AN: I'd originally planned for this Jake/Billy section to be in the last chapter. But when I realized that the rest of the chapter was done except for this part and not knowing for sure how big it was going to be, this got pushed back to here and you got that chapter sooner than you would have otherwise (okay, so we could also blame Embry and Paul…nah, can't blame them at all).

Yay to Twimama77 for giving review #600 for this story on FF!

Thanks EmilyWoods for reminding me that I also need to include warnings to readers about wearing your sunglasses while reading to protect your eyes from the flaming heat.

Jana: I'm glad that you like how the various story elements are unfolding. High praise to hear that it couldn't be better; I'll have to be careful that it doesn't go to my head. Our couple is indeed very sweet and caring. Thanks so much for all of your appreciation for the work that goes into each new chapter.

Guest: Thanks for loving it as much as I do. Hope this came soon enough.

Guest (2): Yeah, Embry's mom had his back. Paul is getting a clue about how things really are. I'm thrilled to be bringing you your favorite story. Thanks.

Guest (3): Sorry about the wait. We can completely blame Jake on this one.

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Bella POV

"Who was that?"

"Paul Lahote. One of Sam Uley's guys," Embry answered.

"Wonder what he was doing up here?"

"Don't know and don't care," Embry replied. "It's a free country, so he can go where he wants to."

It finally really sank in for me that Embry and I were standing on a street corner in Forks, where anyone, not just Paul Lahote, could see us. I wasn't ashamed or anything, but maybe it wasn't the best place for what we'd just been doing. I didn't regret it, but people were-and would be-talking enough as it was. Embry wrapped his hand around mine and we resumed our walk back to my place. After lunch, there was a moment where we were both obviously figuring out 'what now?'

"I think we got interrupted earlier," I began.

"Really?" Embry's brow lifted.

"Yeah, we did. Back on the corner."

"Well, we can't have anyone saying that I'm not giving you proper attention." With that, Embry leaned down and kissed me. With all the explorations we'd been doing this last day or two, we'd almost seemed to forget about this. The kiss started out sweet and gentle, but quickly grew in intensity. Almost before I knew what was happening, Embry's tongue invaded my mouth, conquering me before I even realized an assault had begun. My hands tried to grip into his shoulders but I ended up stretching to lock my fingers around the back of his neck. I didn't even notice him moving backward-not until he dropped onto the couch and pulled me with him. I landed rather ungracefully in his lap.

"More," Embry begged, when we broke our lip-lock for a few necessary-harshly gasping-breaths.

Seizing courage and initiative, I shifted around so that I was straddling Embry's thighs, moved my hands to frame his face, and leaned in to kiss him again. His lips opened underneath mine and I hesitantly took the offered invitation. His groan vibrated right through me, igniting a fire that swept along my skin and through my body like a component of my blood supply, spurring a more thorough exploration on my part. Embry's arms pulled me against his chest and his hands found the hem of my shirt and started tracing up over the bare skin of my back. I gasped into his mouth when I felt a growing swell underneath me. Logically, I knew it was Embry's physiological reaction to me and what we were doing; instinctually my hips started a gently rocking movement. Embry's body bucked upward and we rubbed against each other. The resulting sensation jerked us both so sharply that I tumbled down to the floor-narrowly missing banging my head on the coffee table.

"I admit I hoped you'd fall for me, but I didn't expect to be taken literally," Embry stared down at me and suddenly started snorting, then laughing. He slid off the couch to a spot next to me on the floor. "What are we doing?" he gasped. "The hammock, now the couch..."

Humiliation had my face flushing and my eyes watering. Of course, Embry noticed. He rolled onto his side and scooted up against me.

"Bella, sweet Bella, I'm not laughing at you. It's this whole thing of us barreling straight into something that we're both clueless about. I love that we can stir each other up so much, but I don't want either of us actually getting hurt in the process."

"So what do we do?" I whispered.

"Well, I'd say we should start reading that book, for starters. And when we do hit that 'Grand Slam', I think an air mattress on the floor would be perfect."

And there it was. A no-nonsense straight-out statement that we would be having sex sometime-and the way things were going, that sometime would be soon. It seemed to bring both of us back to reality. His brown eyes stared into mine and mine stared into his; both of us facing the reality of where what we'd just done was surely going to lead us-where we both obviously wanted it to go. Like that first movie day when things had really started to change between us, we put a little separation zone into place on the couch. A pillow supported the book between us and we began to scan the pages.

Mid-afternoon, we took a break to handle some of the dinner prep work. When I went into the kitchen, Embry ran the book upstairs; neither one of us wanted a parent to catch sight of it. I checked on the steaks marinating in the fridge and then started assembling the making of the side dishes. A batch of bread from a box mix was prepped and set to rise, and potatoes cleaned and ready to be cut and seasoned. While I did this, Embry went out back and checked the status of the little propane grill that Charlie had gotten at some point but that we hadn't used much since I'd moved back.

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Embry POV

I was out back behind Bella's house when my mom arrived a little early for dinner. "I've got an apple pie and a carton of ice cream. The pie is ready to go into the oven," she said. "I thought we might like it nice and hot, so I didn't bake it yet." The open windows in the kitchen let me hear what was going on inside perfectly.

"That's fine. The oven's already heated for the bread, so we can put the pie right in. Dad should be home anytime," Bella replied.

"Perfect. Where's Embry?"

"He's out back getting the grill ready for the steaks."

Mom stuck her head out the back door to say hi to me, but stayed in the kitchen helping Bella. When the grill was ready, I went inside to grab the steaks-and a kiss from Bella. Bella's dad arrived just a few minutes later and came outside to man the grill with me.

"You two have a good day?" he asked.

Oh, boy, had we. "Yeah. Walked over to the library for a while, then hung out here and got dinner prepped."

Dinner talk was light and fun, mostly about our respective days. I got the feeling that everyone-not just Bella and I-might not have shared everything; if it could keep our secret, then I wasn't going to complain. Afterward, Mom insisted on handling the clean up. "I'll just wash the dishes, Bella. I know that every cook wants things to go back in just the right spots, so I won't mess up your system by trying to put things away. You just go on and relax." She shooed us out of the kitchen. Surprisingly, Charlie stuck around and didn't follow us.

"I think they're talking about us," I whispered, grinning. Somehow, it was funny to think of our parents comparing notes about us. At least, I was trying to look at it that way.

Bella's answering smile was a little pained. "Great."

We sat tamely on the couch this time and turned on the TV. Bella curled up next to me as we started watching what I told her was the first Bourne movie. The whole amnesia plot idea brought up things I didn't like to think about. Even though I knew who I was as a person-unlike the movie character-there was that big thing that I didn't know. Even though I kept saying it didn't matter who my dad was, the truth was that it probably did matter more than I wanted to admit. The way people were starting to act now...being seen as an outsider now when it hadn't been that way up until now wasn't fun. Like I could help it that my mom was from another tribe. And I didn't even know my dad's name, much less which tribe he was from. I'd always assumed he was Makah, and that Mom had moved down here to get distance from him and the memories. But I really didn't know. He could be from any tribe at all, even the Quileute tribe-but I didn't want to think about that. To even consider the possibility that he might be or have been someone I'd met made me sick to think about.

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Narrator POV

Tiffany got to work washing the dishes, and Charlie stayed uncertainly at the table.

"Thanks again for letting Bells stay over that one night," he said quietly.

"It was our pleasure."

"Nothing happ—" he started to ask, before cutting himself off. "No, shouldn't butt in," Charlie muttered to himself. Tiffany still heard him.

"No, nothing happened, other than Embry telling her some tribal stories as a distraction."

"I remember hearing some of the stories myself, growing up," he mused.

"You heard their stories? I somehow thought they didn't tell those to outsiders," Tiffany asked.

"Well…they don't, usually, I suppose. But I pretty much grew up with Billy and Harry and Quil IV—we called him 'Four'—so I kind of snuck in when they got told the old tales. Scary. Powerful. You know, I sometimes thought that my friends wished that the stories were true."

She smiled. "I could see kids thinking like that."

"Yeah. I didn't mind listening, though. Better than games of 'Cowboys and Indians' or 'Whale Hunt'. So Embry knows the stories, too?"

"At least some of them. He and young Quil and Jacob Black were thick as thieves from the time they started rolling over and sitting up. No one ever made a fuss about Embry being around when the stories were told that I know of. I suppose someone might have tried to make him leave a time or two, but the others wouldn't hear of it so he stayed."

"Embry getting hit by a barrage of messages from Jake like Bella has been?"

"No. Not on the house number at least, and he hasn't mentioned cell calls. Bella must be the lucky one."

"Hmph," Charlie uttered. "Don't think she cares for that kind of luck. Or the crappy apologies he's tried to make. But...can't say I'm that surprised Jake isn't reaching out to Embry yet. Probably not too happy to hear about him and Bella."

"Do you think she should be with Jacob instead?" Tiffany's voice and body language were tense.

"No," Charlie denied. "Okay, sure, Billy and I talked 'what if' a few times on fishing trips and stuff over the years, but Bella's always done her own thing. I don't think she's ever seen Jake as more than a childhood playmate or unofficial younger brother. I want her to be happy and be with someone who treats her the way she deserves. Right now, seems like that's Embry."

Tiffany nodded and rinsed off the last dish, setting it in the counter drainboard. Then the two parents left the kitchen to join their children in the living room. Embry and Bella were curled up next to each other on the couch watching a movie.

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Jake POV

With those leeches, new and old, having shown up the other day, Sam had the whole pack out on frequent patrol loops. In the time left before school started up again, Sam decided to mix up the patrol schedules a lot, saying that we all needed to know how to work with everyone else. I was still pretty pissed with Sam, and just tried to stay quiet around him. Jared was a pretty good guy to be around and didn't bug me much, a favor that I tried to return. Quil and I were basically back to normal again-now that I knew he wasn't going to be going after Bella. Paul, though...he really seemed to like getting in little digs at me, and when he wasn't doing that, he was blasting out replays of his extracurricular activities on an endless loop. Part of me didn't mind getting the mental equivalent of a crash course in scoring with the girls, but sometimes it seemed like he was doing it on purpose to get a rise out of me.

Today, Sam had all of us out running a loop practically the whole way around the Olympic National Forest that covered most of the Olympic Peninsula. Well, all of us except for Paul, who'd been detailed off as some kind of errand boy for Emily and Kim. I wasn't exactly thrilled about running hundreds of miles today, even if I did like my new wolf-speed—but I'd much rather do this than—

Jake! You're doing what you need to, and Paul's doing what he needs to.

No, I'm not. What I need to do is see Bella—or at least talk to her. I'm doing better, Sam—you know I am.

You are, he agreed. Okay, Jake. Clear the air with your dad, and try calling Bella again. If that doesn't work, then we'll see what we can do about getting the two of you in the same spot again.

Finally free to head home, I found my dad waiting for me—so Sam must've planned on this. Guess we were probably overdue for that hash everything out chat that we'd somehow never managed to have.
I still wasn't looking forward to this, but realistically I knew it had to happen. But I didn't know what I was going to say. It still burned that my dad had stayed silent even when he'd seen what was happening to be. And on top of that, knowing that he was deliberately lying to one of his best friends…it was hard sometimes for me to recognize my own dad. All those talks about honesty and owning up to stuff now seemed really hypocritical right now.

"Hey, Dad."

"Jake. Everything okay out there?"

"Yeah. No sign of anyone today."

"Good. That's good. Jake—"

"Why didn't you tell me? Warn me?"

"I wanted to. In the beginning, I hoped you'd be spared. You were happy, and I didn't want to spoil that. Warning you…would have taken you away from everyone so much sooner—and there's no way to tell for sure how long the process will take to complete."

"Know that firsthand, do you? And I got torn away from them for a long time anyway!"

Dad had the grace to look a little embarrassed. "No, Jake, I don't know firsthand. But we've tried to work some of this out watching the evolution of this new pack. I saw my grandfather Ephraim phase with his pack once, when he was an old man and I was a young boy. But he and the others really didn't talk much about how it had all started for them."

"His pack?"

"Ephraim was the Alpha of that pack, Levi Uley his Beta, and Old Quil's father was the third."

"Nice little flip-flop this time around, huh?"

"For now."

"What do you mean, 'for now'?" my eyes narrowed.

"You are Ephraim's great-grandson, just as Sam is Levi's great-grandson. You are destined to take up that role, just as Sam is."

"But he's Alpha."

"Because he was oldest and phased first. Because you weren't—and perhaps still aren't—ready yet. But you'll be Alpha, Jacob—it's your birthright."

"Just like going furry, right? And Bella?"

"Once she knows everything, I'm sure she'll be an excellent imprint and mate."

"Once she knows…how can you be so sure she won't still be mad at me for abandoning her? And don't think of telling me that this whole Embry mess will get fixed that easy," I scoffed. That was something else that still made me mad—that my friend would try to steal my girl away. But…I'd spent most of the summer curing her of one heartbreak—I didn't want to have to start over again from square one. So maybe taking things a lot slower than either Sam or Jared had done would be the best idea. That was sure to be just what Bella would need and want.

"It's unfortunate for everyone that this entanglement developed. But the wolf will be just what the imprint needs, and the imprint will be just what the wolf needs. And I think Bella will adapt to the pack easier than you might think—she didn't seem to have issues with the Cullens while they were here."

I wondered who he was trying to convince, me or himself. I wanted to be that optimistic, but with how my life had gone these last couple weeks, I wasn't going to hold my breath for it.

Jake, I wish I could make it up to you. I know you don't-and maybe never will-understand, but I never wanted you to be hurt. If I could have taken this burden instead of it falling on you, I would have."

I remembered Jared saying a while back that my dad was probably envious of me getting to be a wolf when he hadn't been one. "Yeah, well if you figure out how, let me know."

"Jake," Dad sighed and then reached into his shirt pocket. "I know this won't make up for anything, but maybe it'll help with you and Bella." He held out a small black cell phone. "It's got a good calling plan and plenty of texting." He recited the phone number and committed it to memory, and programmed it into the phone's memory just in case. Bella's number was the next to be added.

"Thanks, Dad."

"You deserve it. Just keep track of your minutes and messages-they'll charge out the ass if you go over, and you'll be the one covering the extra."

"Sure, sure."

"Instruction book is on your desk. Do us both a favor and read it sometime, okay?"

"Sure, sure."

I didn't, though. Instead, I called Bella's cell phone. Since she wouldn't recognize my new number, maybe she'd answer this time and I'd finally be able to talk to her. But she didn't. Looking at the clock to see that it was around dinnertime, I figured that she might be downstairs while her phone was upstairs, and she just wasn't hearing it. Switching to their house number just got a busy signal. I breathed deeply and tried to stay calm. Then I decided that if the Mohammed wouldn't come to the mountain, then the mountain would go to him-or, rather, to her.

Tomorrow, Bells. I'll see you again tomorrow.

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Embry POV

When we got home, Mom wanted to chat for a minute. "You two really look good together," she began. My mind immediately went into the gutter, wondering what we'd look like together together, and blushed from having that idea with my mom in the same room; she thought it was just me being shy and embarrassed, thank goodness. "No, really, you do. It's obvious that you're developing strong feelings for each other."

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"No!" My mom denied. "If you care about her and she cares about you, then those feelings ought to develop. I like Bella a lot—she's exactly the kind of a girl that moms hope their sons will find."

"So?" my question was a little testy.

"You know, Bella's dad asked me tonight if anything happened between you two here the night she stayed over. I believed what you told me the next morning, and told him that," she paused. "Is that still true?"

I stared at my mom in disbelief. "Are you really asking me that? Are you seriously asking me if Bella and I are having sex?"

She met my eyes squarely. "Are you?"

"No. We haven't had sex. And as for whether or not we will…that's our business. But, she's the kind of girl I'd want to give my virginity to, if it comes to that."

I escaped into my room as soon as I could, but stopped dead in my tracks just inside my door. Something was on my bed that hadn't been there when I'd left this morning. Walking closer, I saw that it was a stack of magazines. What? A closer look, and my jaw dropped open. I scattered the pile over my bed and tried to figure out how a stack of Playboys and Playmates had managed to transport themselves in here. Still, I wasn't one to turn down a free gift, so I dropped onto the bed and picked up one magazine at random. The edges of many of the pages were feathered with small sticky notes, and I opened to one of those pages. Written near the inner edge of the sticky note, a sloppy hand had scrawled, "Girls love to be stroked here." I quickly flipped to other flagged pages and saw similar types of commentary on technique or areas of importance on almost all of them. Who the hell is giving me sex advice? I wondered. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Embry," I told myself. Mere hours ago, I'd wished for more knowledge about what I was getting myself into where Bella was concerned-now I had just been given it. But by whom? Who would know that things were getting so intense between us that tips would be helpful? For some reason, my mind flicked to another of today's events. Paul had seen us on that street corner-would he have guessed, just from that? And even if he had, why would he do anything? He was part of Sam Uley's crew that Jake and Quil had recently joined up with, and given how that gang had been looking at me lately and how strangely they'd been acting when I was around, why would he be helping me out? Wasn't he supposed to be on Jake's side now, trying to tear Bella and me apart instead of helping us get closer? Well, short of tracking him down to ask-which I didn't plan to do-I might not find out. But it probably didn't really matter why he was doing it. I'd just be quietly grateful: he did have a reputation with the girls, both on the rez and outside it, so he'd know what he was talking about.

So, 'let's talk about sex, baby.'

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Bella POV

Given the intense kiss Embry had given me when both he and his mom had left after the movie, I really expected my dad to have something to say about the obvious development of my new relationship. But my usually predictable dad threw me for a loop when he didn't say anything directly. Instead, he just asked me a question.

"Have you talked to your mom lately?"

"Ummm…"

"I know we really didn't talk about this when your mom was here earlier this summer, Bella, but I do get that she wasn't a mom like other kids have. I understand that you helped take care of her as much, if not more, than she did for you. And I'm sorry for that. But she is still your mom, and she did the best she could. I'm not saying you should go to her for advice necessarily, but she does deserve to know what's going on in your life. Something like a new boyfriend is news to share, okay?"

"Okay, Dad."

As I walked upstairs to my cell phone, I calculated what time it would be on the East Coast: a little after 11 PM. Remembering that she and Phil were night owls, especially in the summertime, I took the chance and decided to call my mom's cell phone—worst case, I'd just leave her a voicemail.

I was a little confused at the calls I'd missed tonight. All from the same unfamiliar number, and with no voicemails left. Who could this have been? I was mildly curious, but calling my mom was more important.

"Hello? Bella?"

"Hi, Mom."

"Hi, Sweetie. How are you?"

"I'm good."

"How is your new car?"

"It's really nice. I still miss my truck some, but this is a good one. Embry did a great job helping me find the ones I test-drove."

"Embry? Who's that? Didn't Jacob help you?"

"Embry grew up at La Push along with Jake. Jake's been really busy lately, or so I've heard, so he didn't have anything to do with my car search."

"Uh oh. What's going on, Bella?" Damn, I hated it when Renee's radar switched on. So I quickly related how Jake had pulled away from both Embry and me a few weeks ago, and how we'd gotten close because of it, ending with how mad Jake seemed to be now that he knew.

"Are you being safe?" was the first thing my mom said when I was finished.

Predictably, I flamed up and spluttered in reaction.

"Bella, you've got to think about things like this—"

"I did," I interrupted. "I got my old birth control prescription renewed, Embry's mom got him a box of condoms—I think we'll be fine if it happens."

"You mean 'when', right, don't you?" Damn again.

"Probably. He's so—I think he's it."

"Oh, baby! Do you know what to—oh, I'm going to get online right now and get you a subscription to Cosmopolitan. Does Charlie know?"

"Mom! He knows there's nothing to worry about. I love you. Bye." And I actually hung up on my own mother from sheer embarrassment. I was glad that my mom was happy for me, but surprised at how enthusiastic she was. But I wasn't going to complain about it—or about the magazine I'd be getting. Jessica had passed along some issues of that one that she and her mom had looked at, so I knew what it was like. Hopefully, it would help.

I did my usual nighttime routine and collapsed onto my bed, wondering as I shut my eyes what my dreams might be like tonight.

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AN: Yes, I do realize that any form of sexual activity is technically considered to be sex. But as the book Bella and Embry looked at says, many teens and young adults operate under an assumption that it doesn't count as sex if it isn't full-on intercourse. So it could be argued under that mindset that Embry didn't lie to his mom-but he sure didn't tell all of the truth, either.