DISCLAIMER: I own nothing in the world of twilight.

AN-Hey guys! As promised, I have updated the summary and Felix from the Volturi has been added as 'Character 2' on my story's description. Although he wont show up for a few more chapters, he is pretty important! I also added a new and improved 'full summary' to my first chapter.

Lemme know what you think

Chapter 11

I awoke at six thirty as the alarm clock beeped loudly from it's place next to my bed on the bookcase. Sighing as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, I stretched and managed to crawl out of bed.

I decided that it would be pointless to take a shower now if I was just going to go outside and possibly get dirt and lake water on me. I didn't look like I needed a shower anyways. I threw the majority of my hair up into a ponytail while my long bangs hung along the sides of my face. Slipping out of my pajama shorts and undershirt, I changed into some jeans and a charcoal v-neck.

I dug around under my bed for my tennis shoes and then headed downstairs for breakfast. Esme must have heard me get up because she was already scooping large portions of eggs and sausage onto a plate. Too much actually.

"Um, even as delicious as your cooking is, I still doubt I could eat that much food, Esme" I said.

She laughed lightly, turned around, and grabbed a medium sized plate off of the other counter. She sat this smaller dish in front of me. "This is your plate" she stated. "And this is Embry's plate" she motioned to the giant amount of food.

I bit my lip shyly. She must have heard him and I talking yesterday.

"Everyone heard you guys" Edward teased as he flashed into the house. His hair was windblown from running. He kissed the top of Esme's classically wavy, copper hair and then dashed upstairs.

I looked back at Esme questionably. "He and Carlisle need to discuss a few things" was all she said.

I shrugged, thanked her for the food, and then dug in. She smiled in her motherly way and then disappeared somewhere down the hall.

Embry arrived just as I finished my breakfast. He knocked on the door lightly and I answered it with my (now clean) plate in one hand and a towel in the other. Despite Esme's protests, I liked to wash and dry my dishes after use so that she didn't need to.

"Hello, May" he spoke.

"Hey, Embry. Esme made you some breakfast" I said, slinging the rag over my shoulder.

His face lit up and we walked into the kitchen together. He sat down in front of the counter and instantly started working a dent into the large portion of food while I talked. "So, I just need to finish cleaning up a few things, brush my teeth, and say goodbye to everyone while you finish eating. Then we can be off on our way" I babbled as I put my dishes back where they belonged in the tall cupboards. He managed to mumble an 'Okay, sounds great' in between bites of food.

I decided to also put away the clean pots that had been left out to dry from last night. A few drops of water were still trapped on the underside of one pan, so I wiped it off with the rag from earlier. I bent down and placed the cookware in the bottom cabinets and then stood back up to put the towel away. I neatly set it on a rack by the sink and turned around to inspect the kitchen for any more work to do, finding none.

I did however, notice Embry was no longer eating. His fork was full of scrambled eggs but it was frozen a few inches in front of his face. His mouth hung open slightly and his gaze was trained on me.

"Um, what? Did I spill water on my shirt?" I asked frantically. Oh my word. What if I had spilled food on my clothes earlier and didn't notice?

"No! No, you're…fine" he assured me. I frowned. Why was he staring at me then? I pondered this and couldn't think of a reason.

So I simply asked him.

"Why were you staring at me then?" I inquired innocently.

His eyes widened and he looked down at his plate, pushing the food around. I thought he wasn't going to answer me at first, but finally he offered "You look nice…" His voice rose in pitch at the end, making it sound more like a question than an answer.

I blinked, caught rather off guard. "Um, thanks. You look nice too" and truthfully, he did. He wore black basketball-sport styled shorts that were knee length. Black tennis shoes were on his feet. A tight fitting navy blue tee shirt clung to his chest. He smiled at my response and then went back to eating his food.

I swept my bangs from my face and told Embry I was going to head upstairs and finish getting ready. He nodded and then I made my way to my room.

I brushed my teeth, grabbed a light jacket, and then headed back into the hallway.

Edward? You here? Who is still in the house? I need to say goodbye to everyone before I leave.

I figured that asking him for a bit of help couldn't hurt. If he was around and in range of my thoughts, I should get a reply. If not, I could just knock on every single door of this giant house until I found someone.

I heard a chuckle behind me and turned to see Edward flash to my end of the hallway. I wondered where he came from.

"I was just in Carlisle's office, actually. I came up here when I heard you. Rosalie and Emmet left early this morning to go visit the Denali coven up in Alaska. Jasper and Alice are in Seattle for the day and are gone as well, so you don't need to say goodbye to everyone before you go. Also, Jasper has put off training until tomorrow…

"Now," he went on like he had an announcement "you and Nessie can officially have today off rather than just the morning that you had originally planned. Jasper says tomorrow though, will be a tough session. Enjoy today while you can" he all but ushered me down the stairs.

I thanked him and then said goodbye to Esme, Carlisle, Renesmee (who was about to meet Jacob down in La Push), and Bella as she came in from the cottage.

Embry was waiting by the door and he greeted me with a warm smile as I approached. He opened the front door for me and we walked down the long driveway of the property together. A few yards in the distance, I saw a large black truck. It looked old and classic with a polished paintjob and shined metal bumpers. "Wow, what a beauty. Dodge, right?"

He nodded, "1983 Dodge Ram. Jake helped me find it and I fixed it up a little. I glossed the paint, had the interior repaired, small things that helped to enhance it overall." He shrugged, but I could tell that he was secretly kind of proud of the metal beast.

"I like it. You didn't change it too much or ruin the integrity of the model" I spoke as I climbed in the passenger seat. I looked around inside the cab and appreciated the retouched interior.

I couldn't stand it when people took a nice car with a history and then ripped out the original seats and then painted some wacky design, like flames, down the side of it.

He looked genuinely touched at what I said. "Gee, thanks May" he beamed as he buckled his seatbelt.

I shrugged and smiled, "No problem."

XXX

We drove in silence.

It wasn't an awkward drive, though. Truthfully, I don't think either of us felt the need to just talk incessantly the whole ride to the lake. Embry focused on driving while I watched the view of the forest rushing past us.

We weren't going far from the Cullen house. I could still tell that we were on the borders of wild forest land and the woods I jogged through quite often. The trees looked lovely and I longed to stroll under their boughs, close my eyes, and listen to the dry fall leaves rustle in the wind.

"We're here" Embry suddenly announced.

I blinked in surprise. The car was now still and parked to the side of the narrow dirt road he must have turned onto a few minutes ago. Clearly, I was so lost in my thoughts that I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings.

He got out of the cab of the truck and I followed, opening my door and hopping out of the high seat. My feet hit the ground with a soft thud and I strolled over to Embry near the gate of the truck bed. He lowered the hatch and I saw two tackle boxes, a large cooler, a plastic grocery bag, a rag, and three fishing rods.

"I brought two fishing poles that might be suitable for you. I wasn't sure which size your arms would be more comfortable wielding. I wouldn't want you accidentally hooking one of us" he chuckled.

I pictured the catastrophe and grimaced, but then laughed it off. I held out my arms and Embry passed me the rag, plastic bag, and one of the handled boxes along with the smaller rod of the three. My items were easy to carry and lightweight. He took the cooler and stacked the other tackle box on top of it. He held these with one arm while the other took a hold of the remaining two rods.

I followed Embry as he led us down a winding path through the trees. We walked for a few minutes and my ears picked up on the sound of water lapping lazily against the earth. I focused harder and heard the chirping songs of many bird species and the buzzing of little flying insects.

After about a minute more, we broke through the trees into a vast open space. My breath hitched in my throat as I took in the spectacular view. A large, sparkling lake sat before us. It was many football field lengths in size. The water was dark, but far from filthy. Mosses and reeds grew around it in patches. On the far side of the lake opposite from us, tall hills peaked with thriving evergreen trees framed the body of water. Puffs of morning mist rolled slowly over the center of the lake and through the trees.

"Wow…" I murmured.

Embry turned to me with cautious, hopeful eyes. "You like it?" he asked.

"I—I love it" I stated in wonder, staring around us. I snapped from my trance and looked at him. He watched me curiously and the corners of his mouth slowly turned upwards into a soft smile. "I'm glad" he said.

He started to set the items down onto the crunchy grass a few feet from the water. I followed suit and laid out the stuff I carried.

"The plastic bag is for any trash, like lure packages, pieces of line that we have to trim off, old bait, things like that. The rag is to wipe our hands off if they get muddy. Um, let see here—oh" he opened the cooler and dragged it over to me. He began to point out the contents "Some sandwiches for us. Slices of cheap American cheese are one option for bait. A few water bottles there. And the net cage." He brought out a large paper bag from the cooler and took out of it a bunch of compressed wire netting. I looked at it quizzically and watched him fold it open into a three-by-four rectangle cage.

"When we catch a fish, it goes in here. We keep the cage in the lake with a rope attached. This way, the fish get to remain in the water until we're ready to leave. Then they go into the cooler, which should be empty by that time if we eat all the sandwiches. Any questions?" he offered.

"Nope" I said, making a popping noise on the 'p'.

"Okay then, you can start testing out the two rods and see which one you like more, if you want" he proposed. I nodded and went over to the poles. One of them was a bit shorter than the other and it was blue with soft cork padding. It was very lightweight and simple. The other was all black with matching grips. It was sturdy, strong, and it fit in my hands perfectly. I quickly decided that I liked it the most.

I glanced over my shoulder at Embry. He had taken both of the tackle boxes and sat them side by side. He undid the latches and opened them up. He was already attaching a reel to his fishing rod and adding a hook and bobber. Soon, he got up and went to the cooler to get some cheese to place on the hook.

"You can go ahead and line your rod and get things set up, May" he suggested. I scowled down at the pole, realizing that I had no clue how. Ted always did all the work for me when I was little. All I had to do was sit there and wait for a fish to bite. Perhaps it was time that I learned to figure it out for myself?

I sat down in front of the tackle boxes and peered into them. The more I studied the items, the more intimidated I got. There were countless numbers of colors and different sizes for each piece. I had no idea what to do.

"Um…Embry"

He turned over to me, "Yeah?"

"I have no idea how to do this" I mumbled.

He walked over towards me. "That's okay. Here, I'll teach you" he offered and crouched down next to me. He gently took the rod from my hands and placed it on his lap while he worked on the reel and prepared the line. He spoke clearly and in detail as he described what to do. I watched intently and tried to file the information in my head. He looped the line through the metal circles along the rod of the pole. Soon enough, the fishing pole had a hook and weight attached neatly to the end of the translucent cord. He took out a small pocket knife from the box and trimmed the excess fishing line from the knot that held the hook.

He let me inspect the work and I was just about to thank him for helping me, when he suddenly cut the line and undid all of the work he just completed. I looked at him in shock.

"I want to see you try it now. You won't learn completely from just watching" he stated and handed it to me.

I stared at him, eyes wide. I doubted that I wouldn't screw something up.

"Go on" he urged.

I glanced hesitantly down at the reel that held the strong cord. I tugged on it gently and pulled out the line. I put it through the loops until it reached the end of the rod. Next I grabbed a weight and hook from the tackle box, glancing at Embry's face for reassurance. He nodded silently in encouragement. Everything went smoothly until I had to tie up the ends. I couldn't figure out how to knot it properly.

"Here, let me help you" he said gently. His breath hit the side of my neck. He took the line in my hands and slowly tied it together. His nimble fingers touched mine ever so softly as he guided me through it.

I abruptly became aware of just how close we were to each other. He was crouched on one knee, bent over my body slightly. His hair fell forward over his brows messily. The morning sun bounced off of his skin, making it glow warmly. His light brown eyes were lit up…wait—his eyes?

He must have caught me studying him and his gaze was currently meeting mine. How long had we been looking at each other? It didn't matter. His eyes always captivated me. Flecks of gold and copper were speckled throughout them. They moved slightly, jumping side to side as he focused on each of my eyes as well.

"May…" he breathed. He sounded hesitant and his voice was a fraction of a pitch lower than usual. His brows were pinched together. Was he confused? No, the emotion his face expressed was different. I couldn't place it.

A squawking noise above us made me jump. I bumped into Embry and glanced up, some sort of heron or egret bird flew over our heads. It headed over the lake and into the trees. I sighed, placed a hand on my chest, and tried to calm down my racing heart. Embry chuckled and helped me up off of the ground.

XXX

We had been fishing for a few hours now. Embry and I were spaced out ten yards apart from each other so that our lines wouldn't get tangled in the water. Mild chit-chat went on while we sat on the bank of the shore. Embry had caught quite a few bluegill (which were rather small fish in general, no bigger than my hand, but he assured me that they were good to cook in a pan) and then he switched bait to catch larger fish, particularly bass.

I, on the other hand, caught two medium sized bass and then that was it. It was like all of the fish in the lake were suddenly avoiding me. I didn't mind too much, though. I got to enjoy being outdoors and look around the lake as I sat patiently. I almost couldn't believe that such a beautiful place was so close to the Cullen house the whole time and I just now found out about it.

I was brought out of my thoughts when Embry began to reel in his line and set his fishing pole down on the grass next to him. He got up and headed to the cooler. A moment later he walked over to me, holding two water bottles in one hand and a bunch of sandwiches in individual zip-lock bags in the other.

I stood up and reeled in my line as well. I placed the rod gently on the yellowing grass and then turned to face him.

"I figured that you were hungry" he shrugged. As if on cue, my stomach rumbled noisily. I laughed, "Yeah, thank you"

We both sat down with the sandwiches in a pile between us. "I don't know how many you can eat, but I made fifteen" he said rather nonchalantly. I looked at him incredulously

"Fifteen?!"

He gave me a look that suggested he could easily eat more than fifteen sandwiches and have room for more. "Yeah, so how many do you want? Five?"

"How about just two?" I giggled.

He passed two bags to me, along with one of the water bottles. I thanked him again and then opened one of the bags to take a bite of the sandwich. Roastbeef with melted parmesan cheese on white bread. Simple, yet fantastic. Bread was one of the few human foods I just adored. It was soft, spongy, and fluffy. White bread was my favorite and I was glad that my system got used to the stuff so quickly.

I finished the first bite and then spoke up, "These are perfect! I love sandwiches and I can't believe I went so long without them."

"Well, that's great because they're about the only thing I know how to make" he joked.

Slowly, a steady conversation picked up while we ate. "How did you find this place? It's absolutely beautiful" I asked him.

"I found it during patrol about three years ago. I decided that it would be a great fishing spot. Nobody comes here, so there's no competition. Over at the reservation there's a smaller lake and a river that runs right through it. Everyone goes there, so it's not as quiet and peaceful like it is here" he explained.

"My uncle Ted used to take me night fishing along a riverbed back home. It was a lot of fun, but he never got to teaching me how to set up the reel and line. That's why I had a bit of trouble earlier" I said lightly.

"What about you?" I wondered.

"Hm?"

"Did your dad teach you to fish? Your quite good at it…far better than I am at least" I smiled.

He thought for a moment. He appeared to be debating if he should give up a piece of information. Finally, he spoke up "Leah and Seth's father, Harry, along with Jake's dad, Billy, taught me how. Harry passed away about ten years ago. He had a heart attack. Billy is still here and doing well though," he paused "I don't know who my father is, actually."

"What do you mean?" I inquired seriously.

He studied my face for a few moments. He looked guarded almost, but that melted away into… trust? Maybe that was the emotion he gave off.

Finally, he relented. "Mom knows who he is, but she has never told anyone. Not me, or even him. The reservation thinks that my father could be either Billy Black, Quil Ateara the fourth, or Joshua Uley since Mom was from the Makah tribe and I ended up with the shifting gene somehow." He shrugged.

"So you're either related to Sam, Jacob, or Quil? One of them could be your half brother?" I asked.

He shrugged and looked down at the sandwich in his hand. It must have been his fifth by now. "Yeah, but I try not to dwell on it too much. It used to drive me crazy years ago and I was angry at my mom for such a long time. Now I just try not to care anymore…" he trailed off.

I nodded and tried to process the information he told me. Embry didn't need my pity or sympathy…no, he was a pretty tough guy. He didn't need to be coddled and treated any less than usual. I decided that the best thing I could do was to just be there for him.

I simply placed my hand over his and smiled encouragingly at him, then continued to eat my sandwich in silence. I looked out at the surface of the lake and tapped my toes lightly as my mind wandered off, my hand still resting on his. From the corner of my eye, I saw him lift his head and watch me curiously. I decided to play it cool and continue to look at the water. After a moment, a smile spread over his face and he eventually returned to eating his lunch in the serene calm.

XXX

Embry returned to his normal, happy self by the time we both finished eating—in fact, he seemed to be even more cheerful and optimistic. We kept fishing for a few more hours and I ended up catching more fish than he did. By mid afternoon, we decided to call it a day and I helped him to put the days catch in the cooler.

I waded out into the lake with him (despite his protests and assurances that he could handle it) and together we filled the empty cooler with water for the fish.

We were just about to go get the metal cage with the fish in it, when I ended up 'accidentally' splashing him. Soon, it erupted into a full blown water fight. Embry had splashed me back and then I retaliated. He was now trying to use the cooler as a shield, laughing as I used my hands to scoop up the water and flick it at him. He was backing up slowly and I thought I had him retreating but he stumbled over a rock and fell backwards. The water rushed past his shoulders and he was now drenched.

"Okay, that's it. It's on!" He reached for the lid of the cooler and used it to fling a huge wave of water in my direction. I squealed as the water soaked me from head to toe.

"That's cheating!"

"No, it's winning" he justified and then splashed me again. I giggled and tried to run out of the lake, hopping awkwardly through the water as it slowed me down.

I reached land and plopped down onto the rough grass. My shoes were soggy and I wished I would have remembered to take them off before getting in the water. I pushed the thought aside and decided that it was worth it. I huffed and tried to catch my breath back while I watched Embry.

He strolled out of the water with the cooler in his arms. His hair was plastered to his scalp, hanging in front of his eyes. Water dripped down his body and his clothes clung tightly to his form…I snapped out it and stopped gawking at him. I managed to change my focus onto packing up the gear while Embry put the fish in the cooler. We gathered the stuff and carried it in a fashion much similar to earlier.

"It's a good thing that we're both supernatural beings" I stated, adding dramatic emphasis on the phrase and shook my head, making my wet ponytail wobble and sway. "If we were human, we'd have to make two trips at least in order to carry all of our stuff" I explained as we walked back to the truck.

Embry laughed and flicked my ponytail with his hand playfully. I held back a grin at his casual touch.

"Hey, if you were to shift into a wolf right now…would your fur be miraculously dry somehow?" I blurted. I don't know where that question came from, but now that I think about it… it was a pretty legit thing to ask.

He burst into laughter at my lame question and managed to answer between chuckles, "No…my fur would be sort of damp, but at least it wouldn't be sopping with that lake water."

We reached the truck and loaded up the things into the back. When Embry shut the gate of the truck bed, I realized that I was shaking slightly. It suddenly dawned on me, I was cold. I hardly registered the feeling most of the time. It must be more prominent now because of my wet clothes. At least on the beach when I arrived in America, I had changed out of my seawater drenched clothing to properly dry off.

"Um, Embry?"

"Yeah?" He turned to me as we were about to get into the cab of the truck.

I waved my hands over myself, gesturing to my attire. "It it okay if I wring out the water from my clothes first. It's making me shiver." He frowned slightly, "Yeah that's fine."

I waited a few moments.

"Er—Embry?"

"Hm?"

"Can you turn around, please?" I twirled my finger, insinuating that he should face the other direction.

His eyes widened, grasping what I meant, and he quickly turned around. I spun to face the trees and kicked off my shoes, then peeled the socks from my feet. I shimmied out of my jeans and squeezed as much water from them as possible. I hung them over the ledge of the truck bed and then lifted my v-neck over my head. I wrung it out too and placed it on the truck. I was just beginning to shake my hair from the confines of my ponytail when a rustling came from the trees.

I froze, eyes sweeping back and forth through the surrounding area for signs of a threat.

"May, hurry up and get dressed…please" Embry urged. He didn't sound panicked, though; more like pained.

Confused and slightly frightened, I slung my shirt and pants on sloppily. Then the wind shifted and the scent hit me: wolf. Laughter filtered through the trees and then Collin and Brady walked casually out of the forest in nothing but knee length denim shorts.

"It's okay, man. Your girlfriend is done stripping. She's fully clothed now" Collin teased. My eyes widened in horror. Collin and Brady had seen me half naked! Embry rushed over from his side of the truck to meet us, growling and yet a dark blush was hidden under his russet skin.

"Well, she's almost covered up" Brady pointed at my chest.

Puzzled, I glanced down at my shirt and realized that in my hurry to put it on, I didn't bother to check to see if it was pulled up high enough. It was hanging pretty low and off to one side, revealing a good two inches at least of the left cup of my simple black bra. I yanked it up hurriedly and I could feel the heat of embarrassment creep over my cheeks. I avoided everyone's eyes and looked at the ground instead. I was sure that Embry had seen the view of my bra when his friends pointed it out.

Despite Collin and Brady being older than me, they were still younger than Embry by quite a few years and they liked to joke around a lot. I remembered that they had called me his girlfriend just a few seconds ago and I struggled to hide another blush.

"What the hell are you two doing out around here, peeping at May like some sick creeps?" Embry demanded, changing the subject.

"Okay, okay" Brady put two hands up defensively. "We just stopped by to give you some news. Right when we were about to shift back to get dressed, May here, just starts taking her clothes off! Anyways, we came to tell you that Sam wants to retire shifting so he can age with Emily…" I could tell that this was big news, but I had no idea what it meant. I still didn't know all that much about these wolves. Brady rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and I had a feeling that there was far more to what he had to say to Embry.

"Go on" Embry prodded. Collin stepped forward and was the one to finally break it to us:

"Aaannnd, we caught the scent of an unknown vampire in the area."