A/N: Wow, I have outdone myself. Well, I really hope you will all like this chapter and even if you don't please let me know and review!

Thanks Shinoslittlesister, I'm glad someone else loves it too!

Thanks wolflover101canadian for reviewing!

And jazminandra, my most loyal reader, thanks. I'm so glad you have been reading this, and helping me in a few occasions, to inspire me to write this mostly.

Chapter 22 (Vinnie's POV)

I held my breath for a moment and then exhaled. Christmas time was too stressful and everyone was fussing over nothing in particular. I could hear Mom downstairs, checking if Dad had everything he needed for three days. I zipped my back bag and threw it on my bed. I sat by my desk, waiting for Embry. We hadn't really agreed meeting before I left but I knew he would come. He always came. It had been almost four months of my days filled with him. I almost felt his lips down on my neck even when he wasn't with me. Sometimes I woke up in the middle of the night and my hand searched for Embry, even when he wasn't there. I was so used to his presence that I hardly used my left hand anymore since it was always in Embry's. I loved him, I did. I ached when he wasn't by my side. Something was missing if I hadn't him with me. Like now, all I wanted was to feel his hands around me, his lips on mine. To be honest, I didn't want to go, but still I did. I kind of wanted to test myself. I wanted to really know how it would feel like to be away from him. As much as I loved him and needed him to be around me, sometimes I hated myself for being so dependent on some other person than myself. I had been so independent before and for me, it was really some kind of weakness not to be able to be alone. I didn't actually want to be away from Embry, but I felt like I should want some time of my own. Julie and Russell had at least one day in the week when they didn't see each other. Julie said that it prevented her from smacking Russell whenever he irritated her. I knew it was very stupid to think what I should want, since what really mattered to me was what I actually wanted. Still, I sometimes felt like we weren't doing this dating stuff the right way. Embry and I didn't go on dates; we had had only a few in four months. We had made a giant leap in a short time from being shy and asking the other one out to just hanging in each other's rooms, doing nothing. Sometimes I felt like we were an old married couple who just lusted after each other, never actually doing anything about it. And how I lusted over him… Every single touch made me want to rip of my clothes, but that had happened only to some extent. We were never alone and it bugged me. I wanted Embry in every possible way. I wanted to have sex with him and I thought I was ready. We had never seriously talked about it, and I actually wasn't even sure if he had done it before, but I assumed he wasn't a virgin anymore.

In the middle of my pondering I heard a knock on the window. I could feel how I began felt like I was meant to feel, whole. If I didn't manage 12 hours without him, how was I ever going to manage for three whole days?

"Could you take this?" He asked and pushed me a hastily wrapped present for me before he climbed into my room. My first Christmas present from my first, and last, boyfriend. His hair was all wet. The snow had melted and I wasn't that happy about it. I loved snow. The snowball fight with the pack had been so amusing that I really wanted a re-match after losing for Quil and Seth so badly.

"I just wanted to get you something; it's not much, but something to remember me by." Embry said and wrapped his arm around me, making me feel so good. I smiled at him and started opening the present. There was a small box inside and I opened it, eager to see what he had gotten for me. I found a beautiful silver locked that was very simple, nothing fancy. I opened it and found a picture of a wolf. I never cried but now I almost felt tears rolling down my cheeks. Now he would be always close to my heart.

"It's perfect." I stated and motioned Embry to help me put it on. He put my hair aside and fastened it around my neck.

"You really like it? I thought it was simple enough for you to wear it." I kissed his cheek, making him silent. Embry was sometimes a little bit too nervous of what I thought of everything. But I couldn't really blame him. It was my turn to hand him his gift and I still wasn't sure if I had got it right.

I went to my closed, using my both hands to pull it out, just to make sure I wouldn't break it. I hadn't bothered with wrapping it in a gift paper.

"I hope you like it." I murmured and held it up so he could see it properly. I had taken that picture about a week after Thanksgiving. It was pretty amazing what you could do with your digital photographs these days. I glanced at the large framed photo that I hoped Embry would hang on his wall. It was pretty big and I thought it would look very nice above his bed. The picture was black and white and it had Embry and all his pack in it. Finally I managed to lift my eyes from the picture and look up to see Embry's reaction.

He smiled and held his arms open. I put the photo on my bed and almost ran to meat Embry's embrace.

"It's perfect. You're perfect." He said and kissed the top of my head first, moving his way down my neck. I moaned softly. His lips felt heavenly against my skin. His lips found mine and all I wanted to do was to take both of our clothes of and god knows what else.

"Vinnie, be down in five minutes!" Mom called from downstairs. I groaned but refused to let Embry go as he tried to part his lips from mine. I moved my lips down his neck and bit him gently. He groaned and pulled me tighter against his chest.

"Something to remember me by." I whispered into his ear and finally parted my lips from his skin, leaving just an inch between us.

"If you can't take that home now, you can always get it after Christmas." I said and pointed at the photo. He nodded, agreeing that it would be best if he would be driving a car when he took it home.

I took his hand and smiled at him. Three days. Three fucking days Vinnie, you can take it.

"I have to go." I managed to say. Embry pulled me close to him and hugged me. I knew he wanted me to stay and I almost asked him to ask me stay. I might have even agreed if he had asked. But he didn't and I was happy about it. We had to feel how it felt to be apart. Maybe we would appreciate each other even more when we had spent some time away from this, us.

"I will miss you so much. I love you so much." He was holding on to me like we were never going to see each other again. Three days would feel like an eternity.

"I love you too. Promise to call me, everyday?" I already knew he would, but I still had to make it sure to him that I really needed to hear his voice. He chuckled and stroked my hair.

"I will call you every two hours if you want me to." I buried my face against his chest and shook my head.

"Vinnie!" Mom called. I sighed. I took the final look in Embry's eyes. I wouldn't see those in three days. It was time to go.

It was snowing in Virginia when my Uncle Richard was driving us to my other Uncle's, Robert's house. Richard was my dad's younger brother and Robert was the oldest. I had always liked Richard better. He hadn't so much in common with dad; he was a lot more fun.

I looked out of the window, remembering all the summers and holidays I had spent around here while growing up. It had been a long time since my last visit. I had missed all this. I wanted badly to see my cousins; they were very close to me. I breathed against the car window and drew a heart on it. I smiled and thought of Embry, thinking if he was thinking of me. I felt a strong urge to call him, but I didn't. I had company and I could wait until I was lying in my bed alone.

"So Vinnie, what have you been up to lately?" Richard said after interrogating Dillon about his studies. Dillon flashed me a wicked grin as I started telling him how soccer was great and school was fine.

"You left the best part out." Dillon said out loud. I sighed and rolled my eyes at him.

"Well I saved the best part for the last. I'm dating this guy, Embry." Richard turned to look at me and lifted his left eye brow.

"You, out of all people, are dating someone?" He asked with a shocked expression on his face. He looked so much alike with Dad, with his black skin and brilliant brown eyes, that it sometimes confused me when the two of them were in the same room, they were like twins.

"Yeah, I am." I smiled like some sort of lunatic.

"She's in loooove." Dillon said, like the mature older brother he was. I touched my locked and felt the urge to look at the picture in it, but I didn't want to show it to anyone. It was my little secret, our little secret.

"Seriously?" Richard asked and I nodded him and confirmer it.

"I'm in love." I wished he would be here.

Robert's house was full of people, all relatives of mine. I didn't know half of them, but still they all seemed to know me. Some old lady, who insisted calling me Winona, hugged me tightly, and I was pretty sure we had never seen each other before.

"Winona!" A familiar voice called behind me right before he wrapped his arms around me and tickled me.

"Liam, you sneaky little thing." I said and turned around to face my cousin, who was not so little anymore. I stared at him in shock. He had always been shorter than I was, but now when I looked at him, he was almost as tall as Embry.

"You got to be kidding me, kid." He wasn't that much of a kid, being year older than I was. He grinned at me and hugged me.

"Finally, I out grew you." His expression was so confident and happy. He had achieved his lifelong dream.

"Looks like it. You're nearly as tall as my boyfriend." I did that just to make him return back to earth. He blinked and shook his head.

"I don't believe you." He laughed like I had told the best joke he had heard in a long time.

"You don't have to believe me, I can always call him." Of course Liam thought he would get me caught in a lie and urged me to call Embry.

"Whose name is Embry anyway?" Liam muttered as I hit one on the speed dial and Embry's name emerged on the screen.

"Hi honey, you're calling me already?" Embry's voice asked on the speaker phone, so that Liam would hear his voice.

"Hi. My cousin wouldn't believe I had a boyfriend, so I just had to call to make him believe me." And to see his reaction, I added to myself as I watched Liam's confused face.

"Why wouldn't anyone believe you have a boyfriend? I couldn't believe you hadn't when I met you." He muttered, upset again. I chuckled, feeling actually pretty good that Embry thought so highly of me.

"Embry, I'm sorry if I interrupted you or something, but I think I got to go now." I said when I saw my relatives coming closer to me.

"I'm just at Quil's house. We were supposed to go to Sam and Emily's, but now he just felt a sudden need to shower before we go. Don't ask, he's always this weird."

"Yeah, I think I have figured that out already. But I'll call you later, okay?"

"Whenever you want, babe. I love you."

"I love you too." I almost whispered back to him, hoping he was with me when I hang up the phone. I imagined me with him at Quil's house, maybe getting ready for another snowball fight, steeling kisses from Embry and making us lose because of it.

"Wow. You really have a boyfriend, huh?" I grinned and poked his arm.

"You're just jealous." He was about to say something, but then I noticed my other cousin, Elias, coming towards us. He was Robert's son, and I looked around to see where his sister, Alina, was. When Liam noticed my wandering gaze he glanced down at me, looking very worried.

"There's some bad news." Liam whispered to me as Elias was making his way to us. I furrowed my brow. Now that Liam had mentioned about it, pretty much everyone was looking a bit off. They seemed kind of sad.

"What's wrong?" I whispered before Elias could reach us.

"Alina has been missing for a week now. No one knows if she has just run away, or if something bad has happened." I felt sick. Alina and I never were great friends, but she was still my cousin and it made me feel awful to think what could have happened to her.

"Hi Vinnie." Elias smiled at me, looking so worried. I felt so bad for him. I could only imagine how I would feel if one of my brother's went missing. I decided not to ask anything about Alina from Elias. Maybe he wanted to bring it up himself, and if he didn't I would just have to wait until I was with Liam alone. He would tell me for sure.

"Elias, nice to see you. Wow, you and Liam seem like a foot taller from when I last saw you guys!" I tried to keep it light. I could see from my cousin's eyes how much he was hurting.

"Yeah, they put some growth hormones in the water around here." Liam tried to be funny and kissed his bicep, showoff. Elias just smiled a little, told me how happy he was to see me and vanished into the crowd.

"Come on, I want to know more about this." I said to Liam, still keeping my eyes on where Elias had just gone and took Liam's hand. I jumped in awe. His hand was hot, like he had fever.

"Are you sick?" I asked and tested his temperature from his forehead. I furrowed my brows.

"I'm okay, I'm just warm blooded." He said and just started leading me upstairs where we could talk in private. Just warm blooded. That sounded so familiar.

Liam opened the door to Elias's old room and we sat down. I knew I was being a bit rude, not even saying hi to Robert or my aunts, but I just needed to know what had happened with Alina.

"Tell me everything," I insisted, making Liam sigh.

"Okay. Alina had been acting weird for a while, about a month. We were thinking that she had a secret boyfriend or something like that. She was acting like she had a secret. She had some kind of meetings; we thought she was just going on dates with someone, but I think we were wrong. She went missing a week ago, it was Friday. Well she could have gone missing on Thursday evening. We noticed it because her friend had taken her mp3 player and she wasn't home when she tried to return it. We got really suspicious because she had told us she wanted time to read for her exams and she would be home the whole weekend. She wasn't at home, no one had seen her. She just vanished. I don't know what is going on, but I have this weird feeling it has something to do with us, Elias, me, Jordan, you know. She had been avoiding us for a month. I hardly saw her and she acted pretty reserved around us. I have a really bad feeling about this."

"You think she's dead?" I gasped, thinking what could have happened to her. Liam shook his head.

"I don't know, but I don't think she's dead, well at least the police don't think she's dead. They say that when people have been acting weirdly before the disappearance, they are very likely to have planned to disappear by themselves." I nodded, police's reasoning sounded logical. I was about to open my mouth and ask Liam if the police had any idea where she was, but he shook his head, guessing what I was going to say.

"They are as clueless as we are. The weird thing is that she didn't take anything with her. The only thing that was missing was a photo album. All her clothes were still there."

"This is awful." I whispered. Liam nodded. Well, this wasn't going to be so merry Christmas after all.

It was Christmas morning; I realized when I woke up. I stretched my limbs and tried to feel where Embry was but then it hit me. I was alone. Well technically, not alone. I had like a dozen of cousins living in the same house. I groaned, feeling so alone. I had called Embry the last night, speaking to him as long as I could. I knew he was missing me too, but I still didn't want to call him. I could be away from him, I tried to reassure myself, but still I found my cell phone in my hand, dialing Embry's number. I felt actually pretty guilty doing that. Just last night I had found out that Alina was missing and I should be worried, thinking where she was. Instead I was just thinking about myself and how I couldn't cope for three freaking days without my boyfriend. I sighed, feeling really bad about myself, but I called anyway. Humans are pretty selfish creatures. At least I was.

"Vinnie, I was just about to call you!" Embry's sleepy voice greeted. I chuckled at him. We were hopeless, maybe we should be joined from the hip like Embry had wanted.

"Well, I decided to make my father angry when the phone bill arrives." I grinned, just thinking how much the bill had grown after I met Embry.

"I can pay for that, it's because of me anyway." He offered. I so didn't deserve him. Karma was a bitch; I could just wait and see what she would come up to make my life miserable after giving me something so precious.

"Yeah, well you know my answer already, so let's not go into that. Aren't you downstairs opening your presents already?" I asked, feeling the urge to run downstairs and see what Santa had brought me. The child in me would never ever die.

"The only present worth opening for is in Virginia right now." He said with a husky voice, making me think about his comment in a pretty perverted way.

"You have to wait until I get home." I whispered. He was quiet for a while.

"You know I didn't mean it like that, right?" He was panicking, again.

"I kind of hope you did mean it like that." I could almost hear his grin all the way from Washington.

"Something for you to think during the holidays, darling." I told him, laughing.

"I miss you." And how I missed him. It was killing me.

I found my family with Robert and Richard downstairs. I looked around, trying to find Elias, Liam or Jordan. I had seen Liam's younger brother yesterday too and he was almost as tall Liam was. Maybe they did put growth hormones in the water around here. The kids were nowhere to be seen.

"Where is everyone?" I asked as I grumbled to the kitchen, where Robert's wife Mandy scooped some porridge for me. She smiled and gave me the sugar. She still remembered how I liked sugar in almost everything. She was a very nice woman and I was kind of sad that I didn't spend so much time with Mandy and her family anymore.

"The boys will be back in an hour. We'll open up our presents then." Richard's wife Helen came into the kitchen. She looked a lot like her son, even though they didn't share any personality traits. She was a calm woman, very serene.

"Where exactly are they?" I asked, being a bit too curious about all this.

"They are at Elias' apartment, don't you worry about them." I felt an urge to ask where Elias lived. I just had the feeling that they weren't taking a part in a snowball fight.

The front door opened without a nock and two young men, or boys, I couldn't really tell how old they were, stepped inside the house. They were both tall, very muscular guys. They reminded me of Elias, Liam and Jordan.

"Merry Christmas!" The shorter boy said with a loud voice and I could hear Richard and Robert wishing him a merry Christmas too. They both stumbled into the kitchen where I was just finishing my porridge. They stopped when they saw me and smiled politely.

"Jonathan and I just came to wish you a merry Christmas." Mandy smiled and hugged both of the boys. It came clear to me now that they were just boys, I could see it in the way Mandy and Helen treated them.

"You haven't met Vinnie yet, boys. This is Preston, he's Garry's son, you remember Garry, darling?" I did remember Garry from last night; he was like the second cousin of my dad or something, so I was actually related to this boy too. Preston was the shorter of the boy. The taller must have been Jonathan then. I shook both of their hands and almost stared both of them my mouth hanging open. Their hands were as hot as Liam's had been last night. What the hell was wrong with these boys? They left a few minutes later, leaving me to ponder if they all were sick or something. I was shaken away from my thought when Dillon ran to the kitchen and threw my jacket at me.

"Snowball fight!" He declared and grinned, all dressed up in mittens and a beanie.

"You're going down!" I shouted after him, throwing my jacket on while running outside of the kitchen.

I got a few nice presents, some of my favorite movies from Mom and Dad, the latest CD of my favorite band from Dillon and a book from Stephan. Seriously, didn't he know me at all? I didn't read. But then I noticed the book was about all the best soccer teams in Europe so I was pretty glad after all. I could read about soccer, or football, like it should have been called here too, in my opinion.

All the time we were giving out gifts, I thought about Embry, all the time. I just felt that this should have been our first Christmas together. I actually felt like crying, and I never felt like crying, never. I wanted him here with me, keeping me close to his chest so I could hear every time he breathed in and out. I longed for his company and tried to assure myself that Embry and I would have many Christmases ahead that we could spend with each other. It might actually be that next year, when we were in college, we could spend the Christmas morning in bed. Or maybe not. Mom would never forgive me if I wouldn't come home for holidays. I just wanted to share every moment of my life with him. That really scared me sometimes, but I couldn't help it. The feeling I had for him was so intense, almost involuntary. It was like my heart, it kept on beating. I couldn't stop it. And I didn't want it to stop. My life was whole now, but now I felt empty. I tried to shake it off, to think that I would see him soon; we would be leaving tomorrow evening. I was pretty sure I would see him tomorrow, I knew him that well. He would be there for me, maybe even in the airport. He would want to see me as badly as I wanted to see him. I felt like I physically needed to be with him. It almost hurt to be apart.

I touched the locket around my neck. I hadn't taken it off even once after he had given it to me. The Christmas day had been a nice day, all our old traditions, singing carols when Helen played the piano, playing Pictionary, and finally watching Grinch until everyone wanted to go to bed to sleep and digest all the food we had ate during the day. It really had been nice, seeing my cousins and all, but I hadn't really enjoyed it that much. I tried not to show it to anyone, I didn't want to ruin their fun.

When we left from the living-room, Mom took my hand and smiled at me.

"You miss him." She whispered and hugged me. It seemed that I hadn't been all that good at hiding my feelings. As Mom was hugging me, I felt a tear running down my cheek. I never cried when I had company.

"I just feel so alone when I'm not with him." I muttered. It felt oddly relived. I hardly ever told anyone how I really felt, but now saying it aloud made me feel better.

"I know honey, I know," She held me tightly against her and I was glad she was there. It was funny how you still needed your mother, no matter how old you were.

"Thanks Mom. I just really love him." She kissed my forehead and smiled.

"Anytime, darling." She left me there and climbed up the stairs. I went to the kitchen and sat down by the table. It had started snowing and I watched through the frozen window how the snow fell silently to the ground. I don't know how long I sat there, I think I might have fallen asleep. I jumped when I saw a dark figure in the yard. Maybe it was just a dream, or my imagination. I watched the snow to fall a little longer; hoping tomorrow would be here faster.

Tomorrow came a lot quicker than I had expected and in no time we were making our way out of Robert's house. Richard drove us to the airport and I felt anxious. I didn't want to sit on the plane; all I wanted was just to see Embry. I knew I wasn't being very nice to Stephan during our flight. I was fidgeting on my seat, glancing at the clock every five minutes. When we landed, I was so frustrated because it took so much time for people in front of us to take their things and head out of the plane. It was eight o'clock and I could see it had been snowing in Seattle too. We still had a long drive home.

We had our luggage and we headed to the parking lot. I stopped when I saw him. I had been right, of course I had. I dropped my suitcase on the ground and ran to him. He was leaning into his truck, waiting for me with a huge smile on his lips. He took a few steps closer to me as I still ran. He held his arms open I squealed with delight. I felt so good seeing him, I just jumped against him and he closed his arms around me. I wrapped my legs around his waist and leaned closer to him. Our noses touched and finally our lips found each other. I was so happy, I just couldn't let go of him, not ever. I moaned as his tongue touched my lower lip, making me open my mouth. I had completely forgotten about everything, the whole world around us. I felt whole now; this was the way we were supposed to be, in each other's arms. I could feel how he loved me.

Someone cleared their throat behind us and I was forced to part my lips from Embry's. He didn't let go of me, but put me down on the ground. I turned to look at my family. My father looked kind of pissed, my brother's looked very awkward, but at least Mom was smiling and looked really happy for me.

"I think we see you at home then, Vinnie?" Mom asked and I just nodded. I wasn't going to waste time with my family; I had seen them too much during the last three days anyway.

"Bye." Mom waved as they put their luggage into the trunk and drove away from the parking lot. I smiled at Embry and he opened the passenger door for me.

The car windows were frozen, he must have been waiting outside for some time now. Embry took my hand and didn't do anything to start the car.

"Pretty crappy Christmas." He murmured, still smiling at me. I took his hand and kissed him again, feeling so good when his lips touched mine. It felt like heaven to have him there, touching me. I almost wanted to show him right there and then how much I actually loved him, but I decided that sex in a public place wasn't the greatest idea. And it was pretty cold in the car, but hey, Embry would warm me up in the process. I chuckled to myself.

"We definitely need sometime alone, and soon." I said and winked at him. He grinned and kissed me again.

"I'll see what I can do about that, love." I was so happy. I was so in love.

"You know, you're the best thing that ever happened to me." I felt a tear running down my cheek, again. Embry wrapped his arms around me and I knew he felt exactly like I did.

"Let's never spend another day apart, okay?" I nodded and kissed him, tasting my salty tears in his lips. I couldn't let go of him, and I would never want to either. All the other people could just fuck off if they couldn't cope with it. Love wasn't even a big enough word to express how I felt about him. We were bound together, forever.

A/N: Thoughts, questions? Anything? And just to compliment myself, I have almost 100,000 words in this!