I haven't written a Bella/Emmett pairing in years, but felt inspired after reading Midnight Sun and seeing more Emmett.

This story starts in the beginning of New Moon.

Emmett is still in school Bella's senior year, along with Alice and Edward.

I hope you like it!

Chapter 1

I was ninety-nine point nine percent sure I was dreaming.

The reasons I was so certain were that, first, I was standing in a bright shaft of sunlight – the kind of blinding clear sun that never shone on my drizzly new hometown in Forks, Washington – and second, the brilliantly gleaming crystal arms wrapped around me were too big, too muscular, to belong to Edward. I leaned back into a burly chest and felt hard lips kiss the top of my head.

"Happy birthday, Bella." A deep, husky voice whispered. "I love you."

He spun me around in his arms and I locked eyes with the literal man of my dreams.

Emmett Cullen's hulking body towered over my comparatively slight frame. There was a slightly menacing glint in his eyes, but I was not afraid. I could never be afraid of him.

Yes, this was definitely a dream. I would never be able to have him in real life.

I stand on my toes and wrap my arms around his neck. "I love you too, Em."

I hold my breath as he lowers his head to mine, relishing in the anticipation of his kiss. Though I could never admit it, I had yearned for this moment since the very first time I saw him. When his lips touched mine, my legs buckled and I almost fainted. I'm sure I would have if this were real.

I tightly wound my fingers into his curly dark hair and crushed myself into him as hard as I could. My lips parted and he delicately slipped his tongue into my mouth. His hands slid down my back and pulled my hips into his.

"Are you ready for your present?"

He pressed his icy, perfect lips against my neck and bit.

I woke with a start – my eyelids popping open wide – and gasped. Dull gray light, the familiar light of an overcast morning, took the place of the blinding sun in my dream.

Just a dream, I told myself. It was only a dream, so get him out of your head right now. It's never going to happen. I took a deep breath, and then jumped again when my alarm went off. The little calendar in the corner of the clock's display informed me that today was September thirteenth.

Only a dream, but prophetic enough in one way, at least. Today was my birthday. I was officially eighteen years old.

Of course, the only thing I wanted for my birthday was impossible.

I loved Edward, I did, but I was becoming more and more certain with each day that passed that I was not in love with him.

All through the summer – the happiest summer I had ever had, in many ways, and the rainiest summer in the history of the Olympic Peninsula – it had become increasingly hard to control my thoughts of Emmett. He had become my very best friend - a fact that drove both Edward and Rosalie crazy.

I sighed and shook my head to rid all thoughts of the dream - of that kiss. It could never happen. Forgetting the fact that Rosalie would happily rip my throat out if she had any idea of the extent of my feelings for Emmett, I was sure he only thought of me as a little sister. And then there was Edward. Even though I was sure he knew something was missing between us, Edward was my boyfriend.

And Emmett never would be.

When I went to brush my teeth, I couldn't help but picture myself with the cold flawless skin and bright gold eyes I would have if Emmett had really bitten me. But, that thought was dangerous. When I did become a vampire, Emmett could never be the one to do it.

It was just a dream, I reminded myself again. Just a dream.

I skipped breakfast, in a hurry to get out of the house as quickly as possible. I wasn't entirely able to avoid my dad, and so I had to spend a few minutes acting cheerful. I did my best to act excited about the gifts he and Renee had pooled for. I could see how much this meant to him - especially considering how I used to react to gifts.

Over the summer, Emmett had helped me see how people doing things for me was an act of love. There was no need to feel guilty about it. He helped me see that I deserved that love. That I wasn't being selfish if I accepted it. He really was good for me. The best friend I had ever had.

If only he could be more… I shook my head again to rid the thoughts.

I struggled to get a grip on myself as I drove to school. The vision of Emmett's lips closing in on me was hard to get out of my head. I couldn't feel anything but guilty despair until I pulled into the familiar parking lot behind Forks High School and spotted both Edward and Emmett leaning motionlessly against the polished silver Volvo, Emmett looking like a marble tribute to some forgotten pagan god of beauty. The dream had not done him justice. And he was waiting there for me, just the same as every other day. But then, so was Edward.

Despair momentarily vanished; wonder took its place. Even after half a year in their world, in their family, I still couldn't believe that I deserved this degree of good fortune.

Their sister Alice was standing by Emmett's side, waiting for me, too.

Of course they weren't really related (in Forks the story was that all the Cullen siblings were adopted by Dr. Carlisle Cullen and his wife, Esme, both plainly too young to have teenage children), but their skin was precisely the same pale shade, their eyes had the same strange golden tint, with the same deep, bruise-like shadows beneath them. Her face, like theirs, was also startlingly beautiful. To someone in the know – someone like me – these similarities marked them for what they were.

The sight of Alice waiting there – her tawny eyes brilliant with excitement, and a small silver-wrapped square in her hands – made me smile. It was easier to forget my hidden desires with Alice around. She made us all fill with nothing but joy.

I slammed the door of my '53 Chevy truck – a shower of rust specks fluttered down to the wet blacktop – and walked slowly toward where they waited. Alice skipped forward to meet me, her pixie face glowing under her spiky black hair.

"Happy birthday, Bella!"

"Thanks!" I smiled warmly at her.

"Do you want to open your first present now or at lunch?" she asked eagerly as we made our way to where Edward and Emmett still waited, "This one is just a sneak peak. Your real ones will be at the house tonight."

"I'll open it now," I glanced over to Emmett and saw him look delighted that I wasn't making a fuss about the gifts.

I ripped open the sparkling silver paper and saw it was a small jewelry box. Inside were a pair of gorgeous diamond earrings shaped like the North Star. The kind I always wanted as a kid, but could never afford. The kind Emmett had seen me looking at on my phone last week.

"Alice…" my voice cracked, "I don't know what to say. They are perfect. Thank you so much."

"I'm so happy you like them! I had some help picking them out, of course." She gestured to Emmett and he winked at me. "Did you like the scrapbook your mom sent you? And the camera from Charlie?"

Of course she would know what my birthday presents were. Edward wasn't the only member of his family with unusual skills. Alice would have "seen" what my parents were planning as soon as they'd decided that themselves. At least I was immune to Edward's gift. I couldn't imagine what he would say if he could hear my thoughts.

"Yeah. They're great. You'll have to help me fill out the scrapbook."

"I will! I think it's a nice idea. You're only a senior for the first time once. Might as well document the experience."

Edward reached for my hand then, I took it with only one half hearted glance to Emmett. Edward's skin was, as always, smooth, hard, and very cold. He gave my fingers a gentle squeeze. I couldn't stop myself from imagining what different hands might feel like. How a pair of larger, stronger hands might feel. Edward smiled at me - having heard the stutter in my heartbeat, but not the thoughts behind it.

"So, as discussed," he lifted his free hand and traced one cool fingertip around the outside of my lips as he spoke. I tried to suppress my guilt when I again glanced to where Emmett stood a few feet behind him, "You're going home with Alice after school to change, then you'll come over to our house, correct?"

"Yes. That is correct." I could never quite mimic the flow of his perfect, formal articulation. It was something that could only be picked up in an earlier century, though Emmett almost always talked with a more relaxed cadence. Of course, he always seemed more relaxed than Edward in nearly every way.

"Just checking." He ran his hand through his tousled bronze hair. "You might have changed your mind. I'm glad you finally decided you like birthdays and gifts. I was a little worried you would put up a fight."

Alice laughed, and the sound was all silver, a wind chime. "Of course she likes it. Everyone is supposed to be nice to you today and give you your way, Bella. Enjoy one of your last human birthdays."

Edward growled slightly, but Alice just rolled her eyes.

"Come on, man," Emmett's booming voice gave me goosebumps, "lighten up. She doesn't need this argument again. Not today."

It had been decided months ago that, regardless of if Edward wanted it or not, Carlisle would allow me to choose if I wanted to become a vampire. This didn't stop Edward from trying to convince me and the rest of his family out of it at every opportunity. I was honestly getting sick of it - as was everybody else.

I couldn't really see Edward's point, to be honest. What was so great about mortality? Being a vampire didn't look like such a terrible thing–not the way the Cullens did it, anyway.

Alice took my hand from Edward as we all began our walk towards the school. "So, I got you out of your last class and I already spoke to Mrs. Newton about you not working today. She's trading your shifts around. She said to tell you 'Happy Birthday.'"

"Thanks Alice, you really are the best."

"I know." She gave me a quick hug before bouncing off in the direction of her first class.

Edward rolled his eyes and kissed my cheek before taking off after her. They had English for their first period. Emmett and I had Art together.

I looked down at the box of shimmering earrings I still held. I was sure these were more from Emmett than Alice. But it made sense he asked her to be the one to give them to me. Tensions between Emmett and Edward had been a little high lately. He just didn't understand the kinship between us. I didn't really either, but I knew that - from Emmett's side at least - it was completely innocent. It was obvious Edward hadn't heard anything to the contrary in his thoughts, but him giving me this type of gift would have riled things up unnecessarily.

I looked up into his liquid amber eyes and tried to control my breathing.

"Thanks, Em. You don't know how much this means to me."

"Of course, Bells, don't mention it."

He scooped me up into a big bear hug and swung me around playfully. When he set me down, he continued to hold me. My heart began racing and I tried to pull away, but he didn't let go.

"Um… Em?" I couldn't see his face, but his breathing sounded a little sharper.

"Happy birthday, Bella," he whispered into my ear. Then - just like in the beginning of my dream - he kissed the top of my head.

I froze. This type of gesture felt more intimate than it should. But, this was real life after all, not a dream. Surely it didn't hold the meaning I so desperately wanted it to.

The bell rang and he finally let go of me. I couldn't catch his eye as he turned to the door. I felt my heart sputter and took a deep breath before following him into class.

No one bothered to stare at us as we took our usual seats in the back of the classroom (I had every class with at least one of the Cullen's now – it was amazing the favors they could get the administrators to do for them). I had been hanging out with the Cullen's for too long now for it to be an object of gossip anymore.

Even Mike Newton didn't bother to give me the glum stare that he used to when I didn't sit next to him. He smiled now instead, and I was glad he seemed to have accepted where our friendship stood. Mike had changed over the summer – his face had lost some of the roundness, making his cheekbones more prominent, and he was wearing his pale blond hair a new way; instead of bristly, it was longer and gelled into a carefully casual disarray. It was easy to see where his inspiration came from – but Edward's look wasn't something that could be achieved through imitation.

Emmett was back to his usual joking self as we paired up for our ceramics project. We were making a set of vases and gardening pots for a Christmas gift for Esme. I pushed all thoughts of what I wanted that moment outside to have meant out of my mind. This is real life, not a dream.

"Oh shoot," I was struggling to get the right height for one of our vases at the pottery wheel.

"Here," I felt Emmett behind me, "try it like this."

He put his arms around me on either side and took my hands in his, slowly showing me how to work the clay. The feeling of his strong stone hands on mine, of his sculpted chest behind me, was too much. I felt my heartbeat racing and knew he could hear it. I tried to hold my breath so I wouldn't smell the sandalwood and fresh rainfall that was his intoxicating scent.

"Bella…" his lips were right against my ear, his voice barely a whisper, "I need to talk to you. Away from everyone else. Meet me at the trail behind your house when you get home tonight, right after Edward leaves, okay?"

"Okay."

He straightened up and let go of my hands. My heart thumped.

What was going on? This wasn't usual Emmett behavior. From the way he spoke, I knew he was trying to keep something from Edward. Maybe this was about something he was planning to surprise Edward with? A gift or something. It had to be. I couldn't allow myself to hope it was anything else. It wasn't possible.

When class ended, Alice met us outside the door so we could all walk to World History together. After that I had Calculus with Edward, then Spanish with Alice. I didn't get a chance to be alone with Emmett again.

We sat at our usual table for lunch.

A strange kind of truce existed at that table. The four of us – Edward, Alice, Emmett, and I – sat on the extreme southern end of the table. Now that the "older" and somewhat scarier (in Rosalie's case, certainly) Cullen siblings had graduated, the rest did not seem quite so intimidating - except maybe for Emmett - and we did not sit here alone. My other friends, Mike and Jessica (who were in the awkward post-breakup friendship phase), Angela and Ben (whose relationship had survived the summer), Eric, Conner, Tyler, and Lauren (though that last one didn't really count in the friend category) all sat at the same table, on the other side of an invisible line. That line dissolved on sunny days when the Cullen's always skipped school, and then the conversation would swell out effortlessly to include me.

They didn't find this minor ostracism odd or hurtful the way I would have. They barely noticed it. People always felt strangely ill at ease with the Cullens, almost afraid for some reason they couldn't explain to themselves. I was a rare exception to that rule. Sometimes it bothered Edward how very comfortable I was with being close to him. He thought he was hazardous to my health–an opinion I rejected vehemently whenever he voiced it. Emmett and Alice loved how "bizarre" of a human I was, as Emmett put it.

The afternoon passed quickly.

I got through Gym with Emmett and Edward working together to keep a basketball from ever reaching me, then I managed to act normally with Edward in Music Theory. I cringed internally every time he took my hand. I knew it was time for us to have a conversation about our relationship, but tonight was not the night for that. I didn't even know how to go about telling him of all the doubt I've been feeling.

My last class of the day was English with Emmett, but Alice whisked me off to go get ready for the party. I wish she hadn't gotten me out of that class. I would kill for another five minutes alone with him.

I tried to hide how anxious of a mood I was in as we got ready. Alice had done my hair in beach waves and was currently attempting to get me to sit still enough for some eye liner, but I couldn't relax.

"Alright, enough of this," she sat down next to me, "I shouldn't be saying anything, not yet, but you need to know that everything is going to work out as it should."

"Alice, you don't even know wha-"

"Actually I do. I've seen it all, Bella. I can't say too much or it might change, but I know you're not happy with how things are right now. With Edward, I mean."

I gulped and locked eyes with her. "Please tell me what you know. Please Alice."

Her eyes glazed over and I knew she was looking ahead, to see the possible effects of whatever she might say.

"All I can tell you right now is that a change is coming. A big one. There will be some hurt, but everyone will end up happier in the long run. And, you really need to hear this," her voice softened, "don't ever think that we only consider you a part of the family because of Edward. That is not at all true. We all love you regardless of who you're dating or not dating. You're going to be a Cullen one day no matter what."

I cried. I couldn't help it. If I was really being honest with myself, that was the reason I had allowed my relationship with Edward to go on for so long. I was terrified that if I wasn't with him, they would hate me.

Alice handed me a tissue, "Just stay positive, okay? And I can't say anything else at all about this, but make sure you don't go inside before meeting Emmett tonight."

I wanted to ask her more. So much more. I wanted to know what Emmett wanted to talk about and how I was supposed to go about talking to Edward, but I knew she wouldn't budge.

"Okay. Thank you, Alice."

She eventually finished my makeup. I was surprised to find that I liked it. It was subtle with earthy tones around my eyes and I still felt like me.

"Put this on. It goes with the earrings Em chose," she handed me a large box.

I opened the box and pulled out an absolutely beautiful mid length sleeveless dress. It had an ice blue layer of intricate lace over shimmering silver. I slid it on and was amazed how perfectly it clung to my body. I put the earrings on and couldn't believe how pretty I felt.

"See," Alice said a little smugly, "you should trust me to pick out your clothes more."

Charlie came home right as we were walking out the door.

"Wow, you look so grown up Bella." he gave me an awkward one armed hug, "Have fun tonight."

"I will, Dad. Thanks."

Even with Alice's assurances that everything was going to be okay, I couldn't help the gloominess that washed over me on the way to the Cullen house. Sure, I was part of the family, but I wanted more than that. I wanted Emmett. But, even though I now had the confidence to end things with Edward, there was still Rosalie. She and Emmett had been together forever. She had literally saved his life. There was no way I could ever compete with that.

I took a deep breath to steady my thoughts. I couldn't think about Emmett that way. Whatever he wants to talk about is not what I'm imagining. It couldn't be. I needed to focus on getting through tonight. One more night of pretense with Edward. I could do this.

Thoughts? Predictions?

Let me know in a review!