The start of a wonderful friendship
Charlie watched Bella go upstairs with tears sliding down her cheeks struck him hard. After Edward left her he had promised himself she'd never feel that way again. He was wrong. Feeling anger bubble inside him he went to the phone and called a number that had been dialed only an hour ago. However this time the voice that answered it wasn't helpful but full of pity that quickly turned full of accusation
"I'm not buying that. It doesn't make any sense Billy"
"You know she's been pushing"
"Don't you put this on Bella!"
Charlie suddenly shouted. Reminding himself that Bella was upstairs and hurting he lowered his voice.
"Bella's made it very clear all along that she and Jacob were just friends..."
"That's not how Jacob saw it Charlie"
"Well, if that was it, then why didn't you say so at first? No, Billy, I think she's right about this..."
"Why?"
"Because I know my daughter and if she says Jacob was scared before–"
"Maybe you don't know the little princess as well as you do!"
"What do you mean I don't know my daughter as well as I think I do!"
He listened for a brief second and forced himself to reply using his words instead of his rage
"If you think I'm going to remind her about that, then you had better think again. She's only just starting to get over it, and mostly because of Jacob, I think. If whatever Jacob has going on with this Sam character sends her back into that depression, then Jacob is going to have to answer to me. You're my friend, Billy, but this is hurting my family."
There was another break for Billy to respond.
"You got that right–those boys set one toe out of line and I'm going to know about it. We'll be keeping an eye on the situation, you can be sure of that."
He was no longer Charlie; he was Chief Swan now.
"Fine. Yeah. Goodbye."
The phone slammed into the cradle. As soon as Charlie heard Billy blame his daughter for Jake abandoning her he saw red. He hang up the phone after giving a piece of his mind to his lifelong friend and as if in a trance he walked to Bella's room. Seeing his daughter in tears only strengthened his resolve. He headed to her closet and pulled her suitcase down. He filled it with clothes not paying attention to what he packed - he's a man after all.
"What are you doing? Are you sick of me too?"
She asked in a low voice, tears sliding down her cheeks
"What? No Bella, it's just... you need to get out of here. It's your only chance of being happy again"
He moved to sit next to Bella and put his arms around her even though it was awkward, it was far easier when she was a little girl.
"I don't want to run away"
she whispered
"its Christmas baby, go visit Renee and the boys. My mama used to say 'you need to spit on people if you want them to stick'"
"You do realize I don't like Jake like that, right?"
she sniffled and Charlie's voice took a rough edge to it
"After the way he's been acting this past month, I sure hope so"
with that Charlie drove Bella to the airport. The next morning she woke up to see sunlight filtering though the plane's tiny windows and the endless white beaches of Jacksonville. Feeling a small smile on her lips she shed the heavy black jacket she wore and was left in the same clothes she wore when she arrived to Forks almost a year ago, well worn jeans and an eyelet white tank top.
By the time schools opened again for the next semester Bella felt like she had been reborn. Feeling Florida's blazing sun every day, walking at the sandy beaches every afternoon, playing with her little brothers and even watching her mom and Phil flirting and necking after the boys went to bed didn't even phase her. She missed Charlie a lot and the two spoke on the phone every week but she was surprised to see that she didn't miss Jake or even Edward. The hole in her chest was not exactly healed but was almost perfectly patched with pure parental and family love.
What Bella didn't know was that things at Forks weren't the same. Charlie had gotten in a large argument with both Billy and Jacob the same night he put Bella on that plane. he had accused Jake of being an immature kid throwing tantrums just because things didn't go his way, when the teenager had growled at him and exploded into a giant wolf. Charlie's police-like mind saw everything that happened in the last three months as pieces from a jigsaw puzzle that suddenly fell in place.
"Billy?"
"I'm sorry Charlie"
Charlie raised his hand effectively stopping the lies from coming out of the man in the wheelchair and left the little red house slamming the door behind him shaking his head with despair.
The first week of the New Year found Charlie swan opening a new chapter in the book of his life. He had resigned his job in Forks, installed a new security system in both his house and in his parents' one and loaded the few things he wanted to keep in a large u-haul and got in the drivers seat.
He had planned on going to Florida and stay near his ex-wife and his kids. He missed Bella and his boys and after having them for a year he didn't want to go back to seeing his kids only a few weeks a year like he had done with Bella.
He drove almost non stop stopping only for gas and sleep for two days and had decided on getting a real night's sleep in Connecticut when he met an old buddy of his, Alex Stentson. The two were friends during their training in the police academy but had lost touch when Charlie returned to forks and Alex had gotten a job in Hartford and was now an underseriff. On a 'not-yet-a-midlife-one-yet-but-close-enough' crisis Joe had decided to resign his job as well and embracing his inner chef he asked Charlie to be his partner in opening a cafe. Charlie who was an expert in burning toasters and setting stoves on fire agreed liking the idea but had also applied to the state police as well.
He got a position in a small nearby town called stars hollow where the local chief would resign in one month.
Since the two friends had no idea on how to open and run the cafe they took a crash-course on a local college. After spending 75 dollars on the most basic information they could ever learn (and already knew due to common sense) his friend Alex met another old friend of his, a short perfectly round and loud woman who was with a brunette one. Both women were quirky, spoke a hundred words per minute and Charlie knew he'd ask the brunette one out as soon as possible.
Ask her out he did. The two went on a low budget spy tour and had a coffee date while trying various brands and types of coffee. Her name was Lorelai Gilmore and was a single parent to a seventeen year old daughter. She ran an inn and wanted to buy and run one with her best friend, the round quirky Suki st. James.
"So what brings you to Hartford?"
"Breaking up with my lifelong friend and missing my kids"
"Kids? as in plural?"
"Yeah, three of them"
"With the same woman, I hope"
Charlie laughed at the blunt question and nodded
"yes ma'am. we had Bella at 18 and divorced when she was a baby. we tried again after my parents died and had Jack and Oliver and we broke up again."
"Didn't hurt each other enough the first time?"
"Quite the opposite actually. We're great friends now, even though she married again and moved to Florida"
Lorelai nodded obviously thinking of some similar war wounds of her own
"How about you? Any kids?"
"Yeah one. Rory I had her at sixteen"
"Marriage didn't stick either, huh?"
"We never married actually"
"Can't blame you"
Their first date was a total hit. Lorelai even said she liked fishing so he'd take her fishing!
Two days before the spring term started Bella woke up to yet another bright sunny day. Surprised by the silence reigning in the house she walked to the living room. Renee was nowhere to be found and Bella knew that Phil had a game in Miami.
"Guys, where's mom?"
The two boys throwing a baseball at each other in the front yard shrugged. Noticing Renee's car was in the driveway Bella went back inside after telling the boys to be careful and saw the note on the fridge.
'Decided to go with Phil in Miami. See you Monday, love mom'
signing Bella rolled hat eyes. That was her mother, flighty to the extreme - loving, giving, always there when needed but never quite working out the logistics. Take today for example. Renee knew that Bella had to leave this afternoon if she wanted to be in forks in time for school on Monday but she went out of town herself planning to return on Monday. Bella shook her head and decided to be impulsive for once in her life.
"boys!"
She rounded the kids that ran to her.
"I want you both to pack, we're going to daddy"
Both boys started shouting happy at the prospect of seeing their dad again. Bella laughed with them and ushered them upstairs in their room to change out of their pj's and into normal clothes and she did the same. she grabbed a duffel bag and only packed clothes for the road trip as they all had clothes in forks and decided to borrow Renee's car. A restored '70s VW Beetle painted in a soft metallic lime color with a large pink and white flower printed on both doors and retractable hood. According to Renee this is the same car Bella had been conceived in. happy thought! Bella joked as she left Renee a note and buckled the kids in
They were just outside Nashville, Tennessee when driving at a crossroad strong wind came out of nowhere and she lost control of the car. Being an experienced driver she regained control quickly just before she hit a man in a hospital gown who seemed to have materialized from thin air.
"Jack, Oli are you guys okay?"
Both boys nodded while clutching to each on other for dear life.
"Good. Lock the doors and stay in the car guys."
She instructed and got out of the car to go the man.
"Sir are you alright?"
The man brought a hand to its heart, smiled as if he was relieved it was still beating and nodded.
"Yes, yes I'm fine. Just got my breath caught for a minute"
"You're in a hospital gown, do you need help?"
she asked in the same way she would ask 6 year old Oliver when he'd scrape his knee but was too proud to cry. to her surprise the man shook his head, chuckled and motioned to a black jeep and a man with brown beard and a tennis hat she hadn't seen yet.
"no need miss. Everything is alright."
she nodded and watched as the man with the hat went to the man in the hospital gown and fed him a beer. The man in the hospital gown drank it and smiled at the other one.
"Well I'll be damned"
The man in the hat said in a southern accent and two hugged and then turned at Bella.
"I'm Bobby, this is John"
"Bella"
They shook hands
"I'll take it from here Bella"
the bearded man said and Bella nodded smiling and she got back in her car after checking the boys that were watching interested at the scene on the road. When she pulled to the street again the two men and the jeep were speeding away.
What she didn't realize was that the near collision had changed her course of traveling sending her east instead of west.
Ten hours later and three MacDonald's stops in Roanoke, Harrisburg and finally Stars Hollow Bella had a flat tire moments after seeing the road sign to Boston. She had never claimed to be great in geography but momentarily she was happy seeing she was near New York thinking she wasn't far from forks... Then she realized that Forks was the other way!
Charlie and Lorelai were on their second date. Seeing as she had insisted she liked nature and fishing Charlie had taken her at a nearby lake and lodge. Unfortunately Lorelai Gilmore and fishing were two words that clashed at each other. after 6 hours she had only managed to catch one fish and she screamed when Charlie had tried to let the poor trout die so he had kept it with sea water in a cooler as a souvenir.
However the two had had a great time at the lodge. They ate, drank coffee and spent the rest of the day either talking or drinking hot chocolate by the lake. When they returned to town at night they decided to stop at Lorelei's favorite diner for one last cup of coffee.
Two things got his attention as soon as they walked inside the diner. One was the two kids yelling "daddy" and attaching themselves to his legs. The other one was the half asleep teenage girl that downed coffee like a starved person chatting with Lorelei's daughter.
There were a lot of things in the tiny trunk of the beetle but a spare tire wasn't one of them. Frustrated with her stupidity and dog tired she drove into the town with only intent to get a new tire, change it and burn rubber to Forks. She has no problem driving all night but the sleepy and grumby boys in the backseat definitely had a problem. And the whining began!
"Bella when are we gonna get home?"
"Bella where is daddy?"
"Bella..."
"Bella..."
"Okay guys. I made a mistake, wanna stay in this place tonight and hit the road in the morning?"
Oliver nodded still whining but Jack, who was more like a mini-Bella in his mannerisms and character just smiled tiredly at her. She smiled back swallowing her own misery and noticing a hardware store sign she decided to pull over there and simply ask around.
The all walked it but to her dismay even though the sign said in big letters 'Hardware' inside the corner store was actually a diner. Diner meant coffee and coffee was the thing to make Bella Swan happy & energetic!
Walking in the diner the two boys immediately listened to their grumbling bellies and took two seats. An honest smile, the first in the last hour, was born on her lips and Bella walked up to the counter and fake-coughed to get the attention of the teenage boy that was busy playing tonsil hockey with a girl in prep school uniform.
"What!"
Tonsil-dude wants to be rude? Two can play that game!
"Coffee. The biggest. Blackest. Strongest. Cup of coffee you have"
the guy blinked, swore under his breath and poured her a cup that looked more like a fishbowl filled with coffee. Smiling in a way that would make Rosalie Hale disappear from the face of the map she downed the coffee in one big gulp.
"Refill please"
"I'm sorry are we related?"
the caramel haired, blue eyed girl, uniform dressed girl asked her.
"I don't think so. Bella Swan"
"Rory Gilmore"
the two girls shook hands and Bella downed her coffee and asked for a third refill, three plates of pancakes and two glasses of chocolate malt. Within an hour the two kids had eaten and were energetic so when the entrance opened and their father appeared holding hands with a pretty brunette, they ran to him clinging on his legs. Their happy cries caught Bella's attention who immediately ended her college chat with Rory and whipped around.
"Charlie?"
"Bella?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Made the wrong turn in Charlottesville. What are you doing here?"
"Fishing"
"Forks ran out of trout?"
"wow its like a tennis match"
Lorelai Gilmore commented to her daughter after stealing her coffee mug. Rory nodded watching the reunited family
"How was fishing?"
"I caught a fish, its in the car"
"We gonna eat it?"
She asked appalled her mother. Those two could eat everything as long as they didn't have to cook it
"nah, its alive. We can put it in the tub and name it Becky"
"cool"
Bella was fighting to keep her eyes open and Charlie decided it'd be a good idea to take his kids back to his motel room. They had to talk and find a house. he leaned Bella back to the table, walked up to Lorelai, kissed her making his daughter jump wide eyed and throwing a $50 to the table he walked out winking at Bella. Rolling her eyes Bella waved to Rory and mr. rude teen behind the counter and followed suit.
Lorelai and Charlie decided to visit New York for the weekend; Suki and Jackson went with them. Strangely and predictably enough the couple broke up when during lovemaking one of them called out "Renee" and the other "Luke"...
"Still friends?"
Bella joked to Rory when they heard of the breakup. The caramel haired girl laughed and nodded
"It's the start of a wonderful friendship"
the two girls burst in laughter.
THE END