AN: Hey guys! Sorry I know I've been slow at updating I just honestly have been busy for past few months. It's been difficult to do much writing. In fact most of this I wrote last night. It's been difficult trying to figure out where I'm going with each chapter. I mean I usually have a general idea but I have to figure how to get there and it's been kind of hard trying to figure out how to start this chapter. This isn't the original beginning so...Anyway sorry for the long wait and thank you for being patient with me. You guys are absolutely AMAZING! I can't thank you all enough for all the reviews and positive feedback and I can't wait to hear what you guys think about this chapter! Please Read and Review and Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or it's characters! Stephenie Meyers does!1

Chapter Eighteen

Seth POV:

I ran. I ran as fast as I could and far as I could after I saw Emma hugging that boy. I turned into a wolf, no longer desiring to be human. She had moved on. She found someone else to be with. It hurt, it hurt a lot. Why did I have to imprint on her? Why did I have to fall in love with her?

As I let my wolf side take over, I saw her face in my mind. I saw her in flashes. I saw the baby girl I had just met that I immediately felt drawn to, the one I need to protect. She had been so adorable then. Her hair had curled so perfectly and she had just looked like an angel. As she got older, she looked even more beautiful, more perfect. I remembered the first time I had realized I was having feelings for her.

The night was just like any other in Forks, stormy. I was driving over to Leah's house. She had called me a few hours ago asking to come over. She had some date with her imprint, Ethan tonight. Supposedly, tonight she was going to tell him about werewolves and the pack and she needed me to look after something while she was gone.

I got to the door of my sister's home and rang the doorbell. My sister didn't keep me waiting long and greeted me and invited me inside. She then hurriedly went outside to meet Ethan who had pulled in after I had. She didn't even explain why I was here. I walked inside and saw Emma looking out the window. Her green eyes that usually sparkled were absent, like she wasn't here. Her wet brown hair was pulled into a long, messy ponytail. Her arms were stretched out in front of her. She was wearing one of my hoodies; how she got that I had no idea. She was obviously torn up emotionally and somehow she still managed to look absolutely stunning. I watched her for a minute before she called out to me.

"Are you just going to stand there all day?" she asked not even glancing in my direction.

"I don't know. I'm liking the view from over here." She slightly blushed.

"That was pretty corny, babe," I heard her say. I could hear the smile slowly creeping up her face.

"I thought it was more charming than corny." She turned to me with a small smile on her face.

"You just keep trying, Prince."

"I'll always try, Princess," I said. She sent me a small smile before turning back to the window. I walked over to her and sat next to her. "Are you ok?" She turned to me and I saw a heartbroken expression on her face. Her eyes themselves spoke volumes. Daniel had really messed her up.

Daniel had been her vampire boyfriend of six months. He and Emma met about eight months ago. At first they were friends but they slowly started having feelings for one another and started dating. As the months progressed, Emma fell more and more in love with him. I on the other hand hated him. I hated him the moment I saw him with Emma. I don't know if it's the wolf vs. vampire thing or an imprint thing but nevertheless I hated him. I wanted to wring his neck for touching Emma, much less dating her. He wasn't good enough for her. He was just going to hurt her who was already hut enough because of her father's absence in her life. She deserved better. Sadly, it turned out that I was right about him.

Apparently a week ago, he met someone else. He'd fallen in love with her without even giving Emma a second thought. Then he broke up with her in the forest, just as her father had done with her mother. Then to top it all off, he left her alone, granted she told him to leave but still. It took me two hours to find her and when I did I saw her on the ground sobbing. I held her in my arms and run home with her. She cried for hours. It was the worst feeling, seeing her like that. It broke my heart to see her so downtrodden.

After we got to her house I took her upstairs to her bed and held her until she fell asleep, which she only lasted one hour so when I went downstairs all of her family was awake and asking what happened. I explained what she had managed to explain to me through her sobs and saw everyone's face turn to one of pure fury. E.J, Jason, and Jake were the worst. Jason was extremely protective of his niece. They fought all the time but that was just how they related. E.J was protective of all his sisters and to hear that someone had hurt his little sister, it made him furious. Nobody hurt his little sister and got away with it. Jake felt the same way. Emma was like his little sister too. It infuriated everyone who had known her that someone would break her heart so readily. For days she cried until there were simply no tears. Now she was simply absent. This was the first time I had seen her since that day because I believed she needed some space even though I felt like I needed to be with her.

Seeing her with her absent, sparkles eyes increased that feeling, like she needed me. I saw her shake her head in response to my question about how she was doing and held out my arms to her. Slowly she moved herself into my arms so that she was leaning on me while she looked out the window. We were both silent for about a half an hour before I started talking to her.

"Can I tell you something?"

"If it's about Daniel being a jerk, I don't want to hear it, Seth. I've already heart it from my uncle, my mother, and my brother. I don't need to hear it from you."

"That's not what I was going to say."

"Oh," she said, looking down sort of embarrassed. I silently chuckled at her.

"What I wanted to say is that he's an idiot," I started.

"Seth-," she tried to say.

"Just let me finish," I interrupted. She had then stopped talking and glared at me. She hated being silenced. She always got that cute frustrated look on her face. I shook my head, dismissing my thoughts and continuing my attempt at making her feel better. "He's an idiot for choosing some vampire chick over you. Ems, you are the most beautiful, charming, sarcastic woman I've ever met. He just doesn't see how your green eyes sparkle when you are happy or how you have the most incredible smile this world has ever known. Your smile lights up a room and any time you smile it's hard not to smile back. He doesn't see how kind you are, even to those who don't deserve it. Anybody who doesn't see that doesn't deserve you. He doesn't deserve you. You deserve better than him."

"Stop it," she said blushing slightly.

"It's true. Personally, I don't think anyone will ever be good enough for you."

"Not even you?" she asked with a slight smirk.

"Well…I am pretty fantastic," I said, teasing her. She gave me a look of fake astonishment.

"Looks like someone's full of himself," she replied.

"Aw you know you love it, babe," I replied with a wink. She let out a laugh.

"Maybe so but you'd be lost without me, darling," she responded.

"Oh really?" I countered before catching her by surprise and tickling her. After about a minute, I stopped. "There's that smile I was talking about," I said softly, pointing to her smile which seemed to grow as I mad e the comment. I looked into her green eyes and broke the connection that I realized we had been staring at one another.

"What time is it?" she asked before looking at her watch. Her eyes widened.

"It's ten o'clock! I need to get home. Mom and E.J will be throwing a fit," she said jumping off her chair and turning towards the door. She stopped for a minute and then turned to face me. She then came up to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, for everything, for being here and…for just being you. I don't know what I'd do without you," she said softly. I was frozen. She had never kissed me on the cheek like that before and suddenly it was stirring strange feelings in me. What was going on? "You're the best friend I could ever ask for."

I felt my heart drop as I heard those words and seeing her turn and leave. I wanted her to stay. I wanted her to stay here with me and….I wanted her to tell me that I was more than just her best friend, that she loved me as much as I loved her. It was in that moment I realized that she was more than just my best friend and it was in that moment that I realized I was completely in love with her. I was in trouble.

It was after that day that I first started feeling more nervous around her, more cautious. I had been so careful to stop my feelings from ruining our friendship, to stop her and me from getting hurt and here I was running away from her because she had found someone else. I then stopped in my tracks.

What was I doing? Should I really be running away? I didn't even know what that was. It could have been nothing. Why was I panicking and why was I throwing away perfectly good friendship because she fell in love with someone else? All I had been expecting for us was to just be friends. Why was I so shocked by this turn of events? Was it that impromptu kiss we had shared?

I thought about that kiss and I thought about her face. She had to have felt something. There were too many sparks between us to be nothing. Her smile came back as a crystal clear picture in my head. I could hear her voice beckoning me home like a siren call. It was then that I decided what I'd do. She and I were going to talk about "us" whether she tried it or not. I was going to see her and tell her how I felt about her and wasn't going to chicken out this time.

I began to run back the direction I came when out of nowhere I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head. I fell to the ground and then the world dissolved into darkness.

Emma POV:

I waited anxiously for school to end. Today had gone down perfectly. Operation Jealous Best Friend seemed to be working wonders and all it took was one little hug from a good friend to start it.

See Dylan knew all about what was going to happen this morning. He knew all about the plan. He wanted this to work more than I did, granted this was for him not me but still. All it took was one hug from me and it sent Mandy into a jealous rage. As soon as he and I embraced one another I felt her jealousy in large waves. She hated me after that and even came up to me before class and yelled at me for taking advantage of poor Dylan's feelings. I mean it was perfect and after school I would be talking to Seth and working out our relationship with a similar but less harsh way of getting him to admit how he feels about me. It was all planned out.

So why did I feel so anxious?

I knew the plan would work out and Aunt Alice and Aunt Anne both said it would work out for Seth and I too but something seemed wrong. Something was off about this plan. Something always goes wrong. Nothing ever goes exactly as planned. So what is it?

I sat in my biology class drumming my fingers on the desk. I felt someone grab my hand and stop my drumming. I looked up and saw my brother E.J had grabbed my hand. He was glaring at me, annoyed.

What, I asked him in my head.

Stop it, Emma, he responded silently back.

Stop what?

You need to relax. Aunt Anne and Alice both said it's going to turn out fine so you need to stop stressing about your plan and relax and stop drumming your fingers on the desk. It's really annoying.

I'm sorry, E.J. It's just…something feels wrong about this whole thing and I don't know what it is.

Well this whole plan was pretty crappy. You should just tell him how you feel instead of tricking him.

Oh please! This coming from the guy who kept bugging Ness and I about whether or not she liked you and kept looking at her journal to find out if she liked you. You are one nosy busybody, Edward Jacob, I replied in my head. He glared at me for a second before his widening his eyes.

You never told Mom about that, did you, he asked worriedly. I rolled my eyes. That boy really was a Momma's boy. He was so scared of disappointing or upsetting her. It was kind of annoying sometimes. He heard my thoughts and glared at me. I smiled sweetly at him. Am not! I just don't like to disappoint her. I'm not scared of disappointing her.

There's no difference.

There's a world of difference, Emmy, he stated. I glared at him. I hated it when he called me that.

Call me that again and I'll make you pay.

Yeah, yeah now answer my question. Did you tell her?

Of course not, I answered. I heard him sigh in relief. I'm using it for blackmail.

I hate you.

Aw, I love you too, brother dearest, I thought to him with a smirk before hearing the bell ring. As soon as I heard it, I ran outside excited to see Seth.

I looked around for him and Leah and saw Dylan and Mandy sitting down in front of one of the school's walls. Dylan had his arm wrapped around her tightly and she had her eyes closed and her head resting on his shoulder. I could feel their content coming from 20 yards away. The two of them had obviously settled their issues and I couldn't help but smile at them. Dylan looked at me and smiled before mouthing tome two words: "Thank you". I smiled and nodded at him before turning away.

I walked over to where I finally spotted Leah's car and was surprised to see only Leah there. I felt guilty vibes coming off her. What did she do, I thought as I got over to here and where was Seth?

"Hey," I greeted. She gave me a half-smile.

"Hey," she said sort of sadly. I wanted to see Seth. He was all I could really think about today. He was supposed to be here. Where was he?

"Where's Seth?" I asked.

"About that…," started Leah nervously.

"What happened?"

"Well you see, I thought it would be better to bring him in a little early, you know kill two birds with one stone…"

"You didn't!" I replied angrily.

"I'm sorry."

"How could you, Leah?! This wasn't part of the plan! I didn't want him to see that! I knew what would happen if he did! I know him!"

"I'm sorry, Emma. I just…I thought this was the best way to handle this."

"The best way to handle it would have been to let me handle it the way I wanted to! He may be your brother but he's my best friend! I know him better! And now he's out there possibly hurting over this! Who knows what he's doing right now! Ugh I knew something was wrong." I said running my fingers through my hair and began pacing. "I don't even know what to do right now."

"Maybe you should go after him. You've always been good at tracking. You'd find him at some point and like you said you know him better and then you approach it anyway you want. It's all up to you, Em. You can tell how you really feel and I'm sure he'll reciprocate them."

"You really think so?" I asked.

"Of course I do. If I believed that you two have no feelings for one another, I couldn't be even trying to help. You both love each other but you're both too stubborn to admit it. Em, why does he have to make the first move? Why can't you? And don't give me the 'What if he doesn't feel the same' crap because if that were true, he wouldn't have run off like that. Also, he's been there for you more have fun off like that. Also, he's been there for you more than anyone he's ever met. I mean, you guys kissed. Come on!"

"How'd you know about that?" I asked her. I was surprised. I hadn't told her about that. I hadn't told anyone.

"You might keep this a secret from your sibling but Seth sure didn't. He kept asking me 'What did it mean?' Honestly, Em, he's so in love with you that it drives him crazy!"

"Really?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes!"

For the first time in a long time I felt my heart with such joy and hope and…love. Seth loved me. He really did. He had to. Leah said a lot of things but she would never say anything that she didn't believe was true but I knew that I had to hear it from him to really believe it. That's when I decided it.

"I'm going to find him. I'm going to find him and tell him that I love him." I declared before turning around to walk away.

"Atta girl," she said. I turned around to look at her.

"You know I'm still mad at you," I said softly. She smiled a sad smile.

"I know but you can yell at me after you bring lover boy home," she said smiling at me. I smiled back and made my journey to finding Seth.

E.J POV:

I laid down outside in the backyard, just taking in each ray of the sun. It was such a beautiful day out after we all got home from school. Emma went out to find Seth. Ness was on a date with Jake (of course). Aunt Anne, Alice, and Rose dragged Mom and Taylor out shopping. Carlisle and Esme took a small vacation. Uncle Jase, John, Emmett and Jasper went hunting so that left me and Edward.

He and I still haven't talked. I'm still trying to work out my feelings for him. I still feel kind of abandoned I guess or at least that's what Taylor had suggested anyway. It's just hard to adjust to him even after he's been here for several months now. He's just been some empty part of my life and now he's here and I don't know what to do.

I heard the back door open and turned around and saw Edward come outside. He came over and sat beside me. I never wanted to acknowledge it before but I did look almost exactly like him. We had the same cheekbones, the same nose, and the same basic facial structure. If I hadn't known any better I have thought we were twins. It was uncanny. We both sat there for a while in silence staring at one another before we both tried to break it.

"Look E.J-," "I actually wanted-," we both started to say at the same time.

"Um, you can go first," we both said.

"Let me talk ok?" I said before he could intercede. He nodded. "I actually wanted to talk to you. I know I haven't been the most welcoming person in fact I've been a jerk to you and I apologize but you can't say it wasn't deserved. You left Mom and it destroyed her." He tried to interrupt but I held my hand up. "Let me finish. I saw what it did to her. I remember very clearly getting up in the middle of the night and seeing Mom crying dry tears. They were the saddest sounds that I had ever heard. I used to have to go up to her and comfort her. I felt like the grown up rather than the child. I hated seeing her like that and it was one of the reasons I hated you.

"The other reason was because I thought maybe you just didn't care about her or about us. You never found us. We needed you. We needed our father but you never came. I know you didn't know about us but you still could've came to find Mom but you never did so I hated you.

"Then you came here. I wanted nothing to do with you and wanted nothing more than kill you for hurting my mother like you did. So I ignored you and I downplayed everything you did for my family just because I didn't want to accept you. But then…you stood up for Mom and I sort of heard Emma thinking about how you saved her and I…I couldn't ignore it anymore. You did care. You cared a lot and that's why you are still here. I know that now. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?" I asked. He smiled.

"Of course I can," he answered. I grinned.

"Now it's my turn to talk," said Edward. I nodded and gestured for him to start. "Well, you took care of most of what I was going to say so I guess it just leaves me with one question."

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"How would you feel if I asked your mom to marry me?"