Last chapter of Falling! Loving will be posted later on today. I'm excited about this chapter. It's kinda different, and it starts to lean towards the next story. I don't own anything recognizable, and please review!

"Welcome back, Leah," Jayne greeted me Wednesday morning, giving me a huge hug. "I'm glad you feel better."

I hugged her back. "Thanks. I guess I wasn't as brave as I thought."

She laughed, pulling back and looking me in the eye, smiling. "No one is. Let's go. We have some new patients."

We made the rounds, our first stop being an six year old girl named Kelly in the room Dani once occupied. She was in for a badly broken arm after climbing a tree, and the break required metal plating. We made all of our normal rounds, but we didn't get near Thomas's room.

After lunch break, Carlisle called Jayne ICU, where they would be transporting a patient to the children's ward. He and Jayne brought the child down to Thomas's room, that I'd been forced to prepare. It had already been cleaned, so I only needed to make the bed, and when I was done, they arrived. In a small wheelchair sat a timid child. Carlisle lifted him out of the chair and into the bed, when Jayne covered him up.

"Leah, we need to set up the IV," Carlisle said, already opening a sterile IV kit. "Can you calm him down?"

I nodded fearfully, not sure what I should do. I knelt down at the little boys bedside and looked at him. "What's your name?"

"Liam," he whimpered, shaking noticeably.

"How old are you?"

He held up three tiny fingers. "Don't let them stick me again."

I reached up and offered a hand. "Dr. Cullen only wants to help you."

Tears sprung to he toddlers eyes. "Where's my mommy and daddy?"

"Liam, your mommy and daddy will come in as soon as you're fixed up," Jayne said, trying to take his arm. "Please, let Aunt Jayne see your arm for a minute."

"No!" he whined, tears falling down his face. "I don't like the needle!"

"Liam," I said gently, looking into the child's wet eyes. "Please, we only want to help you. It'll only hurt a bit, then you can get better. Okay?"

"But I don't want to!"

I continued to look into his eyes. "My name is Leah. You can call me Sissy Leah, okay? That's what people call me. I'm not going to let it hurt more than a little bitty bit, okay? Hold my hand and when it hurts you, squeeze my hand as hard as you can and I'll tell them to stop it, okay?"

He looked reluctant, but put his tiny hand in mine nevertheless. "Promise?"

"I promise," I said, giving his hand a little squeeze. "Now, can Dr. Cullen and Aunt Jayne put the IV in you?"

"Okay," he finally said, his voice tiny.

He offered his arm to Jayne and Carlisle, who went to work sterilizing his skin and getting the needle in before he could change his mine. The needle went in and Liam barely noticed, and finally we were done. His parents were allowed in, and we left.

"Leah, you handled that well," Carlisle said out in the hall. "I'm very proud of you."

"Thank you," I said, blushing faintly.

"Glad to have you back," he said, giving a kind smile.

The rest of the day went unnaturally smoothly. Very little crying from shots or fighting bath time. It was calm in the children's ward, and the kids were happy to have Sissy Leah back, so I spent a lot of time in the playroom with the little kids.

After work, Embry picked me up as usual, and we went to have dinner with Emily and Sam. At nearly six months pregnant, her belly was really showing and she glowed with happiness. We all talked and laughed together, then sat around their coffee table after dinner playing poker for Oreos (the pregnant one's idea). When it got late, we all said goodnight and Embry took me home, where we sat in the front drive, talking for a few minutes.

"I have a surprise for you this weekend," he said, smiling secretively. "Kind of a three month anniversary surprise."

"But our three month anniversary isn't for another week," I said, doing the math in my head.

"Hence the 'surprise' part," he said, smirking. "And I have dinner reservations for the actual day, but I couldn't get the reservations until late so they couldn't be on the same night."

I leaned over for a kiss goodnight. "I love you."

Embry's smile was contagious. "I love hearing that."

That Friday, Embry picked me up from the hospital in the middle of a violent storm. He drove me to our cliff. Holding hands, we made a mad dash to the back entrance of the cave. He covered my eyes as we entered, then removed his hands from my face to reveal the campsite he'd set up. There were two sleeping bags in one corner, a small fire-pit dug out and lit, and a dinner set up with already lit candles and a closed picnic basket hiding the surprises.

"Rosalie helped, but I thought maybe we could do something with the cliff because it's where we imprinted, but then the storm came and we couldn't set up at the top so I thought we could do something in here and Rosalie had the idea to camp, so it's not really all my-" He was babbling, and it was adorable, but in that moment, I didn't want to hear his voice.

I stood on tiptoe and threw my arms around his neck, dragging his lips down to mine and kissing him passionately.

"Idea…" he finished, dumbstruck, after I pulled my lips from his.

"Just shut up already," I said, laughing at him. "It's perfect."

Embry's smile lit up the cave, then he pulled me over to the dinner setup. "I made all of this by myself, so take it easy on me. I took off and it took me all day."

We took our time eating, feeding each other playfully and devouring all of the food. It was actually really good, and he seemed very proud of himself.

After we finished eating, I noticed something. "I don't have a change of clothes."

Embry smiled and went to the corner with the sleeping bags, pulling a duffle out of the shadows. "Tada."

We changed with our backs to each other, then sat together by the fire in our newly zipped together sleeping bags, leaning on each other. It was sitting there, Embry's arms around me, that I really gauged what he had done for me. He'd taken a day off of work to prepare this for me, gone through the trouble of setting everything up and making alternative plans based on the weather, and made nice with my friend that he found annoying just to make it all perfect. And it made him happy, doing this all for me. I could feel his happiness radiating off of him, and it came back to me.

I leaned further into his arms to brush my lips against his lightly, murmuring against them, "You're so good to me, Bry."

Embry's hand found its way to wind into my hair, holding me against him. He kissed me slowly and languidly, so unlike my frenzied and passionate kiss from before. He took his time, simply memorizing my lips. After the most emotional kiss I'd ever experienced, he pulled back. "I love you so much, Leah."

"I love you, too, Embry," I whispered, listening as our heartbeats sped up.

"I don't want to have sex," he said after a while. "Not now. Not tonight."

I almost laughed out loud. "Not that I'm arguing, but why not?"

He gave me a significant look. "I wasn't joking when I said I think you could have kids. I think you could have a baby with me."

"I didn't think you were joking, but I'm next to certain that that just isn't a possibility, and I hate that for you."

"And I meant it when I said I want any child of ours, biological -for argument's sake- or adopted, to be brought up the right way, and I think the right way for us to have a family and raise children would be for us to be married when we do that."

I slowly pieced together what he was saying, in a way. "You want to marry me?"

He smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, someday. I don't care if it's soon or if it's in a hundred years. Like you said, we have forever."

"Forever," I agreed, smiling widely.

"But wanting to marry you and wanting to have a family with you go hand in hand. I don't care what you say, I think you could have a baby with me," he said, challenging me with his eyes to try to argue. "That being said, I don't want to have sex until we're married. Yeah, the imprint connects us, but I don't want to chance having a baby before we're married, because I want our baby to have stability, financially and in the home. I don't want our baby to live like I did."

I didn't have any words. After all of that time that we greeted each other as 'bitch' and 'bastard', now we were here, talking about our future. I was here, listening to the man I'd been so cruel to show his love for me. For the first time, I realized how truly intelligent and perceptive Embry was. I also realized how caring and loving he was to me and to a baby that wasn't even conceived yet. Wow. I shared my view with him with the mind connection, and he blushed.

"Well, I love you." Of course I'm thinking like that. Embry smiled lovingly at me, leaning down for another kiss.

"I love you, too," I murmured, smiling back at him.

The storm raged on through the night, but it didn't bother me. All I really cared about was Embry and the night he'd given me. His words replayed through my mind, about children and marriage and sex, and I couldn't help but wonder how I'd gotten so lucky. Nearly three months ago, I'd been tortured by the fact that the fates had brought us together, now I loved it.

"Bry," I said softly after a while, still wrapped in his arms.

"Yeah?"

"I figured out why Thomas's death hurt me so badly," I whispered, looking up into his eyes. "I figured it out last weekend, when I ran to his funeral and watched from the woods, but I still had to figure out some things after that."

Embry nodded solemnly. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Yes I do. And I showed him everything. His conversation with Thomas, Thomas's funeral, and then images and images of Embry himself. Memories of us together, thoughts of him I'd had at the end of the day when we went our separate ways, and the overwhelming love I felt for him.

His eyes stayed trained on mine, and he slowly realized what I was telling me. "Lee…"

"I'm in love with you, Embry," I said, smiling a tiny smile. "And it took me a long time to realize, and even longer to admit."

"I meant it that day I told Thomas," he said, smiling back at me slightly. "I meant everything I said. Now and then."

"Thomas made me see how important you are, and losing him was like losing the truth. It was hard to admit it and be open with you after he died, but I am now." I wasn't making excuses. I couldn't do that to him.

Embry pressed his lips to the corner of my mouth. "I love you, Leah. I never thought I'd say that to you, back when I thought you were just a vindictive bitch, but now that I know you…" I can't imagine loving anyone else like this.

My heart swelled with happiness. "I love you, too."

We sat there for a long time, just smiling at each other. It was silly, childish almost, but I felt so grown up, just sitting in that little cave, staring into the eyes of the love of my life. We talked only when necessary. The quiet was comfortable. Welcome. We needed the quiet, the communication on a level other than in our minds or out loud. It was purely emotional, and it was beautiful.

Sometime in the middle of the night, exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks, and I yawned hugely.

"I'm tired, I think."

"You think?" Embry said, smiling as if he were trying not to laugh. "Let's go to sleep, then."

He pulled me to lay down with him. I used his chest as a pillow and threw an arm over his waist, holding onto him. He kept his arms around me, holding me closer still. It was comfortable, being right there next to him, and soon I succumbed to the sleep. Before I fell asleep, though, Embry spoke softly to me.

"Goodnight, beautiful. Thank you for coming here tonight." He sounded asleep.

"Thank you for doing this for me. I loved it," I replied, my voice thick with sleep as well.

Embry sighed contentedly, then there was silence. We fell asleep laying close in that tiny cave, and I'd never slept better in my life.

A/N: Loving will be up later. Check out my blog, and review!

~Sidney