All Things Twilight belong to the Awesome Stephenie Meyer. The Pictures belong to their respective owners, and the songs and lyrics belong to the artists and the their respective record labels. The rest came from mah brain . . . Thanks to Miztrezboo for the challenge ;)

Emprise

I can't find my way anymore
And I
Cannot heal the wounds I've created
And I can't let go
Of what's killing me
Reverie by Megan McCauley

Bella . . .

He'd come after me.

That was the thought running through my head as I fell into the seat at the back of the cable car. My heart was pounding so heavily in my chest I was certain it was going to show through my saturated shirt.

No guy had ever come after me before. I'd said goodbye often, and Emmett was the first to fight my decision to bail. It would have been so easy to stay with him; it's what I wanted after all. I may be able to hide that from him but there was never any lying to myself. Walking away was probably the hardest thing I'd done in a long time and regret was ebbing through my body.

I'd told him to let it go before I'd walked away. It was ironic last words from me considering I wouldn't be letting it go for a long time. He'd somehow manage to wriggle his way in somewhere around the vicinity of my sternum, and as I sat here shivering on the cable car I knew it wasn't going to let go anytime soon.

Twenty-four hours with him and I'd seen a future I hadn't even considered before. He made me feel alive, more than I had in a long time. The only other person in my life that had given me the opportunity to be myself and feel like I actually had a life was my best friend Alice. Yet, here I was walking away. Even though I knew I would never have an opportunity like this again.

Sue had said so many times that you just knew when you found someone you clicked with. It was an impulse, a deeply ingrained sense of right, and I knew I'd found that in Emmett.

It still didn't make it the right thing to do though. My life was too complicated, too twisted and discombobulated to drag someone into it. Even if I wanted to stay, and I did, there was never any guarantee it would work. I couldn't just think about myself. I had to think about dad and Sue. If I stayed with Emmett and chose to give up my life with dad, he would be stuck on the ranch and my biggest fear was he'd give up.

He loved Sue; I had no doubt in my mind about that. She was good for him too, but he lived for these small tours, and I couldn't take that away from him. Add to that the fact that I would never know if Emmett really wanted me for me, and I was lost. I didn't think I could stand to be rejected by the one person I'd finally connected with.

I ran my hands down my face in frustration, realizing quickly that I was not only thinking in circles, but I was talking myself out of this every time I even tried to imagine going back to him. It wasn't until my phone chirped beside me that I realized how lost in thought I'd been.

Emmett's name stared at me from the top of the text and I found myself afraid to look down at the message, wondering if he'd finally accepted my goodbye and was giving me one in turn. It seemed unfair that it hurt to think of it that way, but it was no less than I deserved.

My eyes scanned down further and my heart leaped into my throat as the words registered somewhere in my chest.

Bella, You have NO idea how fast my heart races when I see YOU.

I read the words at least four times in my head before swinging around in my seat and staring out the back window into the falling rain. I could see Emmett standing in the rain, his head hanging as he looked down at the phone in his hands. My imagination took off in my head, I could almost see the way the water defined his curls, the droplets that formed on the tips and slid down his face as those blue eyes pleaded and begged me to listen to what he was saying.

I was a fool.

I was making excuses because I was afraid to get hurt, but the truth was; I was already hurting. One day and I was more lost than I had ever been. Was that even possible? To have a connection with someone so profound that spending a day with them can change the way you look at your whole life?

Was I using my dad as an excuse to not live life, like Leah had accused me of so many times? It was so easy for her; she never had the inclination to leave the ranch and search for something more because she had everything she needed at her fingertips. She'd been in love with Sam for as long as I could remember and they were now engaged. Sam Uley, once our foreman, was now becoming part of the family. The way it always had been. I hadn't realized until now why Leah was so content.

It wasn't as though I was in love with Emmett, I didn't know him well enough for all of that, but the want I had when I thought about him was enough to make me realize that there was a possibility of that down the road if I made and an effort and gave the two of us a chance to take it.

My eyes found Emmett again; he still stood where he had been since I'd walked away. An unmoving sentry watching as the cable car took away any possibility of a chance.

Did he feel the same way?

His text made it clear that he was thinking about me, not my dad or who he was. It wasn't about my name. The emphasized 'you' at the end was clearly trying to tell me that he liked me. But did I trust that enough to go back, to take a chance?

The car took a corner cutting my view of Emmett off completely. It wasn't until I felt an ache at the loss that I finally came to my senses. I'd found something worth fighting for and I was running away. I was quitting because of the possibility of being hurt.

I'd always played it so safe, but I refused to do that now. I deserved to be happy. I had to stop putting fear and other people's needs in front of my own. I had to take a chance.

I shivered as the cold breeze came rumbling through the car, but it didn't deter me. I stood up on wobbly legs and pulled the cord to stop the cable car.

Scared shitless, I paced the small aisle unless the damn car slowed to a stop. The minute it took to stop completely felt like a damn century to me, and I was about ready to leap from the moving vehicle, even if I did fall flat on my face on the wet street. At least it would get me moving before I turned chicken shit and changed my mind again.

Thankfully, the moment my feet hit solid ground I took off at a dead run toward the corner. I prayed Emmett would still be there waiting, but if he wasn't I wouldn't give up and turn around. I'd already made my decision and I knew myself well enough to realize I wouldn't back down that easily. I knew where his house was, I'd make my way there.

My feet hit a slick patch as I came to the corner and I slid around it, fighting for traction. There were people everywhere with umbrella's and I couldn't see if Emmett was still there, I had at least half a mile to run before I knew for certain.

My heart was galloping ahead of me and I was fighting to catch my breath. Every time I blinked all I saw was the rejection on Emmett's face. It wasn't how I wanted to remember him, and I knew it wouldn't be, if I could just get through this fucking crowd.

The people were shoulder to shoulder on the streets and the black and reds of umbrellas was like a canopy of trees in the air. I gave up on trying to be polite as I pushed through them, using my body like a battering ram as I shouldered them out of my way.

'Please be there,' became a mantra in my head as I was shuffled and cursed through the bodies. It was like walking in New York fucking City. Californians were supposed to be laid back, but somehow I'd managed to get the impatient bastards on their way home from work.

"Excuse me," I sang, twisting and winding and ducking evil pointed edges of umbrellas.

I finally gave up and hit the edge of the street, propelling myself off the curb and running parallel to it so I could go flat out again. My eyes scanned the spot that I'd last seen him standing in and my heart fell like a dead weight in my chest. I pushed harder swearing to myself I wouldn't give up and let my eyes move to the crossing sign.

My breath choked me the moment I saw his figure standing defeated there. He was waiting for the cross light and I wanted to get there before the light changed so I wouldn't lose my nerve. I needed to be honest with him, give him all the facts so he could make up his own mind. maybe it was a moot point. Maybe he'd realize how fucked up I was and would push me away.

"Emmett!"

The irony of this situation wasn't lost on me. It was exactly the same situation as we'd been in while he chased me. The difference was he turned, and the moment he saw me, hope lit up his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," I panted as I slid to a stop in front of him, suddenly feeling awkward. The cold rain was still falling with as much gusto as it had been when I'd left his house and both of us were probably looking as good as drowned cats at the moment. Not that I cared.

"You came back."

"I couldn't leave, Emmett. All my life I've been running away from having to feel something. I've been hiding behind my dad, my friends, my mom's death. I thought one day with you would be like any other, that I could walk away and just be thankful for that one moment of feeling wanted. But I couldn't do it," I mumbled, my voice cracking as my eyes welled with tears. "I don't know how, or why, but I can't let you go. I don't want to let you go."

I looked down at my hands as they twisted together, the water falling over my skin. I couldn't look at his blue eyes yet, I couldn't see the scene I'd envisioned that first time I'd looked back because I would lose everything I was trying to say.

"I'm not saying that things will magically work out, I just want to try. I left out something while I told you about the tattoo. I said I got it because I knew I was stronger than her, because I wasn't my mother; but Emmett, I'm terrified that I am. I've spent so long pushing away anything that could hurt me, that I forgot what it was like to feel anything. I was numb, right up until the moment I met you."

I expected him to laugh and call me a corny bitch, and my cynicism kept playing out scenarios of him saying he just wanted to get laid, before running away screaming; but he surprised me, and it wasn't in the bad sense either.

"You're not the only one who's pushed people away, Bella. I'm guilty of it too. Those accusations I talked about, they weren't all that nice and it wasn't until you walked out the door that I realized I was trying to push you away."

"I guess we're both idiots then." I smirked, stepping closer. "I would like to get to know you better, Emmett, but there are things you should know about me. I'm fucked up, I heard the conversation that went on between my mom and dad the night she died, I sat on the stairs and watched as she ran from the room. My dad's blamed himself since the day she died, he's never sang one of his songs since. He lives for our small tours because in some tiny way it takes him back to when he was happiest. I . . ." I paused wondering how to say what I really felt without looking like some crazy bitch. "I would very much like to stay in San Fran to spend more time with you, but I can't drop my life to do it."

This time Emmett stepped closer, his hand gripping mine and squeezing gently. "I'm sorry that you had to see that, Bella. No kid should have to see something like that, but you're not her. You deserve to be happy; you deserve to live your life the way you want to. You can't keep punishing yourself because of what happened."

He pulled me into his arms, against his wet chest, and I couldn't help but melt into the embrace. I let him hold my weight as I silently let his words sink in. I knew he was right, I'd always blamed myself for what happened that night, and I'd seen all of these tours with dad as retribution for what I'd done to him. I enjoyed our tours as much as he did, but I'd put my life on hold, pushed away everything so that I could make him my first priority.

I felt selfish for wanting more, but at the same time I knew I couldn't live this way because I wasn't living, I was existing. How Emmett had picked up on that in such a small amount of time with minimal information was beyond me, but maybe it was because he really did understand me.

"I should probably confess something myself," he said quietly into my wet hair. "My name is Emmett McCarty, my cousin and I are partners in Grizzly Records."

Well slap me on the ass and color me surprised. I actually knew his name, it hadn't even occurred to me to put it together even while we were with Rosalie and her band. Well at least their cautionary looks made more sense now.

"That explains a lot," I sighed, looking up at him and finally meeting the pools of his eyes. "I wondered why everyone looked so wary when I started to sing."

Emmett grinned, the side of his lips curling up as his arms wrapped tighter around me. "They were only looking out for me. I have been royally fucked over before."

"I think it's sweet," I mused taking a breath of the early evening air. "So where does this leave us Mr. McCarty?"

"How about we go out on a real date and take it from there?"

I laughed and stepped back, looking up at him with expectation.

"Miss Swan, I was hoping you would accompany me on a date this evening, it is a Friday night after all," he said smiling, his hands moving to mine and holding them gently.

"It's Friday?"

"Yeah, why?"

"What time is it?"

"Almost six, why?"

I grinned, I should be panicked, but I couldn't bring myself to find the emotion. "I'm afraid if you would like a date tonight you're going to have to come to the show first. You wanna meet my dad?"

I had to give him credit; he tried to hide his excitement with a look of fear and anticipation. What he didn't realize, was that my fears had already been disproved in one small text message.

I gripped his hand in mine and tugged him across the street that had almost slowed completely now the lights had finally changed. It was like a sign, a path that I had been afraid to follow finally getting cleared so I could take it. I was still scared of getting hurt, but it was a risk I was willing to take, because Emmett was right. I wasn't my mother.

My mother with her flare for the dramatic had always been imbalanced, and Dad had never really been happy since her death, not until he met Sue anyway. They'd made their choices and now I was making mine. I'd known Emmett for less than twenty-four hours and I knew this was crazy, but I had a chance at happiness and I was going to grip it with both hands. Without taking a chance I would never live my life.

Emmett was the one I wanted to take a chance on. He could break my heart, if I ever gave it to him, but I wanted to take the risk. I was willing to take the leap, because in this one glorious day with him, a future had rolled out in front of me and I could taste happiness. Something I had never found before.

A/N: Well that's the ending . . . I hope it was enough of a springboard that you can see their lives unfold in front of them. I know it's not ideal, 24 hours and then leaving them to their fate, but I figured that it was best this way. Thank you all so much for your support during this little challenge. I had a blast writing it, even if I wasn't sure about some of the things! Every one of you made me feel a lot better about it and I appreciate that. You guys are AWESOME!

Thanks to Miztrezboo for the challenge. it came about due to me finishing Privileged and having to wait for NaNoWriMo to come around. All of the Pictures and information can be found on the blog, just remove the spaces: challengedme. blogspot. com

Thank you to both Hev99 and Cravingtwilight. I somehow managed to accumulate two amazing beta's. You guys have made this better so thank you :)

Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed. I was blown away by your response to the little ditty! You're all awesome! Love you guys!

Hope you enjoy! Much love & Huge Hugs ~Weezy~