Disclaimer: They aren't mine. Enough said.

The Choices We Make

BPOV

So, here I continue to lay in despair. I get out of bed for the bathroom and school only. Only Angela bothers to call and check up on me anymore. I don't care. Nothing matters any more since he left me after my birthday. Actually, the only other emotion I've expressed, other than sorrow, is anger. That was around Christmas when I was double teamed by both of my parents to try and make me move back to Jacksonville with my mom. I vehemently refused and threatened to leave them both if they tried to make me leave. I knew I could move into their house since they weren't using it anymore. I even had my own room over there, though I've never used it. I always stayed in…Edward's room. Just thinking his name brought a fresh round of tears to my face.

I had just finished my homework and crawled under the safety of my blankets when my dad knocked on my door.

"Come in."

"Bella, I'm worried about you. I don't want you to leave, but I don't know that this is the best place for you anymore."

"I'm not leaving."

"He's not coming back."

"I can't take that chance. He has my heart. If I want it back, then I need to be here."

"You're taking this first love thing a bit too far."

"He's not my first love, he's the only one I'll ever have."

"What are you talking about? You're young and there are plenty of fish in the sea." Leave it to him to work in a fishing reference.

"When was the last time you went 'fishing'? I haven't seen you going on any dates." He looked hurt and I felt a little bad for lashing at him.

"We're not talking about me because I'm not the one hiding in my room every night for months on end. You have to get out of this funk, Bells."

"I'm not in a funk. I miss him and I need him. So, until he comes back, I will go to school and get good grades, but that's it. I'm not leaving." He sighed.

"What is it about him, Bella?"

"He's my soul mate. I was born to be with him."

"You're only eighteen and he's your first serious relationship. Are you sure it's not just fear that there is somebody better for you out there that's keeping you from leaving this room?"

"No, he's it for me." I sighed. I told myself it was time for Charlie to know a little bit more about what they were. I knew that he could handle it, just like I had and I also knew that I couldn't just blurt it out either. He had to come to the conclusion on his own; just like I did.

"What do you know about the Cullens, dad?" This surprised him. I'm fully aware that I hadn't said their name in months. Even my dad had learned not to say their name around me.

"I've seen that they're unnaturally pale and I've never seen eyes that color before. Dr. Cullen seems awfully young to have adopted five teenagers."

"Do you believe in the supernatural?"

"Like magic?"

"No, like myths and legends of supernatural creatures." I corrected.

"I've never given it much thought."

"You should. Here's a book that will help you." I got out of bed to hand him the book I had bought earlier in the year. It helped me to connect the dots; but then again, I had more dots to connect than Charlie currently does. I also knew that I had made short hand notes in that book that will help him along.

"I don't think I need to tell you that you need to keep your research to yourself, but I'll be here if you want to talk." He nodded and looked at me quizzically.

"There's something you're not telling me about them, isn't there?"

"Yes, but I can't tell you. You have to figure it out for yourself. They're really weird about that. It might help you to know why I'm sullen and depressed all the time and why I will welcome him back with open arms if he comes back." Traitorous tears had escaped my eyes and I swiped at them angrily. I only allowed myself to cry when I was alone. I didn't want my dad to see the depth of my pain.

"Alright Bella, I'll take a look through here and keep it between us for now. Get some sleep." I nodded and he kissed my forehead before leaving my room. I rolled over and cried silently until I fell asleep.

In the morning, I dragged myself out of bed for another monotonous day at school. By the time I made it downstairs, I heard Charlie on the phone excusing me for the day. I looked at him with confusion evident in my gaze.

"I took the day off and excused you from school. Give me any homework that needs to be turned in and I will run it to school for you. We need to talk." I nodded and did as he asked. I sat at the table and ate a bowl of cereal that I didn't taste while he ran to the school and back. I had just put my dishes away when he came in the house.

"Let's talk." He called out to me and I walked slowly to the living room. I curled up on a chair and he sat on the couch, as close to me as he could.

"Is this some kind of joke?" He held up the book.

"No. It's very real."

"So he and the rest of the Cullens are…are…"

"Just say the word, dad." I was glad to see he was struggling to say it for the first time, just like I did.

"Vampires?"

"Yes."

"So explain everything to me."

"Well, he saved me from the van that day. He literally pushed it away with his hand. And the day that he met you and took me to play baseball with his family, there were some nomadic vampires in the area and they found us. One of them wanted to kill me, so we came up with the plan to escape him. I protected you by making you think that I broke up with Edward. Alice and Jasper drove me to Phoenix in one of their cars. Esme and Rosalie were here protecting you while Edward, Carlisle and Emmet were trying to divert James and Victoria. James lured me out my hiding place in Phoenix by making me think he had mom. So I went to him knowing that the Cullens would know I disappeared and were on their way to get me. I gave them enough information, but I wasn't sure if I gave them enough time. James was torturing me. He threw me against a wall and he broke my leg. Edward got there and fought for me, but he was too late. Edward scooped me up and tried to jump me to safety, but James caught Edward's leg and threw us to the floor. Edward and James fought and Edward was thrown through a window. That's when James bit me." I showed him the scar on my wrist. He looked like he wanted to touch it, but was afraid.

"Edward attacked him and had just ripped a piece of his throat out when the rest of the Cullens arrived. Edward, Alice and Carlisle attended to me. Alice made a tourniquet on my leg and joined the boys to kill James and Edward sucked the venom out of my arm. He loves me. He has to, otherwise I would be dead by now."

"What do you mean?"

"Edward said that my blood in particular sings to him. He described it as his own personal brand of heroin. He fights the monster within him. He hasn't drunk human blood since the thirties and he doesn't want to start up again. He and his family drink from animals. Emmet likes bears the best and Edward said he's partial to mountain lions." I smiled wistfully at the memory. It feels good to talk to someone about it; even if it was my dad. I chanced a look up at him and he was in shock, but still wanting to learn more. I looked outside and saw a patch of sunlight.

"Come with me, I need to show you something." He followed me out to the backyard and I raised my arm. He saw the scar start to sparkle in the sunlight.

"They live here because it's one of the rainiest and overcast places in the continental untied states. You can imagine the kind of attention they would get if they went outside in sunlight." I brought his hand up to touch the scar because I knew that he wanted to.

"It's cool to the touch."

"It always will be. I told him that I wanted to be like him." My dad looked disturbed.

"You love him that much?"

"Yes, I'm sort of a rarity. When vampires meet their mate, it's instantaneous and eternal. I'm Edward's mate; unfortunately, I'm still a human. I don't want him to go through the pain of losing a mate and spending all of eternity in grief, so I asked him to change me. He refused. He said that he doesn't want to take away my soul."

"He took it away anyway when he left." He said and I nodded because there weren't any words. I could see that he still had a question.

"Go ahead and ask me dad." I prompted him.

"Are you still…how far…how many bases have you and Edward run together?" Both of us flushed a deep red.

"You have nothing to worry about there dad. Both of our virtues are still intact. We never went further than his shirt off." He sighed with relief.

"I just want you to be safe and careful. I don't want to know if and when it happens though."

"I understand. He wouldn't do anything with me out of fear of hurting me. He is still a seventeen year old."

"How long has he been seventeen?" I smiled with the memory of asking Edward the same exact question.

"He was changed in 1918. He was in a hospital in Chicago dying of Spanish influenza. His father had passed on a few weeks prior and right before his mother died, she begged Carlisle to save him. So Carlisle did. He changed his wife Esme a few years later. In the thirties, they found Rosalie in New York and she brought Emmet to Carlisle to change him. Alice and Jasper met up with them in the fifties, already having been changed by others. It's been the seven of them ever since. They all have gifts too."

"Gifts?"

"Yeah, Carlisle has his never ending compassion and self-control. Esme is the perpetual mother and always loving. Emmet has brute strength. Rosalie has her beauty and a talent for working on cars. Jasper can sense and manipulate the emotions around him. Alice gets visions of the future and Edward can read every mind except for mine. No one knows why that is."

"Where do you think they went?" He asked me after a few minutes of silence.

"I don't know. They have houses all over the world and a never ending bank account. They could be anywhere." He did something I didn't expect; he hugged me. I clung to him and cried. I think, now that he understood my pain, it made it easier for him to comfort me.

"You know your mom is still worried about you." He mumbled.

"She can't know. We can't tell her."

"I agree. I don't think she'd handle it too well either." I'm glad he was the one to make that statement, instead of me.

"So, why did they leave?" He led me back into the house and sat me at the table. He poured me a glass of milk and one for himself.

"At my birthday party, that I didn't even want to go to, I got a paper cut on one of the gifts and Jasper tried to kill me. Edward saved me again and broke up with me the next day. He said that it was wrong of him to stay with me as long as he did and that he didn't want me. He said that I don't belong in his world." I refused to start crying again.

"He's lying."

"Huh?"

"I've seen the way that boy looks at you. He's head over heels in love with you. You're his mate for life; isn't that like instant love?"

"Yeah. I just didn't see how someone like him could love someone as plain as me."

"Don't even think that you are plain. You are beautiful and kind and selfless. I know you didn't really want to come live with me when you first got here, but you did anyway so your mom could be traveling with Phil. From what I've heard around town, Edward isn't your only admirer, nor was he the first to attempt to gain your affections."

"That's basically what he said. He said I don't see myself clearly."

"He's a smart guy. He's a dumb ass for leaving you, don't get me wrong, but his love for you matches yours for him."

"Thanks dad."

"So tell me more about life with vampires."

A/N: When I write with other people's characters, I do my best to stay within the character personalities originally created. I feel like it limits me and challenges me at the same time. Also, while this isn't the first time I've posted on this site, this is the first Twilight fic I am choosing to share. Reviews are wanted and appreciated. Have a great day.