Legna keeps me sane. She deserves an award for it, too. New Bellie category, maybe? Best Beta? Beta Who Puts Up With the Most Ridiculousness?

hmonster4 will love this one. If I owned any of them, which I do not, I would give her Emmett.

In Which Emmett Comes Out to Play

I was standing over a wok filled with sautéing peppers and onions. It was way more food than two people could hope to finish, but I didn't think it would be a problem because tonight we had a third.

Emmett was coming over for dinner.

Fajitas were on the menu for the evening; it was the first time we'd repeated any of our Tex-Mex Tuesday meals. Jasper said it was his favorite of all the dishes I had made, and we figured Emmett would appreciate it.

I was excited to see Emmett. He and I had never been particularly close, but I had known him better than I had known Jasper. Emmett had always been the more willing to just chill and watch TV with me or play video games if I was killing time waiting for Edward.

Emmett wasn't a bullshitter. If he had something to say, he'd tell you. And he might be crude as hell and fucking scary looking, but he was a genuinely nice guy with wicked wit. He was deceptively smart, something people often didn't know because they were so focused on his outward appearance. Of all of the Hales and Cullens, I thought I might identify best with Emmett. Our senses of humor were similar and he laughed at my bad jokes as quickly as I laughed at his.

Rose had been included in the dinner invitation, but Emmett had said she was getting drinks with the guys from her "office." After majoring in Physics in college, Rose declared she didn't want to go into research or teaching, and decided to follow her true passion. Two weeks after commencement, she had enrolled in auto mechanic school. She had graduated at the top of the program a year later, and had been working at a local auto body shop since then. She was now one of her shop's senior technicians, even though she'd only been there for a bit more than a year.

I envied Rose's ability to put herself out there like that, in what was almost an exclusively male industry, and kick ass. If I had been Emmett, there was no way I would have been comfortable letting her hang out with the other mechanics on her own, but if any chick could protect herself – and probably drink all of them under the table – it was Rose.

While I was sure that Rose had turned down the invitation less than politely, I was choosing not to take it personally.

It had been a calm two weeks on the J. Hale-B. Swan front since Jasper and I had officially gotten together. We were seeing each other more frequently than twice a week, now. Jasper was staying over most nights that he visited, but we still had our share of alone nights, too. We had gone out with Angela and Ben a couple of weekends ago, and were planning to see them this coming weekend, as well.

I had been on a constant watch for any signs that Jasper was depressed or worse, but everything about him seemed copacetic to me. The sometimes-reasonable voice in my head kept reminding me that maybe I just didn't know what to look for, since I had very obviously missed it last month. I hoped to remedy that tonight.

Now that Jasper had joined my gym, I was going more regularly and would join him on the nights that I didn't work. He had started coming to Sunday morning kickboxing with me and I wasn't surprised that he was picking it up quickly.

The sound of the doorbell, followed by a succession of loud raps, startled me out of my cooking trance. I gave the veggies another stir and made sure not to drop the spoon this time as I set it on the counter.

Frick and Frack were standing on my front porch, arguing about something. I swung the storm door open and tried to get out of their way before they could crush me in a stampede of twenty-something hotness.

"Babe." Jasper leaned down to kiss me as he walked past. "That way, fucker." He pushed Emmett toward the kitchen.

I followed them in just as Emmett deposited a case of Tecate on the counter.

"Bella, I swear to shit I was going to bring good beer, but this ass insisted on this canned crap." He jerked his thumb at Jasper.

I gasped, only semi-theatrically, and Jasper and I shared a look.

"Emmett, Tecate helps weave Tex-Mex magic. You'll see. There's nothing quite like it." I pushed past him to get back to the stove. "Now, both of you sit the hell down. This kitchen is not big enough for me and you two oafs."

Jasper and Emmett shoved each other trying to get to the table and narrowly missed knocking the platter of steak to the ground. I sighed and started handing things to Jasper for him to arrange on the table.

I pulled a few cans of Tecate out of the fridge - I had a steady supply of it these days - and put some of Emmett's contribution in to chill.

I took my seat between them and handed Emmett the tortillas so he could start.

"B," Emmett said through a mouthful of meat and veggies, "the leftovers have never been anything but amazing, but I gotta say there's something to be said for getting it fresh."

Jasper squeezed my knee under the table and I grinned at Emmett. "Well, you'll have to keep coming back, then. Maybe Rose can come with you next time."

Emmett froze mid-nod and looked at me over his raised beer can. "Seriously?"

"Of course. It would be nice to see her." I tried to keep my tone light and thought I did a passable job. Jasper apparently disagreed. He made a noise that sounded like a half snort, half cough. When I narrowed my eyes at him, he just blinked innocently.

"Uh, I'll ask her," Emmett said. "But, you're not going to be upset if she's 'busy,' are you?"

I shrugged. "No. It's a standing invite. If she ever wants to join you, bring her." I was optimistic that with the Jasper-Emmett buffer, Rose and I could get along for a couple of hours. We were going to have to do it eventually.

The boys did most of the talking through dinner. It was fun seeing Jasper screw around with Emmett. It was clear that their bond was deeper than just friendship; Rose and Emmett's inevitable marriage would only be a legal technical stamp on their brotherhood.

Emmett was currently interning at an architecture firm downtown and cheerfully shared a couple of raunchy stories about his coworkers. He had finished his Masters a couple of months ago and had surprised everyone when he decided to go for his Doctorate. He joked that Rose was going to be his grease-monkey sugar-mama. He was entering into UW's Urban Design and Planning PhD program next month.

It didn't take long for Emmett and Jasper to decimate the food. I stood and started clearing the table but Jasper wrapped his arms around me from behind, pinning my arms to my sides.

"You guys go sit and chill, I'll clean up this..." he nodded at the table. "You never get to see each other."

I raised an eyebrow but Jasper kissed my neck and pushed me away. He swatted at me with a dishtowel when I attempted again to help.

It had been raining, of course, so my front porch was damp. I unlocked the door to my postage stamp-sized backyard and led Emmett outside. I had a small stack of plastic lawn chairs that I kept covered and Emmett helped uncover and arrange them. We situated them facing the thin copse of trees that ran behind my house and the ones next to mine.

The air was surprisingly dry and we sat for a few minutes, enjoying the silence.

"Emmett, can I ask you something?" I looked behind us to make sure the kitchen window was closed.

"Of course, B."

"When Jasper is depressed, what's it like?"

"Why, do you think he is now?" Emmett instantly turned alert eyes to me.

"No! No. I just... want to know what to look for," I shrugged. "For all I know, this could be the way he is when he's depressed and I just don't have any way to know."

"I would say," Emmett said, relaxing slightly, "that he is fine right now. It's been awhile since I've seen him this... happy or loose, I guess. And that's saying something for Mr. Laidback." He lowered his voice a little bit. "They never talked about it much, but we could all tell that things with Alice and him weren't good, for a long time. It was painful to watch. I was actually glad when they ended it, even if it's been fucking weird for everyone."

I ached a little bit at what Jasper must have gone through with her while apparently not speaking to anyone about it. "So, what do I look for?"

Emmett thought while he crushed his empty beer can. "The times it's really gotten to him before... he's just not wanted to do a fucking thing. He'd lock himself up in his room and not come out, or he'd just stare at the television. For hours. He would sleep a lot. I think those are the things it would be easy to see." He turned in his chair to face me. "You sure you don't have a reason for asking this, Bella?"

"Positive. I just... want to be able to help him if he needs it. Or know when to get him the help he needs."

"He's, well... he's Jasper. He might as well be blood. It's good to see him like this." Emmett waved his hand around vaguely. "But, B," he said, his face still serious. "You have to promise me something."

"Sure, Em."

"If you think Jasper's not okay, if you even suspect he's depressed or using, and he won't call Carlisle... promise me that you'll call me."

"Okay, no problem." That backed up the plan I already had.

"Promise it, Bella."

"I promise." I had never seen Emmett this intense about anything. It felt good to know for sure that Jasper had someone on his side other than just me.

"I don't care if it's three in the fucking morning, you call me."

"I will."

"And since you started this, and pretty boy seems to be taking his sweet fucking time playing Donna Reed, if he's using, particularly H, he'll be hyper and erratic, probably. Forgetful. Sex will be... a challenge." He held up his hands before I could say anything. "This is the kind of shit of dinnertime conversations when your dad's a doctor. And some of it I've seen before with him." He frowned.

I nodded, extremely grateful for the information. "Em..."

"Something else?"

"When he was using..." I hated to ask this question, but the cop's daughter in me knew it was the responsible thing to do. I took a deep breath and studied my short fingernails. "Was he ever violent?" He certainly hadn't been two weeks ago... but he was so much bigger than I was. If he ever got aggressive, I'd be in big fucking trouble, kickboxing or not.

"Hey." Emmett bumped my knee with his. I looked up and he was very solemn. "What happened?"

Looking into his green eyes, I almost told him the whole story about the night Jasper had been late. But Jasper really did seem okay, so I didn't feel it was my information to share. I hadn't seen any of the behavior that Emmett had mentioned.

"Nothing. I just..."

"Want to know what you're getting into?" Emmett finished.

"Yeah, I guess." I blew out a long breath.

"I don't know if I can really help. He and Alice got together in high school, right after Jasper got out of rehab. When you're that young, things are a lot different, and your relationship doesn't grow the same way as it would if you were older. What the fuck are you looking at me like that for?"

I realized I'd been grinning at Emmett's philosophical rhetoric. Who knew? "Sorry, just never saw you as Dr. Phil."

He rolled his eyes but continued. "I know I'd take a bullet for the guy and that he'll treat you right. Aside from general stupid guy shit, I've never seen him be violent, ever. I'd like to think the medication he's on eliminates the need to worry about the other shit, but I guess there's no way to fucking know for sure." He paused and watched me, maybe waiting for another question. When I didn't continue, he did. "If you ever need to talk, B, about anything..." He held up his cell phone.

"Thanks, Emmett." I smiled at him and he ruffled my hair. "I-" I didn't get a chance to finish. I jumped slightly and we both turned around at the sound of the door behind us closing. Jasper walked out, beer in hand, and sat in the empty seat we'd put on my other side.

"What're you two talking about? Looked pretty serious." He said it lightly but his eyes didn't leave mine as he sipped his beer. I was learning that he was intuitive as hell, particularly when it came to me. I was giving him a pass on missing the signs Angela said I had been throwing well before two weeks ago; maybe he hadn't known I was interested in him because I hadn't known it myself.

"B was just talking about school and what she wants to be when she grows up," Emmett said smoothly. "Tiny tykes are serious business."

I was a little surprised, but went with it. I averted my eyes to Emmett, hoping Jasper would choose this moment to be less attentive than usual; guilt poked at me that I was talking about him behind his back, even if I thought it was important to have the information from Emmett.

If he thought our behavior was strange, he didn't call us on it.

Jasper called us assholes when Emmett and I complained that we only had five weeks until our summers were over. The bookstore had scheduled me through the end of the month, and they had said I could come back during any of my breaks, or work just weeknights during the school year, if I wanted.

The conversation turned back to Rose and I decided to take a leap, hoping that I wasn't about to ruin our pleasant evening. I wondered if Emmett would be more forthcoming than Jasper had been.

"So... how's everyone else been... since the party?" It had been over six weeks since the birthday party, even though I had only found out about it recently. I hadn't asked Jasper for any more details since we had initially talked about it. If he was getting heat at home, he wasn't telling me.

"You mean my brother and sister?" Emmett asked, getting right to the point.

I nodded.

"Alice hasn't brought it up in awhile and it's not something I try talking to her about."

"Was she really pissed?" I looked between the boys as they shared a glance I couldn't read.

"She didn't really say anything surprising – she was just Alice," Emmett said. "And little bro... I think he's just been trying to figure shit out. Figure out if there was something he should have seen or could have done last year. "

"Wait, does he think- I mean, you told him there was nothing, right?" I looked at Jasper in alarm. He had mentioned Alice had asked him about his own feelings, but I hadn't thought about it going the other way.

Jasper shrugged. "I haven't really talked to him about it."

"Hey," Emmett said, "I only have so much information to go on but I told him I was pretty sure you two weren't fucking behind everyone's backs."

"Emmett!" I half-shrieked. Jasper started rubbing my leg while I turned what I imagined was an extremely attractive shade of hothouse tomato.

"Sorry, B. You know how he is when he gets something in his head. I had to stop that I'm-so-tortured shit immediately or he would have gone crazy. I didn't want to have to try to stop him ag-"

"What?" I whipped my head up to look at Emmett. Jasper groaned. "Stop him from what, Emmett?"

Emmett looked guilty for a fraction of a second before resuming a matter-of-fact expression. "Last year, he took the whole thing with you pretty hard. A couple of times he had one foot in the Volvo, determined to come over here and talk to you about it. I didn't think that was a good idea. Fuck, where the hell's the beer?" He got up and disappeared into the house.

I looked at Jasper. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You never seemed to really want to talk about it. And I wasn't going to bring it up and risk upsetting you for no reason." He wrapped an arm around my neck and pulled me in for a kiss. I gripped the front of his long-sleeved t-shirt tightly. We broke off when we heard Emmett open the door.

Emmett handed us each a beer as he sat down and then held up his can. "To fucked up families and fucking amazing fajitas."

We clinked cans. Fireflies flew dizzy patterns along the grass as we drank in silence.

"Sorry you've gotten caught up in this, Emmett." I sighed and leaned forward, chin in hand.

"Hey, knock it off." Jasper slipped his hand under my hair and started massaging my neck. Over the past couple of weeks, I had gotten more used to his near-constant touches, but I couldn't stop myself from shivering as his fingers ran along my skin.

I tilted my head up to look at Emmett. "I can't imagine that they'd like it if they knew you were here."

"Oh, they know." He tipped back in his chair and bounced a crushed can in one hand.

"Really?"

"What the fuck does it matter? I'm not leaving my boy in the lurch just because he didn't follow 'the rules' or whatever the fuck. Shit's not always perfect. I'm more worried about what Rosie's going to do to me than what the Wonder Twins might plot. I figured if Rosie knew, it was only a matter of time before she told Alice anyway, so I told them." He looked at Jasper. "Sorry, J."

"Nah, it's better like that," Jasper said.

"And not to drag this shit out, but I think Edward might be okay with this." He pointed two fingers at Jasper and me.

"Really?" I looked at Emmett hopefully.

"Yeah," he shrugged, "he told me to have a nice time tonight."

I smiled at Jasper. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad with his family.

"As much as I want to keep talking about this," Jasper said, looking at Emmett, "Helen said you guys are out of town next weekend, when she wants to do that brunch?"

Jasper's tone sounded... wrong... like he was trying to be casual but was failing miserably. I was immediately suspicious.

"Yeah, Rosie's garage is hosting a booth at a convention in Portland and they want her on-site. We'll be out of town all weekend. You guys going?" He looked at me and then back to Jasper.

Jasper turned to me. "If Bella agrees."

"Brunch?" I was picturing Helen Hale and twenty Garden Club ladies with their well-dressed but downtrodden husbands. I wasn't sure if I was terrified or okay with the idea since I would likely just be able to blend into the background. I would probably have to wear a skirt.

"Yeah, Mom is always complaining that we're never at the house enough. She wanted to do brunch with Rose and Em, me and... you."

I wasn't sure what to be horrified about first. That we'd be alone with his parents or... "Me? She knows about me?" It came out shriller than I had intended and I wondered if I'd woken the neighbor's dog.

Emmett snickered and batted away the empty can Jasper chucked at him.

"She called me yesterday to tell me that our aunt and uncle are going to be in town for the Labor Day party, and I told her I would be bringing someone with me," Jasper said. "I hope."

I nodded. We had already sort of talked about it and I'd implicitly agreed.

"She mentioned she'd already had the idea about brunch and wants to do it next Sunday morning. And since Em and Rose are busy, it would be just the four of us."

"Um." I'd met Mom and Dad Hale before. When I'd been dating Edward. I looked at Jasper, panicked. "Does she remember me? She's going to think I'm the slutty bitch who stomped on Edward and is just jumping from one Cullen/Hale bed to another. Particularly if Rose has ever said anything about me!"

I covered my eyes with my hands. I could see it now. Disapproving glares. Awkward silences. Forks I couldn't identify. What a fucking nightmare.

"Bella." Jasper pried my fingers gently from my face. He was crouched in front of me and wove his fingers through mine. "Babe, she doesn't think that."

I laughed and could tell I sounded a little hysterical. What the fuck was wrong with me? I'd known this had to happen eventually.

"I can picture it now. 'Hey, Helen. Yes, I did date Edward and apparently broke his heart. Yes, I'm fucking your only son now, and yes, your daughter hates me, as does her best friend. Alice. You remember her? Want to hear how I broke my wrist? You have a very lovely home. Is that damask or brocade?' Oh god." I closed my eyes and tried to remember where I'd put my passport. I realized too late I might have gone too far mentioning Alice and squeezed my eyes more tightly shut.

I heard coughing and opened my eyes to see Emmett red and apparently trying not to swallow his tongue.

"B, I'm so sorry, I'm not laughing at you," he choked out. "But, seriously, you have nothing to worry about. Helen's even nicer than Esme. And I think she secretly knows what a bitch Rose is and takes what she says with a grain of salt. Helen's chill." He took a deep breath and grinned at me.

I looked down at Jasper and was surprised to see he was trying not to laugh, too. I dropped his hands. Leaning back in my chair, I slipped off a flip-flop, put my foot in the middle of his chest, and shoved hard. He dropped onto his ass, surprise lighting his face.

I then made the strategic mistake of looking over at Emmett, who had turned a brilliant shade of magenta. He caught my eye and totally lost it, his roaring laugh shaking loose birds from the trees in the yard.

I giggled at Emmett and then couldn't catch my breath because I was laughing as hard he was. I was suddenly on my back on the damp ground, Jasper hovering over me, a wicked smirk on his face.

"Something funny, babe?"

I clapped my hands over my mouth in an attempt to quiet my cackles.

I thought I caught "damask" amid Emmett's howls.

Jasper bent his head and pressed his lips to my neck. I started to calm down. He kissed his way up my neck to my ear. "Better now?" he asked. I nodded as I sucked in another huge breath of air and enjoyed the feel of his lips on me, even if I was lying in the middle of my backyard.

"If you leave out the bit about fucking me, I think you're good to go. Helen's going to love you," he snickered in my ear. He got to his feet and pulled me up with him.

Emmett was wiping tears from his eyes but was otherwise looking much calmer. "Fuck, I'm so sorry we're going out of town. Maybe Rosie can get out of it."

We sat for a bit longer before Emmett stood and said he had to get going. I packaged up the small bit of remaining food for him and walked with both of them out to the Jeep. They had arrived at the same time but driven separately so that Jasper could stay.

When we got to the Jeep, he pulled me into a hug. "Thanks for having me over, little sis."

He was turning to get in the Jeep when I remembered something. "Hey, Em?" I waited until he was looking at me and then said softly, "Jasper told me that last year you followed me to the hospital. Thanks for that." I smiled up at him.

He shrugged and ruffled my hair again. "That's what family's for. Catch you two kids later."

Jasper and I walked back to the front door slowly, hands joined. He stopped to lean against the porch railing and I nestled against his chest, head tipped back to look up at him.

"Well," he said after a long moment, "that was interesting."

I giggled, a little giddy knowing that not only did Emmett have Jasper's back, but he had ours, too. Our first champion in what would likely be a tough battle.

I stood up on my toes and Jasper dipped his head to meet me halfway.

He pulled back abruptly, a serious look on his face. "What the fuck is 'damask'?"

Oh, Emmett. You make me want to write an entire story about you.

Indie and Bellie nominations are due today. Links to both sites are in my profile.

See you Sunday! (Or maybe beforehand, for an Embers update.)