A/N: Just a heads up, Leah will not phase, but she retains her werewolf abilities. I've been peppering hints of her...extra abilities, I guess. So instead of becoming a full-pledge freak of nature, she would instead be a half-pledge freak of nature. Cue Nessie.

VI.

"Embry, will you at least eat?"

I shook my head feebly. Keeping my eyes open was a hard task, let alone moving my heavy torso. An uncharacteristically cool hand rested on my shoulders and it hurt. Holy mother. I groaned, shifting my body away from the group of large, russet skinned men that huddled closely in my room. I heard Billy mumble something rather inaudible to Sam, and a sniff or two from my mother, I thought. What's Billy doing here?

He politely asked for water, before I heard someone leave. Judging by the relaxing sighs that followed, it should be mum who left.

"It's not so much of the food," Billy's voice said. "It's not seeing her. It's the fact that he's avoiding her, the fact that he wills himself to drift away from her that is killing him." There was a pause and a several intakes of hoarse breath. "It takes a wolf great strength and even greater courage to look away from his imprint. His human soul may endure it, as he had physically done for most of his life. But his wolf spirit cannot."

I felt Sam shiver beside me. "I have been away from Emily. But I wasn't like this."

I wondered how bad I must have looked; I knew I felt more pain, torment and agony than I thought was ever possible, but whether I physically translated that torture, I did not know. Now, with Sam sounding so helpless in reference to my condition, I guessed I did.

Billy continued. "You were hopeful Sam, you knew what was best for Emily, and it was being with you. But Embry..." I winced at another touch on my arm. "When a wolf firmly believes that his imprint is best be torn away from him, for one reason or another, he tries to endure the suffering. This yearning gnaws at his life; like happiness being permanently sucked out from one's life, there exists no reason for living..."

In short, I'm doomed.

There was a whine as Jacob spoke. "So what the hell are we waiting for? Let's go find her!

"NO!" I roared. I could feel the longing fight my words. The agony seeped further into the depths of my soul. I felt like a giant, pathetic, stupid statue carved from pain. "No."

"I can't see you like this, man! You can't be like this."

I was saved from answering by my mother returning from the kitchen. My less mature self wondered if Billy drank the water she got him. Mum caressed me, spilling tears as she bent over to kiss my forehead. Billy whispered something comforting, assured her they would do everything in their power, and she was gone with one last kiss.

"I'll be back before you know it," she muttered. "Please get well soon. For me."

I nodded, until my neck hurt.

"Come on, Embry," Jared encouraged. " You have to fight. You know you can't keep what you don't earn. How can you give up someone as important as her? You have to fight to earn her." He rested his hands on my shoulders so carefully I felt nothing but a fondling breeze.

I groaned again. Thinking of what I was giving up was killing me. And as Billy had said, it was literally killing me. Why couldn't the ground just open up and drag me down to the depths of hell, once and for all? It should be less painful than this--because every cell in my body, every single part of Embry Call was suffering.

"It drains him of life. Slowly, painfully..." Billy solemnly explained. I almost nodded, in spite of myself. True.

"Embry..." Sam whispered.

I knew what I needed. Every single part of me was yearning for her. I wanted to do things to her. I wanted to share things with her. There was so much more I wanted to fulfill with her. But seeing her happy, smiling, and provided for...I couldn't do anything. I couldn't do anything, because she had some super cool boyfriend with freaking super cool fucking sportscar. And she was happy.

"I just want her to be happy," I mumbled. Even saying that hurt.

Before anyone could scold me, I heard someone storm to my room. My eyes opened in surprise as Harry Clearwater thundered ceremoniously. "Have you actually seen Leah?" he hurled at me, looking irritated. "That girl! She isn't as lifeless--" he gave me another dismayed glare. "--but she is driving Sue crazy! She is constantly in a foul mood, and believe me, she gets into an even fouler mood whenever she realises she had no idea why...fuming half the time, gets into unbelievable fights...Is that what you call happy, Embry? You think my daughter is happy?"

My stomach ended up like a twisted scrap of steel. Leah was unhappy? Shamelessly, I curled into a ball. If that super cool bastard ever treats Leah in less than perfect way, God help me, I will inflict him with double this pain.

Harry wailed at Billy. "Bill! Why is he insisting she's happy?"

"Outside," was Billy's reply. There was a little commotion and the last thing I heard was Billy being wheeled into the living room. There was a string of mumblings from where both elders must have discussed whatever they intended, before my consciousness faltered.

When I regained my consciousness later, it was almost dark. I heard some shuffling so I turned around to see who was left with me. My eyes landed on Paul's face. I groaned. Paul Meraz's face! I sooo don't want his face to be my last memory.

"Dude," he started, unaware that all I wanted to do was throw him out of the window. "You're such an asshole. You let yourself be like this? A fucking zombie? A fucking dying zombie? A fucking dying zombie without getting laid? How could you!"

"Sorry I let you down," I snorted. Everyone was trying to keep me from dying. And here was Paul Meraz, La Push's grade A idiot, asking me to at least freaking get laid before my death. You could always count on Paul. Always.

"Have you touched Leah's perfect ass?"

"Shit Paul, can't you just be all 'don't die, Embry' on me? Please?"

He rolled his eyes. "Don't die, Embry...well, not before you touch those perfect pair!"

I must have consumed most of my remaining strength just for that moment of gawking at Paul's smug face. Seriously? I am trying to die here in peace and he reasons me out using Leah's perfect ass. How entirely considerate.

He scoffed, shaking his head. "Dude. You have to get laid."

"Oh my God."

"I'm serious!"

"Can anyone kill me please?" The ceiling seemed to be the right place to beg for mercy.

"Come on, mate! Embry jr. didn't even live yet!"

"Can anyone kill me now please?"

He inhaled deeply, which I assumed was a signal of his forthcoming speech, then resumed showcasing his extraordinary idiocy. "You know what the problem with you is? You don't live. At least Jared helps around a little. But you? You revolve around Leah--"

I cut him off. "Hello? She's my imprint."

"--shut up. You revolve around Leah and forget your own life. And then this shit happens, and you think it's better to just disappear. Duude, were you hiding behind a vampire's ass for the last sixteen years? Life. is. shit. Do you actually believe imprinting is just this Oh-my-Goood-drooool love that is as fucking easy as one, two three? Imprinting. is. also. shit. If you want Leah, then you have to take double the shit."

"But Leah's happy without me," I told him. "And that's the shit."

He fumed. "Are you deaf? Did you actually hear Harry? Leah gets affected too. Severely. And she doesn't know why. You suffering like this is hurting her. You are hurting her."

"NO!" I replied firmly. He could not accuse me of hurting Leah and get away with it. Never in a thousand years would I ever hurt her, and if that was the last thing Embry Call would promise, I would hold on to it with each drop of my blood.

"No?" he mocked. "No? Then why is Leah in a crap mood all the time? Hell, she told me she'll freaking cut my balls if I was not to move out of her way and I was on the other fucking side of the road!"

I laughed faintly. "She threatened to castrate me if I do not stop following her."

"So you want to preserve your balls, I understand..."

Jake appeared suddenly, naked in the moonlight "Paul! Sam wants you."

Paul and I looked on as he clambered in from the window, leaping agilely beside my bed. Paul punched me lightly before scurrying away, perhaps reminding me to take on board his words, or perhaps just to make sure I remember that he was stronger than me. Jake slipped into his trousers and sat at the edge of my bed. I noticed that his eyes look bruised. When I asked him about it though, he dodged the question and began to lecture me, Jacob Black style. "No, if there's one thing you have to care about, its your condition. Can you even get up?"

I tried, but slumped back down. He snorted. "See? And all this for what? For her?"

"Jake, Paul just had this massive philosophical speech on me. I'm dying here, so can you wait 'til I get under my gravestone? I promise no interruption when you vomit that speech on me afterwards."

"Bull shit!" Jake stood up and paced, pausing to face me as he kept his lectures. "Embry, you know that out of the three of us, you were the most mature. Whenever we got close to trouble, you were always the first one to remind us of the consequence. Where is that Embry now? Look at you! Do you still care about us? About the pack? About your mother?"

Yes I do. "Nothing as much as Leah."

Jacob reacted so fast that with my weakened senses, he had me thrown up against the wall before I could blink my eyes. His hands gripped my collar viciously, strangling me until I had to struggle to breathe. There was hardly pity in his eyes, mostly anger. I attempted to pull his hands from my throat but I couldn't even raise them. They were like lead hanging limp, useless in every respect. I could feel the wall hard against my back, and with Jacob tightening his grip, I could barely make out his snarls.

"So you're going to bail out? You're going to just rot away and die? IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?!"

I turned my head away from his infuriated face and waited for his onslaught. He hissed. "You want to bail on Leah? Fine! What. makes. you. different. from. Sam?"

It took me a while to digest those words. My head snapped up as Jake finally loosened his grip. I could feel the weight of his words drag me down, and I slid down to the floor in disgust. There was a swirl of incoherent words in my thoughts; my chest itself was threatening to implode. Not to mention I was wallowing in self-hatred to such intensity I wanted to grab our kitchen knife and repeatedly stab myself in the gut. Outside, mirroring my emotions, the rain thundered ferociously.

"It's you who keep insisting you're different from him, but you bail on Leah anyway. Exactly like Sam. You're such a hypocrite." Jacob shuddered, then jumped out of my window. I heard his trousers explode, followed by a collective howl ripping through the woods. The pack was beckoning me, asking me to come to my senses.

I needed to rethink this. To find myself if I had to. I leaned back casually on my bed, dented with the force of two werewolves fighting; one hurting, the other allowing. I swallowed anxiously.

So, Embry. What makes you different from Sam?

***

The long night paved me a way to a fresher dawn. Upon relentless pondering there was really nothing more to think about except whether or not I was to continue inflicting this painful damage upon myself, or to fight until my last breath. Frankly, even as the sun greeted the horizon with brightness, I still couldn't find the elusive resolution. This was the choice that could make or break Embry Call. And with such high risks, my imprint no less, I wasn't brave enough to face the consequences if a failed.

Although, as Jared had said, I had to earn first what I intended to keep. It was a valid point; something that was constantly nagging on my mind, swaying me with its decisiveness. Despite the efforts, all those chases and heroic rescues, life still seemed to be capable of keeping her away from me. I hadn't earned the right to be with Leah. Not yet, at least. I must crawl with dust, blood and sweat to attain such a precious treasure; and if I were to give up now, then hope would simply fade away.

On the contrary, why imprint? Had I misunderstood the shifting of gravity, the shift in priorities, and the reformation of everything Embry Call was ever made of? Why imprint when I would have to earn her all the same? Shouldn't I have been given a choice instead? To love someone else and go through the romances one step at a time? To earn someone else without that dire necessity an imprint demands?

And that question had made the difference.

Like a stubborn mule, I retorted. Who the bloody hell cares? We were made for each other. Embry Call was carved for her. To be who she couldn't. To fill the void in her life. To bethe man who would fight for her. To be the one who would wait for her at the end of the aisle, eyes gleaming with pride and love. To be the one whose fingers she would break when she gives birth to his son, to be the one who would laugh with her when she gains her first grey hair, to be that one man who would touch her insane, who would kiss her senseless, who would make endless love to her...

So who the bloody hell cares? I am that man. And even if I wasn't, I would be that man.

I snapped my eyes closed and spread my arms to absorb the rays of sunshine draping my half-naked body. A ghost of a smirk lingered on my lips before I moaned with that clawing agony. I had been catatonic these past few days and although that Eureka! moment relieved the weakened heart, my physical needs had been ruthlessly abandoned and was now crying for their share of attention.

I stumbled to grab some clothes and crawled to the kitchen. My insatiable hunger heightened at that very moment when I finally acknowledged that I was indeed in need of sustainance. And sustainance in many various ways; one being her.

In many respects, even if I had raided the fridge of everything edible, consumned my mother's cupboard to the point of glutonny and stuffed myself with enough food to make my mum forget I had been gravely ill these past few days, I still wasn't wholly fed. A part of me engulfed by that arctic cold yearned for the homey warmth that was only ever related to Leah Clearwater.

My mother watched in horror as her son tried to drag his bloated self out of her home and into the woods under the pretense of desperately requiring an elder's guidance (preferably someone in the Clearwater household). Of course she wasn't born yesterday and instead of letting me go she made me cower and drag myself back into the lair under her nose. Grumpy now, but well-fed nonetheless, I sat on the bed pretending to be healing at a slow human pace, seeing as it was the only recovery pace she would accept.

The rest of the pack were delighted to have me back, and Paul challenged Jake to a duel to determine which would take the credit in my rejuvination. I assured Jacob he had a chunk of the credit; but Paul insisted otherwise. Both smug werewolves were shameless enough to demand my gratefulness.

It was in fact, only Jake's words were that made me stay indoors: 'do you still care for your mother?' he had said. Even for just one day, I wished that I could prioritise my mum the way she regarded me all these years; because I knew that once I stepped out there, I would ran into Leah's arms (not literally, of course. She would strangle me), and would never will myself back. And I that would break my mum's heart, like a typical protective mother. So I was her obedient son for the day; she tended for me for most of time, taking a break every now and then to proclaim to the neighbourhood the miraculous recovery of Embry Call. Paul laughed his ass off.

Sam refused to let me patrol, since I was still recovering; spiritually at least. So I had the whole night to dose my concerns and yearnings with a snore. I started early the following day, straight to the Clearwaters' front door. I was feeling giddy. How manly was that? I was thankful I didn't need to phase until sunset because I could only imagine the taunts that would follow me.

All the giddiness that tingled me was suddenly extinguished when I found the house lifeless. The family car was gone and there were some other cool skid marks on the ground. Cool skid marks? Ah. I knew exactly who had been here. Why the hell am I even bothering? I stumbled backwards, the cold hitting me on the face again. So what if I was that man for Leah? If she had but one doubt, then she had the right to choose, to carve the path for herself, to be with a cooler, richer, better man--

Oww-ouch.

I didn't know how far out I ventured, but the next thing I knew, I was some seven feet under the ground. I blinked once, twice, thrice. Who in the name of Christ dug a seven feet pit in La Push? I wiped the dust off myself and I attempted to jump myself out, but ended up in a tangle of limbs as my ankle crunched. Seriously, I am a lucky guy.

I guessed it was time for that head-banging moment where you wished for a modern-day miracle. Or in my case, wished for Leah Clearwater.

I couldn't even phase. The wall of bland soil around me was too constricting. I decided to sit back down and examine the damage as the remains of rain trickled down past the walls of the pit. My ankle was slightly swollen. A sprain. Maybe waiting an hour would do the trick. At least it wasn't a broken bone. I was just about to pout myself to death when this astounding, heavenly, remarkable voice floated to my ears. All the cells in my body buzzed with excitement. My nose tingled with the smell and my eyes burned.

"Good morning there, idiot."

I swore I just heard my sparkling fairy Godmother say 'wish granted!'

I looked up to see Leah scowling at me from above, head peering into the pit. Oh yes, it was a damn goood morning. Her arms were crossed and her hair was tied behind her back. I could see the perfect contours of her face, and the extraordinary beauty her features possessed. And oh, the warmth surged like wild, blistering fire in my veins and just like that, I was gloating and dancing and praising the Lord. Hell, yes. I AM a lucky guy.

"Leah..."

She tilted her head, and all I could think about was the embarassment of being caught in my posture, leaning on my back, my legs spread wide open, with my feet dangling in mid-air. I tried to repair the damage while her eyebrows danced across her forehead. Even as her mouth gaped, a curve was easily seen in its midst. "Did you just breathe my name?"

I looked up to answer, but all the thoughts vanished when I noticed that she was standing dangerously close to the pit. With the loose soil wet with the seeping rain, she could easily lose her footing fall down. "Leah! Be careful! You may slip! Please step away from--"

But this girl! Instead of following my well-intended caution, decided to ignore me, roll her eyes, smirk mischievously and fucking tiptoe across the edge of the pit. It drove me insane. "Are you crazy?"

She shrugged, waving her hands. "Not as much as you. You're trapped in a pit seven feet deep and you worry about me falling in?"

Now I was angry. How could she not care? She was the most precious, the most priceless, the most beautiful person in all of history, and she did not care? My heartbeat trebled. "Shit, I don't care about being trapped! The most important thing is... Just--just move away from the edge, Leah. Please."

"Why should I listen to you?"

"B--because you should! Because if you don't you will fall, and if you fall you will get hurt, and if you ever get hurt I--"

She must have seen the desperation in my eyes. "Fine," she spat, moving away, finally. She Stood in mockery a few steps away from the opening, just enough for me to see her. I breathed a sigh of relief before closing my eyes. "You are seriously insane," I muttered lightly.

"I heard that," she hissed. She did? "If I'm not seriously insane, you wouldn't be there."

How Leah heard that I didn't know. But it escaped my mind as she threw a rope in. "You dug this?"

"At night, mostly," she explained. I whimpered. At night? Night is dangerous. "I was fucking dying playing Emily's bridesmaid. This is Sam's grave." she declared proudly. "A wedding present." She added.

"How very thoughtful." See how wonderful Leah could be? She even thought of giving Sam a wedding slash funeral gift. She stood by the pit, glaring down at me. I heard her heartrate speed up momentarily, then settled back into a steady rhythm.

"Damn it, put a shirt on!" She suddenly instructed.

"I don't have a shirt."

"Show off."

"Is it bothering you?"

"Do I look bothered to you?"

"A little."

"I'm only bothered about what people will think if they see us here alone with your chest and--undressed--naked." She hardly made sense.

"If you're so bothered, why did you rescue me?"

"I hardly call that rescue."

"Well I do, and thank you," I replied.

She spun around, her hair flying wildly in her shadow, and wedged herself against a tree trunk. I panted as I finally reached the top, my ankle throbbing. Thankfully, the pain was slowly dulling now. Just a quick wait and it should be fine. I couldn't help but stare at Leah. I missed her, longed for her, much much more than I realised. I could still feel the surge of warmth attacking my whole being, somehow not yet fully satiated.

"That was quick," she remarked, judging my pace. I only wished she was impressed.

A forest-y silence lingered between us, until I decided to brave a question.

"Can I ask you something?" Breathe, breath, calm down. I could feel my insides constricting against itself, knowing what I would ask next could actually make me cry. Leah opened one eye, then raised her eyebrows as a gesture of approval.

"Th--that cool guy...in that cool sportscar...is he--" You have to finish the question before you let that tear drop, you idiot. "--your boyfriend?" My voice shoot two octaves higher and cracked in that two-year old high pitched squeal. In front of Leah. I cleared my throat loudly in an attempt to regain my shrivelling pride.

She shot me a glare. "Jesus, Embry. Not you too."

"So he is?" I sounded like a glass being scratched.

"Hell no. He's my cousin. William ."

Goodbye, arctic cold. "You have a cousin?"

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, he didn't look very Quileute."

"He's half and half, big deal. We used to hang around a lot, William and Emily and I." There was a tinge of resentment in her tone. "Then Will moved to Florida when we were seven. He hasn't come back since two years ago, and he comes back to this. Emily and I..." She stopped, frozen, and then probaby thought why she had just shared it with me. I could sense the awkwardness, but at the same time, feel that buzzing excitement of comfort. Slowly, I was becoming her confidant.

She wriggled her hair free draped it across her shoulders. She leaned forwards, taunting. "Hey, are you even in puberty yet? You sound like a banshee."

"You know, Jake said I sounded like Andrea Boccelli once."

Her head snapped up, her eyes sparkling with excitement. She was even more beautiful when she got excited. I couldn't help but drool. "Which brings us full circle, because William happens to like Andrea Boccelli and because I could make do of your inability to keep yourself from trouble."

"And...?" Oh my God, you're so beautiful.

"I will need your help. William is having his birthday this Wednesday. I want to pull a prank."

"Andddd...?" Sooo b-e-a-utiful...

As she quickly filled me in with the plan, my eyes lit up. Oh, oh, oh. We were going to dig pits all night long and hope that William, or his car, gets trapped in her brilliant graves. I was more excited than a child being taken to Disneyland. All my mind could conjure was more time with Leah. I didn't even digest her threats.

"I can't stand you, Embry, but you are going to help me."

The pain of her not being able to stand me was nagging and pulling at my gut, but I crushed the sickening thought. Besides, she was standing me now. I could try to list 'making Leah endure my presence longer' as my goal. I pretended to dislike the idea, only because I wanted to hear her voice more. It didn't even matter if all she said were insults. "And why do you think I would do so?"

She smirked snidely. "Because I saved your precious ass from a school suspension as you have gleefully missed your detention, Mr. Call."

"And saving yourself the one-week detention in doing so?"

She pursed her lips. "That came as an added bonus. Besides Mr. Asshole--I mean Mr. Clarke-- was gritting with fury. He was sulking without you. Must have some kind of gender confusion middle-aged crush on you."

My head spun. "Eeww, we're like mortal enemies."

"So what? Are you going to be a grateful grape or be a royal piss off?"

I pondered slightly. "A grateful young man, I am."

She laughed, a music so beautiful I could listen to it forever. "Good."

I followed her a distance away, where she unearthed the building tools she might have used in digging the pit. She handed me a shovel and stocked the rest neatly under a wide eroded crevice in a boulder. I noticed something odd. "Why do you have two of everything?"

She looked caught off guard for a split-second, before dismissing the question thoroughly. "Just in case."

"Oh, really?"

Her eyes darkened. "Look here. If you think that I am delighted to have someone like you helping me, then you're so massively wrong. If you hadn't so stupidly fallen into my pit, and you out of everyone else, I would never have dreamt of ever asking for your help. So quit fucking gloating before I wipe that smug smile off your goddamn handso--face."

I could have sworn my heart just exploded. "What's a hanso face?" I probed.

"GIVE ME THAT!" The shovel was ripped out of my hands and was stowed back into its hiding place. I should be helpless and angry now, but I couldn't stop myself from being ridicously elated. If Leah could play dirty, maybe I could too. Especially if the prize was being with her, alone in the woods...right, I have to stop.

"If you don't give me back that shovel, Leah, I might ran across Harry and my mouth has a mind of its own, you know. Or worse, it could be William whom I'd pay visit. I really like that car of his."

"I always knew you have a brainless gargantuan mouth." Leah wasn't pleased.

I could see her fist clench as her other hand rummaged into the crevice for the shovel. I knew smart talks which didn't spring from her infuriated the hell out of her. She threw me a wrathful glare, and the shovel followed. I caught it and smiled. "It comes in handy," I reminded her.

"So eager now?"

I turned away, channeling my energy to some other physical movements before I would erupt in fit of giddy giggles right in front of the beautiful woman I was wooing. "I'm just being grateful," I called back. "You said I was good when I was being grateful."

She stormed beside me a second later, and sliced the rope that I had climbed on earlier. It snapped and slid helplessly into the pit.

"If you ever try to tell anyone, Embry, I'll bludgeon you."

"Remind me why I'm risking my life here please?" I rolled my eyes sarcastically.

"Listen here, idiot. We better get to work if we are to meet William's 20th birthday bash deadline." She sped past me and checked some patch of soil to dig. Even at that distance, damn it, I could still feel her radiating warmth aching to be embraced. The gravity was pulling and tugging at me in places unimaginable. Leah under the rain was more than a sultry Goddess; she was Aphrodite and Hera weaved in one, with the blood of Dionysus in her bloodline. The drippping rain wasn't helping my case as I spy a trickle of raindrop slip from her black hair, tracing the length of her slender neck and sliding lightly across her smooth shoulders...

I stopped myself before I even got to where I was headed. I jogged to where she stood and started digging upon her order, being a fool of a gentleman trying to ensure she wasn't doing all the rough work, stuttering every now and then, and pitifully trying to steal a glance at her Goddess-like beauty. A beauty that matched nature. Of course she noticed and theatened to bludgeon me to death, but nothing was going to ruin my chirping mood because at one of those peeking-and-oggling-at-Leah moments, I chocked myself with deliriousness when my eyes caught a very stealthy Leah smiling mischieviously and checking me out.

A/N: I want to thank you dear reviewers, you elate my heart. Reviews are charity, you know? Be charitable :)