Author's Note:

Hello gorgeous doves!

First of all, I know I said Friday and in my defense it's still Friday here. Late Friday, but still Friday.

I'm writing all of these new chapter with WordPad because that's what happens when you don't have things like Microsoft Word or internet access, so I apologize for any formatting errors. I also don't have spell check or a word count so it's kind of a nightmare, but I will power through. (I did manage to re-check the last two chapters and update them with some spelling and grammar corrections).

In the meantime, I'd like to know what y'all thought about the last chapter, I know it was a little different than the usual.

Happy Friday!

Chapter Eleven - Dinner Parties

After the 'almost dinner', as Embry had been thinking of it, he'd felt more comfortable stopping by Alex's house or inviting her to his. He managed to spend at least an hour with her nearly every day since she'd opened up and he'd been relatively happy the last two weeks because of it. As long as he didn't think too much. As long as he didn't think about him.

Just two days after the groups cancelled dinner, Embry managed to convince Alex to meet Sam and Emily. It had gone so well that they'd ended up rescheduling the original dinner for later that week, and despite a short panic attack, it went smoothly. He remembered watching Alex drive to Sam and Emily's the first time.

Her knuckles were white as she gripped the steering wheel and her eyes never left the road. She was silent, her usually pale pink lips were almost blue as she smashed them into a tight line. Though her heart thumped unevenly, he could tell she was determined to see it through so he stayed silent. The drive was tense, and when they pulled up to the yellow house, she turned off the engine but made no move to get out. After a few minutes of silence he determined that she needed a little reassurance.

"Ya know, the first time I met Sam and Emily I was scared. Sam's a big guy, kind of intimidating, a little stern maybe, but can I let you in on a secret?" She nodded. "He's a really nice guy, and underneath everything he's nothing but a teddy bear. You'll see. Plus, Emily is always around to keep him in line. She's the best. She's a really good cook too, and don't tell Sam I said this because he'd smack me , but you're better."

He grinned at her playfully and winked, trying to ease at least a little of the tension he could see in the way she held her shoulders. It worked, and she gave him a weak smile. He opened his door and climbed out before walking around the driver's side and opening her's. He offered her his hand and she took it, but he stopped instead of helping her out and looked up at her.

"Really, it's going to be fine. Emily and Sam, well, they're like family to me and they're great people but I'll understand if it gets to be too much for you. If that happens, just give some sort of sign or tell me and we can go, ok? You're not...if this isn't what you want, then ok. Just let me know."

He needed to make sure it was her choice, that she knew she had a choice. If he was going to be her friend, be in her life, everything they did had to be her choice. He couldn't push her, couldn't force her. He wanted her to know, that if she said no, he'd listen. So he waited, hoping she could read between the lines so she knew he was a choice, but also hoped she only saw what he had said so she wouldn't run away.

"Ok."

And that had been it. She'd climbed out of the car and walked with him to the front door armed with a container of brownies and it had gone perfectly.

Emily had, of course, welcomed Alex with open arms. Even though he'd forgotten to warn her not stare at Emily's scars, she never did. Sam had been his usual self but had broken the ice easily, asking her about the house and the work he'd done for her. By the end of the afternoon, Alex seemed comfortable in their home, though she never completely relaxed. Embry hadn't expected her to adjust so quickly to the two, though he supposed it was hard for her to worry about anything other than her stomach ache when Emily kept pushing food at her. She'd even arranged for Sam to help her design/build a computer desk for the office.

Since it'd gone so well, and because Alex had met and was semi-comfortable with Sam and Emily, Embry suggested she think about rescheduling the dinner, even potentially scaling it back to just be five of them. She'd decided that rescheduling was a good idea, but insisted they didn't have to disinvite Kim and Jared. She was going to try. So she'd call everyone up and found an evening they were all free. Embry was worried she'd have another panic attack, so he'd arrived even earlier than before.

He walked up to her door and knocked, with flowers in hand. He had debated in the car whether or not it was inappropriate, considering she was married and he liked her, but he decided it was fine since she was hosting. But as he stood there waiting for her to answer, he was suddenly nervous and rethinking his decision. She was married, why was he bringing her flowers.

"Embry, is that you? Just come on in its open," he heard her call from upstairs. He open her front door and stood in the entryway, unsure what he was suppose to do. "Can you come up here for a sec? I was getting ready and the bathroom sink started spitting and I can't get it to stop. I'm in the master."

He hurried up the staircase and around the corner, then up one more small set of stairs to the attic, where the master bedroom was. He walked through the room to the door in the corner where he knew the master bath was and then stopped. She was standing in the middle of the bathroom looking speculatively at the sink that was, in fact, shooting water in every direction. But that wasn't what stopped him. Her hair was up in a messy bun with a few loose strands running wild, and she was wearing nothing but a short, grey cotton bathrobe. God, her legs phenomenal. They were pale and creamy and smooth and...

"Oh thank god, I'm glad you're here. I tried to stop it but I think I just made it mad. Can you help? Embry?"

He shook his head and refocused his gaze up to her face as she turned to her head sideways to look at him. "Yeah, just let me take a look."

"I'm going to get some towels and dry of the floor, it's soaked." She went to a little nook in the back and came back with a stack of towels and threw them all around the floor. "I'm so sorry, I know this isn't what you wanted to be doing. I just have no idea how to do these things."

"It's fine, not a problem at all. It shouldn't take me long at all. Do you have any tools?"

"In the garage, I'll go grab them and be right ba-"

"I'll get them, I'm not sure what all I'll need."

"Oh, ok."

He left her and her tempting legs standing in the pale blue room as he headed to the garage. When he came back with a small bag of tools her legs were covered in a pair of dark jeans and she was wearing a grey turtle neck. Her hair was wet still, but she was rubbing it in a towel. Her blue eyes met his and she smiled. "Find what you need?"

"Yeah, this shouldn't take long."

"Thank, Embry. I'm going to go check on dinner and I'll be right back, hollar if you need anything."

Twenty minutes later he had finished and dried the floor, throwing all the towels into the laundry basket, but she hadn't come back up. He listened carefully and could hear her downstairs, but then he realized her breathing was shallow and quick and she was pacing. He rushed down the stairs, skipping as many as he could but stopped just before the bottom. Puzzles.

He changed direction and headed back up to her office on the second floor. She'd said she kept games in her office closet, hopefully that meant puzzles to. He was in luck, there was a stack of puzzles tucked away in the bottom corner, he grabbed two at random and headed back down quickly.

He found her pacing the living room, fiddling with her hands. He stood and the end of her trail and waited for her to look at him. When she did, he held up the two options, "Air Balloons or Kittens?"

After that, things were ok. Kim was quiet as per usual, but sweet as always and Jared had been nice, though he hadn't expected anything else. After the panic attack Alex had done well, she hadn't been quite as comfortable as she had been at Emily's but still. Mrs. Walks was more subdued than usual but seemed happy to be there with her granddaughter. Overall it had been a good evening, and Embry had stayed after everyone else left to help her do the dishes and clean up. When he was on his way out she'd invited him to another movie night as a thank you.

They'd watched The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, which he learned were her among her favorites - she could quote almost any line. He'd asked for her number that night, claiming that if they were friends, then they should have a way to get a hold of each other. When the night was over he invited her to his house claiming that while the movie nights were great, it was time for a video game night. He'd invited Seth and Quil, hoping if he'd introduced her to them slowly and in small groups it would be easier. The video game night had taken place only the night before, and had been horrible.

It all started when Quil, with no understanding of what the word subtle meant, asked her where her husband was and only got worse from there...

Disclaimer:

I don't own Twilight - I do, however, own a highly unflattering neon pink lipstick.