A/N: Wow, I'm so pleased with your reactions to last chapter!!! Seems you guys like kisses... Hehe. I can't believe we're at 200 reviews after only 10 chapter!!! You guys rock so hard, it's not even funny!!!! I love you. Please keep telling me what you think, it really means a lot to me, and I really do take your suggestions and opinions to heart. Please don't be shy, I always respond to my reviewers, cuz I just love you guys. I'm gushing, I know... ;-) Thanks to Lea, cuz she's freaking amazing.

I'm going to Seattle in the morning, so I won't be updating until Monday, just so you know, but I have the next chapter written and beta'd, so you won't have to wait when I get back. :-)

Disclaimer: How many times must I tell you, I don't own Twilight!!!!

EmPOV

Holy. Fucking. Hell.

Those were the only three words I could process. Over and over in my head, just plain and simple. Holy. Fucking. Hell. I could still taste her. And, I was so fucking hard I could cut glass with the thing.

It had never been this way for me. I'd never wanted anyone as badly as I wanted her. She was perfect. Every fucking part of her was perfect. And I never wanted to stop. I never wanted her to stop touching me, holding me, kissing me, wanting me.

But how did she feel? God, I felt like a woman wondering it, but I had to know. The gnawing, raw need to know was driving me crazy.

I cursed cell phones as a plague to this earth. She could still be in my arms right now if that buggering thing hadn't gone off.

Bella hadn't come back into the room after she got off the phone with who I could only assume was her mom. Renee always had horrible timing. I'll never forget when she burst into my family's living room and interrupted my first kiss with Lauren Mallory. To be honest, I was relieved she did, Lauren was one of the worst kissers on the planet, more like a fish than human, but that's beside the point. Renee was still cock-blocking me now, even across the country.

Now I was terrified that Bella hadn't really meant what happened. That she didn't feel the same connection that I did. That it was just some fucking moment of passion, or whatever the crap you want to call it.

I fell asleep with my stomach in knots.

"Bella, I love you. Please, I just want to be with you. I thought you felt the same. I thought this all meant something."

Her face twisted into a cold, hard sneer, her eyes full of pity and contempt. "Love you? How could I love you? You're an invalid with no future. I'm going back to Edward. He's a much better kisser than you, by the way. I want him, not you. Thanks for helping me see that Edward is the one I need." Ass-ward suddenly appeared from nowhere, and swept Bella into his arms, kissing her like some fucking knight-in-shining-armor.

I woke up with a start, sitting up as far as I could, my heart pounding and my head spinning. Obviously, I knew it was a dream. Obviously, I don't think Bella would ever be capable of that kind of coldness towards me. Even when she was a bitch, she wasn't cold. If anything, she was fiery hot in her anger.

I flopped back onto the pillow, and rubbed my face hard. Jesus fucking Christ, Cullen, pull yourself together, I told myself.

"Emmett?" Bella's voice was thick with sleep, and I shot a look at the clock. 3 o-fucking-clock in the morning. Great. "Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah sure. Why?"

"You were talking in your sleep and you sounded uncomfortable."

Oh fuck. "What did I say?"

I couldn't really tell, since the only light in the apartment was the lamp in the living room, but I think she was crying. She was standing at the foot of my bed, in those damn short shorts, and crossing her arms against her chest, which was clearly braless, and clearly not going to help my mental situation at all right now.

"Um… my name… and 'no' a lot."

"Anything else?" Please let there have been nothing else, please, God, please.

"N-no," she finally stammered. "And I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Must be a little hot in here. Always give me nightmares."

"Yeah, makes sense. I'll just…" she marched to the window, opening it a crack, and then stood at the head of my bed.

We stared at each other for a long moment. The tension was so thick; it felt like it was pressing down on me, like I almost couldn't breathe. I couldn't figure out what she was thinking, and it was driving me insane.

"I should get back to sleep," she finally murmured. "I start class tomorrow."

"Right. Sure. Okay. Sleep well. Sorry I woke you."

"Uh huh. Night."

She turned quickly and practically sprinted to the couch. My heart sank. Clearly, the kiss had scared her away. Clearly, my dream held more reality than I cared to experience. Clearly, it meant nothing to her.

My heart fractured, tiny slivers breaking off from the rest. It shattered completely when the sounds of Bella's sobs flooded the apartment.

BPOV

He didn't want me. Even in his unconsciousness, he couldn't keep himself from rejecting me. "No, Bella, no, stop, no…"

He didn't want me. It was all a mistake.

He doesn't want me. That thought echoed in my head, over and over, as I sobbed into my pillow. I tried my best to keep silent, but I'm sure that I failed epically. Just like I do with everything else.

Edward was right. Emmett wouldn't want me. I'm some kind of slut who had a fuck buddy, had sex with him on my "patient's" couch, and then broke it off with him because I fancied myself falling for said patient. And then I kiss the living hell out of aforementioned patient, and he doesn't want me anymore, because I'm some kind of moron who just let it happen. Wanted it to happen. Forced it to happen.

Dry sobs heaved through my body, and not soon enough, I fell asleep.

I woke up early that morning, showered and got ready for class. I had the worst headache of my life, and one glance in the mirror told me I was an absolute mess. My eyes were red and puffy, purple bags under my eyes from lack of sleep. I looked sallow and unhealthy. Or maybe that was from the fucking florescent lighting in here. Yeah, that's it.

First day of classes were boring, as expected. Run through the syllabus; introduce yourself to the class, blah blah blah…. I suffered through it with difficulty, barely taking in what the professors were saying. My headache felt like it was splitting my skull open with a sledgehammer, almost as if I had a hangover. Only this was worse. I'd never really had to deal with a broken heart before. I hadn't even been aware I'd given it, but it was clear that I had unknowingly handed it over to Emmett, and with one fell swoop and one amazing kiss, it had been crushed between us, and I was lost.

I think Alice joined me for our class together. I think she told me she and Jasper were sleeping together now, and that it was the most mind blowing thing she'd ever experienced. I think she took me to my car. The only thing that registered was pulling into my parking space once more at Emmett's apartment, and realizing I had to face the music. I had to face the consequence of my horrible choices in life. I had to pretend like nothing happened.

Emmett was awake for once, clicking through the channels at an impossibly fast speed. There was no way he could really see what was on that way. He had a frustrated look on his face, and my heart fluttered, even as it broke in two.

"Hi, Emmett," I said, clutching my new books to my chest, sort of as an armor. Protect myself from once more being flayed alive. I couldn't take it again.

"Hey," he said blankly, still staring at the TV. "Thanks for the food."

I had left out some applesauce and a croissant for him, so that he wouldn't starve when he woke up.

"You're welcome. How was your day?" It hurt to spit out the words, to try and sound cheerful.

"Boring. It's not the same when you're-" He stopped mid-sentence. "Boring."

The blood roared in my ears. Was he just about to admit that he missed me? Now I was completely confused.

"Wanna watch a movie, or TV or something?" I asked hopefully. I knew he probably didn't want a thing to do with me anymore, and actually I wanted nothing more than to hide far away from him at the moment, but I had to pretend nothing was wrong. I didn't want to lose everything we'd built up together before The Kiss.

"Uh… sure. You pick."

"No, you, it's fine. I'm going to be reading over some stuff for class anyway."

"You don't have to hang out with me if you don't want," he said, but he didn't sound like he really meant it.

Way to confuse the fuck out of me, Cullen. I wasn't too crazy about the Katy Perry shit he was spinning on me. I was full on epic heart fail this morning, and now I had hope again? Shit was making my head spin.

"No, it's fine. I want to."

"If you're sure," he said, almost timidly. Okay, something was up. Emmett Dale Cullen was not timid.

"Family Guy marathon?"

"Hell yeah," he said, with a half grin that I would have considered incredibly sexy had it not been so sad and out of character.

I switched on the DVD player, and we had gotten through four episodes when I realized Emmett wasn't watching the TV. His eyes were trained on me, and I suddenly felt hot.

"Bella," he started, but a goddamn cell phone rang again, this time, his.

He growled, and I mean actually growled at the phone, and I cannot deny that the sound was the sexiest thing I'd ever heard in my entire life.

"What?!" he barked into the phone, not even stopping to look at who it was. "Oh, Jasper. Hey man. What do you want?"

"Kay. Okay. Fine. Uh huh. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Bye."

"That was fast," I lightly teased.

"They've made Newton my replacement indefinitely," he said numbly. "There's no hope of me joining the team again, whether I get better or not. Scouts coming to the first game tonight." He said all of this robotically, as if he was completely detached from the situation. Like he had no feelings one way or the other. I knew differently.

"Emmett," I said softly, and covered his hand with mine. I ignored the spark I still felt every time we touched. He stared at our hands for a long while.

"I knew it would happen," he said finally. "I knew it, but I didn't want to hear it. Didn't want to believe… Everything is gone, nothing's left for me."

"Don't you dare say that," I said fiercely. "You hear me, Emmett?"

He finally looked at me, looking deep into my eyes.

"I'm useless, Bella," he said just as passionately. "Don't you get it? I had everything figured out! And now it's fucking over, and what do I have to show for it?! What?!"

"This is just a setback," I soothed. "Just because it's not happening now doesn't mean it won't ever happen. Yeah, your leg is busted. Yeah, you're in this bed. But you're not useless! You're not! And your leg won't always be busted, and you'll walk again, you'll skate again!" His hand grabbed mine and gripped it tight.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this," he finally said.

"I know. I know it's not what you wanted. But life is like that sometimes, I guess. It's a bitch, and you have to just deal with it."

"You help me deal with it," he said huskily.

"I- What?!" My head spun.

"You, Bella. You save me from this crap. You… you just…"

And then his fingers were curling into my hair, and he was pulling me towards him, and our lips were hungry and needy for each other and there was nothing tender or sweet about it.

EmPOV

Fuck, this woman was going to kill me. I held her as close to me as possible and tried to tell her how I felt through my kiss. She gasped as I pried her lips apart with my tongue, and then she eagerly swirled her tongue against mine. I moaned into her mouth, needing more, much more. She was nowhere near as close to my broken body as I wanted her to be, but that was entirely impossible with my casts.

My heart pounded like crazy as I enticed her tongue into my mouth, and she whimpered when I sucked on it.

I needed her. She was the only thing that kept me grounded in this world. The only thing that kept me from wanting to throw myself in front of a bus. My emotions were like the proverbial rollercoaster, but she was my seatmate who I screamed with and held on to and went through it all again with because in the end, it was so damned fun.

I never wanted to part from those sweet, juicy lips of hers, but she was making it very hard to control myself. Not that I could actually do much about it even though I was dying to, but it was too easy to lose myself in her.

She kissed me like she depended on it, and I knew I depended on her, too. Reluctantly, I pulled away from her mouth, and kissed just under her jaw, where I could feel her pulse racing.

"Bella, we need to talk," I gasped.