AN: When an idea won't leave you alone, sometimes you just have to let it fly. At the beginning of each chapter I'll recommend a song just for fun.

Disclaimer- All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer

Enjoy!

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Phillip Phillips

Bella has always been flighty, like her mother who took off when she was just a kid. Too afraid to settle in one place she's been traveling the world like she's got a point to prove. Meanwhile a handsome pilot who's always felt he's been flying in the wrong direction goes back home to discover what he's truly been searching for.

Prelude

He wore boot cut jeans, which hung enticingly low on his hips. Bella could get past that. She could even forgive the collar popped on his leather flight jacket. But what drove her absolutely crazy, were the aviators that hid those forest green eyes. The shade of green that reflected where he was from and where he belonged. The kind of eyes that with one look sent her in a tail-spin spiraling further down into destruction.

The kind of eyes that if asked her to stay, she wouldn't be able to turn down.

Please, she begged. Don't take those aviators off.

-3-

Another birthday come and gone she spent alone. Rightly so it was of her own choosing, but this year it didn't feel so liberating. She was walking beneath a weeping willow, her soul somehow becoming a part of the tree, wondering if this southern coastal town was worth a visit. From behind the tiny bed and breakfast she heard the mouth of the ocean and continuous squawk of a seagull. She liked that sound.

Six years of traveling alone gives you a complex that you don't need anyone around. She knew she had the world at her fingertips and she took advantage of it. She felt antsy growing up in Phoenix, she needed to spread her wings and fly. The day she turned eighteen she was gone. First it was Europe, then Asia, South America, back to the States…the list went on for years. But lately, none of it was enough.

Though lost in her thoughts, Bella felt her phone vibrate before she heard it ring.

"Dad, I've missed you." she spoke earnestly hoping he already knew.

"I think I've missed you more, kid."

She could picture the lines around his eyes when he smiled and it tugged on the always increasing ache in her chest. She shuffled her feet against the dirt, "How have you been?"

"As good as an old guy can be I guess."

Bella rolled her eyes, "I've been thinking about heading home. You know, go see my dad for a little while."

"Well, that's why I called." There was something off about his voice. Bella couldn't help but wonder if he had met someone. "I sold the house and I'm moving."

"Moving?" she asked, "To where?"

"It's a great state, Bells."

"Dad?"

"Washington," he blurted into the phone.

Washington? Bella thought. "Why?"

"I hear there's some great fishing there. A good place to retire."

"But I always figured you'd retire somewhere warm and sunny."

"I've been doing warm and sunny for thirty years now. I think it's time for a change."

Bella looked at the cotton candy pink clouds that twisted carelessly around the setting sun. Unlike Bella, Charlie liked consistency. There was something he wasn't telling her, there was a reason why he decided to leave Phoenix.

"Dad tell me what is actually going on."

There was a silence on the phone that made her think he had hung up but when he spoke his words were heavy.

"I'm sick, Bella."

-3-

The only emotion Bella could feel was guilt. As soon as the words left Charlie's mouth she was on her way to wherever, Washington to see her dad wishing she had been there for him sooner.

If she would have taken Charlie's advice she would have settled down somewhere, put in some roots. But she couldn't do that. It must have been some genetic trait passed down through her mom that scared Bella enough to fight against permanence.

Her dad refused to say how he was sick and a small part of Bella wanted to believe this was just one of his stunts to get her to stay home. Though she didn't believe he was old, he certainly was getting older and needed someone there to help cope with that. Moving to some small town for a few weeks wouldn't be that bad…or so she hoped.

Bella made a big decision when she decided to follow her dad to who knows where Washington. In fact she gave that decision a name, Robyn. It cost her five hundred dollars and a shark's tooth she'd found on the beach in New Zealand. It was the first time ever in her life that she owned a car and she had to admit, it was the perfect first car.

Robyn was sturdy and dependable. Two things Bella didn't believe in except when describing a fierce, red truck with a radio dial that only picked up stations that played bingo. And maybe it wasn't so fierce, but it had its own reserved strength.

The sign said Welcome to Forks and for some reason Bella couldn't help but whistle the song Hotel California.

It wasn't raining. Something Bella didn't know if she were expecting or not. And it was definitely green, but not a welcoming green. More like the green that you associated with being very, very sick. Or envious. But Bella couldn't decide what there was to be envious of. She certainly knew what there was to be sick about.

People here didn't leave, ever. They settled in this town and just accepted that this was all there was.

Small towns were gross.

Bella knew she was higher up on the scale of bitterness. Maybe even teetering off the edge between bitter and downright resentful. She blamed it on the lack of affection from Charlie and attention from her mom.

Someday she figured she'd grow up and realize her life wasn't all that bad. Especially when her career was taking photographs of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. Forks she realized, was not one of those places.

Why had Charlie chose this place again? Oh right, the fishing.

The police cruiser that her dad couldn't get rid of was parked in the driveway of a two story house. It was cute. Hansel and Gretel type cute, but cute nonetheless.

Her truck made a loud wheezing noise when she turned the ignition off which she discovered was its only downfall-making a spectacle of itself.

Immediately Charlie emerged from the front door from the sound of Robyn carrying a small basket and a fishing pole. He stopped when he saw the large, rusted beast parked in the way of his car.

Bella fumbled her way out of the cab having to use all of her weight to even get the door open. "Hey Dad…I'm here."

She tripped over her own two feet when she got out and Charlie let out a laugh. "Bella! I've missed you!"

He ran over after placing what he had in his hands on the trunk of his car and reached for her elbows as she stood up.

"You haven't changed a bit," he grinned happily.

She was about to reply with some sarcastic comment when she looked in his face and realized how tired he looked and much older he had gotten in just a few months since she'd last seen him. Was it possible that he really was sick?

"Dad…you look…" she couldn't say it yet she was even worse at lying so she chose to say nothing.

"I look sick that's what I look like," he grumbled walking back towards his things. "You going to come with me today? The weather is great."

Bella glanced up towards the gray overcast sky. Sure it wasn't raining, but she had definitely seen better weather than this.

"I was actually hoping to unpack some of my things."

"Unpack? As in your staying for more than a few days?"

Originally the plan was to stay for a couple weeks at most. She knew she'd get fidgety after that but now with the bags that hung beneath his eyes and the sunken hallow of his cheeks, Bella knew she couldn't leave him.

"Yeah I was thinking about making this a longer trip than the others."

"Good. I missed you, Bells."

Charlie gave Bella the room upstairs with the window that overlooked the front yard. Inside was already a bed with purple sheets and a desk that looked as old as her. Immediately she pulled her laptop out and tried logging onto the internet. She figured it would be a slow connection, but not this slow.

Taking turns between unpacking and surfing the web she already had applied to a job in Chicago. Bella had one rule: always have an escape back up plan. When she got tired of Forks, she already knew where she was going next.

On the walls she hung a few of her own photographs and as she sat down on her bed it sunk beneath her weight. She fiddled her thumbs, looked out the window twice and then decided she would take a drive around to see what this place actually had to offer.

Bella took a mental note of maybe finding another town that she could travel too if boredom got the best of her. Robyn chugged along the tree-lined roads following the signs that said La Push Beach.

She pulled up into a parking lot and reached for a sweatshirt beside her before she got out. She walked carefully through the sand noticing a large rock cliff jutting out over the water. It wasn't exactly like the white sandy beaches of the Caribbean like she was use to, but it had its own charm.

In fact, there was something about this beach that she'd never seen before.

The breeze pushed her brown hair around her face and she held it back catching sight of someone walking along the shoreline. Whether from the wind or not his hair was messy, a sort of tousled look and he wore a leather jacket with the collar popped.

It's not that cold, Bella commented to herself as another gusty breeze sent a chill down her spine causing her to zip up her jacket.

She saw him peering out over the water like he was lost in thought and when his head made a slight turn to the left she saw him wearing aviator sunglasses which made her laugh.

Really? Come on guy, it's cloudy out. Who needs those? Shaking her head she made a movement to walk away when he turned around and looked at her. It was as if he heard her thoughts making Bella feel instantly self-conscience.

What was he looking at?

She looked around her but they were the only two on the beach.

She realized then he was definitely staring at her, and very intently.

AN: The first few chapters may be shorter than the rest just to kind of move into the story, please bear with me. But please tell me what you think!

P.S. Thanks to my friend, Hollie, for editing it even though I can be a little demanding.