A/N: I want to take a minute to thank all of my reviewers. I don't have the time to answer every review I get, but I will give one hint: the longer the review I get, and the more helpful, the more likely I'll answer. But I do appreciate each and every review I get. Thank you, all of you! Also, Chapter Six will stay as it is. I am not going to remove the I love you's.

BPOV

Monday morning couldn't come quickly enough. I had talked to Emmett on the phone for three hours Sunday, but I still couldn't wait to see him. On Monday, I woke up an hour earlier than I needed to and was ready to go to school 45 minutes before I needed to leave. I sat at the kitchen table and bounced my knee, Charlie looking at me like I was crazy.

"Bells, I think we need to talk," he finally said, putting the newspaper down.

"About what?" I asked, not really paying attention.

"You and Emmett. Now that you're dating, I think we need to have the talk."

"Dad, Mom gave me the sex talk years ago. She said something about wanting me to be prepared," I muttered, my face turning bright red. He was turning red too.

"Well, good, but we still need to discuss you and Emmett. He seems like a really nice boy, and I'm glad you found someone you like so much, but you do realize there are going to be some challenges for you two, right? Think of it this way—if there is any chance you're going to get tired of always being the one to drive, or him not being able to do something that you want to do, wouldn't it be better to break it off with him before you get in too deep? I'm not saying you should, but make sure you remember that he has feelings too, and if you can't handle it, you need to think seriously about what you want to do."

"Dad, I know I've only been dating him a short time, but I know I can trust him, and I believe I'm in love with him. I can handle whatever comes up, and he's very independent. I know there will be challenges that both of us have to face, but as long as I'm with him, I know we can make it through whatever comes up."

"Good, as long as you're sure. Now, about the sex thing," he brought up, his face turning red again, "just remember that I'll castrate him if he even thinks about it, and I will lock you in your room forever if you even consider it." He had a small smile on his face, so I rolled my eyes and kissed him on the cheek.

"I don't think you have to worry about that any time soon, Dad. I'll see you when I get home today."

"No, you won't. I have to work late at the station. Don't bother with dinner for me—I'll grab a sandwich somewhere. I probably won't be home until late. If you want to invite Emmett over, that's fine with me, but tomorrow's a school day, so he needs to go home by ten."

"Thanks, Dad. Love you," I said, kissing him on the cheek again and heading out to my truck.

I drove to school in the light drizzle, parking in the front row. I was still ten minutes too early, so I waited in my truck for Emmett and the others to arrive. Jasper and Rosalie got there first, so I got out of the truck to wait with them. Edward, Alice, and Emmett came in less than two minutes later. As soon as he stepped out of the Volvo, I wrapped my arms around him, buried my nose in his chest, and inhaled his warm, woodsy scent. It was the perfect combination of male, clean air, and the woods.

"Hey, Bells," he murmured, wrapping his huge arms around me and holding me close. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too," I said, my nose still buried in his chest. He chuckled, the sound vibrating through his chest against my cheek. I blushed lightly and pulled away, smiling. He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. When he went to pull away, I stopped him and kissed his soft, yet firm lips. One of his large, strong hands cupped the back of my head, deepening the kiss slightly. I gasped and stood on my toes to get closer to him. I heard a giggle and whispers, and I yanked away, my face flushing red. Alice was the giggler, and everyone else was grinning. Emmett looked pleased with himself so I socked him lightly on the chest. He pretended to be wounded and pouted at me. I kissed the spot I had hit.

"Let's go inside," Alice said. "It's raining." The rain had changed from the light drizzle to falling freely. I ducked my head against Emmett and we went inside.

The morning passed slowly without Emmett, and it took forever for lunchtime to come. As soon as I sat back down beside him, my world was right again, as cheesy as it sounds to say it. I know I'm in love with him, but I have a lot of issues with intimacy yet, and I don't know if I can ever be the woman he deserves. I'm okay with kissing and close contact, but it took me a long time to convince myself that it was okay. I don't think I could handle anything more intimate yet. Jason didn't rape me—he had only ever beat me—but I couldn't handle the thought of anyone touching me more than that. If he had actually raped me, I don't know that I would be able to stand being around any man. I couldn't, for a few weeks after the incident. Now Jason is safely in jail, and it has been six months since the incident. I'd had nightmares for a long time, and then it had tapered off to a couple times a week, and then not at all until just recently.

"Hey, Bells," Emmett said before I could say anything.

"How did you know it was me?" I asked. He blushed lightly.

"…"

"Emmett, tell me," I smiled.

"Your scent," he mumbled, but I didn't hear him clearly.

"What? I didn't hear you."

"Your scent," he said, louder this time. "You smell like strawberries and freesia. It's the most delectable scent ever." Alice busted out laughing and Edward and Jasper looked like they were about to bust a gut trying to hold their laughter in. Rosalie just shook her head, amused. Emmett's face turned a ruddy red. I was blushing like mad, but I was really pleased.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" I said a few minutes later. "Emmett, Charlie said you can come over tonight if you want to. He has to work late at the station, so he won't be home until later. He said you had to go home by ten, but you can stay up until then."

"Sounds good. I'll definitely come over. Do you want me to ride there with you, or do you want me to wait until later to come over?" he asked cautiously.

"Do you need to go home first? Or can you just come on over?" I asked at the same time. I laughed, and he grinned.

"I don't need to go home. I'll ride over with you."

"Good." I squeezed his arm and we rejoined the rest of the conversation. The rest of the day passed excruciatingly slowly, but finally, it was time to leave. I practically ran out to the truck, but Emmett beat me there. He was waiting with Alice and Edward. Rosalie and Jasper were nowhere to be seen. As soon as I reached them, I wrapped my arms around Emmett's waist. I heard him chuckle before he wrapped his arms around me.

EPOV

Bella smells so amazing—I always know it's her, even when she doesn't say anything. I've become so attuned to her scent. She feels so small and soft in my arms, like a fragile flower, but at the same time she is so strong. I know that I stand 6'5" tall, which basically means nothing to me, but she feels much smaller. I long to be able to see her beautiful face, but that's just not a possibility.

"You ready to go baby?" I asked her, feeling her warm body snuggle into me even more.

"Yeah, let's go." I have never seen a smile, but I know what it sounds like when someone is smiling. Their voices take a whole new tone. I could tell by her voice now that she was smiling up at me. I got into her truck after she led me to the door and she got into the driver's side after saying goodbye to my brother and sister. She started the truck and soon after, it started to move.

"I missed you today, Bells," I said to her, a smile stretching across my face.

"I missed you too, Em. I'm so glad Charlie is letting you hang out at my house today."

"Me, too." I have never been as tongue-tied around girls as I am around Bella. Her scent filled the cab of the truck and her voice is melodic to my ears—better than any song or tune I have ever heard. Just listen to me! I sound cheesy even to myself. It's a good thing I'm not prone to diarrhea of the mouth, because she'll never want to stay with me if I start saying weird shit like that. She's too amazing to lose because she finds out what a dork I really am—hopefully when she realizes it, it won't be too late. (A/N: Emmett is not being hard on himself, he's being sarcastic).

"Emmett, we're here," she said a few minutes later. I opened my door and carefully stepped out of the truck, making sure of my footing before I put all of my weight down. Bella came around and took my hand, leading me to the front door. Sometimes it's a bitch being blind, but I can't do anything about it, so I deal with it. At home, we have markers in the yard so I know where I am at all times. Bella doesn't make it obvious that she's leading me; she makes it natural.

(A/N: I'm sorry if I'm not visual ((Lol, pun)) enough with Emmett's blindness, but I'm not blind so I don't really know how they experience the world around them. Help me out if you have any ideas I could use to describe his world! Thanks!)

BPOV

I led Emmett into the house and to the living room, sitting him down on the sofa and going to the kitchen to get us some drinks and snacks.

"Em!" I called, "what do you want to drink?"

"Water's fine!"

"We have soda, juice, and milk, too!" I replied.

"What are you having?" he asked, appearing in the kitchen door. I jumped—the man was silent when he walked!

"Um…I'm having cranberry-grape juice." He made a face at me.

"I'll stick with water," he said. I grabbed a cold bottle from the refrigerator and poured a glass of the juice for myself, then snagged a bag of cookies from the shelf in the cupboard. He took the cookies and the water from me and carried them into the living room. He stuck close to the wall so he could feel where the door to the living room was. When he reached it, he turned in and sat down on the sofa, setting the water and cookies on the coffee table. I sat down near him—not right next to him, but close—and turned to him.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked. He looked a little nervous for a minute.

"Actually, I was wondering if we could try something?" he said, as if he wasn't sure whether to say it or not.

"What do you want to try?" I prompted when he didn't continue.

"Can I see you?" he blurted out. I was confused.

"Um…okay?"

"If you don't want me to, that's cool," he said quickly.

"It's not that Em, I'm just not sure what you mean," I explained. Understanding dawned on his face and he smiled. He held up his hand to show me.

"It's the way I 'see' people's faces. I just…touch your face." He blushed a little. "I can't really explain it better than that."

"Okay, go ahead then."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." He reached out his hand slowly, soon coming in contact with my cheek. His touch was light, soft, and oh, so gentle. His fingertips slid over my cheek to my nose, then to my eyes, stroking the lids so softly the touch was barely ghosting over my skin. After that he moved to my forehead, then my other cheek, down to my chin, and finally back up to my lips. This was where his fingers lingered, tracing the fullness of my lower lip and the slightly thinner upper lip. I gasped at the sensation and the sensitivity of my lips. The look on his face was one of rapture and concentration. My eyes closed as I reveled in the feeling of his fingers on my lips.

EPOV

When Bella agreed to allow me to "see" her face, I was ecstatic. I'd wanted to ask her for awhile, but I wasn't sure if she would think it was weird. I lifted my hand to her face slowly—I wanted to make sure I didn't hit her by accident—and laid it on her cheek. Her skin is the softest, silkiest skin I've ever touched. My hand went to her nose—so small and petite. Her eyelids are delicate. When I got to her lips I was entranced. They are so full and soft. I love those lips. When she let out a little gasp, I felt her breath wash over my fingertips and I had a difficult time resisting kissing her. I let my hand trail down to her neck, the skin there even more unbelievably soft than the rest.

"Bella?" I murmured.

"Yeah?" she gasped.

"Can I kiss you?"

"Yes," she told me. I slid my fingers into her hair—it felt like silk—and leaned down, pausing for a moment to take in her scent—floral and warm, like a late spring day—before finally connecting her lips with mine.

The kiss was amazing. Her soft lips against mine was the first sensation…then she opened her mouth slightly, allowing my tongue to slip inside the warm wet cavity. She tastes like heaven—warm, pure sugar against my taste buds. I moaned and pressed closer to her. Her hands came up to tangle in my hair and pull me even closer. I wrapped my other arm around her waist and held her tight. She whimpered a little and pulled away a minute later. She was gasping for air. I was out of breath myself.

"Wow," she said. She was still tangled in my arms.

"Yeah," I said unsteadily. I felt her lips reconnect with mine a minute later and I sank into the kiss, my whole body coming alive at the connection. We kissed for a few minutes, then I needed to stop before my body's reactions to the proximity of hers were noticed.

"We should stop for a bit. I need to cool off," I told her. "Let's do something else for a little bit."

"What would you like to do?" she asked me.

"Do you have a stereo?"

"Yeah." I felt her get up off of the sofa and go to the other side of the room. My hearing was good enough that I could tell she didn't leave the room.

"What would you like to listen to?" she called to me.

"I don't care. It'll just be background noise anyway." She put on a soft rock CD and came back over to the sofa to sit down next to me again. Now that I'd had contact with her silky soft skin and warm body, I couldn't bear to not be touching her, so I put my arm around her. She leaned into me and laid her head on my shoulder. She is so amazing.

BPOV

I opened my eyes and looked around. The late afternoon sun was streaming through the West windows. Emmett and I must have fallen asleep on the sofa. I raised my head and looked at him. A soft smile rested on his face and he looked peaceful. I reached my hand up and lightly stroked his face. He stirred and his eyes opened. He smiled at me and carefully raised his hand up. I leaned my cheek into his palm.

"I love you, Bells," he said to me.

"I love you too," I murmured and snuggled into him again. The rest of the evening before Edward came to pick him up was spent talking and cuddling on the sofa.

At the door when he was getting ready to leave, he kissed me again, pulling me up against him. Only after Edward honked did he let go.

"Come to my house tomorrow after school, Bella?" he asked.

"Sure," I said. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said. He pecked me on the lips one last time and made his way to Edward's Volvo.

A/N: There's another chapter. I'm sorry it took so long, but school is quite literally hell right at the moment and I don't have much time for fanfiction so there you have it. I will try to do better, but in all honesty, I probably won't. Sorry. Let me know how you like this chapter! I know a lot of you are on alert, so I look forward to all the reviews.