Hi! New update! Again... Anyway, I don't know when the next update will be... I've been bad, and I'm still stuck on the next chapter. I also have no idea when it's going to end. I'm still stuck on that one, too. In the meantime, check out my new oneshot, if you want, and maybe my other stories or my blog. If that still doesn't interest you, oh well. Pay a visit to my wonderful beta Lukas McDrake. I don't own, and review!

"Em-Emmett…"

Our eyes locked, and for one long second, I was brought back to the place I visited when we shared our first kiss. His eyes were warm and hypnotic, until he realized there was still another person present, and then they became hardened and ferocious.

"Get lost, Newton," Emmett said over my head, touching my shoulders as if to steady me. I heard quick footsteps and then he looked down at me. "Hi."

"Uh…hi," I said, staring up at him.

He gave a halfhearted smile, his eyes softening gradually. "Hi. Again."

"I…wanted to talk to you," I said, returning the smile. "I was looking for Edward, though. Can we talk sometime soon? Please?"

He nodded, looking a little let down that I didn't have time to talk now. "I want to talk, too. Can we do something Saturday? Just us?"

"If I'm not grounded," I said, smiling sheepishly.

"Uh, yeah… Well, then can we talk tomorrow afternoon? Bella and I have to come to your house because Charlie has a late shift, I just remembered," he said, looking nervous.

I felt more nervous than he looked. "Uh, okay. It's a date. See you then?"

"See you then," he said, smiling a tiny bit when I said 'date'. "And Alice?"

"Yeah?"

"I've missed you this week."

I blushed. "I've missed you, too. A…a lot…"

His turn to blush. We went our separate ways, and I found Edward quickly. I hadn't been talking to my brother a lot, but when I found him I looped my arm through his. His calming demeanor and ability to read my mind was a comfort, no matter how pissed I was at him. It was a rough night and next day of waiting, but who knew? If it was to help my relationship, it would be totally worth the butterflies.

The car ride to my house was eerily silent. I sat in the middle of the backseat, between Bella and Edward, who were currently freezing one another out. Rose had played sick (avoiding Edward, no doubt) when Mother asked the Hales if they wanted to come over as well, and Jasper had to finish a research paper he had procrastinated on. After Jasper kissed Bella pointedly in front of Edward, we left. I was beginning to think that the parents were suspicious of our drama, and I hoped that things would get better before any of the issues were clarified.

At my house, I went silently to my room and laid on my bed. I wondered when Emmett would find me. It didn't take long though, and when he came in, we laid on our backs on my bed, staring at my ceiling in silence.

"Well," he said quietly. "How've you been?"

I resisted the urge to laugh. "It's been a week since I kissed you. How do you think?"

Emmett rolled onto his side, a humored smile on his face. "I thought you were avoiding me."

"I…I thought you were avoiding me," I said, sadness overtaking me. We could have made up before now?

He shrugged. "Maybe we were avoiding each other. I feel so stupid over that fight. I shouldn't have acted like that. If you're not ready for that step, you're not ready."

I sighed. "I mean…it's not like you were trying to sleep with me. I just thought you'd understand."

"I do," he said softly. "Now. There are always going to be things one of us is ready for before the other. And I'd never try to sleep with you; why would I want you asleep?" Of course he had to make somewhat of a joke. But we needed a joke right now.

"Emmett, you have got to believe my feelings for you. It's just hard to make myself vulnerable after I finally got you," I said, running a hand up and down his chest. "It's too good to be true, and I just can't shake the feeling that you don't feel the same way about me."

"Looks like we have the same problem," he said, taking my hand. "Alice, I'm always gonna love you in one way or another. I don't think we're ever not going to be together, but you'll always be my first love, and that means so much more than saying those stupid words."

"What stupid words?"

"The words that made you so uncomfortable," he said, bringing my hand to his lips. "Alice, you mean more to me than you saying 'I love you' does. If you're not ready to say it, it's fine. You're crazy, and I still don't quite get what freaks you out about saying it, but I'm going to respect you and your feelings. Just know that I love you, and that's all the matters."

In a movie, book, TV show, anything, I would have looked up at him with tears in my eyes and whisper, "I love you, too, Emmett." And then we would have kissed and kissed and kissed and gotten caught kissing on my bed and gotten forbidden from seeing each other and… Well, you get the picture. But this was real life, and while I loved Emmett, I needed to do this at my own pace. It's like what they tell you in sixth grade health: Just because you're physically and biologically able to have children, you don't need to right away. It's common sense, and you'll have more time to find the right person and time to have kids. While I was certain Emmett was the right person for me, I was going to put some things on the waiting list. 'I love you' just happened to be there. It was at the top, but it was still there, and we were going to have plenty of time for verbal (and physical, though it was very far down on the list) love later.

For now, I said, "Thank you, Emmett. I…I'm really glad you're not a wuss like my brother." Which sounded silly and ridiculous.

He laughed. "Me, too, but you need to cut him a break." He backtracked after I shot him a dangerous look. "I mean, he's your brother. I wouldn't do it, ever, but I've forgiven Bella, and she was the worst of the two, I think. After Mom did it, I was just-I just…couldn't believe she would."

I sighed. "Emmett, do you think anything like that would ever happen with us?"

"Never," he said, running a hand down my side to rest on my hip. "We got lucky with each other. We're best friends, so it was natural for us to transition to this place we're at."

"Funny," I said, smiling slightly. "That's exactly what Bella said about us one night, a little while before I caught them."

Emmett grinned. "See? We're fine. Everyone knows we're perfect for each other. I don't think we can ever be 'just friends' again. At least," he took my hands again, "I hope not." He kissed both my palms. "I love you, Alice. I won't say it if it makes you uncomfortable, but I do, and I want you to know that."

"It's not going to make me uncomfortable now that I know you don't expect me to say it back all the time," I said, shyly stroking his face. "I'm sorry, but I'm just not ready yet. You might not get it, but it makes sense to me."

"That's all that matters, sweetheart," he said lowly, softly, his dark chocolate eyes smoldering. He leaned down through my hands and finally, finally pressed his lips to mine gently.

For the first time in a week, Emmett and I were connected in that incredible way that made everything make no sense at all and all the sense in the world, all at the same time. Up was down, down was up, all the colors of the rainbow were flying under my eyelids. This is what God's people must have felt when they made it to the Holy Land after forty years. This must be what Anne of Cleves felt when she realized Henry VIII wasn't going to cut off her head. This must be what the immigrants felt when they saw Ellis Island for the first time. This was relief. Pure, unadulterated relief. I hate to describe my kiss as a relief, but it meant that Emmett still loved me, and I had wanted to know that for a week. Hell, I had wanted to know that forever. That he loved me. Not that he still loved me. Because I hadn't had this particular experience yet. Dammit, you know what I mean! And now I've been rambling and being so overdramatic and making ridiculous comparisons that I forgot my point!

"What are you thinking?" he asked softly, pulling his mouth slightly away from mine, keeping our foreheads touching.

I smiled softly and kissed him gently. "Guess."

After a while of more kissing, we ended up on my floor in a play-fight, just in time for my mom to come in and see my sitting on Emmett's gut.

"You kids hungry? Edward and Bella are having a study break snack," she said, unperturbed my the fact that I was now attempting to crush Emmett's trachea with my forearm.

"Sure, Mom," I said, jumping off of Emmett and offering him a hand.

He took it and held tight, then grinned maliciously and yanked me down. He hopped up then threw me over his shoulder, then followed Mother down to the kitchen just like that. Edward and Bella seemed to have made up (and nothing else), but Edward looked depressed about something. After we had some yummy homemade peanut butter cookies, I cornered him in the living room, where he had laid on his face on the couch, pretending to read the book his nose was in the fold of.

"What's wrong, Edward?" I asked, sitting beside his head.

He turned his head to me and I realized my brother - my brother - had tears in his eyes. "I screwed up with Rosie. She's never going to forgive me. I think I'm in love or something. Nothing's ever hurt this badly."

I suddenly found myself holding my brother, who I'd been furious at for so long. I kissed his cheek and squeezed him tightly. "She loves you, too. She's just upset. You need to do something to prove to her you're all in again, and that you'll never do that again, or I'll castrate you myself."

"Like what?" he asked, his voice muffled in my neck.

My heart sank as I thought of what he could do. It was sucky timing, and no wonder it hit her extra hard. "Her birthday is next week. And so is Valentine's Day."

"But they're the same…" Recognition dawned on his face as he pulled back from my embrace. "No… Damn it! I'm such a freaking jackass!" Except he didn't say 'freaking'.

I nodded. "I love you, but you are the stupidest guy I know right now."

He gave a slight smile. "You and Em made up."

I grinned. "But you and Rosie need to make up now. It's gonna take some effort, though. You up for it?"

He nodded solemnly. "Yeah."

"Then we need to call in some reinforcements. We're giving Rosie one hell of a birthday-slash-Valentine's Day."

A/N: Reviews?

~Sidney