I was sitting in my room in the corner by the window, letting the sun power in and glint off the skin that was partially shadowed by the easel in front of me. In the week since the almost human fiasco I had finished Noah's painting which was now hanging beside Rosalie's and I had begun work on Emmett. Every day he tried to sneak in and get a look at it, but I kept it covered and would catch him if he got to close. Which is why I'm surprised that he hadn't made an appearance yet today, by now he usually had tried at least two times.

Just then there was a knock in the front door and I froze, and opened up my senses but couldn't smell or hear anything different. "Genevieve," Esme called up from where she had answered the door and feeling like it was some scheme of Emmett's I quickly grabbed the canvas and tucked it into my closet before heading down the stairs. It was then that I realized that it must have been some sort of joke or something as Edward chuckled on the armchair in the living room and both Rosalie and Noah watched eagerly from the couch. Stepping out of his office, Carlisle started towards the end of the hall also watching.

"What in the world is going on?" I muttered as I looked around at all of them and moved towards where Esme was still waiting at a half closed door.

"You have a visitor," She smiled and I just shook my head as I opened the door to find Emmett there.

"I hope that you'll accept these," He handed me over a small bouquet of late fall coneflowers, which I'm surprised he even found.

"Thank you," I smiled and I looked to see what he had in the other hand and had to stifle a laugh.

"And this is for you ma'am," he handed over a poor rabbit, which was scared to death, to Esme.

Behind me all three, Edward, Noah, and Rosalie let out a laugh as Esme took it, playing into the act brilliantly. "How kind," She took it and would probably let it go once this was all done. "What can we do for you today?"

"Actually, I was hoping to take your daughter out for a walk," He looked to both Esme and Carlisle.

"I don't know dear, what do you think?" Carlisle smiled down to Esme and I looked down and let out a small laugh.

"He seems like a good enough boy," Esme smiled back to him and then to Emmett.

"Alright, you can take Genevieve out," Carlisle consented.

"Miss," Emmett bowed his head slightly and held out an arm. A mixture of happiness, gratefulness for the effort and also embarrassment coursed through me as I handed Esme the flowers and headed out, looping my arm through his.

"Have fun!" Noah shouted out after us as I reached in and closed the door and we just walked off into the woods.

"What was that?" I giggled softly.

"I'm trying to court you," he defended while giving me a smile.

"Who says I want to court you?" I whispered.

"Well you came," he reasoned, "and if you don't know, I'm going to convince you that I'm worth it." Biting my lip, I looked away and just tried to hold back the wide smile that I felt like giving.

"Why do you want to court me, Emmett?" I questioned as I glanced back up to him, but then looked back in front of us.

"Well the first thing that obviously attracted me to you is your beauty," he replied like it was obvious. "But then I got you know you as caring, loving, creative, and every once in a while you can be fun," he chuckled as I elbowed him while giving a small smirk. "Why shouldn't I want to?"

"What if I just compelled you into thinking all those things and I'm really just this nasty horrible person?" I teased with an exaggerated gasp.

"Wouldn't believe that for a second," He shook his head.

"And why is that?"

"Well first, because you don't feed off humans, and second is because you saved me," He gave me a soft smile. I could sense it coming, the one question that I had been hoping to avoid forever, but it would have to come out sooner or later. "Why did you?"

Licking over my lips, I stalled and hopped up on a fallen tree, letting my arm fall from Emmett's but he seemed to be recognizing what I was doing and held onto my hand. "Well, I couldn't very well just leave you there to be eaten alive," I said and tried to hold back the sadness that I felt by that thought.

"Ok, you could have gotten rid of the bear, but if you had just let the tourniquet off I would have died within moments." He sighed. "If you're going to give me a million excuses as to why just don't tell me."

"What do you mean a million excuses?"

"I mean that there is some reason you chose to save me, some specific reason and I want to know why."

"Have you been talking to Edward," I accused, and pulled to a stop looking down at him a bit angrily.

"No," He defended. "I just know that there has to be some reason you would save me. Why did I matter so much?"

"I did it for Noah," I did exactly what he told me not to.

"Don't lie to me," He rolled his eyes.

"How do you know it wasn't?" I shot back, showing my stubbornness.

"Because you would have waited for Carlisle," he replied. "You wouldn't have risked biting me if you didn't want me here." I paused and just looked away from him as he held me in place by gripping onto my hand. "Alright, don't tell me," he sighed, and I could hear the anger and frustration in his voice and that hurt me more than the idea of the embarrassment of telling him.

"Because, when you looked at me I felt hope for the first time in a long time," I breathed out. "I felt that for the first time in this long life that I could be happy."

"Gen, you know how I feel about you. But I have no idea how you feel about me." He stated and I glanced over to him as he raised an eyebrow, asking me to answer the unasked question which made me a little mad for some reason.

"What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to tell me how you feel. Do you feel for me as more than a friend and brother? Why can't you just do that instead of leaving me guessing?"

"Because, Emmett I wasn't brought up to just blurt out my feeling like you evidentially were!" I shouted out in frustration and tore my hand from his. "I was taught to hide them and smile in public; never frown for you wouldn't dare to let the public know of family problems, or personal problems. So do you honestly think that conveying feelings like that are allowed?"

"Are we in public?" He held his hands out and looked around.

"Why does it matter so much if you're going to convince me that you're worth it?" I asked, still trying to evade the direct answer.

"Because, while I might appear confident Gen, I would prefer not to make a big fool of myself," he sighed. "And no matter how much I might persuade you to like me I can't change your heart."

"Emmett," I whispered, as I looked down at the ground to avoid eye contact. "I wouldn't have accepted to either the challenge or this if my heart wasn't already persuaded that way." With a sigh of my own I dropped down the foot, or so, off the log and onto the ground beside him. "Is that a good enough answer?" I asked softly.

"That is perfect," He spoke and I could tell that he was smiling but was still too embarrassed to look up at him. Evidentially I didn't have a choice though as he took my chin and tipped my head up. "I'm not going to kiss you, because I think that might put you over the edge. But just know that I really do want to."

"My goodness, don't say things like that," I murmured and pulled away before my knees gave out like they were feeling they might do any moment.

"Alright," he chuckled, "but can I do this?" He reached forward and took my hand, and brought it up to his lips, placing a kiss on my middle knuckle.

"Yes," I restrained my smile. "That is perfectly fine."

"So I'm guessing this is too?" he brought my hand down and laced his fingers with mine and I gave a nod. "Well then this has gone much better than I thought it would." He grinned and gave a small chuckle as we started walking again.