We call them strong

Those who can face this world alone

Who seem to get by on their own

Those who will never take the fall

We call them weak

Who are unable to resist

The slightest chance love might exist

And for that forsake it all

They're so hell-bent on giving, walking a wire

Convinced it's not living if you stand outside the fire

"Standing Outside the Fire"

-Garth Brooks

Chapter 35:

I shoulda let the leech kill me

The drugs pseudo-effect wore off about half-way through the car-ride home. Just my luck. I muttered. Couldn't Carlisle have given me enough to last the entire uncomfortable car-ride back with Charlie?

I kicked myself for telling Embry to phase back to check on Seth and Quil. He had offered to ride back with us, but I was so doped up that I figured I would sleep the entire way home, so I just suggested he make sure everything stayed structured in the pack. It had taken him all of two seconds to sort that out, and now he was running back with us. Periodically, I saw him through the trees.

Charlie saw me stirring. "How are you doing over there, Leah?" he questioned.

I might not have been able to lie to my pack about my pain, but at least I could lie to him.

"Not bad." Translation: Kill me please. I continued with the fib, "I don't think it's as bad as everyone originally thought. Carlisle took care of me." He re-broke my arm in three places because of my super-fast healing abilities. I forced out a smile, "It really wasn't that bad." It was so painful that I thought I might rip the damn X-Ray table in half. And the lie continued, "In fact, I think I'm going to go over to Embry's place and hang out. I never got a chance to thank him for staying with me." He might be getting lucky today. "I probably won't even have the sling on when I get home." Please don't tell my mom.

Charlie frowned at me, "You know, if your mother asks, I'm not going to lie to her." I was a little startled that he had picked up on that.

"I'm not asking you to lie, just to…omit the truth," I grinned. I thought that was clever. Charlie didn't see the humor.

He glared at me with that "cop" glare. His eyebrows did the little caterpillar dance on his head. I really appreciated his concern, but it annoyed me that he wouldn't grant my request. Just because he and my mother had a thing didn't automatically make him my new daddy.

I refrained from saying "you're not my father" out loud. If he had been my dad, there's no telling what kind of brat I would be. Because Lord knows that Bella had turned out so well. I rolled my eyes and then sighed. I knew that Bella being such a screw-up probably had nothing to do with him, seeing as how he really hadn't raised her, unless you count holidays and the summers.

Charlie automatically got the feeling that he'd overstepped his bounds.

"I know I come off as kind of a hard-ass sometimes, and I don't want you to get the wrong impression about me and your mother." I could see that he was getting nervous talking to me about this. "I just, I haven't, I, uh…" He lost his words.

"Geeze, Charlie, keep your pants on." I poked some fun at him. His face flushed beet red when he quickly recalled the incident in which I had caught him in his boxers with my mom.

"See, that's what I'm talking about." He was still kind of flustered. "Over the past couple of months, I know you've seen your mother and I getting closer."

"I've seen enough to know that you wear boxers with puppies on them." I coughed under my breath. It was true. No matter where my mother turned in her life, she was always surrounded by dogs. I saw Charlie blush again, and then he stumbled something out about not keeping up with the laundry lately.

"It's okay, Charlie. Really," I yawned. The pain medication was still running through my system. But now, instead of me being completely trashed out of my mind, I was just tired.

"I know there's a lot that I don't know about in your world, but one thing that I do know is that I care about your mother a great deal. And I care about you and Seth, too. You guys are like my kids." I cringed at the thought as Bella for a sister. If I thought my life was difficult at the moment, I can't imagine growing up with that moron. That would have been hell. Charlie continued, "You and your family have made my situation a hell of a lot easier than it could have been. Your mom has been completely open and honest with me, and she deserves nothing less than the same from me."

"Look, I get that you care about my mom. I do. But, the thing is…she puts on a strong front. She tries not to be the "damsel in distress," and she acts like she can handle anything." I knew this because I was my mother. After so many years of fighting with my mom and dad, and telling myself that I would never become my parents, I had come to accept that I was exactly like her. And I was okay with it. There were worse people I could be. Besides, we're all pretty much destined to become the people who raise us. I continued, "But losing my dad ripped her apart. And every time Seth and I leave the house, I can see this look of desperation on her face. She tries to hide it, but I can always see the pain written in her eyes. She's terrified of losing us, too. But she knows that there is nothing she can do about the situation, so she just grits her teeth and bears it. So yeah, Seth and I do lie to her from time to time, for the same reason that you asked not to be told more about the situation with Bella. What we don't know can't hurt us," I sighed. "So I would appreciate it if you just keep my adventure-filled day to yourself."

Charlie nodded silently. I think he understood where I was coming from. I could tell from the look on his face that he was wondering how much that Bella was keeping from him. Truth be told, for the first time ever, I understood why Bella wanted to keep her father out of the supernatural world. In her own screwed up way, she was trying to protect him. I could relate. I shook my head. Okay, I was relating to Bella? Carlisle had given me waaay too much morphine.

Charlie and I had come to a mutual understanding, so the rest of the ride home was silent. When we pulled up to my house, I smiled at him.

"Thanks for the ride." I went to open the door, but then I paused and looked back to him. "Just know one thing...if you hurt her, you'll see what I'm really like when I'm angry. And I'm not talking wolf-wise. Trust me, if you think I'm a threat on four feet, you should see me on two." I knew that the chances of Charlie doing something to hurt my mother were slim to none, but I felt that it was important that he knew just how far I would go to protect my family.

"You know that won't happen," Charlie assured me. And I believed him.

I saw Embry walking up to the car in his human form as Charlie and I got out. He walked over to Charlie and handed him something. Charlie chuckled.

"I forced Emmett to pay up before I left," Embry shrugged.

"I like you, Embry." Charlie laughed and pat his back.

Embry laughed as well. I failed to see what was funny. Of course, I never really did understand the male-bonding crap.

"So..." Embry looked at my house. "You and Mrs. Clearwater have anything fun planned this afternoon?"

"There is an arts show that she is interested in going to in Port Angeles. A bunch of the girls from here are apparently going. Matter of fact, I think your mom is going, too." He smiled at Embry.

"Great, so I guess our new tacky yard-art pelican is going to get a little friend."

His mother had a habit of picking out the worst-tasting, brightest colored metal yard art, and dragging it home to show off in her already vibrant lawn. Seriously, there were so many pink birds, and purple frogs that every time I went to Embry's place, I felt like I was tripping on acid.

"Well, how about we let the adults enjoy their little finger painting, I mean, art exhibits," Embry joked. "You can come back to my place for a little while until these wild and crazy kids settle down."

We heard laughter from inside my house. Apparently, all the girls that were going were already here. There was a loud squeal of amusement from inside, and Charlie looked uncomfortable.

"I can't believe I offered to drive this estrogen bus," Charlie mumbled, very softly. He looked up when he realized that we had both heard that. Werewolf ears are very sensitive.

"I feel sorry for ya, Charlie," Embry nodded at Charlie. "You're a braver man than I." He slapped his back toughly. "Have fun."

We watched Charlie walking towards the house. Poor guy looked completely helpless. He had no idea what he was getting himself into. We could hear all the women chattering on even by the time we had reached Embry's place.

"So, how's your arm?" Embry asked as he opened the front door and motioned for me to come inside.

"Slowly getting better. The morphine that Carlisle gave me knocked me on my ass for a little while. But, the effects wore off, and now I'm at that "in between" place. Not completely high, but not in agonizing pain either. It's the happy medium." I sat down on the couch.

Embry sat down next to me. I felt his arm next to mine. It still fascinated me that even though both of our bodies ran pretty high temperature-wise, he still always felt warm to me.

"Hey, did that kid Cody walk way from the attack okay?"

"Last I checked he was completely back to normal. He smarted off to Paul, though. Bout lost a leg."

"He's lucky to be alive if he pissed Paul off," I frowned. "If he had Paul on his ass, he would have been begging for the vampire to tear him to pieces." I would have to say that Paul was the only wolf whose temper was worse than mine.

I thought about the vampire in the clearing today. None of the Cullens mentioned anything about knowing him. The fact that he was scouting out the area seemed very odd to me. I wondered if it had anything to do with Irina.

"Have we heard anything more about the blonde bimbo from the cliff that day? The one that saw Bella, freaked, and ran away?" I laughed a little. If it were me, I probably would have reacted the same exact way.

"Nothing new. Alice is frustrated because her visions of Irina are constantly changing. She keeps making sporadic decisions and changes her course all the time."

"What about the vampire in the clearing today? Did the Cullens know him?" I questioned.

I saw Embry's facial expression stiffen up. "Well, there was talk," he said seriously. "When I asked Emmett today, he said that it's possible some members of the Volturi might be coming to town to see Bella."

It's a good thing that I was still flying high on pain killers, because if not, I would have broken quite a few things, and come up with a lot more creative swear-words. The Volturi is not someone I wanted to see anywhere near my town.

When Edward had tried to kill himself—I grinned at the memory—he had gone to Italy to this vampire army called the Volturi. When Bella abandoned Jacob to rush off and save her sweetie, the fact that she knew about vampires was called to the attention of the dictator leaders of all the leeches. Because she knew about the secret, they only offered two options. One was offered by Alice, where Bella became a vampire. The other: Death. I snorted, I would have chosen death.

So now that she was a vampire, she had to go to see these nutcases to prove that she was one of them. That was just stupid. All she had to do was stand on a cliff in broad daylight. They'd be able to see her freakish glittery skin all the way across the ocean. I thought that she had planned a trip to Italy to see them, but was it possible that they were scouting out possibly coming here? I shuddered. I really didn't want to think about it.

"That makes sense. He was reporting back to the Volturi," I sighed.

"Well, he won't get a chance to now." Even though I had suffered a few minor injuries, I was still able to subdue the vampire long enough for my pack to rip him apart.

I thought about those last few seconds when the vampire had me by the throat. Embry had probably seen my last thoughts. I cowered down a little. I'd thought about Sam. I felt guilty because of that. Poor Embry. He was ready to risk his life to save mine, and there I was, thinking about another boy.

"I didn't realize that before you die, you really do see your entire life." I shook my head and laughed nervously. "All I could think was, man, I have no life."

"I wouldn't go that far," Embry shrugged nonchalantly.

"So, did you happen to catch a glimpse of my so called life when I thought I was I was going to kick the bucket?"

"I was concentrating pretty hard on getting there and ripping that vamp a new asshole," Embry admitted. "But, yeah."

I quieted my tone, "I thought about a lot of people. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little stoked about the possibility of seeing my dad again. But then, I thought about everyone I would be leaving," I made sure to look him in the eyes as I said that. "And that made me not want to die so much."

Embry laughed, "I did see a pretty full photo album in that head of yours."

"I was actually kind of surprised at some of the people that popped into my head," I admitted.

"Like who?"

"Well, if you had told me six months ago that Jacob Black and I would be friends, I probably would have fallen into the floor in hysterics," I said. "So, his face kind of surprised me. And, I saw a glimpse of Charlie in his uniform, which is weird considering that every time I see him, he seems to be missing an article of clothing." Embry and I continued to laugh. "It was comforting to see my family, and…you." I saw him smile bashfully. I loved that smile. He could be so damn shy sometimes, and other times, he was so loud and obnoxious. "And I, uh, thought of Sam."

"I caught that," Embry said. He didn't look upset. In fact, he looked completely at ease.

I still felt bad for thinking about Sam.

"I'm sorry." It felt weird saying those words, but I really meant them.

"Don't be," Embry shrugged. "Sam is important to you. I understand that. The two of you were together for a long time. When you have a history with someone, it's guaranteed that they are going to be on your mind."

"I know, but I still feel shitty about the fact that he still is on my mind."

"You shouldn't." Embry didn't seemed phased at all by my admission. "I don't expect you to forget your past, Leah."

"But it's stupid." I was frustrated by the fact that I just couldn't let go. "The past shouldn't matter. I mean, the two of us are here, together, presently."

"Yep. But that doesn't mean you're over the past. And that's fine. Because I want you to take all the time you need to move on."

"It really doesn't bother you that I'm still stupidly hanging on to Sam?" I questioned.

"Nope, because I know what the future holds."

"Oh? Been talking to Alice, have you?" I asked sarcastically.

"Even if she could see our future, I wouldn't have to rely on her visions to know that we're a sure thing. I just know." Embry shrugged again, and put his arm around me. "To me, you're worth waiting for."

Normally, I cringed away when Embry said something romantic to me. I didn't do the "mushy" shit. Most tender moments made me want to vomit. But for some odd reason, I found that statement really sweet.

"You know, you don't completely annoy me," I smiled.

He laughed, "Coming from you, that's considered quite a compliment."

"No, I mean it. I always thought this "imprinting" thing was just a wolf's way to justify his stupid-ass, over-affectionate, domineering behavior. How come you don't act like all the other idiots who've imprinted?" I was surprised that he wasn't annoying the hell out of me. If I was being doted on the way that some of the other girls the wolves had chosen, I wouldn't be able to stand Embry. But he wasn't as obsessive about it.

"What we have is different."

God, he had that right. Of all the situations that my future had to offer me, this is not one that I would have seen coming.

He continued, "Although, if you think about it, some of it makes sense. A werewolf pretty much gives the person they imprint on anything they want. And I know one of the things you want most is your space, so I have no problem giving that to you," he smiled. "You might not realize it yet, but you've got it made. I mean, you could ask me for anything you wanted, and I would give it to you."

"Anything I want?" I smirked. I thought about something I'd like to have. "You know, I've always wanted a pony," I joked.

He gave me a semi-serious look. "Be serious for a minute. Is there anything that you want?"

I thought it over for a minute.

"A briefcase full of money and helicopter," I laughed. I couldn't resist.

"Leah…" He was still begging me to answer the question seriously.

Well, happiness would be nice. And I guess he would probably come pretty close to making me as happy as I could ever be.

"I would like to be happy. Like completely happy, so I won't have to be such a bitter bitch anymore." It was asking a lot. And I didn't expect Embry to change who I was. I'm not even sure that I wanted to change.

But he surprised me when he smiled warmly and nodded, "Okay, that's something I can work with. My goal will be to make you happier than you have ever been."

Well, he was already half-way there. I hadn't been this happy in a long time. Today had been an extremely stressful day. I had gotten my ass handed to me saving a dumb, little teenage werewolf, I let a vampire touch me, and even more stunning, trusted him to fix my broken bones, I had endured a long car-ride with Charlie, and now I was having a heart-to-heart with Embry. So many feelings. Yeesh. And yet, I wasn't running away. Nor was I as anxious as I thought I would be. I knew that part of it was the drugs the good doctor had given me. But, I think I was actually starting to get comfortable with the idea of Embry and me together.

He took my hand and softly squeezed it. I smiled and looked up at him. I watched as he lowered his soft brown eyes to meet my gaze. As I studied the look on his face, I couldn't help but notice how inviting his gentle russet lips were. I realized that for the first time since we had started dated, I wanted to kiss him.

I thought about it for a moment. I still didn't understand this relationship. I knew how much he cared about me, and I cared about him, too. But in my life, every time I had come even remotely close to being happy, something came along and crushed my spirit. I was just so used to bad things happening that I was constantly waiting for that other shoe to drop. What if I found happiness with Embry? Could I handle it if it didn't last? There was just so much I didn't know about the future. God, my head was getting over-stimulated with all these thoughts. Finally, I just shut my mind up. It was time to throw caution to the wind and just act on impulse. Screw getting hurt.

I leaned forward before I had time to change my mind. And before I knew what was happening, I felt our lips touch. He ran his hand gently across my cheek as we moved our lips in synchronization.

I pulled away after a few more gentle pecks. The kiss had been nice. It was different than when I had been with Sam. It was softer, and it had more meaning.

Embry was staring at me in shock. He knew that I was not normally a very affectionate person. I was guessing that he didn't think that I would ever make the first move. After he got over his shock, he let out a tiny chuckle,

"Damn, Carlisle really doped you up, didn't he?"

I couldn't help but laugh as well. "You have no idea," I grinned stupidly. I paused for a moment, and then added jokingly, "Wanna make out?" At least, I thought I was joking. I couldn't tell what I really wanted to do.

Embry scanned my face with a concerned expression in his eyes. After a moment, I saw him lean back into the couch. He knew that I was still half out of it from the drugs. And I could see from his face that he didn't plan on going any further with me right now. He didn't want to take advantage of me while I was loopy. I could see just by looking into his eyes that he didn't want me to do anything that I would later regret. The fact that he had taken my current state into account instead of just giving into his raging teenage hormones spoke volumes to me. Embry was wonderful.

"Maybe when you're completely healed." Of course he would use that as an excuse. He was probably right. I wasn't thinking clearly at the moment. "But for now, just relax." He put his arms around me.

I yawned, and laid my head into his chest. I didn't realize how exhausted that I was. I sighed as I closed my eyes.

"You're too good to me, Embry."

"After everything you've been through, you deserve it." Embry pulled me closer. I didn't know it was possible, but I felt myself relax even more. "It's been a crazy morning. Why don't you just rest?"

I managed to squeak out another laugh. My words were barely audible.

"Don't tell me what to do." But it was no use. I couldn't fight against my exhaustion any longer. Everything drifted out of my mind as I fell asleep in Embry's arms.