

"Spaghetti?"

"Yeah, that's what you made, right?"

"Uhhhh, sure," she replied, sighing. "I really should just give up cooking. I don't even like it that much."

"Then why did you offer to make me dinner?" I asked.

"Because I wanted to be like those housewives in the movies, always cooking for their husbands," she replied.

I perked up. "Husbands?"

"Did I say husbands?" she quickly asked, eyes wide. "I meant- I meant, like, uh, how people always, um, cook for their friends in the movies. Yeah. Friends."

"Oh, okay," I smiled.

Sure that's what you meant.

"But obviously I can't be like that," she said, taking my plate away from me and scraping the food off into the garbage.

"If you're still hungry, we can walk a block to Wong's," I offered.

"What is Wong's?"

"Chinese food."

"Okay," she said, smiling now. "I love getting those fortune cookie things."

"What's your fortune say?" Aria asked me on our way back from dinner.

"'Good things happen to those who wait'," I said, squinting to read it under a streetlight in the park we were currently walking through. "What about yours?"

"'True love conquers even the largest of doubts," she read slowly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Maybe it means that when you really love somebody, everything will work out."

"That makes sense," she replied, sitting down on the edge of a fountain, wrapping her arms around her thin frame.

"Are you cold?"

"A little, but I'm fine."

"Okay. I have to ask you something," I said, sitting down right beside her.

"Go ahead," she turned towards me.

"Will you be my date for Kevin and Tracy's wedding? Just as friends," I added quickly at the end.

"Sure, Embry," she smiled. "I'd love to. But just as friends."

"Just as friends," I said again, smiling right back at her.

We sat in silence for the next few minutes, while Aria started to shiver.

"Are you sure you're okay? You keep shivering," I moved a little closer to her.

"I'm fine, really."

Ignoring her, I hesitantly put my arms around her, pulling her closer to my chest.

Surprisingly, she didn't pull away.

"Better?" I asked softly.

"Yes," she whispered. "A lot better."

My heart was thumping hard in my chest; I hoped that she couldn't hear it. It was just making me insanely happy to be this close to Aria again.

She turned to look at my face, her eyes starting right into mine. She was so beautiful. This time, I had such a strong urge to kiss her that I couldn't possibly fight it. I had to.

*APOV*

Embry and I were sitting in the park, his arms around me. I knew it was wrong, but at that point, I didn't even care. All that I cared about was Embry and how good it felt to be this close to him again.

I turned to look up at him. My heartbeat quickened when I saw that cute little smile creep onto his face. Next thing I knew, Embry's lips were pressed against mine, and it was almost too good to be true, like a dream. I kissed him back, slowly at first, then rougher. His hands moved down to my waist and I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling myself even closer to him. As his tongue entered my mouth, I started to feel dizzy, like maybe I really was in a too-good-to-be-true dream.

But the guilt that hit me like a bus reminded me that I definitely was in reality.

"Embry," I breathed, pulling away from him.

"Is something wrong?" he asked with concern.

"We're……. we're crossing that line again."

"Line? Oh, right. That line."

I felt like crying, especially when I saw that look of disappointment flash across his face.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, looking straight ahead so that he couldn't see that I was tearing up.

"It's not your fault. I really shouldn't have been all over you. I just- I just couldn't help it, I guess," he said as he traced circles on the concrete fountain with his thumb.

"We just need to make sure our boundaries are set."

"Okay. What are our boundaries?"

"We just have to remember that we can only be friends," I said, ignoring the voice that was screaming inside of me to tell him how I really felt. "We can't ever cross that line again, ever."

"Is that really what you want?"

I took a deep breath as I prepared myself to lie to him again. "Yes, it's what I really want."

"Okay, that's how things are going to be, then. We can just go on pretending like this never happened."

I watched as Embry got up and just walked away. And with every step he took, the feeling of despair in my stomach grew.

I waited until he was gone to let my tears fall.

A/N: To everybody who reviews/alerts/faves- HUUUUUUGE HUGS!!!!! *hugs* People who alert and fave but don't comment- PLEASE COMMENT! I'd really love to know what you think about what I write. As always, thanks for taking the time out of your day (or night) to read my story.