A/N: I Do not own any of the characters. Read and Review please
I was dancing. Dancing in circles with Edward. After the one dance, he stopped suddenly, looked at me, and turned away. He didn't speak, although I cried out for him to not leave me. I ran out the door to follow him and found myself in a familiar-looking forest. I was searching for him but only found trees and wilderness. I woke screaming when I realized it was like my dream from junior year. Just after he left, before Jacob. Jacob, I missed him, but there was no sense dwelling on the past.
I dressed quickly for work. I was supposed to report to the paper in an hour. My new editor was wicked. He seemed to take pleasure in torturing me. He sent me on pointless errands. I've submitted many pieces of my writing to him, but he only seemed to be interested in making my life miserable. If only he knew…
Work today consisted of more of the same. We had a staff meeting this morning. I went on my mega coffee run and set up the board room just the way Mr. Smith wanted it. He came into the room early. I think he does this to throw the staff off their game. He sat at the head of the table and waited. When a staff reporter would enter the room, he'd check his watch and sigh heavily. It was almost like watching a bear toy with his food. I sat in a corner watching the meeting. Because I planned on taking a few weeks off for the reunion, I wasn't expecting to be given any major assignments this week. I had two more days until I would leave Seattle to spend time with friends and Charlie.
"BELLA! Wake up. Here's your chance at a real story. A human interest piece if you will. I want you to write about your experience when you return home for the first time in many years. Are you planning on seeing your ex-husband?" he asked.
"I… I… I wasn't planning on it. I was planning on seeing my friends from school and my father," I mumbled.
"Well plan on it. I want to know, which means our readers want to know, what it's like going home again, seeing your old school, and that high school flame that fizzled out," He spat out.
I couldn't believe it. I was getting my first assignment and he wanted me to go home to hang out with my ex-husband. Oh sure, I could write about it. How my husband and I broke up because he's a werewolf and he imprinted on a strange girl that he just met one day. Oh yeah, I can tell that this was going to be fun.
I was driving in my new Ford Focus listening to the radio. Sometime in the last five years, I've gone back to listening to the radio. Maybe it was because I was in a new car, a car without any memories of my two loves-lost. I was lost in the lyrics of a up-tempo 80s tune when I noticed a yellow Porsche in my mirror. It quickly went around me and I immediately thought the driver must be an idiot. They were driving way to fast to be sane. I noticed two other cars following the Porsche, also driving way to fast. One of them was a silver Volvo.
I pulled into the driveway in front of Charlie's house. His cruiser wasn't there. I was early. I thought it would be a great surprise if I went inside and cooked him dinner, just like old times. I unlocked the door with the spare key and stepped into a familiar looking room. My pictures were back in the living room. There were my old school pictures of course, but beside them was my wedding picture. I was looking at Jacob with loving eyes and a big smile that was partially covered by wedding cake smeared across my face. Jacob was looking down at me with love in his eyes and an equal amount of cake on his cheek.
I sighed and set my bags on the stairs. I went to the kitchen and realized that Charlie had been living of fast food for a while now. It looked like the stove hadn't been used for more than scrambled eggs in years. I turned back to the stairs and picked up my bags. I climbed the stairs quickly and went up to my room. It's nice to know that some things don't change over the years. Charlie has never changed my room besides switching the crib for a bed. I set my bags on the bed and returned downstairs. I went back outside to my car. I was going to go grocery shopping so that I could make dinner for Charlie, not just tonight, but for the duration of my stay. It was the least I could do since he was saving me the expense of paying for a hotel.
I made my way to the Thriftway and located a variety of ingredients that would get me through a few days of dinner and possibly lunch with Charlie. I was standing in the checkout when a young girl ran up to me. She was apparently hiding from her parents. I bent down to chat with her.
"Hi! I'm Megan! You're pretty," she said with a big grin.
"Megan! How dare you run aw.." I heard the familiar voice.
I looked up to see Emily and Sam standing just ten feet from me. Their faces froze when they recognized me. Emily was first to acknowledge me.
"Bella? Bella, how are you? It's been so long," Emily said as she pulled me into a soft, hesitant hug.
"Emily? Sam? Wow you guys look the same, and I see you have added to your family since I left. She's adorable," I stammered out.
Sam looked at me with a pained expression. It looked familiar, but I didn't understand why seeing me would cause him pain. He gave me a gentle hug as well and looked into my eyes as he told me, "We miss you around here Bella."
I quickly filled them in on why I had returned to Forks and how long I was staying. I finished the conversation as the cashier finished ringing the order. I paid for the groceries and turned back to them. I told them I hoped they were well and I hoped to see them again. I walked out the door and didn't breathe a sigh of relief until I reached my car. I loaded the food into the trunk and drove back to Charlie's
I was in the middle of making dinner when I heard the familiar sound of Charlie's cruiser pull into the driveway. I turned the burner down and went to meet him at the front door. He burst through the door like a kid on Christmas. He didn't even bother to shut the door as he pulled me into a humungous hug. The hug lasted longer than any other embrace we'd shared.
"Bella, I missed you!" he said. "It's been too long since you've been home."
"I missed you too, Dad. I see that you haven't taught yourself to cook yet," I joked.
"Well, I guess I kept hoping you'd come back and take care of me," he mused.
"Well I got some groceries today and you are going to have a nice dinner tonight."
We went back to the kitchen and he watched as I finished dinner. I made chicken alfredo with steamed broccoli. I served us a plate each and sat down at the small table. We ate in a comfortable silence for awhile. Eventually I told him about my assignment to cover the reunion and my editor's twisted plot consisting of me being around Jacob. I didn't tell Charlie that I had run into Emily and Sam today, but he seemed to sense that I wasn't looking forward to seeing that part of my past.
I gathered the dishes and placed them in the sink. I washed up as Charlie headed to the living room to catch the game. The phone rang after a few minutes. I heard Charlie answer the phone. I also heard him immediately lower his voice when he heard who was on the other side of the line.
"No, she's here. She's doing well," he explained to whoever. He listened for a while before answering again.
"No, I don't think that would be a great idea. I don't care! She's not going to get hurt again. She's been through too much and she deserves better!" he almost screamed into the phone before listening to the caller once again. The caller had him turning purple before too long.
"Well you can tell him that if he comes near my daughter that he'll have to get through a restraining order. He hurt her and this is the first time she's been able to come back for even a visit. Tell him to leave her alone!" he screamed as he slammed the phone down.
By now I realized it must have been Billy on the phone. Billy must have talked to Sam by now, and was calling to see if I was planning on seeing Jake. Or maybe he was calling to say Jake wanted to visit me. Either way, I wasn't going to get Charlie more worked up tonight. I kissed the top of his head and went up to bed.
That night, I dreamed about Jacob. He was chasing me through the woods. I was running and desperately trying not to trip on roots sticking up and every corner it seemed. I looked back as he chased me and ran into a brick wall. Only, it wasn't a wall. It was Edward.
I woke up breathing heavily and in a cold sweat. That was when I noticed my window was open.
