AN: Sorry this took a little while, but I think it'll be worth it. Had to wait for a bit of inspiration, and then once I got it, it wouldn't shut off. And then I had to battle tiredness to get all this handwritten stuff typed up. But you're getting a nice long chapter, so hopefully that makes up for it.

To tuggabeloved15: I hope this was fast enough.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Narrator POV

As the days of July passed, it almost seemed like the entire world held its breath and just watched. The members of the wolf pack watched the woods, and caught a few glimpses of the red-headed vampire from before. More alarming, they'd once seen her with another vampire: a black one, if that wasn't an oxymoron, one that looked like some kind of Rastafarian with those long dreadlocks. But why she—they—kept coming around was still a mystery.

The pack also watched the two future members of their number. Billy Black watched them, too; watched his son change a little bit every day. It was slower than he might have expected, but that might be because Bella kept visiting. Jake loved spending time with her, and it was heartwarming to see her come back to life with the attention that he and others were giving her. This is one life you won't claim, Billy vowed silently, to the absent vampire coven.

The changes in his grandson didn't escape Quil III, either. He, like Billy, remembered seeing the last pack phase, though it had been his father who he'd watched. Quil had mourned his son's death about a decade before, occasionally wondering what might have been different if the wolf pack had existed in that generation. But it was a pointless line of thought, because Quil IV hadn't been a wolf, though now his son would be.

Charlie watched, too. He didn't mind paying for pizzas and stuff for Bella to serve to her friends, though he did wince a little when the rez boys came over—seemed like they ate more and more each time. And it only made them shoot up and not really out. Bit late for growth spurts, he mused. But Jake and his friends were good kids: they wouldn't get mixed up in something nasty like drugs. Billy swore that drugs weren't tolerated on the rez, even said that Sam Uley and his boys had run off a few lowlifes who tried to do some dealing.

Jake felt that little something inside every time he saw Bella smile at some joke he told or laugh atsomething he did. He knew that she was happy to spend time with him and he just knew they were meant to be together. Jake was pretty sure that little crush of his was turning into more for him, and hoped she'd be ready to move on before too long.

Embry saw it, too—he'd only known Jake all his life. But he also saw things that he wondered how Jake could miss. How Bella was just as friendly to Quil and to Embry himself as she was to Jake. That her smiles were sometimes automatic or wistful. He also saw times when it seemed like Jake, and Quil too, was acting a little different. It wasn't all the time, and they always acted surprised when they realized they'd taken things a bit far or a little rough. But the more it happened…

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bella POV

It had been something of a surprise to me, though perhaps it shouldn't have, that Leah had been right on the room redecorating idea. Having the new look and furniture placement, the new bedding and the lack of that rocking chair…everything was different and it really helped. I was no longer constantly surrounded by the echoes of my past. I could look at my bedroom and not think very often—in fact, less and less each week—about my former nighttime roommate.

Leah was missing out on some of our girl days now because of getting ready for college, but she came as often as she could, and Jess and Angela still came a lot. And I was still spending time with Jake and his friends, though I made a point of avoiding that store. And since I didn't see the people I'd encountered there, it was pretty easy to forget it had happened most of the time. But by late July, I had other things to think about. I hadn't paid it much mind to begin with, but after a while I finally had to face that Jake, and also Quil, was changing. There were times when he seemed to get annoyed by the littlest things. And if it wasn't that, it was the way he watched me sometimes, a little too attentive. I really hoped that he wasn't getting any ideas about us becoming more than just friends. I loved Jacob like a best friend, and I didn't want to mess that up. And I wasn't even sure when—if—I'd be ready for another relationship, anyway.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I admitted to being a stereotypical girl when it came to my lack of in-depth car knowledge, but even I knew that my truck wasn't working right that Saturday morning. I had a round of errands planned before going down to La Push, but I'd barely gotten started before my faithful old truck started having problems when I tried to accelerate. I'd always known it wouldn't go above 55 mph, but today it didn't really even want to get up to city speed. So I abandoned my plans and headed down to La Push early, hoping that my faithful mechanic had an opening.

The guys came out of the garage as I pulled up. "Hey, Bells. Thought you weren't coming until later," Jake called out.

"Change of plans. Can you take a look at the truck?"

"Sure. What's it doing?"

I explained what I'd noticed and watched him consider the problem. "It might be the carburetor, or maybe the condenser. Yeah, I can look it over."

We hung out while waiting for the truck to cool off for Jake to take a look under the hood. As had happened more and more often lately, he and Quil started getting into it for no reason that I could easily figure out. Rehashing the last Seattle Mariners game degenerated into trash talking about their own athletic abilities, or the lack of them, and on to mechanical aptitude.

"You really think you've got a shot at fixing this rust bucket?" Quil scoffed. "It's got to be as old as your dad and maybe even older."

"Hell, yeah," Jake growled. "I've only worked on this truck since I first picked up a set of tools."

"Uh-huh. Bella should just save time and take it to a real mechanic."

"Who? You? Yeah, right. She's got better sense than that, obviously." Jake gestured to my truck sitting in front of the open doors of his garage.

"So then maybe I'll keep her company while you try to fight the inevitable losing battle against the demise of that red beast. You're stubborn, so it ought to take a while."

"Just shut the hell up!"

"And if I don't?"

"Cool it, guys," Embry cautioned. "Getting a little intense here."

"No one asked you to play referee, Call," it was Quil's turn to growl.

Seeing the potential for this to blow up in my face—and wanting to be out of the line of fire—I quietly scooted toward the door. Embry slid out with me as the argument between Jake and Quil started to reach new heights of venom and volume. By the time we got close to the house, the noise had gotten Billy's attention, and he'd rolled himself outside and down the wheelchair ramp.

"What's going on?"

"Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb are having a shouting match over stupid stuff," Embry reported. "It's not a knock down drag out fight—at least not yet. But the way things are going… Anyway, Bella and I figured we'd get out of the line of fire."

"What brought you down so early, Bella?"

"A problem with my truck. I thought Jake might be able to fix it, but now I think it just gave him and Quil something to argue about."

Billy rubbed his hands over his face. "I'm sure he'll do his best. I'll talk to both of them about their bad manners. Embry, could you give Bella a lift back to her place? I don't think the two idiots need an audience during my lecture. Besides, it'll probably take Jake a while to figure the truck out. Bella, he'll call you when it's done, okay?"

"Sure, Billy."

As we started to walk down the gravel driveway, Billy yelled, "Jacob! Quil!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Whew," Embry sighed.

"Yeah, that was…weird," I agreed.

"They've always been a little strange—at least Quil has—but you're right, weird works."

We walked in silence for a while; that was something I appreciated about Embry: he didn't always have to talk, the way Quil and Jake usually did.

"I really appreciate you giving me a ride," I said.

"My pleasure. I get to avoid the argument, the lecture, and I get to spend time with you."

I couldn't help blushing, or remembering some of the things said in the garage. "Did it seem like they were arguing about me as much as they were about the truck?"

He shrugged. "And if they were? Don't you think you're worth having a couple guys argue over you?"

"No," I shook my head. "And I don't want to cause trouble between them."

Embry stopped and tugged me to face him. "Bella, if they do argue about you, it isn't your fault. They're both big boys and can do what they want."

We kept moving, and after another couple blocks, Embry turned us onto a driveway. "Here we are. It's not much, but Mom and I like it."

"A house doesn't have to be big and fancy as long as it's a home." I thought back to the large modern farmhouse that the Cullens had lived in, though really it had been a stage set for an audience of one.

"Thanks. Hey, Mom!" Embry called a greeting to a woman kneeling in front of a flowerbed.

"Embry?" she looked around and stood up, dusting off her hands while walking to join us. "I didn't expect to see you back here until dinnertime—if then," she teased. Now that she was next to us, I could see that she was a few inches taller than me, and a few inches shorter than her son. She had the same straight dark hair that he did, and a similar look about her.

"Jake and Quil got into it. Billy's sorting them out while I give Bella a ride home. Oh, Mom, this is Bella Swan. Bella, this is my mom, Tiffany Call."

I didn't think I'd felt this nervous since my first visit to the Cullen house, and I wasn't sure why. I mean, meeting a friend's mom shouldn't be worse than meeting a boyfriend's mom, right?

"So you're Bella. Nice to meet you. Embry's talked about you—all good, I promise," his mom assured me.

"It's nice to meet you, too. I'm not sure he ever talks bad about someone," I replied.

"Maybe not," she laughed, "but he definitely wouldn't do that to a friend."

"No, he wouldn't," and I smiled, grateful that Embry was indeed a friend.

"Do you need to borrow the car?" Tiffany Call asked her son.

Embry shook his head. "Figured I'd take the bike if Bella was up to it." He glanced over at me.

"Bike?" I stuttered.

"I've got a motorcycle. Cheaper than a car, especially when we found it used and I had free help fixing it up."

"Um…"

"I had to take a safety course and a knowledge test to get my license—passed with flying colors. You'd be completely safe," Embry wheedled.

"He is a very safe driver, and wears all the safety equipment," Tiffany confirmed, "but if you aren't comfortable, then he will use my car."

"I trust Embry. Okay, why not. But…you better cover me in safety equipment too, or my dad will go after you with that shotgun of his." Both Embry and his mom laughed, even though I was being completely serious. I followed Embry to the garage to get his bike, while his mom went to get both their sets of motorcycle gear.

"Here you go, Bella," Tiffany reappeared, her arms full of stuff. "Embry, remember a safety lesson before she gets on that bike."

"Yes, Mom."

While Embry helped me into the pants and jacket, he ran through some bike basics and why the different pieces of gear were necessary. Once I was taken care of, he put on his own bike-wear. "Okay, pants, jackets, gloves…helmets." He turned to one of the walls and pulled down a pair of helmets.

"Does it feel okay?" he asked after setting his mom's helmet on my head. I gave him a thumbs-up. "Okay, let's go."

Embry swung one leg over the bike and twisted partway around. He extended one hand to me. I took it, and he helped me climb on.

"Scoot up right behind me and hold on around my waist," he directed, before shutting the face visor on my helmet and turning back around. I did as instructed, resting my helmeted head against his back. The bike now fully upright, Embry gunned the engine and the bike roared to life. Then we were moving. I could see why people called motorcycle-riding a big rush. Even through all the gear I wore, I could still feel the gusting of the wind whipping around us. Once we were out of La Push and on the road to Forks, Embry really opened it up. I clung even tighter to him, a little afraid that the tingling up my arms would cause me to let go and fall. In a lot less time than it would have taken my truck, Embry was gliding the bike to a stop in front of my house.

"So?" he asked after helping me get off the bike and remove my helmet.

"Wow," was all I could manage.

"Yeah. And that was me going right at the speed limit."

I caught his implication that he knew what it felt like to go above that limit, but I wasn't going to ask for confirmation; the cop's daughter in me preferred the technicality of not knowing that he'd sped. "Want to hang out here today?" I offered.

"Sure. Nothing else to do. Besides, we owe it to the guys to have fun on their behalf."

"Exactly."

"So…" Embry drew out the word, "what will we do first?"

"What do you want to do?" I countered.

"Uh-uh," he shook his head. "I asked you first. You'll pick the first thing we do, and I'll pick the second. Nice and fair."

I considered the options, Embry waiting me out with his usual patience. "I'd planned on running errands before going down to La Push today."

"Do we need to take care of those?"

"Not really. Most of it can wait. I might have to ask my dad to go to the grocery store, or else go with him later—definitely need a car for that one."

"Okay, then no errands. Your choice is…?"

"Well, besides errands, my other pre-La Push activity would have been cooking up something for dinner."

"Great. Cooking." And Embry actually did seem interested.

"You like to cook?"

He laughed. "I like to eat, so, yes, I like to cook."

"No fast food? Freezer meals?"

"I'm seventeen—yeah, I like fast food, limited though our choices may be. And freezer meals can be convenient, but that's not an everyday thing. I've helped put dinner on the table lots of times when my mom worked extra hours."

I was pretty impressed and a bit surprised—though I shouldn't have been, not considering how often he'd helped out with the food this summer.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Embry POV

Bella was in her element in the kitchen. However clumsy she might be at other times, in this room she moved confidently and effortlessly. While I cut up vegetables to go in some kind of stew in the slow-cooker, Bella rapidly chopped herbs for a marinade for some chicken, as she explained when I asked her. As we worked, we talked more about our childhoods.

"So what was it like in Arizona?"

"Hot and dry. Brown."

I looked out the window at the wet green surroundings. "Quite a change."

Bella laughed. "Oh, yeah. I think I've gotten used to it now, but at the beginning, it was pretty strange."

"What was school like down there?"

Her knife paused in its rocking motion. "Really big. My high school there was about half of the entire population of Forks. I took a lot of AP—advanced placement—classes, so it's been an adjustment taking regular classes where I already know so much of the material."

"That would suck."

"I can study on my own. It's only one more year, and Charlie deserved this time with me. What's your school like?"

"There's about a hundred kids in the whole school, kindergarten through high school. It can be nice to get the personal attention, but then again you're really with the same people and only them all year every year. Our class selection is pretty limited, but some kids get bussed to Forks to take some classes there. I'd thought about taking a few things there this year, but I wasn't sure if I actually would…maybe now I am." Bella's face pinked up some, but I thought she didn't seem to mind the idea too much.

"It'd be nice to have another friend there. I'm not sure how I'll feel going back there in the fall now that Edward and his family are gone." Bella took a deep breath and redirected the conversation. "You've said you're Makah. Are the two reservations a lot alike, or are they pretty different?"

"I don't know. I actually haven't been up to the Makah Reservation."

"You haven't?" she seemed pretty surprised.

"Nope."

"Is it far away?"

"Less than two hours from here. But I guess Mom didn't leave on the best of terms, so she's never really wanted to go back or keep up with the people she knew. La Push is home to me."

"That makes sense if it's the only home you've known. But do you miss what you could have known?"

"I try not to—it wouldn't change anything."

"'God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference', right?"

"Do you wish you could change things and not move up here?"

Bella thought about it. "I was born here, and lived here for a while, but I didn't remember it. I didn't spend a whole lot of time with Charlie when I was growing up. I think I regretted not having the traditional two-parent home and stuff when I was a kid—not all the time, but enough that I wanted to come and spend more time with my dad while I had the chance. I don't like some of the stuff that's happened to me since I came here, but…every place is going to have good things and bad things, good memories and bad. If I only think about the bad, then it would be easy to regret moving. But I'm trying really hard to think about the good stuff."

"That's a great idea," I reached out and gave her an around-the-shoulders hug, careful to keep my hand clean so she wouldn't make me wash it again—I'd learned Bella was a real stickler for cook cleanliness.

Vegetables cooking and meat marinating, Bella looked at me with challenge in her eyes. "Alright now, your turn. What do you want to do?"

I could have suggested a movie, but I wanted to keep getting to know Bella, and she hated talking during movies. "Do you have any games?"

"Games?"

"You know, board games?"

"I don't know. If there are any, they might be in there," she pointed to a storage area under the stairs. Going to look, I unearthed a few old-looking board game boxes.

"Sorry?" Bella read the name of the one I picked.

"Yeah," I started setting up the board on the coffee table. "You draw cards and move your pieces like the cards say. You want to get all four of your pieces from your Start to your Home before anyone else does. If you can knock someone's piece off the board, you can tell them 'Sorry'."

Partway through our first round, Bella glanced across the board at me. "Embry, I know you don't play like this with the guys—"

"True. We don't do board games—"

"—so why are you being so easy on me?"

Just about any answer that I might give would surely be the wrong one. Finally, I said, "First game is just the warm-up. No holds barred on the next one."

"Agreed."

And I was right—Bella slaughtered me in the second game.

Hours later, I checked the clock and sighed in regret. "It's been fun, but I think I'm going to have to call it a day."

"Are you going to surprise your mom for the second time today and show up for supper?"

"Something like that. Going to be a bummer, though—I did all that work on your dinner, and now I won't get to see how it turned out."

With a mischievous grin, Bella disappeared into the kitchen. Some noises later, she returned with some insulated bags. "Here's enough for you and for your mom. Although, you showing up with dinner, instead of just to dinner, might just give her a heart-attack, so be careful."

When I realized I probably didn't have room to take both my mom's gear and the food home with me on the bike, I just told Bella to keep the gear until later. "She won't mind. And maybe I can talk you onto the bike for another ride before I take it back."

Throwing caution to the wind, I gave Bella a hug, and was thrilled when she hugged me back. "Thanks for a great day. I had a lot of fun."

"Me, too." She stood on her porch and watched me ride away.