Father-Daughter Dance

Charle & Bella

Rated T

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or the franchise, as it belongs to Steph Meyers

Father-Daughter Dance

Bella sat at the vanity in her room, slowly brushing her brown tresses with melancholy expression on her face. The reason for her sadness was the fact that the Forks High School was hosting a father-daughter dance for the senior girls tonight. Bella hadn't really been excited about it upon previously knowing about it, but after the months of being pulled out of her depressive funk following the death of her first boyfriend the day after her eighteenth birthday by Charlie and her best friend Jacob, she thought it would be nice to spend time with Charlie like this. Upon broaching the subject to her father, Charlie had been surprised and flustered by his daughter's bold asking of him to attend the father-daughter dance with her. Even so, he had smiled and agreed to accompany her.

However Charlie's work schedule had changed and as a result, he had to work during the time that the father-daughter dance was being held. He had called and let her know and had apologized, to which Bella said it was alright and that she understood. However Jacob knew for her it wasn't alright, as she had been looking forward to the dance. That had been three days ago that Bella had been given the news and as the dance grew closer, Bella's melancholy mood grew and grew, even though she insisted she was fine.

A light knock on her bedroom door caused her to look up and she called out, "Come in."

The door opened and her best friend poked his head inside, a warm smile on his face. Stepping inside the room Jacob greeted, "Hey Bells."

"Hey," Bella replied with a smile, accepting the hug he gave her.

Jacob pulled away from her and asked, "Aren't you getting ready for the dance? It starts in about two hours."

The smile that was on her face fell and Bella looked down in her lap before saying, "Yeah, but Charlie can't go—and it's fine that he can't, he does have to work. I'm thinking I might not go."

"Bella, you've already registered to go and they'll be expecting you there. You have to go. Maybe I can get dad to stand-in for Charlie for you."

"That's sweet Jake, and I'm sure Billy wouldn't mind doing so for me, but it just wouldn't be the same." Bella sighed before standing up. "I guess I better get ready to go to the dance…alone. I'll see you later, Jake."

Jacob watched as the brunette grabbed her bath towel and left her room heading for the bathroom to shower. When she was gone he frowned before making his way out of her room and down the stairs to leave the Swan house. Pulling his cell phone out he dialed a number and held the phone to his ear. It rang for a few second before the call was finally answered.

"Hello?"

"Dad, I need you to do something for me. And more importantly, I need you to do it for Bella."

Bella sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror, thinking that she looked…well, maybe a little pretty. She was wearing a pale yellow dress with short sleeves and the skirt of the dress stopped just below her knees. There were white flowers embroidered around the bottom edge of the dress and a white sash around her waist to accompany the flowers. She wore a pair of white Converses that her mother had gotten for her and her hair was down with a sunflower pin on the side. She felt as if the color of her dress was the exact opposite of what she was feeling.

Sighing Bella turned away from the mirror and left her room, heading down stairs to get the keys to her truck. Grabbing them she left her house, locked up, then went to her big red wagon and got inside. Cranking the truck she sighed again before pulling out of the driveway and heading to Forks High School. The whole way there she pondered what she was even doing going to the dance, especially when her own father wouldn't even be there. She was going to look completely foolish there watching all the other girls dancing with their fathers and she's looking like the wallflower she is with a sad expression on her face. She could already hear Lauren going around letting everyone know that Chief Swan stood his daughter up at the father-daughter dance. Shaking her head she concentrated on driving, soon pulling into the parking lot of the high school.

"Well, here goes nothing," Bella said to herself as she parked her truck and turned the engine off. Getting out of it and closing the driver's side door, she took a deep breath before walking towards the entrance of the school, though she couldn't help but feel empty.

Brown eyes surveyed the gym full of her fellow female peers and their fathers, all of them having a good time with one another. At one point her friend Angela had come to speak with her for a bit before returning to her father and leaving her alone once again. Sighing Bella looked down into her cup of punch, wondering if she should just leave already. She had been there for forty-five minutes already and all she had done in that time was stand against the wall and drink punch.

A slow song started playing and the DJ spoke into the microphone saying, "Alright you dads, it's time to for the special father-daughter dance of the evening. Take your little girls by the hand and dance with them. Let them know how much you care."

As Bella watched fathers take their daughters onto the dance floor to dance with them, tears began to fill her eyes. That was what she had wanted, to be able to dance with Charlie and know that he cared about her and that work wasn't the only thing that mattered. These girls' fathers were able to make time for them here, so why couldn't her own father do so? With her tears spilling Bella dropped her cup and hurried out of the gym, intent on leaving the premises. Wiping her tears she turned the corner heading for the exit, only to bump into someone instead.

"I-I'm sorry," Bella mumbled looking up, only to gasp when she saw who it was. "Dad?"

Charlie was standing in front of her in his police uniform and he was giving her an apologetic look. Looking at his daughter he said, "Hey kiddo. I hope I'm not too late."

Bella blinked confusedly before saying, "I-I thought you had to work. You said you couldn't come."

"Yes, I know. But I realized how important this night was for you and I shouldn't have brushed it off to work. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad or like I didn't care enough to be here. The truth is that I wanted nothing more than to be here, and as much as I love my job, I love you more Bella. You are the most important thing to me in the world and if you'll forgive me for upsetting you tonight, I would be honored to dance with you."

Charlie had never said so many heartfelt words before, at least not to her knowledge. But even so, his words touched her heart immensely. Charlie did care about her and had wanted to be here, and now he was! More tears filled Bella's eyes and she smiled up at her father before saying, "I have two left feet, you know."

"I know, you get them from me," Charlie replied with a chuckle. He reached out and wiped Bella's tears that spilt over onto her cheeks before holding his arm out. "Should we go in?"

Nodding Bella sniffled and took Charlie's arm, walking with him back into the gym and joining the other fathers and daughters dancing. As the two of them began dancing together, they both felt that the bond between them began to deepen more than it had when she had first moved to Forks and they got to know each other again. Of course they were still awkward sometimes more than not, but it was getting better and more comfortable. Bella smiled a bit before admitting, "You know, I thought that maybe you didn't care as much about me as I thought you did. I irrationally thought this when you said you couldn't make it, even though I knew it was just work."

Charlie looked down at Bella with a frown before asking, "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know. I guess it stems from me thinking that I wasn't good enough of a daughter for you. I always thought that since I was a kid whenever mom would drop me off here, and then you'd drop me off on the Reservation so you could work or go fishing or hunting or whatever. I guess I always thought I wasn't good enough and growing up with mom didn't help. I've got self-esteem issues and…I guess I felt neglected of being told that I'm good enough and beautiful. Not by mom but by you. I look up to you and I want you to be proud of me and be able to talk to you about anything."

Tears glistened in Charlie's eyes before he pulled Bella into a rare, yet loving hug and held her, neither of them swaying to the music anymore. In a gruff voice he said, "I'm sorry for that, Bella. I was hoping I could start over when you got here and be there for you more. I guess I failed at that again, but no more. I promise to always be there when you need me, no matter what it is. And I'm glad I'm here with you now. Like I said before, you're the most important thing in my life and I love you so much."

Bella buried her face in Charlie's shoulder as she cried replying in a teary voice, "I love you too, daddy."

Charlie and Bella held each other in the middle of the dance floor, giving each other comfort while also receiving it, the moment being long overdue for the two. The fathers and daughters around them cast them glances with sweet smiles, many of them knowing the Swans weren't really affectionate people and rather private. So seeing them have this private moment was nice to see. And for Charlie and Bella, there was nothing sweeter.

At the Black household, Billy and Jacob were watching an episode of The Golden Girls in silence, neither of them turning away from the television. After a while Jacob spoke up saying, "Dad."

"Yes son?" Billy replied.

"Thanks for going to talk to Charlie. I'm sure Bella is really happy right now."

Billy smiled and said, "No problem, Jake. And I'm sure the chief is just as happy, too."