A/N: So sorry about the delay in posting. This time of year is crazy. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it. I don't know if Native Americans actually do celebrate Christmas, but I do, and I'm sorry if this chapter offends anyone because they aren't Christian or believe in the holiday of Christmas. This chapter is named after the song Baby It's Cold Outside sung by many different artists, although I think Bing Crosby is the first to sing it? Along with Doris Day, of course.

"I've got to get home

But baby you'll freeze out there

Say lend me a coat?

It's up to your knees out there!

You've really been grand

I feel when you touch my hand

But don't you see?

How can you do this to me?

There's bound to be talk tomorrow

Think of my life long sorrow!

At least there'll be plenty of invised

If you caught pneumonia and died!

I really can't stay

Get over that old out

Ooooooooh!

Ahhh but it's cold...Outside"

~Baby It's Cold Outside

Last time: Emmett hated to just leave her there like that, but he needed her to figure this all out. He knew that he loved her, and now she knows it too. But what she does now, means everything.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters that are in this story, except Ariya. She is my own little creation.

Normal POV

Sam and Ariya were busy decorating the house for the holidays. The tree was put up and decorated with red, green, and gold with a red and green bow. It was snowing outside, fresh cookies were out to cool off, and Christmas music was playing all throughout the house, setting the perfect scene for this time of year. Sam was busy trying to cheer Ariya up for about 3 months now. Ever since she broke up with Jacob, she had withdrawn to herself. No one ever understood why. The whole pack believes that she will leave the reservation. They saw less and less of her every day. She would lock herself in her room afterschool and even stayed at her father's house more often. Everyone was happy that they got her for the holidays. They saw this as the perfect chance to help cheer her up.

Ariya was staring outside, watching the snowflakes falling down, to lay as a light white blanket over the land of La Push. She just stood there staring, thinking about the past three months.

*Flashback*

Jacob and Ariya were walking along the beach, it was starting to get cold outside, and the leaves were falling down and the trees were becoming barren. She looked at him and took a deep breath.

"Jake, I need to do this." She stopped walking, and he quickly followed suit.

"What are you talking about?"

"We need to break up, Jacob. I can't do this anymore, I'm sorry. But, this is just too much for me to handle. I'm not your imprint, you're not mine to hold onto. I need to find my soul mate, and you need to find yours. I'm sorry Jake." She ran back to the house. Jacob stayed frozen in place, not wanting to believe the words that came from Ariya's mouth.

Ariya locked herself away for the time being and cried a lot. She started to stay in her room a lot of the time, staying away from pack stuff, not wanting to face anyone after the breakup. She felt horrible for the way it was done, but it was necessary, it wasn't fair for the both of them. The whole pack was worried, but they agreed with her decision; she wasn't his imprint. The relationship should've ended when they found out that he didn't imprint on her.

Every day, she was trying. Ariya got up and went to school, and did well. Sam took her and picked her up every day. She came home and went straight to her room and did her homework and came back down to make dinner and went back up after they ate.

At school, she made sure to stay to herself, she wasn't ready to feel happy when she felt so guilty for how she treated everyone. 'I'm so selfish.' Ariya was sure that Edward read through her mind what happened, as that she thought about it a lot whenever she saw the Cullens. Emmett gave her space, knowing that it's what she needed. Some time during November, he started to talk to her again, wanting to be there for her, to show her that she can count on him, that he'll be there for her no matter what. He wanted her to know how much he loves her. His family was there to help him figure it all out. Emmett knew that she needed time before she was in a new relationship. He was so excited that she ended things with the mutt, although he was saddened by the fact she was upset.

They started to get back to joking and laughing together by the time December rolled along. Ariya still couldn't stand to be near the pack. She didn't want to face Jake, knowing that even though she knew what she did was the right thing, it hurt him. Of course, she was happy with Emmett, even though they weren't dating. She felt that they were growing a friendship and, in the future, a relationship that would be very deep and meaningful, instead of just jumping into it like they had before. This made them both very happy. However, she needed to know for sure that this was right, that he was the one. Because, in the end, her life will literally depend on it. If she asks him to change her, and he ends up going away with a new love, she would be devastated. Ariya needs to know for sure.

Emmett ended up finding out about her insecurities, from Edward, and figured that he would do anything to make her feel better. He resolved to kiss her. He did it the last day of school before the holiday break. He wanted to give her something to think about while they were parted. And think about it was all Ariya could do.

*End Flashback*

Seeing a hand waving in front of her face and hearing her name being shouted brought her out of her deep thoughts. Ariya shook her head, trying to rid herself of her thoughts and just pay attention to her brother. She smiled up at him, trying to ignore his worried look.

"I'm fine, Sam. I'm just thinking. I'm fine."

"I know, I just worry about you." They went back to working on the decorations. It was pretty silent between them, the music and the sounds of the furniture and ornaments being moved around being the only things heard.

After a while, Sam broke the silence. "So you're going to your dad's house today?"

"Um, yeah. Why?"

"Because, for Christmas Day, we're having a party here."

"A party? For?"

"For the pack." Ariya froze.

"Sam. I don't-" He cut her off.

"Ariya. We're all so worried about you. You have been locking yourself away and I'm done. I don't know why you're so upset. You did the right thing. And Jacob will realize that in time. I know that it's not fair, but it was the right thing to do. You'll find your perfect guy and look back on these memories and smile. The guys all love you, you're their little sister. They'll do anything to protect you, and seeing you so upset is driving them crazy. Let's get through this. The party is really gonna help. They miss you. Emily especially. She has been going nuts without you there to help her out with everything. She really misses talking and hanging out with you. Please." Ariya took a deep breath.

"Okay. Alright Sam. I'll try." He lifted her up in a hug and kissed her on her cheek.

"Thanks, sweetheart. I love you."

"Yeah, yeah. I love you too."

They went back to work and by the end of the day, the whole house was finished.

"Hey Sam?" Ariya yelled out to her brother, who was in his room.

"Yeah?"

"We have to leave for Scott's. He gets me today for Christmas Eve, and I come back tomorrow around 12 so you guys get me for Christmas Day.

"Alright. You all packed up and everything?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

They got in the car and left over to Scott's house. Ariya contemplated calling Scott, father. It's been six months, and they have grown closer. On one hand, he gave her the space she needed without question, but also made sure she understood that he'd be there for her if she needed him. It was nice. But on the other hand, Ariya knew that she shouldn't get too attached to him. If her life was headed in the direction that she believed it was, she wouldn't be able to see him in the future.

After a nice lunch, Sam headed back to the house on the reservation. Scott and Amber both had to head back to work, but not without promising Ariya that they'd go out and spend time together. Wanting some peace and quiet, Ariya went up to her room and read. With all of the craziness that has been going on so far, it was nice to just relax and slip away into the stories of her books.

Ariya heard a light tapping on her window, making her jump and let out a scream; she was in her own world and didn't notice anything else. She looked up and a smile broke out on her face. Emmett was there, waving to her. She ran over to the window, rushing to open it and be inside of Emmett's calming embrace. She always felt so content, so happy, and so safe whenever he held her. Worries about Jake, Sam, her dad, or the pack just melted away as Emmett enfolded her in his arms.

"I missed you." He whispered into her hair.

"I missed you too. So much. Everything feels so much better when you're around."

Emmett stood back and looked her over, taking in her appearance. She had lost a little weight, and there were bags under her eyes showing a lack of sleep. His heart felt heavy as he knew that she was worrying over her family and him.

Emmett walked her over to the bed and laid down with her, knowing that she was missing sleep. Ariya lay her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him to her. She started to shiver, his cold skin doing nothing good for her during this winter weather. He grabbed a large plush blanket and wrapped it all around her, making sure she was thoroughly covered before he positioned himself back down on the bed with her. Emmett leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. Ariya sighed at the contact, missing it dearly.

They stayed that way for a while, just holding each other. Ariya broke the silence with a sigh.

"They'll be back here soon. We're eating Christmas dinner. I cooked and brought the ham, mashed potatoes and corn. Amber is going to cook the chicken when she gets back, and I will help her with the rolls and beans and filling."

"No turkey? I thought that's what humans eat?"

"We ate that for Thanksgiving. In this family, we eat chicken on Christmas. Besides, there's only three of us. Scott and Amber are going to visit their family tomorrow.

Ariya eventually fell asleep, no nightmares bothering her.

The next morning Ariya woke up to Emmett laying down next to her, playing with her hair. She blushed and looked at him.

"Were you here the entire night?" He laughed.

"Oh god, no. I left and came back about an hour ago. I expected you to wake up a little earlier considering it is Christmas, but I am glad you got a good night's sleep, finally."

"Yeah. I did. Thanks to you. What time is it?" Emmett leaned down and kissed her.

"About 8:30. Merry Christmas, Ariya."

"Merry Christmas, Emmett." He handed her a present.

"What is this? You didn't have to get me anything. I didn't get you anything."

"I know, but I couldn't resist. And just seeing your face when you open it, will be my present." Ariya smiled and kissed him. She opened it up, carefully. She lifted up the lid and gasped. It was a gorgeous necklace, a blue moonstone surrounded by black leaves on a black chain. (Link to picture on profile) Ariya was in tears. It was the most beautiful necklace she has ever received. She looked up at him, smiling.

"It's a moonstone, because of you're tribe and their love for wolves, and the leaves for the forest because you absolutely love living next to one, and it's black because of your family. If you would be a wolf, you would have black fur, like Sam." Tears were streaming down her face and she tackled him, kissing him deeply.

"Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me. You are amazing, you know that?" He smiled at her and cupped her face in his hands, using his thumbs to wipe away her tears. Ariya closed her eyes, smiling, and brought her hands up to hold onto his wrists. Emmett pushed her hair onto one shoulder and moved to put the necklace on her. It glimmered and looked incredible against her dark skin tone. The black chain and leaves helped the blue stand out even more and assisted in showing off the lighter tones.

"I should probably get downstairs. And call Sam. This is the first Christmas morning without him jumping on my bed, screaming at me to wake up. We promised that we'll recreate it tomorrow morning. I'm not opening up any of his presents today, and he's not opening up any of mine." Ariya looked sad at the fact that she wasn't with Sam. "But it was nice waking up to you. I guess I should get used to that." She smiled at him. She sighed again and stood up.

Ariya called up Sam, who answered on the first ring. Emmett listened in to the conversation.

Ariya- "normal" Sam- "Italicized"

"Oh wow, it was like you were staring at your phone waiting for me to call."

"HA! Duh. I usually wake you up at like 7. Did you just wake up?"

"Yeahhhhhhhh. I was sleeping pretty good. You can wake me up tomorrow. Promise."

"I know. I'm glad you got a good night's sleep. Those nightmares have been relentless! Merry Christmas, Baby girl."

"Merry Christmas, Sammy. I love you. And miss you like crazy."

"I love you too. And you have no idea how much I miss you."

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Emmett seeing her eyes pooling with all of her emotions. He reached for her and pulled her to him, trying to make her smile.

"I'm fine. I just miss him. For the past six years, we only ever had each other. He never failed to wake me up on Christmas and keep me happy. It's amazing how time flies." She looked up at him and smiled. "Look, it sucks that I have to kick you out, but I really should get downstairs. They probably think I'm crazy for not being down there yet considering it's our first Christmas together and they only have me until 12."

Emmett pouted and kissed her, a deep passionate kiss that made Ariya feel the tingles all the way to her toes. He went over to her desk and grabbed a bouquet of blood red roses and handed them to her.

"These are from me, Jasper, Edward, and Carlisle." There was a tiny box that he opened to reveal a small silver chain with a couple of dark blue beads on it and a small blue stone heart. (Link to picture on profile) Her breath caught at the simple elegance of it. "This is from Esme, Alice, and Rosalie."

"I didn't get anyone anything. This is all too much." Emmett shushed her.

"Don't worry about it. Okay?" He kissed her forehead. "You should go down now. I'll text you then. Goodbye, Ariya." He kissed her one last time before going to the window.

"Goodbye."

Later on after she gets picked up…

Sam was watching his sister, smiling brightly. 'She's so happy.'

"So, did you have fun? Were there like, TONS of presents for you?"

"Sam! I had fun. And no. I told them not to get me a lot of presents. It didn't feel right."

"Awe. You would. But I love you anyways." Ariya stuck her tongue out at him. He noticed she was playing with a necklace. 'Hmmm.'

"That's a beautiful necklace. Did Amber get it for you?" She had a thoughtful smile of her face.

"No, Amber didn't get me this, and neither did Scott." His eyebrows crumpled together.

"Then who did?" Ariya bit her lip.

"A friend. And that's all the information you're getting out of me."

Sam huffed and turned his attention back to the road. He knew that he was going to get the information out of her one way or another.

They set up for the party, the guys carrying over the food that Emily had spent all morning cooking. Kim would bring over some baked goods. Ariya baked while trying to help Sam set up.

The party went off without a hitch. Everyone was having a great time. There was music, dancing, and most importantly, at least to the wolves, food. Presents were passed around and there was a great sense of family between everyone. The party stayed inside because of the snow. Ariya felt happy watching everyone around her, but felt a bit out of place. No matter what, she knew for sure that the pack is her family and she loves them all as they were her family. However, there was a piece of her heart missing. She knew that Jacob was watching her; she was avoiding him. It hurt her genuinely because he would look at her with looks of hurt, and sometimes, longing. She wants to be happy with him, as a friend. Ariya wanted things to get back to when they were friends, where she could hug him, hold his hand, and get carried on his back everywhere and none of it meant anything. Ariya wanted him to look at her as if they were best friends again, not lovers. It was a selfish wish, considering he was still in love with her, but that didn't stop her from wishing it, nonetheless. She had a feeling that everyone wished it.

Ariya sneaked out after a little while and sat down on the porch, playing with her necklace with one hand and grabbing at the snow with the other. She heard the door open and close and heard footsteps ending behind her. She didn't turn around; she didn't want to know who was there.

"Why are you out here?" The voice of the man she had been missing flowed to her.

"It was getting a little too much in there. I needed to get away for a little while." She didn't look up, not wanting to see the emotions on Jacob's face.

"Can I… um… Do you think that I could sit down?" He sounded so tense, so unsure, it was unnerving to her. That type of voice didn't belong to him; he didn't deserve that.

"Of course. I don't mind. And you don't have to be so hesitant around me, Jake. I want us to get back to being best friends." She felt his hot body plop next to her. They sat quietly for a few minutes, trying to adjust themselves into being so near each other.

"Well I don't know how I should act with you, Ariya. You have been so distant lately. And not just with me, but the entire pack. Hell, even Sam complains about not seeing you enough. We miss you. I miss you. I know that it's going to be hard to get used to not being your boyfriend, but you're not even giving me the chance to be your friend. I really miss you."

"I'm sorry, Jake. It killed me to hurt you like that, and I just thought that it would be easier if you didn't have to see me. Even in the pack mind."

"Ariya. Would you look at me? You haven't looked at me once yet. I wanna see those eyes." Ariya turned to look at him, and smiled at the sight of Jacob; her Jacob to be honest. He looked less pained and more carefree. He even smiled at her. "You have the most beautiful eyes. It's like I can read into your soul just by staring at them." Ariya just blushed, which made Jake grin. "See? We can be friends. I promise." She nodded.

They sat that way for a little while longer, Ariya still playing with her necklace. Jacob reached for the necklace and played with it, his face blank, and his eyes hard. "I thought you and Sam weren't giving each other presents until tomorrow? Or did Scott and Amber give this to you?"

"Um. Neither." Ariya whispered.

"Then, uh, who gave this to you?"

"A friend."

"A female friend?"

"No."

Jacob stood up, abruptly. His face set in a scowl. He turned and went back into the house, not even sparing her one last look.

The rest of the party went by in a blur to Ariya. Jacob's reaction to the fact that a male outside of family gave her the necklace proved that he wasn't ready to learn that she was in love. However, the more she thought about it, the less she cared what Jacob Black thought about her love life. If she was in love with someone, she should be proud, happy, ready to scream to the heavens and share with all of the world. Yet, here she was, scared of what everyone would think. 'You'd think I'd be ashamed of him. But I'm not. I could never be.' It was decided. Ariya would confess her secret love, and soon. 'It's time. I'm sick of waiting.'

A week went by and it was New Years Eve. Ariya was spending the day at her father's house. He was having a business party and she was to be there and count down to the upcoming year. She invited Emmett to go, just so she could have her first New Year's kiss. She always wanted one of those, and now, she could.

She dressed warmly in layers. A cami went under a thermal, which was under a sweatshirt, which was under a huge snuggly jacket. It snowed earlier that day, and she knew the temperature of Emmett's embrace.

They spent the whole night together, Ariya snuggling back into Emmett's chest as they sat under a tree with a blanket covering them, just watching the stars. Emmett snuck a bottle of champagne and two wine glasses as the night was ending. The countdown was beginning from 30 seconds left. Emmett got out the camera in his phone to capture their kiss. The countdown drew to an end with the "3-2-1!" and as they heard shouts of "Happy New Year!" coming from the party, they kissed. And what a kiss it was. Ariya saw fireworks explode behind her eyelids, her heart was hammering against her chest, and her knees grew weak. Her lips tingled with the feeling of Emmett's moving against them and her face was heated. When they pulled apart, Ariya looked into his eyes and gasped at what she saw; pure love and devotion. Just seeing the intensity of the emotions made her go weak at the knees again and Emmett had to hold her up. He chuckled and brought her closer to him. His breath fanned over her face and his sweet scent flowed into her nostrils.

"I love you, Ariya." She thought her face would split in two with the force of her smile.

"I love you too, Emmett." He smiled and brought her in for another kiss.

Her heart was fluttering and her stomach was doing flip-flops. Ariya was so nervous, she felt as if she would throw up. This was something that she knew had to be done, and it was time.

He looked at her, expectantly, obvious to the sounds of her erratic heart, and was worried about what had her so nervous.

"What is it Ariya? You know you can talk to me." She drew in a shaky breath. 'This is it.'

"I'm in love, Sam."

Dun, dun, duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun! Lol. Wow. I wanted to write so much more, but I couldn't bring my thoughts together about it all so far. Hope you liked it. Please review! Oh! And again, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa to those who celebrate them. Just a Happy Holidays in general and Happy New Year to everyone! I love you all, you are my inspiration and my motivation. Thank you so much for supporting me and helping push through this. Until next time

~Ariya-angels

P.S. I posted this after 1 A.M. HOLY CRAP! Lol. I cannot fall asleep that easily. Oh well. :)