Okay, it was only 24 reviews. But close enough!! Hope you like it!

---Emmett---

It was well past midnight when I silently jumped out of my bedroom window and took off toward Bella's. It had taken everything in me not to hold on to her earlier this afternoon; to make her stay in my arms so I could ease her pain. The sorrow in her eyes had been unbearable, but I couldn't keep her here when she had so desperately wanted to leave. So I had let her go.

I kept my thoughts closely guarded, though I doubted Edward could hear them. He had holed himself up in his room after Bella had left and cranked his stereo, probably to drown out any thoughts but his own. I had tried to tell him to go after her, but he had outright refused. He wanted to give her time. This pissed me off to no end because if he loved her as much as he said he'd be out here. If he loved her as much as I-. I shook my head and focused on hunting. I knew Alice would immediately go to him if she saw where I was going.

I was easily able to follow her scent to the little white house she called home. I slowed to walk as I approached the driveway. The porch light was off, but I noticed a soft glow emanating from an open second floor window. I nimbly climbed the tree in front of the house and perched on a thick branch outside the window. Bella sat propped against the headboard of her bed, one leg bent and the other leg stretched out in front of her. One hand was resting on the raised knee and holding an empty tumbler. The other was on the bed beside her and clutched a half full bottle of Southern Comfort. Her head lay back against the wall, puffy eyes closed and cheeks stained with tears. What on earth was she hiding from me?

Not from me.

From Edward.

She's not mine.

"Bella?" I called out. She twitched and opened her eyes. She looked around, befuddled.

"Perfect," she grimaced. "Now I'm hearing voices." She poured a mouthful of liquor and downed it, then resumed her position.

"Bella, it's Emmett," I identified myself this time. She opened one eye.

"Good one, mysterious voice," she chuckled. "Next time you might want to try being someone I want to talk to."

"Come to your window," I ordered softly. She sat up and dangled her legs off the bed.

"So I'm supposed to follow orders from the voices in my head now?" she giggled and kicked her feet like a child.

"Would you just get over here?" I snapped. With a huff she hopped down and stumbled over to the window.

"Holy shit, it really is you!" She gasped, then frowned. "Get lost." She turned and walked away from me.

"Bella we need to talk," I reasoned.

"No, we don't." She picked up the bottle and took a long pull. "Now leave."

I deftly swung my legs through her window and slid through until I was standing in her room. Bella did her best to sneer at me and turned her back. I rolled my eyes.

"I thought I told you to leave," she growled.

"And I told you we needed to talk," I approached her slowly until I was standing next to where she sat. "Look Bella, if we're going to be honest with you, then you need to do the same for us."

"It's not like you just came right out and told me," she grumbled and stared at her feet.

"I know, but still, now that everything is out in the open, we need to know what's going with you. You can't just take off like that and expect us not to ask questions," I sat down on the bed next to her. She made no movement and continued to stare at the floor.

"Emmett, just go home. I really don't need this right now," she sighed.

"Bella, I think you've had too much," I knelt down in front of her and held out my hand. "Give me the bottle."

"No," she jerked the bottle away. "And besides, how would you know I've had too much?" She scoffed. "You only drink blood!" She took another pull off the bottle and swallowed hard. "This tastes like ass."

"Then don't drink it," I said simply

"Go to hell," she spat and lifted the bottle to her lips. I carefully grabbed her wrist to stop her and she fired another drunken sneer at me.

"L'eggo," she slurred and fought futilely against my grip. I pried it from her fingers and placed it on her nightstand, just out of her reach. "Give it back, Emmett,"

"You don't need it." I shook my head. "Now tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," she plastered a grin on her face. "See?"

"You can't lie when you're sober," I sighed, "So what makes you think I'm going to believe you when you're drunk?"

"How do you know I'm drunk?" Bella leaned forward to try and look me in the eye, but ended up falling right into my lap. Embarrassed, she jumped to her feet, only to stumble backwards this time and fall right on the floor next to me. She looked at me and her eyes welled up.

"Shit, I…I'm sorry…" she stuttered, then burst into tears. I gently scooped her up and sat her back on the bed. I propped her up on a couple of pillows and assumed a similar position next to her. I handed her the box of tissues from her night stand and she used a few to blot her eyes. She crumpled them in her hands.

"Why do you care so much?" she sniffled, her gaze not leaving her hands.

"Because I care about you and it pains me to see you this way," the words left my mouth before I could stop them.

"I thought you hated me," she murmured and began to pick apart the wadded tissues.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," I shook my head. "I could never hate you."

"You mean it?" she swiped at her eyes again.

"Of course," I stated.

"You really care?" She gazed up at me, incredulous.

"More than anything," I swept a stray hair from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. I trailed my thumb along her jaw and let my hand rest under her chin. "And more importantly, so does Edward. Now tell me: Why did you run out earlier?"

"I said some things I shouldn't have," she mumbled.

"Like what?" I inquired.

"You really don't want to know," she tried to look away, but I held her chin in place. Her eyes glazed over with fresh tears.

"Tell me," I ordered softly.

"I had a brother," she began, "A twin. His name was Isaac, and we were the best of friends. We did everything together, even working at the same grocery store when we got our first jobs. That's where he met his first girl…his girlfriend Patti. She was constantly paranoid that he would leave her, so she made a point of monopolizing his life, including waiting for him at our house until he got home from work, just to make sure he wasn't cheating on her. And for some asinine reason, she felt threatened by me. She wouldn't let us spend time together, and even threatened me. She told me she'd kill me if she ever found out that we went somewhere without her." She stopped briefly to adjust her position.

"She threatened to kill you?" I shook my head. "She couldn't have been serious."

"Oh I assure you, she was. You didn't see the look in her eyes. The girl was down right psychotic. When I told Isaac what she said, he flipped. He blasted her out in front of the whole school. He told her he never wanted to see her again and to stay the hell away from him and from me. That's when she really lost it. She started stalking him, calling him at all hours of the night, and parking outside of our house for hours. My mother had to have the police come and remove her from our property several times. And then…and then one day I came home late from school and heard her screeching in the living room. I heard Isaac pleading with her, and then three gunshots. Pow! Pow! Pow!" She made the shape of a gun with one hand and flexed her thumb three times.

"I ran into the living room and there he was on the floor, bleeding. She was still pointing the gun at him. I shielded him as she furiously screamed and made to shoot him again. But instead of shooting him, she took her own life by eating a bullet. It was terrifying…" Her chin began to quiver. "He…he died in my arms. It became a daily struggle just to function after his death. I didn't sleep, I couldn't eat, and I even tried suicide." She shoved her wrists out in front of her. Two jagged vertical scars sliced their way up the tender skin of her forearms. "I tried to take my own life because I couldn't stand being away from him. When that didn't work, I spent close to a year drinking myself into a stupor every weekend.. My mother forced me into therapy when she found out, and then, finally, I ended up here." She took a slow breath.

" But distance doesn't close the wound. There's still a hole and it still hurts." she sniffed. "Every fucking day it hurts!" She slammed her fist on the bed with each word "And not a single day goes by that I don't think about joining him. Just to end this torture. I just…I just miss him so much!" She paused and looked up at me. "There. Now you know why I ran out. Because I'm a lousy drunk and a suicidal freak!"

She buried her face in her hands and began to sob. I slid my arms around her and pulled her into my lap. I held her close and gently stroked her hair. It was a good ten minutes before she was able to calm down enough to speak. She lowered her hands from her face and leaned her head on my chest.

"Why did you come?" She murmured. I ceased smoothing her hair and clasped my hands around her waist.

"Edward was worried," I stated simply.

"But Emmett, why you?" she asked. "Why isn't Edward here?"

"He -" I thought of fabricating a story, but she should know the truth. No more lies. "He didn't want to rush after you. He wanted to give you time."

"What about what I want?" I could hear the hurt in her voice and it only made me hold her tighter. "I wanted him to come, but instead he sends his brother who hates me."

"Bella I could never hate you, you know that," I sighed.

"I know," she wiped a hand under her nose. "But he still didn't come. He still sent someone else instead."

"He didn't send me," I said. "I came on my own."

"But why didn't any of the others come with you? Alice or…or… Jasper?"

"Well…you see…" I trailed off.

"What?" she sniffled.

"They don't know that I'm here. None of them do." I finished.

"Why?" she pulled away from my chest and craned her neck to look at me. "Why didn't you tell them?"

"I didn't want them to think I was chasing after you," I looked into her beautiful brown eyes. "They still think I don't want you around."

"Do you?" she asked, returning my gaze. Something in her eyes set off a spark in me, and I couldn't look away.

"Would I be here if I didn't?" I smirked. She half-smiled and leaned into my chest again.

I rested my cheek on her head and breathed in her sweet scent. It was almost too much to bear and I was suddenly very grateful that I had hunted recently. Hunting…shit. I grumbled, remembering my ruse.

" I have to go," I said sadly. I lifted her and placed her under the covers. I got up and began to head toward the window.

"What? Where are you going?" she looked perplexed.

"I have to get back," I answered reluctantly. "The others think I'm out hunting."

"Oh," she frowned. She looked down at her hands and began to pick at her bedspread.

"What's the matter? " I questioned.

"I…I don't want you to go," she whispered hoarsely.

"I have to," I responded. "They'll be suspicious. Especially Edward."

"Don't go," her tone became desperate. " Please, I can't be alone right now." She forced herself up from the bed and took two wobbly steps toward me before she fell. I nimbly caught her and kept a hand on her waist to steady her. She put both hands on my arms and gripped my shirt in her tiny fingers. "Emmett please," she whispered. "Please don't leave me. I'm afraid of what I might do."

I laid a hand on her cheek and wiped away a fresh tear. We stood for a moment in silence, just staring into each other's eyes. I felt an unexpected surge of jealousy that she was Edward's girl, which faded quickly into rage. Why wasn't he here? Why didn't he come after her? She had professed her love to him, I'd heard her! And the stupid ass didn't even acknowledge it! He didn't even care enough to come after the woman who loved him! I suppressed my anger and decided I'd deal with him later. Bella's desperation was far more important.

"Emmett." She said softly. "Stay. I need you."

My inner turmoil ended with her simple statement. She needed me. Not him. Me. I stroked her cheek one last time and escorted her back to her bed and under the covers. I reclined next to her and she immediately curled into my side. She rested her head on my chest and stretched an arm out over my torso. I put one hand behind my head and let the other hand come to rest gingerly on her hip.

"I will always be here for you," I assured her. "No matter what."

"Promise?" She raised her eyes to mine. Her pleading gaze was more than I could take. How could Edward let her deal with this heartbreak alone? I kissed her forehead lightly.

"I promise."

"You don't know how much that means," she yawned. "Thank you." She snuggled back into me and closed her eyes. After a few minutes her breathing slowed and I knew she was done for the night. I felt her heart beat a steady rhythm against my chest and easily ignored the burn in my throat that the scent of her blood caused. I could never do anything to harm her.

"And you don't know how much it means to hold you," I whispered. "And to know that you're not leaving." I kissed the top of her head gently, wrapped my arms around her and held her close. God help me, I was falling in love with her.

**********************************

The hours dragged on and soon I found myself staring off into the distance as a low light drifted into the room. Bella mumbled and shifted in her sleep, then began to snore. I chuckled to myself and gave her a careful squeeze.

"Em," a low voice grunted from the window. My head immediately snapped in that direction. Jasper looked quizzically at me from his perch outside, then lilted silently through the window.

"Jazz, what are you doing?" I kept my voice low so as to not wake Bella.

"I could ask you the same question," he responded in a similar tone. He sat down in the rocker in the corner of the room. "Have you been here all night?"

"She asked me to stay," I said. "She was despondent, Jazz. I couldn't leave her."

"What do you mean, you couldn't?" he asked. I sighed and launched into an abbreviated version of Bella's tale and the events of last night. When I finished, Jasper nodded. "I've felt that pain from her since the moment Edward introduced us. Now I understand why. But what I don't understand is the feeling coming from you."

"Me?" I played up the ignorance, hoping he would fall for it. He didn't.

"Emmett don't be foolish," he snapped. "I know you're in love with her, it was evident as soon as I approached the house."

"I guess I am," I couldn't deny it, and Jasper only shook his head.

"This is wrong. So very, very wrong." he said.

"I know" I cringed under his stare. "How did you know I was here?" I asked.

"Again, don't be foolish," he waved his hand dismissively. "You can mask your thoughts, but not your scent. You're just lucky I wasn't Edward."

"Does he know?" I grimaced.

"Thankfully no," he answered. "He was out for a run when I left. He doesn't even know you're gone."

"What will you tell him when he comes back?" I queried.

"If you're asking me to keep your secret, you can rest assured that I won't say or think a thing," he smirked suddenly. "Then question is, can you keep your secret?"

"Don't be ridiculous, of course I can," I growled. "But what are you going to tell him?"

"I'll just tell him she called while he was out, and you went to pick her up so she could come and talk to him," Jasper shrugged. "I have a way of convincing people." We both shared a chuckle as he stood. He glided to the window and paused briefly before exiting. "Em?"

"Yeah?"

"Just be careful. The last thing Esme needs is her house destroyed if Edward finds out about you two." He warned.

"Let me worry about that," I stated.

"This is still wrong," he muttered, then leapt silently into the mist.