Southern Comfort

Ch. 3: Confusion

BPOV

There were a few seconds of stunned silence after I admitted I knew the truth of the Tribal Legends. The next thing I knew, all the Quileutes started yelling. What I didn't know is why they were so upset because Billy had already known since the day I confronted him for trying to tell Charlie. Charlie… thinking my father's name caused pain to stab in my heart but I wasn't about to let anyone see it. My vampire was getting nervous as we watched a few of the boys start to shake so she stepped in front of me.

My vampire… where did that come from? When did this strange human drinker become my vampire? And why did it that thought comfort me, I wondered but ignored my confusion and focused on the shouting people in front of me.

The nurses nearby started to glare at us and Dr. Gerandy was walking our way at a brisk pace. Sue waved him off, glared back at the nurses then ushered us into a waiting room and closed the door so we had some privacy. It was small and there weren't enough chairs for everyone and my family friends looked shocked when the petite vampire placed me on her lap after she sat down. Their shock was broken when Jacob stormed over to us shaking like he was going through withdrawal.

"Get off that bitch and get over here, Bella. Your precious Cullen is gone and you belong to me now, my dad promised me," he seethed and I saw red. Before my thoughts caught up with my actions, I jumped up then stood in front of Jake and smacked him. A bit of my pain had leaked through when he mentioned the bastard but I pushed through it.

"Listen up jackass; I don't care if He is gone because I don't belong to any… You and I never will," I hissed and was confused why I changed the word that was supposed to be anyone to you. Even more confusing was why the blonde vampire's face popped into my head when I was about to say it.

Jacob's body started to shake even more and a couple of the other boys pushed him out the door at the silent command from a guy I recognized as Sam from my trip to First Beach. I guessed they were trying to get him outside before he wolfed out.

"Why is everybody acting all surprised that I know the truth about your legends? I was dating a vampire. Jake was the one that told me the story in the first place and I helped me piece together what the Cullen's were. Even Billy knew that I knew. He actually sent Jake to my Junior Prom to give me your "We'll be watching" warning," I mused and was getting tired of the confusion that seemed to be my permanent state tonight.

I noticed Billy's guilty expression as everyone turned on their glares on him. My dad's friend, Harry Clearwater – Leah's dad, turned back to me and cleared his throat.

"Bella, Billy never told us anything," he admitted with barely contained rage and as much as seeing the wheelchair bound man get his come upence was appealing, I really wanted to know what happened to my father.

"Will somebody, please, tell me what happened to Charlie and why Leah blames herself," I pleaded and all arguments were quickly forgotten.

Sue, Leah's mom, looked at me nervously than began when my vampire pulled me back into her lap, "You know that Harry and I have been divorced for about ten years? Well, a year before you moved out here, Charlie and I started dating. He didn't know how you'd take it so we started sneaking around."

"I knew all of that, Sue. Charlie would often come home from "fishing trips" smelling like your perfume and a little too happy for somebody that spent all day trying to catch fish. Besides, Leah and I figured we'd end up sisters so we started talking to each other. Whenever I wasn't hanging out with… Him, I was with her and Seth getting to know my future siblings. Then there was the time that I came home early from work and I heard the two of you upstairs," I revealed with a small smile and she blushed while Harry and her kids chuckled.

"Riiiight, well… um… this afternoon, your father asked me to marry him. We called Harry to give him the good news then had to wait for you kids to get out of school to tell you. While we waited, Charlie took one of the blue pills and we… celebrated. We'd just finished when Leah and Seth came home. He wanted to pick you up then take everyone to dinner in Port Angeles to break the good news. Anyway, we were about to get into the cruiser when Billy showed up and started yelling at me and Charlie. He told us that the Council would forbid us from getting married and how your father was going to be banned from coming to La Push.

"Leah started to get mad and shake when she saw me crying. She doubled over in pain then exploded into a giant wolf before Charlie could see if she was all right. The shock of seeing that caused him to have a heart attack. When Seth saw Charlie fall to the ground, he phased and tried to attack Billy. My Lee Lee was so upset that she'd hurt Charlie that she ran off. Thankfully, Harry showed up with Sam and the rest of the Pack. They stopped my boy before he'd done something that would've haunted him for the rest of his life," Sue explained then Leah came over to me but looked to the vampire for permission before she got too close.

"It took Sam a few hours to get me calm enough to phase back into my human body. Charlie refused to be moved until he knew I was okay. We got back just before he passed out. He motioned me over then pulled me into a hug and said his last words, "The legends are true. You're a Protector… I'm proud of you, Lee… look after your mom, brother and sister… keep them safe and love them because I'm not going to be able to anymore," mom and I held his hands when the ambulance arrived. I'm sorry, I killed him," Leah sobbed and it pissed me off so I smacked her too.

"Stop that self-pity shit this instant, Leah Clearwater. You didn't kill Charlie. You. Are. Not. To. Blame. For. His. Death. If anyone is to blame then it's Billy Black. If he hadn't been such a colossal asshole, Sue wouldn't have gotten upset and you wouldn't have phased," I told her honestly and made sure she saw the truth of my words in my eyes.

Harry and Old Quil were the first ones to agree with me, much to Billy's irritation. Another argument started and the older Black was eventually stripped of his position on the Council of Elders. I was tired of dealing with other people's crap and wanted to see my dad. For some reason, I looked back at the vampire for permission then left the room after she nodded. Just as the door closed I heard her introduce herself to Leah and Sue.

"Sorry I didn't introduce myself to y'all earlier but it didn't seem like the right time. I'm Charlotte Whitlock," the petite blonde said and I smiled at how beautiful her name was.

Charlie's skin was waxen but his expression in death was one of peace. There was even a small smile on his lips. He should've been alive and happy not the corpse in the bed in front of me. After mourning the loss of my scatterbrained mother for so long, he'd finally moved on. This was supposed to be his Happily Ever After. Instead, Fate decided to take everything away from him. No, it wasn't Fate but some jealous prick that chose to interfere with Fate's design that caused this tragedy. I'd seen it in the waiting room as Billy Black leered at Sue when he thought nobody was watching. He wanted her but Charlie, his friend, had won her instead and the crippled fuck wasn't going to let either of them be happy.

I wanted to be angry but I finally understood why Charlie looked so happy. He'd died the way he lived, protecting what he valued most. He knew that Leah would be eaten up by guilt and blame herself but he stubbornly held on to life until he could see that she would be all right. He'd even given her something to take her mind off the emotional turmoil; taking care of his family because me, Sue, Seth and Leah were his family. My father had always known I was strong because I raised my mother then moved here and helped take care of him. Leah still needed to find that inner strength and I knew she would.

The door opened then closed behind me while I placed one last kiss on my daddy's cheek. I'd been through so much today and my emotions were getting increasing harder to control. Charlotte's scent reached me before she pulled me into a hug. She smelled of creosote, windswept mesas and… home. She is my home, a voice whispered in the back of my mind. Silently, she broke the embrace then took me outside and carried me home. It was like she just knew what I needed. My confusion returned with full force and it was giving me a headache.

We made it back to my house and Charlotte sat me down on the couch and flashed upstairs to the bathroom. When she returned, the vampire handed me a glass of water and some aspirin; again, just like she knew what I needed. Memories from tonight were all jumbled in my head and I was nearly too exhausted to put them in some sort of coherent order. My emotions were starting to break through the mental prison that kept them in check but I needed to hold on for a little while longer.

"That bite, all of these weird feelings I have are because of the bite you gave me," I whispered in a moment of insight.

"Yes, but the explanation can wait until morning. I talked to Jasper and Alice earlier and they wanted me to tell you that they and the Cullen's love you and only left because Edward threatened to go to the Volturi if they didn't. They want to know exactly what he told you because he told his family that he explained everything. That you accepted that they needed to leave to keep you safe and have a normal life. From the state that I found you in earlier, my guess is that he lied to them. In fact, I'm sure the polesmoker has done nothin' but lie to you from the beginning," she replied and I felt my control break.

The blonde pulled me into her lap and just held me. She stroked my back while she rocked us back and forth as my emotional sobs shook my body. My already raw throat was getting even more sore. This time, Charlotte let me cry myself out. The last thing I remembered was being carried up to bed.

CPOV (Charlotte)

My poor Bella was even more wiped out than she'd been when I first found her. I laid her back down on her father's bed and put the quilt back over her. There were a couple of things I wanted to do before I curled up with my mate so I closed the door behind me as I left the room. The first thing was to call my older brother and have him and Pixiepire get their asses down here. I pulled out the phone and made the call.

"What happened," a frantic Alice answered and I imagined that she snatched the phone from her husband's hand the second it started to ring.

"Calm down, woman, the short story is that Charlie died from a heart attack when the daughter of his fiancé turned into a giant wolf," I explained quickly then Jasper grabbed the phone and gave a detailed account. He said they were on their way and would get here in an hour so I thought it was a good time to drop another bombshell.

"Just so y'all know in advance, Peter's mate is Victoria. She's not a threat," I stated then hung up before I was assaulted with questions that it wasn't my place to answer.

My next task was to conduct a thorough search of Bella's bedroom. I'd left the window open from when I was looking for clothes for her and it should be aired out a bit by now. The suspicions that I'd had earlier were confirmed but I also found some things that I hadn't expected. The bastard had hidden the bag with all her birthday presents under a loose floorboard. In the false bottom of the drawer to her nightstand I found some books that proved the supposedly shy human had a bit of a naughty streak.

After my discoveries, I crawled into bed with my mate and waited for the Cavalry.