Conversations with Emmett

A Break in the Clouds

A Twilight Fanfiction

By Ranma151773012

I always wanted to do just a fluffy piece about Emmett hanging out with Bella. Here it is.

This is from Bella's POV

I don't own Twilight, marinated steak, Halo, Master Chief, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Utah, Bunnies, trees, bears, Family Ties, the concept of garlic-butter, classic black and white horror movie night, card tables, France, or Edward's shirt.

I know you'd all rather me update Escaping Sol…but this is what's in my mind right now. God Forbid. Emmett won't leave me alone! Let's see how many stories I can juggle at once shall we?

I was laying on my back and staring up at the clouds in the open field behind the Cullen mansion waiting for Edward to come back from his hunt with Alice, Esme, Jasper, and Rosalie. Unfortunately it was only day one of an endless three. I had stayed at home for as long as I could manage doing housework, but I had quickly run out of chores. After all, there were only so many times I could organize my sock drawer without going nuts. By three in the afternoon I had already alphabetized Charlie's video collection, marinated a steak, and reorganized the pantry. Before tackling world hunger I decided that I should seize the day and hang out at my other house doing Alice's "homework" for the wedding.

Alice had me addressing and signing "Thank You" letters. My hand was somewhat throbbing from the effort by five. Carlisle was at work saving lives. Charlie was keeping the peace. Emmett…was playing Halo.

Well, he was playing Halo.

"Hey, little sis whatcha' doin? Emmett stood over me and sparkled in the sun. Blocking my view of the fluffy bunny above me.

"Solving world hunger," I replied. "My hand is on strike so the rest of my body is doing the union thing and taking a rest." I continued with a smile.

"Sounds good, but you could have come and played Halo with me. I would have kicked your butt!" Emmett crowed while sporting a very self assured smile on his face and I let out a small giggle.

"I bet you would have obliterated me…but as I just pointed out, my hand is on strike. I would have had to play with my toes. It might have been a severely unbalanced match." I answered back with my own smile.

"You really think you could beat me with the use of your hands?" Emmett asked with a self satisfied smirk.

"Not particularly." I responded back honestly.

"When you come over tomorrow we'll have to find out. Master Chief is going to show you how it's done!" Emmett flopped over on the ground his head next to mine, his body in the opposite direction. He looked over at me with a boyish grin. "So…what are you actually doing out here?"

"I'm trying to make shapes out of the clouds." I answered honestly. "See that one looked like a bunny…but now it looks more like a horse."

"Yumm. We're sky hunting." Emmett had a definite smile in his voice and I wondered if I could ever have found a better sibling if I tried. "Look…bear…mmmmm."

I saw the mass of clouds and conceded that it did look a bit like a bear, maybe more after it had been mangled. "Yeah…maybe," I said with a question in my mind. Before I could really stop myself it was on my lips as well. I turned my head and watched him watching the clouds, his skin sparkling in the places where the sun hit. "Emmett, why is it so easy for you to talk about being a vampire? Everyone else doesn't seem to want to talk about it. I think they're worried that I'm going to get scared."

Emmett looked back at me and seemed to really weigh the answer. "You're like me. Maybe not exactly like me, because you get to spend time with Edward as a human and I only got to meet Rose after my little issue with the bear, but we're the same. Humans who fall for vampires…"

I couldn't help myself, he'd left the statement so open ended, "and the vampires that love them."

"Hah! Yeah. We belong on Jerry Springer." Emmett confessed with a laugh. "Seriously, you know what you want, and you aren't looking back. There isn't anything wrong with that. It's how everyone else lives their life. The only difference is that you're going to have to take a year long sabbatical to get to the point where you aren't chasing after everything with a heartbeat."

"Is it really like that?" I asked with a small shiver of fear.

"At first. Yeah, it's just like that. I really went after EVERYTHING at first. If it had blood I had it in my mouth. Esme said I reminded her of a toddler." My large brother looked back up at the sky. "I had Rose there to keep me in check though, and even though he was really aloof at times Edward was a great help too. I love my brother, and I'm glad he has you. You're a great girl, if you weren't with Edward and I wasn't with Rose. I think I'd be after you too."

My face immediately betrayed me and I was blushing scarlet. "Thanks Emmett."

"It's true. You're a really passionate person. Unfortunately for you, you'll never know because I am with Rose and she is H-O-T!" Emmett licked his finger and made a hissing noise like a skillet. It immediately made me laugh and made me feel less awkward, which was the real reason that I loved spending time with Emmett. He was really like a brother.

"What do you think you'd be like if you never met Rosalie?" I asked as I stared back up at a cloud that looked like a big tree.

"I think I'd be really shriveled up and old. Probably playing Halo." Emmett said without any pause. "Oh, look! It's Pac-Man."

I laughed and sighed. He was actually right. It looked like Pac-Man. "Great now we have to find Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Sue. Seriously what do you think you'd be like?"

"I don't know. She's such a huge part of who I am. Finding the other half of your soul makes you see things differently. You know that. Who are you now as opposed to who you were?" Emmett questioned back. "By the way…that's Ms. Pac-Man. The original ghost monsters were Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde."

"Really? I thought it was Sue. She was the pink one right?" I questioned.

"No…Pinky was the pink one…Go figure. Sue was orange and replaced Clyde. It was this whole failed women's lib thing." Emmett spoke dryly. "We seem to be getting off the main topic. There was a real conversation going on here somewhere."

"Sorry, I'll use my failed women's lib power and focus for you. I'm not sure I could really imagine a world without Edward in it. I would still be pretty lonely I guess. I just never felt anything for anyone before. I probably wouldn't have ever felt this way." I pointed up and said. "Utah."

"Hey…that is Utah, even has the lake. Good eyes." Emmett responded back. "What about Jacob?"

"I don't know. I love Jacob, but I don't think I would have gotten anywhere with him as we would have been. Edward taught me how to love. Jake was a nice guy, and a great friend. Something tells me we would have eventually gone that way just because of gravity. I guess. That's assuming I'd have stayed in Forks long enough to fall for him." I hated even admitting that to my brother. It felt like a betrayal of Edward.

"Sara Mae Clark." Emmett said in a small hushed voice.

"I'm sorry?" I said with a confused whisper.

"We had been pretty serious before I met Rose. Don't say anything to her about it, because we don't mention that bit of my past often, but I was almost engaged to Sara. She was something! I remember when we started going out I already had a bit of a reputation with the girls, and she had a bit of a rep with the boys. I think we both probably earned them honestly. There was nothing else to do in that town…no one should have been surprised that I was drinking, betting, and sleepin' around by the time I was fifteen." My future brother in-law looked at me with a devious grin and I looked back at him with a sheepish smile.

"So you were going to marry her?" I asked hesitantly.

"Sure, but it wouldn't have lasted. We were both too restless. I would have cheated…or she would have. Not a very good basis for a relationship." Emmett looked back up to the clouds and continued, "Rosalie settles the part of me that wanders. She keeps me honest. Not too honest…but halfway there. It's all she cares about. Hey…that one looks like Mt. Fuji."

"A bit." I confessed. "So you would have just gone from one thing to the next."

Emmett smiled wolfishly. "Look at that. Now you think I'm some kind of man-whore."

"Oh, yes." I agreed. "Emmett the man-ho." We both laughed.

"I probably would have become a logger. That's what my da' did. I was pretty good at it too, to be honest. You know we grow em' big down there in the holler, but even then I was a really large guy." My vampire brother supplied as if he were imparting secret information.

"I never would have noticed if you hadn't told me." I challenged. The breaks in the clouds were becoming less and less as the afternoon wore on and I could smell rain coming. "So why is it that you aren't ever regretful while everyone else seem to have so many reservations?"

"I miss my family. That's one of my only regrets." Emmett defended. "The McCarty clan was a big one. Three sisters and four brothers, not to mention the cousins we had. We could be our own town, but that's what living in the hills was like. Some of their kids that I watched are still alive too. My sister Carol is eighty six…but something tells me she would still know who I am. She was smart and talented, Carol was.

"The rest of our family doesn't seem to have the warm snuggly Michael P. Keaton, "Family Ties" kinds of feelings for their family that I do.

"Edward doesn't have any living family that he talks about, so I guess they don't have cousins or something in Chicago.

"Neither does Rose, but I think she blames her family for things and doesn't talk about them very often.

"Alice has a niece now I guess.

"Jasper died too long ago for that to be an issue now, but he did have a big family from what I hear. His other coven was a war-like mob made up of monsters that preyed on humans so he doesn't have the warm snuggles for them.

"Esme…well she was an only child, but I get the impression that she'd rather not think about them.

"Carlisle…God…I could be related to Carlisle…who knows? I know you've heard enough of his story to know how his family loved and supported him. I don't know how my family would take what I am…but I'm not sure it would have ended in pitchforks and torches like it would have for Carlisle if his daddy found out.

"I can't even go near my hometown for fear of seeing people alive that might recognize me. That and it's a bright shiny sunny place now that my family logged the hell out of it." Emmett finished with a smile. The clouds were now dark and slightly ominous, but it was still nice and warm outside.

"That's really great." I said with a returning lame grin. "I'm sorry you can't see them."

My brother gave me a pat on the forehead. "It's okay Bella, I'm not really all that sad about it. I got my Rose, and I get to spend an eternity trying to make her happy. It's hard to do because she isn't like you and me. She doesn't want the reality of what she is. I wish I could give her everything she wants. That's my only other regret. I wish I could give her the children she wants. It isn't in the cards for me though. It'll never be like that for us. I know it would bring her joy."

"Does it really hurt her that badly?" I asked with a tenuous look. "I don't want to pry…"

"You're my sister. It's not a crime to ask me a question. I may not always answer, but you have Edward…so you have a cheating edge." Emmett continued, "It hurts her that she can't have babies, but she's accepted it and mourned. There are times when I see it in her eyes, and I feel like I'm letting her down even though I know it's not just me."

"I think you would be an excellent set of parents…" I began, but Emmett cut me off.

"Hey…that one looks like a raindrop." Emmett pointed up. "Like lots and lots of little raindrops."

"Wha-?" A deluge started and I sat up with a watery screech. "Warn me next time!" I scolded. We headed back toward the house and Emmett picked me up like a football and ran in through the back door completely soaked. We were leaving puddles all over the floor.

"I have an idea." Emmett said with a dawning smile. "I'll get changed and get all this water up off of Esme's floor. You've never seen a conniption fit before have you? Let's not start a trend of those with Esme before you're a newborn. That might scare you away. You can put on one of Edward's shirts while you dry your clothes. I'm going to order you a pizza!"

"I can't eat a whole pizza by myself Emmett." I argued remembering that I'd marinated a steak for Charlie.

"You don't have to…I have a refrigerator Bella." He pointed to the unused shiny appliance that I had a bottle of Gatoraide in as well as a few cups of strawberry yogurt. Which I refused to explain to the rest of the family, but Edward really liked.

"Fine. I'll call Charlie and tell him how to make the steak." I sighed. Emmett was impossible to say no to when he got that kid in a candy store look.

"Come on it'll be great. We can have you chasing me around the house with the garlic butter when Carlisle comes home. It'll be awesome! I think we should have classic horror movie night too, what do you think? Pure black and white drive in classics?" He looked like he was about to bounce Alice style.

"Sure, sure." I folded like a card table…or France. "Let me get dressed."

"You know you're going to have your nose buried in his shirt all night anyway, you don't have to act nonchalant on my account." My vampire brother challenged.

"You're right." I sighed as I walked toward the living room and toward the stairs, Emmett's booming laugh following me up to Edward's room.