Fire and Ice

Chapter Twelve

     I wake up to somebody shaking me and I'm confused.  I know where I'm laying isn't my bed, but it still feels somewhat familiar.  I open my eyes and realize that I'm laying on my couch.  Emmett is shaking me, still in the same clothes as before.  He looks exhausted.  

     "What?" I groan.  I can't help it.  When somebody wakes me up, I'm grumpy.  

     "I wanted to make sure you weren't falling into a coma or anything."  he explains, smirking.  At first, I'm confused.  Then, I become aware of how much my head still hurts and the events from last night come flooding back to me.

     "What time is it?" I ask, sitting up.  

     "6:00 AM."  Emmett answers, and my eyes widen.  

     "Shit." I start to get up. "I have to be in work in two hours."  Emmett grabs my wrist, stopping me on the way to my bedroom.  

     "You are not going to work." he says.  "You have a concussion, and you were just attacked last night."

     "How am I supposed to pay for rent then?"

     "One sick day won't kill you."  I decide to listen to him and pick up my cell phone that is on the table that's next to the couch.  I call work, and Linda picks up.  

     "Thank you for calling Linda's Diner, Linda speaking."  she answers.

     "Hey, it's Amy."  I say.  "I can't come to work today, I have the stomach bug."

     "Okay, feel better."  she says, and then hangs up.  I sigh, realizing that I have nothing to do today now that I can't go to work and Emmett definitely isn't going to let me go to the boxing club.  

     "What are you still doing here?" I ask him.

     "What, do you want me to leave?" he asks, smirking.  I roll my eyes.   "I just wanted to make sure that Alex wouldn't come for you again." he says seriously.  

     "Thank you."  I don't why his protectiveness over me keeps on surprising me, but it does.  I guess it's because I'm not used to people caring about me this much, at least people other than Lexi. " You don't have to stay here if you don't want to though.  I'll be okay."  As much as I hate to admit it, I kind of like having him here.  But he can't stay here all of the time, I know that.

     "I'm not just gonna leave you here alone when Alex is somewhere out there."  He says.  

     "But you can't watch me all the time."  I argue.  "Like I said at the gym, you have another job that you need to do.  You can't do that if you're with me all the time."

     "I want to protect you."  he says quietly, looking down.  

     "You need to protect the city more than you need to protect me."  I say.  "Besides, you're probably exhausted.  You can't be protecting anybody if you can't even take care of yourself."  He sighs, probably realizing that I'm right.  

     "I'm gonna find Alex, you know that right?" he reassures me.  

     "You don't have to do that."  He chuckles at this.

     "Why don't you ever want people to help you?" he asks.  "Every single time I help you at all, you seem so surprised.  Is it that shocking that somebody wants to do something for you for a change?"  I know he's right.  I do have a tendency to be shocked whenever somebody tries to be good to me.

     "I'm sorry." I say, feeling guilty. 

     "It's okay."  He says.  "I'm just waiting for the day when you don't question my motives when I try to do something nice for you."  I laugh, but then stop when I start thinking about Alex.  

     "Alex is alive." I whisper.  "Emmett, what do I do?  He's gonna kill me, and I have no way to defend myself."

     "He is not going to kill you."  he answers, determined.  "I'm not gonna let that happen.  I called my friend Brett while you were asleep.  He's going to try to find where he went.  He's usually good with that kind of thing."  Emmett suddenly grabs my hand, and I look down at it shocked.  "You need to trust me, Amy.  I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."  I feel my eyes start to water at how much he seems to care.   

     "I trust you." I answer.  "I just don't want you getting hurt because of me.  I'm not that important."

     "You are to me." he answers, and then the tears in my eyes start to roll down my cheeks.  "What's wrong?" he asks, concerned, when he sees this.

     "I'm not used to this."  I say.  "Nobody but Lexi has ever cared about me like you seem to before.  It's a good thing.  These are happy tears."  I smile through my tears, letting him know that he isn't upsetting me, but making me feel better.  He smiles back.  Suddenly, his cell phone rings.  I ignore the small part of me that's disappointed when he releases my hand to answer it.

      "Hello?" he says.  I hear a voice talk through the phone, but can't make out what they're saying.  "Okay thanks."  Emmett says when they're done talking and hangs up.  "I have some great news." he says to me.  I look at him, curiously.  "That was Brett, he found out where Alex went." I gasp.

     "How?"

     "Since Alex has ice powers, his temperature is lower than normal, kind of like how your's used to be higher than normal." he explains.  "Because of this, he gives off a unique thermal reading.  Brett ran a thermal scan over the city and he thinks he found him hiding in an apartment."  I can't help but smile.  Finally, something is going right with my life.  "I'm going to get him Amy.  This is going to be over, and you'll be safe."

     "Thank you." I whisper, more tears trailing down my cheeks.  I realize I've bee saying this a lot to him lately.  

     "I'm gonna leave now, okay?" I nod.  "Don't leave your house, just in case.  Keep the door locked.  Brett said that right now he's in the apartment, but just in case he comes her after I leave, I want you to be safe."  I resist the urge to roll my eyes at his protectiveness.  

     "Just come back, okay?" I tell him as he's getting up.  "Be careful."

     "Always." he says, and then he leaves.  I wince when he says this, because I realize that this is is exactly what I said to Lexi right before I got shot and got my powers taken away.  

Author's Note

I really don't like how this chapter came out.  I'm not very good at filler chapters.  Let me know what you think!