Disclaimer: I don't own a goddamn thing. See? We're starting the M rating right off the bat, yay for me! Please leave a review for god's sake once you've read it, this has only been my life, you know. Am I doing the guilt thing well, yet? No? Well do it anyway. I won't ask again. On with the story!

Thursday, September 12 10:34 A.M. Mountain Time Zone Phoenix, AR BPOV

Isabella Marie Swan pushed a lock of dark brown hair out of her chocolate brown eyes, looking up at the airport's Arrivals and Departures board, searching for her flight. Her mother, Renee, found it first. "Look, Bella! There it is, looks like you'll be leaving out of Gate 25, Terminal D." Her mother turned to look at her, and smiled soggily at her only child. Bella tried not to laugh, her mother had been doing nothing but crying over her departure for the past week, and it had been an amusing and almost welcome change- for once, it was Renee who worried over her daughter, not the other way around.

Bella still smiled at her mother, set her carry-on on the ground next to her, and held her arms open. "Come on, one last hug." Renee let out a sob before throwing herself into her daughter's embrace, and Bella saw her brand-new step-father, Phil, looking at the both of them with a sort of proud smile. Bella liked Phil, he was good-looking, and he was amazing at sports as he was a professional baseball coach. He was, in a way, responsible for Bella's leaving home. Bella frowned internally. Technically, she wasn't leaving home at all. Home to her had always been back at Forks, Washington with her father, Charlie. It certainly was different from where she and her eccentric mother had lived for the past ten years, here in Phoenix, Arizona. So Phil, because he and Renee were temporarily moving to sunny Florida for his coaching position, Bella got to move back in with Charlie and finish up school at home. Her mother was a mess, never the less.

As Bella stood there with her mother bawling into her shoulder, she mock-glared at Phil as he couldn't help it anymore and began to outright laugh at his new wife's theatrics. "Renee, honey please, Bella's gonna miss her flight if you don't let go." Renee bawled louder, and Phil had to physically muffle his laughter with a hand over his mouth, his eyes twinkling in amusement. Apparently, Renee still heard him. Renee whipped around with a glare in her eyes that had sent lesser men running, before. "Are you laughing at me and my emotional pain right now, Phil?" Phil grinned broadly and spread his hands out in front of himself in innocence. "No ma'am. I am planning on laughing with you, as soon as you stop being ridiculous." Renee huffed, but both women knew the only reason Renee put up with his honest, blunt answers was because Renee adored that he always told her the truth, and he had never, ever tried to soften it for her because he thought she couldn't handle it. Bella had been raised, by both parents, to appreciate a relationship with equality on both sides, and to be wary of any relationship in which one felt constant pressure from the other party to be submissive. Bella was mature for her age, sure, but that didn't mean that every now and then she didn't take a leaf out of her mother's book and enjoy being a free spirit. Bella enjoyed freedom, but she also liked to be safe. One reason as to why, although pretty and well liked in Phoenix, she'd never had a boyfriend. Renee sought to change that as soon as Bella got to Forks, if she ever got there.

Bella checked the Arrivals and Departures board one last time and gave Phil a quick hug, then shouldered her carry-on. "Mom, I will call you before I go to bed tonight, ok? Charlie's meeting me at the airport and I guess he's got some company coming over for some game, but other than that it'll be an early bed-time. I've got school first thing tomorrow." Renee bobbed her head enthusiastically. "Are you excited, are you nervous? Do you think any of the boys will be cute? Do you know if the kids you hung out with a couple summers ago will be there?" Bella smiled. Her mother always asked questions like that, Bella was used to it by now. "I'm excited, not nervous, I don't know if the boys will be cute, and no, Mom, I don't know if Jacob, Quil, Embry, or Ava is going to be there." Bella secretly hoped that they would be there, even though she couldn't see them at school, as they went to the Indian reservation school at their res town called La Push, and Bella was going to Forks High School. But the five of them had hit it off the last time Bella visited Forks, five years ago when she was thirteen. And thinking about them just made Bella more anxious to be on her way. "Now Mom, I really have to go. I love you, ok? I'll call you tonight, Phil can you make sure Renee remembers?" Renee would lose her head if not attached to her shoulders, as both Phil and Bella were well aware. Phil agreed, and Renee announced that she was anything but impressed by her family's unflattering view of her organization skills. After one last round of goodbyes, and I love you's, Bella was walking down the gang plank to the plane, and settling into 13B, by the window. Bella hurried into her seat, looking out the window eagerly, smiling to herself.

She was going home.

She was going to Forks.

And she had no idea of what awaited her.

Thursday, September 12 5:12 P.M. Pacific Time Port Angeles, WA BPOV

Bella stumbled a bit walking out of the gangway from the tiny plane that had flown her from Seattle to Port Angeles. She walked a little bit away from the people still rushing off of the plane and began to scan the small crowd of people in front of her for Charlie, or hell, any familiar face. She couldn't keep the small grin off of her face that she had because she knew she was so close to home. A yell sounded over the noise of the crowds that sounded vaguely like her name, and as Bella watched, her father emerged from the crowd, waving a hand proudly at his daughter, who smiled wider and ran up to greet him. "Dad, hey! Oh it's so good to see you finally! I missed you at the wedding; I had to handle Renee all by myself." She looked at him accusingly, but jokingly and he laughed. Bella supposed her father was still good-looking, he had a full head of the same chocolate locks she sported, complete with a rather fetching handlebar mustache. When Bella was little and Charlie'd put her in his lap, she was content to play with his mustache for hours on end. Bella hugged Charlie, who blushed a little and scooped up her carry on. "Come on, Bells, let's go get your other luggage and-" Bella waved a hand. "This is it, Dad, I didn't bring anything else with me, the rest of my stuff's being shipped here." Charlie smiled. "That sounds like my girl, let's get you home and get some supper in you, you've gotta be hungry."

Bella made small talk with Charlie as well as she could with the pressing crowds and loud noises swirling around them as he led her to the Pick Up/Drop Off zone at the entrance of the airport. Bella's eyes landed on a police cruiser sitting almost garishly in the lights of the airport and mentally slapped herself. Charlie was the Chief of Police back at Forks, and the only car he drove was… "Sorry, Bells, but I had to bring the cruiser. Besides, since I'm a police officer, I get to park wherever I want to." Bella rolled her eyes at her father's mischievous face, and smiled. "Is this your way of rebelling, Chief Swan?" Charlie's eyes sparkled as he laughed and popped the trunk of the cruiser and put her carry-on back there. He gave his only daughter an innocent look. "My dear, I do believe that I plead to Fifth." Bella got in the car before throwing her head back and laughing at her father's reference to the Constitution.

Charlie swung into the driver's seat and handed her something. Bella looked down, and to her complete amusement, a hat lay there in her lap. Not just any hat, but a policeman's hat. Bella smiled at her father and put it on, fastening her seatbelt before saying, "Let's go home so I can take a shower, you can watch the game, and we both can get some dinner." Charlie pulled the cruiser out of the parking spot and began driving out of the airport towards Forks before replying, "Amen to that, sister." Bella turned to her father and began to question him about the game awaiting him at home, not really listening to his answers, but just enjoying being with her father for the first time in years.

During a lull in conversation after Bella asked why they called a hockey puck a 'biscuit', she changed tracts. "Dad, do you remember a girl I used to hang out with by the name of Ava Uley?" Her father frowned. "Well, yes, as a matter of fact I do. It's, unfortunately enough, Ava Walker now. Her mother remarried to a non-Quileute and just left town a few days later. Took her daughter with her, but left the boy." Bella frowned. "You mean her older brother, Sam?" Charlie nodded. "That's the one. Been out there at his mother's a few times when she was still here, always calls from the neighbors about screaming. His mom had terrible nightmares." Bella looked out the car window, studying the passing scenery in the fading light. "What happened to them, do you know?" It was Charlie's turn to frown. "Well, from what Sam told me, they moved to some little town up in Montana called Kalispell." Bella's eyebrows drew together as she tried the name out, carefully pronouncing every syllable. "Kalispell. Huh. So who's going to be joining us this evening to watch your game?" Charlie grinned. "A couple guys from the rez. Harry Clearwater, Billy Black, and Harry's wife Sue's forcing their daughter to come visit you. Name's Leah." Bella nodded a slight smile on her face. "I remember them. Leah and I have been emailing each other on and off since the last time I came here, Sue put her up to it, but I hope I can say that we're friends."

Charlie grinned as Forks came into view. "Take a good look around, Bells, this is Forks." Bella looked out the car windows with an almost determined look on her face, like she was determined to see everything about the town in one glance. "It hasn't changed much up here, I'm glad of that. I might be able to get around this town without getting lost." Charlie pulled into a familiar driveway, and Bella exited the cruiser and looked fondly on her childhood home. Charlie pulled her carry on from the trunk and motioned her inside. Bella didn't hesitate to unlock the door with the key Charlie'd given her and she smiled as she opened the door, flinging it wide. She turned to her father, and gave him an unexpected hug.

"I'm home, Dad."

"'Bout time."

Bella was up in her room, which looked just like she'd left it five years ago, when a knock sounded on her door and a female voice called out, "Bella, you better be decent, it's Leah." Bella called back, "I am, now open the damn door!" Leah stepped rather gracefully into the room and Bella immediately felt a wave of jealousy. Leah had long jet black, silky hair and liquid black, almond shaped eyes that landed on you with a certain precision, and she was gorgeous. Leah cocked an eyebrow at Bella's scrutiny. "What?" Bella frowned. "Not only are you kick-ass in your emails, but you're stunning, too?" Leah made a face and, so quick Bella almost didn't see it, grabbed a small pillow that sat on her rocking chair and threw it at Bella's face. Bella laughed and threw it back to Leah when the elder girl replied, "Shut up, like you're not gorgeous yourself."

Leah tossed her hair back and sat down on the rocking chair, an easy smile on her face. "You're a lot smaller than I thought you'd be. You talk up a big storm in your emails, and you turn out to be, what, 5'4"?" Bella planted her hands on her hips. "I will have you know, Leah Hannah Clearwater, that I am proud to be 5'5". And…yeah. So there." Leah snorted in amusement. "You crazy chick." Bella turned and looked out her window at the multitude of yellow lights in the distance that Bella knew was La Push. "What's going on at the rez?" Leah snorted. "Some family that lived in town that's been giving the Council of Elders hell just moved away today. Everyone's really excited about the Cullen's being gone." Bella snorted as she continued folding the small amount of clothing she had brought with her. "That's very mature of them." Leah smiled. "Oh, you betcha. Old Quil even broke out some moonshine for the older kids." Bella outright laughed at that. "So La Push is getting, basically a holiday, and I get to go to school tomorrow." Leah settled back more into the chair. "Life's a bitch, and so am I!"

Bella and Leah talked for nearly four hours, and suddenly it was nine thirty and Leah was driving the drunken men home back to the rez where they would proceed to get even more wasted. Bella waved goodbye as she shook her head in amusement. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed the phone, before dialing Renee's number. It went to voicemail, and Bella left a message stating the days events, told her mother she loved her and would call tomorrow. "Hey, Dad?" "Yeah, Bells?" "Do you think I could go down to La Push tomorrow, see Sam Uley?" Her father didn't answer, but instead appeared at the doorway into the living room. He stared at his daughter with the face of a man who knew exactly what was going on. "You're really worried about the Uley girl, aren't you?" Bella shrugged. "Honestly, I think I'm more curious than anything else." Charlie nodded his head absentmindedly.

They stood in silence for a moment before Charlie headed back into the room to watch the game while calling back over his shoulder, "Sure, Bells, but remember to be home before dark, ok? You'll have to get a ride from Leah." Bella winced. Sam and Leah had been going out for a few years, but around ten months ago they'd broken up. It was a mutual break up but Bella still didn't think Leah would want to go looking for her ex. "Alright, Dad." She'd have to get a ride from someone else, but if she couldn't she'd just hope Leah liked her as much as she seemed too, because the more Bella thought about Ava, the more determined she became to knowing what happened to her. Bella showered, got dressed, set out her clothes for the next day, set an alarm and fell into her bed, exhausted by the days events. She dreamed of a man, robed in black, who wavered in front of her view like a mirage before settling into the form of a big, black, powerful, wolf.