Not All About The Romance Contest
Title: She's Coming Home
Pen Name: LaurieWhitlock
Link to Profile: .net/~lauriewhitlock
Rating: K
Summary: Set in Twilight. Charlie is waiting to pick up Bella at the airport and he is thinking back to when Bella told him that she is coming to live with him
Word Count: 2,466
Twitter Link (if applicable): /#!/LaurieWhitlock
A/N: I don't own the characters, I only put them in my own world
Charlie POV
I was sitting in the cruiser at the airport, waiting for Bella's plane to arrive. To say that I was shocked and happy that she wanted to come and live with me to finish high school would be an understatement. I always had the impression that she didn't like Forks and that she would rather spend her time in Phoenix. That's why I agreed to spend my summer vacation with her down in Phoenix rather than asking her to spend it with me in Forks... well to be honest, that was part of the reason. The other part was to make sure that the neighbourhood where she and Renee were living, was safe. There was a part of me that would always love Renee, but she was a flake and I wanted to make sure that my baby girl was safe. I remembered the phone call from Bella a couple of months ago when she asked if she could come and live with me.
~flashback~
I had just gotten in from eating dinner at the diner and was taking my shoes off when the phone rang. I was hoping that it wasn't work saying there was a problem and I needed to go back to the station. I walked over to the phone that was hanging on the wall and answered it on the sixth ring
"Hello, Chief Swan speaking"
"Daddy, its Bella"
"Hey kiddo is everything alright. I thought you weren't calling til later tonight"
"Everything is fine but is now not a good time to talk to you? I could call you later if that's what you want"
"No Bells, you don't have to call back, we can talk now"
"You sure?"
I could picture her worrying her bottom lip in between her teeth like she always does.
"Yep I'm sure. Now what's wrong?"
"Well I was wondering if I could come and live with you"
"Why? Are you having problems at home. Is that Phil doing something that makes you uncomfortable?"
"No dad its nothing like that"
"Then what's with wanting to come and live with me? Don't get me wrong I would love to have you here with me but I always thought that you didn't like it here"
"Well mom wants to travel with Phil when he goes on the road with his minor league team but she can't do it all the time because she needs to be with me. But when she is with me, I can see the sadness in her eyes about not being with him. So I thought that if I come and live with you, she can travel with Phil all the time and not feel guilty about not being with me."
Out of all the things running through my head when I heard the words "come and live with me" I never thought that it would be this. But it was typical Bella, always thinking and worrying about others before herself.
"So what do you think Dad" Bella said after a few minutes "Would it be alright if I come and live with you?"
I knew my answer was going to be "yes" of course, but I needed to know how Renee felt about it so even though the yes was on the tip of my tongue wanting to burst free, I pushed it aside and instead asked
"What does your mom think about this?"
"I haven't talked to her yet"
"So she knows nothing about it?"
"No, not yet"
"Well you need to tell her first and then I'll have to talk to her to see if she agrees with this or not"
"I understand Dad. She's with Phil at one of his home games right now but will be home later on"
"Well then make sure you tell her and have her phone me so that we can discuss this"
"Alright Daddy, I'll talk to you later"
"Talk to you later Bells"
I hung up then went to change out of my uniform. I decided to watch the game until Renee called, but she didn't call that night nor all day Saturday either. Neither did Bella. I was beginning to worry about it. Was Bella alright? Did Renee not come home? Did Renee beat Bella when she told her that she wanted to move in with me? These and many other thoughts were running through my head all day Saturday and part of Sunday. I didn't know what Renee was like anymore. When we were together she wasn't violent but I didn't know if that was still true and I knew that Bella wouldn't tell me one way or the other.
Finally Sunday afternoon the phone rang and I all but ran to answer it.
"Hello?" I asked breathlessly
"Charlie?" asked the voice of my ex-wife
"Yeah"
"Is everything alright, you sound out of breath?"
"Oh yeah I was just in the freezer checking out how much fish I have. Billy wants to go fishing next week"
"Oh ok then. Well I assume you know why I'm calling?"
"Yeah but what I want to know is why you're calling now instead of when you got home on Friday night like Bella said you would"
"Phil's game ran into extra innings and we didn't get home until late and I was afraid of waking you"
"Why didn't you call yesterday then?"
"Because we took all day to talk over Bella's request and to come to a decision"
"Which is?"
"Yes, Charlie she can move in with you if that's her wish"
I did a fist pump and internal happy dance because I was glad that my baby girl would be coming.
"When will she be arriving?"
"Are you happy about her coming?"
"Yes of course I am, I haven't seen her that much except for the two weeks in summer and it will be great to spend more time with her"
"Well I'm not sure when she will be coming as of yet because we have to talk to not only Forks High but also her school here. Plus we have to make sure that she has everything set up"
"Well if you want I can talk to Forks High and tell them what's happening and see what they say"
"That would be great Charlie"
"Alright then, on Monday while I'm on my lunch break, I'll go to the school and talk to Ms. Cope and tell her the situation and then let you know that night"
"Sounds good to me"
"Alright"
"Charlie are you sure about this? I mean you're not really one known for handling teenage girls and that's what Bella is now. She's not that little girl that you used to take fishing anymore"
I had to hold back a snort at that comment. What did she know about raising Bella. Bella had to take care of everything in the house, from making sure that Renee ate to getting the bills paid on time.
"Renee I'm sure that Bella and I will get along just fine and if there is anything that Bella needs to talk about when you're not around, she can always talk to Sue Clearwater down on the rez as well as Reverend Weber's wife."
I wanted to say something else to her that wasn't very nice but, I decided to be polite lest she change her mind.
"Alright Charlie, if your sure"
"I am Renee"
"Well then I guess that's it. I'll talk to you Monday"
"Yep talk to you then"
"Goodbye Charlie"
"Bye Renee"
I hung up and was just pulling out stuff to make a sandwich when the phone rang again. I placed my can of beer on the counter and went to answer it. It was Bella. She wanted to know what Renee had said and if I was sure about her coming to live with me. I told her that I couldn't be happier. We talked for a little while longer. I told her that I would be talking to the school the next day to let them know what was happening and I also told her that I would tell Jacob Black that she was coming to live here. She asked me if I knew where to get a car that wouldn't be to much money because she wanted to be able to drive herself to school. I knew that it would be embarrassing for her to be dropped off and picked up in the cruiser. I then remember that Billy was wanting to sell his old red truck and I knew that he wouldn't want that much from me, so I told Bella that I just might know where to get one which made her happy.
We talked for a bit more and then she told me that she had to go and get ready for school the next day. I told her that I loved her and that I couldn't wait for her to get here. Once I hung up and made my sandwich, I called Billy and told him what was going on. He told me that he still had the red truck and that he would sell it to me for $1,000. I asked him why so cheap because I knew that his boy, Jacob, had but a lot of work into it to get it into working order and he simply said "Your my best friend and its for Bella." Like that solved everything. I just shook my head, knowing that there was no fighting him on this. I thanked him and told him that I would pay him next Saturday when I went down to the rez and he told me that would be fine.
It wasn't that hard to get everything set up for Bella at Forks High. I also talked with Mrs. Weber and she told me that she would gladly help with anything that was out of my league and that she was sure that her daughter Angela would get along great with Bella. After going fishing with Billy the next weekend and paying for the truck I went up to Bella's old room and had a look around. I didn't know much but I knew that she would need some new sheets for the bed because I was sure that she didn't want to sleep on bunny sheets anymore. My only problem was trying to figure out what color she would like. I figured that I would find something nice while I was at the store. I cleared out some of the things from her childhood but left the rocking chair. I then made sure that she had a computer and that it would be up and running when she arrived.
Renee called me and told me that Bella was all set to arrive March 16. I told her that would be fine and that everything here was set up and ready for her. I spent the next six weeks waiting for her to arrive. I'm sure I was driving everyone down on the rez crazy with all my talk of Bella arriving, but I didn't care. I was excited to have my baby coming to live with me.
~end flashback~
I looked at the clock on the dashboard and knew that Bella's plane would be landing soon, so I got out of the cruiser and went into the airport to wait for her plane to land. It wasn't that long of a wait and before I knew it they were announcing that the plane from Phoenix had arrived. I moved closer to the front so that I could see Bella when she came through the gates. When I saw her a smile broke out across my face. She still looked the same as the last time that I'd seen her, a little tired maybe, but still the same. She spotted me and made her way over to me. I gave her a quick hug and then took her bag and walked her out to the cruiser. I asked her how everything went with Renee as she was leaving and Bella told me that she cried and told her to come home whenever she wanted to . We got into the car, the silence awkward between us. I asked her if she had cut her hair and she told me that she hadn't and after that we didn't say anything else.
I saw that she was holding a small cactus and I knew that was her way of bringing a little bit of Phoenix with her. We arrived at the house and after Bella got out of the cruiser, she looked up at the house and then came around to help me get her luggage out. We then walked into the house and up to her room. She looked around it and I told her that the sales lady at the store picked out the purple sheets and that I hoped that they would be ok. She told me that they would be fine and then I left her on her own. Not long after Billy and Jake arrived with Bella's truck. She came down and greeted Billy and Jake. She was shocked when I told her that I'd bought the truck for her. Billy made a wise crack about how I was driving him crazy with all my talk of her coming. We pretended to wrestle then while Jake and Bella talked.
She got into the truck, clumsily hitting Jake in the leg with the door in the process. He got in as well and I could see through the window by the gestures Jake was making, that he was telling Bella about the truck. I smiled knowing that Bella was finally here and I hoped that she would like it and that she wouldn't up and leave as quickly as Renee had.