Another update for this. I know I don't update this as much as I update The Only Exception series, but this is actually beta-ed, unlike my others. This leads into another conflict of the story, so I hope you enjoy it! You know I own nothing, and please review!

"Do you remember," Emmett asked softly, so as to not alert his father and sister of his consciousness, "when I said, 'if they don't fight, nothing worse can happen'?"

It was midnight, and Emmett had called me a little while before. He'd waited until everyone else was asleep, then called to fill me in. Charlie had made a formal announcement of the impending divorce at dinner. Bella had excused herself and not come out of her room the rest of the night, and Emmett had sat in silence with Charlie for about ten minutes before following suit.

"Yeah?" I asked, knowing where he was going.

"I was wrong. This is way worse. I think that somewhere inside I thought that she was gonna come back and be like 'April Fools!' or something like that."

I longed to be close to him. It was saddening to think that while he was hurting over his split family, both of my parents had kissed me goodnight and then gone to bed in the same house in the same room (and I need not elaborate anymore). "I know, sweety. I wish I was there."

"I wish you were, too," he sighed, his voice shaking a bit. "I actually can't wait to go to school tomorrow. I just need to get away from anything to do with her."

I hugged my pillow tightly, wishing it was him. "I can't wait for school because all I've wanted to do since you left is see you."

"I want to see you, too. I can't wait until tomorrow."

"Me either, Teddy Bear."

After we said our goodbyes, I went to sleep. When I woke up, I had jitters, impatient to see Emmett. I dressed at lightening speed, only to discover it had snowed and I had to rethink my entire ensemble of slacks and a blue blouse. I changed into a nice pair of jeans and an emerald green turtleneck. I dressed it up with my charm bracelet (of course) and a gold headband, then skipped out in my rain-boots (the only un-matching thing, but they were cute with little pink unicorns on them, so that made up for it).

In the school parking lot, after giving Mom a quick kiss goodbye, I hopped out of the car and ran for it. I rounded the corner to the gym (where we waited for class to start on snow days) and found the Swans sitting in a secluded corner already. Bella had her head resting in her arms around her knees and looked asleep. Emmett was up before I could get two steps in. He met me halfway from the door and we embraced fiercely, just holding one another.

"Hey, honey," I said into his ear, supported by his arms around my waist. My bags had been long since forgotten, and I really didn't care. "You sleep okay?"

"Not really," he said lowly. "I will Friday, though."

"Why?" I asked, confused at how he could determine something like that. "Oh, never mind. Sleepover. Blonde moment."

He actually chuckled in my ear. "You wanna go sit down?"

"Sure."

He let me down and got my bags for me, then we went over to where Bella and Edward were sitting. The Hales had yet to arrive, so Edward and Bella were talking quietly, his arms around her comfortingly. It wasn't abnormal for our little group to be affectionate to one another (Jasper and I still periodically had our little Wizard of Oz moments, skipping arm-in-arm for no appearant reason), but after their kiss the other night, it was extremely weird looking. Emmett distracted me from the spectacle, though, pulling me into his lap and kissing me gently. It was fairly toned down compared to the last few days.

"Sorry, honey," he said softly against my lips. "I know I've been kind of brutal lately."

I kissed him back sweetly. "It's okay, sweety. The only thing I don't like is the reason."

He nodded in agreement, resuming his loving, tender kisses. When he had apparently been satisfied, he pulled his lips away but kept his forehead pressed to mine. "I'm sorry if it feels like I've just been using you to feel better."

"No, no, Teddy Bear," I said, my breath fanning over his lips. He shuddered lightly, leaning in closer to me. I liked the effect I had on him. "No. I don't think you're using me as an outlet for your frustration. Especially if I'm a willing participant. Don't worry."

"I don't know what I'd do without you," he whispered, letting his lips graze mine. "I love you, Pixie Princess."

Say it, say it, say it you idiot, say it! a voice in my head screamed. You do love him, so why won't you just freaking say it!

Instead of saying it, I kissed him softly, hoping beyond hope that he understood what I meant by it. The Hales got to school and Jasper took over for Edward, most likely so Edward and Rosalie could start their daily make-out session. Gross. Not that I can judge, because I was fully absorbed in Emmett. The bell rang over the campus and we split off, Emmett and I walking hand-in-hand to first period.

When the teacher began her lecture for the day, Emmett passed me a note under our desk.

I'm bored. -Em

I rolled my eyes and scribbled my response, then went back to taking notes on the lecture.

Listen then. -Al

I don't wanna. -Em

Then say something other than you're bored. -Al

I don't know what to say. I don't want to talk about anything serious. -Em

Well… Hmm… How about Valentine's Day? What do you want to do? -Al

You do know it's a month away, right? -Em

Fine, you pick a topic. -Al

"Miss Cullen, mister Swan, may I ask what's so important that you feel you must discuss it in my class?" the teacher asked, suddenly looming over our desk. "Do I need to reassign seats?"

"No, ma'am," Emmett said, biting his lip to refrain from laughter.

"Sorry, Mrs. Moreno," I said, looking at my desk top.

She left us alone, but watched us like a hawk through class. Emmett walked me to class as always, and the week passed slowly, a normal pattern beginning to form around our group. It would take a long time, but I was certain we'd find some way to make things work again.

Emmett said he loved me once or twice over the week, and I was so extremely close to saying it back that I had this crazy little itch on my tongue. I was finally beginning to warm up to the idea of actually saying it, and now I was just trying to actually force myself to follow through. Emmett tried to control his emotions over the week, attempting to not suffocate and/or crush me.

Friday was spent at the Hales' home, then we made camp at my house Saturday night. Saturday night, I woke up around eleven after having crashed around eight after watching some movie or another. This time, when I heard voices, I was certain they were actually there. I followed the sounds and found myself outside of the kitchen.

"I love him. You know that. I know that. But… I don't know," a female's voice said softly. It was Bella, I was certain. "Maybe he's too worried about everything to realize that I just need him to be there and actually be something more than a presence." At this point, I was sure she was talking to Jasper about Charlie.

"Bells," a soft male voice breathed. "You know I don't mean anything by this. It's just something to make me different. It's just… I've been with her for so long that I just never had a chance to try loving another girl." Edward… No… It couldn't be…

"I know," Bella responded. "I guess it's that way for me, too. Em and Al have it so easy. They're best friends, but…maybe they were right to do things that way. They never have problems or anything."

"Well, we're best friends," Edward said. "And you and Rosie are best friends and Jazz and me are best friends."

"I know! That's why it's so…weird."

I didn't stick around for anymore. I went back and took my place in Emmett's arms, thinking about everything I'd heard. I couldn't exactly decide what it meant, mostly because I was beyond exhausted, but the conversation was confusing in the first place. I fell asleep stressing over everything, and I didn't wake up for a long while, until Emmett awoke at nine the next morning. We were both the last ones up, and ended up dozing off leaning on each other at the breakfast table.

"Wake up already," Rosalie laughed, ruffling my messy spiky hair.

I growled at her, then leaned back on Emmett, inhaling his scent. "I didn't sleep well."

"I slept too well," Emmett said, putting an arm around my shoulders. "I told you."

"Yes you did," I said, tilting my head up, intending on kissing him.

"Mom in the room!" Mother announced, swooping in like a hawk.

I pouted in protest, but the prospect of food was too good to pass over just because I was denied a kiss from my boyfriend. We spent our day just all being together as a unit, and our week was slightly easier than the one before. We were finally establishing some sort of routine, and I felt good about the way we were getting along.

That is, until I heard something, something that could ultimately change things for us all. The question was, would that change be positive or negative?

A/N: Reviews? Also, check out my blog! Link on profile.

~Sidney