A/N: Welcome to the beginning of the end! Big big big thank you for reading this fic, and an extra-special thank you to the wonderful folk who have been here from the beginning, reading and commenting and cheering me on. I appreciate y'all more than words can say. If you want an ending without angst, this is the end chapter for you. The next chapter will have angst, please heed this warning if complicated endings irk you. Without further ado, here's 25! There do be horniness ahead. Enjoy, homies.

Once she's finished emptying her stomach contents, and well after Embry has carefully hosed his sneakers clean, he herds her inside, depositing her shaky frame onto one of the plastic-wrapped dining chairs.

"Where are we?" she mutters, clearing her throat a couple of times. The acrid taste of vomit lingers in her throat and her nose, clouding her senses and intensifying her shame.

Embry looks around, taking in the sterile surroundings. "The Cullens' old place. I did Edward a favour so he lent me the keys."

"This feels like a dream," she groans, painstakingly rubbing the frozen knots in her neck. "Or a nightmare. I'm not sure yet."

Before Embry can reply, the front door clatters open, revealing Leah, clad in a blood-stained tee and massively oversized basketball shorts. She grins at the pair, bounding over to ruffle Embry's hair.

"Welcome home, asshole," she crows, taking in his dishevelled appearance. "You really gotta start shaving again. That moustache is a crime."

Lex can only stare - between the crisscrossing pink lines adorning her russet skin and the spatter of blood and gristle on her cheeks, she's not quite sure where to look first.

"Don't worry, L. It's not mine," she winks, sauntering off in the direction of Quil's calling voice.

Wild.

"Well," Embry starts, leaning back in the chair, "Where do we start?"

"I thought you were dead," she says, raking her eyes over his battered form. He's filthy and unshaven and ashen-skinned, but he's here in one piece, and that's more than she ever expected to see.

He threads his fingers through hers, squeezing so tightly that her bones throb. "I'm sorry I scared you. I didn't know what was gonna happen until it did."

She nods, pressing her lips tightly together.

She can't cry.

She won't.

"I'll start at the beginning," he promises, stroking her palm. "It's a bit of a long story. I guess it started after I saw Jacob and I got to explain your plan. He didn't love the idea, but he didn't try to talk me out of it, either. He's known me too long to try," he laughs, shaking his head.

"Originally, the plan was for me to go on a spirit quest - lose my mind, find my spirit, all of that shit. Didn't work. Jake locked me in one of the Cullens' old cabins, Alpha ordered me not to eat. I don't know how long I was in there. Time went so freaking slow. All I could do was lie there and think, spending what felt like days wondering how this went so completely wrong. Imprinting was never meant to be about pain, but that's all we've ever done to each other. We're so tied up in hurting each other that we don't know anything else. Our entire relationship is predicated on angst and heartbreak that if you took that away, we'd have nothing."

His voice cracks, and he ducks his head with shame. She should look away, give him some privacy - after all, she's the one who did this to him.

She's pulling the strings.

Embry sniffs, resettling his expression into something tighter, more determined. "I knew we were fucked, but that didn't change how I felt about you. It doesn't change the fact that I love you, Lex, despite everything. There are a million reasons why I shouldn't, and there's a mountain of excuses for why I should end things. You asked me to change, you asked me to take myself apart and rearrange everything until you could be happy, and I said I would. I should hate you for it, but I'd be lying to myself. I wanted that, too, and I can't let you take all of the blame. What we have is so fucking toxic, but I still love you, regardless of how that feeling came about. I don't know what'll happen, but I know that I want you around. I don't want this to be the end of us."

Her mouth is impossibly dry, and the more he stares at her expectantly, the more she feels prepared for a second round of puking.

"What did you have to do to get here?" she asks, swallowing the bile that threatens to escape.

If he's disappointed in her reply, he doesn't show it.

"Oh, well that's the shittiest part of the story. When the spirit quest didn't work, we had to take a more...extreme course of action. Don't freak out, okay," he states, eyeing her cautiously. "It was Rosalie's suggestion actually - one of the Cullens. She thought the wolf was too strong and had to be weakened to break the link. Jake thought about it for a while, but the only solution we could come up with was beating the absolute shit out of me. I won't go into details, but it was bad. He kept going until I was almost dead," he says, speaking tonelessly to a fixed point over her shoulder.

"I think I felt that," she whispers, unconsciously rubbing her palms over her skin.

"You probably did," he acknowledges with a curt nod. "Jake did a bang-up job. Had to do it with his bare hands, too - couldn't make himself continue when he could feel every strike. Once he was sure I was almost dead, he shifted back, booting me from the packs. Basically, he exiled me. I don't know if I can still shift, but I'm not going to try. Hell, I can't feel him anymore, and the pull between me and you is gone. I think Rosalie's idea worked."

Embry stretches lazily, uncoiling his long limbs before her. Just as she'd imagined, there's a myriad of scars, red and ugly and raised like slashes. Cautiously, she runs a fingernail over a curling ridge on his forearm, tracing the places it intersects with other wounds. The first time she tries to speak, her voice comes out as an inaudible rasp, too low for even him to hear.

"I'm sorry," she says, stroking the lines adorning his flesh. "I'm sorry I did this to you."

"Please don't," he chokes out. His skin jumps under her gentle touch. "It started out as something I was doing for you, but this was for me, too. This is the first choice that I've made in the longest fucking time. I wasn't meant to be in the pack, not really, and the longer I spent running with the boys, that part became clear. Maybe leaving isn't traditional, but it's what I wanted - and I still want it. That's what matters to me."

She draws back, nervously tucking her knotted hair behind her ears. She'd expected complications, angst and tears and funeral arrangements, and though she's beyond relieved he's alive, she is wholly unprepared for this reality - the one where she and Embry can coexist without the imperative of an archaic mating compulsion.

"So...what do we do now?" Lex asks, studying him.

He looks remarkably different, exhausted and filthy and infinitely older, but deep beneath that, he is familiar.

Safe.

Wanted.

"I don't know," he admits with a frown. "I didn't really plan this far ahead."

"Neither," she says, relieved at the admission. "Can we work it out tomorrow?"

"Yeah," he breathes, tension melting from his frame. "Maybe this is ridiculous, or pathetic, but I'll regret it if I don't ask."

She nods, watching him curiously.

"Can we just do today like we did before all this happened? Just you and me, none of this complicated bullshit. Let's work it all out tomorrow."

Her mouth draws into a small smile. "I'd like that."

"Alright, kids, we're heading out," Quil calls, leading Kim and Leah through the dining room with a shit-eating grin. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"Is there anything you wouldn't do?" Embry teases.

He pauses, contemplating. "Butt stuff."

"Don't be so sure, Ateara," Leah drawls, squeezing his shoulder. "God put your G-spot there for a reason."

"I'm going to be sick," Kim moans, disappearing out the front door in a flash.

"Right. Uh, well, have fun," Embry says, hesitantly waving goodbye to a red-faced Quil and a smirking Leah.

The moment the door clicks shut, he turns to her, his face adorably befuddled. "Since when was that going on?"

Lex laughs, finally allowing herself to relax. "I'm not sure when it started, but I'm positive they're in deep. He can barely keep his hands off her."

"I know the feeling," he murmurs, and it's as if the world fades away.

"Are we really doing this?" she asks, resisting the thrum of her heart that compels her to surge towards him. "All I've done is push you away." Lex frowns, struggling to keep her voice steady. This shouldn't be so hard.

"I know you don't see it, but it's you. It's always been you. It doesn't matter how many times you push me away, no matter how much you hurt me. I'm still going to chase you, I'm still going to want you, up until the day you tell me to go. I'm here for you." His voice shakes as he speaks, but his gaze never leaves hers.

Somehow, he's telling her the truth.

"I don't get it. You could have anyone you wanted. I'm difficult, I'm one-thousand percent a selfish asshole, and we both know I don't treat you like you deserve. None of this makes sense," she argues, her voice rising.

This conversation feels final, the kind of talk you have right before a break-up, and she's fucking scared. She's so close to finally having him, finally putting aside her doubts, and yet all she can do is keep ruining things. She knows that, and yet she can't stop herself.

"You don't get it, Lex. I don't want anyone else. If you tell me to leave, fine. I'll go. But I won't go running to someone else. I know you, I know what you're like, and I still want you. So tell me to leave. Do it, if you really want to. It won't change how I feel." Embry's voice cracks, and for a moment she can really see the desperation in his eyes.

Somehow, despite everything, he genuinely does care about her.

"What if I can't do it? What if I'll never be ready?"

Embry sighs, running a calloused hand across his face. "If that's what you want, then I'll be the best fucking friend you'll ever have. I just want to be around you, Lex. Whatever you want," he says, his tone a strange mix of strained and despondent.

"What about you? What do you want? You're here, thinking of me, about what I need, and we've barely even talked about you." She feels awful as she says it, but it's true. She's been selfish, flip-flopping between pursuing him and turning her back, as if he's second-best, something to cast aside.

Embry pauses for a moment, and she notices his eyes gleaming in the afternoon light. Tears. He's fucking crying. "What do I want? God, Lex, you have no idea how badly I want to be with you, look after you, make sure you're safe and happy every night. You have no fucking clue how many nights I fall asleep thinking about you, hoping that tomorrow is the day you'll give me a real chance. That's what I want."

All she can do is look at him, aghast. It's many things at once. Him, crying. Him, telling him he wants to be with her, after everything they've been through. Him, talking about loving her. In a heartbeat, things become irrefutably clear; there's only one course of action, and it's already in motion. She moves towards him suddenly, her body pressing close to his. His hands move impossibly slowly, raising to grasp her biceps as if she is fragile. Immaterial.

"Lex…" he trails off, looking at her hesitantly.

She cranes her neck up to look at him. It takes her a second to squeeze the words out. "I...I would like to kiss you," she says softly. She'd love spontaneity, to suddenly press a kiss against his lips, but the height difference is far too great - not even the best pair of stilettos could bring her close enough, even when they're seated.

Embry's eyebrows jolt upwards in a sudden motion. A moment passes, a horribly long pause that makes Lex think he's going to turn away from her, repulsed. At once, his hot hands are reaching down to grab her waist, hauling her onto the ornate dining room table. She's finally (almost) eye-level with him, and seeing his face so close is mesmerising. She's firmly sat on the table, but his hands linger on her body, and she's grateful for the contact that she's craved for so long.

"You want this," he says, and Lex isn't entirely sure if it's a question or a statement, though she nods regardless.

In an instant, his face is swooping down to meet hers, their lips melding in a tantalising mixture of hot and cool, a soft pressure that warms her from inside. His mouth is softer than she remembers, impossibly gentle, and the passion he pours into every touch, every press, is hypnotising. Her hands snake up to rest on his cheeks of their own accord, as if her body is desperately chasing whatever consummation she can obtain, self-control flitting away like summer fireflies. Embry's face is rough with stubble, a delicious prickliness that she can't help but imagine tickling her elsewhere; it's the sort of thought that she'd typically squish down, hiding it deep inside, but she's got little left to lose. Her cheeks heat with the realisation, but he's far too preoccupied to notice, kissing her with the gentleness and surety of a man who has imagined this moment many times over; the way his lips move against hers, the massaging of his fingers against her spine all speak to his purposefulness towards her.

Lex's fingers come to rest in his messy hair, gently tugging on the tangled strands. She means it playfully, but his responding growl and tightening grasp both surprise and arouse her. When he tilts his head to kiss her deeper, tongue teasing against her lips, it takes everything in her to not moan. Her tenuous control is promptly lost as he lowers his mouth to her neck, lightly nipping at her skin.

"You. You're all I've wanted," he growls out, his voice a delectable low tone that ignites a slow burn in her belly.

Instead of something rational or respectable, a tiny, breathy whimper escapes her throat, betraying her desire. She can feel his broad smile against her flesh, teasing the heated skin.

"Lex," he chokes out, his voice a low, animalistic rumble. "I want you to tell me what you want."

She inhales a shallow, shaky breath, acutely aware of the frenetic thumping of her heart. She wants him - she knows that for certain - but it's like launching herself off the cliffs, knowing she can never go back to how things were. She swallows, squirming as he presses his tongue against the column of her throat.

"I want you...to touch me," she breathes, feeling her cheeks warm with the confession. "I've never done this before."

"I know," he murmurs, pressing light kisses across her collarbones. "You're safe with me. I've got you."

His hands ghost over her flesh, skimming her sides until they rest upon the swell of her chest. When she lets out an unsteady breath, his hands still, silently awaiting permission. She shifts impatiently underneath his hands, humming a soft note of approval, and his reaction is instantaneous. Embry's nothing but gentle, exploring and massaging her soft skin with control beyond anything she'd ever imagined. As his mouth drifts further south, peppering her naked flesh with butterfly-soft caresses, she allows herself to move, coiling her fingers around the nape of his neck.

When she'd imagined this moment, whether it was late at night under her covers, or in a steaming hot shower, she'd pictured herself as shy, embarrassed by his laser-focused attention. Now, as she is wholly defiled upon a stranger's dining table, she can summon no shame, only knowing pure delight at his careful touches.

His nimble fingers unbutton her blouse with practised dexterity, allowing her shirt to flutter open. Part of her wishes she'd worn something sexier underneath, something showier to capture his attention, but that thought is summarily dismissed with the hot press of his mouth and tongue against her skin. The noises that escape her mouth are sordid, entirely shameful, though they clearly embolden him as he deftly removes her bra from the equation, dipping his mouth -

"Oh," she breathes, arching under his hungry touch.

He hums in reply, sending electrifying shockwaves through her body. He's better than she could have ever imagined, the perfect mix of gentle and assertive, and it's a mission to keep her mind from racing away from her. Would he go further? Would he dip one of those perfectly calloused fingers into her panties, laying claim to the most intimate part of her body?

Could she even ask for that?

The swirling of his tongue is distracting beyond belief, electrifying her skin and turning her brain to mush. The way she arches beneath him, the sound of her moans in response to his touch, should be embarrassing - she should have restraint, and she definitely shouldn't be moments from losing her virginity on a stranger's perfectly preserved dining table.

For all she knows, it could be an heirloom.

"Stop," she murmurs, gently pushing his head away.

He all but leaps off of her, detaching his mouth with a wet pop. Embry's face is flushed a delicious pink, eyes unfocused, and for a dastardly moment, she contemplates abandoning her morals as readily as she'd abandoned Beaver.

"I can't take my pants off here. I haven't even met these people."

He blinks, taking in her words. "You're...worried you'll offend them? Edward read my mind. Literally. He knows my intentions."

Lex scrunches her face, thinking. "That raises more questions than answers. Can we do this somewhere else?"

Embry grins, face alight with a mischievous grin. "Thank God. I thought you'd never ask."

(They christen the backseat of his truck, and despite the fierce leg cramps and seatbelt pressing into her spine, it is really a very informative experience.)

(So is the second time, on his profoundly uncomfortable couch, but that's in a whole league of its own.)

They stay up late, pressed top to toe in his cramped double bed, watching an entirely forgettable made-for-TV movie. They'd done this before, she remembers, but it's truly something else, lying beside someone who you're sure loves you just as equally as you do them. The last time she'd curled up beside him, burying her face in the comfort of his blazing chest, it had been after one of the worst moments of her life - at least, one of the worst so far.

Hindsight's a powerful thing, she thinks, sneaking a peek at Embry.

He's already gazing at her, honey-brown eyes drinking in her every movement. The room's dark and her human eyesight is abysmal, but they're so close that she can study him in painstaking detail, memorising the flutter of his thick eyelashes against his cheeks, of his sleepy smile that warms her from within.

"Whatcha lookin' at," he mumbles, reaching out to twist a lock of her hair around his finger. "You've got your thinking face on."

It's impossible not to smile at that - he's here, alive and warm and in bed with her, and how could she possibly dream of more?

"Just happy," Lex murmurs, shifting until she's as close as she can possibly get. "Didn't think you'd come back."

"Of course I would," Embry says, tugging on the captured strands. "I said I'd try, and I meant it. Coming back to you was always part of the plan."

She pauses, weighing her words. "What else is in the plan?"

He hums. "For today? This week? Forever?"

"Whatever you think of, I guess."

"Graduating, for sure. Opening the garage, if we can ever get Billy to sign on as guarantor. A house, I guess? Even though they're not in my head anymore, some space from the guys would be nice."

"I get that," she murmurs, nuzzling closer to his throat. "You're going to do amazing with the garage. I just know it."

"What's your plan?" he asks, stifling a yawn.

"Job hunting," Lex mutters, ignoring the worry coiled in her stomach. "Handed in my last paper the other week, so I'm basically done. Just need somewhere to work now."

Embry massages her scalp, guiding her gently towards sleep. "You'll work it out. You always do."

She presses her lips to his pulse point, memorising the rhythmic flush of blood beneath his skin. "Em, you're so important to me. I just want you to know that."

She can't see his face, but she can clearly hear his grin when he replies. "Mmm, important, am I? I love all of the important people in my life, and I love you."

This time, in this perfect, private moment, it comes as easy as breathing.

"I love you, Embry."

In the moments before sleep consumes her, a myriad of things flash through her mind, frenzied moments of hope and despair that have so completely controlled her mind and her life over the past year. Her life has changed immeasurably since she moved into Forks, peeling her apart and patching her up anew, albeit irrevocably altered. She's lost so much - family, faith, her innocence - but the transformation has been unforgettable, essential, as desperately necessary as air.

Regardless of what happens, she'll always adore Embry, holding these moments of perfection close to her heart.

His sacrifice is wholly unforgettable.

A/N: If you want an ending without angst, this is the end chapter for you. The next chapter will have angst, so please heed this warning if complicated endings irk you. I didn't end up writing a full-on lemon as planned, but I'm toying with the idea of a substantially more heated epilogue - lemme know if that's something you're interested in reading. Again, big big thank you for reading - I considered giving this up countless times, but the reviews truly did keep me going. Godspeed, you little angels.