AN: I'm on a bit of a roll right now, so here's another chapter while the inspiration is hot. What you've all been waiting for: lots of Embry.

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Embry POV

By Saturday, Jake had worn his dad down enough that Billy gave up and ordered him to spend the day with Bella Swan. Guess he figured that the three of us had put enough time in on our rez tasks to earn us a day off—or else he was sick and tired of Jake pestering him. Not that Jake hadn't done the work expected of him as a council member's son—he had—but he'd used every free minute to bug his dad. Billy had said Bella was fine this week, spending time with Leah Clearwater and with some girlfriends from school. But Leah was busy this weekend, and the friends had their own families, so someone else would need to keep Bella company while Charlie Swan went fishing with Billy and with Harry Clearwater. Jake had immediately volunteered himself, and Quil and me, to take care of that.

I might have wondered why I was on my way into Forks with my two best friends, but I didn't need to. I'd been best friends with Jake and Quil for as long as I could remember, had spent as much time at their homes as I had at my own. We were almost like a set of triplets who just happened to have different parents. But that was another thing that we all shared: only having one parent. I'd never known my dad, Quil's had died in a boat wreck when he was just ten, and Jake's mom had been killed in a car accident nine years ago. So the parents we had left had all worked together to raise us.

For Quil and I to follow Jake was nothing new and was truly the pattern of our lives. And having sons of two of the tribe's most important families as my best friends had probably helped me be more included here than I ever would have been on my own as an outsider Makah who only happened to have been born here because this was where his pregnant mom had ended up.

So here we were, going to spend our Saturday hanging out with Bella Swan, the sick daughter of Jake's dad's best friend. I wasn't quite sure what we'd be doing, but this was important to him, which meant it was important to us. Once we got there, Jake let us in with the key Chief Swan had left when he'd come to the Blacks' house this morning.

"So she won't have to try and get up to let them in," he'd said, "and so I won't have to leave the door unlocked." Not that there was much crime around here, but a police chief was always going to think about safety first.

Jake turned for the living room, figuring Bella would be lying on the couch or something. But she wasn't. "Bells?" he called.

A noise had me turning my head to look up the stairs to see a very unsteady-looking girl standing at the top. When I saw her start to bobble, I dashed up the stairs and caught her before she could start to fall. Cradling her against me, I could almost feel the pounding of her heart.

"Gotcha," I said, shifting her weight more evenly in my arms before turning to go back downstairs—figuring that that was probably where she'd been heading to begin with. When I did, I saw Jake and Quil both standing at the bottom.

"Th-thanks," she whispered.

"It's nothing."

"Way to go, man," Jake mouthed at me.

"Chair or couch?" I asked Bella when I'd carried her into the living room.

"Um, chair, I guess."

I got her settled while Jake and Quil crashed on the couch. There wasn't much room left for me, so I perched on the arm of the couch and took my first good look at the girl I'd just saved from a cracked head or some broken bones.

Jake had gone on and on about her for months, ever since she'd moved to Forks and come down to our beach on a day I'd been busy with my mom. But skin he'd described as pale was now a waxy grey, and she had the look of someone who'd lost weight that she didn't have on her to lose. Hair once like polished mahogany was dull and limp; eyes once deep and compelling seemed lifeless. And yet I could still see why Jake had been—was—so interested in her. Even the sickness and heartbreak she was enduring right now couldn't completely wipe away who she truly was.

"How are you doing, Bells?" Jake asked.

"I hate this!" she exploded.

"Hate what, exactly?"

"Being helpless, like a baby. I can't manage the stairs at all now. I can't cook or go to the store, or be at home alone. I can barely make it from my bedroom to the bathroom without being out of breath! I hate this!" Anger brought a little color into her face. Bella's voice had reflected her emotional state, but got breathy toward the end—I could tell she was trying not to start coughing. I walked into the kitchen and came back with a glass of water for her.

Jake leaned forward on the couch until he could be sure she was looking at him. "I get it, Bells. Anyone would be upset when they can't do everything they used to. My dad—well, it took him a long time to really accept being in the chair. He's okay with it now, but at the beginning… But the docs said you'll get back to 100%, right?"

"Yeah."

"So be patient." She gave him a dirty look and Jake laughed. "Yeah, I know: easier said than done."

The quiet of the room was broken by the growling of Quil's stomach.

"Jeez, man, " Jake griped. "Didn't you feed that thing this morning?"

Quil looked offended. "Of course! But I'm a growing man."

"Growing goofball, actually," I teased.

"Shut up, Call," Quil shot back.

Bella turned her head and seemed to see me this time. "Call? Is that your name?"

"Sh—sorry, Bells," Jake apologized before I had a chance to say anything. "Can't believe I forgot to introduce my friends here. The one who caught you is Embry Call, and the walking stomach is Quil Ateara."

It almost felt like a punch in the gut watching her try to put a faint smile on her face, and I vowed to someday see a real one there.

"Hi," her voice was quiet but sweet.

"Nice to meet you," I replied, and it was nothing but the truth.

Jake popped back into the conversation. "I know about Quil, but what about you, Bells? You hungry?"

"I guess."

"I'll fix something," I offered. "You two catch up."

After glancing at the kitchen contents, I pulled out bread, eggs, butter, and milk and got French toast going, with some scrambled eggs in another pan in case Bella didn't feel like the French toast. While I worked, Jake filled Bella in on life on the rez, and the car he was rebuilding.

"Grab a tray or a table or something," I called into the living room when I started putting the food on a plate for Bella. Carrying it in, I saw that Jake had found a TV tray at set it up in front of Bella's chair. "French toast, scrambled eggs, and your choice of milk or juice."

"Juice, please," Bella requested.

"Hey, what about me?" protested Quil.

"Do I look like your mother?" I retorted. "Either wait your turn or get your ass in the kitchen and fix it yourself." I didn't tell him there was more food waiting on the counter. Quil grumbled, but jumped up and headed for the kitchen.

"Walking stomach," I quoted Jake's words. "Bella, does this look good or do you want something else? Crap, I should have asked you what you wanted before I started cooking."

"It looks good, but I don't think I'll be able to eat all of this," she confessed.

"Don't worry about it. Just eat as much as you think you can handle and one of us will finish the rest. Hey, Jake, you better grab what you want before Quil inhales it all."

"Sure, sure. What about you, Emb?"

"I'm okay," I dismissed it.

"I'll feel weird if you're the only one not eating." When Bella said that, I couldn't help grinning.

"Okay, xad'ak, you're on. One eating contest coming up."

Bella's mouth dropped open at my words. By the time I got back with my own plate, it was still hanging open.

"Looks like you're ready…and so am I. Jake, Quil, one of you give us the mark."

Jake looked at me like I was crazy, but went along. "Okay. Ready…set…go." I put the first bite in my mouth.

"Okay, one for Embry. Can Bella match it? Yes, she can," Quil played a mix of commentator and cheerleader. I got a quick grin and a thumbs-up from Jake as Bella took up the challenge. When our forks both dropped onto empty plates, I was the one on the receiving end of Bella's look this time.

"You tricked me."

I responded with a look of my own, one of utter—but insincere—innocence. "It's a proven fact that people eat more when they're distracted; you know, watching TV or something like that. I just gave you something else to think about besides the food."

"Is he always this sneaky?" she asked Quil and Jake.

Jake thought about it. "No…well, maybe, I guess he is. You know they say it's always the quiet ones you've got to watch out for."

"Ha ha," Bella replied. Then, to me," I seem to be saying thanks to you a lot today."

"Don't worry about it."

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Jake POV

With a clap of my hands, I caught Bella's attention again. "So, breakfast's over now, so what should we do next?"

"Oooo!" Quil cut in. "There's a Godfather marathon on TV today!"

"What's that?"

We all stared at her. "Bells," I shook my head. "How can you not know about The Godfather? That's like, wrong somehow. 'Leave the gun, take the cannoli.'"

"Sorry. What's it about?"

"Guns, crime, murder, sex," Quil helpfully informed her.

"Um. No," Bella was emphatic. "I don't think so. I'm in the middle of a marathon of Friends, so why don't we watch that instead?"

My friends and I exchanged glances. It could have been worse—she could have been in the middle of a chick-flick marathon instead, but Friends? Well, if that was what she wanted to watch… "Okay, Bells. Friends it is. You want to stay in the chair or come over here to the couch?"

I was thrilled when she wanted to come over to the couch. I would have helped her, but one glare made me let her walk the short distance herself. In the time it took her, I kicked Quil off the couch, and scooted down to one end so that she'd have most of it to lie down on. When she would have curled up to keep from crowding me, I pulled her feet onto my lap. "It's fine, Bella. Not like your feet are lead weights or anything. You just get comfortable."

With a huff, Quil dropped into the chair Bella had abandoned, and Embry picked up the dishes we'd used. "You guys get started. I'll take care of these and be back before long." He ended up missing almost all of the first episode we watched.

"Jake, we need to make room," Bella told me.

"I'm good," Embry declined. "The floor is fine." He dropped down next to the couch, his head against the arm at Bella's end. Bella being Bella, she pulled out one of her pillows to let him use. By the end of the second disc of the day, I had to admit that the show wasn't as bad as I'd thought. Bella smirked at me when I admitted that out loud. "But," I qualified, "they ought to unplug the mike when they see her coming."

The growling of multiple stomachs meant it was time for lunch. Since Embry had handled breakfast, and the clean-up, I took lunch.

"What'cha want, Bells?"

"Soup, and maybe part of a sandwich."

"On it."

"Embry?" Bella asked.

"Hmm?"

"What was that word you used earlier? The strange one."

"You mean xad'ak?"

"Yeah."

"It's Makah for girl or woman."

"Makah?"

"It's a tribe north of here, up around Neah Bay on the tip of the Olympic Peninsula. That's where my mom came from before she moved here, and my dad, too, probably."

I didn't have to see her to know that Bella wanted to know more than that. I hoped Embry didn't mind sharing, because she might not give him another option. Apparently, he was okay with it, because he told her about how his dad had walked out on his mom before their son had been born, and she'd moved down here for a fresh start.

"I'm sorry," Bella told him.

"It's—well, it is what it is. We get by just fine, just Mom and me, and I've got friends and their families, too, so it's alright."

Part way through the afternoon, and in the middle of another episode of Friends, Bella fell asleep. After a few minutes to make sure she wouldn't wake up right away, we paused the show and switched to catch part of the Godfather run. One day, I'd have to induct Bells into this American icon.

After Bella woke up, she humored us for a few minutes by watching just a bit of The Godfather Returns, but it didn't take long before she demanded a return to the entertainment of her choice.

"I'm sorry I wasn't more fun to be around," Bella told us, as we got ready to leave.

"Bells, you're still getting better. It's fine. Can't speak for these clowns, but I had a good day. We'll just save the high-energy stuff for later."

"She's not bad, for a hok'wat," Quil judged on the drive home.

"She's great, no matter what color her skin is," I countered. And after I dropped my friends off, I started planning all the stuff we could do when Bella felt better.