I don't own Twilight, I'm sorry for the wait, and I'm going to hurry before my stupid computer does something else to absolutely PISS ME OFF. Lol...

I awoke to my phone going off with Emmett's personal ringtone, a recording he'd made over the summer of himself saying "Alice, Alice, hey Alice, Alice!" over and over and over… You get it. I must have forgotten to mute it before I went to sleep.

After having dragged my phone from it's resting place next to my head, I flipped it open. "Teddy bear?" I asked, my voice thick with sleep.

"Good morning, my pixie princess," he said softly.

"What time is it?" I said, noticing it was darker than normal.

"Four," he said sheepishly.

I laughed, then growled playfully, "And you're calling me because?"

"I woke up and wanted to hear my amazing girlfriend's voice?" he tried sheepishly.

"Try again," I said, yawning lightly.

"I had a nightmare and I had to check that you were okay," he said quietly.

I rolled onto my side, curling up and speaking quietly to him. "Emmett, are you okay? This isn't like you."

He was silent for a moment. "I'm just worried."

"About what?" I asked soothingly, trying to ease it out of him.

"I just don't want to lose you, Alice," he said in what could only be a shy tone.

"Emmett, you were the one reassuring me Saturday. You don't have anything to worry about," I said firmly.

He sighed. "I p-Look, it's nothing. I just-I shouldn't have woken you up. I just wanted to hear your voice."

I struggled for what to say, confused and worried. "As adorable as that is, I've made plenty of recordings on your phone you could listen to," I finally teased.

"I wanted to talk to you. Real Alice, not techno-recording Alice. I had to-to hear you talking to me," he said softly. "I'm sorry I called so- early or late?"

I paused, hearing floorboards squeaking slightly above me. "Early, because Daddy's awake. I gotta go, Teddy Bear."

"Sleep well, Pixie Princess," he said in a serene voice, lulling me to sleep almost instantly.

When I woke up at a more reasonable time, I realized I was curled around my phone, then laughed. I was so tired after that conversation. And the odd thing was, I couldn't remember the body of it. Just that Emmett had called at the most odd hour to hear me talking to him.

After dressing, I went downstairs to leave for school. Every day the entire following week after that was the same, for the most part. We enjoyed each other, just being together, holding hands, cuddling, couple stuff. Mike Newton avoided us and that made everything better, at the time. But there was a bitter aftertaste whenever Newton would run away with a nasty glance and smirk in Emmett's direction.

We went straight to the Swans' house Friday night from school. La Push was on hold until Leah was out of the hospital. It was for the better, though. They say girls who are around each other regularly develop the same hormonal patterns, and that was no excuse for Rosalie, Bella, and I. Friday night found us girls in Bella's bedroom, equipped with candy, soda, and popcorn. The guys were smart enough to leave us alone, which left Rose and Bella ample room to grill me about Emmett.

"So," Rosalie said slyly, smirking at me. "Is Emmett a good kisser?"

"Rose!" Bella screeched, throwing a pillow at her head. "My brother, really?"

"I was joking!" Rose laughed, hugging said pillow and resting her chin on the end of it. "But seriously, what happened when you guys went AWOL?"

"Well…" I said, biting my lip. "Well, we ran down the beach probably a quarter mile or so."

"That much we figured out," Bella said, giving me her 'cut the crap' look.

"Well, we laid in the sand for a little while, then I started crying when he tried to kiss me again-"

"What did he do?" Bella asked confusedly.

"It was me," I said. "I didn't think he liked me, then-" I decided to keep the phone thing a secret, "-then he reassured me and we kissed some more, then Edward busted his ear drums."

"How?" Rose laughed, nibbling on a Twizzler.

"I was holding his head with my phone in my hand when he called," I said, then realized the absurdity and joined Rosalie laughing, making Bella begin to laugh.

So there we were, three hormonal teenage girls, sprawled out on a little bed laughing at something totally weird and random. Finally, we all collapsed, still giggling a little. Rose and Bella were head to head, on the outside, and I was in a ball between them.

"So, what did it look like from your points of view?" I dared, honestly curious.

"Well," Bella said, mimicking my previous actions. "You two kinda went into a trance when the bottle was spinning. Like you could tell what was gonna happen."

"Yeah, and ya'll got really weird, like ya'll had no idea anyone was around. Then ya'll started talking really quietly, then he kissed your ear-"

"Which was totally weird!" Bella interjected. "Then he kissed you and you were like a statue, and we were all kind of laughing at Emmett inside."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because the guy was obviously really into you, and you were not responding at all, and everyone could see he was doing all the work. Then you grabbed his hair and we thought you were trying to yank him away! We were totally shocked, because everyone's known forever that you two were head-over-heals for each other." Dang, Rosalie could recite a Homer epic in one breath if she tried…

"But then you started kissing back and we were pretty much all thinking 'Finally!' Then you left and we started talking," Bella supplied, waggling her eyebrows.

I made the universal 'I just found out something funny and unbelievable and now I must know all details' face and crawled up the bed to lay on my stomach between Rose and Bella. "Tell me. Now."

The started laughing and sharing the previous Friday night's conversation.

I woke up at about six, an odd time for me. I was never an early bird. I carefully sat up and climbed down out of the bed so as not to disturb Rose and Bella. The joys of being the smallest and always getting the middle…

I got downstairs and slid into my shoes and coat, left unceremoniously in a heap by the door with everyone else's junk. I went outside to the woods, to a little trail Charlie had cut many years back; slightly overgrown, but still a great escape.

I'd walked a little way in when I saw him. Emmett, sitting on a fallen log. He saw me too, and smiled, patting the space next to him.

I sat next to him and leaned on his arm, looking up into the canopy of foliage. "It's so beautiful out here…"

He wrapped his arms around me, looking down into my face. "I missed you last night. I was hoping I'd get to sleep with you in my arms."

I laughed. "Well, this is not my natural waking hour. I'll be sleeping more later. Maybe we can catch up."

He grinned, then gave me a hair-raising kiss. So sweet, so gentle, so… Loving. It nearly brought tears to my eyes. It felt so right, being in this moment. These woods. On this log with this amazing guy I was falling harder for every day…

I melted into his arms, sliding my hands up the front of his jacket to his neck, to hold him to me. I felt a need to be close to him, and he was holding me so wonderfully. It made what happened next almost worth it. Almost.

Emmett broke off the kiss, looking guilty. "Alice, I-I started the fight the other day."

I bit my lip and took deep breaths, suddenly overwhelmed. "Emmett, what happened? And don't you dare say nothing."

"Newton said something that pissed me off, I punched him in the face, we fought," he said, not meeting my eyes.

"What did he say?" I demanded, grabbing his face and turning it towards me.

"He said some crap about you, okay?" he said angrily, shaking his head free of my grip.

"Like what? Emmett, you've been totally weird since that fight and I don't like it! I want my teddy bear back to normal," I said softly.

He stood up and paced before me. "Newton said that… That it would be easier to…"

"Tell, me, damn it!"

He turned and glared at nothing in particular, then half-shouted, "I can't lose you, Alice!"

I recoiled in confusion. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

He gripped his head and kept his back to me. "Newton had said that if I wanted, he could help me get rid of you. Call the funny farm or happy house, or… Or we could have an 'accident' and no one would know the difference. Then he said, 'Like your friends Sam and Leah' and I threw the punch."

I looked at my feet sheepishly. "You're scared of me getting taken away from you?"

"Yes, and it's killing me," he said, finally looking at me. "I don't want to be sitting next to your hospital bed crying because of a stupid mistake I made."

I took a deep breath and walked to him. "Emmett, you can't be scared."

"Alice, I've never had feelings like this for anyone," he said softly, wrapping his arms around me. Finally.

"Good, because she'd have had to take some things up with me," I said, standing on tiptoe to bring him down for a kiss.

A/N: I have officially finished writing this story, but there are a few more chapters to be posted, then a sequel, so stay tuned!

~Sidney