1. Hello, Forks.

I stepped off the plane and took a deep breath, taking in the smell of fresh air. It was such a refreshing alternative to the stale oxygen in the plane. The sky was a musky dark, looming overhead with the threat of a thunderstorm. I had taken a private jet to this dreaded town Forks, and I scoped the area for my ride into the town. It wasn't long until I spotted the sleek, black stretch limousine that was waiting for me, not to mention the driver holding a card with my name on it.

'Ms. Swan'

I waved my hands at the driver until he noticed me, and I motioned toward my bags.

"Take them." I ordered as he shuffled by me, his graying hair visible from beneath his driver's cap. The old man grabbed my two suitcases and grunted with the weight. To be honest, I did feel a little bad about making him take my heavy old suitcases by himself, but I had to keep reminding myself what Aro had said before I left Italy.

"You're too soft, Bella. I guess it's an advantage in some ways, considering they won't expect you to be vile at all, but you need to toughen up, child!" Those were his exact words. He didn't have to tell me, though. I knew it. He knew I knew it. It was my weakness.

I sighed and grabbed one of the suitcases from the driver against my better judgment. If Aro saw me, I would have received a thorough scolding.

"I'll take one." I said in a much softer tone than before.

The old man looked up at me with a smile, his face wrinkling in pleasure.

"Thank you, Ms. Swan." He bowed his head gratefully. The only answer I would allow myself was a nod.

I walked over to the limo and set my bag down. I stared at the window curiously. It looked abnormally thick. No doubt it was bullet proof. Aro was always making sure he had my human needs covered. The old driver was soon right beside me, and he took the bag that I had set down. He threw them both in the trunk with a wheezing effort and shut it closed with a loud bang. I couldn't wait for the old man to open my door. It would have taken him another year just to open it, close it, go back around the limo, and then open his door, close that, and then start the car. Perfect time as any to practice your mean skills, I thought, smiling to myself. How mean could I be before I reached my limit? Apparently, not much considering I couldn't even say a word to the man about hurrying up.

"I'll just get in by myself. You can go ahead and drive." I tried to say it as rudely as I could, but instead, it came out soft and gentle.

"Yes, Ms. Swan." He did a full three-sixty and headed toward the driver's door.

I let myself in the car and closed the door behind me, barely making a sound. I sat there in thought while I waited for the driver to enter. I thought about my mission, my purpose, the reason Aro had sent me here. He had told me that I was to befriend the Cullens, whoever they were. Apparently, Aro wasn't too fond of them. He had said that they were a despicable bunch that wouldn't appreciate the true qualities of a real vampire. He called them fakes and artificial. I silently wondered what could have made him think this. All I knew was that I was supposed to lure them back to Italy. He decided I would be the perfect person, even though I was human, to do this.

"You're human!" he told me. "They won't suspect a thing. Additionally, I'd say you're perfect because he wouldn't be able to get to you, read your mind."

I didn't want to ask any more. I didn't want to know about these strange vampires. Aro had told me in exchange for my services, he would convert me. A life free of pain. Free of death! How fantastic it all sounded. To be honest, I was a tad afraid. I didn't know how I would befriend these vampires, and I didn't know how in the world I would lure them back to Italy. All I knew was that I had to. I didn't want to fail Aro. No one wants to fail Aro. At least, not if they want to live.

I was jerked out of my thoughts at the sudden start of the limo's engine.

"Where to, Ms. Swan?" wheezed the driver.

"To the Forks police station." I hesitated. Would Charlie be there now? I had no choice, but to try. Aro had moved my father from Grundi, Virginia to Forks by talking to some of his very influential friends. My father had been transferred and promoted from Grundi sheriff to Forks officer. I had to admit, Aro was good at making things look inconspicuous. I was merely the daughter of the officer coming to visit my precious daddy. Of course, I did like the aspect that I got to visit my father again. I hadn't seen him in so long since my mother and he divorced. I lived with my mom in Italy with her new fiancée Gustavo, and I rarely ever got to see him. I couldn't help but smile at the thought. How nice it would be to see old Charlie again.

I stared out the tinted window of the limousine, counting the number of green-brown blurs that passed by. They were infinite. This place was surrounded by trees and nothing but trees. Honestly, I didn't know who would want to live here, in a place so green it looked alien, and where the weather had nothing but constant rain, causing your mood to be dark and depressing.

Lost in my thoughts again, I was abruptly pulled out of them when the car came to a halt. We were outside the Forks police station. It looked shabby and old, and in need of new paint. Half of me really didn't want to do this, but I really had no choice. I reluctantly opened the limo's door and stepped out.

"I'll be back." I didn't want the old man to drive off. I had a whole stay's worth of underwear in that trunk of his. Not to mention my lucky underwear.

The driver gave a nod as I closed the door. This was it. Reunited and it feels so good. Not so much. I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself. It didn't go too well. I took the steps one at a time, taking a deep breath with each one. One step, deep breath, another step, deep breath, another, deep breath, and so on. By the time I had reached the top of the steps, I was extremely worried. All that stuff they tell you about how deep breaths can calm you are crap. I sighed and reached for the door knob. Suddenly, I was on the ground with a pounding headache and a black silhouette standing over me. Of course, with my luck and clumsiness, I took a blow to the head from the door. Apparently, someone had decided to open it the same time I was going to.

I laid there on the ground, holding my head and groaning in pain.

"Bella?"

Surely, the voice belonged to none other than my father.

"Bella? What're you doing down there?"

Now I knew it was my father. Seriously, what did he think I was doing down here? Sleeping?

"Oh, nothing, Dad, just trying to get some sun." I blurted sarcastically, rubbing my sore head.

"Well, you really shouldn't lie on the ground like that. You could get hurt." I heard the genuine concern in his voice and sighed. He didn't follow my remark at all. What fun was that?

"I know, Dad. I'm getting up." I rose to my feet, still holding the egg shaped bump on my head with one hand.

"Holy! What happened to you? See, I told you lying on the ground would get you hurt! You always get hurt! You need to start taking better care of yourself." He tried to pry my hand off from my wound, but I wouldn't let him.

"I just did it at the air port, Dad. It was embarrassing. Don't look at it." I lied. I was a horrible liar, but of course, Dad rarely followed my sarcastic remarks or lies that he ended up believing every word that came out of my mouth.

"Alright, Bella. Just be careful. When did you get here? How long were you lying there?"

"Just a few moments. How're you?" I asked in a desperate attempt to turn the conversation. I thought that we had talked about me long enough.

"I'm doing well. I've missed you, Bells." An awkward smile crept onto his face.

"Thanks, Dad."

"You're welcome. Let's go home." He started walking toward his old, rusty police cruiser when I stopped him.

"Um, Dad, I'll follow you home in the limo. He's already paid and all."

My dad looked over at the limo and frowned a little. "Well, alright." I could read what was going through his mind right now. Finally, he gets the chance to spend some time with his daughter and the first few minutes are ripped away from him by an old driver. He shook his head silently. What could I do? Moving my things from the limo to Dad's car was just a pain.

"See you soon." I said, reentering the car. "Follow the cruiser, please." I commanded after I had closed the door.

"Yes, Ms. Swan." came the answer.

I took another one of those useless deep breaths. Here we go. I was in this whether I liked it or not now.

It didn't take long for us to reach my new home. Charlie only lived about five minutes from the police station. In those five minutes, I mainly just thought about what I would do, how I would find these Cullens. When we arrived, I stepped out of the car and surveyed my new home. It wasn't too shabby for being in this alien green planet. It was actually kind of nice. The windows all had white shutters and the house itself was painted light beige. I turned around and faced the limo again. I gave it a light thump on the roof and when the window rolled down, I said, "I'll get the bags. Thank you."

"Yes, Ms. Swan. Thank you." he replied. I sort of didn't like the way he always said Ms. Swan. It made me feel old, and the whole point of taking on this mission was so that I would never have to feel old again. Well, it looked like I was going to have to deal with it until I brought the Cullens back to Italy.

When the trunk popped open, I went around to the back and grabbed my two bags. I set them on the ground and closed the shiny top of the trunk. I picked my bags back up and headed toward the front door. Dad was already jiggling the lock with his key, trying to open the door.

"They told me that the house was new, but this lock never works quite right." he muttered under his breath, his face turning a beet red from the effort. Finally, with some extra little jiggle in there, he got the door open. "Ladies first." he said, motioning with his hand for me to enter.

I dragged my bags through the front door, too lazy to pick them up. I set them by the foot of the stairs, and turned back around to face Charlie.

"So, I'm guessing I should fix dinner?" I offered him a friendly smile. I had to admit, things were a little awkward, but this was my dad, whom I hadn't seen in ages. I had to try my best to make things comfortable for him.

"That would be nice." he answered, taking a seat on the soft couch in the living room and turning on the TV. "I don't think you'd want to eat what I cook." His attempt at humor was bizarre to say the least.

"Yeah." I faked a chuckle. "Gross."

He smiled at my laugh and resumed to watch what was on TV, which was a sports game.

I dug around inside the refrigerator and found it basically empty except for two TV dinners.

"Looks like I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow." I mumbled. I took the two dinners out and stripped them from the box and poked a couple of holes in the plastic wrap like the directions said. I popped them both in the microwave, making sure the minutes were in compliance with the minutes on the back of the box. As I waited for the dinners to be done, Dad started talking to me again.

"So, I have you enrolled for school. You start tomorrow. Is that okay?" he asked timidly.

"Oh, yes. That's fine." A better chance for me to hurry and meet the Cullens and get out of here, I thought.

"Well, that's good. I want to show you something after dinner. I sort of got you something as a welcome present."

"Aw, Dad. You didn't have to get me anything." I was flattered. It was nice of him to think of me.

He waved me off. "Well, I wanted to." I could tell he was blushing a little, and suddenly, I began to feel sad. I had left my father in the dark while I lived my own life. Maybe Aro knew bringing us together would bring me some joy, too.

I set the dinners on the table, and I motioned for Charlie to come sit. "All ready." I said as I placed the forks next to the plates. He sat down and looked at the food with a smile.

"Thanks, Bells."

"You're welcome, Dad." I murmured. "But tomorrow, no more of this junk, okay? I'm going to fix you something really nice."

Dad's face blushed a crimson red. He was always blushing, or rather, his skin was always turning red, whether from anger or happiness, that depended.

We ate in silence. Sure, there was the occasional, "The weather's nice." and the whole answer of, "Dad, it's pouring rain outside.", but other than that, it was pure awkward silence. Anyway, I didn't think we wanted to talk much because the food was horrible. The corn was stale, and the green beans were bland, and the steak… I didn't even want to talk about the steak. It was hard as rock, and I almost broke my teeth trying to chew it.

After we had finished the edible part of our dinner, Charlie stood up and backed out of his chair with a smile.

"Come on, Bella. I want to show you the gift." He took my hand and pulled me out of the chair, and then led me out the front door and into the backyard. What I saw was a giant object covered in canvas, and I had to be honest, I knew that if it was something that big, this gift had to be good.

Dad walked over to the present and began fumbling with the canvas, nervously talking at the same time. "I know it probably isn't what you wanted, or what you exactly pictured for your first, but, it was the best I could do." This only peaked my interest even further. Charlie took a deep breath and then yanked the canvas off the present.

It was a truck. Not just any truck, but an incredibly old truck. The grill was a little rusty and so were the driver and passenger doors. It was so rusty that you could barely tell that the car's original color was red, but I didn't care. It was my own car, and that meant more than anything. For a moment, I just stood there, my mouth hanging agape a little, staring at the truck.

"You don't like it." I could hear the disappointment in his voice. I so desperately wanted to correct him, to tell him I thought it was beautiful, but I couldn't overcome the shock. "I can take it back… It was Billy's originally. He gave me a good price on it. But of course, if you don't like it..." he trailed off.

"No, no, no!" Finally, my voice decided to present itself. "I love it, Dad. I really do, but really, you didn't have to do this. Let me chip in for a little bit of the car." I couldn't just take charity from my father. It had been years since I'd last seen him. It would be like taking from a stranger.

"No, Bells. No matter what you say, I won't let you pay for part of this car. It's my welcome home gift to you, and if you paid half of it, what kind of gift would that be?" He gave me a stern look as if to say, 'Don't answer that.'

I gave him one of my best smiles and ran a hand through my mousy brown hair. I walked over to him until I was merely two feet away and stared at him. He gave me a weird look, and then I hugged him. I wrapped my arms around my old man and hugged him tight, trying to make up for lost time, for half of my childhood. He seemed startled at first, unsure of how to respond, but it didn't take him long to realize that it might not kill him to wrap his arms around me, too. I breathed in his scent, a mix between musky old man and Old Spice. I noticed that gray hairs fringed the edges of his hair. I noticed the laugh lines on the side of his face and the crows' feet near his temples. This was my father, and for some odd reason, my heart began to soften for him. It didn't matter to me that we had been apart for years. This was Charlie Swan, father of mine, and that's really all that mattered.