mgowriter's note: I never do one-shots so this was really fun to write, especially on a slow day with gloomy weather outside. Breaking Dawn left me wanting more Bella/Charlie scenes, so I went back to Twilight (my favorite movie for Bella/Charlie-ness) and this was the result. It's set right after Bella talks to her mom in the hospital, towards the end of the movie.

Another Chance

Edward's kiss on my forehead only made what happened in the last few days a sharper reality in my mind. I almost died. My mom could've died. And Edward…I almost lost him. I couldn't stop the tears spilling from my eyes. He was talking in a low, soothing voice, probably thinking the fragile human before him would explode or implode with any additional stress. I didn't care. I wrapped my arms around him, ignoring the needles and tubes attached to me, and held on. I didn't want to ever let go.

Edward pulled away and looked to the doorway, a second before Charlie appeared.

He coughed, announcing his arrival. "Your mom said you wanted to talk to me."

I wiped away my tears quickly.

"I should go," said Edward. I gave him a worried look, but he smiled so only I could see. "I'll be back soon."

Charlie gave Edward a wary look as he passed through the doorway.

I lifted my good leg to the side so Charlie could sit on the bed. "Dad, come in."

Charlie made his way to my bed and sat on the edge, placing his coffee cup on the nightstand. He looked tired. Worry lines that weren't there two days ago laced his forehead. I wondered how he heard the news, and how he got to Phoenix. I wondered if he had slept at all since I last saw him.

"You okay?" He studied my face, and in a very uncharacteristic Charlie move, brushed a stray tear from my cheek. His hand was warm, almost a shock compared to Edward's touch a moment ago. It felt good—safe, in a different way.

"Yeah," I squeaked out, and then cleared my throat. We both turned to look at the cast on my leg. "It's…nothing I haven't experienced before." I winced at the memory of a similar setting in the Forks hospital eight summers ago. I had broken my ankle trying to climb the big maple tree in his backyard.

"You really had us worried, Bella." He said softly, shifting his gaze towards the floor. There was no joke about being the first to sign my cast this time, no promise to be my personal avenger by cutting down the tree I fell out of.

I'd really hurt him, and I hated myself for it. Charlie didn't deserve this.

"Dad," I closed my eyes for a second and concentrated. Nothing I said would be adequate.

"I am…so sorry for what I said. It was completely out of line and I know I can't take it back, but if I could…" I continued weakly, aware of how shallow it was beginning to sound. He still hadn't met my eyes.

"Bella," he said. "It's okay. I've been thinking about it, and you're probably right. I'm really not that much fun to be around."

"No, Dad," I cut him off, "you're tons of fun to be around."

He looked at me skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"I mean, okay, you know what I mean. I like being around you." The words started to rush out of my mouth, too fast. "I like how we're the same and we don't need to talk about stuff all the time, like other people do. I like eating at The Lodge because…they have pretty good garden burgers and okay, I don't like watching baseball but I like that you watch sports and fish, and do other things that you like, too."

I don't know if my words were making any sense at this point, but I had to fight for this. "I like Forks," I finished quickly, tears threatening to spill again. "I want to live in Forks."

He nodded, taking in my words. "I suppose the Cullen boy has something to do with it."

"Dad, it's not just Edward. It's you. I wanna live with you. I want to…we should get to know each other, you know? I feel like we've missed out, and I don't want to feel like that anymore."

He turned towards me and I saw the first hint of a smile. "You know I love having you around, right?"

I let go of the breath that I didn't know I was holding. I leaned forward to hug him.

"So you and Edward…" he said as we pulled apart. "It's an official thing?"

"Yeah," I said. "We're kind of a package deal."

He nodded, not quite okay with the fact, but willing to give it, Edward and I, a chance.