Sorry this one took longer than usual, I've been working on my HP one and revising for my exams in three days. Oh dear.

Anyway, just like to thank Isodele Imagines for her really lovely review that made me go 'AWW!!!'

This is a little filler-ish, expect imprint nonsense in the next!

***

"Thank you so much Kim, dear." My mum's voice stirred me from my blissful sleep. I wasn't dreaming, and I was grateful for the peaceful sleep free of wolves and glowing red eyes.

"Don't worry about it Mrs Lawden, she said she was feeling sick just before we went inside, then she just collapsed! I thought it was best to drive her back here. Oh I think she's waking up now."

I opened my eyes and realized how dark it was. My sense of time was completely out of wack.

"Mum?"

"Aly, you should have said this morning that you felt sick!" She hovered around me. I just frowned at her worrying.

"I'm okay now." I didn't feel okay in the slightest, my whole body ached terribly.

"Sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll leave you girls up here. Kim's probably got lots to tell you about what work you missed." She nodded to herself then swept out of the room. Normally my mum would have stayed, fussed more, but moving here had changed her. She seemed less interested now. I still was unsure whether that was a good thing or not.

Kim stared at me for a while until I waved a hand at her, wincing at the pain of my muscles protesting. "Sit down." She perched on the end of my bed, still silent. I sighed loudly and rolled my eyes at her, "What? Stop looking at me like that! I'm fine!"

"I'm not worried about your health Aly." She gave me a meaningful look, "Are you okay with the Embry situation." My mind flashed back over the memory and I grimaced.

"Its strange, but… I'm sure I can handle it." I didn't like how shaky my voice sounded.

"No freaking out?"

"Not any more." Kim looked confused; she obviously hadn't been told all the details.

"I ran the first time." Her eyes widened and then she started laughing.

"Come on Kim! If you saw a massive wolf stalking towards you, what would you have done?!" The words slipped out before I had thought them through.

She smiled lightly, "Well I didn't run."

"What did you do? How did you cope?" I whispered, not knowing whether this was the sort of thing she wanted to talk about.

"Well, our situation was a bit… different to yours." She grimaced. "Jared sort of, phased without actually telling me anything about it first."

She saw my curious look and sighed. Then her eyes glazed over, remembering.

"We'd had a massive fight that day. You see, we hadn't started going out by then. I thought the only reason that he had suddenly began talking to me was because of some bet with Paul. So he was walking me home, and asked me to go out with him at the weekend. I basically blew my lid and started yelling at him, asking why we were friends, why was he talking to me, that sort of stuff.

"He rounded on me, saying there was so much I didn't understand about him. I scoffed, saying that he was one to talk seeing as he barely knew a thing about me. Then he began rattling off a list, my favourite colour, favourite food, favourite film. I said that it didn't prove anything and stormed off. And he just stood there where I left him, still yelling at me. He said I felt cut off from my mother, closer to my father. He knew I wished I had someone to be there for me, to laugh with me and to cry with me. He said he could tell when I was upset because one side of my mouth turned down. We had only been talking a few weeks, but all the things he said were true. It was like he had known me for years.

"But I didn't turn around; I didn't go back to him. I left him and ran into my house. I left him standing in the rain. I watched him from my window, but he couldn't see me. He just stood, letting himself get soaked. After about ten minutes of being glued to the floor, Jared turned and ran down the road, disappearing into the trees by your house. I thought, well no, I didn't think. I just raced after him. I was a lot slower, but I found the spot where he had gone. There were pieces of his shoes scattered in the undergrowth, and I thought he had got attacked by a bear.

"So like the idiot I was, I went in after him. I think I walked around for at least half and hour, and then I heard something following me. When I turned to look he was there, but as a wolf. And well, I didn't run like you because he phased back too quickly. I started screaming at him, I have no idea what I was even saying. But he just came and grabbed me. He locked his arms around me in a forceful hug. I kept hitting him, but he just held me until I'd stopped shrieking. Once I had, he leaned down and whispered, 'I'll always be there for you Kim, but you have to be there for me too. This is what I am.' I can still hear him saying it to me now, and any time we fight he repeats it to me. It's more powerful than just 'I love you'. And, well, here we are now."

She shrugged, and her eyes snapped back to mine. "So I guess everyone reacts differently, I went slightly hysterical, and you, well, you fainted." Kim grinned at me.

"You didn't even have an urge to run? To escape?" Her story rocked me, it sounded so much more romantic, but that is what Kim and Jared were like. They were just perfect for each other.

Kim shook her head, "I was too angry for that. But Aly, I can see why you did. Paul made it seem like you were being dragged off to slaughter." She frowned, "We'll have to get him back for that. Although Embry did need a push to tell you. He was so scared about it."

"Well I was pretty terrified too." I huffed slightly.

"But you can understand why he was so nervous? It's a hard thing for them to do Aly. Jared explained it all to me afterward, he said when he first changed he didn't feel human, he felt disgusted with himself. And it's dangerous for us as well, you saw Emily didn't you."

My mouth fell open, "One of the boys did that to her?!"

She looked at me sorrowfully, "Sam did that to her."

I felt a surge of emotion, it was guilt, remorse, terror and pity all wrapped up in a nice bundle. It was so strong my nose burned and I blinked rapidly. Kim caught my mood and shuffled closer, reaching one arm around my shoulders.

"Aly, yes it's dangerous, but you have to decide whether or not you can really, truly accept Embry for what he is. For what any of the boys are."

"Is it all the boys in La Push?"

She shook her head, "They have to have the old blood, from the first pack that protected the tribe generations ago." I nodded dumbly.

"Look, I'll let you think about it. Get some sleep as well, you look pretty awful." She smiled sympathetically.

"Oh, Kim what did you tell my mum?"

She stopped at the door. "You fainted at school and I brought you home."

"What really happened?"

"Embry carried you through the woods to school, he had Quil come and get me, and then I drove you both here. He brought you up, but then left." Her expression darkened, "He's in a bad way Aly."

"Why?" I was genuinely shocked; I hadn't run the second time had I?

Kim looked at me like I was stupid, "You fainted at the sight of him. He doesn't know how you are taking this, but he's thinking the worst. First you run and then you collapse at seeing him? He was always nervous about telling you because he thought you would react the same way he had. Jared said he thought about it constantly, you were never off his mind. Embry thought if you saw him as a monster, then he was one."

"But he's not." I rasped out, my throat felt like it was going to close.

"You should have seen the way he was in the car Aly, I've never seen Embry so," she paused to think, "so desperate."

I didn't have anything else to say, and so Kim left. I went to the window, peering outside. It was still raining just as hard as it had been when I entered the woods. It seemed like a lifetime ago. I felt my hair and found it dry, of course it would, with Embry's body heat.

I stared deep out into the trees, the place that so haunted my dreams now confused me. I believed Embry, that much was certain. He transformed into a wolf. I knew enough mythology to know he wasn't quite a werewolf, at least not my meaning of the word. He could transform at whim, not forcefully with the moon.

I dragged the duvet over to the window seat, and sat there like I hadn't done in so long. I leaned my head against the cool glass and searched my feelings. I thought back to when Embry had phased in front of me. I was scared for us both. That didn't really tell me anything, so I thought back a little further, to when I hit him with the rock.

I felt a little stab of pain when I thought of him hurt, hurt by my own hand. Even if it was only slight as he claimed. I laughed lightly to myself as I realized that I had made him collapse, just as he had made me faint. Admittedly it was from different reasons, but I still found it amusing. I clamped my mouth shut tightly to prevent myself going hysterical, as I knew I would.

I mulled over what Kim had said, and how she never once appeared scared around Jared. Nor did Emily, despite her wounds. I cringed away from that thought and locked it away. I thought back to just before I fainted, I wasn't afraid of the boy when he walked back towards me. When I reached up as I collapsed I had wanted him, I felt safe with him. When he entered the clearing after I had run, him being near had taken away my fear and replaced it with security.

I ticked things off in my head, I was not afraid of Embry Call. I cared for him a great deal, too much to stay away from him. I smiled as I realized my feelings, and I knew deep within that he cared enough for me to let me know this hidden part of him. I pained me to think he had been so worried about telling me. I couldn't bear to think that he had been hurt by my own stupid reaction.

I threw open my window and put my head into the rain. I laughed at the ominous trees; I knew what lurked within them now, their secrets had been revealed. It was not the bloodthirsty wolves of my dreams, but my wolf. Embry was out there, probably with his tail between his legs. I pictured the grey wolf from the clearing, and instead of fear, relief washed through me.

I remembered the night we were both stuck in the cave, and how he had shown me the wolf howl. I had to let him know somehow that I didn't care what he was.

I opened my mouth and let a bird call escape my lips. It was loud and it whistled over the sound of the rain and the wind. It was one bright sound in a place of darkness. I repeated it, just to feel the happiness it gave me. I half expected a wolf to howl back to me, but only the wind responded. It picked up and began to roar. I frowned at the noise; it was trying to block my feelings from reaching Embry.

So I tried another animal call, I threw my head back and attempted to imitate Embry's howl from many months ago. It was a poor try, but it was loud.

I waited as the seconds ticked by. The idea became more absurd to me as I waited, and I knew my family would come and check on me if called again. But then I heard the noise I had been waiting for. The same howl from the cave echoed through the air, and reached me through my window. I grinned and repeated my pathetic howl. A different noise replied this time, it was not a sad howl, but a yip. It was joyous and made my grin stretch so much that it hurt.

Satisfied with myself, and still beaming from ear to ear, I shut the window and returned to my bed. I slept soundly again; my nightmares banished and replaced with dreams of Embry and I. We ran through the forest, not in fear, but in hope.

***

Next one will be Embry POV :)

I've missed that kid.

Hopefully the whole Kim-Jared thing was okay, I'm not a fan of 'flashbacks'