Chapter 24: To Fight when you feel like Flying

"Mama, come here

Approach, Appear

Daddy, I'm alone

Cause this house don't feel like home.

If you love me, don't let go...

Hold, hold on, hold on to me,

cause I'm a little unsteady."

Unsteady

Angie

As I sat on my staircase, the forest around me blackened by nightfall and night insects breathing life into the dark, part of me was insanely calm. I inhaled deeply as the wind gusted towards me and, as the wind died down again and my hair settled against my shoulders, I exhaled my response to the question of restlessness in the air.

As my fingers curled around my cell phone- locked, but with the picture waiting to be examined beneath my key code- they trembled. It was the only giveaway to any distress on my behalf as I awaited for Sam to arrive to deal with the... the body.

I knew I hadn't killed Laurent. He was immortal, and I should have been keeping my eye on him to assure that he did not reassemble and snap my neck, leaving him in the midst of my error in judgement. A scarier knowledge that I held close to my head and my heart was that I was in so much blatant shock and numbness that I probably wouldn't care much if he did. I wasn't sure what I was more fearful of. Was it the numbness and my lack of motivation to defend myself, a trait that everyone had told me I'd adopted? I couldn't have been more aware of it than I was in this moment. Or, was I more scared of the pain that would come when the numbing ice left my veins?

A dark shadow moved from the left of my vision, far from the path that made it more humanely possible to manoeuvre through the forest and to different locations on the reservation. My gaze lifted slowly, as everything seemed to be moving in that moment. Precisely, cautiously, with a fear that too quick of a movement will shatter the glass protection that had settled over my vulnerable skin. A particularly gentle gust shifted the thick fur along legs of the giant canine, and I noticed the chocolatey brown hue in the poor lighting of the porch light behind me.

"Hey, Quil," I whispered. "How are you feeling?"

I knew he felt awful about missing the wake of Harry Clearwater which had occurred only hours before the tragedy. Quil looked down, his muzzle pulling down in what could only be seen as a look of disappointment, but he made no sound.

I frowned, and waved him forward. "C'mere."

He hesitated, looking at the forest line. Obviously Sam had put him at a post, and he was checking quickly for threats. Upon finding nothing, he stalked forward slowly. Under different circumstances, and if I wasn't aware that this was one of my best friends in the entire world, I might have moved back to a more secure position near to the house. As it stood, a solitary chill still swept down my spine.

Quil's great big head settled gently on my knee for a moment, and I sifted my fingers soothingly through the thick hair at the base of his neck. He huffed out a sigh, before standing back up to his full height and taking his spot at the tree line. Mere seconds after he took up his position once more, a human body emerged from behind him.

"Sam." I greeted, rising to my feet fluidly. He looked me over quickly, before looking over my shoulder and into the house.

"Is he still where you left him?"

I shrugged, running my tongue over my dry lips. "I didn't know what else to do. I think the... head, is in the kitchen. The rest of him is..."

Sam settled his warm hand on my shoulder, massaging the tense muscle with his thumb. "You did good, Angie. We'll take care of the rest of this mess."

"Okay." I replied, my voice barely loud enough for me to hear. He passed me without catching a breath, and I leaned against the railing gently. My left hand curled around the white painted wooden structure without faltering. My phone clipped against the wood as I attempted to settle my right hand, and I set it aside. Thoughtlessly, I thought. But the tremble of my right hand before it tightened against the railing didn't escape the notice of Quil, and his ear twitched in response.

Jared appeared a half minute behind Sam, human, and dressed like he'd been running perimeter for a long while now. The dark circles under his eyes were rather pronounced, but he paused to check up on me as he padded into my house as well.

"We'll take care of everything." He repeated Sam's assurance. I felt an unidentified pressure fall onto my shoulders with each promise they made.

I knew I wasn't going to sleep that night. Not after what had happened, what I'd seen, what I'd done. Fear upon fear plagued me until I was my own worst enemy. I was escorted to the side of the house when they finally took Laurent out of my front hallway. Chewing my nails was a habit I'd lost before I'd entered high school. It's strange what stress can make a person do.

Nobody wanted me to stay at my house that night, so I was sent to Emily's to rest while the rest of the pack met and created a new game plan. Obviously something had gone wrong, but I knew that Sam wasn't holding anyone specifically accountable. Today- Yesterday? Last night?- had been a challenging day for us all.

The second I entered Emily's home, the warm tan and green theme of her living room immediately made me aware of how often I'd been sitting in the dark. Despite the warmth that La Push had been granted in the last couple months, when the heating system swept hot air up my arms, goosebumps pricked along every inch of my exposed skin.

"Are you cold? There's a blanket on the back of the couch. If you need to talk..."

Although I wasn't facing her, I saw Emily uneasily shift her weight from foot to foot. I turned and smiled politely.

"Thanks, Emily."

I curled up on the couch with the blanket fixed over my shoulders. I pressed the heels of my hand against my eyes, feeling the dull beginning aches of a migraine sweeping through my head. Despite what I'd believed, weariness finally overcame me as I tried to ease the headache. I fell into a deep sleep.

The pack had all come and gone throughout my rest at Emily's. All of them gave me different responses.

Quil had been the first pack member to appear around the house in his human form, and he said very little. It was uncharacteristic and sent tension through my spine. I was concerned for no more than ten seconds before he paced through the room, sat himself beside me, and gently wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I huddled into his surreal warmth, and somehow my limbs sprawled in relaxation at the same time. I didn't know how long he was there, because I fell asleep under his protection, and didn't open my eyes for another couple of hours.

Paul came barrelling in, all fiery and energetic in our victory. He threw me a compliment as he headed for the fridge, and smiled a little when Emily threw an avocado at his head. Despite how little we interacted, I was thankful for the normalcy he brought into the house.

Jared and Sam were still at the house, monitoring the borders of La Push for any sign of Victoria. Seth was allowed to stay home.

Jacob stopped in after the dark started to break and the black night transformed into the deep blues of early daybreak. He looked thoroughly worn.

Emily rose from her spot, sitting at the table in the kitchen. Out of everyone I'd seen that night, she still managed to look and sound the most lively, but I was hoping that she would sleep sometime soon. From what I'd been told, she didn't get a lot of sleep before I'd arrived. "Hey, Jake, if you're hungry or anything-"

"I'm alright. Thanks anyways, Emily." He responded, but his response seemed disembodied and transparent. He caught sight of my form, amidst Emily's covers with a warm cup of hot chocolate in my hands. Unlike Quil, he hesitated in the doorway before methodically hanging up his coat and putting his shoes beside the door. Emily looked like she might actually faint in shock that any one of the boys would go through that common courtesy. However, once he sat carefully on the love seat, adjacent to the couch I'd been sprawled on since my arrival, she sensed her cue to leave.

"Um, hey." He responded, awkwardly resting his elbows on his knees and fidgeting with the sleeves of his jacket.

And suddenly I actually smiled for the first time that night. "Hey."

Jacob's baffled expression had us both laughing, the sudden explosive tension dissolving like the night as the sunset made itself more pronounced outside the windows of Sam and Emily's home. "Well, you're awfully chipper. What happened? Suddenly feeling the high of proving to the pack that you can kick anything's ass with sheer determination?"

"I didn't have to prove that at all. Everyone already knew." I quipped, taking a sip of my drink with a smile still playing on my lips.

"Yeah I suppose that's true." He responded after a moment of halfheartedly pondering my remark. "Are you generally just feeling better? Or is it my bright smile and friendly presence that's making you so happy?"

I raised an eyebrow. "What if it was your, and I quote, 'bright smile and friendly presence'?"

"Hm." His head tilted gently, and something in his expression made my smile fall gently. There was a sincerity in the look of adoration he was fixing me with. "Well then, I suppose I'd have to stick around and make sure you kept showing off that beautiful smile."

My lips parted unintentionally, and I felt heat blossom across the bridge of my nose. Intentionally, I scanned his features and along his neck. He must have noticed the set of my shoulders tense, because he sat a little straighter.

"What? What's wrong?"

"What? Oh, nothing. I just, I recognized- it's nothing. In fact, I'm a little relieved."

"Um, I'm lost. What are we talking about?"

I dropped my head into my free hand and massaged my forehead a little. "People were sending me a picture earlier that I thought I had to worry about. Evidently, I was wrong."

A moment of silence.

"Okay, I apologize, that was a little vague. Just before the intruder- Laurent, whatever- before I noticed he was there I had just barely sat down from the reception. I was sifting through my phone checking my messages to make sure I hadn't missed anything from Dad, and a lot of people had sent me the same photo with messages to bring my attention to it. I couldn't tell who the other person was, but I know now, cause you're wearing the same green cardigan. So, you finally got Bella under your wing?"

The silence after my explanation was a lot longer than I would have expected, as though he had something to hide. I wasn't a jealous ex girlfriend, set on finding dirt on him and spreading the news everywhere. Clearly I didn't have to, considering how many people got to the photo before they got it to me.

"I suppose I have some sort of chance, yeah."

I scoffed. "What do you mean you suppose? There was some action going on in that photo, and not a lot of it spelled 'get away from me I'm so opposed to what you are doing right now'."

"Yeah, well, that was only one kiss. It doesn't say a lot, considering." His voice grew more monotonous by the second.

"And nothing happened afterwards? At all?" I ventured, smiling amusedly.

He pursed his lips, then sighed deeply. "Everything was going fine. I just wanted to get her home, just to make sure she was alright. This was after the whole," he waved at my phone, "ordeal. When we got there, there was a phone call, and I answered it. It was the bloodsucker that always hung around her, up until he abandoned her in a forest and night."

Jacob grit his teeth and didn't look at me, continuing, "He wanted to hear from Charlie, and I told him that he was at Harry's funeral. The line cut off, and suddenly the rest of the coven decided to infest the Swan residence."

"What?! Is everything okay? What went down?" I narrowly avoided spilling my drink all over my lap by setting it haphazardly on the table. I leaned forward, the blanket falling loosely around my shoulders. "Are you okay?"

Jake smirked, but the look didn't reach his eyes. "Well, I suppose it wasn't the /whole/ coven. But the small brunette one, she came in to tell Bella that Edward thought she was dead. The blonde chick had told him about someone's vision of her jumping off the damned cliff. Somehow Bella found the fault in me and selflessly threw herself in the psychics car heading towards Italy by mid afternoon tomorrow."

I must've opened and shut my mouth a half dozen times before I could process past my own confusion. "So Bella kissed you earlier today, then you saved her and drove her home, and now she's on her way to save the man who abandoned her months ago and she's been trying to forget."

"Could you even call him a man?" He grumbled. I ignored the question, still trying to see any sense of rationality in Bella's actions. From an angle I could see how the promised guilt of misconstruction regarding her life could cost the life of someone she cared for might propel her into action.

"I guess..." I finally spoke after a long moment of silence. "I guess all we can do is wait and see what she does once all of the danger she's facing has settled and matters have been decided."

Jacob scoffed, and I my gaze immediately snapped to his. "What? It's true. Just because she's going to make sure he doesn't end his life, doesn't mean that she's going to immediately forgive what he's done to her and-"

"Yes she will." I swallowed the rest of my words. Jake looked up at me, shook his head, and looked back down. "She will. That's just who she is. She will make sure that he is alright and give up her entire life if it will ensure his safety. I know the type."

I frowned, "Jake, if this has anything to do with what Leah said..."

"Leah didn't have to say what she did to clarify what the situation was. I think all three of us were well aware of how our dynamic had changed."

I settled back slowly, clasping my hands together. "Oh."

Jacob shot me a look that clearly said 'Yeah, really'. There was a long silence where Jacob waited for my response, an explanation, anything. But nothing came to my mind, I couldn't find the words to tell him what I'd been confident in for months. In the face of what my decision might cost, it suddenly occurred to me how feeble my resolve still was.

I couldn't have ever expected for my relationship with both Jacob and Embry to sail on smooth waters just because I had finally figured out who I needed, and who I wanted with me. I had to have known that my indecisiveness would be brought to light, and I wouldn't be the only one effected by my choices.

Especially with how Bella had pulled and shoved Jacob around in the last couple of months, I couldn't sit down and tell him that I was in love with Embry. It might destroy him. That wasn't my role in this whole ordeal. I was the defender, I was the keeper. I wasn't allowed to sit down and cry over spilled blood.

Suddenly I was angry at myself for huddling and hiding out all night while the pack dealt with the consequences of my actions. Why should I be sitting here while the pack added another job to their plate, when they already ran for days at a time and would doubtlessly be redoubling their efforts after the slip up they made today?

Jacob rose from his seat. "Look, I don't know what's going on with you and Embry. With you and I. I just need you to know, because the opportunity keeps evading me and I haven't had the chance to say it lately and I keep barely missing you but I can't-" He looked up, and there was hopelessness and loss and tears in his eyes, "- I can't make the mistake of not telling you that I would do anything for you, and I miss you more than anything, and I think that I am in love with you. Embry is one of my best friends and I want him to be happy, and he is when he is with you. You gravitate towards each other when you enter the same room. I don't want you to leave him for me or make this difficult for you. I just need you to know."

He crossed the room so fast my breath caught in my throat, and he pressed a soft kiss against my temple. "Don't let what Leah said resonate with you too much, Ang. You'll never lose either of us. Ever."

He grabbed his jacket, and he left.

Part of me wanted Embry to be in wolf form. The diligence and the focus of his eyes and the unguardedness of his responses in his most powerful form was what I craved in that moment.

When he finally made it, he was human. His hair was dishevelled, sticking up at odd ends. He was tired, you could tell from any sort of distance. His eyes were dark and worn. His shoulders slumped and even his supernatural grace was lessened by the heaviness of his walk. I wondered how long Sam had him running for before the incident, but only vaguely.

Without much thought, I threw the blanket behind me and rushed towards him as soon as he entered the door. He made a soft, disgruntled sound at the initial impact before his arms found their way around my form.

"Are you okay?"

"Better, now." I murmured into his jacket, inhaling deeply.

I felt him smooth down my hair. Loose as it had been for so long, it was probably one giant, tangled mess from being pinned under the blanket. "He didn't touch you, right?" His question was soft, careful.

I shook my head quietly.

"Good." He breathed in relief. He gently moved me back, looking into the kitchen and the hallway. "Where is Emily?"

"I told her she could go to bed a couple hours ago. She stayed up with me throughout the night, and everyone else had come in to check on me by that time so I told her the food was probably safe."

Embry looked down, obviously catching the serious dip my voice had taken near to the end of my explanation. "Are you still worrying about what Leah said to us?"

"How did you- Oh, wolf telepathy."

"I had to get here somehow." He said, smirking a little for my benefit.

"I can't believe that I almost thought it was you in that photo. I trust you more than that."

"You had to deal with a lot, no one is going to nit pick what you might or might not have thought."

I scanned his frame once more when he leaned gently against the wall. Frowning, I softly tugged his hand. "Come on. We can sit down and talk so you don't pass out on Emily's welcome mat."

We found our way back to my couch, and I settled where I'd been all along. Embry found his spot next to me, an arm around my shoulders and his head resting gently against mine. I curled my legs up into the crook of his body, snuggling closer to him and resting my hand along his forearm. I almost felt like I could sleep again.

It probably would have been comfortable to just doze off in that moment. After a couple moments, my curiosity refused to quiet.

"Why did you still decide to be with me, knowing that I had feelings for Jacob?" I whispered.

He was quiet for a long moment. "Because I love you. I don't know how many time I'll tell you this and you'll see it as some poor excuse. I'd already been trying to win your affection for so long that I figured that, since you'd given me a chance- even if it was only a slim one and I had a chance of failing- I was determined to be good to you up until you made your decision, even if it was hard on all of us."

"Hm, well, when you say it like that I'm the one who is lucky enough to have won your affection." I said, tracing aimless patterns across his arm. "You know I do love you, too, right? More than anything."

I remember hearing the smile in his voice when he told me that he knew, and that it made his patience worthwhile. I don't remember falling asleep soon thereafter.

I knew the moment my eyes opened to the mid afternoon sun outside that I didn't have more time to rest. I quickly fixed my sleeping area, left a thank you note for Emily, and then headed back home.

Before I sifted through my schedule for the day, I threw on a pair of jean shorts and a simple black top. My long, tan legs were almost completely uncovered, begging to be sun-kissed, but also open to the soft winds off the cliff that penetrated the stifling humidity of the upcoming summer.

I sat on the porch again. This time, however, the sun was shining down on the crown of my head, and I cradled a bowl of cereal in my lap. Some time during my rest, the wolves had received important news: The Cullen's were back in town. Edward had been saved. They'd taken up occupation in their previous home after nearly a year of absence from Forks.

Obviously part of me was 'thrilled'. But another part of me was thrilled.

I skipped through my phone contacts, deleting the messages regarding the photo as I moved through the files. Then I dialled a number from the bottom half of my recent contacts list.

There was the sound of a booming laugh in the background of the call, a lilting voice speeding through what could only be a song, and a smile in the voice of Rosalie Hale as she answered my call and responded all in one breath, "You're more than welcome to stop by." Before I could respond, the call promptly cut off.

I was only flabbergasted for a moment before I smiled to myself. It was going to take some time to get used to the psychic.

Author's Note: And so Angie finally lets someone help her. How will her decision effect Jacob? Can Angie keep moving forward, or will the past find new ways to return to her? Can Embry take on the burdens facing him and stand strong? I hope this chapter clears up some questions that have been left in the air since the technical ending of the Twilight part of this series. This will be the technical end of New Moon. I know it was short, but believe me when I say that the Eclipse Adaption of The Sun's Keeper is what I have been looking forward to since I initially started the story. As always, don't forget to Favorite/Follow/Review if you enjoyed. I love you all and thanks for supporting me!