Another update today! My internet is being sporadic, so I'm posting while I can. Review, and I don't own.

The next afternoon, after another long day with the children, I made it to my couch before collapsing after Embry dropped me off at home. I fell deeply asleep, only waking when Charlie got home two hours later.

"Long day on the job?" he asked, hanging his keys by the door.

"You could say that," I said, dragging myself up. "I came in with the intentions of cleaning up and getting ready for a date and instead I passed out on the couch. Anyone else home?"

He shook his head, then went to the kitchen. I stood slowly, my back and neck popping as I stretched. I was no sooner on my feet than Embry was walking through the front door.

"Hey, Lee, you ready to go?" he asked, smiling at me.

I made a gesture to my body, currently clothed in the same clothes he'd left me in. "Fell asleep."

He chuckled and pulled me into his arms. "Well, do you want a night in?"

I smiled apologetically. "That would be lovely."

"Tonight would be a good night for you to stay over," he said lowly, leaning in to whisper in my ear. "Mom's been asking when you're going to finally stay the night, and she's going to be out late."

"Are you really that anxious to have me back as a security blanket?" I teased, whispering as well so as to not be heard by Charlie.

"Yes," he said softly, kissing my nose. "C'mon. All I want is to hold you while you sleep, nothing else. I told you, I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

I pecked his lips lightly. "You sound like a cheesy romance novel."

Embry ran a hand down my spine, pulling me closer into him. "I don't care. It's the truth. Please?"

I looked into his deep brown eyes, lined with an dark -nearly black- ring around the iris. It was hard not to get lost in them, and even harder to resist him when I was looking so intently at them. "Okay."

His smile made his relentless begging over the time elapsed since that first sleepover worth it. "Let's get you some clothes."

While putting a few essential items in my duffel, I thought of something. "Embry, why were you whispering when you could have thought it?"

"I find that saying it out loud makes you believe me more," he said, rifling through a drawer full of old pictures. "Aw, you were a pull-up baby."

"Give me that!" I shrieked, diving for the picture he was holding. "Damn it, Embry!"

Embry instead picked up the small box he found it in -full of baby pictures of me- and ran out of the room. I chased him through the house, into the kitchen where Charlie was starting on a beer and the afternoon paper. Embry held the box high in the air, infuriating me since he was a good six inches taller.

"Do I want to know what's going on?" Charlie asked, not looking up from the paper.

"Leah's mad because I found her baby pictures," Embry said, laughing as I jumped for the box.

"I was there for most of them. A lot of them are of her feeding Seth bugs. Or pretending she was a dog. Hmmm, I just saw the irony in that." Charlie was still looking at his paper, but he looked like he was fighting back a smile.

Embry howled with laughter, so much that he dropped the box. I dove for it, then held it tight. "You are impossible!" I spat at him.

His laughing toned down quite a bit. "Aw, Leah. C'mon. Please forgive me. The picture was cute."

"If I had wanted you to see them I'd have shown them to you," I said, crossing my arms.

"C'mon, Lee," he said, pouting. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

"And this is where I bow out," Charlie said, standing up. "You're staying at Embry's tonight?"

I was surprised that he'd heard, and it made me forget my previous argument. "You heard that?"

"No, I just figured," he said. "I know his Mom's working the graveyard shift and he's stayed over when your mother and I weren't here."

I blushed deeply red. "Um, it's not like that, it just happens that way…"

Charlie nodded, making a sound in the back of his throat. "It's none of my business. Does your mother know?"

I shrugged, still mortified. "Not that I'm going over tonight. She can't really say anything, I'm an adult; legally, anyway." The last part was said after the look Embry and Charlie shared.

"Okay," Charlie said, blushing deeper than I was. It was obvious this was awkward for him. I may have only been his stepdaughter, but it didn't make the fact that I was having a sleepover with my boyfriend any easier. "Well, er… Be safe, I guess."

"It's not like that!" I reassured again, looking at my feet. "Embry, get my bag."

Embry, obviously wanting to get out of the awkward moment, obeyed, saying goodbye to Charlie. I wrote a quick note to my brother and mother, then said goodbye to Charlie, still not being able to meet his eyes. I brought the pictures with me, hiding them from Embry.

Later that evening, while we were cuddling on the couch, I pulled out the box and held it out to him. "You can look at them if you want."

Embry smiled, taking the box. He went through the box, studying different pictures of baby Leah. He laughed at a few, and asked for copies of others. The one he'd originally found, the pull-up one, was of me at about three, wearing only my pull-ups and a pink t-shirt, a blanket in the crook of my elbow and my tiny fists rubbing my eyes. A few more he found and loved was one of me as a swaddled newborn in my father's arms, one of me at age two with Bella Swan (or Cullen now, I suppose) and the Black twins in a wagon making cheesy grin faces, and one of me at age four, trying to feed a newborn Seth a ladybug.

"Charlie wasn't joking," Embry said, chuckling as he discovered one of me at age six, holding a caterpillar at Seth's lips. "What was your fascination with bugs?"

I shrugged. "When I asked Dad what Seth was he said he was like a new pet, like the pet iguana on some show I watched to learn how to read. The iguana ate bugs so I thought that maybe Seth would like them, too."

Embry laughed. "Interesting theory."

"Mom didn't appreciate Dad calling the baby a 'pet', especially when I tried to put a leash on him."

"I thought you were the one who acted like a dog," he teased, referring to what Charlie said.

I shot him a look. "The leash was the one my parents put on me to keep me from running off in public. I figured out how to get out of it and tried to put Seth in it."

Embry couldn't hold back his laughter. "Your parents put you in a leash, too?"

Before I could question him, he got up and crossed the room to a small cabinet, where he pulled out a large scrap book. He sat down next to me and flipped through several pictures until he found the one he wanted. A toddler stood in a baby blue shirt and baby cargo pants, a baby harness on him and his thumb in his mouth, looking at the camera with a joyful expression. We shared a laugh over that picture, then looked at several others, comparing mine with his. He was an adorable baby, and he thought the same of me.

For dinner, we worked together and made enough red beans and rice for his mother to have some at whatever time she'd get home. After successfully filling ourselves, we changed into our respective pajamas and snuggled together on the couch. My eyelids began to droop after a while, and Embry caught the decline in speed of my heartbeat and breathing.

"Is it bedtime for the princess?" he teased, rubbing my shoulder.

I nodded, readjusting my head in the middle of his chest. "I'm worn out."

He was silent for a minute. "Well do you want to sleep here or my room?"

"How late is late for your mom?" I mumbled, slowly losing brain function to unconsciousness.

"She'll get in at two, make a lot of noise, then crash in here or her bed, depending on how far she makes it."

"Your room," I groaned, hauling myself up.

"Well," he said, sitting up and putting his arms around my shoulders again. "Do you want me to sleep on the couch or on the floor?"

I turned to him and smiled softly. "You're sweet and considerate, and I love you for that, but I trust you. And what was the point of me sleeping over if I wasn't going to be you're security blanket?"

Embry smiled, leaning to press his forehead against mine. "You're pretty awesome, you know that?"

I smiled wider, then pecked his lips lightly. "I know."

He laughed, standing up and stretching. He took my hands and pulled me to my feet, supporting me to his room, where his bed was unmade. "Sorry. I woke up late."

I chuckled, then got in when he held up the covers. I began to fall asleep the second I was enveloped by his scent, and I barely registered Embry joining me and pulling me to his chest before I fell dead asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I was along and Embry's shower was running. I snuggled down into his covers, taking one of his pillows and hugging it, inhaling his scent. I dozed in and out, listening to the shower running, then to the various sounds of him spraying himself with deodorant and slapping aftershave onto his face. I slowly drifted off again, falling completely asleep. After a bit, I was reawakened when he slid back into the bed, the rough denim of his jeans lightly rubbing my leg.

"You awake?" he asked softly, tracing my cheekbones with his fingertips.

I smiled softly. "Kinda."

"You know you tease me about having a security blanket, yet I'm gone for half an hour and you have to cuddle with a pillow," he teased, pulling said pillow out of my grasp. He pulled me closer and wrapped me up in his arms. "Much better."

"So full of yourself," I mumbled, burying my face in his chest. "But you smell good."

Embry chuckled softly, kissing my head. "Nessie's birthday party is today."

I nodded. "Yeah. When?"

"A few hours, you have time to sleep more if you want."

"I slept good last night," I murmured, sighing contently. "I might get up in a minute. Or ten. Or sixty…"

Embry laughed at my expense. "Fine with me."

I lifted my head to look at him. He was freshly shaved and had a few razor bumps, already clearing up, and I smelled peppermint on his breath. "I think I may need to get up now. I might never wake up if I fall back asleep."

"Okay," he said, mock pouting. "Kiss?"

"Morning breath," I said, sitting up slowly, letting the blood flow normally. "When I'm dressed."

I got ready in his bathroom, towel drying my hair after shaking it out. I dressed in one of the outfits Rosalie had insisted on buying me, so I walked out of his bathroom in a denim skirt and an orange, flowy blouse. "Do you want to grab something for breakfast on the way?"

Embry smiled, getting up off of his bed. "Let's go."

On the way out, we passed Cassie, who was asleep on the couch. Embry stopped for a moment to cover her with a blanket and take off her tennis shoes, then kiss her cheek gently. It was adorable, and I was once again reminded that he would never be able to do that with a child of ours.

We ate at the little diner in town, sitting at the counter and sharing an order of waffles, since we were sure Esme would force feed us at some point in the day. We got to the Cullen's home a bit earlier than everyone else, and the baby greeted us at the door, grabbing our hands and dragging us inside.

"It's my birthday!" she announced, pulling us to the living room, which had been decorated in pink streamers and balloons. "See? Aunt Leah, Aunt Rosalie wanted for you to go to the garage when you got here. Her and Uncle Emmett are working on Jasper's motorcycle."

"Okay," I said, letting go of her hand. "Thank you."

"Uncle Embry, come see my present stack!" Nessie said, dragging Embry away.

I turned and walked out to the little garage, waving at the other vamps I saw on my way out. Inside, the oversized toddler was holding up the motorcycle at an angle for Rose to work on it without having to get in the floor and ruin her designer jeans.

"Oh, hi, Leah," she said, smiling at me as she finished something with a screwdriver. "Done. You can go on in, Emmett."

Emmett put down the bike and stood, giving me a nod before leaving.

"You left something here the other day," Rosalie said, going to her car and reaching into the back seat, pulling out a wrapped box- mine and Embry's gift to Nessie. "I wrapped it for you, but you can sign it."

I smiled, taking the box from her. "You're a life saver. I totally forgot about it. Those kids are energy draining."

She chuckled, pulling a pen from a drawer. "Here. And yeah, I've heard stories."

"A few of them call me Sissy Leah. It's kind of cute."

Rosalie and I both froze, listening to the cars pulling into the long driveway. "Let's go," she said, nodding to the door.

We went inside, where the party was beginning. There was more food than was needed, a pile of presents a mile high, and many people of different species. Nessie loved chaos, talking to anyone and everyone. My mother and Charlie were there, along with Seth and a few other members of the pack. It was fun, watching the tiny ball of energy flit around the room, hugging and kissing everyone, showing them her gift and how it was developing, and finally opening her gifts.

Along with opening many boxes of clothing, CDs, books, and accessories, she opened mine and Embry's gift.

"To Nessie, from Aunt Leah and Uncle Embry," she announced, then ripped into the paper.

We'd decided to go with something simple, but that she could use, hopefully, and we'd gotten her a digital photo frame. She liked it, and insisted the party pictures go into it. After ours, she opened Jacob's. Of course he'd spoiled her, and his gift to her was a playhouse that trumped everything else.

"Thank you, Jacob!" she cried, flying into his arms. "I love it!"

"You're welcome, baby girl," he said, kissing her cheek. "Do you want to build it tomorrow?"

She grinned and nodded, and the party went on. It was cute, seeing her and Jacob's behavior. In the end, though, I was glad that Embry and I didn't have to wait to be together. When people began to leave, Embry and I decided to go back to my house to relax, tired and stuffed to the brim with food. We dozed on my couch for a while, through Mom and Charlie getting home, through Seth getting home, and through Brady and Collin coming over to get Seth. When it came time for Embry to go, I was too exhausted to care. I went to bed very early, right after he left, and slept well into the night and into the next day.

A/N: I had to put Charlie in here. I love Charlie. And Billy Burke, who plays Charlie. And the dad in Red Riding Hood. I think I may have an illness. *smiles like a lunatic* Okay, now that that's out of my system, review!

~Sidney