Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight
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Bella woke up when she felt someone touch her shoulder and in an instant new york style, she cocked back her fist ready to punch a potention molester when the shadow over her grabbed her fist.
"Ease up Bella," The familiar voice said. "You've been in New York too long."
At the voice Bella became aware of her surroundings. She was in the private waiting room of Forks General Hospital. She had breeze past the lodge and motel and arrived in the hospital only to be told her father was still asleep. Bella had sat next to Charlie's bedside for what seemed like hours before she retired to the private waiting room to work on her computer when she closed her eyes and apparently nodded off. Looking up at the person holding her fist she saw a familiar face to go with the familiar voice. It was Jared, a much more handsome looking Jared, in a police uniform. Bella stood up and skretched away the feelings of sleeping in an uncomfortable position when she noticed the early morning sun peeking in through the windows of the room.
"Hey." Bella greeted and hugged her friend before she pulled back. "What's with the get up?"
Jared chuckled. "Not a get up, I'm the Deputy Chief."
"You're my dad's deputy?" She asked with a scoff. "Then what are you doing out of the hospital so soon if you were there when he got blown up?"
"He was in front of me." Jared told her with a look of guilt on his face. "Took most of the blast."
"Of course he was." Bella said as she sat back down on the uncomfortable chair.
"What time is it?" She asked a few moments later.
"Nearly eight in the morning," Jared answered. "Were you here all night?"
"I guess I was." She answered with a smile. "Is Charlie awake yet?"
"Not yet." He answered and Bella stood p and followed him out of the waiting room. Accumulating around Charlie's hospital room door was Billy and Sarah Black, Sue Clearwater, and Sue's now teenage son Seth. Sue Clearwater had been married to Harry Clearwater when Bella had left but seven years ago Harry had had a heart attack and passed away. The death made the town stop for a few days, according to Jared and Charlie, and Sue had holed herself into her house for a long time so Bella was glad to see her out and about even if it was under poor circumstances. Along with Sarah Black, Sue had acted as a mother to Bella when she was younger by bandaging her scrapes and giving her treats during the days she played on the reservation.
"Bella!" Sarah greeted with a smile before engulfing Bella in a tight hug. Okay, so her bailing didn't piss off Sarah or Billy by the hugs they gave her.
"I'm so glad you're here." Sarah said after Bella got another hug, this time from Sue. Seth gave an awkard wave instead of a hug and given the fact Seth's height would put him at her chest, Bella was happy the teen wouldn't use this as an excuse to get some boob action.
"I wish I was here for another reason." Bella stated with a small smile as she looked in on her pale fathers sleeping form.
"I know dear." Sue responded then took in Bella's frazzled appearance. "You look exhausted, were you here all night?"
Bella nodded. "Since you all are here I guess I can go freshen up and change clothes."
"Are you staying at your- Charlies' house?" Billy asked after innocently correcting himself all the while reminding Bella where he thought her real home was.
"No, I'd figured the motel." Bella answered mirroring his sly look and before any of them could protest, Bella returned to the waiting room to fetch her laptop took and purse before she excused herself from the group and walked from the hospital with Jared following her.
"Will you at least meet me at the diner?" He asked. "So we can catch up?"
"Sure." Bella answered as she threw her bag in the passenger side of the rental car.
"You remember where it is?" Jared asked in a joking voice and Bella rolled her eyes.
"I'm pretty sure I can find it." Forks sure as hell wasn't big enough for her to get lost in. "See you in an hour."
"Got it." Jared responded.
As she drove back through town from the hospital to the lodge, Bella took in the town for the first time in ten years. Many things had changed but much was the same. The outdoor store owned by the Newtons was still up and running, along with the diner and grille. The internet cafe was new, as the the small bistro located on the corner of Granite street. A few new clothing shops and what not but other than that it was the same small town she left. Not surprisingly, Bella was one of three people staying at the lodge and easily got a room. After Bella went to her room and took a quick shower she changed into a pair of jeans and a vintage rocker tee she walked to the car and drove back to town. She drove the scenic route which took her past La Push beach on the Quiluete reservation. She stopped to step out of the car and breathed in the wet, salty air. She used to love this beach and with the smell entering her lungs accompanying the warm feelings she still did love it. She remembered riding her bike here as a kid or walking to meet up with Jacob and play together. More often than not Billy or Charlie would have to come get them when they lost track of time and stayed out passed their curfew. Was that necklace Jacob had given her still in the box in her old room? Did she still have her old room? Maybe Renee changed it into a scrap booking room or a small gym when Bella left. She knew it rubbed her mother the wrong way when Bella had address the self explaining note to her father and not to both of her parents as any normal kid would. Charlies' letter almost matched the one she sent to Billy and Sarah Black, saying that she was really sorry and she hoped they would forgive her but Bella couldn't marry Jacob because it wasn't something either of them wanted.
Pushing away the memory, Bella hoped back in the rental car and drove to the Forks Diner. She saw Jared when she scanned the crowded establishment and tried to avoid the knowing stares of those around her as she walked to the back booth where her friend sat.
"This looks like the Bella Swan I remember." Was Jared's greeting, Bella smiled and sat across from him.
"Jeans and tee-shirt are timeless." She commented and ordered her breakfast when the familiar waitress walked over to them.
"At least you're not one of those anorexic New York City girls." Jared commented after he too ordered.
"You're thinking of Los Angeles, not New York." Bella informed him as she poured cream and sugar into her coffee and took a sip before she grimaced. "The coffee here hasn't changed, it can still be used as paint thinner."
Jared laughed. "So, other than the things you tell me on the phone, has anything new happened in your life?"
"Not really." She replied shaking her head. "I have a new book that's supposed to come out in two weeks."
"Another romance novel?" He asked and she nodded. "Forgive me if I find it a bit ironic that a girl who ran away from a marriage spends her time writing about love."
Bella winced. "I ran away because I believe in love, marriage doesn't necessarily mean love especially one between me and Jacob."
Jared didn't respond right away to her statement and the waitress brought their food. It was Tammi, someone Bella had gone to school with, who was their server and the polite young woman innocently asked if Bella could sign a copy of her last released book for her. Bella smiled and autographed the inside cover 'To my old classmate and friend Tammi, From Bella.'
"Bet you don't get that everywhere you go huh?" Jared asked, Bella shook her head.
"Only at actual book signings." She answered.
"Well you're a damn celebrity here." He told her.
"Or an outsider." Bella muttered and dig into her food. They ate together and Jared told her some of the things that he or Charlie hadn't told her. Sam Uley had married his girlfriend Emily and the couple had two small kids. Embry Call had married another of Bella's old classmates Angela who had opened the internet cafe. There was a town rumor that Charlie and Sue Clearwater had a thing going on and Bella could kind of believe it.
"What about you?" Bella asked later as they paid the bill and got two coffee to go so they could walk around town together. "How's Kim?" Jared's wife.
"Great, bored now that she's on maternity leave from the hospital." Kim was a RN at Fork's General, which made another question pop into Bella's mind.
"How did you two officially like, get together?" Jared and Kim had actually gone to high school together but as far as Bella could remember he didn't even mention her back then.
"She patched me up after a fight I had." Jared answered in a somewhat shaded voice.
"When?" Bella asked, Jared didn't answered her and instead glared as a motorcycle rumbled past them.
"Since when does Forks have a biker population?" Bella asked as she watched the motorist breeze by and down the street.
"It doesn't," Jared grumbled. "That was Jacob."
What?
"Jacob Black rides a motorcycle now?" She asked slightly shocked, Jared nodded.
Instead of asking Jared any of the many questions she had about Jacob, Bella looked at her watch and decided it was time to head back to the hospital to check on Charlie. They walked back to the diner parking lot and Jared told her to call him if she wanted a home cooked meal. When Bella entered the hospital again she noticed Sarah, Billy, and Seth were gone but Sue sat at Charlie bedside reading a book.
"Hello again Bella." The older woman greeted with a smile. "The doctors took him off the sedative so he should wake up soon."
"Good." Bella said sitting in the chair on the opposite side of Charlies' bed.
"You'll make him so happy by being here." Sue told her. "He still talks about you all the time."
"Like I said I wish I was here for another reason, wish I would have come back during Christmas or something, maybe talk him into early retirement." Bella said and Sue rolled her eyes.
"Good luck with that, he's going to keeping working until they wheel his body out of the police station themselves." She joked, Bella laughed and they remained in the room for a good hour before Sue left the room to call Seth. Bella was checking in on the magazine and blog via black berry when she heard a groan emerge from the hospital bed. She nearly dropped her phone to lean over her fathers waking form and when he opened his eyes, Bella nearly cried.
"Oh lord am I dead?" Was the first thing out of Charlies mouth which made Bella laughed openly, causing Sue to reemerge in the room.
"No you're not dead." Bella told him softly. "How are you feeling?"
"Drugged." Charlie told her and looked at Sue. "How long have I been out?"
"A little longer than a day." Sue answered him because Bella didn't know.
"Do you remember what happened?" Bella asked, Charlie nodded.
"We were busting a meth lab and the damn thing blew up on us." He told the two women. "How's Jared?"
"He's great." Bella told him with a small chuckle, relishing in the fact her father did and always looked out for other people.
"He's probably measuring out my office for his gigantic desk." Charlie grumbled. "Can you get the doctor in here so I can get out of here?"
It was as if nothing changed, as if Bella hadn't spent the last ten years only talking to him over the phone and the very, very few emails Charlie was obliged to send her and even those were a godsend because Charlie hated computers. Bella remembered ten years ago there was on in the house that only Renee had used. She loved it, she loved Charlie and after convincing Charlie to wait for the doctors to say he could leave, Bella left her fathers side to give him some time with Sue. Bella, following Charlie's request, drove to his house and stood for a minute looking at the house she called a home since birth. She remembered it being bigger, most likely because she had been smaller, and the house definitely had more wear and tear on it. The porch looked pristine so Bella assumed the old porch was torn down and replaced with this one that included a porch swing. The flower pots on the porch and the window boxes told her that either Charlie developed a green thumb or Sue was over here often. Walking up to the front door, Bella pulled her keys from her purse and fingered the key she couldn't bring herself to throw away these past years. She doubted it would work still and Charlie had told her where the spare key was but she couldn't help but slide the old key into the lock and turn. Bella's eyes watered when the door opened easily. Charlie had never changed the locks? Had he really expected her to just come home like nothing happened? Walk in after days, weeks, months, and just head up to her room like no time had passed? Clearing her that, she walked into the living room and opened the windows to let fresh air in as she did a usual routine. Bella turned on the ceiling fans in the living room and den, pulled the winkled clothes out of the dryer, jeans and flannel shirts, ironed them and placed them on her fathers bed. When she walked past her old room she couldn't help but to open it up.
Her heart stopped.
It was the same, in the same condition she left it in a decade ago. Bella was sure Renee would have taken advantage of the extra space of the small house and do something for herself but she didn't. Bella internally knew Charlie was the one who didn't want to change her room and he hadn't. It wasn't as if no one had touched it in ten years, there was no dust on the furniture and knick knacks she left behind and her old clothes smelled like someone washed them once and a while. All her books were still here, her notebooks, and everything else. Kneeling down, Bella lifted the sheet of the full bed and smiled as she saw the one things Charlie (or Sue, given the cleanliness of the room) hadn't found. She sat on the bed as she palmed the dusty shoe box in her hands and opened the lid. There it was, the shell necklace Jacob had given her. It was an oyster shell, brightly colored in the smooth inside and it fit in her palm. Along with the necklace was pictures she managed to snake from the parents to keep for herself. There was one of a Christmas, Bella sitting on 'Santa' Billy's lap smiling widely. The next one her smile wasn't as wide as she took a picture next to her mother. A few others were of family but most were of her and Jacob. She should go see him but what the hell would she say to him? Hi...been a while huh?
She slung the necklace around her neck before she tucked the box under her arm and walked out of the room, shutting the door firmly behind her.
"How's everything on Mars?" Alice asked over the phone later that evening. It was about seven o'clock in Washington so New York was almost ten p.m. After Bella had gone back to the hospital to bring Charlie a change of clothing for when he was set to leave, she stayed with him through his 'crappy hospital food' dinner and talked. He repeatedly told her that she could leave, Bella knew he thought she couldn't stand this town, but that wasn't by itself true.
"Same same." Bella told her friendly lightly as she looked out of the window to the surrounding woods. "So much green, everything is so wet and green."
"Like that stuff we found in the back of your fridge two months ago?" Alice joked, Bella laughed.
"Hey it wasn't wet until we defrosted it and it started to move."
"Ha," Alice laughed then sobered up. "When are you coming home."
I am home.
"I don't know," Bella explained. "Maybe I head to the Seattle Art Fest while I'm here."
"The art fest is in almost three weeks, how long do you plan on staying?" Alice asked.
"Not sure." Bella said honestly. "I can do everything from here, I have my laptop and phone so it'll be fine."
"Okay." Alice agreed with a groan. "Your dad okay?"
"He's fine, same as always." Bella answered.
"That's good, well I'm heading to the club so I'll call you tomorrow okay?" Alice said and after saying goodbye to her friend Bella hung up her cellphone. It was early enough to head back out to the grille for dinner. Bella shrugged on her jacket and hoped back into the rental car. The Grille was, as before, packed with teenagers and other families who didn't want to cook. Bella was recognized by some people and hugged by her old classmates. It wasn't until she had gotten to her booth and ordered a drink that she felt a shiver go up her spine.
"Hello Bella." Came a deep, masculine voice.
"Jacob."
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